Dell PowerVault NX3500 Administrator'S Manual Download Page 1

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Dell PowerVault

NX3500 System

Administrator’s Guide

Summary of Contents for PowerVault NX3500

Page 1: ...Dell PowerVault NX3500 System Administrator s Guide ...

Page 2: ...demarks used in this text Dell the DELL logo and PowerVault are trademarks of Dell Inc Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer and Windows Server are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and or other countries Symantec NetBackup and Backup Exec are trademarks of Symantec Corporation CommVault and Simpana are either trademarks or registered trademarks...

Page 3: ...eatures 23 PowerVault NX3500 Views 23 System Components 25 NAS Controller Pair 25 PowerVault MD Storage 26 BPS 26 SAN Network 26 Internal Network 26 Internal Network A 27 Internal Network B 27 LAN or Client Network 27 2 Setting Up Your PowerVault NX3500 Solution 29 Setting Up the Environment 30 Choosing the Topology 30 Completing the NAS System Setup Worksheet 42 ...

Page 4: ...isk Mappings 52 Running the PowerVault NASCU 53 Installing the PowerVault NASCU 53 Launching the PowerVault NASCU 54 NAS Manager Configuration Wizard 64 Accessing the NAS Manager Web Interface 64 PowerVault NAS Manager Configuration Wizard 66 3 Accessing the Dell PowerVault NAS Manager 69 Browser Requirements 69 NAS Manager Overview 70 Action Bar 71 Admin Tabs 71 Admin Tree 71 Toolbar 71 Page 71 S...

Page 5: ... Network Aggregated Throughput 78 Load Balancing 79 Over Time 79 Client Connections 79 Usage Considerations 81 CIFS Connections 82 Hardware 83 Component Status 84 Capacity 85 Space Utilization 85 Quota Usage 86 Replication 86 Active Remote Replication Jobs 86 Remote Replication Report 86 5 Monitoring PowerVault NX3500 Events 87 Event Search 88 Defining Queries 89 ...

Page 6: ...Managing NFS Exports 97 Managing CIFS Shares 99 Setting Access Control Lists and Share Level Permissions on FluidFS 100 CIFS Storage Administrator Account 100 Active Directory Configuration 100 Setting ACLs or SLPs on a CIFS Share 100 Access Using CIFS 102 Configuring CIFS Shares Level Permissions 103 Removing a CIFS Share 104 Resetting Local Administrator Password 104 Quotas 105 Default Quotas 10...

Page 7: ...ng Snapshots 112 Creating a Snapshot Without a Policy 112 Adding or Modifying a Snapshot Policy 112 Accessing Snapshots 112 Restoring Data 113 Restoring a NAS Volume From a Snapshot 113 Deleting a Snapshot 113 Backing Up and Restoring Data 114 Supported Applications 116 Enabling NDMP Support 116 Changing NDMP Password 117 Modifying DMA Servers List 117 Specifying NAS Volume for Backup 118 Displayi...

Page 8: ...ator Users 125 Adding an Administrator 125 Changing the Administrator s Password 125 Modifying an Administrator 126 Modifying an Administrator s E Mail Filter Rules 126 Removing an Administrator 126 Managing Local Users 127 Adding Local Users 127 Modifying Local Users 128 Deleting Local Users 128 Changing the Password 128 Managing Local Groups 128 Adding a Local Group 129 Modifying a Local Group 1...

Page 9: ... Network Configuration Overview 133 Accessing the System 133 Performance and Static Routes 134 Configuring DNS 136 Adding DNS Servers 136 Removing DNS Servers 136 Adding DNS Domains 137 Deleting DNS Domains 137 Managing Static Routes 137 Adding Static Routes 137 Modifying a Static Route 137 Deleting a Static Route 138 Defining File System Protocols 138 Configuring CIFS Parameters 138 Configuring G...

Page 10: ...4 Installing the Service Pack 145 Expanding the PowerVault NX3500 Storage Capacity 146 Prerequisites 146 Adding LUNs to PowerVault NX3500 147 Running Diagnostics on PowerVault 148 Online Diagnostics 148 Offline Diagnostics 149 Reinstalling the PowerVault NX3500 150 Replacing a PowerVault NX3500 Controller 151 Prerequisites 151 Detaching the PowerVault NX3500 Controller 151 Removing and Replacing t...

Page 11: ...t Invalid 159 CIFS Locking Inconsistency 159 CIFS Maximum Connections Reached 159 CIFS Share Does Not Exist 160 CIFS Path Share Not Found 160 CIFS Write to Read Only Volume 161 Troubleshooting NFS Issues 161 Cannot Mount NFS Export 161 NFS Export Does Not Exist 164 NFS File Access Denied 164 NFS Insecure Access to Secure Export 165 NFS Mount Fails Due to Export Options 165 NFS Mount Fails Due to N...

Page 12: ...al Error 172 Replication Jumbo Frames Blocked 172 Replication Destination Does Not Have Enough Space 172 Replication Source is Busy 173 Replication Source is Down 173 Replication Source is Not Optimal 173 Replication Source Volume is Busy Reclaiming Space 174 Troubleshooting Active Directory Issues 174 Group Quota For an Active Directory User Does Not Work 174 Active Directory Authentication 175 T...

Page 13: ...t Clients Cannot Access the PowerVault NX3500 System 181 Troubleshooting DNS Configurations 182 Determining the IQN of the PowerVault NX3500 Controllers Using CLI 182 Troubleshooting RX and TX Pause Warning Messages 182 Troubleshooting NAS Manager Issues 183 NAS Dashboard is Delayed 183 NAS System Time is Wrong 183 Cannot Connect to the NAS Manager 184 Blank Login Screen 185 Troubleshooting Backup...

Page 14: ...U 192 Cannot Launch PowerVault NX3500 NAS Configuration Utility 193 11 Command Line Interface 195 Overview 195 Accessing the CLI 196 CLI Menu Options 197 12 Internationalization 201 Overview 201 Unicode Client Support Overview 201 NFS Clients 202 CIFS Clients 202 Unicode Configuration Parameters 202 Unicode Configuration Limitations 203 File Size and Directory Name 203 Clients Compatibility Proble...

Page 15: ...Contents 15 13 Frequently Asked Questions 205 NDMP 205 Replication 206 A BPS Alarms 209 B Cabling Recommendation 213 ...

Page 16: ...16 Contents ...

Page 17: ...rVault NX3500 Solution Provides instructions on setting up the PowerVault NX3500 the various topologies and cabling options It also includes the detailed setup procedure and available configuration options Accessing the Dell PowerVault NAS Manager Provides an overview of the NAS Manager web console and instructions for accessing it Monitoring PowerVault NX3500 Provides descriptions and procedures ...

Page 18: ... Dell Backup Power Supply BPS NAS Setup Worksheet Provides a worksheet that will help you set up and configure your solution Document Description Getting Started Guide Provides an overview of system features setting up your solution and technical specifications This document is shipped with your system and is also available at support dell com manuals Hardware Owner s Manual Provides information a...

Page 19: ... Also known as the Backup Application Server Dell PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager MDSM The management software that ships with the PowerVault MD32x0i or MD36x0i array Fluid File System High performance scalable file system software installed on NAS controllers Host Port Identifier Unique ID used to identify hosts in a network Internal network A peer connection The PowerVault NX3500 s inter...

Page 20: ... replication activity Network Data Management Protocol Network Data Management Protocol NDMP used for backup and restore Peer controller The peer NAS controller with which a specific NAS controller is paired in a PowerVault NAS system Power module battery unit One of the battery units in a BPS PowerVault MD3xx0i Refers to the PowerVault MD3200i MD3220i MD3600i MD3620i iSCSI storage solutions Power...

Page 21: ...tions four for the solution to the customer s LAN or client network Two connections four for the solution to the customer s SAN network Two controller peer to peer connections for the cluster s internal network Standby controller A NAS appliance that is installed with the FluidFS software but not part of a cluster For example a new or replacement controller from the Dell factory is considered as a...

Page 22: ...22 Introduction Figure 1 1 PowerVault NX3500 Architecture Peer Connection Internal Network A Client Network Management Connection From MD Array iSCSI Network Internal Network B ...

Page 23: ... for dynamic increase in capacity Has a centralized easy to use web based NAS management console Has on demand virtual storage provisioning Has granular disk space management Is capable of providing user accessible Point In Time snapshots Is capable of sharing files with Microsoft Windows Linux and UNIX users Offers flexible automated online replication and disaster recovery Features built in perf...

Page 24: ... can use either the CLI or the NAS Manager to configure or modify system settings such as configuring protocols adding users and setting permissions The NAS Manager provides access to system functionality using standard internet browsers NX3500 NAS Configuration Utility NAS Manager File Management Block Management Modular Disk Configuration Utility Modular Disk Storage Manager Wizard based install...

Page 25: ...ware is installed on both controllers The software is a complete package consisting of an operating system volume management distributed file system and clustering technology Read write operations are handled through mirrored non volatile RAM NVRAM Mirroring the cache data between the paired NAS controllers ensures a quick response to clients requests while maintaining complete data integrity Data...

Page 26: ... the clustered solution enough time to write all the data from the cache to the disk if the controller experiences a loss of power NOTE You can view the BPS events on the NAS Manager SAN Network The SAN network is a critical part of the PowerVault NX3500 solution The controller pair that resides on the SAN network communicates to the storage subsystem using the iSCSI protocol The PowerVault NX3500...

Page 27: ... continue to function independently known as the split brain situation the PowerVault management network automatically resets the suspected controller This prevents the split brain situation and ensures data integrity LAN or Client Network After the initial configuration a virtual IP VIP address connects the PowerVault NX3500 to the client or LAN network The VIP address allows clients to access th...

Page 28: ...28 Introduction ...

Page 29: ...environment A successful configuration of the PowerVault NX3500 involves Setting up the environment see Setting Up the Environment on page 30 Installing the solution in a rack Setting up the MD storage solution see Setting Up Your MD Storage Solution on page 45 Installing and running the PowerVault NAS configuration utility see Running the PowerVault NASCU on page 53 Initializing the filesystem Ut...

Page 30: ...y Choosing the topology involves choosing the MD topology and the switch topology Environment Setup Select switch topology Complete worksheet Prepare management station Verify IPv6 address Install software Rack Stack and Cable Set up Storage Utilize System Initialize File System Configuration utility Create HostGroup Virtual Disks and map them together Complete final step during step 5 Execute Pow...

Page 31: ... 31 MD Topology Your MD array is equipped with eight ports across two controllers You can configure the MD array for your solution using Four subnets See Figure 2 2 Two for NAS Two for Block Two subnets See Figure 2 2 Serves both NAS and Block ...

Page 32: ...32 Setting Up Your PowerVault NX3500 Solution Figure 2 2 The MD Switch Topology ...

Page 33: ...rames of size 9000 MTU Non Dell switches may require a different MTU configuration for similar frame sizes For more information on MTU configuration for non Dell switches see the switch specific manual NOTE Jumbo frames and flow control settings are mandatory for all ports used solely by the PowerVault NX3500 and file access for block usage port setting please refer to your array user guide for op...

Page 34: ... traffic with redundant switches for HA All the client cables are split between the redundant client switches and the SAN or internal network cables are split between the redundant SAN switches Peer connections are always back to back NOTE For cabling recommendation for existing MD Series implementations that do not have stacked switches see Cabling Recommendation on page 213 NOTE The PowerVault N...

Page 35: ...Setting Up Your PowerVault NX3500 Solution 35 Figure 2 4 Dedicated SAN Solution in the High Availability Option Client Switches SAN Switches Controller0 Controller1 MD32xx0i ...

Page 36: ...rom the client traffic but without redundant switches All the client cables are connected to the client switch and the SAN or internal network cables are connected to the SAN switch Peer connections are always back to back In this configuration the switches become a single point of failure It is recommended that you separate the SAN subnets using virtual LANs ...

Page 37: ...Setting Up Your PowerVault NX3500 Solution 37 Figure 2 5 Dedicated SAN Solution in the Non Redundant Option SAN Switch Client Switch Controller0 Controller1 MD32xx0i ...

Page 38: ... one high availability option the redundant switches host both SAN or internal and client network traffic The SAN or internal and client cables are split between the redundant switches Peer connections are always back to back It is recommended that you separate the SAN subnets using virtual LANs ...

Page 39: ...Setting Up Your PowerVault NX3500 Solution 39 Figure 2 6 All in One High Availability Option Client Connections Peer Connections Internal Network and SAN Controller0 Controller1 MD32xx0i ...

Page 40: ...Redundant Option In an all in one non redundant option both the SAN or internal and client cables are connected to the same switch In this configuration the switch is a single point of failure It is recommended that you separate the SAN subnets using virtual LANs ...

Page 41: ...Setting Up Your PowerVault NX3500 Solution 41 Figure 2 7 All in One Non Redundant Option Switch MD32xx0i Controller1 Controller0 ...

Page 42: ... IP 10 10 1 201 Client Controller 0 MAC address Controller 1 IP 10 10 1 202 Client Controller 1 MAC address Subnet mask 255 255 255 0 Client Gateway 10 10 1 1 Client NAS Appliance Identification Subnet 2 Internal or Private Network Group 1 NAS cluster name Internal IP a0 172 168 1 1 Internal or Peer PowerVault NAS Configuration Utility Results Internal IP a1 172 168 1 2 Internal or Peer NAS contro...

Page 43: ...in one non redundant option Internal IP b0 172 168 2 1 Internal or Peer Internal IP b1 172 168 2 2 Internal or Peer Internal IP b2 172 168 2 3 Internal or Peer Internal IP b3 172 168 2 4 Internal or Peer Subnet mask 255 255 255 0 Internal or Peer Subnet 4 SAN Network Group 1 SANa IP 0 192 168 10 20 SAN to Switch A SANa IP 1 192 168 10 21 SAN to Switch A Subnet mask 255 255 255 0 Subnet 5 SAN Netwo...

Page 44: ...AN to Switch A Controller 0 Port 1 IP 192 168 11 100 SAN to Switch B Controller 0 Port 2 IP 192 168 12 100 Controller 0 Port 3 IP 192 168 13 100 Controller 1 Port 0 IP 192 168 10 101 SAN to Switch A Controller 1 Port 1 IP 192 168 11 101 SAN to Switch B Controller 1 Port 2 IP 192 168 12 101 Controller 1 Port 3 IP 192 168 13 101 ...

Page 45: ...avaScript enabled Installing the Solution in the Rack Your solution requires a properly grounded electrical outlet a compatible rack and a rack installation kit For information on installing the solution in the rack see the Setting Up Your PowerVault Network Attached Storage Solution that shipped with your product Setting Up Your MD Storage Solution This section assumes you have discovered and com...

Page 46: ...o create disk groups NOTE It is recommended that you create a minimum of two disk groups Each will house a virtual disk dedicated to the NAS storage pool 1 Install and launch the PowerVault MDSM software on the management station 2 Target the MD storage array you plan to use for your NAS storage See the Dell PowerVault MD3xx0i storage arrays Deployment Guide at support dell com manuals 3 Choose on...

Page 47: ...yed 5 Type a name for the disk group in Disk Group Name NOTE The disk group name should not exceed 30 characters 6 Select the appropriate Physical Disk Selection choice you can select For manual configuration the Manual Physical Disk Selection window is displayed Automatic see step 7 For automatic configuration the RAID Level and Capacity window is displayed Manual see step 10 7 Click Next 8 Selec...

Page 48: ...level chosen the physical disks available for the selected RAID level is displayed in Unselected Physical Disks table 11 In the Unselected Physical Disks table select the appropriate physical disks and click Add NOTE You can select multiple physical disks at the same time by holding Ctrl or Shift and selecting additional physical disks To view the capacity of the new disk group click Calculate Cap...

Page 49: ...roups and then create a virtual disk within each disk group Create a minimum of two virtual disks dedicated for NAS storage The NAS storage capacity can be expanded up to 16 virtual disks The number of virtual disks must increment in pairs NOTE Minimum virtual disk size required for the PowerVault NX3500 is 125 GB Maximum virtual disk size required for the PowerVault NX3500 is 15 TB ...

Page 50: ...t the appropriate unit for storage capacity in Units and enter the capacity of the virtual disk in New Virtual Disk Capacity 6 Enter a name for the virtual disk in Virtual Disk Name for example NX3500Lun0 Item Supported Not supported Number of VDs or LUNs 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 LUN sizes 125 GB up to 15 TB Up to 125 GB greater than 15 TB NOTE LUN pairs should be of the same size VD...

Page 51: ...RAID controller module ownership For more information see the MD storage array documentation at support dell com manuals 11 Click Finish The virtual disks are created Creating a Host Group To create a host group 1 Launch the PowerVault MDSM and target the MD storage array you plan to use for your NAS storage 2 Select the Mappings tab 3 In the Topology pane select the storage array or the Default G...

Page 52: ...oup or host select the host group you created in the previous steps All defined hosts host groups and the default group appear in the list 5 In the Logical Unit Number field select a LUN The supported LUNs are 0 through 255 6 Select the virtual disk to be mapped in the virtual disk area The virtual disk area lists the names and capacity of the virtual disks that are available for mapping based on ...

Page 53: ...y connects to and configures your controllers through the local link Ipv6 address Ipv6 can be disabled but only after the installation and configuration is complete The management station is connected to the same switch as the client connections on your NAS controllers see Table 2 1 NOTE Use the PowerVault NASCU only for initial configuration After the PowerVault NX3500 is configured use the NAS M...

Page 54: ... media cdrom 3 Change directories to the InstData folder 4 Identify the build of operating system being used 32 bit or 64 bit and change directory into either the Linux_amd64 VM 64 bit or Linux_i386 VM 32 bit folder 5 Run the installer located in this folder by calling sh pv nas config utility installer linux build_type bin 6 Follow the steps in the installer to complete the installation Launching...

Page 55: ...al configuration is deferred until all settings are confirmed in the Configuration Summary screen CAUTION Use this utility only to configure two unconfigured controllers Do not attempt to use this utility on fully configured or clustered PowerVault NX3500 or to reconfigure IP addresses This utility does not check for duplicate IPs or null entries The Storage Array Identification and Configuration ...

Page 56: ...000 is mandatory for new installations For an existing MD setup it is highly recommended that you use jumbo frames for optimal performance The NAS Controller Discovery window is displayed NOTE Dell PowerConnect switches must be configured to 9216 MTU or greater to accept frames of size 9000 MTU Non Dell switches may require a different MTU configuration for similar frame sizes For more information...

Page 57: ...dress The connect button starts the co click 6 Click Connect to check if NAS controllers are connected and click Next NOTE The slide out tab has two MAC addresses Ensure that you enter the embedded NIC Address and not the iDRAC address 7 Enter the name used to identify the NAS cluster within the web administration interface 8 Click Next The cluster name should be only alphanumeric characters with ...

Page 58: ...aces NOTE Make a note of the NAS Management VIP address for use at a later stage Controller IPs Private maintenance IP addresses for each controller and should not be accessed by clients directly Gateway IP Address This is the IP address through which a system on the network can be reached at all times such as a domain controller The Gateway IP address should always be accessible to the PowerVault...

Page 59: ...tem on the network The PowerVault NASCU requests for these IP addresses to ensure that there are no IP address clashes with other systems on your network The SAN Network Configuration window is displayed 11 Type in the required parameters and click Next SAN IPs These are used for iSCSI communication with the backend storage device PowerVault MD3xx0i As a result these IPs must be on the same subnet...

Page 60: ...sed to provision block storage to other iSCSI clients The Configuration Summary window is displayed All settings are applied to your controllers after this point Listed below is a checklist of items to review Ensure no duplicate IP addresses are present Check that IP groups are in the same subnet as required NAS cluster name follows expected naming convention SAN MTU setting matches MTU configurat...

Page 61: ...aces along with the IQN as this is interpreted as part of the IQN and causes an iSCSI login failure at a later part in the configuration NOTE MDSM refers to IQNs as host port identifiers If there is an error see NAS Container Security Violation on page 189 When you click Next the NAS Manager is launched in your default web browser The Configuration Wizard is displayed and it guides you through the...

Page 62: ...eating a Host Group on page 51 in the Topology pane and select Define Host from the pop up menu The Specify Host Name window is displayed 2 In Host name enter a host name for example NX3500 Controller 0 NOTE The host name should be alphanumeric characters with the only special character 3 Select Add by creating a new host port identifier In the New host port identifier field enter the IQN from the...

Page 63: ...Select the host group you created see Creating a Host Group on page 51 and click Next The Preview window is displayed 9 Click Finish and repeat step 1 to step 9 for Controller1 Proceed to the NAS Manager Configuration Wizard that was launched in your web browser Figure 2 9 Hosts in Host Group ...

Page 64: ...ccessing the NAS Manager Web Interface To access the NAS Manager 1 Access the PowerVault NAS Manager web interface using the NAS Management VIP address you specified in the PowerVault NASCU The Security Alert window is displayed NOTE The Security Alert window is displayed after you install the PowerVault NX3500 system or after upgrading the system Clicking Yes enables the current session Clicking ...

Page 65: ...e has not been installed 11 Browse to the License file and click Install The PowerVault NAS Manager Login window is displayed 12 Type the username and password and click Log in NOTE Use admin as the username The default password is Stor ge You have the option of changing the password later The PowerVault NAS Manager is displayed with the Start Configuration Wizard page open NOTE If the Start Confi...

Page 66: ...configure the system s SNMP access and trap parameters System Function Format File System Enables you to format the file system System Stop Start Enables you to start the file system Change Passwords Enables you to change the admin and CIFS Administrator s password System and Users Identity System Identity Enables you to configure the system name and the Active Directory domain it belongs to CIFS ...

Page 67: ...Volumes Configuration Enables you to configure NAS volumes CIFS Shares Enables you to configure CIFS shares NFS Exports Enables you to configure NFS exports Table 2 3 The PowerVault NAS Manager Configuration Wizard Options continued Option Description ...

Page 68: ...68 Setting Up Your PowerVault NX3500 Solution ...

Page 69: ...rements Firefox 3 6 Internet Explorer 7 8 The NAS Manager can be displayed at resolutions of 1024 x 768 pixels or above It is recommended to display the web interface at High Color 16 bit resolution Also disable any type of pop up blocker application while using the web interface as it may cause unpredictable behavior NOTE It is highly recommended that JavaScript be enabled in your browser for NAS...

Page 70: ...NAS Manager Overview The NAS Manager web interface comprises of the Admin tabs Admin tree Pages Action bar Search bar and Toolbar Figure 3 1 NAS Manager Web Interface 1 Admin tree 4 Action bar 2 Admin tabs 5 Search bar 3 Page 6 Toolbar 1 2 3 4 5 6 ...

Page 71: ...hanges depending on the Admin tab selected The Admin tree divides the functionality into groups and subgroups This enables you to easily find the task you need to perform Toolbar The NAS Manager toolbar located on the upper right side of the page displays the following options Page The Page displays the function currently selected in the Admin tree or Action bar You can enter information make chan...

Page 72: ...e is sorted by clicking on the column title Click once to change the sorting order to ascending and click again to change the sorting order to descending The NAS Manager Search bar located beside the page title displays the following items Table 3 2 The NAS Manager Search Bar Options Option Icon Description Description Search filter field N A Enter the string you want to use in the search All text...

Page 73: ... tab in the Admin tabs By default the Dashboard page is displayed Table 4 1 Monitor Tab Options Field Description Overview Dashboard Provides a single glance monitoring of the system Network Performance Allows you to see network throughput for read and writes in IOPS and MBps for last day week month and year Load Balancing Over time Allows you to see processor load CIFS connections read and write ...

Page 74: ...r of components and the number of problematic components The list includes controllers and the Backup Power Supply BPS The power section of the controllers refers to the BPS Component Status Allows you to see the connectivity power and hardware status of each controller Capacity Space Utilization Allows you to see free space non snapshot used space and snapshot used space for each NAS volume for l...

Page 75: ... that is the write back cache is protected and all the data is written directly to the disk rather than stored in the cache in order to preserve data integrity No Service The system does not provide service to any clients Fault The system has a problem providing service The system may recover automatically within several minutes depending on the fault Servers Status All Optimal All the indicators ...

Page 76: ...rvention to recover re attach Fault Peer controllers are unable to provide service and therefore the system does not provide service This can happen if controllers are down or have lost access to the storage sub system Table 4 3 Capacity Section Options Color Title Description Green Free Space The space allocated to NAS volumes but not yet in use Light Blue Used space non snapshot The space alloca...

Page 77: ... NOTE To display the Load Balancing page from the Dashboard click the Load Balancing title Table 4 5 Processor Utilization Indicators Table 4 4 Recent Performance Indicators Color Operation Description Dark Purple Read Data read from the system MBps Light Blue Write Data written to the system MBps See Table 4 5 Color Description Light Green Indicates the percentage of the processor in a controller...

Page 78: ...per operation Table 4 7 OPS Information Per Operation Network Aggregated Throughput The lower right side of the screen shows the Network Aggregated Throughput graph The graph displays total network throughput by network Table 4 6 Network Performance Indicators Color Protocol Description Green CIFS Data read or written using the CIFS protocol MBps Blue NFS Data read or written using the NFS protoco...

Page 79: ...op right side of the screen displays the CIFS Connections graph The graph displays the number of active connections for each of the selected controllers Only CIFS connections appear in the graph NFS clients are not connection oriented Throughput Read or Write The bottom of the screen displays two graphs Throughput Read Throughput Write The graphs display the combined actual throughput excluding ov...

Page 80: ...o access the system Assigned interface The controller and network interface which were allocated for this client or router either automatically by the system or manually by an administrator Current interface The controller and network interface currently assigned to this client or router The current interface can be different from the assigned interface after automatic connection fail over Dependi...

Page 81: ...fter a failed controller is revived choose the Assigned Controller Each client can have a different assigned controller You can either let the system select the target interface on the controller or choose a specific one NOTE This operation will disconnect CIFS connections if they are migrated to a different controller To enable automatic rebalance select Allow these clients to migrate to other co...

Page 82: ...ral days if the failure remains for long time This mode overcomes short controller failures because clients have not created new material during the short time failure Therefore the best practice is to rebalance them as soon as possible If the failure is longer than 10 minutes the system remains unbalanced until you rebalance it manually Migrate Manually Never migrates clients automatically This r...

Page 83: ...in the PowerVault NX3500 It provides information about processors monitoring availability NICs IPMI Ethernet bandwidth BPS monitoring cabling connectivity temperatures memory network statistics and Ethernet connectivity The Component Status page displays the current status of the PowerVault NX3500 It provides information about status internal hardware connectivity and power for the two controllers...

Page 84: ...e IPMI on the selected controller Connectivity Status to Peer IPMI Indicates whether the IPMI on the peer controller is accessible and responsive Number of CPUs Displays the total number of processors in the controller and indicates if any of the processors are overheated NOTE The total number of processors indicate the single processor with four cores Number of Ethernet NICs Displays the total nu...

Page 85: ...and Free Space The last row displays the total unallocated space This is the space available for creation of new NAS volumes Table 4 11 Current Tab Field Description NAS Volume The name of the NAS volume Allocated Space The space allocated for this NAS volume GB Free Space Space allocated to NAS volumes but not yet in use GB Used Space Space allocated to NAS volumes and is in use GB Used by snapsh...

Page 86: ...e Active Remote Replication Jobs page enables you to monitor all active tasks jobs in the cluster In addition you can view the list of job histories all non active jobs that were executed on the cluster since the last installation To monitor and view jobs choose Monitor NAS Replication The Active Remote Replication Jobs page is displayed Remote Replication Report The Remote Replication Report page...

Page 87: ...Event Viewer in the Admin tabs to access the Event Viewer page 2 Choose an existing query or create a query by clicking Filter in the Action bar The following are the default predefined queries Current Displays the most recent events Major Critical Displays the events most crucial to the functioning of the system Remote Replication Displays events related to backup of data When you click on a spec...

Page 88: ...ndatory 3 From the in drop down list select All to search all Event Viewer columns Alternatively select a specific column to search only that column 4 From the Direction option select Up or Down to search either up or down the column s 5 Select the Match case check box if you would like your search to be case sensitive Table 5 1 Event Viewer Field Description Event ID The identification of event S...

Page 89: ...500 log database according to these queries to monitor your PowerVault NX3500 system To define queries in the Action bar of the Event Viewer page click Filter You can modify rename or delete existing queries by selecting the specific query and clicking the right mouse button The Create Query page includes the following tabs Display Provides filtering capabilities For more information see the Onlin...

Page 90: ...90 Monitoring PowerVault NX3500 Events ...

Page 91: ... NAS volume consuming the entire NAS Pool or multiple NAS volumes In either case you can create resize or delete these NAS volumes This section describes how an administrator allocates and deploys NX3500 storage using NAS volumes In order to make NAS volumes available to users they must be shared exported separately Users need to specifically mount each share Field Description NAS Volumes Configur...

Page 92: ... Pool After Volume 2 Volume 1 Volume 0 NTFS security style for Windows clients Snapshots twice a day No backup Quota limits per user UNIX security style for UNIX clients No snapshots Backup No Quota limits Mixed security style for most clients Snapshots one per hour Backup Quota limits ...

Page 93: ...l storage capacity A single volume can occupy data of various types by defining multiple shares on the volumes You can resize a virtual volume after creating it The minimum size of a NAS volume is 20MB or if the volume has already been used the minimum size is the stored data The maximum size of a NAS volume is the remaining unallocated space Business requirements A company or application requirem...

Page 94: ...on demand Solution 1 Create five NAS volumes based on the departments The administrator logically breaks up the storage and the management into functional groups In this scenario the departmental requirements are quite different and supports the design to logically create NAS volumes along department lines Table 6 2 NAS Volume Example Department Preferred Access Management Control Snapshots Replic...

Page 95: ...lowing disadvantages All files in a NAS volume are backed up Unwanted services may be provided to certain departments If a CIFS volume is created to backup data for the administration and finance departments the press and legal departments will also get backups even though they do not require it Solution 3 NAS volumes can also be created based on the feature The disadvantage of this solution is th...

Page 96: ...lable space in Dell PowerVault NX3500 maximum NOTE NFS Exports CIFS Shares NAS Replication or any reference to the NAS volume to be deleted must be removed before successful deletion of a NAS volume Removing a NAS Volume To remove a NAS volume 1 Ensure that the NAS volume is not mounted and warn relevant users they will be disconnected 2 Select the specific NAS volume in the NAS volumes list and c...

Page 97: ...ault NX3500 To add an NFS export 1 Click Add on the Action bar The Add NFS Export page is displayed It consists of two tabs General and Advanced 2 Enter the new export properties and click Save Changes to save the export parameters NOTE Click Revert to restore the default parameters Modifying an NFS Export To modify the parameters of a specific NFS Export in the NFS Exports list 1 Select the NFS E...

Page 98: ...e recommended parameters It is possible to change the protocol from tcp to udp and the NFS version from 3 to 2 To allow a UDP connection you can configure the firewall settings in two primary ways Adjust the firewall settings so that the source IP address comes from either of the two controllers and not the client VIP Open the port range for UDP to allow ports as follows For TCP connections no spe...

Page 99: ...lected the option Files should be checked for viruses click Antivirus and define the antivirus policy 6 Click Save Changes to save the share parameters NOTE Click Revert to restore default parameters NOTE Do not attempt to create a CIFS share using the Microsoft Management Console MMC Use MMC only to set share level permissions SLPs See Setting Access Control Lists and Share Level Permissions on F...

Page 100: ...ministrator Account A built in local CIFS storage administrator account serves the primary purpose of setting ownership of the CIFS share The account can also be used to set ACLs when the NAS service is not joined to an Active Directory domain This built in account has a randomly generated password for security purposes You must change this password before attempting to set any ACLs or SLPs Active...

Page 101: ...as the rights to set ACLs 6 Ensure that Replace owner on subcontainers and objects is selected and click Apply 7 Click Ok and return to the Advanced Security Settings window You can now select the Permissions tab and follow Microsoft best practices to assign ACL permissions to users and groups accordingly NOTE If you have both CIFS shares and NFS shares defined on the same NAS volume you will see ...

Page 102: ...irectory domain the built in CIFS administrator account Administrator must be used to set any ACLs To define SLPs use MMC NOTE Do not attempt to create a CIFS share using Microsoft Management Console MMC Access Using CIFS Mapping From Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows offers several methods to connect to CIFS shares To map from Windows select one of the following options Option 1 Open a Command ...

Page 103: ...ng the Microsoft Management Console MMC Administrators can use a predefined MMC file msc from Windows Server 2000 2003 2008 start menu and add a shared folder snap in to connect to PowerVault NX3500 cluster The MMC does not let you chose which user to connect with to a remote computer By default it will use the user logged on to the machine to form the connection To use the correct user in the MMC...

Page 104: ...hare Permission tab Removing a CIFS Share To remove a CIFS share 1 Select the check box next to the CIFS share that you want to remove 2 Click Delete in the Action Bar NOTE Removing a CIFS share does not remove the files and folders To understand how to manage this optimally see Setting Access Control Lists and Share Level Permissions on FluidFS on page 100 Resetting Local Administrator Password N...

Page 105: ...add edit or delete a specific user or group quota choose User Access Quota User Group The User Group Quota page is displayed with a drop down dialog for each volume User Group specific quotas override default quotas All quota rules are applied only to the specific NAS volume selected Table 6 3 Default Quotas Field Description NAS volume The NAS volume to set a default quota rule Default quota per ...

Page 106: ...uota type and fill in the relevant entries where required 3 Click Save Changes to save the new quota definition 4 Click Revert to restore the default parameters Modifying a Quota To modify an existing quota 1 Click the specific Group User in the User Group Quota page The Edit Quota page is displayed 2 Modify the quota rules as desired and click Save Changes Deleting a Quota To delete a quota rule ...

Page 107: ...protect your data against virus attacks Table 7 1 Data Protection Options Field Description SnapShots Policies Allows you to view or modify the snapshot policy and schedule of a NAS volume List Displays the snapshots for the NAS volumes Restore Allows you to restore a NAS volume to its exact contents when a snapshot was taken Replication Replication Partners Displays the trusted systems defined as...

Page 108: ... can be used to replicate volumes on the same PowerVault NX3500 system see Figure 7 1 or a volume on another PowerVault NX3500 system see Figure 7 2 When replicating a volume to another PowerVault NX3500 system the other system must be setup as a replication partner Once a partner relationship is established replication is bi directional One system could hold target volumes for the other system as...

Page 109: ...ure 7 2 Partner Replication Activating Replication After purchasing a key customers can activate replication using the following syntax system general licensing set replication XXXXXXX Source Volume RW Target Volume RO Target Volume RO Source Volume RW LAN or Client Network ...

Page 110: ...te access the NAS Manager or the CLI A schedule can be set to hourly daily or weekly intervals You can also choose to replicate a volume on demand Since replication may slow down client traffic it is recommended to stagger the replication schedules or set the replication time during a time when the system is not under heavy load When a policy is active the target volume is read only to all clients...

Page 111: ...es back up the replication partner must be deleted from that system If both systems are up the replication partner is deleted on both systems From the NAS Manager navigate to Data Protection Replication Replication Partners Select the check box next to the relevant Replication Partner Name and click Delete Managing Snapshots Snapshots Snapshot technology creates a point in time backup of the data ...

Page 112: ...ng the appropriate NAS volume from the dropdown menu There are several options on this page Alert Administrator Sends an alert to the administrator when the snapshot space reaches a certain percentage of the total volume size Periodic Hourly Daily or Weekly These options can be combined to set particular schedules Also each option has a number of snapshots to keep Therefore it is advised to keep t...

Page 113: ...reation and copy the file to its original location This method is useful for the day to day restore activities of individual files Restoring a NAS Volume from a Snapshot If you need to restore an entire volume in case of application error or virus attacks where copy and paste of huge amounts of data takes a lot of time the entire NAS Volume can be restored Restoring a NAS Volume From a Snapshot 1 ...

Page 114: ... data can be backed up and restored using an industry standard Data Management Application DMA that supports NDMP protocol without needing to install vendor specific agents on the NAS appliance In order to perform backup and restore operations a DMA needs to be configured to be able to access the NAS appliance using the LAN or client network PowerVault NX3500 does not use a dedicated address for b...

Page 115: ...Protecting Data on PowerVault NX3500 115 Figure 7 3 Backing Up and Restoring Data Peer Connection Internal Network A Client Network Management Connection From MD Array iSCSI Network Internal Network B ...

Page 116: ...s and perform restores The PowerVault NX3500 NAS system provides a generic user interface to enable the NDMP agent and is programmed to work independent of the installed NDMP agent Supported Applications The PowerVault NX3500 is certified to work with the following DMAs Symantec BackupExec 2010R3 Symantec NetBackup 7 0 or later CommVault Simpana 9 0 or later Enabling NDMP Support To enable NDMP su...

Page 117: ...cation server must be included in the whitelist of the DMA servers To add a DMA server to the list 1 Click Data Protection NDMP NDMP Configuration 2 Type the IP address of the DMA server in the empty DMA Server field DNS names are not supported 3 Click Save Changes 4 If no empty fields are available click Add DMA Server button on the Action tab and go to step 2 To remove a DMA server from the list...

Page 118: ...der Data Protection NDMP or Monitor NDMP For each session the following information is displayed Session ID The unique identifier for this session Initiator DMA DMA IP address that initiated this session Controller Which controller is processing the session Started On Timestamp of session creation Path What path is being backed up or restored by the session Job Type Type of a session Valid types a...

Page 119: ...ake sure the DMA server has enough bandwidth Using Antivirus Applications Overview Dell PowerVault NX3500 contains integration with industry standard ICAP enabled antivirus software to ensure files written from CIFS clients are virus free Supported Applications The antivirus host must run Symantec ScanEngine 5 2 which is ICAP enabled Adding Antivirus Hosts To enable the Antivirus option 1 Click Da...

Page 120: ...hare you would like to enable AV support for 3 Select Files should be checked for viruses at the bottom of the page 4 Click the Antivirus link that is displayed on top of the page next to General and Advanced 5 Configure the behavior for handling virus infected files Optional 6 Configure which files should be checked for viruses Optional 7 Configure the exclusion list Optional 8 Click Save Changes...

Page 121: ...stem name Administrators Allows you to add delete and remove locks on administrators Time Configuration Allows you to define the time zone the NTP server and the current date and time Network Network Configuration Allows you to define the IP address of your default gateway LAN or Client MTU and load balancing method Subnets Allows you to add edit and delete subnets Client Connections Displays conn...

Page 122: ...e and maximum time to wait SNMP Configuration Allows you to define system contact system location read community trap recipient and minimum trap severity Maintenance System Stop Start Allows you to start stop or perform an orderly shutdown of system Restore NAS Volume Configuration Allows you to restore the NAS volume configuration after selecting which parameters should be restored Restore System...

Page 123: ...enable load balancing between these IP addresses NOTE All the virtual IP addresses must be valid IP addresses on the networks allocated by the site system administrator The Subnets page also lets you update the IP address ranges used internally by the system for management and interconnect purposes You can view the current configuration of the system subnets add new subnet information and remove o...

Page 124: ... the selected subnet are displayed 2 Change the parameters as required 3 Click Save Changes to save the NAS volume parameters or click Revert to restore the previously saved properties NOTE You cannot rename the Primary subnet or any internal subnet Interconnect and Management If you need to update the IP addresses of an internal subnet you must stop the file system before editing the desired IP a...

Page 125: ... View only The permission level defines the set of actions that are allowed by the user at this level To add an administrator 1 Click Add in the Actions bar to add an administrator to the list 2 Click Filters to define filter rules for SNMP traps 3 Define the minimum trap severity that is sent for various categories of traps The default option is to send major traps for all categories 4 Click Save...

Page 126: ...changes Hardware and Replication Each alert specifies its severity either major or informative To define the types of e mail alerts an administrator can receive 1 From the User Name column in the Administrator list select the administrator whose properties you want to modify The properties of the selected administrator are displayed 2 Select the Filters tab 3 For each topic set the minimum severit...

Page 127: ...ase 2 Select Users are not defined in an external user database 3 For CIFS users select System Management Protocols CIFS Configuration 4 In the CIFS Protocol Configuration page define the Authentication mode to be Authenticate users via local users database 5 To manage the Local Users list select System Management Authentication Local Users Adding Local Users To add local users 1 With the Local Us...

Page 128: ...rd in the Action bar The Change Password dialog box is displayed 2 Enter your NAS Manager password 3 Enter the new password twice New password or Retype password 4 Click Save Changes to save the new password Managing Local Groups If your site is configured with external NIS database you can skip this section You should only define local groups in case you have very few Linux UNIX end users who req...

Page 129: ...displayed 2 Fill in the relevant entries where required 3 Click Save Changes to save the new group which is then displayed in the Local Groups list NOTE Click Revert to restore the previously saved parameters Modifying a Local Group To modify a local group 1 Click the specific Group Name in the Local Groups list The Edit Group page is displayed 2 Modify the Group ID as required Deleting a Local Gr...

Page 130: ...t Database An Identity Management Database allows the system to authenticate and manage user level access control This database is responsible for managing the users and their passwords the groups and the relationship between users and groups If the system belongs to an Active Directory domain then it also serves as an identity management database You can define additional UNIX databases if needed...

Page 131: ... NIS server s 7 Click OK when prompted to accept the changes 8 Click Save Changes to save the configuration NOTE Click Revert to restore the previous configuration settings Enabling User Authentication Through an LDAP Database To enable user authentication 1 Click System Management Authentication Identity Management Database 2 Click Users and groups are defined in an LDAP database Set the LDAP ser...

Page 132: ...is information available for administrators and users to find and apply Using the active directory users can access resources anywhere on the network with a single logon Similarly administrators have a single point of administration for all objects on the network which can be viewed in a hierarchical structure The Active Directory entry allows you to configure the active directory settings and set...

Page 133: ...you need to define an IP address your clients can access It is recommended to also add this IP address to your DNS server so that clients can access the system via a name in addition to an IP address NOTE The Client Access VIP is configured during initial configuration using the PowerVault NX3500 Configuration Utility You can see the address you configured by going to the NAS Manager System Manage...

Page 134: ...garding DNS configuration Belongs to some of the LAN or Client subnets in which case some clients are flat and some are routed In such network configurations it is recommended to use both methods described above and inform the users about the VIPs they need to use depending on whether they are flat or routed It is recommended to define an entry in the DNS for every subnet that the system belongs t...

Page 135: ...work Configuration Consider the above network there can be only one default gateway for the system Let us assume you select router X Router X Subnet X Subnet Y Router Y Subnet Z Router Z Switch PowerVault NX3500 Controllers MD Storage Arrays Dell BPS ...

Page 136: ...rmance needs See Managing Static Routes on page 137 Configuring DNS Domain Name System DNS is the name resolution service that enables users to locate computers on a network or on the Internet TCP IP network by using the domain name The DNS server maintains a database of domain names host names and their corresponding IP addresses providing name to address and address to name resolution services o...

Page 137: ...multiple direct paths from PowerVault NX3500 to various routers Select System Management Network Management Static Routes The Static Routes List page is displayed displaying the list of currently defined static routes Adding Static Routes When defining a static route you must specify the subnet properties and the gateway through which to access this subnet When the Static Routes List page is displ...

Page 138: ...t the system level Configuring CIFS Parameters The CIFS Protocol Configuration enables Windows users to connect to the PowerVault NX3500 system You can also enable Linux users to access the system using the CIFS protocol and authenticate them through NIS LDAP or the PowerVault NX3500 local users Configuring General CIFS Parameters In the General tab you can choose whether you want the users to be ...

Page 139: ...tabase 6 Click Save Changes to save the CIFS configuration parameters This restarts all user connections To deny users from accessing files using the CIFS protocol 1 Select System Management Protocols CIFS Configuration 2 Click General 3 Clear the Allow clients to access files via the CIFS protocol check box 4 Click Save Changes to save the CIFS configuration parameters This restarts all user conn...

Page 140: ...he Time Zone To change the time zone 1 Click System Management General Time Configuration 2 Select the correct time zone for the region that the cluster is located in from the Time zone list 3 Click Save Changes Manually Configuring the Current Date and Time If your environment does not include any time synchronization servers configure the current date and time manually Follow the steps below to ...

Page 141: ...s network configure it to synchronize with a local NTP server if such a server exists or with an NTP server on the Internet However if the system is part of a windows network the AD can serve as the NTP server To configure the PowerVault NX3500 system to be synchronized with a local NTP server or an NTP server on the Internet 1 Click System Management General Time Configuration 2 Select Time shoul...

Page 142: ...142 Managing the PowerVault NX3500 ...

Page 143: ...he system 1 Open a web browser and connect to the NAS Management Virtual IP VIP address that was configured during the installation procedure 2 From the NAS Manager select System Management Maintenance System Stop Start 3 In the System action to perform list click Shutdown 4 Click Next 5 When prompted as to whether you want to continue with the shutdown procedure click OK The following message is ...

Page 144: ...n the two power supplies located at the back of the storage arrays Wait until the power controllers and disk LEDs have finished blinking and are steadily lit 2 MD storage arrays Turn on all the MD storage arrays by pressing the ON OFF switches on the two power supplies located at the rear of the units Wait until the power controllers and disk LEDs have finished blinking and are steadily lit 3 BPS ...

Page 145: ...ndows Explorer not Internet Explorer or any other FTP client utility NOTE The controller IP address you should use to FTP the service pack is displayed on the screen if you type service pack instructions Do not modify the name of the service pack in any way 3 After the upload is complete launch the CLI see Accessing the CLI on page 196 and run the following command service pack start Parameter s s...

Page 146: ...ecting the services to the clients However the process occurs over a period depending on the total number of the existing and added LUNs the total storage capacity and system workload You can add additional LUNs from the storage capacity that is already available on your storage array to the PowerVault NX3500 system Prerequisites This procedure requires a management workstation with the following ...

Page 147: ...take a few minutes to display It will run iSCSI discovery for all Virtual Disks LUNs allocated to the PowerVault NX3500 system Each LUN can be identified using its world wide name In the NAS Manager the world wide name of a LUN is prefixed by Dell FluidFS The unique set of numbers and characters following the prefix is the world wide name On the Modular Disk Storage Manager MDSM check that the pro...

Page 148: ...eDiagnostic NetworkDiagnostic ProtocolsDiagnostic FileSystemDiagnostic GeneralSystemDiagnostic To run any of these options 1 Using an SSH client log on to the PowerVault NX3500 CLI using the NAS Management VIP as admin 2 From the CLI run the diagnostic command diag start one of the five options For example diag start PerformanceDiagnostic To retrieve the diagnostic file 1 Use an ftp client after t...

Page 149: ...el processor based This tool complements Dell 32 Bit Diagnostics tests and helps provide complete comprehensive diagnostics on the controller in a pre operating system environment Dell Diagnostics Unlike many diagnostic programs the Dell Diagnostics helps you check your computer s hardware without any additional equipment and without destroying any data If you find a problem you cannot solve by yo...

Page 150: ...e you perform the following procedure To reinstall the PowerVault NX3500 software 1 Insert the Dell PowerVault Resource media into a powered down node The administrator is presented with the following warning message This operation will erase your current operating system configuration This operation cannot be reversed once initiated Please consult your documentation before proceeding Enter the fo...

Page 151: ... verified as failed if it is replaced with a new one The procedure for replacing a PowerVault NX3500 involves the following steps Detaching the controller Removing and replacing the controller Attaching the new controller Detaching the PowerVault NX3500 Controller In order to bring the cluster into the single controller mode you need to detach a controller while any hardware is being replaced This...

Page 152: ...ed controller the system adjusts in a manner that allows the connection of a new controller Removing and Replacing the PowerVault NX3500 Controller To remove and replace the PowerVault NX3500 controller 1 Disconnect all cables from the back of the controller 2 Remove the failed system from the rack 3 Install the new system in the rack 4 Connect all cables to the new system Ensure that the network ...

Page 153: ...anagement IP address and running the following command system maintenance controllers save conf controllerID This command saves the system configuration on the USB disk on key 2 Transfer the disk on key to the new controller and let it run until the message ready to be attached clusterized after it configures the network is displayed The process begins automatically NOTE Do not remove the USB key ...

Page 154: ...154 Maintaining the PowerVault NX3500 ...

Page 155: ...o antivirus host is available access to the file and to the whole share is inhibited Cause Since the antivirus hosts are not available on the PowerVault NX3500 system files cannot be opened on an antivirus enabled CIFS share Workaround Ensure that the problem appears only on antivirus enabled shares while clients accessing other shares do not experience such problems Check the status of the antivi...

Page 156: ...nt the same way you initially defined it In case you cannot redefine your ACLs since you currently do not have permissions perform the following steps a Restore the files from snapshots or backup b In the case you have migrated the data from different location using Robocopy application there is a good chance you can restore ACLs by copying only ACLs metadata instead of re copying the whole data c...

Page 157: ...Description CIFS client login failure Cause User supplied wrong password upon connection Workaround Interactive users can retry with correct password Applications and servers might need special attention as the user password which is usually set in a script or configuration file has probably expired Description CIFS client share access denied Cause The user is unknown in the Active Directory serve...

Page 158: ... may request to modify the file ACL to allow access Description CIFS file sharing conflict Cause When a file is opened using the CIFS protocol the opening application communicates the sharing mode that must be used while this file is open This sharing mode describes what other users activities are allowed on this file while it is open This definition is sent by the application and the user cannot ...

Page 159: ...h NAS controller is limited to 200 concurrent CIFS connections The system is in an optimal state and the number of CIFS clients accessing one of the controllers reaches the maximum In such a scenario consider adding NAS controllers The system is limited to two controllers The system is in optimal state but the clients are significantly unbalanced between NAS controllers In this case rebalance the ...

Page 160: ...red from a backup or remote replication During restore time the directory structure is not complete and a few directories may not exist Communicate the status and wait for the restore process to complete A client with an authorization to access a higher directory in the same path deleted or altered a directory which is mounted by another client If multiple users are accessing the same dataset it i...

Page 161: ...ile by mistake The user accesses the wrong system due to similarity in name IP The user is accessing a NAS container which was made a replication target without his knowledge Workaround In order to write to this volume replication must be detached first Refer the user to the correct location Description When attempting to mount an NFS export the mount command fails due to various reasons such as P...

Page 162: ...le system problems The mount command got through to the port mapper but the rpc mountd NFS mount daemon was not registered Client system s IP address IP range domain name or netgroup is not in the export list for the volume it is trying to mount from the PowerVault NX3500 server Either the remote path or the local path is not a directory The client does not have root authority or is not a member o...

Page 163: ...ailure Check the PowerVault NX3500 status Check the network connection by trying to NFS mount from some other system Verify if other users experience the same problem If the server is not responding due to the program not registered check if the port mapper on your client is up If the issue is due to access denied Get a list of the server exported file systems using the command showmount e NX3500 ...

Page 164: ...review the export name spelling in the relevant mount command on the client It is recommended to copy paste the export name from the showmount output to the mount command Description This event is issued when an NFS user does not have enough permissions for the file on a NAS container Cause File ownership is UID UNIX and the user is not privileged to access the file or file ownership is SID ACL an...

Page 165: ... e g the network is not public ensure that the export is insecure and retry accessing it Description This event is issued when NFS mount fails due to export options Cause The export list filters client access by IP network or netgroup and screens the accessing client Workaround 1 Verify the relevant export details Write down all existing options so that you are able to revert to them 2 Remove IP c...

Page 166: ...g the NAS from a client located in the same subnet as the NIS LDAP server b Try pinging the NIS LDAP server from a client located in the same subnet as the NAS If a packet loss is evident on one of the above resolve the network issues in the environment 3 Using a Linux client located in the same subnet as the NAS and configured to use the same directory server query the netgroup details from the N...

Page 167: ...d communicate the current status to the client and instruct the client to wait for the restore process to complete 2 In the other case there are three options a Restore the problematic path from a backup b Manually create the missing directories to enable the mount Clients receive errors when trying to access existing data in a deleted path c Remove the export and communicate this to the client 3 ...

Page 168: ...a simple normal state Workaround Inform the user s of the state of the NAS volume Description An NFS user tries to modify a file located in a snapshot Cause NAS volume snapshots cannot be modified by design Workaround Snapshot data cannot be modified A snapshot is an exact representation of the NAS volume data at the time of its creation Description User cannot access the NFS file or directory des...

Page 169: ...ation between the source and destination NAS volumes fails because the source and destination systems topologies are incompatible Cause The source and destination systems are incompatible for replication purposes Workaround Upgrade the PowerVault NX3500 which is down Description Replication between the source NAS volume and the destination NAS volume fails because the destination cluster is not av...

Page 170: ... because the destination NAS volume is down Cause Replication task fails since the file system of the destination NAS volume is down Workaround Administrators should check if the file system is down in the destination system using the monitoring section of the NAS Manager If the PowerVault NX3500 file system is not responding administrators should start the system on the destination cluster The re...

Page 171: ...ached from the NAS source volume Cause Replication task fails because the destination NAS volume was previously detached from the source NAS volume Workaround The administrators should perform the detach action on the NAS source volume If required reattach both NAS volumes in a replication relation Description Replication between the NAS source volume and the NAS destination volume fails because t...

Page 172: ...n Replication between the source and the destination NAS volumes fails due to an internal error Workaround Contact Dell to resolve this issue Description Replication between the NAS source volume and NAS destination volume fails because the jumbo frames are blocked over the network Cause Replication task fails because jumbo frames are blocked over the network Workaround The administrator should ve...

Page 173: ...rce volume and the NAS destination volume fails because the file system of source NAS volume is down Cause The file system of the source NAS volume is down Workaround Administrators should check if the PowerVault NX3500 is down in the source system by checking the monitoring section of the NAS Manager If the PowerVault NX3500 is down the administrators should start the system on the source cluster...

Page 174: ...owever when a group member consumes space the actual usage of the group does not grow and the group limitation is not enforced Cause The PowerVault NX3500 quota enforcement is performed based on the UID and GID of the file UNIX or the SID and the GSID of the primary group of the user NTFS if defined For Active Directory users the Primary Group setting is not mandatory and if not defined the used s...

Page 175: ...t of sync Workaround 1 Check the PowerVault NX3500 system event log in the NAS Manager for errors 2 Verify that the user is not disabled or locked in Active Directory 3 Verify that domain controllers are online and reachable using the network 4 Kerberos requires client server clocks to be in sync Verify the system time is in sync with the domain controller time and if required configure the NTP se...

Page 176: ...iple NAS systems are used ensure that you set different NETBIOS names The system defaults to CIFS Storage as the name 7 Ensure that you select Authenticate users identity via Active Directory and local users database Description BPS LED is solid amber with or without an audible alarm Cause Probable causes may be The BPS is running on battery power with the battery charge below 30 low battery condi...

Page 177: ...a firmware upgrade do not disconnect the ACin cable or USB cable on the BPS module If the BPS LED is in bootloader mode fast alternating pattern between green and amber 1 Verify that ACin cable is connected to the BPS 2 Verify that USB cable between the BPS module and NAS appliance controller is connected 3 Reboot the NAS appliance controller connected to the BPS Description BPS LED is blinking am...

Page 178: ...on the BPS by pressing the BPS power button 2 Verify if the BPS cables are connected properly and that the utility power matches the BPS specifications LV models require a 120 V input and HV models require a 208 V input Turn on BPS by pressing the BPS power button 3 If none of the above actions resolves the issue contact Dell technical support Description Every file on the NAS system is owned by e...

Page 179: ...ount 2 If the problem is related to a specific NAS volume a Verify there is enough free space on the NAS volume or expand it b Verify that the accessed NAS volume is not a target of a replication Description Both file owner and group owner must be from the same identity type UNIX vs NTFS An attempt to set different identity types was detected Cause It is impossible to change only the file owner id...

Page 180: ...ents 2 Use NFS based interfaces to access the PowerVault NX3500 For example from the NAGIOS Linux management system use the check_disk command instead of the check_disk_smb command Description New files created from ubuntu 7 x clients get the UID and GID of 4294967294 nfsnone Cause By default ubuntu 7 x nfs clients do not specify rpc credentials on their nfs calls As a result files created from th...

Page 181: ...3 Check server logs to see what causes the server not to respond to requests Description Users new or old accessing from specific network s cannot access the PowerVault NX3500 system Cause This issue is due to a conflict between the users subnet addresses and the NAS system internal network s address The NAS system routes the response packets to the wrong network Workaround 1 Check the internal ne...

Page 182: ...he correct DNS server 3 Contact DNS server administrator to verify the DNS record creation Description Determining the IQN of the PowerVault NX3500 controllers using CLI Workaround Using an ssh client and the NAS Management VIP log in to the PowerVault NX3500 solution CLI as an admin From the command line type the following command system maintenance luns iscsi configuration view Description The f...

Page 183: ...ields overall state service status servers status Information is been collected every 40 seconds Capacity Information is collected every 1800 seconds Current performance NFS CIFS Replication NDMP Network Information is collected every 40 seconds Recent performance the graph Information is collected every 60 seconds Load balancing CPU number of connections Information is collected every 40 seconds ...

Page 184: ...network path between the NAS system and the NTP server using ping for example Verify that the response time is in the millisecond range Description Unable to connect to the NAS Manager Cause Probable causes may be The user is attempting to connect using an incorrect IP address or is using the wrong system name The client computer s IP information is configured incorrectly The user is using an inco...

Page 185: ...Java script For information about enabling Java script see the browser s help If IE SEC is enabled disable it Description Taking and deleting snapshots fail Cause Probable causes may be There are many client I O requests waiting to be serviced including a request to remove a large directory There are many snapshot creation deletion requests being currently processed Another snapshot request for th...

Page 186: ...me Check the dashboard if the system is under heavy workload If the system is under a heavy workload wait until the workload decreases and reissue the snapshot request Check the snapshot schedule A very dense snapshot schedule has a negative impact on the overall performance of the system The accumulated snapshot rate should not exceed 20 snapshots per hour per system Check the total number of sna...

Page 187: ... the NAS Manager the Enabled check box should be checked In the NAS CLI type view and ensure that State is set to Enabled 4 If NDMP is not enabled enable it For more information see Backing Up and Restoring Data on page 114 5 Verify that backup application IP address is configured in NDMP On the NAS Manager the DMA server list should include the IP address of the backup application In the NAS CLI ...

Page 188: ...op and the controllers do not shutdown after 20 minutes Cause The system shutdown procedure is comprised of two separate processes Stopping the file system Powering down the PowerVault NX3500 controllers The file system may take a long time to clean the cache to the storage either due to lot of data or due to an intermittent connection to the storage During the powering down stage the issue could ...

Page 189: ...NIX Security style container Changing read only flag for a file in a UNIX Security style container Setting SID GSID ownership for a file on UNIX Security style container The NAS container security style should reflect the main protocol used to access its files Workaround If a user frequently needs to perform a cross protocol security related activity split the data into separate NAS containers bas...

Page 190: ...s To verify the controller IQNs 1 Compare if the iqns displayed in MDSM are the same as the ones under the Mappings tab in the hosts section in the NAS Manager 2 If there is a mismatch correct the IQNs used for the hosts in MDSM and try formatting the system The LUNs must be discovered and formatted If the issue is due to uneven number of LUNs 1 If an error is encountered verify that even number o...

Page 191: ...ent Maintenance Add Luns This page displays all LUNs that the PowerVault NX3500 cluster has access to assigned to the PowerVault NX3500 host group Each LUN can be identified using its world wide name In the NAS Manager web interface the LUN s world wide name is preceded by a prefix Open MDSM and go to the Logical tab and click Virtual Disk The virtual disk world wide identifier is displayed in the...

Page 192: ...rvice mode If the system is in service mode the NAS Configuration Utility should block users from any further action and guide them through exiting the utility If the failure is in the configuration NAS cluster page 1 Capture the failure message screenshot from the NAS Configuration Utility window during clusterization 2 Collect the cluster configuration file the NAS Configuration Utility log file...

Page 193: ... failed to install JAVA runtime environment is not properly installed Workaround Perform the following Determine if the NAS Configuration Utility installer completed successfully Check to see if the minimum of JRE1 4x is installed successfully On Microsoft Windows run java version from command console to display a valid JRE version On Linux run java version from terminal console to display a valid...

Page 194: ...194 Troubleshooting ...

Page 195: ...o view edit add delete enable disable and set PowerVault NX3500 entities such as exports shares volumes and accounts From the CLI you can enter a specific menu and then execute its commands as required The following commands are available throughout the system help lists the currently available menus or commands At any moment while using the CLI you can either type help or type to see the availabl...

Page 196: ...ss A Welcome window is displayed listing the installed software version and the available commands in the top level menu NOTE Tab completion is available type the first few characters of the command or menu name and press the Tab key The name is completed to the longest unambiguous sub string Press the Tab key again to see the available commands beginning with the given string For example to acces...

Page 197: ... on Thu Dec 23 07 38 45 IST 2010 Hello admin welcome to the NAS Manager command line interface version 1 0 366 CLI Menu Options The following menus and menu options are available with the PowerVault NX3500 Table 11 1 CLI Menu Options Menu Options data protection The data protection menu lets you set the backup and snapshot configuration to protect your data It includes the following menu items rep...

Page 198: ...uthentication lets you select the required NIS and LDAP settings configure the Active Directory manage users and groups and configure user mappings networking lets you configure a variety of network settings access The access menu lets you define quotas file system options and configure NAS volumes It includes the following menu items quota lets you set default and individual quotas for users and ...

Page 199: ...iew the connections to the system via CIFS protocol export data lets you create CSV comma separated values reports for over time analysis of performance load balancing and capacity system validation lets you validate the system configuration functionality wise hardware components lets you view the status of the controllers BPS devices and storage subsystems diags The diag menu lets you run general...

Page 200: ...200 Command Line Interface ...

Page 201: ...le is immediately converted to the appropriate Unicode representation by the PowerVault NX3500 system Unicode Client Support Overview Unicode clients may access Unicode directories and files natively while other non Unicode clients such as Windows 98 Windows ME Mac OS 9 x clients may gain access to the file system due to the PowerVault NX3500 systems ability to provide code page conversions of fil...

Page 202: ...e page to be used for all non Unicode Windows and DOS clients NOTE The web Interface provides full Unicode support To display and use Unicode data using the CLI a UTF 8 XTERM should be used Unicode Configuration Parameters The following configuration parameters may contain Unicode characters Table 12 1 Unicode Configuration Parameters Parameter Unicode Character CIFS Server description Home Shares...

Page 203: ...result is either be that these characters are not displayed or that these are substituted by other characters similar in shape Japanese Compatibility Issues Administrators using the CLI are able to enter Japanese characters in configuration parameters only through the web interface because XTERM applications such as KTERM does not enable you to use UTF 8 characters The following table details the ...

Page 204: ...al encoding UNIX code page Windows incompatible encoding is mapped to the appropriate UNIX Mac O S encoding on PowerVault NX3500 This ensures that in any case correct and incorrect characters are mapped correctly OVERLINE U FFE3 FULLWIDTH MICRON U FFE3 FULLWIDTH MICRON U 203E OVERLINE CENT SIGN U 00A2 CENT SIGN U FFE0 FULLWIDTH CENT SIGN U 00A2 CENT SIGN POUND SIGN U 00A3 POUND SIGN U FFE1 FULLWID...

Page 205: ...regular one time FluidFS snapshots 4 Who provides load balancing NDMP has no load balancing built in Single DMA backing up 10 volumes from single client VIP force all 10 sessions on the same node Use DNS round robin to provide load balancing by specifying a DNS name of your NAS appliance in the DMA 5 Why do I see ndmp_backup_xxxx_nodeX snapshot on my volume This is the snapshot taken by NDMP After...

Page 206: ...technology and other calculations to ensure the replicated virtual volume s data matches the source virtual volume data at the date and time a replication task was started Only the blocks that have been modified since the last replication task are transferred over the client network 2 How long does replication take This depends on the amount of data on the virtual volume and the amount of data tha...

Page 207: ...source volume to multiple target volumes 9 When I delete the replication policy I am asked if I want to apply the source volume configuration to the target volume configuration What does this mean This means that you have the option to transfer all virtual volume level properties security style quotas NFS exports CIFS shares and so on to the target volume You may want to do this if this virtual vo...

Page 208: ...208 Frequently Asked Questions ...

Page 209: ...a blown fuse intermittent battery connection or battery cable being disconnected If EBMs are attached this alarm does not trigger unless the EBMs are also disconnected since they are paralleled with the battery bus Beeping Reconnect the battery by following the steps in the Getting Started Guide Service battery A faulted battery string has been detected and as a result the battery charger has been...

Page 210: ...e load drops below 5 of the set point Beeping Contact Dell Output overload level L3 Load greater than level 3 threshold Alarm clears when the load drops below 5 of the set point Beeping Contact Dell Battery DC over voltage Battery voltage levels have exceeded the maximum allowable limits Beeping Contact Dell Inverter AC over voltage UPS has detected abnormally high inverter output voltage levels B...

Page 211: ... sinks has exceeded the maximum operating temperature defined by Hardware Beeping Contact Dell Fatal EEPROM fault Set in parallel with EEPROM Range Check Failure Incorrect Model EEPROM Map and EEPROM Checksum Failure alarms Continuous Contact Dell Fan failure UPS has detected that one or more fans are not functioning properly Continuous Contact Dell Table A 1 External Alarm Conditions continued Al...

Page 212: ...D to be 10 100 Alarm clears when the load drops below 5 of the set point Slow intermittent Contact Dell Battery test failed A weak battery string was detected during the last battery test Slow intermittent Replace the battery Contact Dell Input AC under voltage Utility RMS voltage less than minimum valid utility threshold Slow intermittent Check the utility power Input Under Over Frequency Utility...

Page 213: ...Recommendation NOTE The following cabling recommendation is applicable for existing MD Series implementations Figure B 1 Dedicated SAN Solution in the High Availability Option Controller 0 Controller 1 Client Switches MD32xx0i SAN Switches ...

Page 214: ...214 Cabling Recommendation ...

Page 215: ...s 69 C CIFS Parameters configuring 139 CIFS Shares adding 99 configuring level permissions 103 managing 99 modifying 99 removing 104 D Data backing up and restoring 114 replication 108 DMA Servers modifying list 117 DNS Domains adding 137 deleting 137 DNS Server adding 136 configuring 136 removing 136 E Event search 88 H Host Group 51 Hosts define 62 Host to Virtual Disk Mappings 52 ...

Page 216: ...ew 70 search bar 72 toolbar 71 web interface 64 NAS System Setup Worksheet completing 42 NAS Volumes 91 adding 96 managing 95 modifying 96 removing 96 usage considerations 93 NDMP changing password 117 design considerations 119 displaying active jobs 118 enabling support 116 terminating active job 118 NFS Exports managing 97 modifying 97 removing 98 NTP Server removing 141 P PowerVault NAS Configu...

Page 217: ...pshot adding or modifying policy 112 creating without a policy 112 deleting 113 Snapshots activating 112 managing 111 Static Route deleting 138 Static Routes adding 137 managing 137 modifying 137 System Requirements 30 T Topology Switch 30 Troubleshooting active directory issues 174 backup issues 185 BPS issues 176 CIFS issues 155 NAS configuration utility issues 192 NAS file access and permission...

Page 218: ...4 Index ...

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Dell PowerVault NX3500, Administrator'S Manual

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