USER GUIDE. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 06/10/2015

Transcription

1 USER GUIDE SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 06/10/2015

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Document Overview 1 SolidFire Element 8.0 Features 2 SolidFire System Overview 3 Node 4 Cluster 5 Getting Started 6 Setting up SolidFire Hardware 6 Accessing the SolidFire User Interface 7 Configuring a SolidFire Node 8 Node Versioning and Compatibility 8 Configuring Nodes Using the TUI 9 Configuring Nodes Using the Web UI 11 Configuring idrac on Each New Node 13 Clusters 14 Creating a New Cluster 15 Add Drives When the Cluster is Ready 17 Cluster Settings 18 LDAP Overview 19 Configuring LDAP 20 Cluster Fullness Overview 22 Block Cluster Full Severity Levels 22 Metadata Cluster Full Severity Levels 22 Setting Cluster Full Threshold 24 Cluster Fullness in a Mixed Node Environment 26 Set Network Time Protocol 27 Enabling Broadcast Client 27 Enabling and Disabling Encryption on a Cluster 28 SNMP Overview 30 Configuring an SNMP Requestor 30 Configuring an SNMP USM User 31 SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 2

3 Configuring SNMP Traps 33 Viewing Management Information Base Files 34 Cluster Monitoring 36 Alerts 36 Alert Types 37 Cluster Fault Severity Levels 37 Alert Error Codes 37 Viewing the Alerts 38 Event Log 40 Event Types 41 Viewing the Event Log 41 Fibre Channel Nodes 43 Setting Up Fibre Channel Nodes 44 Order of Operations 44 Finding Fibre Channel WWPN Addresses 45 Zoning the Fibre Channel Connections 45 Creating a Volume Access Group for Fibre Channel 46 Removing a Fibre Channel Node 48 Assigning LUNs to Volumes 50 Viewing Fibre Channel Sessions 52 Management Node 53 Modifying Management Node Settings 53 Management Node Settings for eth0 Networks 53 Network Settings for eth0 54 Management Node Cluster Settings 55 Management Node Cluster Interface Settings 55 Management Node System Tests 56 Running System Utilities on Management Node 56 Storage Nodes 58 Viewing Nodes 60 Viewing Node Software Version 61 Adding a Node to a Cluster 62 SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 3

4 Mixing Nodes in a Cluster 64 Modifying Node Settings 65 Node Network Settings for 10G and 1G 66 Network Settings for 10G and 1G 66 Node Cluster Settings 68 Node Cluster Interface Settings 68 System Test Settings 70 System Utilities 72 Viewing Node Activity Graph 74 Removing Nodes from a Cluster 75 Drives 77 Viewing Active Drives 77 Adding Available Drives to a Cluster 79 Drive Wear Status 80 Wear Remaining 80 Reserves Remaining 80 Removing a Drive 81 Removing Failed Drives 83 Secure-Erasing Data 84 Volumes 85 Set up Volumes 85 Viewing Active Volumes 86 Volume Overview 87 Quality of Service 89 Volume Details 90 Volume Stats 92 Viewing Volume Activity Graph 93 Creating a New Volume 94 Resizing a Volume 95 Modifying Active Volumes 97 Deleting a Volume 99 Viewing Deleted Volumes 100 SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 4

5 Restoring a Deleted Volume 101 Purging a Volume 102 Cloning a Volume 103 Volume Snapshots 105 Creating a Volume Snapshot 107 Modifying Snapshot Retention 109 Rolling Back to a Snapshot 110 Backing up a Snapshot 111 Cloning a Volume from a Snapshot 113 Deleting a Snapshot 114 Viewing Snapshots 115 Group Snapshots 116 Creating a Group Snapshot 117 Cloning Multiple Volumes 119 Cloning Multiple Volumes from a Group Snapshot 121 Rolling Back to a Group Snapshot 123 Deleting a Group Snapshot 125 Snapshot Scheduler 127 Creating a Scheduled Snapshot 129 Modifying a Schedule 131 Viewing Scheduled Snapshots 131 Cloning a Scheduled Snapshot 131 Pausing a Scheduled Snapshot 131 Resuming a Paused Snapshot Schedule 132 Deleting a Schedule 132 Viewing Running Tasks 133 Volume Access Groups 134 Creating a Volume Access Group 135 Deleting a Volume Access Group 137 Adding Volumes to a Volume Access Group 138 Removing Volumes from a Volume Access Group 140 Adding Initiators in a Volume Access Group 141 Removing Initiators from a Volume Access Group 143 SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 5

6 Integrated Backup and Restore 144 Backing up a Volume to an Object Store 145 Backing up a Volume to a SolidFire Cluster 148 Restoring a Volume 150 Accounts 153 Administrators 154 Viewing Cluster Admin Accounts 155 Adding a Cluster Admin Account 156 Modifying Cluster Admin Access 158 Changing the Cluster Admin Password 159 Deleting a Cluster Admin Account 161 Tenant Accounts 162 Viewing Account Information 163 Creating a New Tenant Account 164 Viewing Account Activity Graph 166 Modifying a Tenant Account 167 Deleting a Tenant Account 169 Virtual Networks 170 Creating a Virtual Network 170 Modifying a Virtual Network 172 Deleting a Virtual Network 173 Real-Time Replication 174 Multiple Cluster Pairing 175 Pairing Volumes 176 Replication Configuration Information 177 Node Port Recommendations 177 MTU Defaults and Recommendations 177 Volume Set-Up 177 Cluster Set-Up 177 Cluster Pairing for Real-Time Replication 178 Starting a Cluster Pairing with a Key 179 Completing the Cluster Pairing with a Key 180 SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 6

7 Pairing Clusters Using MVIP 182 Validating Paired Clusters 184 Real-Time Replication - Volume Pairing 185 Pairing Volumes with a Volume ID 187 Pairing Volumes with a Pairing Key 190 Completing the Volume Pairing 194 Validating Data Transmission 195 Validating Paired Volumes 195 Replicating Volumes Field and Status Descriptions 196 Volume Pairing Messages 198 Volume Pairing Warnings 198 Switching from a Source to a Target Volume 199 Summary Report 201 Storage Capacity 204 Provisioned IOPS 204 Performance Utilization 204 Efficiency 204 Bandwidth 205 Input/Output 205 Host Connections 205 Enabling Debugging for Requests and Responses 206 Viewing iscsi Sessions 208 Hardware Maintenance 209 Simple Network Management Protocol 209 Automatic Recovery Scenarios 210 Single Node Recovery 210 Multiple Node Recovery 210 Drive Recovery 210 Replacing an SSD 211 Adding a Storage Node 211 Removing a Storage Node 212 Powering Down a Node 212 SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 7

8 Rebooting a Node 212 Powering Off a Node 212 Powering Up a Node 213 Powering Down a Cluster 213 SolidFire Storage Concepts 214 Cluster 214 Nodes 215 Characteristics of a Node 215 Fibre Channel Node 216 Characteristics of a Fibre Channel Node 216 Network 217 Network Bonding 217 Drives 218 Volumes 219 Characteristics of a Volume 219 Volume Clones 219 Volume Snapshots 219 Accounts 221 Cluster Admin Accounts 221 Tenant Accounts 221 Quality of Service 222 QoS Performance Curve 223 Efficiency 224 VMware VAAI Integration 225 Appendix A Management Node Overview 226 A.1 Installing a Management Node 227 A.2 Configuring Remote Support Firewall Ports 228 A.3 Opening a SSH Reverse Tunnel for Support 229 A.4 Configuring Management Node with Proxy Server 230 Running sfsetproxy Commands 230 Setting the Management Node Host and Port Arguments 230 A.5 Setting Up the connection.json File for Active IQ 232 SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 8

9 Appendix B Upgrade SolidFire Software 234 B.1 Upgrading Management Node to Current SolidFire Element OS Software 234 B.2 Upgrading Nodes with Current SolidFire Element Software 235 SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 9

10 Document Overview Document Overview This document provides information on how to use the SolidFireElement Web user interface (UI). The SolidFire Element user interface enables you to visualize the configuration of your SolidFire storage system. Through the Web UI you can set up and monitor SolidFire cluster storage capacity and performance and visualize storage activity across a multi-tenant infrastructure. The Element OS Web UI is built on the SolidFire API which allows for system adjustments to be seen almost immediately. Use this document when installing, managing, or troubleshooting your storage solution. This guide is intended for the person or people who install, administer, or troubleshoot storage solutions. It is also helpful to IT professionals or software developers. The following assumptions are made regarding the intended audience of this document: Linux System Administrators: You have a background as a Linux system administrator Networking: You are familiar with server networking and networked storage, including IP addresses, netmasks, and gateways SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 1

11 SolidFire Element 8.0 Features SolidFire Element 8.0 Features The SolidFire Element Operating System (OS) comes preinstalled on each node. The following features are included in the SolidFire Element 8.0 SolidFire Helix self-healing data protection Always on, inline, real-time deduplication Always on, inline, real-time compression Always on, inline, reservation-less thin provisioning Fibre Channel node integration Management Node LDAP capability for secure login functionality Guaranteed volume level Quality of Service (QoS) Minimum IOPS Maximum IOPS IOPS burst control Instant, reservation-less deduplicated cloning Volume snapshots Snapshots of individual volumes Scheduling snapshots of a volume or group of volumes Consistent snapshots of a group of volumes Cloning multiple volumes individually or from a group snapshot Integrated Backup and Restore for volumes Real-Time Replication for clusters and volumes Native multi-tenant management and reporting Proactive Remote Monitoring through Active IQ Complete REST-based API management Granular management access/role-based access control Virtual Networking Volume and system level performance and data usage reporting VMware vsphere 5.0 (VAAI) support SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 2

12 SolidFire System Overview SolidFire System Overview The SolidFire system is an interconnection of hardware and a software designed for complete automation and management of an entire SolidFire storage system. The SolidFire System Overview diagram visually explains the basic layout of the SolidFire Storage System and how it connects to a network: Figure 1: SolidFire System Overview SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 3

13 SolidFire System Overview Node Each node is a collection of Solid State Drives (SSD). Each storage node comes with CPU, networking, cache, and storage resources. The storage node resources are pooled into a cluster of nodes. For details on the characteristics of a storage node, see Storage Nodes on page 58. Figure 2: Storage Node - Ten individual SSD drives comprise a SolidFire Storage Node SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 4

14 SolidFire System Overview Cluster A cluster is the hub of a SolidFire Storage System and is made up of a collection of nodes. You must have at least four nodes in a cluster (five or more nodes are recommended) in order for SolidFire storage efficiencies to be implemented correctly. A cluster appears on the network as a single logical group and can then be accessed as block storage. For more details, see Cluster on page 214. in the SolidFire Storage Concepts section of this document. Figure 3: Storage Cluster Each SolidFire Cluster has a minimum of four SolidFire Storage Nodes that connect internally to each other with 10GbE and externally through dual 1GbE (for management) and 10GbE (for storage) iscsi The single logical group is represented to hosts and administrators by virtual IP addresses: Type Label Network Management Virtual IP MVIP 1GbE Storage Virtual IP SVIP 10GbE These virtual IP addresses present a consistent interface regardless of the size or makeup of a SolidFire Cluster. The cluster can be scaled-out by adding additional nodes. When new nodes are added there is no interruption of service and the performance and capacity of the new node is automatically used by the cluster. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 5

15 Getting Started Getting Started SolidFire SF2405, SF3010, SF4805 SF6010, SF9010 and SF9605 storage nodes are delivered as an appliance with SolidFire Element OS OS installed and ready to be configured. After configured, each node can be added to a SolidFire Cluster. Setting up SolidFire Hardware This document assumes that the SolidFire hardware you purchased has been racked, cabled and powered on. Instructions for setting up the SolidFire hardware has been provided in the box your hardware arrived in. The SolidFire Cluster hardware is required to be appropriately installed and cabled-up so that network communications and configuration management communications can be established. When the SolidFire hardware is set up, a specific order of operations must be followed to ensure that your nodes and clusters are configured correctly. Instructions for implementing these operations are outlined in this document. If you are adding SolidFire Fibre Channel nodes to a cluster, see Fibre Channel Nodes (on page 43) to configure those node types. Installing a Management Node A management node is a VM used to upgrade your nodes, connect to Active IQ and allow SolidFire Support access to your nodes should you need help troubleshooting a problem. A management node expands on the capabilities previously provided by the FDVA and is based on the Element OS. See the appendices in this document for information about installing and setting up your management node. Storage Nodes Nodes need to be configured before they can be added to a cluster. This ensures proper network connectivity and node identification when the cluster is created. Creating a New Cluster One of the configured nodes needs to be identified as the node with which the cluster will be configured. This node is the primary node to establish communications with other nodes in the cluster. Adding Available Drives to a Cluster Drives are available during the configuration process. All available drives can be added when the cluster is created, or added at a time later in the process. Accounts Accounts are used to access volumes on a node and will be required before a volume can be created. There are two types of accounts on a SolidFire system: Admin accounts are used to monitor and configure settings on the cluster. For details, see Adding a Cluster Admin Account on page 156. Tenant accounts (billable customer accounts) are used to identify customers on the system. For details, see Creating a New Tenant Account on page 164. Creating a New Volume Volumes are primary storage partitions on a node. They are accessed by accounts on the system. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 6

16 Getting Started Accessing the SolidFire User Interface The SolidFire WebUI is available on each node. The master node will host WebUI access using the IP address of the master node. Procedure To access the SolidFire Web UI and create a new cluster, enter the following URL in your browser window: Example: NOTE: If your browser cannot connect to the internet, enter the MVIP of the primary cluster node IP as a URL in your browser window. For example: Click through authentication certificate messages. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 7

17 Configuring a SolidFire Node Configuring a SolidFire Node Nodes require initial configuration before they can be added to a cluster. When a node is initially set up in a rack unit and powered on the Terminal User Interface (TUI) displays the fields necessary to configure the node. Node configuration information should be available when a node is configured. Alternatively, you can access the node in the Web UI by using the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) 1G management IP address displayed in the TUI. The DHCP address is located in the menu bar at the top of the TUI. After a node has been initially configured it can be accessed using the node s Management IP address. The node settings can then be modified, added to a cluster, or used to create a cluster. For more information, see Modifying Node Settings (on page 65), Adding a Node to a Cluster (on page 62), or Creating a New Cluster (on page 15). SolidFire Fibre Channel nodes will require the same configuration as a SolidFire storage node. See Fibre Channel Nodes (on page 43) for more information. NOTE: A node with DHCP assigned IP addresses cannot be added to a cluster. You can use the DHCP IP address to initially configure the node in the Web UI, TUI or API. The static configuration can be added during this initial configuration so the node may be added to a cluster. A new node can also be configured using SolidFire API methods. See the SolidFire Element 8.0 API Reference Guide for methods used to configure nodes. Steps to use the TUI and Web UI are outlined in this document. A node can be in one of the following three states depending on the level of configuration: Available The node has no associated cluster name and is not yet part of a cluster. Pending The node is configured and can be added to a designated cluster. Authentication not required to access the node. Active The node is participating in a cluster. Authentication required to modify the node. At each of the described states some fields cannot be modified. To see when fields are available for modification, see Modifying Node Settings on page 65. Node Versioning and Compatibility Node compatibility is based on the SolidFire Element OS software version installed on a node. Nodes can be added to a cluster If node software is compatible. The following list identifies the four distinct SolidFire components to describe the software version number. Major - First number designates a software release. A node with one major component number can not be added to a cluster containing nodes of a different major-patch number, nor can a cluster be created with nodes of mixed major versions. Minor - Second number designates smaller software features or enhancements to existing software features that have been added to a major release. This component is incremented within a major version component to indicate that this incremental release is not compatible with any other Element OS incremental releases with a different minor component. For example, 7.0 is not compatible with 7.1, and 7.1 is not compatible with 7.2. Micro - Third number designates a a compatible patch (incremental release) to the element version represented by the major.minor components. For example, is compatible with 7.0.2, and is compatible with Major and minor version numbers must match for compatibility. Micro numbers do not have to match for compatibility. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 8

18 Configuring a SolidFire Node Configuring Nodes Using the TUI The TUI is used to initially configure nodes. Figure 4: TUI Network Settings window used to enter networking information for each node Procedure 1. Attach keyboard and monitor to the node and the node powered on. For details about monitor and USB port locations, see Simple Network Management Protocol on page 209. The TUI displays on the tty1 terminal with the Network Settings tab. If a DHCP server is running on the network, the 1GbE address displays in the Address field. This address can be used to remotely access and configure the node in the Element Web UI. NOTE: If your configuration server is not able to communicate, the TUI displays the Failed to Communicate with configuration server message. Check your configuration server connection or the networking connection to resolve the error message. DHCP generated IP addresses may be available. If they are available you can use them to access a new node in the Element Web UI or from the API. All configurable TUI fields described in this section apply when using the Web UI to configure the node. When using the Web UI, you must add an explicit port specification of :442 to the end of the DHCP IP Address. Adding this extension connects directly to the node. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 9

19 Configuring a SolidFire Node Example: : Use the on-screen navigation to configure the 1G and 10G Network settings for the node. 3. Press the 's' key to save the settings. The cluster information is configured next. 4. Press the 'c' key to navigate to the Cluster tab. The TUI initially displays the Cluster configuration screen. 5. Use the on-screen navigation to configure the cluster settings for the node. 6. Press the 's' key to save the settings. The node is put in a pending state and can be added to an existing cluster or a new cluster. For more information, see Adding a Node to a Cluster (on page 62) or Creating a New Cluster (on page 15). SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 10

20 Configuring a SolidFire Node Configuring Nodes Using the Web UI You need the DHCP address displayed in the TUI to access and initially configure a node. For the location of the DHCP address, see Configuring Nodes Using the TUI on page 9. The DHCP address is only used to access and configure a node. DHCP addresses cannot be used to add a node to a cluster. Procedure 1. In a browser window, enter the DHCP address of a node. NOTE: You must add the :442 extension to access the node. For example: :442 The Network Settings tab is displayed automatically and opened to the Network Settings Bond1G page. 2. Enter the setting for the 1G network. 3. Click Save Changes. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 11

21 Configuring a SolidFire Node 4. Click Bond10G to display the settings for the 10G network settings. 5. Enter the 10G network settings. 6. Click Save Changes. 7. Click the Cluster Settings tab. The Cluster Settings page appears. 8. Enter the settings for the 10G network. 9. Click Save Changes. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 12

22 Configuring a SolidFire Node Configuring idrac on Each New Node SolidFire installs idrac Express on each node. To configure idrac, see the HOW TO: Remotely monitor Node Hardware - idrac Configuration solution record on the SolidFire Support site or contact SolidFire Support at support@solidfire.com. NOTE: Access to the SolidFire Support site requires a user name and password. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 13

23 Clusters Clusters Creating a new cluster initializes a node as communications owner for a cluster and establishes network communications for each node in the cluster. This process is performed only once for each new cluster. You can create a cluster by using the SolidFire Web UI or the API. Dialog Box used to enter information for a new cluster Create a New Cluster - Management VIP: Routable virtual IP on 1GbE or 10Gbe network for network management tasks. ISCSI (Storage) VIP: Virtual IP on 10GbE network for storage and iscsi discovery. Data Protection: Two-way data protection - always on. Create Username: User name for authenticated log into the cluster. Entered once and stored. Create Password: Password for authenticated log into the cluster. Repeat Password: Standard password confirmation. Nodes: List of node IP addresses. Version: Nodes must have the same version of software as the node being used to create the cluster. Node becomes incompatible if the software version is not the same as the cluster. EULA: Software license agreement confirmation. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 14

24 Clusters Creating a New Cluster Creating a new cluster reconciles all the node IP addresses, assigns the primary MVIP and SVIP to a node and moves any pending nodes into an active state in the cluster. You can add the drives available on each node during the initial cluster creation process or add them manually once the cluster is created. There are no drives to add for a Fibre Channel node. NOTE: Nodes must first be configured before they can be added to a cluster. See Configuring a SolidFire Node (on page 8). A cluster administrator is created for you when a cluster is created. The cluster admin created with the cluster has permission to manage all cluster attributes and can create other cluster administrator accounts. When new nodes were configured, 1G or 10G Management IP (MIP) addresses were assigned to each node. Use one of the node IP addresses to bring up the Create a New Cluster window. The IP address you use will depend on which network you have chosen to accommodate cluster management. Procedure 1. In a browser window, enter a node MIP address. The Create a New Cluster page appears. 2. Enter the MVIP address and iscsi SVIP address. The MVIP and SVIP cannot be changed after the cluster is created. 3. Enter the user information. The user created in this step is the primary Cluster Admin for the cluster you are creating. Store the user name and password in a secure location for future reference: a. Enter a user name to be used for authentication in the Create Username field. User names can be upper and lower case letters, special characters and numbers. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 15

25 Clusters b. Enter a password for future authentication in the Create Password field. c. Re-enter the password in the Repeat Password field to confirm. 4. (Optional) Clear the check boxes for any nodes not to be included in the cluster (all are selected by default). NOTE: Each node must have a compatible version of Element OS software installed on the node. If not, then the node shows incompatible and cannot be added to the cluster. 5. Read and approve the EULA agreement. 6. Click Create Cluster. The system may take several minutes to create the cluster depending on the number of nodes being added to the cluster. A small cluster of five nodes, on a properly configured network, should take less than one minute. After the cluster has been created, the Create a New Cluster window is redirected to the MVIP URL address for the cluster and displays the SolidFire Element OS Web UI. The Create a New Cluster window does not display again until you create another new cluster. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 16

26 Clusters Add Drives When the Cluster is Ready Drives can be added to the cluster after it has been created. Node and drive information is gathered when a new cluster is created and is displayed when the cluster is ready for use. A progress bar displays the progress of the drive search and you can choose to add the drives at the current time or add them at a later time. Figure 5: Cluster Ready Window with option of adding drives at cluster creation or at a later time SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 17

27 Clusters Cluster Settings Cluster Settings can be used to specify how some protocols and thresholds are set on a cluster. The settings for the objects in Cluster Settings require Cluster Admin privileges to set or change. When cluster settings are changed they affect the entire cluster. The following can be viewed or changed in Cluster Settings: Cluster Full Setting Network Time Protocol Settings (NTP) Encryption at Rest The Cluster Settings window is accessed from the Cluster Settings tab. Figure 6: Cluster Settings Dialog Window Cluster Full Settings: The number of node failures the system is capable of recovering from. An alert is sent to the event log when this number is reached. Network Time Protocol Settings: Broadcast Client: enables each node to listen for broadcast NTP packets. Server: list of servers to synchronize clocks over a network. Encryption at Rest: Enables and disables encryption on a cluster. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 18

28 Clusters LDAP Overview The SolidFire Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) can be set up to enable secure login functionality to SolidFire storage. The functionality provided with SolidFire Element allows configuring LDAP at the cluster and authorizing LDAP users and groups. The following image and table identifies the LDAP configuration window and inputs that can be used to configure LDAP. Figure 7: LDAP Configuration window SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 19

29 Clusters LDAP Authentication Enabled: When checked, LDAP protocol will be enabled on the server. LDAP Server: Address of a server that will be LDAP enabled. Each LDAP server can be LDAPS enabled. Auth Type:.Identifies which user authentication method will be used. Valid values: DirectBind SearchAndBind Search Bind DN: A fully qualified DN to log in with to perform an LDAP search for the user (needs read access to the LDAP directory). Search Bind Password: Password used to authenticate access to the LDAP server. User Search Base DN: The base DN of the tree used to start the user search (will do a subtree search from the directory specified). User Search Filter: The LDAP filter that will be used to search users. Group Search Type: Controls the default group search filter used, can be one of the following: NoGroups: No group support. ActiveDirectory: Nested membership of all of a user s AD groups. Posix: Posix-style group (single-level). MemberDN: MemberDN style groups (single-level). UniqueMemberDN UniqueMemberDN style groups (single-level). CustomFilter: Use a custom filter string. Group Search Base DN: The base DN of the tree to start the group search (will do a subtree search from the direcotry specified). SSL Cert: Certificate to validate ldaps:// SSL connections. Submit LDAP Changes: Select to accept LDAP changes. Test a User: Use to test username and password for the LDAP server. LDAP authentication must be enabled before this test can be used. Configuring LDAP The WebUI enables an LDAP administrator to configure user access to an existing LDAP server. This will provide centralized user management for storage system access. Procedure 1. Click the Cluster Settings tab. 2. Click on LDAP The LDAP Configuration window appears. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 20

30 Clusters 3. Enter LDAP Server 1: address. More servers can be added by including IP addresses. 4. Enter parameters for the LDAP system. 5. Click Submit LDAP Changes. 6. Click Test A User if you want to test the server access a user has. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 21

31 Clusters Cluster Fullness Overview The SolidFire Cluster will generate cluster faults to warn the storage administrator when they are running out of capacity. There are 3 levels of cluster fullness, all of which are displayed in the SolidFire WebUI. 1. Warning - This cluster fault is defaulted to 3% warning below error stage and your system cannot recover Helix data protection if a node were to fail. The warning setting is configurable through the WebUI. 2. Error - This cluster fault will appear when a cluster is not capable recovering double helix data protection from a single node failure. 3. Critical - This fault is new in Element OS 8.0 release. The cluster block capacity can be 100% consumed, but will still result in a Critical level cluster fault and the system will go into read-only. Block Cluster Fullness and Metadata Cluster Fullness are no longer a single fault, but will independently report if they are filling up. The new Error Codes are BlockClusterFull and MetadataClusterFull. Each Error Code has the same three Severity levels: "Warning," "Error" and "Critical." These are explained in the sections below. Block Cluster Full Severity Levels The BlockClusterFull error code has three severity levels. BlockClusterFull accounts for space that is used and unused by data. Cluster Full Severity levels are seen in the Alerts view are described in the table below: Table 8: Block Cluster Full Error Codes and Severity Levels Severity Error Code Details Description Warning BlockClusterFull Add more capacity or free up capacity as soon as possible. Error BlockClusterFull Due to high capacity consumption helix data protection will not recover if a node fails. Creating new volumes or snapshots is not permitted until additional capacity is available. Add capacity or free up capacity immediately. Critical BlockClusterFull Cluster capacity is completely consumed. Volumes are read-only and new connections are not permitted until additional capacity is available. Add capacity or free up capacity immediately. This is the customer configurable warning that will appear as the cluster s block capacity is approaching the severity of Error. When the cluster is in this state if a node was lost there is not enough capacity in the cluster to rebuild double helix data protection. New volume creation, Clones and snapshots are all blocked while the cluster is in this state. This is not a safe or recommended state for any cluster to be in. This critical error has occurred because the cluster is 100% consumed. It is in a "Read- Only" state and no new iscsi connections to the cluster can be made. When this stage is reached you must free up or add more capacity. Metadata Cluster Full Severity Levels MetadataClusterFull has three severity levels shown below. Metadata Cluster Full relates to Metadata Cluster Capacity used and Metadata Cluster Capacity Available, and is shown on the Summary Report under "Storage Capacity" in the WebUI. Severity levels have different meanings and are described in the table below:: Table 9: Metadata Cluster Full Fault Severity Levels Severity Error Code Details Description Warning MetadataClusterFull Add more capacity or free up capacity as soon as possible. When the cluster is in this state if 2 nodes were lost there is not enough capacity in the cluster to rebuild double helix data protection. New volume creation, Clones and snapshots are all blocked while the cluster is in this state. This is not a safe or SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 22

32 Clusters Severity Error Code Details Description Error MetadataClusterFull Due to high capacity consumption helix data protection will not recover if a node fails. Creating new volumes or snapshots is not permitted until additional capacity is available. Add capacity or free up capacity immediately. recommended state for any cluster to be in. When the cluster is in this state if a node was lost there is not enough capacity in the cluster to rebuild double helix data protection. New volume creation, Clones and snapshots are all blocked while the cluster is in this state. This is not a safe or recommended state for any cluster to be in. Critical MetadataClusterFull Cluster capacity is completely consumed. Volumes are read-only and new connections are not permitted until additional capacity is available. Add capacity or free up capacity immediately. This critical error has occurred because the cluster is 100% consumed. It is in a "Read- Only" state and no new iscsi connections to the cluster can be made. When this stage is reached you must free up or add more capacity. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 23

33 Clusters Setting Cluster Full Threshold Cluster administrators can change the level at which a Warning severity level Cluster Fault for Block Cluster Capacity is generated. The "Warning" severity level cluster fault will trigger by default 3% before you cannot recover Double Helix if a node were to fail aka Error. The percentage of cluster full can be calculated using the formula below. Based on the results of the calculation, you can decide at what percentage of cluster full you want to see a "warning" severity message. The following table is provided to help determine the TOTAL_BLOCK_CAPACITY for a node. Model Total Block Capacity (Raw Block Space) Per Node expressed in GBs SF SF SF SF SF SF Calculating the Percentage of Cluster Full In order to calculate the percentage for Error alerts, solve the following two formulas: 1. ((TOTAL_BLOCK_CAPACITY) - (LARGEST_NODE_CAPACITY + 3 % of TOTAL_BLOCK_CAPACITY) = Cluster GB Threshold 2. Cluster GB Threshold / TOTAL_BLOCK_CAPACITY = %Marker for ERROR message E X A M P L E F O R 5 S F N O D E S : 5 - SF9605 nodes Total Block Capacity = (5*8,641.8) = 43, GBs Largest Node Capacity = 8,641.8 GBs 3% of TOTAL_BLOCK_CAPACITY = (43,208.87*.03) - 1, GBs Calculation 43, (8, ,296.26) = 33, Results 33, / 43, =.77 (77%) The calculated results shows that a BlockClusterFull "error" severity code will appear when the cluster is 77% (33, GBs) full. The system default for generating a "warning" severity message is 3% below the calculated "error" severity. In this example, the system would generate a "warning" severity when the cluster is at 74% full. If you want to be notified with a "warning" severity message before the 74% threshold is reached, you can specify the threshold percentage at which you want to see a "warning." For example, if you want a warning message at 10% below the "error" severity (77%), then enter 10 in the Raise a warning alert when _ % capacity remains before Helix could not recover field. A "warning" severity will then be generated when 67% of the cluster is full. NOTE: Cluster Full Threshold levels are reached at a faster rate if available drives are not added to the cluster and used as storage. Procedure SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 24

34 Clusters 1. Click the Cluster Settings tab. 2. Click Cluster. The Settings window appears. 3. Enter a percentage in Raise a warning alert when _ % capacity remains before Helix could not recover 4. Click Save Changes. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 25

35 Clusters Cluster Fullness in a Mixed Node Environment Node types can be mixed in a cluster. SF3010, SF6010 and SF9010 nodes can coexist in a single cluster. Mixing nodes has an effect on how the Cluster Full Threshold is calculated. SolidFire recommends that mixing nodes should result in no node being 30% larger than all the other nodes in the cluster. For instance, in a cluster with three SF3010s, the largest node that should be added is an SF6010. The Cluster Full Threshold is calculated based on the potential loss of the SF6010 node in this situation. This keeps the cluster full threshold at optimal levels. Reasons for Mixing Nodes: Grow Capacity Add larger nodes to allow for greater capacity in a cluster. Grow Performance Add smaller nodes to larger node cluster to increase IOPS in larger node cluster. Migrate smaller nodes to larger nodes Add a larger node so that data from smaller nodes can be migrated to the larger node. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 26

36 Clusters Set Network Time Protocol The NTP is set to synchronize clocks over a network. Connection to an internal or external NTP server should be part of the initial SolidFire cluster setup. The default NTP setting is set to use the us.pool.ntp.org server for time. You can use the Web UI to enter up to five different time servers that are queried for clock synchronization. Enabling Broadcast Client Broadcast client enables each node in the cluster to listen for NTP broadcast packets. An NTP server must be set up as a broadcast client in order to effectively use this option. Procedure 1. Click the Cluster Settings tab 2. Click Cluster. The Network Time Protocol Settings window appears. 3. Click the Broadcast Client check box to select it. 4. In the Server field, enter the desired NTP address. 5. Click Save Changes. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 27

37 Clusters Enabling and Disabling Encryption on a Cluster SolidFire Element can be used to enable Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 256-bit encryption at-rest on a cluster. This feature is not enabled by default. All dives in Solidfire nodes leverage encryption at the drive level. Each drive has their own encryption key which is created when the drive is first initialized. When the Encryption feature is enabled, a cluster-wide password is created and chunks of the password are distributed to all nodes in the cluster. No single node stores the entire password. The password is then used to password-protect all access to the drives and must then be supplied for every read write to the drive. Enabling the Encryption at Rest feature does not affect performance or efficiency on the cluster. Additionally, if an encryptionenabled drive or node is removed from the cluster with the API or WebUI, all drives are secure erased rendering any data unreadable. If a drive or node is forcibly removed from the cluster the data remains protected by the cluster-wide password and the drive s individual encryption keys. Enabling or disabling encryption should be performed when the cluster is running and in a healthy state. Procedure 1. Click the Cluster Settings tab. 2. Click Cluster Settings. The Encryption at Rest section displays in the lower part of the Settings window. 3. Click Enable Encryption at Rest. The Enable Encryption at Rest dialog appears. 4. Click Enable Encryption to start encrypting the cluster. The Encryption at rest enabling message displays confirming that the process has started. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 28

38 Clusters While Encryption at Rest is running the following message displays: When the operation is complete and Encryption at Rest is enabled the following message displays: The Encryption at Rest dialog window displays with the Disable Encryption at Rest button ready for use. 5. (Optional) To disable encryption at rest, click on Disable Encryption at Rest. Disabling encryption follows similar steps outlined for enabling encryption. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 29

39 Clusters SNMP Overview The SolidFire Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) requires two separate configurations: 1. The SNMP Requestor (agent) needs to be configured to identify the list of network resources which are authorized to make SNMP queries. For more information, see Configuring an SNMP Requestor on page The SNMP Trap (notifications) feature allows for three trap types to be generated and a list of recipients to receive the traps that have been generated. For more information, see Configuring SNMP Traps on page 33. The following image and table identifies the SNMP configuration window and inputs that can be used to configure SNMP. Figure 10: SNMP Settings window SNMP MIBs: MIB files that can be viewed or downloaded. General SNMP Settings: Enables the SNMP version. Available versions are v2 or v3. For v2 enabled, you will add requestors, for v3 enabled you will set up USM users. SNMP Trap Settings: Identify which traps you want to capture. Set Host:, Port: and Community String: to configure the trap settings. Configuring an SNMP Requestor The configuration options in the General SNMP Settings section enables or disables a requestor and allows requestors to be configured to receive authorized SNMP requests. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 30

40 Clusters Procedure 1. Click the Cluster Settings tab. 2. Click SNMP Settings. The SNMP Settings window appears. 3. Click the SNMP Enabled check box to select it. 4. Click the SNMP Version drop-down list and select V2. 5. Enter the Requestors information. 6. (Optional) If you want to add a requestor, do the following: a. Click Add a Requestor. b. Enter the Community String and Network information. NOTE: By default, the Community String is public and the Network is localhost. You can add new requestors or change these default settings. 7. Click Save Changes. Configuring an SNMP USM User The configuration options in the General SNMP Settings section enables or disables SNMP. If SNMP v3 is selected, then a USM User needs to be configured to receive authorized SNMP requests. Procedure SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 31

41 Clusters 1. Click the Cluster Settings tab. 2. Click SNMP Settings. The SNMP Settings window appears. 3. Click the SNMP Enabled check box to select it. 4. Click the SNMP Version drop-down list and select V3. 5. Enter the USM Users information. 6. (Optional) If you want to add a USM user, do the following: a. Click Add a USM User. b. Enter a Name, Password and Passphrase. 7. Click Save Changes. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 32

42 Clusters Configuring SNMP Traps SNMP Traps, also referred to as notifications, may be used by system administrators to monitor the health of the SolidFire cluster. When traps are enabled, the SolidFire cluster generates traps associated with entries made in the Event Log and Alerts view. To receive SNMP notifications it is necessary to identify the traps that are generated and then identify the recipients of the trap information. By default, no traps are generated. Procedure 1. Click the Cluster Settings tab. 2. Click SNMP Settings. The SNMP Settings window appears. 3. Select the type of trap(s) in the SNMP Trap Settings section you want generated: Cluster Fault Traps Cluster Resolved Faults Traps Cluster Event Traps 4. Click Add a Trap Recipient. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 33

43 Clusters 5. Enter the Trap Recipients information. 6. Click Save Changes. Viewing Management Information Base Files The SolidFire management information base (MIB) files used to define each of the managed objects can be viewed and downloaded. The SolidFire SNMP feature supports read-only access to those objects defined in the SolidFire- StorageCluster-MIB. The statistical data provided in the MIB shows system activity for the following: Cluster Statistics Volume Statistics Volumes by Account Statistics Node Statistics Other data such as reports, errors and system events Also supported is access to the MIB file containing the upper level access points (OIDS) to SolidFire products. Procedure 1. Click the Cluster Settings tab. 2. Click SNMP Settings. The SNMP Settings window appears. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 34

44 Clusters 3. Double-click the MIB file you want to view. NOTE: To download the MIB files, right-click the file name and select the Save link as option. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 35

45 Clusters Cluster Monitoring Alerts Performance and the state of the system can be monitored for a cluster and volumes on the cluster. Alerts are cluster faults or errors and are reported as they occur on the system. Alerts can be informational, warnings or errors and are a good indicator of how well the cluster is running. Most errors automatically recover, however, some faults require manual intervention. NOTE: "Alerts" used to be named "Error Log". The same type of information that was displayed in the "Error Log" tab is still displayed in the "Alerts" tab. After the system resolves an error, the "Resolved" field for the error is updated to Yes. All errors that are resolved are removed from the list of errors. Use the ListClusterFaults API to automate monitoring the alerts to notify you of all errors that occur. The Alerts displays fault messages for the cluster. For each message, the following information is returned: Message Fault ID: Severity: Type: Node: Drive ID: Resolved: Resolution Date: Error Code: Details: Date: Descripton Unique ID associated with each cluster fault. Severity of the fault: warning: Something is wrong but the cluster is still functional. error: The cluster is degraded in some way (Features might be disabled). critical: Data is unavailable or there is data loss. Type of fault: node: Fault affecting an entire node. drive: Fault affecting an individual drive. cluster: Fault affecting the entire cluster. service: Fault affecting a service on the cluster. NodeID for the node that this fault refers to. Included for node and drive faults, otherwise set to - (dash). DriveID for the drive that this fault refers to. Included for drive faults, otherwise set to - (dash). Resolved status of the fault: true: if the fault is no longer detected. false: if the fault is still present. The date and time the fault was resolved. A code that indicates what caused the fault. Description of the fault with additional details. The date and time the fault was logged. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 36

46 Clusters Alert Types Alert types are seen in the Type column in the Alerts view. Alert types are returned from the system to indicate which part of the system has detected an alert. Table 11: Alert Types Type Cluster Node Drive Service Description Alerts at the cluster level. Alerts at the node level. Alerts at the drive level. Alerts for services that run on the cluster. Cluster Fault Severity Levels Severity levels seen in the Alerts view are described in the table below: Table 12: Cluster Fault Severity Levels Type Warning Error Critical Description Minor issue, upgrades still allowed at this severity level. Failure that generally should not affect service, except possible performance degradation or loss of high availability (HA). Serious failure that affects service. Unable to serve API requests, unable to serve client I/O, potential loss of data. Alert Error Codes Error codes are returned from the system and reported in the Alerts list view. Alerts can be informational, warnings or errors about an operation which the system has detected. Error Codes will indicate in which part of the system the code was generated and the Details in the Alerts log will describe the reason the Error Code was generated. Table 13: Alert Error Codes Event Type BlockServiceTooFull BlockServiceUnhealthy ClusterCannotSync Description A block service is using too much space and running low on capacity. The SolidFire Application cannot communicate with a Block Service. If this condition persists, Double Helix will relocate the data to another drive. Node should be rebooted once the data has been relocated. There is an out of space condition and data on the offline block storage drives cannot be synced to drives that are still active. ClusterFull Stage 3 Cluster Full: There is not enough space to recover from a loss of 2 nodes. Stage 4 Cluster Full: There is not enough free space to recover from the loss of a single node. ClusterIOPSAreOverProvisioned The sum of all minimum QoS IOPS is greater than the expected IOPS of the cluster. The minimum QoS cannot be maintained in this condition. IOPS may need to be adjusted. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 37

47 Clusters Event Type DisconnectedClusterPair DriveWearFault EnsembleDegraded Exception FailedSpaceTooFull FibreChannelAccessDegraded FibreChannelAccessUnavailable InvalidConfiguredFibreChannelNodeCount SliceServiceUnhealthy SliceServiceTooFull ProvisionedSpaceTooFull VolumeDegraded NodeHardwareFault Upgrade UnbalancedMixedNodes Description Paired clusters have become disconnected. Establish network connection. The wear of a drive is being reported. Power or network connectivity has been lost to one or more of the ensemble nodes. Restore network connectivity or power to the affected node. A non-routine fault has been detected. This fault will not be cleared. Call SolidFire Support to resolve the exception fault. A Slice Service is using space reserved for failed writes. Contact SolidFire Support at support@solidfire.com. A Fibre Channel node has become unresponsive and cannot respond to the storage nodes in the cluster. All Fibre Channel nodes have become disconnected There is only one Fibre Channel node configured in a cluster. The system expects there to be zero (0) or two Fibre Channel nodes configured in a cluster. SolidFire Application cannot communicate with a metadata service. A Slice Service is using too much space and running low on capacity. The overall provisioned capacity of the cluster is too full. Secondary volumes have not finished replicating and syncing. The system has detected a misconfigured component in the hardware or a component that is not functioning as expected. The software on one or more nodes is being upgraded. The mix of nodes in a cluster have become unbalanced in a way that Viewing the Alerts Information about faults detected in the system are displayed in the Alerts view. Use the Alerts view to see warnings, errors and critical issues as they are detected in system. The Alerts view refreshes with new messages every 30 seconds. Procedure 1. Click the Reporting tab. 2. Click Alerts. The Alerts list view displays. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 38

48 Clusters Alert messages that remain unresolved can be identified in the Alerts view. The number of unresolved messages are seen next to Alerts and on the Reporting tab. The unresolved messages are identified with No and display in the Resolved column. 3. (Optional) Filter the results in the using the Filter Results fields. 4. (Optional) Click Clear All Resolved Errors. Resolved errors are removed from the list and are no longer displayed in the Alerts view. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 39

49 Clusters Event Log The event log displays key events for the cluster. For every event, the following information is returned: Event ID: Unique ID associated with each event. Event Types: The type of event being logged, for example, API events or clone events. Message: Message associated with the event. Service ID: The service that reported the event (if applicable). Node ID: The node that reported the event (if applicable). Drive ID: The drive that reported the event (if applicable). Details: Information that helps identify why the event occurred. Event Time: The time the event occurred. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 40

50 Clusters Event Types Event Types are returned from the system to report an operation which the system has detected. Events detected can range from benign and routine, to those of a more serious nature. Event Types will indicate in which part of the system the event occurred. NOTE: Read-only API commands are not logged in the Event Types display. Table 14: Event Types Event Type APIEvent BinAssignmentsEvent BulkOpEvent CloneEvent ClusterMasterEvent DataEvent DbEvent DriveEvent EncryptionAtRestEvent EnsembleEvent FibreChannelEvent GcEvent (Garbage Collection) NetworkEvent PlatformHardwareEvent RemoteClusterEvent ServiceEvent SliceEvent SchedulerEvent Description Events initiated by user through an API or Web UI that modify settings. Event related to the assignment of data bins. Bins are essentially containers that hold data and are mapped across the cluster. Events related to operations being performed on an entire volume such as backup, restore, snapshots and clones. Events related to volume cloning. Events usually appear upon cluster initialization or events surrounding configuration changes to the cluster, such as adding or removing Nodes. Events related to reading and writing data. Events related to the global database maintained by ensemble nodes in the cluster. Events related to drive operations. Events related to the process of encryption on a cluster. Events related to increasing or decreasing the number of nodes in an ensemble. Events related to the configuration and connections to the Fibre Channel nodes. Events related to processes run every 60 minutes to reclaim storage on block drives. Events related to the status of virtual networking. Events related to issues detected on hardware devices. Status of remote cluster pairing. SolidFire service monitoring events, for example, stopping and starting services. Events related to the Slice Server, for example, removing a metadata drive or volume. Events related to scheduled snapshots. Viewing the Event Log Information about events detected in the system are displayed in the Event Log. Use the Event Log to view details of operations as they are detected in system. The Event Log refreshes the messages every 30 seconds. Procedure 1. Click the Reporting tab. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 41

51 Clusters 2. Click Event Log. The Event Log window appears. 3. (Optional) Filter the results in the Event Log using the Filter Results fields. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 42

52 Fibre Channel Nodes Fibre Channel Nodes SolidFire Fibre Channel nodes provide the necessary network connectivity to communicate SCSI commands over Fibre Channel networks that are outside of a SolidFire storage cluster. By connecting the SolidFire Fibre Channel nodes to fibre channel switches, SCSI protocols can be transported between fibre channel host clients and SolidFire storage nodes. SolidFire Fibre Channel nodes are active-active to provide continuous I/O throughput to the SolidFire storage system. See the diagram below for a cluster cabling illustration. This illustration is referenced in the Fibre Channel documentation. Figure 15: Cabling Fibre Channel Nodes SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 43

53 Fibre Channel Nodes Setting Up Fibre Channel Nodes SolidFire Fibre Channel nodes are used to connect the SolidFire cluster to a Fibre Channel fabric. Setting up the Fibre Channel nodes will follow a similar set up as each SolidFire storage node. The following list of prerequisites and steps serve as a general set of guidelines to follow. Prerequisites Two SolidFire Fibre Channel nodes are cabled to fibre channel switches. See Fibre Channel Nodes to see a cabling diagram. SolidFire Fibre Channel nodes are configured. SolidFire cluster is created with Fibre Channel nodes. SolidFire WWPN ports are zoned on the fibre channel switch. Order of Operations Configure the Fibre Channel Nodes See Configuring a SolidFire Node. Fibre Channel nodes use the same configuration method as storage nodes. Create a Cluster See Creating a New Cluster (on page 15) - Fibre Channel nodes are added to a SolidFire storage cluster in the same manner as SolidFire storage nodes. Zone Fibre Channel Ports See Finding Fibre Channel WWPN Addresses - Fibre Channel nodes are zoned on the fibre channel switch. This will be done outside of the SolidFire storage system but will require the WWPN port addresses to be done properly. Create Volume Access Groups See Creating a Volume Access Group for Fibre Channel (on page 46). Create Volume Access Groups - SolidFire Volumes in a Volume Access Group are used to communicate between SolidFire storage and the fibre channel fabric. The process of creating an iscsi volume access group is very similar for creating a Fibre Channel volume access group. Once you have completed the prerequisite steps of setting up the Fibre Channel nodes, the nodes can be seen in the Node List view identified as Node Type FC0025 as shown in the next figure. Figure 16: Node List View with Fibre Channel Nodes SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 44

54 Fibre Channel Nodes Finding Fibre Channel WWPN Addresses Each Fibre Channel node has four Fibre Channel ports. Each port has a World Wide Port Name (WWPN) and is assigned to a World Wide Node Name (WWNN). WWPNs will be registered in the SolidFire system when a new cluster with Fibre Channel nodes is created. The WWPNs are then used to zone the ports on the fibre channel switches. To find the Fibre Channel WWPN addresses, do the following: Procedure 1. Click the Cluster Settings tab. 2. Click Fibre Channel Ports. The Fibre Channel Ports window displays. Zoning the Fibre Channel Connections Zoning is a method by which SolidFire Fibre Channel nodes are identified to the fibre channel switch. Each port on the SolidFire Fibre Channel node is cabled to a port on the fibre channel switch. When the ports are zoned on the fibre channel switch the ports are then able to see data traffic only on the ports to which they have been assigned. When a new SolidFire cluster is created with Fibre Channel nodes and SolidFire storage nodes, the WWPN addresses for the Fibre Channel nodes will be available in the WebUI. The WWPN addresses can be used to zone the fibre channel switch. To learn where to find the WWPN addresses in the SolidFire WebUI, see Finding Fibre Channel WWPN Addresses (on page 45) Refer to your Fibre Channel documentation for information about zoning your fibre channel switch to communicate with a SolidFire storage system. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 45

55 Fibre Channel Nodes Creating a Volume Access Group for Fibre Channel Volume Access Groups are used to communicate between fibre channel clients and volumes on a SolidFire storage system. Mapping Fibre Channel client initiators (WWPN) to the volumes in a volume access group will allow secure data I/O from a fibre channel network to communicate with a SolidFire volume. iscsi initiators that are hosted in the fibre channel client network can also be added to a volume access group and will have access to the same volumes in the volume access group. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Volume Access Group. The Volume Access Groups window appears. 3. Click Create Volume Access Group. The Create New Volume Access Group dialog appears. 4. Enter a name for the volume access group in the Name field. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 46

56 Fibre Channel Nodes 5. Select the Fibre Channel initiators from the Unbound Fibre Channel Initiators dialog box. NOTE: Initiators can be added or deleted at a later time. 6. Optionally, enter the iscsi initiator IP in the Initiator text box. The accepted format of an initiator IQN: iqn.yyyy-mm where y and m are digits, followed by text which must only contain digits, lower-case alphabetic characters, a period (.), colon (:) or dash (-). Example: iqn com.solidfire:c2r9.fc e1e09bb8b 7. Click Create Volume Access Group The new volume access group displays in the Volume Access Groups window. See Adding Volumes to a Volume Access Group (on page 138) for steps on how to add volumes to the volume access group. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 47

57 Fibre Channel Nodes Removing a Fibre Channel Node Fibre Channel nodes can be removed when they require maintenance or need repair. New Fibre Channel nodes can also be added to a SolidFire cluster. See the guidelines below for each of these scenarios. Replacing a Fibre Channel node with a new Fibre Channel node. Remove the existing Fibre Channel node from the cluster. See the Procedure below to remove the node. Configure the new Fibre Channel node. It will be added to the Pending Node list and can then be added to the cluster. New WWPNs will be generated and zoning the new ports will be required on the fibre channel switch. Repairing and adding back an existing Fibre Channel node. The Fibre Channel node should first be removed from the cluster. See the Procedure below. When the node is ready to be added back, it will be visible in the Pending Node list. Add the node back to the cluster. New WWPNs will NOT be generated and re-zoning will not be required. NOTE: Two Fibre Channel channel nodes are required in a cluster. Network traffic will continue to operate normally with one Fibre Channel node. However, alerts will be seen in the Event Log until the second Fibre Channel node is replaced. Procedure 1. Click the Nodes tab. The Node List window appears. 2. Click the check box for the Fibre Channel node that will be removed. 3. Click the remove ( ) icon. The Confirm Removal dialog window will display. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 48

58 Fibre Channel Nodes 4. Click Remove. After the node has been removed from the cluster, it is added to the Pending Nodes list. Nodes in the Pending Nodes List can be added back to the cluster it was removed from. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 49

59 Fibre Channel Nodes Assigning LUNs to Volumes The LUN assignment for a volume in a volume access group can be changed. Volume LUN assignments are made when a SolidFire volume access group is created and LUN assignments require changing. NOTE: Assigning new LUNs is an advance function and may have unknown consequences on the connecting host. For example, the new LUN ID may not be automatically discovered on the host which may require a rescan before the new LUN ID can be discovered. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Volume Access Group. The Volume Access Groups window displays. 3. Click Assign LUNs. The LUN Assignments dialog appears. 4. Enter a new LUN number in the LUN field. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 50

60 Fibre Channel Nodes 5. Click Save LUNs. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 51

61 Fibre Channel Nodes Viewing Fibre Channel Sessions The Fibre Channel Sessions window shows the active Fibre Channel sessions that are connected to the cluster. Information in the Fibre Channel Sessions window can be filtered to include only those connections you want displayed in the window. Click the Filter Results button to see the filter criteria fields. Figure 17: Fibre Channel Sessions window Filter Results: Filter by Node, Volume Access Group, Initiator WWPN, Target WWPN, or combination of criteria. Node: The Fibre Channel node hosting the session for the connection. Initiator WWPN: The initiating World Wide Port Name. Target WWPN: The target World Wide Port Name. Volume Access Group: Name of the volume access group the session belongs to. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 52

62 Management Node Management Node The management node is new for Element OS 8.0. All upgrade and communication functions previously performed by the FDVA will now be performed through the management node. For more information about how to install and use the management node, see Management Node Overview on page 226. Modifying Management Node Settings A management node can be configured with new network and cluster settings. Once new settings have been applied to the management node, the settings can be tested to ensure proper communications. A support bundle for a number of nodes or an entire cluster can also be created through the management node. Accessing a management node is very similar to accessing a storage node. You can enter the management node MIP followed by :442 in a browser window.the WebUI will display the authentication dialog so you can enter an Admin user name and password, if required, and then display the management node settings in the WebUI. Example: NOTE: Only one management node is required for reporting to Active IQ and managing upgrades for the SolidFire cluster. However, it may be necessary to have multiple management nodes for the purposes of allowing multiple Vcenter plug-ins to connect to a single SolidFire cluster. Management Node Settings for eth0 Networks The following image and table identifies the eth0 network fields that can be modified for a management node. The network settings for a management node displays in the Network Settings tab. The following view is available once you are logged into a management node. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 53

63 Management Node Figure 18: Network Settings - Bond 1G Network Settings for eth0 The following table identifies the management node network interface fields that can be modified when the node is a management node. Table 19: Network Interface Settings Name Description Can be updated Type Method The method used to configure the interface. Valid methods are: loopback Used to define the Ipv4 loopback interface manual Used to define interfaces for which no configuration is done by default dhcp May be used to obtain an IP address via DHCP static Used to define Ethernet interfaces with statically allocated Ipv4 addresses Available - Yes Pending - Yes Active - Yes String IP Address IP address for the eth0 network Available - Yes Pending - Yes Active - No Subnet Mask Address subdivisions of the IP network Available - Yes Pending - Yes Integer String SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 54

64 Management Node Name Description Can be updated Type Active - yes Gateway Address Router network address to send packets out of the local network Available - Yes Pending - Yes Active - Yes Array of Cluster IPs MTU Largest packet size that a network protocol can transmit. Must be greater than or equal to 1500 Available - Yes Pending - Yes Active - yes Integer DNS Servers Network interface used for cluster communication Available - No Pending - No Active - No String Search Domains Search for additional MAC addresses available to the system Available - Yes Pending - Yes Active - No String Status Can be one of the following: UpAndRunning Down Up Available - Yes Pending - Yes Active - Yes String Routes Static routes to specific hosts or networks via the associated interface the routes are configured to use. Available -Yes Pending - Yes Active - Yes Array of IP Addresses Management Node Cluster Settings The management node Cluster Settings for a management node can be viewed or modified. Figure 20: Management Node - Cluster Settings window Management Node Cluster Interface Settings The following table identifies the cluster interface fields that can be modified when a node is in Available, Pending, and Active states. Table 21: Cluster Interface Settings SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 55

65 Management Node Name Description Can be updated Type Role Role the management node has in the cluster. Can be only: Management - Node is a management node Available - No Pending - No Active - No String Hostname Name of the management node Available - Yes Pending - Yes Active - Yes String Default Interface Default network interface used for management node communication with the SolidFire cluster. Available - Yes Pending - Yes Active - Yes String Management Node System Tests Changes to the network settings for the management node can be tested after the settings are made and you have committed them to the network configuration. Click the button for the test you want to run. Figure 22: System Tests window Run All Tests: All test operations are started and run. Test Network Config: Verifies that the configured network settings match the network settings being used on the system. Test Ping: Pings a specified list of hosts or, if none specified, dynamically builds a list of all registered nodes in the cluster and ping each for simple connectivity. Running System Utilities on Management Node System Utilities can be used on a Management Node to reset node configuration settings, restart networking and create or delete a cluster support bundle. You must first be logged into the Management Node for the cluster to run these utilities. Each utility is described below. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 56

66 Management Node Figure 23: System Utilities window Create Cluster Support Bundle: Creates a support bundle under the management node's directory /tmp/bundles. Possible Values: Bundle Name - Name for the bundle Mvip - MVIP of the cluster to gather bundles for. Nodes - Specific nodeids to gather bundles for. Note: Specify either MVIP or nodeids, but not both. Username - Admin user name. Password - Admin password. Allow Incomplete - Allow gathering process to continue if some of the node bundles cannot be gathered. Extra Args - Should be used only at the request of Support. Delete All Support Bundles: Deletes any current support bundles residing on the management node. Reset Node: Resets the management node back to a new install image. The network configuration is kept but all other settings are reset to a default state. Restart Networking: Restarts all networking services on the management node. Caution should be taken when using this operation as it will cause temporary loss of networking connectivity. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 57

67 Storage Nodes Storage Nodes A SolidFire storage node is a collection of SSDs that communicate with each other through the CIPI Bond10G network interface. Drives on the node contain block and metadata space for data storage and data management. Nodes can be added to a new cluster, or added to an existing cluster to increase the amount of available storage capacity and performance. Each node in the cluster must have a compatible version of the SolidFire Element software installed so that each node in the cluster can communicate. For details on verifying the software versions on each node, see Viewing Node Software Version on page 61. Figure 24: Node List window Activity graphic Icon: Displays the node information in a graphical format. Node ID: Assigned node number when the cluster is created. Node Name: Host name assigned when the node is configured. Node Type: SolidFire node array type. Management IP: Address assigned for 1GbE or 10GbE network admin tasks. Cluster IP: The 10GbE IP used for the inter-cluster communication between nodes. Storage IP: The 10 GbE iscsi IP used for iscsi network discovery and all data network traffic. Version: Version of SolidFire Element software running on each node. Refresh: Refreshs information in the list. Edit Icon: Edits individual nodes. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 58

68 Storage Nodes Remove Icon: Removes a selected node. Cluster Master - Caret: Identifies the node that holds the master MVIP and SVIP addresses. Nodes in the ensemble - Asterisk: Identifies the nodes that are participating in the distributed database. All nodes listed in the Node List are participating in the cluster. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 59

69 Storage Nodes Viewing Nodes Nodes that have been successfully added to the cluster are viewed from the Node List in the Web UI. A minimum of four nodes must be participating in a valid SolidFire cluster (five nodes are recommended). Procedure 1. Click the Nodes tab. 2. Click Active Nodes. The Node List window appears. NOTE: The presence of a node in this list does not indicate the status of the node (for example, Up, Down, Accessible, Inaccessible). NOTE: If a node, or individual drive, has been offline longer than 5½ minutes, Double Helix data protection automatically re-replicates the data by distributing it across the remaining drives and nodes within the cluster. If the offline node or drive comes back online after the 5½ minutes those drives becomes available and can be added back into the cluster. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 60

70 Storage Nodes Viewing Node Software Version The version of software running on each node can be viewed in the Versions window. Procedure 1. Click the Cluster Settings tab. 2. Click Version. The Version window appears. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 61

71 Storage Nodes Adding a Node to a Cluster Nodes can be added when a cluster is created, or added later when storage requirements change and more nodes are needed. Nodes will require configuring when they are first powered on. After the node is configured, it displays in the Pending Nodes list and can then be added to a cluster. SolidFire Fibre Channel nodes are added using the same procedure as a SolidFire storage node. They can be added when a cluster is created, or added later. Procedure 1. Click the Nodes tab. 2. Click Pending Nodes. The Pending Nodes window appears. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 62

72 Storage Nodes 3. Click the check box for the node or all nodes that you want to add. NOTE: Nodes must have compatible versions of Element OS software installed. If not, then the node shows incompatible and cannot be added to the cluster. An upgrade to the node software is required before it can be added. Nodes can be reimaged with a specific build of Element OS. Contact Support for assistance with this process. 4. Click the add ( ) button. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 63

73 Storage Nodes Mixing Nodes in a Cluster Nodes of smaller or larger capacities can be added to an existing cluster. Larger node capacities can be added to a cluster to allow for capacity growth. Larger nodes added to a cluster with smaller nodes have to be added in pairs. This allows sufficient space for helix to move the data should one of the larger nodes fail. Smaller node capacities can be added to a larger node cluster to improve performance, and data from smaller node clusters can be migrated to larger nodes. NOTE: All nodes must have compatible versions of Element software installed. See Node Versioning and Compatibility (on page 8) for software compatibility rules. Adding a different sized node to a cluster uses the same process as adding a new node. For instructions, see Adding a Node to a Cluster on page 62. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 64

74 Storage Nodes Modifying Node Settings Individual nodes can be configured to participate in a cluster or be modified once they are running on a cluster. User authentication is necessary to configure a node if the node is already in an "active" state. If a node is part of a cluster then authentication as an Admin user is required before access to the node is permitted. There are two methods to access the node settings. 1. You can enter the node MIP followed by :442 in a browser window.the WebUI will display the authentication dialog so you can enter an Admin user name and password, if required, and then display the node settings in the WebUI. Example: 2. Alternatively, you can select the node in the Element WebUI Procedure for selecting and opening node settings in WebUI 1. Click the Nodes tab. The Node List window appears. 2. Click the edit ( ) icon next to the node you want to configure or modify. NOTE: You should configure or modify one node at a time. It is a best practice to first ensure the network settings specified have the expected effect, they are stable, and performing well before you make modifications to another node. In this way, the worst effect you experience is by entering an incorrect setting is to take a single node offline and add the drives back to the cluster when the correct information is entered. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 65

75 Storage Nodes Node Network Settings for 10G and 1G Node network settings can be changed to give the node a new set of nertwork attributes. The following image and table identifies the network 10G and 1G fields that can be modified when a node is in Available, Pending, and Active states. The network settings for a node displays in the Network Settings tab. The following view is available once you are logged into a node. When changes have been completed, click Save Changes to apply the changes. Figure 25: Network Settings - Bond 1G Network Settings for 10G and 1G The following table identifies the node network interface setting fields that can be modified when a node is in Available, Pending, and Active states. Table 26: Network Interface Settings Name Description Can be updated Type Method The method used to configure the interface. Valid methods are: loopback Used to define the Ipv4 loopback interface manual Used to define interfaces for which Available - Yes Pending - Yes Active - Yes String SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 66

76 Storage Nodes Name Description Can be updated Type no configuration is done by default dhcp May be used to obtain an IP address via DHCP static Used to define Ethernet interfaces with statically allocated Ipv4 addresses IP Address IP address for the 10G or 1G network Available - Yes Pending - Yes Active - No Subnet Mask Address subdivisions of the IP network Available - Yes Pending - Yes Active - yes Integer String Gateway Address Router network address to send packets out of the local network Available - Yes Pending - Yes Active - Yes Array of Cluster IPs MTU Largest packet size that a network protocol can transmit. Must be greater than or equal to 1500 Available - Yes Pending - Yes Active - yes Integer DNS Servers Network interface used for cluster communication Available - No Pending - No Active - No String Search Domains Search for additional MAC addresses available to the system Available - Yes Pending - Yes Active - No String Bond Mode Can be one of the following: ActivePassive (default) ALB Default LACP Available - Yes Pending - Yes Active - Yes String LACP If LACP is selected as the Bond Mode, the following selections will be available to choose from: LACP Slow LACP Fast Available - Yes Pending - Yes Active - Yes String Status Can be one of the following: UpAndRunning Down Up Available - Yes Pending - Yes Active - Yes String Routes Static routes to specific hosts or networks via the associated interface the routes are configured to use. Available -Yes Pending - Yes Active - Yes Array of IP Addresses SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 67

77 Storage Nodes Node Cluster Settings The cluster settings for a node displays in the Cluster Settings tab. The following view is available once you are logged into a node. Information that is available in this view is seen below in the see Node Cluster Interface Settings on page 68. Figure 27: Cluster Settings window Node Cluster Interface Settings The following table identifies the cluster interface fields that can be modified when a node is in Available, Pending, and Active states. Table 28: Cluster Interface Settings Name Description Can be updated Type Role Role the node has in the cluster. Can be one of the following: Storage - Storage or Fibre Channel node Management - Node is a management node Available - Yes Pending - Yes Active - No String Hostname Name of the node Available - Yes Pending - Yes Active - Yes Cluster Name of the cluster Available - Yes Pending - Yes Active - No String String Cluster Membership State of the node. Can be one of the following: Available - Node is not associated with any cluster. Available - No Pending - No String SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 68

78 Storage Nodes Name Description Can be updated Type Pending - Node has been configured for a specific cluster but has not yet been added to the cluster. Active - Node is an active node in the cluster Active - No Ensemble Nodes that are part of the database ensemble Available - No Pending - No Active - No Node ID Id assigned when a node is added to the cluster Available - No Pending - No Active - No Cluster Interface Network interface used for cluster communication Available - No Pending - No Active - No Array of Cluster IPs Integer String Management Interface Management network interface - defaults to Bond1G but can also use Bond10G Available - Yes Pending - Yes Active - No String Storage Interface Storage network interface - Bond10G Available - No Pending - No Active - No String SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 69

79 Storage Nodes System Test Settings Changes to the network settings can be tested after the settings are made and you have committed them to the network configuration. The tests ensure that the node is stable and can be brought online without issues. Click the button for the test you want to run. Figure 29: System Tests window SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 70

80 Storage Nodes Run All Tests: All test operations are started and run. Test Connected Ensemble: Tests and verifies the connectivity to a database ensemble. The test uses the ensemble for the cluster the node is associated with. show/hide options: Displays available options for a test. Not all tests have options that can be set. test status: Displays the status of each test was implemented. show/hide details: Displays or hides details of each test that was implemented. Details: Displays the JSON details of the test that was implemented. Test Connect Mvip: Pings the specified MVIP and then executes a simple API call to the MVIP to verify connectivity. Test Connect Svip: Pings the specified SVIP using Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) packets that matches the Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) size set on the network adapter. It then connects to the SVIP as an iscsi Initiator. Test Hardware Config: Tests that all hardware configurations are correct, validates firmware versions are correct, and all drives are installed and running properly. This is the same as factory testing. Test Local Connectivity : Tests the connectivity to all of the other nodes in the cluster by pinging the Cluster IP (CIP) on each node. This test will only be displayed on a node if the node is part of an active cluster. Test Locate Cluster: Locates the cluster on the network by its name. Test Network Config: Verifies that the configured network settings match the network settings being used on the system. NOTE: This test is not intended to detect hardware failures when a node is actively participating in a cluster. Hardware failures are automatically reported by the system if they occur. Test Ping: Pings a specified list of hosts or, if none specified, dynamically builds a list of all registered nodes in the cluster and ping each for simple connectivity. Test Remote Connectivity:Tests the connectivity to all remotely paired clusters' nodes by pinging the Cluster IP (CIP) on each node. This test will only be displayed on a node if the node is part of an active cluster. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 71

81 Storage Nodes System Utilities System Utilities can be used to reset configuration settings for nodes or drives, restart network or SolidFire services and create or delete a support bundle. Each utility is described below. Figure 30: System Utilities window Create Support Bundle: Creates a support bundle under the node's directory /tmp/bundles. Possible Values: Bundle Name - Name for the bundle Extra Args - Should be used only at the request of Support. Timeout Sec: - Time allowed, in seconds, for the process to run seconds is the default. The time can be shortened or extended. Delete All Support Bundles: Deletes any current support bundles residing on the node. Reset Drives: Initialize drives and remove all data currently residing on the drive. The drive can then be reused in an existing node or used in an upgraded node. Reset Node: Removes all of the current cluster configuration settings from the node and then reboots the node. All current node configuration settings are returned to the factory settings (network settings are not affected). Used only for available or pending nodes. After the node is reset, the node is accessible through the MIP on port 442. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 72

82 Storage Nodes Example: Nodes that are currently part of a cluster cannot be reset to the factory setting. The node must be removed from the cluster to be reset. For more information, see Removing Nodes from a Cluster on page 75. Restart Networking: Restarts all networking services on a node. Caution should be taken when using this operation as it will cause temporary loss of networking connectivity. Restart Services: Restarts SolidFire Element OS services on a node. NOTE: This action causes a temporary node service interruption. Restarting the node services should be cautiously considered. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 73

83 Storage Nodes Viewing Node Activity Graph Performance activity for each node can be viewed in a graphical format. This information provides real time statistics for CPU and read/write IOPS for each drive the node. The Utilization graph is updated every 5 seconds. The Drive Statistics graph updates every 10 seconds. Procedure 1. Click the Nodes tab. The Node List window appears. 2. Click the graph icon ( ) to the left of the Node ID column to display graphed statistics about the node activity. Specific points-in-time on the line and bar graphs can be seen by hovering your cursor over the line or bar. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 74

84 Storage Nodes Removing Nodes from a Cluster Nodes can be removed when they are no longer needed in a cluster or they require maintenance. All drives in the node must be removed before removing the node from the cluster. This can be done using the Web UI or API. For more information on removing a drive using the Web UI, see Removing a Drive on page 81. Two Fibre Channel nodes are required in a SolidFire cluster. If one Fibre Channel node is removed, you will see alerts in the Event Log until the second Fibre Channel node is added back to the cluster. However, all Fibre Channel network traffic will continue to operate with only one Fibre Channel node in the cluster. See Removing a Fibre Channel Node for more information about removing Fibre Channel nodes.. Procedure 1. Click the Nodes tab. The Node List window appears. 2. Click the check box for the node or all nodes that are being removed. 3. Click the remove ( ) icon. The Confirm Removal dialog window will display. 4. Click Remove. After the node has been removed from the cluster, it is added to the Pending Nodes list. Nodes in the Pending Nodes List can be added back to the cluster it was removed from. NOTE: If there are drives still registered to the node, the following error dialog window displays when you confirm removing the node: SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 75

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86 Drives Drives Each node contains one or more physical drives which are used to store a portion of the data for the cluster. The cluster utilizes the capacity and performance of the drive after the drive has been successfully added to a cluster. Viewing Active Drives The Active Drives window displays a list of the active drives in the cluster. You can search the list by filtering the drives in the list. Drives can also be deleted from the Active Drives list. Procedure To view active drives, click the Drives tab to open the Active Drives window. Figure 31: Active Drives window When you first initialize a cluster, this list is empty. All drives that are in an available state should be added when a new Element cluster is created. Filter Results: Filter by name or type the drives that display in the list. Drive ID: Sequential number assigned to the drive. Node: Name of the node where the drive resides. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 77

87 Drives Slot: Slot number where the drive is physically located. Capacity: GB size of the drive. Serial: Serial number of the SSD. Wear: Wear level indicator. Three colored states: Green - No wear issues Yellow - Wear is at a Warning level Red - Drive should be replaced. Type: Drive type can be block or metadata. Refresh: Reload drives in the list. Select: Selects all drives or an individual drive. Remove: Removes selected drive or drives. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 78

88 Drives Adding Available Drives to a Cluster When a node is added to the cluster, or new drives are installed to an existing node, the drives are automatically registered as Available Drives. The drives must be added to the cluster either by the Web UI or SolidFire API to begin participating in the cluster. Drives are not displayed in the Available Drives list when the following conditions exist: Drives are in Active or Failed state Node the drive is on is in a Pending state NOTE: Drive sizes must be compatible within a node. For example, if a 3010 drive needs to be replaced, it must be replaced with a drive compatible with a 3010 node system. A drive from a 6010 or 9010 node cannot be used to replace a drive in a 3010 node. This is true for all node models in the SolidFire family of nodes. The SolidFire system does not recognize the incompatible drive and it is never made available to the system. For more information about the types of drives used on a SolidFire cluster, see Drives on page 218. Procedure 1. Click the Drives tab. The Available Drives window appears. 2. Click the Select all check box, or select only the drives to add. 3. Click the add ( ) button. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 79

89 Drives Drive Wear Status Two conditions exist that determines wear on a SSD; the physical wear created by writing and erasing data on the hardware, and the number of NAND blocks that retire on the drive due to media defects. Each of these status indicators can be seen by hovering your mouse over the Wear column for a drive. Wear Remaining The Wear Remaining attribute indicates the approximate amount of wear available on the SSD for writing/erasing data. A drive that has consumed 5% of its designed write and erase cycles reports 95% wear remaining. Reserves Remaining The Reserves Remaining attribute indicates the approximate number of spare NAND blocks that remain in reserve to replace retired NAND blocks. The Drive Wear graph shows that when there is 1% of wear remaining on the drive or there are less than 20% NAND block reserves available, the drive should be replaced. Contact SolidFire Support to replace the drive. Figure 32: Drive Wear graph SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 80

90 Drives Removing a Drive A drive may be removed from the list of active drives or from the failed drives list. This takes the drive offline. Before a drive is removed the data on the drive is rewritten to other available drives in the system. The data migration to other active drives in the system can take a few minutes to an hour depending on how much capacity is utilized on the cluster and how much active I/O there is on the cluster. Procedure 1. Click the Drives tab. The Active Drives window appears. 2. Click the check box for the drive or drives being removed. 3. Click the remove ( ) button. The Confirm Removal dialog window will display. 4. Click Remove. NOTE: If there is not enough capacity to remove active drives prior to removing a node, the following error dialog window displays when you confirm removing the drives: SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 81

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92 Drives Removing Failed Drives A drive may be put in a failed state if the self-diagnostics of the drive tells the node it has failed, or if communications to the drive have been discontinued for 5½ minutes or longer. The Failed Drives window displays a list of the drives which have reached either of these conditions. If a drive has failed, see Replacing an SSD on page 211. Drives are listed in the Alerts view as Block Service Unhealthy when a node is offline. If the node and drives come back online before 5½ minutes that is, when rebooting a node the drives automatically update and continue as active drives in the cluster. Procedure 1. Click the Drives tab. The Drives window appears. 2. Click Failed Drives. 3. Click the check box to select the drive or drives being removed. 4. Click the remove ( ) button. The Confirmation Removal dialog box displays. 5. Click Remove. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 83

93 Drives Secure-Erasing Data Residual data can be removed from drives that are listed in the Available Drives list. This process uses a Security Erase Unit command to write a predetermined pattern to the drive and resets the encryption key on the drive. The drive shows a status of erasing while the drive is being secure-erased. NOTE: This process is available only through the API. For more details, see the SecureEraseDrives method in the Element 8.0 API Reference Guide. Figure 33: Secure Erasing Status - Available Drives SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 84

94 Volumes Volumes Storage is provisioned in the SolidFire system by way of volumes. Volumes are block devices accessed over the network via iscsi. For more information about volumes, see Volumes on page 219. You can use the Volumes Web UI to create, modify, clone, and delete volumes on a node. Statistics about volume bandwidth and I/O usage can also be viewed from the Web UI. The following sections describe how to create volumes, view volumes once they are successfully created and how to manage each volume on the cluster. Set up Volumes Volumes are associated with an account when created. The size of the volume is entered when it is created and QoS values can be entered to provision the volume with performance expectations to satisfy the requirements of the account. For more information about Quality of Service, see Quality of Service on page 222. Volumes can be grouped into Volume Access Groups, which allows access to a group of volumes that have been identified as a group by a given name and initiator identifier. For more details, see Creating a Volume Access Group on page 135. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 85

95 Volumes Viewing Active Volumes The Active Volumes list includes all storage volumes that have been created to store data. Information about each volume is divided into groups of data so that information can be viewed as a group of related information. The Active Volumes window has four separate tabs that provides volume information: Volume Overview Quality of Service Volume Details Volume Stats Operations for a volume can be performed in each of the four tabs. Operations that are available from each tab are the following: Adding Volumes to a Volume Access Group (on page 138) Creating a New Volume (on page 94) Deleting a Volume (on page 99) Modifying Active Volumes (on page 97) Cloning a Volume (on page 103) Viewing Volume Activity Graph (on page 93) TIP: To filter the results, click Filter Results available on each tab. To return to the original set of filters, click Reset Filters. Where there are multiple pages of volumes, you can advance the list of volumes by clicking on the page numbers at the top and bottom of the Active Volumes list. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 86

96 Volumes Volume Overview The Volume Overview tab is the default view for the Active Volumes list. Listed in this view is information that was used to create the volume. Views of additional volume information are available in the Quality of Service, Volume Details and Volume Stats tabs. Actions that can be performed on a volume are available on all tabs in the Active Volumes view. To view the Volume Overview information, click the Volumes tab. Figure 34: Active Volumes window Filter Results: Filters by name or type the drives that display in the list. Volume Activity Graph: Displays the volume activity statistics in a graphical format. Volume ID: System-generated ID for the volume. Volume Name: Name given to the volume when it was created. The volume name can be up to 223 characters consisting of a-z, 0-9 and dash (-). Account: Name of the account assigned to the volume. Volume Access Groups: Name of the volume access group this volume belongs to. A volume can belong to a maximum of four volume access groups. Total Size: Gigabyte (GB) size assigned to the volume when created. Access: Displays the type of access currently assigned to the volume. Access types can be: Read/Write - All read and writes accepted. Read Only - All read activity allowed; no writes allowed. Locked - Administrator access only. #of Snapshots: Displays the number of snapshots taken of this volume. Paired: Indicates the direction replicating data is moving on the volume. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 87

97 Volumes Refresh: Removes selected drive or drives. Actions: Edits, clones or deletes volumes by selecting one volume or all volumes and clicking on one of the action icons. Volume Access Group and Group Snapshot Actions: Adds or removes selected volumes for volume access groups or group snapshots. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 88

98 Volumes Quality of Service The Quality of Service tab displays the current QoS settings on each volume. For details on changing the QoS settings for a volume, see Modifying Active Volumes on page 97. To view the Quality of Service information, click the Volumes tab and then click the Quality of Service tab. Figure 35: Quality of Service window Volume Activity Graph: Displays the volume activity statistics in a graphical format. Volume ID: System-generated ID for the volume. Volume Name: Name given to the volume when it was created. The volume name can be up to 223 characters consisting of a-z, 0-9 and dash (-). Min IOPS: Displays the minimum number of IOPS guaranteed for this volume. Default = 100. Max IOPS: Displays the maximum number of IOPS allowed for this volume. Default = 15,000. Burst IOPS: Displays the maximum number of IOPS allowed over a short period of time. Default = 15,000. Actions: Edits, clones or deletes volumes by selecting one volume or all volumes and clicking on one of the action icons. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 89

99 Volumes Volume Details The Volume Details tab displays the iscsi qualified name (IQN) for each volume and any attributes that have been set for the volume. To view the Volume Details information, click the Volumes tab and then click the Volume Details tab. Figure 36: Volume Details window Filter Results: Filters by name or type the drives that display in the list. Volume Activity Graph: Displays the volume activity statistics in a graphical format. Volume ID: System-generated ID for the volume. Volume Name: Name given to the volume when it was created. The volume name can be up to 223 characters consisting of a-z, 0-9 and dash (-). IQN: iscsi Qualified Name for the volume. Attributes: Attributes are assigned as a key/value pair through an API method. 512e: Gigabyte (GB) size assigned to the volume when created. Creation Time: Data and time the volume was created. Refresh: Removes selected drive or drives. Select: Selects all volumes or an individual volume. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 90

100 Volumes Actions: Edits, clones or deletes volumes by selecting one volume or all volumes and clicking on one of the action icons. Volume Access Group Actions: Adds or removes a volume access group, create a group snapshot, clone volumes and schedule snapshots. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 91

101 Volumes Volume Stats The Volume Stats tab displays the efficiency statistics for each volume. Efficiencies for Thin Provisioning and Used Capacity of the volume are shown. The Read/Write performance of the volume is shown as Performance Utilization. To view the Volume Stats information, click the Volumes tab and then click the Volume Stats tab. Figure 37: Volume Stats window Filter Results: Filters by name or type the drives that display in the list. Volume Activity Graph: Displays the volume activity statistics in a graphical format. Volume ID: System-generated ID for the volume. Volume Name: Name given to the volume when it was created. The volume name can be up to 223 characters consisting of a-z, 0-9 and dash (-). Thin Provisioning: Displays the amount of space saved over the amount of space that was allocated. Used Capacity: Displays the percentage of space that is being used on the volume. Performance Utilization: Displays the percentage of IOPS being used for a volume - calculated by actualiops / targetiops. Refresh: Reloads information in the current volume view. Actions: Edits, clones or deletes volumes by selecting one volume or all volumes and clicking on one of the action icons. Volume Access Group Actions:Adds or removes a volume access group, create a group snapshot, clone volumes and schedule snapshots. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 92

102 Volumes Viewing Volume Activity Graph Performance activity for each volume can be viewed in a graphical format. This information provides real time statistics for IOPS, bandwidth, Queue Depth and Latency for each volume. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. The Active Volumes window appears. 2. Click the graph icon ( ) to the left of the Volume ID column to display graphed statistics about the volume activity. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 93

103 Volumes Creating a New Volume After provisioning a tenant account, volumes need to be created and associated with the given account. This association implies that iscsi initiators using the CHAP credentials provided will be able to discover and mount iscsi devices that have been associate with that account in the Element OS OS. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. The Active Volumes window appears. 2. Click Create New Volume. The Create New Volume dialog appears. 3. Enter the volume name (may be 1 to 64 characters in length). 4. Click the Account drop-down list and select the tenant account that is to have access to the volume. NOTE: If there are more than 50 names, the drop-down list does not appear. Begin typing and the auto- SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 94

104 Volumes complete function displays possible values for you to choose from. 5. Enter the total size of the volume. NOTE: Default volume size selection is in GB. Volumes can be created with GB or GiB: 1GB = bytes 1GiB = bytes 6. Select whether or not to enable 512k block emulation. This option is necessary to support operating systems that do not recognize native 4k drives, such as VMWare ESX. By default the check box is selected. 7. Set the Quality of Service Settings values or accept the default values. The sliders may be used to adjust the IOPS values or click the number field to enter the desired IOPS values. Caution: Volumes with MaxIOPS and BurstIOPS greater than 20,000 are allowed specifically to accommodate higher bandwidths. Achieving greater than 20,000 small block IOPS on a single volume requires a high queue depth and may require special MPIO configuration. 8. Click Create Volume. Resizing a Volume A volume can be increased in size. The resizing operation cannot be used to decrease the size of a volume. Only one volume can be resized in a single resizing operation. The resizing operation is not interrupted when the volume is running garbage collection or software upgrades. A volume may be resized when the following is occurring: Normal operating conditions Volume errors or failures are being reported Volume is being cloned Volume is being resynced NOTE: Volumes on a cluster that is at Error: Cluster Full cannot be resized. NOTE: Default volume size selection is in GB. Volumes can be created with GB or GiB: 1GB = bytes 1GiB = bytes Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. The Active Volumes window appears. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 95

105 Volumes 2. Click the edit ( ) icon that corresponds to the volume you want to resize. The Modify Volume window appears. 3. Click the Total Size drop-down list and select the new volume size. NOTE: A message appears if the volume size is larger than the volume size allowed: 4. Click Save Changes. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 96

106 Volumes Modifying Active Volumes The Modify Volume page is used to change the attributes of a volume. The QoS values, and size of a volume can be changed, and the metric in which byte values are calculated can be modified. Account access can also be modified to accommodate replication usage or to lock access to the volume. Extending the size of a volume that is currently being replicated should be done in order to prevent replication errors. The target, Replication Target, volume should first be increased in size, and then the source, Read / Write, volume can be resized. It is recommended that both the target and the source volumes are the same size. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. The Active Volumes window appears. 2. Click the edit ( ) icon that corresponds to the volume you want modified. The Modify Volume dialog appears. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 97

107 Volumes 3. Click the Total Size drop-down list and select the size of the volume. NOTE: You can increase the size of the volume, but not decrease the size of the volume. For more information, see Resizing a Volume on page Click the Access drop-down list and select an access level. 5. Enter or change the Quality of Service Settings values by typing values or using the slider to adjust IOPS. NOTE: When you change IOPS, SolidFire recommends increments in tens or hundreds. Input values require valid whole numbers. Best Practice: Configuring volumes with an extremely high burst value allows for occasional large block sequential workloads to process faster and still constrain the sustained IOPS for a volume. 6. Click Save Changes. NOTE: Volumes cannot be modified to change account ownership. Cloning a volume to a different account is possible. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 98

108 Volumes Deleting a Volume You can delete a volume from a SolidFire cluster. The volume is not immediately removed from the system, but remains available for approximately eight hours for restoration purposes. If the volume is restored before it is purged it comes back online and iscsi connections are allowed to reconnect. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. The Active Volumes window appears. 2. Click the Delete ( ) icon that corresponds to the volume you want to delete. The Confirm Deletion dialog window will display. 3. Click Delete. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 99

109 Volumes Viewing Deleted Volumes You can view volumes that have been recently deleted. You can restore a volume that has been marked for deletion as long as you do so before the automatic purge process removes the volume permanently after eight hours. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Deleted Volumes. The Deleted Volumes window appears. To see the date and time the volume was deleted, navigate to the Volume Details tab in the Deleted Volumes list view. The time the volume was deleted will display in the Deletion Time column. The time the volume is to be purged from the system is shown in the Automatically Purge At column. Figure 38: Deleted Volumes - Volume Details SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 100

110 Volumes Restoring a Deleted Volume You can restore a volume to put it back into the SolidFire system if it has been deleted. If the volume has been purged from the system, the volume cannot be restored. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Deleted Volumes. The Deleted Volumes window appears. 3. Click the restore ( ) icon that corresponds to the volume you want restored. The volume is immediately set to active and returned to the Active Volumes list. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 101

111 Volumes Purging a Volume You can purge a volume after you have deleted it. Volumes are purged by the system automatically. The time at which a volume is purged is shown in the Automatically Purge At column. However, if you want to purge a volume before the scheduled purge time, you can perform a manual purge using these steps. Caution: When a volume is purged it is permanently removed from the system. All data on the volume is purged as well. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Deleted Volumes. The Deleted Volumes window appears. 3. Click the delete ( ) icon that corresponds to the volume you want to purge. A confirmation message displays before the volume is purged. 4. Click Delete. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 102

112 Volumes Cloning a Volume Clones are created to make a point-in-time copy of the data on a volume. Cloning a volume actually creates a snapshot of the volume and then creates a copy of the volume. The copy can be mounted and written to. This is an asynchronous process and can take a variable amount of time depending on the size of the volume being cloned. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. The Active Volumes window appears. 2. Click the Volume Tasks ( ) icon. The Clone Volume window appears. 3. Enter information for the cloned volume. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 103

113 Volumes 4. Click Clone Volume. After the volume is cloned it displays in the Active Volumes window. NOTE: The time to complete a cloning operation is affected by volume size and current cluster load. NOTE: Increasing the volume size of a clone results in a new volume with additional free space at the end of the volume. Depending on how the volume is being used, extending partitions or creating new partitions in the free space may be necessary to use the new free space. Caution: Truncating a cloned volume by cloning to a smaller size requires preparation on the operating system or application in order to reduce partitions so they fit into a smaller volume size. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 104

114 Volumes Volume Snapshots A snapshot of a volume can be made to preserve a point-in-time replica of a volume's slice drive metadata. Creating a volume snapshot takes only a small amount of system resources and space making snapshot creation faster than cloning. Snapshots can be used to roll a volume back to the point-in-time the snapshot was created. Snapshots cannot be mounted or written to. Snapshots can be replicated to a remote SolidFire cluster and used as a backup copy for the volume. A volume can be rolled back to a specific point in time by using the replicated snapshot, and a clone of the volume can be made from a replicated snapshot. Figure 39: Snapshot List window Filter Results: Filter results in the list view by snapshot or volume information. SnapshotID: System generated ID for the snapshot. Snapshot Name: User defined name for the snapshot. Snapshot Size: User defined size of the snapshot in GigaBytes. Volume ID: ID of the volume from which the snapshot was created. Volume Name: User defined name of the volume. Account: Account the volume is associated with. Volume Size: Size of the volume from which the snapshot was created.. Create Time: The time at which the snapshot was created. Retain Until: The day and time until the snapshot will be kept. At this time the snapshot will be deleted. Group Snapshot ID: The group ID the snapshot belongs to if grouped together with other volume snapshots. Remote Replication: Identifies whether or not the snapshot is enabled for replication to a remote SolidFire cluster. Valid values are: SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 105

115 Volumes Enabled - The snapshot is enabled for remote replication Not Enabled - The snapshot is not enabled for remote replication Replicated: Displays the status of the snapshot on the remote SolidFire cluster. Valid values are: Present - The snapshot exists on a remote cluster Not Present - The snapshot does not exist on a remote cluster Syncing - The target cluster is currently replicating the snapshot Deleted - The target replicated the snapshot and then deleted it Group tab: Navigation tab to view a list of group snapshots. Actions: Edit (Modify) Snapshot Tasks - Clone from Snapshot - Backup - Rollback Volume to Snapshot Delete Snapshot SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 106

116 Volumes Creating a Volume Snapshot Snapshot schedules can be created so snapshots are created at a designated month, day to time. A snapshot of the active volume can be created to preserve the volume image at any point-in-time. A maximum of 32 snapshots can be created for a single volume. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Active Volumes. 3. Click the Volume Tasks icon ( ) that corresponds to the volume you want to snapshot. 4. Click Create Snapshot. 5. (Optional) Enter a name for the new snapshot. If no name is entered for the new snapshot, the UTC formatted date and time the snapshot is created is used as the snapshot name. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 107

117 Volumes 6. (Optional) Enter a period of time the snapshot will be retained on the source cluster. If left blank, the snapshot will be kept until manually deleted. Enter hh:mm:ss format. 7. (Optional) Click to enable replication of the snapshot. NOTE: Volumes need to be replicating before a snapshot can be replicated. Messages in the Alerts log will persistently indicate the snapshot is trying to sync until the volume is replicating. 8. Click Create Snapshot. The snapshot is created and displayed in the Snapshots list window. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 108

118 Volumes Modifying Snapshot Retention The retention period for a snapshot can be modified to delete snapshots. The retention period specified will begin when the new interval is entered. If a snapshot retention period does not currently exist, the retention period can only be set to begin at the current time. Retention will not be calculated from the time the snapshot was created. Intervals can be specified in seconds, minutes, hours or days. Snapshots can also be kept forever or deleted manually from the Snapshots list view.. When a snapshot is deleted from the source cluster, the target cluster snapshot is not affected. The reverse is also true. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. The Snapshots window appears. 2. Click the edit ( ) icon that corresponds to the snapshot for which you want to modify the retention period. The Modify Snapshot dialog appears with Snapshot Info. 3. Click the Keep this snapshot forever to never delete. If selected NOTE: If this option is selected you can no longer enter retention period units 4. Enter an integer in Adjust Retention By:. 5. Select seconds, minutes, hours or days in Retention Units: 6. Click Include Snapshot in Replication to replicate the snapshot. 7. Click Save Changes. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 109

119 Volumes Rolling Back to a Snapshot A volume can be rolled back at any time to a snapshot taken previously. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Snapshots. 3. Click the Volume Tasks icon ( ) that corresponds to the snapshot you want to roll the volume back to. 4. Click Rollback Volume to Snapshot. The Rollback to Snapshot window displays with the snapshot information fields pre-filled. 5. (Optional) Click the Save volume's current state as a snapshot check box to type in a new name for the current volume. This creates a snapshot of the volume in its current state. 6. Click Rollback to Snapshot. The volume is rolled back to the snapshot identified in the Rollback to Snapshot dialog. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 110

120 Volumes Backing up a Snapshot The Integrated Backup and Restore operation is used to back up a snapshot. A script is made available on each SolidFire node that allows communication with an external object store. The following operation assumes there is connection to the object store that allows read/write operations. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Snapshots. 3. Click the Volume Tasks icon ( ) that corresponds to the snapshot you want to backup. 4. Click Backup. 5. Click the Operation drop-down list and select a backup operation type. 6. Click the Data Format drop-down list and select the read/write format for the data. 7. Enter information needed to access the external object store: a. URL: URL to the external object store b. Username: User name of the account on the object store SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 111

121 Volumes c. Authentication Key: Authentication required for User name d. Container: Name of the container where the data goes e. Prefix: This is field is pre-filled. No entry required. 8. Click Start Backup / Restore. The Bulk Volume Read message appears. 9. Click Back to Snapshots List to return, or click the running tasks screen link to see the progress of the backup. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 112

122 Volumes Cloning a Volume from a Snapshot A new volume can be created from a snapshot of a volume. This operation will use the snapshot information to clone a new volume using the data contained on the volume at the time the snapshot was created. Information about other snapshots of the volume will also be stored in the new volume. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Snapshots. 3. Click the Volume Tasks icon next the volume you want to clone. 4. Click Clone from Snapshot. 5. Do the following: a. Enter a name for the new clone. b. Select the total size. c. Select the access. d. Select the account it is associated with. 6. Click Clone Volume. The clone of the snapshot is created and displayed in the Active Volumes list window. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 113

123 Volumes Deleting a Snapshot You can delete a volume snapshot from a SolidFire cluster. The snapshot is immediately removed from the system when it is deleted. Snapshots that are being replicated can be deleted from the source cluster. If a snapshot is syncing to the target cluster when it is deleted, the sync replication will complete and then the snapshot will be deleted from the source cluster. The snapshot will not be deleted from the target cluster. Snapshots that have been replicated to the target can be deleted from the target cluster as well. The deleted snapshot will be kept in a list of deleted snapshots on the target until it detects the snapshot has been deleted on the source cluster. Once the target has detected the source snapshot has been deleted, the target will no longer replicate the snapshot. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Snapshots. The Snapshots window appears. 3. Click the delete icon ( ) that corresponds to the snapshot you want to delete. The Confirm Deletion dialog message displays before the snapshot is deleted. 4. Click Delete. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 114

124 Volumes Viewing Snapshots Snapshots that have been created are viewed from the Snapshot List in the Element Web UI. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Snapshots. The Snapshots list window appears. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 115

125 Volumes Group Snapshots A group snapshot of a related set of volumes can be made to preserve a point-in-time copy of several volume's metadata files. The group snapshot created can then be used in the future as a backup or rollback to ensure the data on the group of volumes is consistent for the point in time in which the snapshot was created. A volume can be rolled back to any one of the snapshots created for the volume. Rolling back to a snapshot can be used to restore a volume to a desired point-in-time. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 116

126 Volumes Creating a Group Snapshot A snapshot of a group of volumes can be created to preserve a specified group of volume images at any point-in-time. A maximum of 32 snapshots can be created for a group of volumes. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Active Volumes. 3. Click the checkbox to select all the volumes in the list or select each volume individually from the list. 4. Click Create Group Snapshot. The Create Group Snapshot of Volumes dialog window displays. 5. (Optional) Enter a name for the new group snapshot. If no name is entered for the new snapshot, the UTC formatted date and time the snapshot is created is used as the snapshot name. 6. Click Create Snapshot. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 117

127 Volumes 7. The snapshot is created and displayed in the Snapshots list window under the Group tab. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 118

128 Volumes Cloning Multiple Volumes Multiple volume clones can be created in a single operation to create a point-in-time copy of the data on a the specified volumes. Cloning a volume actually creates a snapshot of the volume and then creates a copy of the volume. The copy can be mounted and written to. This is an asynchronous process and can take a variable amount of time depending on the size and number of the volumes being cloned. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Select Active Volumes. The Active Volumes window appears. 3. Click the checkbox to select all the volumes in the list or select each volume individually from the list. 4. Click Clone Volumes. The Clone Multiple Volumes window appears. 5. Enter a New Volume Name Prefix. This prefix will be applied to all volumes in the group. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 119

129 Volumes 6. (Optional) Select a different account to which the clone will belong. If none is selected the volume account will default to the current volume account. 7. (Optional) Select a different access method for the volumes in the clone. If none is selected the volume access will default to the current volume access. 8. Click Create Clone Group. After the volume is cloned it displays in the Active Volumes window. NOTE: The time to complete a cloning operation is affected by volume size and current cluster load. NOTE: Increasing the volume size of a clone results in a new volume with additional free space at the end of the volume. Depending on how the volume is being used, extending partitions or creating new partitions in the free space may be necessary to use the new free space. Caution: Truncating a cloned volume by cloning to a smaller size requires preparation on the operating system or application in order to reduce partitions so they fit into a smaller volume size. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 120

130 Volumes Cloning Multiple Volumes from a Group Snapshot A group of volumes can be cloned to the point-in-time a group snapshot was created. This operation requires that a group snapshot of the volumes exist as the group snapshot will be used as the basis to create the volumes. Once the volumes are created they can be used like any other volume in the system. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Select Active Volumes. The Active Volumes window appears. 3. Click the Snapshots button. 4. Click the Group tab. The Snapshots window appears with the group snapshots that have been created. 5. Click the Volume Tasks icon ( ) and select Clone Volumes from Group Snapshot. The Clone Multiple Volumes from Group Snapshot dialog window will display with the volumes that will be cloned in this operation. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 121

131 Volumes 6. Enter a New Volume Name Prefix. This prefix will be applied to all volumes created from the group snapshot. 7. (Optional) Select a different account to which the clones will belong. If none is selected the volume account will default to the current volume account. 8. (Optional) Select a different access method for the volumes being cloned. If no new access method is selected the volume access will default to the current volume access. 9. Click Create Clone Group. The Multiple Volume cloning in progress message window will display. After the volumes are cloned they will display in the Active Volumes window. NOTE: The time to complete a multiple cloning operation is affected by volume size, number of volumes being cloned and current cluster load. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 122

132 Volumes Rolling Back to a Group Snapshot A group of volumes can be rolled back at any time to a group snapshot taken previously. This operation will restore all the volumes in the group to the point-in-time at which the group snapshot was created. Volume sizes will be restored to the volume sizes recorded in the original snapshot. If a volume has been purged from the system, all snapshots of that volume were also deleted. Restoration of the deleted volume snapshot will not occur. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Select Active Volumes. The Active Volumes window appears. 3. Click the Snapshots button. 4. Click the Group tab. The Snapshots window appears with the group snapshots that have been created. 5. Click the Volume Tasks icon ( ) and select Rollback Volumes to Group Snapshot. The Rollback to Group Snapshot dialog window will display with information about the group snapshot and the volumes that will be rolled back to in this operation. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 123

133 Volumes 6. (Optional) Click Save Volumes' current state as a group snapshot to retain a group snapshot of the current state of the volumes. 7. Click Rollback to Group Snapshot. The Volumes rolled back to group snapshot message window will display. After the volumes are cloned they will display in the Active Volumes window. NOTE: The time to complete a multiple cloning operation is affected by volume size, number of volumes being cloned and current cluster load. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 124

134 Volumes Deleting a Group Snapshot A group snapshot can be deleted from the system. When the group snapshot is deleted, all snapshots associated with the group are deleted. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Select Active Volumes. The Active Volumes window appears. 3. Click the Snapshots button. 4. Click the Group tab. The Snapshots window appears with the group snapshots that have been created. 5. Click the Delete icon ( ) that corresponds to the group snapshot you want deleted. The Confirm Deletion dialog window will display. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 125

135 Volumes 6. Click Delete. The group snapshot will no longer display in Group Snapshots. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 126

136 Snapshot Scheduler A snapshot of a volume can be scheduled to automatically occur at specified intervals. A snapshot schedule can be configured by time intervals based on day of the week or day of the month. Additional time increments can be included, such as, the hours and minutes that must elapse before the next snapshot occurs. Single volume snapshots can be scheduled to run automatically. A group of volumes can also be included in a scheduled snapshot task when you want to make a snapshot of many volumes at the same time. Scheduled snapshots can be stored on a SolidFire remote storage system if the volume is being replicated. This can be done by specifying Include Snapshot in Replication when the schedule is created or modified. Figure 40: Account List Window Filter Results: Filters by Volume ID, Schedule Name and Frequency to display in the list. Schedule ID: Displays the schedule ID assigned to the schedule. Type: Displays the type of volume copy that is made. "Snapshot" is the only supported type. Name: User assigned name of the schedule. Frequency: Displays the interval assigned to the schedule. Can be : Time Interval, Days of Week or Days of Month Recurring: Displays the occurence assigned to the schedule. Can be : One Time or Recurring Volume IDs: Displays the ID of the volumes included in the snapshap when the schedule executes. Last Run: Displays the last time the schedule executed. Last Run Status: Displays the outcome of the last schedule execution. Can be : Success or Error SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 127

137 Refresh: Refreshes the schedules in the list. Actions: Pause or Resume Edit (Modify) Clone Schedule Delete Schedule SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 128

138 Creating a Scheduled Snapshot Snapshot schedules can be created so snapshots are created at a designated month, day to time. A snapshot of the active volume can be created to preserve the volume image at any point-in-time. A maximum of 32 snapshots can be created for a single volume. Schedules can be set up to take a snapshot of a volume or a group of volumes at defined intervals. This allows control over when a snapshot is taken and how long it is kept. Scheduled individual and group snapshots can be included for replication. Replicating snapshots The following table describes the intervals with which a schedule type can be created. Interval name Field Names Values Description Time Interval Hours and Minutes Hours: 0-23 Minutes: 0-59 The hours and minutes between schedule creation and when the first snapshot is made. If recurring, the schedule will run at every time interval specified. For example, if hours = 1 and minutes = 30, the schedule will run in intervals of 1 hour and 30 minutes. Days of the Week Hours and Minutes Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday Hours: 0-23 Minutes: 0-59 The day and time of day when the scheduled snapshot is to be made. If recurring, the schedule will run on each day specified, at the time specified. For example, if days selected is Monday and Wednesday, and hours = 11, and minutes = 30, the schedule will run on Monday and Wednesday at 11:30 A.M. Days of the Month Hours and Minutes Days of the month Hours: 0-23 Minutes: 0-59 List of days delimited by commas: 1-31 The time of day when the scheduled snapshot is made. If recurring, the schedule will run on each day of the month at the time specified. For example, if days of the month = 1, 15, and hours = 18, and minutes = 30, the schedule will run on the 1st day and 15th day of each month at 6:30 P.M. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. The Active Volumes window appears. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 129

139 2. Select a single volume or multiple volumes. 3. Click schedule snapshot in the "with selected" list. The Create Scheduled Snapshot window displays, or if you selected more than one volume, the Create Scheduled Group Snapshot dialog displays. 4. Enter a Schedule Name. 5. Select the Schedule Type drop-down and select Time Interval, Days of the Week or Days of the Month The Create Scheduled Snapshot window will display the fields that are applicable to the schedule type you select. 6. Click on Recurring Schedule if the schedule is to run more than once. 7. Click on Include Snapshot in Replication if you want the created snapshot to be replicated to external storage. NOTE: The Include Snapshot in Replication setting will be ignored if volumes are not being replicated. 8. Click on Schedule Snapshot SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 130

140 To view the newly created schedule, click on the Volumes tab and then click on Schedules. Modifying a Schedule A schedule can be modified to change the attributes of the schedule. Once a schedule is modified it will only run with the updated attributes. Snapshots that were created by the original schedule will remain on the storage system. If you want to clone a schedule so the current attributes of a schedule are maintained, see Cloning a Scheduled Snapshot on page 131. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab and select Schedules. The Schedule List window appears. 2. Click the Modify icon ( ) that corresponds to the schedule you want to change. The Modify Schedule window appears. 3. Enter new values for the fields you want changed 4. Click Schedule Snapshot. Viewing Scheduled Snapshots Information about scheduled snapshots can be viewed in the Volumes tab. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab and select Schedules. The Schedule List window appears. Cloning a Scheduled Snapshot A schedule can resume functioning so future scheduled snapshots can be made. see Deleting a Snapshot on page 114. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab and select Schedules. The Schedule List window appears. 2. Click the Clone icon ( ) that corresponds to the schedule you want to clone. The Clone Schedule confirmation window appears. 3. Click Clone. The cloned schedule will appear in the Schedule List window with -clone appended to the schedule name. The name of the schedule can be changed using the modify function in the WebUI. For more information Pausing a Scheduled Snapshot A schedule can be temporarily stopped from performing any further action. No new snapshots will be made when the schedule is paused. When the schedule is resumed the next scheduled snapshot will be made at the time defined in the schedule. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab and select Schedules.. The Schedule List window appears. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 131

141 2. Click the pause icon next to the schedule you want to pause. The Pause Schedule confirmation window displays. 3. Click Pause. Resuming a Paused Snapshot Schedule A schedule can resume functioning so future scheduled snapshots can be made. see Deleting a Snapshot on page 114. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab and select Schedules. The Schedule List window appears. 2. Click the resume icon ( ) that corresponds to the schedule you want to resume. The Resume Schedule confirmation window appears. 3. Click Resume. Deleting a Schedule A schedule can be deleted. Once the schedule is deleted it will not run any future scheduled snapshots. Snapshots that were created by the schedule will remain on the storage system. If you want to delete a snapshot, see Deleting a Snapshot on page 114. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab and select Schedules. The Schedule List window appears. 2. Click the Delete icon ( ) that corresponds to the schedule you want deleted. The Delete Schedule confirmation window appears. 3. Click Delete. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 132

142 Viewing Running Tasks You can view the progress and completion status of tasks that have been started and are currently running in the Web UI.You can see the progress of replicating volumes, cloning operations, backup and restore operations, as well as block syncing tasks. If there are a large number of tasks, they may be queued and run in batches. Only the services currently being synced are displayed in the Running Tasks window. When a task is complete it is replaced by the next queued syncing task. Syncing tasks may continue to appear in the Running Tasks window until there are no more tasks to complete. NOTE: If there are volumes being replicated, the replication sync data is seen in the Running Tasks window on the cluster with the target volume. Procedure 1. Click the Reporting tab. 2. Click Running Tasks. The Running Tasks window appears. 3. (Optional) You can click the show all link to show all block syncing tasks that are currently running. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 133

143 Volume Access Groups A Volume Access Group is a collection of volumes that can be accessed by either iscsi initiators or Fibre Channel initiators. Volume Access Groups are created by mapping iscsi initiators IQNs or Fibre Channel WWPNs in a collection of volumes. Each IQN that is added to a volume access group can access each volume in the group without requiring CHAP authentication. Each WWPN that is added to a volume access group will allow Fibre Channel network access to the volumes in the volume access group. NOTE: The following criteria will be used in a volume access group: A maximum of sixty-four total IQNs/WWPNs are allowed in a volume access group A maximum of 2000 volumes can be in a volume access group An IQN or WWPN can belong to only one volume access group A single volume can belong to a maximum of four volume access groups SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 134

144 Creating a Volume Access Group The Volume Access Groups list allows you to create volume access groups. Volume access groups are created by mapping initiators (IQN) in to a collection of volumes for secured access. Access to the volumes in the group can then be granted with an account CHAP initiator secret and target secret. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Volume Access Group. The Volume Access Groups window appears. 3. Click Create Volume Access Group. The Create New Volume Access Group dialog appears. 4. Enter a name for the volume access group in the Name field. 5. Enter an IQN in the Initiators text box. NOTE: Initiators may be added or deleted at a later time. The accepted format of an initiator IQN: iqn.yyyy-mm where y and m are digits, followed by text which must only contain digits, lower-case alphabetic characters, a period (.), colon (:) or dash (-). Example: iqn com.solidfire:c2r9.fc e1e09bb8b TIP: You can find the initiator IQN for each volume in the Volumes>Active Volumes>Volume Details tab. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 135

145 6. Click Create Volume Access Group. The new volume access group displays in the Volume Access Groups window. See Adding Volumes to a Volume Access Group (on page 138) for steps to add volumes to the volume access group. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 136

146 Deleting a Volume Access Group Volume Access Groups can be deleted when they are no longer needed. Initiator IDs and Volume IDs do not need to be deleted from the volume access group prior to deleting the group. Group access to the volumes will be discontinued upon confirmation of the delete operation. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Volume Access Groups. The Volume Access Groups window appears. 3. Click the delete ( ) icon that corresponds to the volume access group you want to delete. A confirmation message appears. 4. Click Delete. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 137

147 Adding Volumes to a Volume Access Group Volumes can be added to a volume access group. Volumes can belong to more than one volume access group and the groups the volume belongs to is displayed in the Active Volumes window. NOTE: The steps below can also be used to add volumes to a Fibre Channel volume access group. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. The Active Volumes window appears. 2. Click the check box next to the volume you want to add. 3. Click the add to volume access group ( ) button. 4. Click the Volume Access Group drop-down list and select the volume access group to add the volumes to. 5. Click Add. The volume(s) displays in the Active Volumes window and are associated with the Volume Access Group. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 138

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149 Removing Volumes from a Volume Access Group Volumes can be removed from a volume access group. When a volume is removed from a volume access group, the group will no longer have access to that volume. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. The Active Volumes window appears. 2. Click the check box next to the volume you want to remove. 3. Click the remove from volume access group ( ) button. A confirmation message appears. 4. Click Remove. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 140

150 Adding Initiators in a Volume Access Group An initiator can be added to a Volume Access Group to allow access to volumes in the volume access group without requiring CHAP authentication. An initiator added to a volume access group has access to all volumes in the specified volume access group. The accepted format of an initiator IQN: iqn.yyyy-mm where y and m are digits, followed by text which must only contain digits, lower-case alphabetic characters, a period (.), colon (:) or dash (-). Example: iqn com.solidfire:c2r9.fc e1e09bb8b TIP: You can find the initiator IQN for each volume in the Volumes>Active Volumes>Volume Details tab. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Volume Access Groups. The Volume Access Groups window appears. 3. Click the edit ( ) icon that corresponds to the volume access group you want to add a new initiator to. The Modify Volume Access Group dialog appears. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 141

151 4. Enter the IQN in the Initiators text box. TIP: To add more than one IQN, separate each IQN with a comma, space or new line. 5. Click Save Changes. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 142

152 Removing Initiators from a Volume Access Group An initiator can be removed from a Volume Access Group. When the initiator is removed it will no longer be accessible by the initiators in the volume access group. Normal account access to the volume will not be disrupted. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Volume Access Groups. The Volume Access Groups window appears. 3. Click the edit ( ) icon that corresponds to the volume you want to remove the initiator from. The Modify Volume Access Group dialog appears. 4. Click the delete ( ) icon that corresponds to the initiator you want to remove. 5. Click Save Changes. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 143

153 Integrated Backup and Restore The entire contents of a volume can be read from or written to an object store container that is external to SolidFire storage. The processes described in this section can be used to also backup and restore data to and from SolidFire remote storage devices. The progress of each backup and restore operation can be seen in the Element OS Web UI Running Tasks window. The results of each operation can be viewed in the Web UI Event Log. NOTE: Only two bulk volume processes can run simultaneously on a volume. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 144

154 Backing up a Volume to an Object Store SolidFire volumes can be backed up to secondary object stores that are compatible with S3 or SWIFT APIs and restored at a later time. Prerequisite The following ports need to be opened at the firewall in order for these operations to complete successfully. Procedure Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Active Volumes. 3. Click the Volume Task icon ( ) next to volume to backup. The clone menu appears. 4. Click Backup / Restore. The New Backup or Restore Operation dialog appears. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 145

155 5. Click the Operation drop-down list to select a backup operation type. 6. Click the Data Format drop-down list to select the read/write format for the data. Data Format can be one of two types: Compressed - every byte of the volume is readable and can be read on other systems. Native - is an internal format readable only by SolidFire. Takes less space to store. 7. Enter information needed to access the external backup source: a. URL: URL to the external object store b. Username: User name of the account on the object store c. Authentication Key: Authentication required for User name d. Container: The container where the data goes that is, VolumeID e. Prefix: This is field is pre-filled. No entry required. f. Nametag: A name that you want to associate with the backup operation. Nametag is appended to the end of the Prefix. 8. Click Start Backup / Restore. The Bulk Volume Read message appears. 9. Click Back to Volume List to return, or click the running tasks screen link to see the progress of the backup. NOTE: Check the Event Log to see the results of the backup process. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 146

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157 Backing up a Volume to a SolidFire Cluster Volumes residing on a SolidFire cluster can be backed up to a remote SolidFire cluster. Prerequisites Source and target clusters must be paired A bulk volume write key from the target volume on the remote cluster must be obtained. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Active Volumes. 3. Click the Volume Task icon ( ) next to volume to backup. The clone menu appears. 4. Click Backup / Restore. The New Backup or Restore Operation dialog appears. 5. Click the Operation drop-down list and select Restore / Receive from SolidFire. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 148

158 6. Click Start Backup / Restore. The backup write key displays in the Bulk Volume Write Key field. 7. Copy the write key to your clipboard. 8. Complete the volume backup process by doing the following on the source volume: a. Click the Volumes tab. b. Click Active Volumes. c. Click the Volume Task icon ( ) next to volume to backup. The clone menu appears. d. Click Backup / Restore. The New Backup or Restore Operation dialog appears. e. Click the Operation drop-down list and select Backup to SolidFire. f. Click Data Format type. The backup write key displays in the Bulk Volume Write Key field. g. Enter the MVIP and user credentials. h. Paste the write key from your clipboard into the Bulk Volume Write Key field. i. Click Start Backup / Restore. The Bulk Volume Read job started message appears. j. Click Back to Volume List to return, or click the running tasks screen link to see the progress of the backup. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 149

159 Restoring a Volume Restoring a volume from a backup copy requires manifest information from the original backup process if you are restoring from an object store such as Swift or S3. If you are restoring a SolidFire volume that was backed up on a SolidFire storage system then the manifest information is not required. The required manifest information for restoring from Swift and S3 is found in the SolidFire Element OS Event Log. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Active Volumes. The Active Volumes list appears. 3. Click the Volume Task icon ( ) next to volume to restore. The clone menu appears. 4. Click Backup / Restore. The New Backup or Restore Operation dialog appears. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 150

160 5. Click the Operation drop-down list and select a restore operation type. 6. Click the Data Format drop-down list to select the read/write format for the data. NOTE: The data format selected must match the format in which the original backup was stored. 7. Enter information needed to access the external object source. a. URL: URL to the external object store b. Username: User name of the account on the object store c. Authentication Key: Authentication required for User name d. Container: The container from which data is to be restored to the SolidFire volume. e. Prefix: Prefix information is inserted by the system. Manifest information from the corresponding backup operation must be appended to the prefix to correlate the restore process to the correct volume. i. Manifest information is found in the Web UI Event Log from a previous backup operation. ii. All spaces must be removed from the manifest information. iii. Append the manifest information to the prefix. See bold text in this example: E X A M P L E : 643 bulkopevent Bulk volume operation succeeded "Bulk read of VolumeID=20 on ServiceID=14 with bvid=10 succeeded: Transferred bytes ( consecutive) beginning at 0. (100 percent of bytes requested.) Backup manifest is AutoTest2-qg02- lamd/ruwkc8wjzlijdiyy-20/sfmanifest t11: 19: 52Z." :25:19 8. Click Start Backup / Restore. The Bulk Volume Write message appears. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 151

161 9. Click Back to Volumes List to return, or click the running tasks screen link to see the progress of the restore process. NOTE: Check the Event Log to see the results of the restore process. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 152

162 Accounts Accounts Accounts are used in SolidFire storage to connect to volumes on a node. When a volume is created, it is assigned to an account. The account contains the CHAP authentication required to access the volumes assigned to it. An account can have up to two thousand volumes assigned to it, but a volume can belong to only one account. There are two types of accounts on a SolidFire system: Admin accounts are used to monitor and configure settings on the cluster. For details, see Adding a Cluster Admin Account on page 156. Tenant accounts (billable customer accounts) are used to identify customers on the system. For details, see Creating a New Tenant Account on page 164. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 153

163 Accounts Administrators Administrators are used to manage the operations of a SolidFire storage system. A primary cluster administrator is created when a cluster is created. This administrator will have permissions to perform all functions within the storage system. Other cluster admin accounts can be created to manage specific operations within the system. Three types of administrators can exist in a SolidFire cluster: Primary cluster administrator account: An administrator account is created when the cluster is created. This account is the primary administrative account with the highest level of access to the cluster. This account is analogous to a root administrator. Two (or more) cluster administrators with Cluster Admin access permissions must exist before the primary cluster administrator account can be deleted. The password for this administrator can be changed but it is recommended to do so only if necessary. Cluster admin accounts: The cluster admin accounts can be given a range of administrative permissions to perform specific tasks within a cluster. Each new Cluster Admin account can be tailored with access permissions that allows specific cluster changes to be made by the administrator. The credentials assigned to each Cluster Admin account is used to authenticate API and Web UI requests within the SolidFire system. Ldap: The LDAP administrator is created when LDAP is configured on a SolidFire system. This account is the primary administrator for controlling LDAP settings and users that access a SolidFire cluster. NOTE: The primary Cluster Admin is the only admin that can access active nodes in a cluster. Single nodes that are not yet actively participating in a cluster can be accessed by a Cluster Admin with Node permissions. This permission type can set up and configure nodes that will be added to a cluster. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 154

164 Accounts Viewing Cluster Admin Accounts You can see information about each Cluster Admin account that has been created in the cluster. You can also modify Cluster Admin accounts or delete accounts from the Cluster Admin List. The primary cluster administrator account is always listed with the Cluster Admin ID of 1 in the Cluster Admin List window. Procedure To view the Cluster Admin accounts that have been created, click the Cluster Admin tab to open the Cluster Admin List window. Figure 41: Cluster Admin List window Cluster Admin ID: System generated ID assigned to account. The primary admin ID is always "1." Username: Name assigned to the admin. The primary admin name is always "admin." Access: Level of authorization assigned to the admin. Refresh: Updates list with current changes. Actions: Edit or delete admins. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 155

165 Accounts Adding a Cluster Admin Account New cluster administrator accounts can be created to manage the storage cluster. Each Cluster Admin account can be configured to allow access to only a specific area of the storage system. Procedure 1. Click the Cluster Admin tab. The Cluster Admin List appears. 2. Click Create New Cluster Admin. The Create New Cluster Admin dialog appears. 3. Select Create as LDAP user if creating a new LDAP Cluster Admin 4. Enter the information for the new admin (may be 1 to 64 characters in length). SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 156

166 Accounts 5. In the Access Settings section, click the desired check boxes to select them. NOTE: Only those Access Settings selected are granted administrative privileges. Any Access Settings not selected is allowed view-only for a Cluster Admin. 6. Read the EULA and click I Agree 7. Click Create Cluster Admin. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 157

167 Accounts Modifying Cluster Admin Access Administrator privileges can be changed for each administrator. Privileges can be specified for reporting, nodes, drives, volumes, accounts and cluster. The type of access given to an administrator enables editing for the access level selected. All other access levels not selected will allow view-only access to other areas of the cluster. Procedure 1. Click the Cluster Admin tab. The Cluster Admin List window appears. 2. Click the edit ( ) icon. The Cluster Admin Info dialog appears. 3. In the Access Settings section, click the desired setting check boxes to select them. 4. Click Save Changes. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 158

168 Accounts Changing the Cluster Admin Password The cluster administrator passwords can be updated for system security purposes. Procedure 1. Click the Cluster Admin tab. The Cluster Admin List window appears. 2. Click the edit ( ) icon. The Cluster Admin Info dialog appears. 3. Click the Change Password check box to display the password fields. 4. Enter the password and repeat password. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 159

169 Accounts 5. Click Save Changes. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 160

170 Accounts Deleting a Cluster Admin Account A cluster administrator account that was created by the system administrator can be removed from the system. The Cluster Admin account cannot be removed. Procedure 1. Click the Cluster Admin tab. The Cluster Admin List window appears. 2. Click the delete ( ) icon that corresponds to the account you want to delete. A confirmation message displays before the account is deleted. 3. Click Delete. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 161

171 Accounts Tenant Accounts Tenant accounts are billable accounts that have access to the storage resources on a SolidFire storage network. These accounts enable access to volumes on the cluster through iscsi connection and requires a challenge handshake authentication protocol (CHAP) identification and authorization before a connection can be made. Figure 42: Account List Window Filter Results: Filters by name or status of the accounts that display in the list. Account Activity Graph: Displays account activity statistics in a graphical format. Account ID: System-generated account ID. Username: Name given the account when created. Status: Displays the current status of the account: Active or Locked. Active Volumes: Displays the number of active volumes assigned to the account. Compression: Displays the efficiency score for compression. Deduplication: Displays the efficiency score for deduplication. Thin Provisioning: Displays the efficiency score for Thin Provisioning. Overall Efficiency: Displays the efficiency score for compression, deduplication, and thin provisioning. Refresh: Refreshes the accounts in the list. Actions: Edits or Deletes. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 162

172 Accounts Viewing Account Information The Account List displays information that identifies each account that has been created in the cluster. Efficiency information about each volume is also provided. Efficiency values are refreshed after each GC cycle. The efficiency information represents the SolidFire metrics for each individual volume. Procedure 1. Click the Accounts tab. The Account List window appears. 2. Click Account List. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 163

173 Accounts Creating a New Tenant Account New accounts are created and used to represent a tenant in a multi-tenant environment. Once a new account is created volumes can be assigned to the account. A maximum of two thousand volumes can be assigned to an account. Procedure 1. Click the Accounts tab. The Account List window appears. 2. Click Create New Accounts. The Create New Account dialog appears. 3. Enter a new user name. 4. In the CHAP Settings section, enter the Initiator Secret and Target Secret passwords for CHAP node session authentication. NOTE: Leave black to auto-generate passwords. 5. Click Create Account. NOTE: If an account with the same name you are trying to use already exists, the following error message appears: SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 164

174 Accounts SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 165

175 Accounts Viewing Account Activity Graph Performance activity for each account can be viewed in a graphical format. Account activity is displayed from the point at which the graph is opened and accumulates account activity data as long as the graph window is open. The graph information provides the Current Bandwidth read and write information for the account. The Average and Peak activity levels are shown in increments of 10-second reporting periods. The statistics reported for the account show activity for all volumes assigned to the account. Procedure 1. Click the Accounts tab. The Accounts List window appears. 2. Click the graph icon ( ) to the left of the Account ID column to display graphed statistics about the account activity. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 166

176 Accounts Modifying a Tenant Account A tenant account can be modified to change the status of the account, change the CHAP secrets or modify the account name. Procedure 1. Click the Accounts tab. The Accounts List window appears. 2. Click the edit ( ) icon that corresponds to the account you want to modify. The Modify Accounts window appears. 3. (Optional) Enter the new user name. 4. (Optional) Click the Status drop-down list and select a new status. Caution: Changing the account Status to Locked terminates all iscsi connections to the account, and the account is no longer accessible to the tenant. Volumes associated with the account are maintained; however, the volumes are not iscsi-discoverable. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 167

177 Accounts 5. In the CHAP Settings, enter the Initiator Secret and Target Secret password to be used for node session authentication. NOTE: Initiator Secret and Target Secret passwords may be reset if desired. If they are not changed, the passwords remain the same. If the password fields are made blank, the system generates new passwords. 6. Click Save Changes. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 168

178 Accounts Deleting a Tenant Account Tenant accounts can be deleted when they are no longer needed. Before deleting an account, you must delete and purge volumes associated with the account. Procedure 1. Delete and purge volumes associated with the account. For instructions, see Purging a Volume on page Click the Accounts tab. The Account List window appears. 3. Click the delete ( ) icon that corresponds to the account you want to delete. A confirmation message displays before the account is deleted. 4. Click Delete. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 169

179 Virtual Networks Virtual Networks Virtual Networking in SolidFire storage allows traffic between multiple clients that are on separate logical networks to be connected to one SolidFire cluster without L3 routing. Connections to the SolidFire cluster will be segregated in the networking stack through the use of VLAN tagging. SolidFire Virtual Networks are an abstraction of virtual networking technology that may be implemented by various different underlying technologies. At present virtual networks are implemented via VLANs, but in the future new backing technologies may be deployed. The following image and table identifies the Virtual Network List view window. All configured virtual networks can be viewed from the Virtual Network List window. Figure 43: VLAN Newwork List window Create New VLAN: Use to create a new virtual network. ID: Unique ID of the VLAN network. Assigned by the SolidFire system. Name: Unique user-assigned name for the VLAN network. VLAN Tag: VLAN tag assigned when the virtual network was created. SVIP: Storage virtual IP address assigned to the virtual network. IPs Used: The range of virtual network IP addresses used for the virtual network. Modify: Edit Delete VLAN Creating a Virtual Network A new virtual network can be added to a cluster configuration to enable a multi-tenant environment connection to a SolidFire cluster. When a virtual network is added, an interface for each node is created and each will require a virtual network IP address. The number of IP addresses specified when creating a new virtual network must be equal to or greater than the number of nodes in the cluster. Virtual network addresses are bulk provisioned by and assigned to individual nodes automatically. Virtual network addresses do not need to be assigned to nodes manually. Prerequisites SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 170

180 Virtual Networks Identify the block of client network IP addresses that will be assigned to the virtual networks on the SolidFire nodes. Identify a client storage network IP (SVIP) address that will be used as an endpoint for all SolidFire storage traffic. Procedure 1. Click the Cluster Settings tab. 2. Click VLAN. 3. Click Create New VLAN. The Create Virtual Network window displays. 4. Enter the virtual network information for the new VLAN. 5. Enter the Start IP address for the range of IP addresses. 6. Enter the Size of the IP range as the number of IP addresses to include in the block. 7. Optionally click on Add a Block to add a non-continuous block of IP addresses for this VLAN. 8. Click Create Virtual Network. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 171

181 Virtual Networks Modifying a Virtual Network You can change various attributes of a virtual network object. Address blocks can be added or removed and the netmask IP can be changed.the name or description of the virtual network can be changed. The VLAN Tag and SVIP cannot be modified for a VLAN. Procedure 1. Click the Cluster Settings tab. 2. Click VLAN. The Virtual Network LIst window displays. 3. Click the edit ( ) icon that corresponds to the VLAN you want modified. The Modify Virtual Network window displays. 4. Optionally, enter a new VLAN Name, Netmask or Description for the VLAN. 5. Optionally, enter the new Size of the IP Address Blocks. 6. Optionally, delete a block of IP addresses. 7. Optionally, click on Add a Block to add a non-continuous block of IP addresses for the Virtual Network. 8. Click Modify Virtual Network. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 172

182 Virtual Networks Deleting a Virtual Network You can remove a virtual network object. Address blocks that were assigned to the virtual network are disassociated from the virtual network and can be reassigned to another virtual network. Use see Modifying a Virtual Network on page 172. to add the address blocks to another virtual network. Procedure 1. Click the Cluster Settings tab. 2. Click VLAN. The Virtual Network LIst window displays. 3. Click the delete ( ) icon that corresponds to the VLAN you want deleted. A Delete Confirmation window displays. 4. Click Delete. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 173

183 Real-Time Replication Real-Time Replication The Real-Time Replication (remote replication) function is a process used to connect two clusters for the purposes of continuous data protection (CDP). By connecting two clusters, active volumes on one cluster can be continuously replicated to a second cluster to provide data recovery. See diagrams below for cluster pairing and volume pairing illustrations. These illustrations are referenced throughout the "Real-Time Replication" documentation. Figure 44: Cluster Pairing - Diagram SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 174

184 Real-Time Replication Multiple Cluster Pairing One cluster can be paired with up to four other clusters for replicating volumes. Clusters within the cluster group can also be paired with each other. The illustration below shows a simple pairing configuration of five SolidFire clusters. Clusters B, C, D and E are all paired with SF Cluster A. However, the other clusters within the configuration can also be paired. For example, Cluster B could potentially pair with Clusters D, E and F. The cluster pairing limit is reached when each cluster is paired with four other clusters. Figure 45: Pairing Four Clusters - Diagram SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 175

185 Real-Time Replication Pairing Volumes The Volume Pairing diagram illustrates how volumes can be paired on two clusters. As a rule, there can only be a one-to-one volume pairing. Once a volume is paired with a volume on another cluster, it cannot be paired again with any other volume. Volume pairing can be asynchronous, synchronous, or snapshot-only. Figure 46: Volume Pairing - Diagram SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 176

186 Real-Time Replication Replication Configuration Information System configuration is important when using Real-Time Replication. Use the information in this section to assist in making the correct evaluation for your system network set-up and communications. Node Port Recommendations All node IPs on paired clusters need to route to each other. It is recommended the following ports be used: Table 47: Recommended Node Ports Port Type Port Number Description ICMP Type 8 - Echo Type 0 - Echo reply Cluster-to-cluster latency TCP - HTTP 2181 Remote Replication cluster management communications TCP - RPC Node-to-node data communications TCP - HTTP 442 Node access on each cluster TCP - HTTPS 443 Remote Replication cluster communications. All node IPs, MVIPs and SVIPs. MTU Defaults and Recommendations MTU of all paired nodes must be the same and be supported end-to-end between clusters. Volume Set-Up Volume Sizes: Source volume size has to be equal to or smaller than the target volume. 512e Setting: 512 emulation has to be the same (on or off) on both volumes that is paired. QoS Settings on Paired Volumes: QoS settings on both the source and target volumes should be set with equal values. Cluster Set-Up Software Versions: Two clusters can have different versions of the SolidFire Element OS installed and still be able to replicate data. However, the software versions must be upgradeable to the next version of the cluster software. For example, if SF Cluster A has Element OS 6.0 installed and SF Cluster B has 6.1, then they are considered "compatible." If SF Cluster A has Element OS 6.0 installed and SF Cluster B has Element OS 6.2, this would present an incompatibility and SF Cluster A would need to upgrade to at least Element OS 6.1 to resolve the incompatibility. NOTE: WAN Accelerator: The WAN Accelerator appliance has not been qualified by SolidFire QA for use when replicating data. WAN Accelerator causes redundancy with SolidFire compression and deduplication if put between two SolidFire cluster that are replicating data. The effects of WAN Accelerator should be fully qualified by your QA team before it is implemented in a production environment. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 177

187 Real-Time Replication Cluster Pairing for Real-Time Replication Real-Time Replication begins by pairing two SolidFire clusters. When connection between two pairing clusters has been established, volumes can then be replicated. The prerequisites for cluster pairing are: Cluster Admin privileges to one or both clusters that is paired. All node IPs on paired clusters need to route to each other. There needs to be less than 2000ms of round-trip latency between clusters. Two clusters can have different versions of the SolidFire Element OS installed and still be able to pair. However, the software versions must be upgradeable to the next version of the cluster software. To determine Element OS compatability, Node Versioning and Compatibility (on page 8) for information about how the Element OS software is versioned. NOTE: Element OS 7 clusters with Fibre Channel nodes cannot be paired with Element OS 6 clusters. It is also true that Element OS 6 clusters cannot pair with Element OS 7 clusters with Fibre Channel nodes. If an Element OS 7 cluster is paired with an Element OS 6 cluster, Fibre Channel nodes cannot be added to the Element OS 7 cluster. Starting the Cluster Pairing There are two methods to start the cluster pairing that are described in this section. After pairing is completed, the process can be validated in the Web UI. The two methods are: Starting a Cluster Pairing with a Key: Use this method if there is Cluster Admin access to only one of the clusters. This method generates a pairing key that can be used on the remote cluster to complete a cluster pair. Pairing Clusters Using MVIP: Use this method if there is Cluster Admin access to both clusters. This method uses the MVIP of the remote cluster to pair two clusters. NOTE: The cluster pairing key contains a version of the MVIP, user name, password and database information to allow permission for remote replication to connect to a volume. For security purposes this key should be treated in a secure manner and not stored in a way that would allow accidental or unsecured access to the username or password. Starting a Cluster Pairing with a Key (on page 179) The cluster pairing key is used to complete the cluster pairing, or the MVIP is entered and the cluster pairing is then established. Validating Paired Clusters (on page 184) - The cluster pairing can be validated in the Web UI. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 178

188 Real-Time Replication Starting a Cluster Pairing with a Key Cluster pairing starts on SF Cluster A. For an illustration, see Real-Time Replication on page 174. Use this method to pair clusters when Cluster Admin access available on only one of the SF Clusters. The Cluster Admin for SF Cluster A uses the Web UI to generate a pairing key. The key is to be made accessible to the Cluster Admin for the SF Cluster B. The SF Cluster B Cluster Admin passes the pairing key to the cluster through the Web UI to complete the cluster pairing process. Procedure 1. Click the Cluster Settings tab. 2. Click Replication Settings. The Cluster Pairing window appears. 3. Click Start Cluster Pairing. The Start Cluster Pairing dialog appears. 4. Click No to begin the key creation steps. The New Cluster Pairing window appears. 5. Click the show key link. 6. Copy the cluster pairing key to your clipboard. Make the pairing key accessible to the SF Cluster B site. Security measures should be taken when giving access to the encrypted pairing key or sending the key via . The key contains cluster MVIP information, user name, password and database information. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 179

189 Real-Time Replication Caution: Do not modify any of the characters in the pairing key. The key becomes invalid if it is modified. Completing the Cluster Pairing with a Key Completing the cluster pairing with a pairing key is accomplished by accessing Cluster B at the cluster site or in a separate Web UI browser. For more details, see Real-Time Replication on page 174. Prerequisite The B cluster is open in the Element OS Web UI. Procedure 1. Click the Cluster Settings tab. 2. Click Replication Settings. The Cluster Pairing window appears. 3. Click Start Cluster Pairing. The Start Cluster Pairing dialog appears. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 180

190 Real-Time Replication 4. Click Yes. The Confirm Cluster Pairing dialog appears. 5. Paste the pairing key from the clipboard Caution: The cluster pairing key should never be modified in any way. Doing so invalidates the pairing key. If you hit the "Enter" key after pasting the pairing key, a space character may be added to the end of the key. The key becomes invalid with the added space character. If this happens, delete the additional space at the end of the key and proceed. 6. Click Pair. The cluster pairing completed message displays confirming that the clusters are successfully paired. 7. Click Back To Replication Settings. The paired cluster information can be validated on both cluster Web UI displays, see Validating Paired Clusters on page 184. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 181

191 Real-Time Replication Pairing Clusters Using MVIP Cluster pairing starts on SF Cluster A. For an illustration, see Real-Time Replication on page 174. When the MVIP of SF Cluster B is entered in the Web UI of SF Cluster A, the MVIP is recognized as a valid IP for data communications. The cluster pairing then allows volumes on the two clusters to be paired. Cluster Admin access on both the SF Cluster A and SF Cluster B is required to use this method. The Cluster Admin user name and password is used to authenticate access to SF Cluster B before the clusters can be paired. If the MVIP is not known, or access to the cluster is not available, you can pair the cluster by generating a pairing key and use the key to pair the two clusters together. For more details, see Starting a Cluster Pairing with a Key on page 179. Procedure 1. Click the Cluster Settings tab. 2. Click Replication Settings. The Cluster Pairing window appears. 3. Click Start Cluster Pairing. The Start Cluster Pairing dialog appears. 4. Click No to begin the key creation steps. The New Cluster Pairing window appears. 5. Enter the MVIP address of the remote cluster. 6. Click Complete Cluster Pairing. The Confirm Cluster Pairing window appears. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 182

192 Real-Time Replication NOTE: The Confirm Cluster Pairing window is displayed from SF Cluster B. 7. Confirm that the Cluster Name and MVIP for the two clusters you are pairing are correct and click Pair. The Cluster pairing completed message displays on SF Cluster B that the clusters are successfully paired. 8. Click Back to Replication Settings. The paired cluster information can be validated on both cluster Web UI appears. For more information, see Validating Paired Clusters on page 184. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 183

193 Real-Time Replication Validating Paired Clusters Validating that two clusters have been successfully paired can be accomplished in the Web UI. Procedure 1. Click the Cluster Settings tab. 2. Click Replication Settings. The Cluster Pairing window appears. 3. View the status of the cluster pairing. NOTE: Clusters that are paired using a pairing key display in the Cluster Pairing list after the pairing process has been completed at the remote location. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 184

194 Real-Time Replication Real-Time Replication - Volume Pairing Clusters must be paired before the volumes on each cluster can be paired. After paired, data can be replicated between two volumes that reside on two different clusters. When connection between two paired volumes has been established the pairing can be validated. Volumes can be paired in one of three different modes for synchronization: Real-time (Asynchronous): Waits for system to acknowledge that data is stored on source before writing to the target. Real-time (Synchronous): Does not wait for data transmission acknowledgment from source to begin writing data to the target. Snapshots Only: Only snapshots created on the source cluster will be replicated. Active writes from the source volume will not be replicated. Starting the Volume Pairing - There are two methods to start the volume pairing that are described in this section. After pairing is completed, the process can be validated in the Web UI. The two methods are: Pairing Volumes with a Pairing Key: Use this method if there is Cluster Admin access to only the initiating volume. This method generates a pairing key that can be used on the remote cluster to complete the volume pair. Pairing Volumes with a Volume ID: Use this method if there is Cluster Admin access to both volumes to be paired. This method uses the VolumeID of the volume on the remote cluster. NOTE: The volume pairing key contains an encrypted version of the volume information and may contain, admin user name, password and database information. For security purposes this key should be shared in a secure manner. Completing the Volume Pairing The volume pairing key is used to complete the volume pairing if a key has been used to pair the volumes. One of the volumes is required to be identified as the Replication Target before the volumes start replicating data. Use Modify Volume to edit the volume and change the access status to Replication Target. Validating Paired Volumes - The volume pairing can be validated in the Web UI. Scenario This scenario assumes that there are two data centers in two separate locations with at least one SolidFire cluster at each location. The data center names used in this document are: SF Cluster A and SF Cluster B, see Real-Time Replication on page 174.These are used for purposes of explanation. The following two terms are used to help identify the orientation and direction of the data flow; source and target: Source refers to the object where data is sent from. Target refers to the object where data is sent to. Best Practices: It is recommended that target volumes be volumes without data. When a volume is designated as a target the data on the volume is overwritten with data from the source volume. Prerequisites: Identify the initial volumes on SF Cluster A and SF Cluster B that will be paired. Identify the volume IDs of the volumes that will be paired. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 185

195 Real-Time Replication Identify which volumes will be the source volumes and which ones will be target volumes. Testing one volume pairing and replication can be done with a minimum of 1GbE network connection. If more than one volume is being replicated for production purposes, it is highly recommended that replication be switched over to a 10GbE network connection. MTU of all paired volumes must be the same and must be supported end-to-end. QoS levels should be kept the same on both volumes. NOTE: The clusters on which the volumes reside MUST be paired before volumes on either cluster can be paired. The volume pairing process can be started at either SF Cluster A or SF Cluster B. The data source and target for a volume is set later in this set of steps. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 186

196 Real-Time Replication Pairing Volumes with a Volume ID Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Active Volumes. 3. Click the Volume Task ( ) icon. The clone menu appears. 4. Click Pair Volume. The Pair Volume message appears. 5. Click No The Pair Volume message appears. 6. Select the Replication Type 7. Click Generate Key. The New Volume Pairing dialog appears. 8. Click the Remote Cluster drop-down list and select a remote cluster. Up to four clusters can be listed. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 187

197 Real-Time Replication 9. In the Remote Volume ID field, enter the VolumeID of the remote volume to pair with. 10. Click Complete Volume Pairing. The New Volume Pairing dialog displays next with information about the volumes that are being paired. 11. Click Complete Volume Pairing to confirm and complete the volume pairing process. The Volume pairing completed message dialog appears. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 188

198 Real-Time Replication 12. Click Back to Volume List to return to the list of paired volumes. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 189

199 Real-Time Replication Pairing Volumes with a Pairing Key This method is used to pair volumes requires access to both clusters containing the volumes to be paired. During the pairing process there is two Web UI windows open; one for the source volume and one for the target volume. It is important to know which Web UI has the source and which has the target volumes to avoid a misconfiguration. Best Practices: It is recommended that you begin the volume pairing with the volume source. After the volumes are paired, identify the target volume by modifying the volume's access method to replication target. It is recommended that target volumes be volumes without data. When a volume is designated as a target the data on the volume is overwritten with data from the source volume. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Active Volumes. 3. Click the Volume Task ( ) icon. The Volume Task menu appears. 4. Click Pair Volume. The Pair Volume message appears. 5. Click No. The Pair Volume message appears. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 190

200 Real-Time Replication 6. Click the Replication Type and select the replication mode for the volume. 7. Click Generate Key. The New Volume Pairing dialog appears. 8. Click the Remote Cluster drop-down list and select a remote cluster. Up to four clusters can be listed. 9. Click the show key link. The volume pairing key appears. 10. Click the generated key to copy it to your clipboard. 11. Access the remote cluster that has the volume you want to pair with. 12. Click the Volumes tab of the remote cluster. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 191

201 Real-Time Replication 13. Click Active Volumes. 14. Click the Volume Task icon ( ) icon. The Volume Task menu appears. 15. Click Pair Volume. The Pair Volume message appears. 16. Click Yes to indicate you have a pairing key. The New Volume Pairing window appears. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 192

202 Real-Time Replication 17. Paste the pairing key into the Volume Pairing Key text box. Information for the remote cluster and volume displays in the fields provided. 18. Click Complete Volume Pairing. The Volume pairing completed message appears. 19. Click Back to Volume List to return to the list of paired volumes. 20. Complete the volume pairing process using a generated pairing key. For details, see see Completing the Volume Pairing on page 194. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 193

203 Real-Time Replication Completing the Volume Pairing One of the volumes in a paired set must be identified as the Replication Target of the pairing. The volume in the volume pair not identified as the replication target, by default, becomes the source. Data is sent from the source volume to the target volume. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Active Volumes. 3. Click the Modify Volume ( ) icon. 4. Click the Access drop-down list. 5. Select Replication Target from the list. 6. Click Save Changes. The Confirm Access for Volume message appears. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 194

204 Real-Time Replication 7. Click Yes to continue with the volume pairing process. The volumes begin the pairing process. The pairing status messages are displayed in the target Active Volumes list window and indicates the stage of the volume pairing. 8. To verify that the volumes were successfully paired, see the Event Log in the Web UI. Validating Data Transmission You can validate that data is being sent from the source to the target by making a clone of the target volume. After the volume is cloned you can mount the volume to check that data is being properly sent between the source to the target volume. Validating Paired Volumes Validating that the two clusters have been successfully paired can be accomplished in the Web UI. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Replicating Volumes. The Replicating Volumes window appears. 3. View the status of the cluster pairing. NOTE: Volumes that are paired using a pairing key displays in the Replicating Volumes list after the pairing process has been completed at the remote location. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 195

205 Real-Time Replication Replicating Volumes Field and Status Descriptions Figure 48: Replicating Volumes Filter Results: Filters by paired cluster. Volume ID: ID assigned to the volume by the system when the volume was first created.. Volume Name: Name given to the volume when it was created. The volume name can be up to 223 characters consisting of a-z, 0-9 and dash (-). Account: Name of the account assigned to the volume. Vol. Status: State of the replicating volume. Snap.. Status: Status of the snapshot volume. Mode: Indicates the client write replication method: Async replication: A client write operation will be acknowledged to the client after the write operation is on persisted storage on the source volume primary and secondary slice services. Sync replication: A client write operation will not be acknowledged to the client until the write is on both primary and secondary slice services of the source and target volume. Direction: Indicates the direction of the volume data: source volume icon ( ) indicates data is being written out to a target. target volume icon ( ) indicates data is being written in from a source. Async Delay: Length of time since the volume was last synced with the remote cluster. If the volume is not paired, this is null. NOTE: A target volume in an active replication state always has an Async Delay of 0 (zero). Target volumes are system-aware during replication and assume async delay is accurate at all times. Remote Cluster: Name of the remote cluster on which the volume resides. Remote Volume ID: Volume ID of the volume on the remote cluster. Remote Volume Name: Name given to the remote volume when it was created. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 196

206 Real-Time Replication Pause/Resume Icon: When the pause icon is selected, the resume icon appears. Pauses replication ( ) Resumes replication ( ) Remove Icon: Removes the volume. Volume pairing ceases and data is no longer replicated when deleted. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 197

207 Real-Time Replication Volume Pairing Messages The following messages are seen during the initial pairing process. These messages display in the Replicating Volumes list view. Status Message Source Target Description Paused Disconnected Yes Yes Source replication or sync RPCs timed out. Connection to the remote cluster has been lost. Check network connections to the cluster. Resuming Connected* Yes Yes The remote replication sync is now active. Beginning the sync process and waiting for data. Resuming RR Sync* Yes Yes Making a single helix copy of the volume metadata to the paired cluster. Resuming Local Sync* Yes Yes Making a double helix copy of the volume metadata to the paired cluster. Resuming Data Transfer* Yes Yes Data transfer has been resumed. Active Yes Yes Volumes are paired and data is being sent from the source to the target volume and the data is in sync. *This process is driven by the target volume and may not display on the source volume. Volume Pairing Warnings The following messages are warnings that are seen after the volumes are paired. These messages display in the Replicating Volumes list view. Status Message Source Target Description Paused Misconfigured Yes Yes Waiting for an active source and target. Manual intervention required to resume replication. Paused Slow Link Yes No Slow link detected and stopped replication. Replication autoresumes. Paused QoS Yes No Target QoS could not sustain incoming IO. Replication autoresumes. Paused Volume Size Mismatch Yes Yes Target volume is smaller than the source volume. Paused Cluster Full Yes No Source replication/bulk data transfer cannot proceed because the target cluster is full. Paused Manual Remote Yes Yes Remote volume is in manual paused mode. Manual intervention required to unpause the remote volume before replication resumes. Paused Manual Yes Yes Local volume has been manually paused. It must be unpaused before replication resumes. Stopped Misconfigured Yes Yes A permanent configuration error has been detected. The remote volume has been purged or unpaired. No corrective action is possible-- a new pairing must be established. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 198

208 Real-Time Replication Switching from a Source to a Target Volume Data sent to a source volume can be redirected to a remote target volume should the source volume become unavailable. Switching over to a remote target volume consists of changing the Access method from Replication Target to Read/Write on the target volume. This is done using the Modify Volume dialog. Scenario A scenario for reversing the direction of the data is to switch over to the target volume should the source volume become unavailable for some reason. Prerequisites The tasks below must be performed on the paired target volume. You must have access to the cluster with the target volume. Procedure 1. Click the Volumes tab. 2. Click Active Volumes on the target volume of a paired set of volumes. 3. Click the Modify Volume ( ) icon. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 199

209 Real-Time Replication 4. Click the Access drop-down list for each volume. 5. Select Read / Write on the target volume. 6. Click Save Changes for both volume changes. The Confirm Access for Volume message displays on the source volume that has been changed to a target. 7. Click Yes. 8. (Optional) To verify that the volume has been switched to a replication target, see the Event Log in the Web UI. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 200

210 Summary Report Summary Report The Summary Report is the primary view for the cluster managed by the Element OS Web UI. To access the Summary Report, enter the MVIP in your web browser after a new cluster has been created. Example: Capacity and performance information for the cluster is available from the Summary Report. Data is presented in graphical formats and updated at frequent intervals. There are seven sections in the Summary Report displaying information about the cluster: Storage Capacity (on page 204) Provisioned IOPS (on page 204) Performance Utilization (on page 204) Efficiency (on page 204) Bandwidth (on page 205) Input/Output (on page 205) Host Connections (on page 205) SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 201

211 Summary Report Figure 49: Summary Report window Storage Capacity: Metadata Storage Used: The amount of space used by slice files on the cluster Provisioned Space: The amount of space provisioned on the cluster Block Storage: The amount of space being used for storage on the cluster Block Full Warning: and Error: Levels at which the cluster will report a Cluster Full warning, and a Cluster Full error. Provisioned IOPS: Min: Percentage of IOPS provisioned at the "Min" level Max: Percentage of IOPS provisioned at the "Max" level Burst: Percentage of IOPS provisioned with "Burst" levels SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 202

212 Summary Report Performance Utilization: Displays the approximate performance load on the cluster. Efficiency: Thin Provisioning: Factor of storage space saved when space is provisioned De-Duplication: Factor of storage space saved by not storing duplicate data Compression: Factor of storage space saved by compressing data before it is stored Bandwidth: Displays bandwidth activity for read, write and total bandwidth activity on the cluster Input/Output: Displays I/O activity for read and write operations on the cluster Host Connections: Displays the collective number of active iscsi and Fibre Channel sessions attached to the cluster and the peak number of sessions occurring on the cluster. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 203

213 Summary Report Storage Capacity Storage Capacity shows bar graphs that summarize gigabyte (GB) capacities for Metadata Storage Used, Provisioned Space, and Block Storage Used. Metadata Storage Used: The Gigabytes of space used on volume drives to store metadata. Provisioned Space: Shows the total amount of provisionable space if all volumes are 100% filled (no thin provisioned metadata). Block Storage Used: Displays the total amount of space used on all active block drives. Provisioned IOPS Provisioned IOPS shows bar graphs that summarize the percentage of Min, Max and Burst IOPS that have been provisioned in the system. Min: The percentage of IOPS that have been provisioned at the Min level. Max: The percentage of IOPS that have been provisioned at the Max level. Burst: The percentage of IOPS that have been provisioned with Burst levels. Performance Utilization Performance Utilization shows how well the system configuration is balanced and utilizing the resources on the cluster. Efficiency Efficiency describes the amount of overall system capacity that is being utilized, taking into account Thin Provisioning, De- Duplication and Compression. The calculated benefit achieved on the cluster is compared to what the capacity utilization would be without Thin Provisioning, De-Duplication, and Compression on a traditional storage device. Efficiency ratings are expressed in terms of a ratio multiplier. The higher the multiplier, the more efficiently data is being stored on the cluster. See next figure. Example: (2.00x) x (2.00x) x (2.00x) = 8.00x NOTE: This number does not take into account SolidFire's Double-Helix data protection feature. Figure 50: Efficiency Display - Example Thin Provisioning: Shows the amount of space saved by using this feature. This number reflects the delta between the capacity allocated for the cluster and the amount of data actually stored. The ratio-multiplier, 2.00x, shows that Thin Provisioning saved approximately 2-times more storage space than what was allocated for data storage. De-Duplication: Shows the ratio-multiplier of amount of space that was saved by not storing duplicate data in the cluster. Compression: Shows the effect of data compression on stored data in the cluster. Different data types compress at different rates. For example, text data and most documents easily compress to a smaller space, but video and graphical images typically do not. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 204

214 Summary Report Bandwidth Bandwidth shows the bandwidth activity in 5-second intervals for read, write and total bandwidth activity on the cluster in the Summary Report window. Read Bytes: Shows the read activity for the cluster in time intervals of 5-seconds. Write Bytes: Shows the write activity for the cluster in time intervals of 5-seconds. Total Bytes: Shows the total used for both read and write activity in the cluster in time intervals of 5-seconds. Input/Output Input and Output graphs update at 5-second intervals. The exact time of the update can be seen by moving your mouse over the graph. By clicking on the labels located below the graph you can add or remove the values from the display. When the values are added they are displayed in bold text; when they are removed they are greyed out. Read IOPS: Shows the number of read I/O operations occurring in the system. Write IOPS: Shows the number of write I/O operations occurring in the system. Total IOPS: Shows the combined number of read and write I/O operations occurring in the system. Host Connections Host Connections shows both iscsi and Fibre Channel connections that are currently active. The number displayed is a sum of the total active host connections and the maximum number of host connections that have occurred. To see iscsi or Fibre Channel sessions reported separately, click on the Host Connections tab and select either iscsi Sessions or Fibre Channel Sessions to display the sessions in a list view. Active Sessions: Shows the number of collective iscsi and Fibre Channel sessions that are attached and active on the cluster. Peak Active Sessions: Shows the maximum number of collective iscsi and Fibre Channel sessions that have occurred on the cluster in the last 24 hours. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 205

215 Summary Report Enabling Debugging for Requests and Responses The functions and features of the SolidFire Element user interface are built on the SolidFire API. API requests and responses can be viewed in the Web UI by optionally enabling the Requests and Responses functions. The API requests being issued by the system and the system responses display below the Summary Report window. Observing the API requests and responses in the debug window of the Web UI can help an administrator identify what API calls are being used in the system and how to use the API calls. The complete API Reference Guide is available at Procedure To enable debugging, click the Requests and Responses check boxes on the Summary Report page to display the Debug window. Figure 51: Debug Window Enable Debug Info: Requests - Checkbox to enable API method requests to be viewed. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 206

216 Summary Report Enable Debug Info: Responses - Checkbox to enable API method responses to be viewed. The window that displays the API methods and responses that are generating data for the Web UI. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 207

217 Viewing iscsi Sessions Viewing iscsi Sessions The iscsi Sessions window shows the active iscsi sessions that are connected to the cluster. Information in the iscsi Sessions window can be filtered to include only those connections you want displayed in the window. Click the Filter Results button to see the filter criteria fields. Figure 52: iscsi Sessions window Filter Results: Filter by Node, Account, Volume, Initiator Details, Target Details, Volume or combination of criteria. Node: The node hosting the primary metadata partition for the volume. Account: The account name that owns the volume. Volume: The volume name identified on the node. Target IP / Name: Storage device IP and the iscsi qualified name (IQN). Initiator IP / Name: Host device IP and IQN. SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 208

218 Hardware Maintenance Hardware Maintenance Hardware maintenance should only be performed when instructed to do so by SolidFire Support, or if you have received training on proper hardware troubleshooting and replacement procedures. Simple Network Management Protocol SolidFire Element 8.0 nodes support SNMP monitoring of basic hardware. For Information about setting SNMP traps, see Configuring SNMP Traps on page 33. For API details, refer to SetSNMPTrapConfig in the SolidFire Element 8.0 API Reference Guide. The SolidFire Storage Nodes are made up of the following components: Figure 53: Front and Back View of SolidFire Storage Node SolidFire Element 8.0 User Guide 209