Highly scalable enterprise file sync and share using Citrix ShareFile and IBM Spectrum Scale

Transcription

1 Highly scalable enterprise file sync and share using Citrix ShareFile and IBM Spectrum Scale A technical report Sandeep Zende IBM Systems ISV Enablement February 2016

2 Table of contents Abstract... 1 Scope... 1 Introduction... 1 Prerequisites... 2 IBM Spectrum Scale... 2 Citrix ShareFile (Enterprise Edition)... 3 Architecture... 5 Citrix components... 5 Control plane... 5 ShareFile StorageZones... 5 Customer-managed StorageZones... 6 StorageZones Controllers... 6 StorageZone Connectors... 6 IBM components... 6 IBM Spectrum Scale... 6 Citrix ShareFile configuration... 7 IBM Spectrum Scale... 7 Citrix ShareFile web console... 8 File synchronization Citrix ShareFile StorageZone Connector Summary Appendix A: Test environment Appendix B: Resources About the author Trademarks and special notices... 35

3 Abstract This white paper discusses the enterprise file sync and sharing service with on-premises storage using Citrix ShareFile and IBM Spectrum Scale. The paper provides step-by-step instructions to configure Citrix ShareFile to use the storage space provided by IBM Spectrum Scale and also describes file synchronization. Scope This technical report: Discusses the solution architecture, configuration, and the solution validation of Citrix ShareFile and IBM Spectrum Scale. This technical report does not: Discuss the installation and basic configuration of IBM Spectrum Scale and Citrix ShareFile. Replace any already available document that is related to IBM Spectrum Scale and Citrix ShareFile. Introduction Every organization needs a secure way to store, share, and sync data to any device, and from anywhere for their mobile workforce. More and more employees are mobile, and secure access to business data is a must. Businesses must keep up with these new requirements. A mobile workforce means higher productivity, but it can also mean higher risks including: the risk of lost or stolen data, risk of IP loss, and even violation of regulatory rules and data sovereignty. Business data is at risk or can be lost when employees use personal online file sharing accounts, such as Dropbox, Google Drive, icloud, SugarSync and Box because there are no enterprise security features in place when these services are used. IT no longer has control of what data is being accessed, stored, or shared. Enterprises need to be able to runs reports and data audits to track and log user activity to meet corporate data policies and compliance requirements. To protect and gain control over data, organizations are turning to enterprise file synchronization and sharing services with robust security features combined with flexible storage options. Citrix ShareFile, a secure data sync and sharing service with flexible storage options allows IT to mobilize all enterprise data. ShareFile enables mobile productivity with read/write access to data, workflows, and collaboration. It also allows users to securely share files with anyone and sync files across all of their devices. With ShareFile, IT gains the flexibility to store data in the most optimal locations to meet compliance and data sovereignty requirements and provide mobile access to network shares, SharePoint, OneDrive for Business, and any Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system. ShareFile delivers an intuitive experience for users, while providing IT with the required security and control. A broad range of storage options from Citrix ShareFile enables businesses to specify the location for storing their data. Data can be stored in the cloud, on-premises, and even a hybrid option that uses a mix of both. IBM Spectrum Scale provides the perfect on-premises storage solution for Citrix ShareFile. IBM 1

4 Spectrum Scale has been optimized with Citrix ShareFile to address specific use cases and sizing guidelines. Citrix ShareFile and IBM Spectrum Scale together can provide market-leading enterprise file sync and sharing, secure IT oversight of business data with flexible, and extremely scalable and efficient storage. Customers can benefit from a fully validated, tested, and proven solution when they turn to ShareFile and IBM. The two products together, protect valuable data while delivering simplified data management. IBM and Citrix ShareFile can support reliable and efficient scalability on a budget. Prerequisites To successfully implement an enterprise file sync and share solution, the reader needs to have familiarity with several technologies in addition to the following prerequisites. Technology skills prerequisites IBM Spectrum Scale management Citrix ShareFile enterprise file sync and sharing service Implementation prerequisites IBM Spectrum Scale configured and operational Citrix ShareFile StorageZones Controller installed on-premises IBM Spectrum Scale IBM Spectrum Scale is a software-defined storage for high performance, large scale workloads onpremises, or in the cloud. Built on the award winning IBM General Parallel File System (IBM GPFS ), this scale-out storage solution provides file, object, and integrated data analytics for: Compute clusters (technical computing) Big data and analytics Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) Private cloud Content repositories The Spectrum Scale GUI, simplified data management and integrated information lifecycle tools can manage petabytes of data and billions of files, enabling you to control the cost of skyrocketing data growth. 2

5 IBM Spectrum Scale: Provides extreme scalability for data, metadata, and flash. Reduces storage costs up to 90 percent with automatic policy-based storage tiering from flash through disk to tape. Improves security and management efficiency in cloud, big data, and analytics environments. Spectrum Scale enjoys highly differentiated value. It scales virtually limitless to nine quintillion files and yottabytes of data. It provides high performance, over 400 GBps, and simultaneous access to a common set of shared data. Software-defined storage enables you to build your infrastructure your way. o o o o It is easy to scale with relatively inexpensive commodity hardware while maintaining world-class storage management capabilities. You can use any combination of flash, spinning disk, and tape. You can use various cluster models that include storage area networks (SANs), Network Shared Disk (NSD), and shared nothing clusters. It is possible to add more storage capacity without affecting the application to greatly simplify administration. Integrated information lifecycle management (ILM) tools can automatically move data based on policies. This can dramatically reduce operational costs as fewer administers can manage larger storage infrastructures. It provides global data access across geographic distances and unreliable WAN connections. It has proven to be reliable with use in the most demanding commercial applications. It can protect data from most security breaches, unauthorized access, or being lost, stolen, or improperly discarded with native file encryption for data at rest and secure erase. Spectrum Scale is intended to be used by diverse workloads where performance, reliability, and availability of data are essential to the business. Spectrum Scale is being used extensively for many years across multiple industries worldwide for many of the world s most demanding data-intensive industries. Citrix ShareFile (Enterprise Edition) ShareFile is a secure enterprise file sync and sharing service that meets the mobility and collaboration needs of users and the data security requirements of the enterprise. It provides users true enterprise-class data services across all corporate and personal mobile devices, while giving IT all the control it needs. Users can access, sync, and securely share files from any device with people both inside and outside the organization for easy collaboration and enhanced productivity. Offline access keeps productivity up even when on-the-go. 3

6 ShareFile can be fully integrated with existing security infrastructure and policies. Integrate ShareFile with existing data loss prevention (DLP) systems to restrict data sharing on files that violate company policies. Integration with Microsoft Windows Explorer, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Office 365, and Mac OS Finder makes it simple and intuitive for users to share, open, and edit documents within the context of their existing workflow. Citrix offers an enterprise file sync and sharing solution and a stand-alone service, integrated with a comprehensive enterprise mobility management or mobile workspace suite and is optimized for virtual desktop environments. ShareFile is a cloud-based file sharing service that enables users to easily and securely exchange documents. ShareFile enables users to send large documents by , securely handle document transfers to third parties, and access a collaboration space from desktops or mobile devices. ShareFile provides users with a variety of ways to work, including a web-based interface, mobile clients, desktop tools, and integration with Microsoft Outlook. Unlike unsecure consumer-style apps and other lightweight tools, ShareFile is designed for business, providing a robust, mobile-optimized feature set to support the way people work today. IT can store enterprise data in the most optimal locations in the cloud, on-premises, or a hybrid of both and connect seamlessly to existing data sources such as Common Internet File System (CIFS) shares, Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft Office 365 (SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business) or any other ECM system with the StorageZone Connectors SDK. Organizations have the flexibility to choose the location for storing their data. It can be on-premises, in the cloud, or a combination of both to meet their specific requirements for data sovereignty, compliance, performance, and costs. StorageZones enable optimal user performance by allowing IT to store data in close proximity to the user. With customer-managed StorageZones, IT can store data in the organization s data center or in Microsoft Azure or Amazon S3 data centers. ShareFile Enterprise Edition is offered as a stand-alone service, as part of an enterprise mobility management solution with XenMobile, and as part of a software-defined workspace with Citrix Workspace Suite. Integration with XenMobile helps to deliver a rich user experience with Citrix-developed apps, including WorxMail for secure mobile , calendar, and contact access; and WorxWeb for secure browsing. Integration with Workspace Suite delivers secure access to mobile and virtual apps, desktops, and file sync and sharing services from any device, over any network to empower mobile workers with the freedom and flexibility to choose how they work. 4

7 Architecture This section discusses the architecture and the components of the Citrix ShareFile solution. Figure 1 shows a high-level graphical representation of the connectivity and flow between the different components of the enterprise file sync and share solution. Figure 1: Citrix ShareFile and IBM Spectrum Scale configuration Citrix components The different components of Citrix ShareFile involved in the solution are discussed in this section. Control plane The control plane performs functions such as user authentication, access control, reporting, and brokering. The control plane is hosted in Citrix data centers and are managed by Citrix as a service. In the example shown in Figure 1, ibm.sharefile.com is the domain created by Citrix to deliver the control plane for this specific solution. ShareFile StorageZones ShareFile StorageZones allow IT administrators to specify the location to store their corporate data. Administrators can choose Citrix-managed secure cloud storage options and customer-managed 5

8 StorageZones to use their storage infrastructure, whether on-premises or in cloud-based object storage. Customer-managed StorageZones With customer-managed StorageZones, IT can place data in the organization s own data center to help meet unique data sovereignty and compliance requirements. StorageZones Controllers The main component in a customer-managed StorageZone is the StorageZones Controller server. The StorageZones Controller software is a web service installed on a Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2012 R2 server and is used to enable StorageZone Connectors and handle all the HTTPS operations from users and the control subsystem. In essence, it is a web-based frontend to the StorageZone storage repository. Citrix recommends using a dedicated server or virtual machine for the StorageZones Controller server due to the high demands placed on these servers during peak usage. StorageZone Connectors With the StorageZone Connectors feature, mobile users can connect from ios or Android phones or tablets to ShareFile data, existing CIFS network shares, SharePoint document libraries, OneDrive for Business, ECM systems, and other data repositories. Further, the mobile editing capabilities in the ShareFile application helps mobile users achieve high productivity while on the go. IBM components This section explains the role of IBM Spectrum Scale in the solution. IBM Spectrum Scale To implement customer-managed StorageZone, IT can place data in the customer-managed data center or a customer-managed account in Microsoft Azure or Amazon S3. For deployments where customers choose to deploy a StorageZone on-premises, IBM Spectrum Scale provides a great option for file storage. In the example shown in Figure 1, a Server Message Block (SMB) share smbexport is created using the folder /ibm/citrixfs/citrix_fset/share. This share is used as a storage space for customer-managed StorageZone in Citrix ShareFile. Citrix ShareFile, using its network share connectors, also allows to use the existing SMB shares to be accessed by ShareFile clients and this is where IBM Spectrum Scale differentiates itself by also allowing the same share to be accessed by other protocols such as Network File System (NFS) and RESTful application programming interfaces (APIs). In Figure 1, the /ibm/citrix-conn-fs/citrix-conn_fset folder is shared using the SMB protocol and is configured for ShareFile connector and accessed by the ShareFile clients. 6

9 Citrix ShareFile configuration Following are the key requirements to be completed for setting up customer-managed StorageZones. Install Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 or Windows Server 2012R2. Use a publicly resolvable Internet host name (not an IP address). Enable the web server (Internet Information Services) role. Enable the ASP.NET and basic authentication Internet Information Services (IIS) role services. Install ASP.NET 4.5. Enable Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) for communications with ShareFile. If you are not using DMZ proxy servers, install a public SSL certificate on the IIS service. Use an SSL certificate from a commercially trusted certificate authority. ShareFile does not support self-signed or unsigned certificates. Use a CIFS share for private data storage. If you plan to store ShareFile files in a Windows Azure or Amazon S3 storage container, the CIFS share is used for temporary files (encryption keys, queued files) and as a temporary storage cache. For step-by-step details, refer to: The following sections explain the post-installation configuration of Citrix ShareFile. IBM Spectrum Scale The following configuration is required on Spectrum Scale. 1. A Cluster Export Services (CES) IP address is configured on the Protocol node in the Spectrum Scale cluster which will be used to export network shares using the SMB protocol. Run the mmlscluser ces command to verify the details as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2: Cluster Export Services 7

10 As shown in Figure 3, a file system, citrixfs, is created in IBM Spectrum Scale. Figure 3: File systems A folder share is created in the /ibm/citrixfs file systemand the ownership of the same is changed to the AD user, IIC\ss-admin. Figure 4: Shared Folder 2. Create an SMB export named, smbexport using the folder share, as shown in Figure 5. Figure 5: Create SMB export 3. List the SMB exports, as shown in Figure 6. Figure 6: List SMB exports Citrix ShareFile web console 1. Below are the steps to configure Citrix ShareFile.Verify the details of the administrator account and the features enabled for the account by logging in to ibm.sharefile.com. Click the administrator in the users list (in the Manage Users tab) and verify the features available to the administrator. Confirm that this user can create connectors. 8

11 Figure 7: Admin account 2. On the Citrix StorageZones Controller, open the Citrix ShareFile configuration page by clicking the shortcut in the Windows application, as shown in Figure 8. Figure 8: Citrix ShareFile StorageZones Controller configuration shortcut 9

12 3. Log in with the ShareFile administrator account and subdomain, ibm.sharefile.com. Figure 9: Citrix ShareFile StorageZones Controller login 4. Enter the required StorageZone setup details, as shown in Figure 10. Figure 10: StorageZone setup 10

13 5. Select the Enable StorageZones for ShareFile Data check box. The storage repository should be Local network share and enter the network share information. Figure 11: Network share configuration 11

14 6. Enable the StorageZone Connectors by selecting the relevant check boxes and enter the passphrase and click Register. Figure 12: StorageZone Connectors 12

15 7. The message indicating that StorageZone has been configured successfully is displayed, as shown in Figure 13. Figure 13: StorageZone information 13

16 8. Click the Monitoring tab to further verify the configuration. All the rows show a green tick mark except one which is the configuration related to Microsoft Azure object storage. It shows a yellow icon because in this example, the public cloud Microsoft Azure is not used. Figure 14: StorageZones Controller status 14

17 File synchronization Perform the following steps for file upload and synchronization using Citrix ShareFile. 1. After Citrix ShareFile StorageZones Controller is successfully configured, log in to ibm.sharefile.com and verify the configuration. Figure 15: Files and folders 15

18 2. Click the Admin tab and then click Storage Zones in the left pane. You can see the zone IIC_LAB_Zone created on StorageZones Controller. Figure 16: Storage Zones 16

19 3. Click IIC_LAB_Zone to verify the zone details, as shown in Figure 17. Figure 17: Zone details 17

20 4. You need to create a shared folder that can be shared with the other users. Click the Home tab, and then click Shared Folders. Then click Create Folder, as shown in Figure 18. Figure 18: Shared folders 5. Enter a name for the folder and select the zone in which you want to create this folder. Figure 19: Create a folder 18

21 6. As shown in Figure 20, a folder, named ShareFileTest, is created. Click Upload Files to upload a file. Figure 20: Folder created 7. Either browse or drag a file to select the file for upload. When successfully uploaded, you can find the file listed in the ShareFileTest folder. Figure 21: List folder 19

22 8. Verify the synchronization from Citrix ShareFile for mobile. After logging in, click Shared Folders and then click the ShareFileTest folder, as shown in Figure 22. Figure 22: Shared folder 20

23 9. Verify that the file Sunset.jpg is synchronized. Click the file to see the details. Figure 23: ShareFileTest content 10. Click the image icon to open or read the image. Figure 24: File details 21

24 11. The file will be downloaded and opened on the mobile device. Figure 25: Read file 12. ShareFile also provides an in-built editor to create a file which can be saved and synchronized. Click the plus (+) icon (as shown in Figure 26) to see the options available to create files. 22

25 Figure 26: Additional functions 13. There are multiple options as shown in Figure 27. Click Create File. Figure 27: Options 23

26 14. Click Document to create a text document. Figure 28: Create file 15. Enter the data in the document as shown in Figure 29. Figure 29: Edit document 24

27 16. Click Save as to save the file. Figure 30: Save document 17. Provide a name to the file and click Upload to upload the file. Figure 31: Enter a name for the document 25

28 The file, Mobile.docx, appears in the uploaded files list. Figure 32: Files list The same file can be seen from the ShareFile web client. Figure 33: Files list on the ShareFile web console 26

29 Citrix ShareFile StorageZone Connector Citrix ShareFile StorageZone Connectors help to access the files in the existing CIFS shares, SharePoint libraries, OneDrive for Business, ECM systems, and other data repositories. In the example shown in this section, you can find the steps to configure network share connector in Citrix ShareFile that can allow users to access files in the CIFS share from Citrix ShareFile Windows Desktop App and Citrix ShareFile for Mobile. 1. For connectors, create a separate file system named, citrix-conn. Figure 34: List shares 2. Export the folder, named share (which was created in the file system) as an SMB export as shown in Figure 35. Figure 35: CIFS share 3. From the web console of Citrix ShareFile, click Create Connector to create a connector for network share. Figure 36: Create a connector 27

30 4. Select and enter the required details as shown in Figure 37. Figure 37: Connector details A connector with the name CIFS connector to IBM Spectrum Scale, is created as shown in Figure 38. Figure 38: List connectors 28

31 The same connector can be seen from the Citrix ShareFile Desktop app, as shown in Figure 39. Figure 39: List connectors from Citrix ShareFile Desktop App 5. To access the connector, click the name of the connector and enter the domain user name and password, as shown in Figure 40. Figure 40: Login window for connector 29

32 6. Once successfully logged in, browse for the file you want to upload to the network share and click Upload at the bottom of the desktop app, as shown in Figure 41. Figure 41: Upload a file to connector The progress of file upload can be monitored as shown in Figure 42. Figure 42: Upload progress 7. Notice that the file is successfully uploaded, as shown in Figure 43. Figure 43: Successful upload 30

33 8. The same file can be accessed directly by mapping onto a Windows system, as shown in Figure 44. Figure 44: List files in Windows Explorer The same share can be accessed by Citrix ShareFile for mobile and any other supported Citrix ShareFile clients. 31

34 Summary To embrace workforce mobility and users demands for instant access to data, Citrix ShareFile Enterprise Edition helps IT organizations retain control while improving collaboration and productivity. Citrix has provided the power to deliver a rich and powerful follow-me desktop and app experience. Now, ShareFile completes the mobility story with a rich, enterprise-ready, follow-me data solution. As a member of the IBM Spectrum Storage family, Spectrum Scale introduces revolutionary new features that clearly demonstrate the IBM commitment to providing groundbreaking storage solutions, including: File encryption and secure erase Transparent flash cache Network performance monitoring Active File Management (AFM) parallel data transfers NFS version 4 support and data migration Backup and restore improvements File Placement Optimizer (FPO) enhancements. Together, IBM and Citrix ShareFile can help to protect business data by providing secure IT oversight, and flexible, highly scalable, and efficient storage options. Citrix ShareFile and IBM Spectrum Scale together provides a very reliable and highly scalable enterprise-level file sync and share solution enhancing the productivity of employees and providing a secure environment for collaboration. 32

35 Appendix A: Test environment The following information provides details about the test environment used for testing the solution. Sr. No Description Version 1 IBM Spectrum Scale Citrix StorageZones Controller 3.2 Table 1: Test environment 33

36 Appendix B: Resources The following websites provide useful references to supplement the information contained in this paper: IBM Systems on PartnerWorld ibm.com/partnerworld/systems IBM Redbooks ibm.com/redbooks IBM Publications Center Citrix websites citrix.com IBM Spectrum Scale ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/stxkqy/ibmspectrumscale_welcome.html About the author Sandeep Zende is an ISV Solutions Architect in IBM Systems. Sandeep has around 12 years of experience in storage technologies and has expertise on block-level data migration and disaster recovery solutions. Currently, he is working on enabling cloud solutions for IBM storage. You can reach Sandeep Zende at 34

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