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NetApp NS0-502 Study Notes Part 4/4: SAN Implementation Testing

2012-02-17T05:42:00.036-08:00

4. SAN IMPLEMENTATION TESTING

Performance Measurement Tools:

nSANity (NetApp Data Center Collector): (run from Windows CLI or Linux CLI) collects information about the following SAN components - Storage systems, Switches, Hosts.

Brocade SAN Health: captures diagnostic and performance data from SAN switches.

Perfstat Converged: (run from Windows CLI or Linux CLI) captures information from node(s), local and remote host(s), network switch(s), returns as a zip or tar file.

Perfmon: (available on Windows Hosts) Can identify performance issues at the system and application level.

Load-generating tools: Simulated I/O (SIO and SIO_ntap), Microsoft Exchange Server Load Simulator (LoadSim) and Jetstress Tool, SQLIO for SQL Server, Iometer for SQL and Windows-based file-system I/O tests, Oracle Workload Generator.

SQL Server performance depends on: logical design of databases, indexes, queries, and applications, with memory, cache buffers, and hardware also factoring in.

Oracle includes fives types of transactions that affect performance: random queries, random updates, sequential queries, sequential updates, parallel queries.

4.1 Be able to create an acceptance test plan.

Acceptance Test Plan: To define what the minimum performance should be, work with the customer to understand their performance expectations and determine the minimum performance they require for the application(s) this system will support.

4.2 Test host to storage connectivity (native Vol. Mgr., file systems).

iscsi interface show : DOT CLI command to check the network interfaces are enabled for iSCSI traffic.

fcp stats -i 5 : DOT CLI command that displays the average service time on an FC target port basis every 5 seconds

lun stats -i 5 : DOT CLI command that displays the average latency time on a per LUN basis every five seconds

sanlun lun show -p : UNIX CLI NetApp host utility command to determining the number of paths per LUN visible to the host

sanlun fcp show adapter : UNIX CLI NetApp host utility command to verify WWNN and WWPNs

esxcfg-info : VMware ESX CLI command to verify WWNN and WWPNs

/var/adm/messages : Check this log for SAN connectivity errors

To verify FC connectivity between host and FC switch – check FC switch for WWPN of host HBA.

Steps prior to replacing a failed Brocade FC Switch: 1) Change the domain ID of the replacement switch to the domain ID of the failed switch. 2) Clear all zoning configuration on the replacement switch. 3) Change the core PID format of the replacement switch to the core PID format of the failed switch.

When hard zoning (domain ID plus port) is in use and a host HBA is replaced, no changes need to be made provided the new HBA is connected to the same port.

4.3 Test LUN availability during failover scenarios (multipathing).
4.4 Test controller failover scenarios (multipath HA).

To test NetApp storage controller failover execute the cf takeover command on both controllers.
Troubleshoot/verify cluster configuration with the cluster configuration checker script.

Further reading:

http://www.netapp.com/us/support/university/certifications/nso-502.html
Highly recommend the NetApp University Training Courses from the above link as follows.

Web Based Training (WBT) courses (free for partners and with basic online labs):
1) SAN Fundamentals on Data ONTAP
2) SAN Design
3) SAN Implementation - Switch Configuration
4) NetApp Unified Connect Technical Overview and Implementation:
Instructor Led Training (ILT) courses
1) SAN Implementation Workshop
2) SAN Scaling and Architecting

Good for more on Data ONTAP CLI:
http://www.datadisk.co.uk/html_docs/netapp/netapp_cs.htm
http://mbrookman.wordpress.com/tag/netapp-cheat-sheet/

NetApp NS0-502 Study Notes Part 1/4: SAN Solution Assessment

NetApp NS0-502 Study Notes Part 2/4: SAN Implementation Plan Creation

NetApp NS0-502 Study Notes Part 3/4: SAN Implementation

NetApp NS0-502 Study Notes Part 4/4: SAN Implementation Testing

NetApp NS0-502 Study Notes Part 3/4: SAN Implementation

2012-02-17T05:42:00.032-08:00

3. SAN IMPLEMENTATION

3.1 Prepare site for installation.

3.1.1 Be able to review implementation flowchart with customer and assign task areas.

3.1.2 Make contact with datacenter/site personnel.

3.1.3 Validate equipment move path to installation location.

3.1.4 Verify site infrastructure including: dual power (and proximity of power drops to the install location), floor space, floor loading plan, HVAC (Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.)

3.1.5 Validate logistics plan for staging and installation of equipment.

3.1.6 Verify Ethernet cabling plan and availability of cable supports.

3.1.7 Verify fiber cabling plan and availability of cable supports.

3.2 Following the rack diagram, install systems and FC switches.

3.3 Perform basic power on tests for all equipment.

Power on order: 1) Network Switches. 2) Disk Shelves. 3) Any Tape Backup Devices. 4) NetApp Controller Heads.

If a NetApp storage system fails on its first boot; check for a description of the problem on the LCD and console, and follow the instructions.

3.4 Configure NetApp storage systems (stage 1).

Run all diagnostic tests after initial installation of a NetApp FAS3000 storage system, to run through a comprehensive set of diagnostic tests on the entire system.

3.4.1 Update firmwares and software versions to the latest/required versions.

3.4.2 Configure controller name.

3.4.3 Configure controller failover.

3.4.4 Configure multipath HA and verify cabling.

3.4.5 Perform ALUA controller configuration.

ALUA (Asymmetric Logical Unit Access) is a set of SCSI commands for discovering and managing multiple paths to LUNs of Fibre Channel and iSCSI SANs. It allows the initiator to query the target about path attributes, such as primary path and secondary path. ALUA no longer requires proprietary SCSI commands.

Disable ALUA on igroups connecting using the NetApp DSM.

3.4.6 Configure FC interfaces utilizing fcadmin.

3.4.7 Configure Ethernet interfaces with IP addresses defined in plan.

3.4.8 Configure interfaces for iSCSI.

3.4.9 Configure CHAP.

3.5 Configure FC switches.

*Brocade FC Switch always uses hardware zoning. Cisco FC Switch uses software zoning if a mixture of hard and soft zoning on the switch.

Each FC switch must have a unique domain ID (recommend start numbering from 10 to avoid reserved IDs).

Brocade Switches

Web Tools : Tool to manage Brocade Switches.

cfgshow : CLI command to display all defined zone information.
configshow : CLI command use to verify configuration.

fabricshow : CLI command to display which Brocade switches are connected into a fabric.

supportshow : CLI command to collect detailed diagnostic information from a Brocade FC switch.
switchshow : CLI command to view current nodes connected to the switch

Cisco Switches

Cisco Fabric Manager : Native GUI switch tool for managing Cisco MDS-Series switches and directors.

show zoneset : CLI command to view all defined zone configuration information.

show zoneset active : CLI command to display currently active zoneset.

show version : CLI command to collect information about the firmware version.

3.5.1 Configure basic switch settings (IP address, switch name).

3.5.2 Configure zoning as defined by implementation plan.

3.6 Configure Ethernet switches.

Default Ethernet Packet Size = 1500 bytes of payload (or MTU – Maximum Transmission Unit).

Jumbo Frames Industry Standard Packet Size = 9000 bytes of payload (or MTU – Maximum Transmission Unit).

When setting up the Ethernet switches for jumbo frames, the following components need to be configured: 1) Ethernet port on host system. 2) Ethernet port on storage device. 3) Ethernet switch ports being used.

3.6.1 Configure basic switch settings (IP addresses, switch name).

3.6.2 Configure and validate VLANs.

3.7 Configure NetApp storage systems (stage 2).

3.7.1 Connect NetApp systems to switches (FC and Ethernet).

3.7.2 Configure and validate aggregates (including RAID groups), volumes, LUNs, and qtrees.

Flexvol Space Management Policies

1) Guarantee =

none (thin provisioning)

file option (space is allocated from the aggregate when certain "space-reserved" files (such as space-reserved LUN) is created)

volume option (thick provisioning)

2) LUN Reservation =

on (thick provisioned)

off (thin provisioned)

*Set a LUN's reservation to on to guarantee it cannot be affected by other LUNs in the volume.

3) Fractional_reserve =

? % (Fraction of volume's size reserved on top for growth – and utilized during volume snapshot)

4) Snap_reserve =

? % (Fraction of volume's size reserved inside for snapshots)

*Set Snapshot Reserve to 0% for a volume holding LUNs.

5) Auto_delete =

volume / on / off (allows a flexible volume to automatically delete snapshots in the volume)

6) Auto_grow =

on / off (allows a flexible volume to automatically grow in size within an aggregate)

7) Try_first =

snap_delete / volume_grow (Controls the order in which the two reclaim policies (snap autodelete and vol autosize) are used).

NetApp deduplication (ASIS) is enabled on the volume level.

The following commands enable NetApp deduplication and verify space savings:

sis on

sis start

df s

3.7.3 Configure portsets for later attachment to igroups according to plan.

A portset is bound to an igroup.

The portset family of commands manages the portsets.

Portsets are a collection of ports that can be associated with an igroup.

portset create { -f | -i } portset_name [ port ... ]

Creates a new portset.

If the -f option is given, an FCP portset is created.

If the -i option is given, an iSCSI portset is created.

3.8 Configure hosts (stage 1).

3.8.1 Validate host hardware configuration.

3.8.2 Ensure that the correct PCI cards are installed in the correct location on the host.

3.8.3 Install host utility kits on all hosts.

NetApp Host Utilities Kits perform the following functions: 1) They provide properly set disk and HBA timeout values. 2) They identify and set path priorities for NetApp LUNs.

3.8.4 Configure the host Ethernet interfaces for iSCSI.

3.8.5 Configure the Internet storage name service (iSNS).

3.8.6 Configure CHAP on hosts.

3.8.7 Configure host FC interfaces.

Performance tuning parameters for Fibre Channel HBAs on a host: LUN queue depth and Fibre Channel speed.

3.8.8 Configure hosts to Ethernet and FC switches.

3.8.9 Install Snapdrive. Ensure SDW Service account is a member of built-in\Administrators, and if the system is part of a domain, the Service account must be a domain account. Ensure Service account is part of Local\Administrators on the host. For SDU install and administer using the root account.

A host-based volume manager is a host based tool that can be used to create a striped LUN across multiple NetApp controllers.

NetApp ASL = NetApp Array Support Library

Veritas DMP = Veritas Volume Manager with Dynamic Multi-Pathing (DMP)

3.9 Configure NetApp storage systems (stage 3).

3.9.1 Create igroups and perform LUN management for hosts without SnapDrive.

3.9.2 Attach portsets to igroups.

Use igroup throttle on a NetApp storage solution to: 1) Assign a specific percentage of queue resources on each physical port to the igroup. 2) Reserve a minimum percentage of queue resources for a specific igroup. 3) Limit number of concurrent I/O requests an initiator can send to the storage system. 4) Restrict an igroup to a maximum percentage of use.

3.9.3 Set alias for the WWPN and controllers.

3.10 Configure hosts (stage 2).

3.10.1 Configure host multipathing both FC and iSCSI.

The Data ONTAP DSM for Windows can handle FCP and iSCSI paths to the same LUN.

3.10.2 Perform ALUA configuration tasks.

A LUN can be mapped to an ALUA-enabled igroup and a non-ALUA-enabled igroup.

3.10.3 Check for LUN misalignment; check that the LUN and host parameters are properly matched.

The starting offset of the first file system block on the host can affect LUN I/O alignment.

Perfstat counters to check for unaligned I/O that do not fall on the WAFL boundary: 1) wp.partial_write . 2) read/write_align_histo.XX . 3) read/write_partial_blocks.XX .

It is important to selecting the correct LUN type (e.g VMware, Solaris, ...). The LUN type determines: LUNs offset, and size of prefix and suffix – these differ for different operating systems.

To prevent LUN I/O alignment issues with Raw Device Mappings (RDMs) in an ESX environment, use the LUN type matching the guest operating system.

3.10.4 Create snapshot schedule for each host according to implementation plan.

3.11 Perform SAN implementation tasks within virtualized environments utilizing SAN best practices.

On ESX 4.0 with guest operating systems in a Microsoft cluster configuration, the Path Selection Policy (PSP) for an MSCS LUN should be set to: MRU (Most recently used).

On ESX 4.0 for access to a VMFS datastore created on a NetApp LUN under an ALUA configuration, the Path Selection Policy (PSP) should be set to: RR (Round Robin).

For a FCP VMFS datastore created on a NetApp LUN: in ESX 4.0 use VMW_SATP_DEFAULT_AA type for the SATP (Storage Array Type Plugin).

NetApp supports the following Storage Array Type Plug-ins (SATP): VMW_SATP_ALUA and VMW_SATP_DEFAULT_AA.

3.11.1 Identify VM best practices with regard to data deduplication.

3.11.2 Identify VM best practices with regard to thin provisioning.

3.11.3 Identify VM best practices with regard to alignment issues.

VMware ESX: virtual machine disk alignment issues can occur on any protocol including FCP, iSCSI, FCoE, and NFS.

3.11.4 Identify VM best practices with regard to backup and recovery.

3.11.5 Determine the type of switch firmware required to support NPIV.

To make a LUN visible to an NPIV-supported VM (N_Port ID Virtualization = a Fibre Channel facility allowing multiple N_Port IDs to share a single physical N_Port): 1) Create an igroup on the NetApp controller containing the NPIV WWPNs. 2) Map a LUN to the igroup containing the NPIV WWPNs. 3) Create a zone containing NetApp target ports and NPIV WWPNs.

Only RDM type datastores can be used with NPIV.

3.12 FCoE and Unified Connect Enabling Technologies.

Benefits of FCoE: Compatibility with existing FC deployments and management frameworks, 100% Application Transparency, and High Performance.

3.12.1 Identify Ethernet segments using 802.1Q (VLANs).

3.12.2 Describe bandwidth priority classes (QoS).
Bandwidth Management Based on Class of Service (IEEE 802.1Qaz): Consistent management of Quality of Service at the network level by providing consistent scheduling (by default NetApp UTA uses Ethernet priority channel 3 for FCoE).

*default is 50% for FCoE traffic and 50% for other traffic (recommend 80% for FCoE traffic.)

3.12.3 Define Data Center Bridging (DCB).

Data Center Bridging Exchange (DCBX): Management protocol for Enhanced Ethernet capabilities.

3.12.4 Define what is Lossless Ethernet (PAUSE Frame).
Lossless Ethernet (IEEE 802.1Qbb): Ability to have multiple traffic types share a common Ethernet link without interfering with each other (uses PAUSE frame command to control flow).

*Lossless Ethernet is a requirement for FCoE.

3.12.5 VN_ports, VF_ports and VE_ports.

From: http://www.snia.org

What is a VE_port / VF_port / VN_port?

Called logical (virtual) ports because many logical (virtual) ports can share one physical port.

VE_Port = logical (virtual) E_Port

E_Port = The "Expansion" port within a Fibre Channel switch that connects to another Fibre Channel switch or bridge device via an inter-switch link.

VF_Port = logical (virtual) F_Port

F_Port = The "Fabric" port within a Fibre Channel fabric switch that provides a point-to-point link attachment to a single N_Port.

VN_Port = logical (virtual) N_Port

N_Port = A "Node" port that connects via a point-to-point link to either a single N_Port or a single F_Port.

3.13 FCoE and Unified Connect Hardware.

*FCoE Topologies: Fabric or network topology is the only supported attachment configuration.

*FCoE connects over the interconnect.

DOT 8.0.1 first allowed both FCoE and traditional Ethernet protocols using the same UTA.

3.13.1 Identify supported Converged Network Adapters (CNA).

3.13.2 Identify supported Unified Target Adapters (UTA).

3.13.3 Identify supported switches.

3.13.4 Jumbo frame configuration.

3.13.5 Switch configuration including ports, VLAN, VSAN (Cisco) and QoS.

3.13.6 Data ONTAP configuration including fcp topology, fcp zone show, cna show.

3.13.7 Initiator configuration.

3.13.8 FC to FcoE.

3.13.9 NAS protocols over CNA and UTA adapters.

NetApp NS0-502 Study Notes Part 1/4: SAN Solution Assessment

NetApp NS0-502 Study Notes Part 2/4: SAN Implementation Plan Creation

NetApp NS0-502 Study Notes Part 3/4: SAN Implementation

NetApp NS0-502 Study Notes Part 4/4: SAN Implementation Testing

NetApp NS0-502 Study Notes Part 2/4: SAN Implementation Plan Creation

2012-02-17T05:39:00.012-08:00

2. SAN IMPLEMENTATION PLAN CREATION

*Implementation Project Plan: ensure that each task is assigned duration times, dependencies, and resources. Identify the critical path (which depends on: project activities, time for each activity, activity dependencies).

2.1 Verify and plan for dual power feeds for all components.

2.1.1 Ensure all components outlined in plan have power feeds from separate power sources.

Provision of dual power for all systems: 1) Dual power supplies should be placed in all equipment. 2) Dual power feeds should be run to all equipment. 3) Power feeds should be connected to separate outlets connected to two separate PDUs.

2.2 Be able to create cabinet diagrams or be able to read and interpret a cabinet diagram. Diagrams should include the cabinet's storage systems and switches with all connections shown.

Cabinet diagram information: 1) Physical location of the rack in the datacenter. 2) Rack identifying information. 3) Location in the rack of NetApp storage controllers and storage shelves. 4) Switch placement. 5) Storage shelf connectivity.)

2.3 Create a connectivity diagram. Be able to read and interpret a connectivity diagram.

Important for connectivity diagram for FCP: 1) Port numbers and initiator/target configuration for the NetApp storage system. 2) FC switch port connection details with host and storage WWNs. 3) Host WWNs and port connection details.

Important for connectivity diagram for iSCSI: 1) Ethernet switch port connection details and IP addresses. 2) Host and storage device IQNs. 3) NetApp storage system port configuration (initiator/target).

NetApp best practice: FC Target ports should be either ALL on expansion cards or ALL on the onboard ports but never mixed.

2.3.1 Identify port details and connections for NetApp storage device(s).

2.3.2 Identify port details and connections for Hosts.

2.3.3 Identify port details and connections for FC switches.

FC SAN (switch) topologies: Cascade, Core-Edge (provides best performance and scalability,) Full Mesh, Partial Mesh, Switched Fabric.
*Security best practice: disable unused switch ports

*Ensure using the correct small form factor pluggables (SFPs) or enhanced small form-factor pluggable (SFP+), short wave or long wave, single or multimode, and single or multimode cable.

2.3.4 Identify port details and connections for Ethernet switches.

2.4 Plan storage controller configuration.

2.4.1 Plan for single/dual controller configuration.

cfmode = controller failover mode.

Only single_image and standby cfmodes are supported with the 4-Gb FC HBAs on 30xx and 60xx storage systems.

Single_image is the only supported cfmode for new installations starting with Data ONTAP 7.3 (on legacy systems, can continue to use other cfmodes supported by the system).

In single_image cfmode, both nodes in the active-active configuration function as a single Fibre Channel node, and the LUN maps are shared between partners.

In single-image cfmode path failover from cable connectivity issue; I/O will fail over to any port on either controller that is part of the associated portset, with choice of path controlled by the host's MPIO weighting table.

In a HP-UX environment, set single system image cfmode to ensure proper failover.

The effects of change to single_image cfmode, include: 1) There are more paths to LUNs. 2) Target ports WWPNs change on at least one controller.

cfmode is not applicable to O/S co-existence.

2.4.2 Plan for and create diagram for a multipath HA configuration.

A pre-requisite for NetApp storage controller multipath HA between storage controller and disk shelves, is for Software Disk Ownership to be supported and configured.

Linux supports dm_mp multipathing type.

2.4.3 Create capacity plan to include aggregates (RAID groups), volumes, LUNs. Consider snapshot requirements and plan for space reserve strategy.

Best practices:
Use RAID-DP technology.
Separate data and log files by LUN, volume, and aggregate.
Reserve space on the root volumes for log files, document installation, and images of the storage system's memory (for diagnostic purposes).
Do not put LUNs or user data in the root volume.

2.5 Plan host configuration.

Features of SnapDrive: 1) Expand LUNs on the fly. 2) Perform SnapVault updates of qtrees to a SnapVault destination. 3) Perform iSCSI session management.
NetApp recommends installing SnapDrive software on hosts to ensure consistent SnapShot copies.
SnapMirror software is integrated with SnapManager software for application consistent snapshot copies.

2.5.1 Plan/verify host hardware configuration including HBAs, PCI slots that will be used along with firmware and drivers.

HBAnywhere = Utility to collect firmware/driver version for Emulex HBAs (software available for Windows 2003/2008 and Solaris 10).

SANsurfer = Utility to collect firmware/driver version for Qlogic HBAs.

2.5.2 Plan/verify installation of supporting software such as 3^rd party volume managers or applications.
Windows 2008 host: consider installing 'Microsoft Multipath I/O Role', and 'DOT DSM for Windows MPIO'.

2.5.3 Validate entire solution and ensure it is supported using the IMT (Interoperability Matric Tool). Determine if PVRs (Product Variance Request) need to be filled.

When designing a NetApp storage solution for a customer, check the row in the IMT for: Host OS & patches, HBA driver, Volume Manager, File System, and Clustering.

2.5.4 Plan creation of igroups for all hosts that will not have SnapDrive installed.

2.6 Create a Snapshot plan.

2.6.1 Create Snapshot plan for each host. Consider customer RPO (Recover Point Objective) and RTO (Recovery Time Objective) requirements as well as what space reserve strategy is most appropriate to use.

2.6.2 Create SnapDrive installation plan.

FCP or iSCSI license is required for SnapDrive to be used with a NetApp appliance.

Best practice before installing SnapDrive is to establish a SnapDrive service account.

SnapDrive for Windows can communicate with NetApp Storage Controllers using the following protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, RPC.

2.7 Plan Ethernet switch configuration.

2.7.1 Plan VLAN configuration.

Beneficial uses of VLANs: 1) To isolate iSCSI traffic from LAN/WAN traffic. 2) To isolate management traffic from other IP traffic.

Ports to include in a VLAN for administrative security purposes: 1) Storage Controllers Management Ethernet port. 2) FC Switches Management port. 3) Ethernet Switches Management port. 4) Hosts Management Ethernet port.

2.7.2 Plan IPSEC configuration.

Two IPSec modes: transport mode (performed by host processor) and tunneling mode (offloaded to an IPSec gateway)

2.8 Plan zoning configuration.

2.8.1 Be able to plan the alias list based on the type of zoning that was decided.

2.8.2 Provide a name for the alias that describes the port/WWPN (targets and initiators).

2.8.3 Plan the zones, including the number of zones, members of each zone and the name of each zone. Be able to plan for single initiator zoning.

NetApp recommended best practice for zone configuration: All zones should contain a single initiator and all the targets that initiator accesses.

NetApp recommends zoning by World Wide Port Name.

For a Host connected to a NetApp storage system through an FC switch, which has boot volumes on the NetApp storage system, a persistent binding is a mandatory configuration.

2.9 Plan iSCSI configuration.

A direct connect topology allows for guaranteed maximum network performance for iSCSI.

iSCSI access lists: control which network interfaces on a storage system that an initiator can access, and limit the number of network interfaces advertised to a host by the storage system.

2.9.1 Be able to plan for the create of discovery domains and discovery domain sets in iSNS.

2.9.2 Be able to create a plan for CHAP implementation if required.

NetApp NS0-502 Study Notes Part 1/4: SAN Solution Assessment

NetApp NS0-502 Study Notes Part 2/4: SAN Implementation Plan Creation

NetApp NS0-502 Study Notes Part 3/4: SAN Implementation

NetApp NS0-502 Study Notes Part 4/4: SAN Implementation Testing

NetApp NS0-502 Study Notes Part 1/4: SAN Solution Assessment

2012-02-17T05:37:00.014-08:00

The following four part set of study notes for NetApp's NCIE-SAN NS0-502 exam, are based on NetApp's own NS0-502 Study Guide (which expands on the NS0-502 SAN Implementation Exam Objectives ), and the NS0-502 Study Guide provides most of the headings and subsections headings (in green.) The methodology behind the SAN Solution Assessment, Implementation Plan Creation, Implementation Tasks, and Testing, can be applied to other SAN providers too. The exam has a pass mark of 70% and covers 70 questions in 90 minutes.

1. SAN SOLUTION ASSESSMENT

When documenting the existing configuration, factors that should be considered include: disk ownership settings, igroups being used, protocols in use, Snapshot configuration.

Use System Performance Modeler (SPM) for sizing, trending, enhanced performance analysis ( https://sizers.netapp.com ).

Use NetApp Synergy: for design.

1.1 Ensure that all prerequisites for the installation of NetApp system and switches (if needed) are met, and that the required information to configure NetApp systems is collected.

1.1.1 Collect NetApp storage system configuration information.

1.1.2 Collect Switch configuration information.

1.1.3 Gather power information – such as circuit availability, wiring in place, etc...

1.1.4 Collect Host configuration information.

Information gathering for host systems to be attached to NetApp storage systems using either FC or iSCSI: OS Version, Patch Level, Open Bus Slots, Cards in Bus Slots, Bus Type (PCIe and/or PCI-x,) and Ethernet Ports (both used and free).

1.1.5 Collect application configuration and requirements.

1.1.6 Collect potential DEDUPE information.

1.1.7 Collect backup and retention information.

1.2 List a detailed inventory of SAN components including:

1.2.1 NetApp storage system configuration details.

WWPN of NetApp FC Target Ports begin with 5 (target HBAs generally begin with 1 for Emulex, 2 for QLogic, and 5 for NetApp - e.g. 50:0a:09:81:83:e1:52:d9 ).

1.2.2 Host details.

NetApp FC solutions supported operating systems include: IBM AIX, Solaris 10, VMware ESX(i), Windows 2008 Server.

1.2.3 FC switch details.

For a fault tolerant FC solution utilize multiple FC switches, multiple NetApp storage controllers with multiple target ports each, dual port host FC HBAs with driver and firmware, and multipathing host software.

FC fabric topologies that NetApp supports: 1) A single FC switch. 2) Dual FC switches with no ISLs (Inter-Switch Links.) 3) Four FC switches with multiple ISLs between each pair of switches. 4) Four FC switches with multiple ISLs between ALL switches.

1.2.4 Ethernet switch details.

1.2.5 Current zoning configuration.

1.2.6 Current iSCSI implementation details.

NetApp supports the following for iSCSI with Microsoft Windows solutions: VLANs, Jumbo Frames, Microsoft MCS (there is no support for NIC teaming or NIC trunking).

iscsi session show -v : DOT CLI command to see if iSCSI digests are enabled.
Supported iSCSI configurations: Direct-attached, Network-attached (Single-network, Multi-network, VLANs)

1.2.7 CHAP settings.

iscsi security show : DOT CLI command to display current CHAP settings.

1.2.8 IPSEC configuration details.

1.2.9 Snapshot configuration details.

snap delta : DOT CLI command to see the rate of change between two successive Snapshot copies in a flexible volume.

1.2.10 Current data layout (aggregates, raid groups, volumes).

1.2.11 Consider listing: system names, IP addresses, current zoning configuration, OS versions, OS patch levels, driver versions and firmware versions.

When planning the addition of a NetApp FC SAN where the company has an existing FC SAN, consider: existing hosts with OS level and patches, FC HBAs with firmware and driver, FC switches with firmware version and LUN layout.

1.3 Ensure that the solution design and the hardware provisioned do not fall short of the customer's requirements and expectations.

Solution Verification checklist from the SAN Design and Implementation Service Guide ( from the TechNet for Partners site at https://tech.netapp.com/external/index.html ).

Gap analysis worksheet.

Finalize any configuration details in the SAN design.

Work out any deficiencies prior to requesting approval on the design.

1.3.1 Validate requirements with the customer. Consider the following:

1.3.1.1 Sizing needs.

1.3.1.2 Connectivity needs.

In a FC environment utilizing 62.5 micron cable between patch panels – supported NetApp storage controller configuration is to use: short wave SFPs with 62.5 micron FC cable.
50/125 OM2 multi-mode fiber cable supports up to 300 meters at 2 Gbps.

50/125 OM3 multi-mode fiber cable supports up to 500 meters at 2 Gbps.
50/125 OM3 multi-mode fiber cable supports up to 380 meters at 4 Gbps.

*Image source

1.3.1.3 Zoning types.

Two benefits of soft zoning (device WWPN zoning) over hard zoning (domain ID plus port) for Cisco and Brocade FC switches: 1) A device can be connected to any port in the fabric without changing zoning. 2) It is fully interoperable between switch vendors.

1.3.1.4 Expected level of functionality.
Synchronous SnapMirror is not supported in DOT 8.1 Cluster-Mode.
SnapVault is not supported with DOT 8.1 Cluster-Mode.

SnapProtect is an end-to-end backup and recovery solution which also manages traditional tape backup and disk-to-disk-to-tape deployments. SnapProtect manages NetApp Snapshot, SnapVault, and SnapMirror technology, and tape from a single console.

NetApp solutions for disaster recovery of entire sites are: MetroCluster and SnapMirror software.

Stretch MetroCluster supports up to 500 meters @ 2 Gbps between two controllers.

Fabric MetroCluster supports up to 100 kilometers @ 2 Gbps between two nodes in a cluster .

*Single-mode fibre is only supported for the inter-switch links

*MetroCluster is not supported in Data ONTAP 8.1 Cluster-Mode

1.3.1.5 Performance requirements.

1.3.1.6 Solution requirements being provided by a third party.

With limited budget and resources, a suitable solution for a new disaster recover site = SnapMirror and iSCSI at the disaster recovery site for all hosts.

NetApp best practice for primary block data (FC and iSCSI): 1) Dual controller and single shelf. 2) Dual controller and multiple shelves.

NetApp recommended Ethernet topology for iSCSI: LAN with VLANs implemented.
8.1 Cluster-Mode supports: EMC Symmetric DMX4, EMC CLARiiON CX4, HP StorageWorks EVA (recommended at least one NetApp storage shelf be included with each V-Series installation.)

NetApp NS0-502 Study Notes Part 1/4: SAN Solution Assessment

NetApp NS0-502 Study Notes Part 2/4: SAN Implementation Plan Creation

NetApp NS0-502 Study Notes Part 3/4: SAN Implementation

NetApp NS0-502 Study Notes Part 4/4: SAN Implementation Testing

Installing HP ESXi Offline Bundle for VMware ESXi 5.0

2012-02-14T06:28:00.002-08:00

The steps to install the offline bundle for VMware ESXi 5.0 has changed from VMware ESXi 4.X. The vihostupdate command used in ESXi 4.X does not work against ESXi 5.0 hosts.

1) Download the bundle.zip.

Either Google “HP ESXi Offline Bundle for VMware ESXi 5.0” or:

Go to www.hp.com → Support & Drivers → Drivers & Software → Search for the server model (e.g. ProLiant DL380 G5) → Select the server series → Select operating system = VMware ESXi 5.0 → Find “* RECOMMENDED* HP ESXi Offline Bundle for VMware ESXi 5.0 → Download

Note: If you have problems downloading the Offline Bundle (such as getting a prompt for ftp username and password); at the time of writing, the following link taken from the HTML source code – works:

http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib2/software1/pubsw-windows/p2144920481/v67792/hp-esxi5.0uX-bundle-1.1-37.zip

2) Use WinSCP or similar to copy the name_of_bundle.zip to say the tmp directory on the ESXi 5.0 host server.

For WinSCP to work, check the SSH is running via the vSphere Client → Select Host → Configuration Tab → Security Profile → Services Properties → Start SSH

3) Put the host server into maintenance mode.

4) Use PuTTY or similar to establish an SSH connection to the host server, and run the command:

esxcli software vib install -d /tmp/name_of_bundle.zip

5) Reboot the host server.

The End!

Note: If you compare the 'Hardware Status' tab on the host server before and after installation of VIBs, notice the expanded and enhanced list of sensors including additional sensor categories for 'Battery' and 'Storage.'

Notes on Migrating from Compaq MSA1000 to VMware vSphere 5

2012-02-08T12:26:00.000-08:00

The Compaq MSA1000 has been off VMware's Hardware Compatibility list since vSphere 4, with the last supported release being ESX 3.5 U5 (source - http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility .)

Fig. 1 – MSA1000 Supported Releases

Now, just because the MSA 1000 is not supported with vSphere 5, does not mean that it will not work with vSphere 5 – and indeed the MSA 1000 does work with vSphere 5. The below image is taken from an ESXi 5.0 host – the datastores with Device identified as "COMPAQ Fibre Channel Disk" are from the MSA 1000.

Fig. 2 - Storage > Configuration > Datastores View

One thing you need to take into account when migrating from VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3 (VI 3) to vSphere 5, is that datastores formatted with a file system of VMFS 3.21 cannot be seen by ESXi 5.0 hosts (ESX 3.0.0 is provided with the initial VMFS 3 release of VMFS 3.21, ESX 3.5.0 with VMFS 3.31, ESX 4.0 with VMFS 3.33, ESX 4.1 with VMFS 3.46, ESXi 5.0 with VMFS 5.54 – see VMware KB 1005325.) This means that any datastores created by ESX 3.0 hosts will not be visible when presented to an ESXi 5.0 host, whereas datastores created by an ESX 3.5 host will be visible (I have not seen this documented by VMware, only evidenced in a real world situation - so do not totally take my word on this!)

Fig. 3 – Datastore properties showing a datastore formatted with VMFS 3.21

The particular migration behind this post involved a migration from a Compaq MSA 1000 to HP P2000 G3 MSA, and upgrade/rebuild of VMware VI 3 as VMware vSphere 5. The Implementation Plan included the following steps:

1) Evacuate all VM guests from the ESX 3.5 U5 host to be rebuilt as ESXi 5.0, shutdown host and remove from the 2.5 U6 Virtual Center.

2) Install new 8 GB FC HBAs alongside the existing 4 GB FC HBAs into the HP ProLiant DL380 G5 host server.

3) Check BIOS settings for Static High Performance Settting enabled, No-Execute Memory Protection enabled, and Hardware Assisted Virtualization enabled.

4) Upgrade host server firmware.

5) Install ESXi 5.0 and configure host.

6) Install vSphere 5 vCentre Server with Update Manager on new Windows 2008 R2 Server.

7) Use vCenter Update Manager to apply critical patches

8) Use vCenter Update Manager to apply "HP P2000 Software Plug-in for VMware VAAI vSphere 5.0" *Google the terms inbetween the quotation marks to find the download page with installation instructions – current latest version at the time of writing was 2.00 (28 Oct 2011) and file name hp_vaaip_p2000_p210.zip

9) Install "HP ESXi Offline Bundle for VMware ESXi 5.0" *Google the terms inbetween the quotation marks to find the download page with installation instructions – current latest version at the time of writing was 1.1 (16 Dec 2011) and file name hp-esxi5.0uX-bundle-1.1-37.zip

10) Configure FC SAN environment such that ESXi 5.0 host can see old MSA 1000 LUNs and new HP P2000 G3 LUNs.

11) Unregister guests from ESX 3.5 U5 host, register with ESXi 5.0 host, and perform storage vMotion from MSA 1000 FC SAN to HP P2000 G3 FC SAN.

12) Repeat appropriate steps for subsequent host servers to be upgraded.

Note 1: For guests on VMFS 3.21 LUNs, these were first migrated to a VMFS 3.31 LUN across an ESX 3.5 U5 host.

Note 2: Live Storage vMotion from VMFS 3 LUNs on an MSA 1000, to VMFS 5 LUNs on a HP P2000 G3, is perfectly possible – they worked fine!

Note 3: VMware tools can be upgraded directly from VI 3 to vSphere 5.

Final Word

I would not recommend running live production VMware vSphere 5 guest machines on top of a Compaq MSA1000 SAN. It will work, any problem though and VMware support are well within their rights to turn around and say "this is unsupported in vSphere."

Windows User Profile Design: Architects Quick Reference Notes

2012-02-04T08:34:00.000-08:00

Three User Profile Types:

1. Mandatory Profiles

Use for kiosk systems

2. Local Profiles

Use for users who do not switch computers often

Use for computers without permanent network connectivity (e.g. laptops)

3. Roaming Profiles / Terminal Services Profiles

Use for setups where local profiles are not suitable

Note: If Terminal Services is installed on a server, the TS profile path is determined first, and if there is no TS profile it will fall back to the roaming profile, and if no roaming profile path it will fall back to using a local profile.

Incompatible Versions of User Profiles

V1 profiles on all versions of NT up to XP and Server 2003

V2 profiles on Vista and newer versions of Windows

A major reason why Microsoft introduced V2 profiles

V2 profiles offer much more options for folder redirection over V1 profiles

List of the four V1 profile folder redirection options (see User Configuration > Windows Settings > Folder Redirection):

1. Application Data

2. Desktop

3. My Documents

4. Start Menu

Fig 1. V1 Folder Redirection options (image taken from a Windows Server 2003 DC)

List of the thirteen V2 profile folder redirection options (see User Configuration > Policies > Windows Settings > Folder Redirection):

1. AppData(Roaming)

2. Desktop

3. Start Menu

4. Documents

5. Pictures

6. Music

7. Videos

8. Favourites

9. Contacts

10. Downloads

11. Links

12. Searches

13. Saved Games

Fig 2. V2 Folder Redirection options (image taken from a Windows Server 2008R2 DC)

Advantages of Folder Redirection

1. In environments where roaming profiles are not cached locally (i.e. most terminal server farms,) logon times can be greatly reduced by redirecting folders containing large files or large numbers of small files.

2. In environments where multiple profiles exist per user, folders are typically redirected to a single location per user.

Disadvantages of Folder Redirection

1. Network utilization is much higher (because profile files in redirected folders are no longer locally cached.)

2. Increased load on file servers containing the redirected profile folders

3. Increased file I/O latency with redirected profile folder files

The “last writer wins problem”

Roaming profiles and terminal services profiles can suffer from what is known as the “last writer wins” problem, whereby; if a user has several parallel sessions, only the registry of the last session to close will persist since all local copies of NTUSER.DAT are stored in only one place on the central file server. *Third-party products like Citrix User Profile Management, can overcome this.

User Profiles Rules of Thumb

1. Use as few profiles per user as possible, but as many as necessary

2. Use one profile per platform

3. Use different profiles for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows

4. Do not use the same profile on workstations and terminal servers

5. V1 and V2 profiles are not interchangeable

6. To overcome the “last writer wins” problem, use one profile per silo in terminal server farms

Assigning User Profiles

1. Using group policies (recommended)

Windows Server 2003 Group Policy Object Editor Path:

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Terminal Services : Set path for TS Roaming Profiles

Windows Server 2008 R2 Group Policy Management Editor Path:

Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Session Host > Profiles : Set path for Remote Desktop Services Roaming User Profile

2. In the attributes of the Active Directory user objects

Advanced Profile Management

A list of some products that can enhance the capability, efficiency and manageability of Windows User Profiles:

Appsense Management Suite

Citrix User Profile Management

Immidio Flex Profiles

LiquidwareLabs ProfileUnity

RES Workspace Manager

Tricerat Profile Management

VMware Persona Management (VMware View 5)

Also see: IT Infrastructure Design Components 2012

Credits and Further Reading:

http://blogs.sepago.de/helge/2009/01/14/user-profile-design-a-primer/ (an absolutely outstanding post from Helge Klein upon which this post is unashamedly based)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_profile

http://trentsteele.wordpress.com/2011/01/25/the-evolution-of-user-profile-management-solutions-vbox/

NetApp Data ONTAP 8.1 Enabling SFTP Access to /etc

2012-01-28T12:47:00.000-08:00

Continuing from a fresh setup of the Data ONTAP 8.1 Simulator ; the following post goes through the steps to enable SFTP Access to /etc without having NFS or CIFS licensed nor enabled. And here we will use WinSCP to connect to /vol/vol0 and browse the /etc folder.

1) Connect to the CLI using the root login

2) From the CLI run the following 5 commands:

options sftp.enable on

options sftp.auth_style unix

options security.admin.authentication nsswitch

wrfile -a /etc/passwd sftpuser:_J9..IMv76dJgB/sqpf.:0:1::/:

wrfile -a /etc/group daemon:*:1:

The 5 lines above –

i: Enables sftp

ii: Sets the sftp authentication style to unix

iii: Sets the security admin authentication to nsswitch

iv: Creates the passwd file with a user sftpuser with password cifs*123 (the string "_J9..IMv76dJgB/sqpf." is generated using the cifs passwd cifs*123 command – see Appendix below.)

v: Creates the group file

*Note that wrfile -a actually appends to a file; if there is no file to append to it will create the file

3) Use WinSCP to connect with the following details:

Host name: {DNS Name or IP Address of your filer}

User name: sftpuser

Password: cifs*123

Fig. 1: WinSCP Login

And we are in!

Fig. 2: /vol/vol0 folder

Appendix: Notes on cifs passwd

The cifs passwd command – used to obtain a correctly formatted password – must be run with CIFS enabled. To temporarily license CIFS, enable CIFS, obtain the correctly formatted password, then disable CIFS and delete the license; run through the following commands:

FILER> license add DZDACHD #cifs

*The above license code works with the 8.1 SIM (for more 8.1 vsim licenses see: http://now.netapp.com/NOW/download/tools/simulator/ontap/8.1/vsim_licenses_810.txt )

FILER> cifs setup

Do you want to make the system visible via WINS? [n]: n

Selection (1-2)? [1]: 2 for Multiprotocol filer

Would you like to change this name? [n]: n

Selection (1-4)? [1]: 4 for /etc/passwd and/or NIS/LDAP authentication

What is the name of the Workgroup? [WORKGROUP]: WORKGROUP

FILER> cifs passwd cifs*123

*Record the output from here and feel free to change the cifs*123 password!

FILER> cifs terminate

FILER> license delete cifs

SEO: The contents of this article may help if you are getting the following error(s) –

[sftp.connection.request.failed:error]: SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) connection request from client system failed because the user is not permitted to do SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) operations

[sshd_2:error]: error: Disconnecting: SFTP connection creation failed

Installing the NetApp Virtual Storage Console (VSC) for VMware vSphere and Using it to Optimize NFS Settings

2012-01-28T04:26:00.000-08:00

As a continuation from the previous post – NetApp Basic NFS Configuration Walkthrough with VMware – the following article provides a walkthrough installation of the NetApp VSC, and then using the VSC to optimize NFS settings on a VMware vSphere host.

Part 1: Obtain and Install the VSC

i) Download the Virtual Storage Console for VMware vSphere from https://now.netapp.com/eservice/Download.jsp

*This walkthrough uses the VSC-2.1.2-win64.exe, and installing here onto a VMware vSphere 4.1U1 vCenter. There is also a 32-bit version, and version 2.1.2 supports vSphere 5.

ii) On the vCenter Server, run the VSC Setup Launcher

Fig 1: VSC-2.1.2-win64 Setup Launcher

iii) Run through the InstallShield Wizard:

Next >

Accept the terms in the license agreement : Next >

Select Capabilities : Next >

*The capabilities include: Monitoring and Host Configuration (default,) Provisioning and Cloning, and Backup and Recovery (with license.) To use the VSC to optimize NFS only needs the default selection ticked; here though we might as well tick all selections to see the full feature set.

Fig 2: Virtual Storage Console – Select Capabilities

Choose Destination Folder : Next >

Install >

Finish

iv) Register the plugin with vCenter at https://localhost:8143/register.html and complete the vSphere Plugin Registration.

Plugin service information

IP Address: {e.g. IP Address of vCenter}

vCenter Server information

Host name or IP Address: ???

Port: 443

User name: ???

User password: ???

Click 'Register' and if successful then the following appears "The registration process has completed successfully!"

Close the internet browser.

Part 2: Authenticating Storage Controllers in the VSC

Open up a vSphere Client connection to the vCenter server >

Select the Datacenter object (or cluster, or host object – does not really matter here) and select the 'NetApp' tab >

Accept the Security Alert >

Click on the 'Update' button in the top right corner >

Fig 3: NetApp VSC Plug-in with -'unknown-' Storage Controller

When the update has completed, right-click on the '-unknown-' controller and select 'Modify Credentials' >

Enter the credentials and click OK >

Wait for the Controller to display correctly under 'Storage Controllers' (click Update to speed up the process)

Fig 4: NetApp VSC Plug-in with an authenticated Storage Controller

Part 3: Optimizing NFS Settings on an ESX Host

From the 'NetApp' tab within the vSphere client, under 'ESX Hosts', right-click the ESX host and choose 'Set Recommended Values...' >

Fig 5&6: NetApp VSC Plug-in ESX Hosts and 'NetApp Recommended Settings'

Leave all boxes checked (only really need 'NFS Settings' box checked in this instance - will not hurt to update 'HBA/CNA Adapter Settings', and 'MPIO Settings' at the same time) and click OK >

Finally reboot the ESX(i) host server to apply the changed settings!

Fig 7 : NetApp VSC Plug-in ESX Hosts – host with recommended settings

NetApp Basic NFS Configuration Walkthrough with VMware

2012-01-27T02:42:00.000-08:00

Continuing from a fresh setup of the Data ONTAP 8.1 Simulator ; this brief walkthrough illustrates using the CLI to setup a couple of NFS exports, and then using the vSphere client to mount these NFS exports to a VMware ESXi 4.1 host server

Beginnings - The 8.1 simulator starts off with:

28 disks (2 shelves with 14 disks each)

pool 0 with 14 assigned disks (leaving 14 unowned disks)

aggr0, containing plex0, and rg0 (RAID group) with 3 disks in a RAID-DP configuration (1 data disk)

vol0 in aggr0 – thick provisioned 851.48MB in size

Part A: Using Data ONTAP 8.1 CLI to create a couple of NFS exports

*This part could also be done using the NetApp OnCommand System Manager

The lines in the script below (in bold,) will do the following 10 things:

1) Assign all unowned disks to pool 0 (by default Data ONTAP without syncmirror license will keep all disks in pool0 (default))

2) Add 9 x 1 GB disks to aggr0 (so we have a RAID-DP is across 12 x 1 GB disks)

3) Create aggr1 as a 64-bit aggregate, with 14 x 1 GB disks in a RAID-DP

*Leaves 2 spare disks across the 28 disk pool

4) Create vol1 as thin (none) provisioned, in aggr0, and 7 GB in size

5) Create vol2 as thin (none) provisioned, in aggr1, and 11 GB in size

*Might find thick (volume) provisioned volume creation is slow in the simulator

6) Install NFS license

*Installing the NFS license enables NFS

7) Unexport /vol/vol2 (which gets automatically exported)

8) Export /vol/vol1 for NFS readwrite & root access for servers on the 192.168.168.0/24 network

9) Export /vol/vol2 for NFS readwrite & root access for servers on the 192.168.168.0/24 network

10) Enable deduplication (ASIS) on /vol/vol2

Copy and paste these 10 lines into your SSH client (like PuTTY) to run, or run each line in turn:

disk assign all

aggr add aggr0 9@1G

aggr create aggr1 -B 64 -r 14 -t raid_dp 14@1G

vol create vol1 -s none aggr0 7G

vol create vol2 -s none aggr1 11G

license add BQOEAZL #nfs

exportfs -z /vol/vol2

exportfs -p rw=192.168.168.0/24,root=192.168.168.0/24 /vol/vol1

exportfs -p rw=192.168.168.0/24,root=192.168.168.0/24 /vol/vol2
sis on /vol/vol2

*It is okay to run up to 15 lines via the PuTTY SSH client on Windows, any more and need to be careful; an SSH client in Linux will allow more lines to be safely run in one go (this can be explained in terms of command buffer size.)

Part B: Using the vSphere Client (connected to either a host or vCenter) to mount NFS folder

Select the host

-> 'Configuration' Tab

-> 'Add Storage...'

-> Network File System : Next

-> Provide NetApp Appliance DNS name / IP address, folder name /vol/vol1 and 'Datastore Name' : Next

-> Finish

And repeat for /vol/vol2!

Fig 1: vSphere Client - Select Storage Type

Fig 2: vSphere Client - Locate Network File System

Fig 3: vSphere Client - Mounted NFS Datastores

*Also see follow up post: Installing the NetApp Virtual Storage Console (VSC) for VMware vSphere and Using it to Optimize NFS Settings

Appendix A: Some Useful Commands for Information Gathering

aggr status = shows state, RAID, aggr 32/64-bit

disk show -v = shows all disks – owned and not owned

exportfs = check currently exported NFS shares

rdfile /etc/exports = read the NFS exports file (these NFS exports load on boot)

storage show = will show disks are not assigned to shelves

sysconfig = shows current system configuration – NetApp release, system ID, serial number, processors, memory, ...

vol status = shows state, RAID, flex 32/64-bit

Appendix B: Some Useful Links

Aarondelp.com: NetApp Setup Cheat Sheet

Sysadmintutorials.com: NetApp Data ONTAP CLI

WAFL.co.uk: Manual Pages - exportfs

Formulas to Calculate Dimensionless Hard Disk Size, and a Real World Application to Extending a UFS Partition

2012-01-20T08:20:00.000-08:00

The dimensionless hard disk size is a quantity that gives a measure of hard disk size without any associated physical dimension (i.e. not measured in bytes, kilobytes, ... - just a number.) This quantity manifests itself in many places, such as: in the VMware vmdk disk descriptor file, and when sizing partitions.

Part 1: Formulas to calculate R (The Dimensionless Hard Disk Size) from Cylinders, Heads, and Sectors; Cylinder Groups, Heads, and Sectors; and Volume Capacity, and Sector Size

In the below; * is used for multiply, and / for divide

1.1 Variables Used

R = The Dimensionless Hard Disk Size

C = Cylinders

H = Heads

T = Tracks (and T = C * H)

Cyl = Cylinder Groups (used with Unix File System (UFS))

S = Sectors per Track

B = Sector Size in bytes

V = Volume Size in bytes (i.e. disk max capacity; volume, or partition size)

1.2 Formulas for R

R = C * H * S

R = (SUM of Cylinders in all Cylinder Groups) * H * S

R = V / B

1.3 Formulas for V (obtained from the above)

V = C * H * S * B

V = R * B

Important notes:

1) R is always a positive integer, as are all the other variables used

2) Real world values given for disk capacity may need to be converted into the integer value that best satisfies the requirement for the other variables to be integers

Part 2: Real World Application to Extending a UFS Partition

The following "real world" application of the formulas, is inspired by following blog post by Julian Wood - Installing & Maximising the NetApp ONTAP 8.1 Simulator

2.1 The problem

We expand a 48 GB VMware vmdk hard disk to 244 GB. The hard disk in question is already partitioned into 4 partitions, and we need to find the new size value for the 4^th partition, to make it use up all the extra usable space that is now available.

2.2 Calculations and Explanation

Booting into the FreeBSD_LiveFS ISO media, and in fixit mode; the fdisk ad0 command is run to view the partitions on the disk in question (ad0.)

The output of the fdisk ad0 command provides the following bits of information:

B = 512 bytes (Sector size)

H = 15 (Heads – numbered from 0 to 14)

S = 63 (Sectors per Track – numbered from 1 to 63)

PartitionStartValue = 4191264

And from the real world disk capacity of the hard disk (Vreal = 244GB) in bytes, we get Rreal:

Rreal = int( Vreal / B )

= int( 244*1024*1024*1024 / 512 )

= 511705088

Note:

int( x ) is a function that returns the integer value of x. The int function is included in Windows Calculator on the Scientific view. If you do not have this function then just lose everything after the decimal point.

The disk is split into cylinders (value unknown), heads (15), and sectors (63.) We cannot find out the number of cylinders (would need to know the amount of cylinders in each cylinder group, and there will be quite a few cylinder groups.) But we know that the max value of R (Rmax) must be an integer divisible by heads (15) multiplied by sectors (63.)

Rmax = 15*63 * int( Rreal / (15*63) )

= 511704270

Finally, to find the new size of partition 4 (Rsize):

Rsize = Rmax – PartitionStartValue

= 507513006

When we run the fdisk -u ad0 command to extend partition 4; when prompted for the value for the new "size," the above figure – 507513006 – is supplied!

2.3 Summary

Rsize = H * S * int{ int( Vreal / B ) / ( H * S ) } - PartitionStartValue

Part 3: Appendix – Further Reading

CSGNetwork.com: Media Size Calculator

Oracle.com: The Structure of UFS File System Cylinder Groups

NTFS.com: Starting and Ending Head, Sector, and Cylinder Fields

Citrix NetScaler VPX Cloud Bridge: Install Walkthrough Part 2/2: Configuring Cloud Bridge and Testing

2012-01-16T12:11:00.000-08:00

1: Configuring the CloudBridge

1) Log in to the GUIs for NSVPXA ( http://10.10.10.5 ) and NSVPXB ( http://10.10.20.5 )

*The per NetScaler configuration so far, consists of a name and couple of configured IPs as in the images below

2) To setup WAN side addresses and routing across the router

From the root folder > expand the 'Network' folder > Right-click on 'IPs' and select Add.

On NSVPXA, create a Mapped IP with these details

IP Address = 192.168.30.15

Netmask = 255.255.255.0

On NSVPXB, create a Mapped IP with these details

IP Address = 192.168.40.15

Netmask = 255.255.255.0

ii:

From the root folder > expand the 'Network' folder > Right-click on 'Routes' and select Add.

On NSVPXA, create the route with these details:

Network = 192.168.40.0

Netmask = 255.255.255.0

Gateway = 192.168.30.1

On NSVPXB, create the route with these details:

Network = 192.168.30.0

Netmask = 255.255.255.0

Gateway = 192.168.40.1

iii:

On both NSVXPA and NSVPXB: 'Save' the configuration and run a 'Refresh All'

*To check everything is all setup and working okay at this stage; try a ping test from the NetScaler's CLI across the router to the remote Netscaler's WAN side IP – this should be successful!

3) To configure the Cloud Bridge, do the following on NSVPXA and NSVPXB

*At this stage start a ping test running from your endpoints!

i: From the root folder > click on the 'Cloud Bridge' folder and click on 'Configure Cloud Bridge'

ii: Complete the Configure Cloud Bridge window

NSVPXA

Name: CloudBridge

Local IP: 192.168.30.5

Remote IP: 192.168.40.5

Pre-Shared Key: cloudtest

And click 'Create'

NSVPXB

Name: CloudBridge

Local IP: 192.168.40.5

Remote IP: 192.168.30.5

Pre-Shared Key: cloudtest

And click 'Create'

Image below taken from NSVPXA's configuration:

iii: On both NSVXPA and NSVPXB: 'Save' the configuration and run a 'Refresh All'

4) At the point of completing both Cloud Bridge configurations, we should have a succesful Cloud Bridge up and running!

Ping from 10.10.10.10 to 10.10.10.20

Ping from 10.10.10.20 to 10.10.10.10

5) To make certain that this is a successful test of a the CloudBridge:

From either one of the NetScalers:

From the root folder > expand the 'Cloud Bridge' folder > click on 'Network Bridge' > right-click on the newly created CloudBridge and select Open.

Simply un-ticking the 'Active' box and clicking OK, should stop the flow across the Cloud Bridge.

2: Final Comment

Some readers may question why I have not had to configure the VLANs or IP Subnets tabs for the Cloud Bridge in this lab (on neither NetScaler was the Default VLAN 1 enabled as Active, nor were any IP Subnets added into the configuration.) The answer (probably) lies in the existence of SNIPs for the 10.10.10.X network at either end. This lab is only intended as a Walkthrough guide to demonstrate getting Cloud Bridge up and running, and from a working model we can tinker around further to see what effect different options/configurations have on the Cloud Bridge.

Also see: http://forums.citrix.com/thread.jspa?threadID=293220

Citrix NetScaler VPX Cloud Bridge: Install Walkthrough Part 1/2: Setting Up the Demo Lab

Citrix NetScaler VPX Cloud Bridge: Install Walkthrough Part 1/2: Setting Up the Demo Lab

2012-01-16T12:01:00.000-08:00

The following lab is going to run through the steps to build a working NetScaler Cloud Bridge demo setup from scratch. The lab aims to demonstrate that a guest machine in Site A on Site A's subnet, can successfully communicate with a machine on Site B's network but with an IP address from Site A's subnet, and vice versa.

1: Prerequisites

i: NetScaler VPX appliance

Presently, the NetScaler VPX Platinum Evaluation is available at http://www.citrix.com/NetScaler and registering for the trial will provide access to downloads for NetScaler VPX on XenServer, VMware, and Hyper-V; and a license code for a 90 day evaluation.

*The following lab used the NetScaler VPX on VMware version 9.3-52.3

ii: 2x NetScaler Platinum Edition License Codes

Applying for the NetScaler VPX Platinum Evaluation twice will provide the two required Platinum Edition License Codes.

*The license keys will be obtained later after obtaining the MAC addresses of the NetScaler VPX appliances.

*Source www.citrix.com : Cloud Bridge is also included as part of the larger NetScaler Platinum Edition on either-NetScaler SDX™, MPX™ or VPX™ appliance platforms.

iii: A login for Citrx.com

It is free to register for an account which will later allow for download of license keys for the NetScaler VPX appliances.

iv: A suitable hypervisor

This can be either Citrix XenServer, VMware ESX(i), VMware Workstation 8, or Hyper-V.

The NetScaler VPX Appliances come pre-configured with 2GB, 2 processors, and 20GB disk (about 350MB with thin-provisioning,) and would recommend the hypervisor has at least 6 GB free memory to play with, and 6 GHz available processing power.

*This lab uses VMware Workstation 8 which can open OVF templates (Workstation 7 could not open OVF templates,) and this was running on top of a Windows 7 Workstation with 6 GB memory and an AMD Phenom 9950 Quad-Core 2.6GHz Processor.

iv: 4x Network Segments

More detail in Section B.

v: A router to simulate traversing the internet

*This lab uses a virtual Windows Server 2003 system running Routing and Remote Access.

*To demonstate the Cloud Bridge in action, using a point-to-point type link is not totally sufficient since two NetScalers connected across a point-to-point type link can work as a capable standard bridge without needing Cloud Bridge; hence a router is introduced into this lab setup.

vi: 2x Suitable Endpoints to Test the CloudBridge

Essentially, just something to ping with and reply to ping packets; may be useful to have an internet browser too.

*The following lab uses Windows XP virtual machines

2: The Lab Setup

i: The Networks

Site A (LAN): VMnet1 with Subnet IP 10.10.10.0, Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0, Gateway 10.10.10.2

Site B (LAN): VMnet2 with Subnet IP 10.10.20.0, Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0, Gateway 10.10.20.2

Site A (WAN Side): VMnet3 with Subnet IP 192.168.30.0, Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0

Site B (WAN Side): VMnet4 with Subnet IP 192.168.40.0, Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0

CloudBridged Network: Subnet IP 10.10.10.0 (or Site A's LAN)

*Note that the VMnet1 and VMnet 2 networks, are configured as "Host-only" networks, and that the "Connect a host virtual adapter to this network" option is ticked for VMnet1 and VMnet2 (this allows the host workstation – which takes an X.X.X.1 IP address – access to the NetScalers' GUI for configuration purposes, and later we can uncheck this option to prove no traffic is travelling via the host.)

ii: The Virtual Machines

Site A:

WXPWSA

(Windows XP Workstation A)

NIC1 on VMnet1

> IP 10.10.10.10

NSVPXA

(NetScaler VPX A)

NIC1 on VMnet1 for

> NSIP 10.10.10.5

> SNIP 10.10.10.15

NIC2 on VMnet3 for

> MIP 192.168.30.15

> IP 192.168.30.5 (for the Cloud Bridge)

The "Internet":

ROUTER

(Windows 2003 Server running Routing and Remote Access)

NIC1 on VMnet3 for

> IP 192.168.30.1

NIC2 on VMnet4 for

> IP 192.168.40.1

Site B:

WXPWSB

(Windows XP Workstation B)

NIC1 on VMnet2

> IP 10.10.10.20

NSVPXB

(NetScaler VPX B)

NIC1 on VMnet2 for

> NSIP 10.10.20.5

> SNIP 10.10.10.25

NIC2 on VMnet4 for

> MIP 192.168.40.15

> IP 192.168.40.5 (for the Cloud Bridge)

Additional Notes:

*NSIP = NetScaler Management IP

*SNIP = Subnet IP

*MIP = Mapped IP

*The 192.168.30.5 & 192.168.40.5 addresses are not specifically assigned/configured on NIC2; the NetScaler is intelligent enough to link the routers IP address in its ARP table as being available via NIC2, and – with the addition of a route to traverse the router – knows to send remote 192.168.30/40.X traffic down NIC2 to the router

3: Basic Configuration of the NetScalers

*This section continues from having imported two NetScaler VPX appliances into whatever hypervisor environment is being used; and having configured the networks, endpoints, and router, similarly to the above.

3.1: Basic Configuration

1) Power on NSVPXA

2) Via the console, complete the prompts to configure IPv4 address of 10.10.10.5, Netmask of 255.255.255.0, and Gateway of 10.10.10.2; and then select option 4 and press enter to save the changes.

*To re-run the basic IP setup configuration from CLI, at the > prompt type config ns

3) Using an internet browser; log in to the NetScaler GUI on http://10.10.10.5 using the default credentials (User Name = nsroot, Password = nsroot)

Run through the setup wizard > provide the Host Name of NSVPXA, provide the SNIP Address of 10.10.10.15 with Netmask of 255.255.255.0 : Next > Next > Finish > Exit

*The Setup Wizard can be re-initiated at any time via the NetScaler GUI

3.2: Licensing

1) Log in via the console or using SSH (PuTTY), with the default credentials of:

Password = nsroot

2) At the > prompt type: shell

3) At the root@NSVPXA# prompt type: lmutil lmhostid -ether

- and record the host ID (MAC address) from the output

root@NSVXPA# lmutil lmhostid -ether

The FLEXnet host ID of this machine is "000c29c00fe5"

root@NSVPXA#

4) Go to www.citrix.com and log in choosing the destination "Licensing Management," and obtain the license file (Allocate -> Don't see your product? > Enter license code : Continue > Host Name Warning : Continue > Enter Host ID : Continue > Confirm > OK to download the .lic file)

5) Use WinSCP or similar to copy the .lic file to the NetScaler's /nsconfig/license folder

6) At the root@NSVPXA# prompt, type: exit

*to get back to the > prompt

7) At the > prompt type: save ns config

8) At the > prompt type: shutdown -r now

- and type Y at the prompt for "Are you sure ... ?", then press enter

9) After the restart, log in via the console or using SSH

10) At the > prompt type: enable ns feature CloudBridge

11) At the > prompt type: enable ns mode l2

12) At the > prompt type: save ns config

3.3: NSVPXB

Repeat 3.1 and 3.2 similarly to configure NSVPXB

Citrix NetScaler VPX Cloud Bridge: Install Walkthrough Part 2/2: Configuring Cloud Bridge and Testing

Walkthrough Setup Guide for Implementing Citrix Profile Management 4.0 (User Profile Manager) for a Windows 7 VDI Environment

2012-01-09T14:53:00.000-08:00

Prerequisites

1) AD forest functional and domain functional levels of Windows 2003 native mode and above

2) A Windows 7 “Gold” image.

For complete System Requirements see http://support.citrix.com/proddocs + Technologies + Profile Management.

*The lab set-up used to illustrate this walk-through guide uses Windows 7 32-bit, Profile management 4.0, and a Windows 2008 R2 domain controller

Part A: Download and Install Profile Management on the Windows 7 “Gold” Image

1) Download Profile Management 4.0 from www.citrix.com

2) Log on to the Windows 7 “Gold” image with an administrative account, copy the downloaded PM4.0.zip to the desktop, and extract the contents

3) Double-click either profilemgt4.0.0_x86.msi and run through the Setup Wizard to install:

Next >

Accept License Agreement: Next >

Choose where to Install Citrix Profile management (default location = C:\Program File\Citrix\User Profile Manager\) : Next >

Install >

Finish >

Yes to restart the system

Part B: Create a Server Share

Create a share on the fileserver (for example: \\fileserver\profileManager$ )

The below is from Microsoft's 'Security Recommendations for Roaming User Profiles Shared Folders':

Minimum Required NTFS Permissions for Roaming Profile Parent Folder

Create Owner: Full Control – Subfolders and Files Only

Administrator: None

Security group of users needing to put data on share: List Folder/Read Data, Create Folders/Append Data – This Folder Only

Everyone: No permissions

Local System: Full Control – This Folder, Subfolders and Files

Minimum Required Share level (SMB) Permissions for Roaming Profile Share

Everyone: No permissions

Security group of users needing to put data on share: Full Control

Minimum Required NTFS Permissions for Each User's Roaming Profile Folder

*If not already created, the user's Profile Management folder will automatically be created with the correct permissions

%Username%: Full Control, Owner of Folder

Local System: Full Control

Administrators: No Permissions

Everyone: No Permissions

Part C: Install Citrix Policies

1) Log on to a suitable domain controller with an account that has permission to create and edit GPOs

2) Copy PM4.0.zip to the desktop and and extract the contents

3) Open up the Group Policy Management console (gpmc.msc,) right-click the OU containing the Windows 7 VDI computer accounts, and select 'Create a GPO in this domain, and Link it here...'

*The GPO applies to the Computer Configuration so only needs to be linked to the OU containing the computer accounts of the VDIs

4) Give the GPO a name like say 'Citrix Profile Management' and click OK

5) Right-click the newly created GPO and choose 'Edit'

6) Expand 'Computer Configuration' > Expand 'Policies' > Right-click 'Administrative Templates' > Choose 'Add/Remove Templates...'

i: From the 'Add/Remove Templates' window, remove any pre-existing Policy Templates, then click 'Add..'

ii: Browse to the location of the extracted PM4.0.zip

iii: Navigate – via ADM_Templates – to the folder for the language of your choice (e.g en for English)

iv: Select ctxprofile4.0.0.adm, and click Open

v: Close the 'Add/Remove Templates' window

8) Still in the 'Group Policy Management Editor' for the 'Citrix Profile Management' GPO:

Expand 'Computer Configuration' > Expand 'Policies' > Expand 'Administrative Templates' > Expand 'Classic Administrative Templates (ADM)' > Expand 'Citrix' > Expand 'Profile Management'

*Citrix > Profile Management : is under Classic Administrative Templates (ADM) here, due to being installed into a Windows 2008 environment.

9) The configuration of the 'Profile Management' Policy Settings will vary from customer to customer; the below is sufficient for a working starter set-up:

Profile Management

Enable Profile management: Enabled

Processed groups: Disabled (all user groups are processed)

Process logons of local administrators: Enabled (members of local administrators group are processed by Profile Management)

Path to user store: Enabled and provide path (for example: \\fileserver\profileManager$\%username% )

Active write back: Enabled (allows settings to trickle back and forth whilst logged in)

Profile Management > Profile handling

Delete locally cached profiles on logoff: Enabled

Profile Management > Registry

Exclusion list: {Typically used to exclude registry keys if encounter problems when using Profile Management across different Windows platforms. For a 100% Windows 7 VDI deployment, we can leave this 'Not configured'}

Profile Management > Streamed user profiles

Profile streaming: Enabled

Streamed user profile groups: Disabled (all user groups are processed)

Part D: Test

1) Create a VDI from the Windows 7 “Gold” image.
*If testing carrying on from using the same Windows 7 system as used in Part A – give the system an additional restart to fully apply the computer configuration policies from the 'Citrix Profile Management' GPO, before proceeding with the test

2) Log on to the VDI with a user account that is to be processed by profile Management and check that the server share is generated.

3) Make a few changes to the profile as desired (for example – place a file on the desktop)

4) Log off

5) Log on to another VDI (or if using non-persistent VDIs then just log back on to the VDI) to see Profile Management in action.

THE END!

Appendix: Further reading & Credits

David Fiske's video -”How to install Citrix User Profile Manager”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQoux2kV46k

*This post is very much based on David's excellent video. I came, I watched, and I understood!

Profile Management 4.0: Install and setup

http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/user-profile-manager-sou/upm-install-wrapper.html

How to Implement and Configure the Profile Management Group Policy Settings Using the .ADM Template (and other links)

http://support.citrix.com/article/cTX125494

Security Recommendations for Roaming User Profiles Shared Folders

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc757013(WS.10).aspx

Environment with Multiple Platforms – What Types of Profiles Should I Create?

http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/user-profile-manager-sou/upm-plan-how-many-profiles.html#upm-plan-how-many-profiles

Problem: High iSCSI NIC Utilization on Windows 2008R2 Hyper-V Host

2012-01-07T17:28:00.000-08:00

Scenario:

Poor performance is reported on a business application not long after a virtualization initiative has been implemented, and it is noticed that – on one of the hosts that is part of a Hyper-V failover cluster – the utilization on an iSCSI NIC is very high.

Initial Diagnosis:

The cause of the excessive iSCSI traffic is traced to the business application's backend SQL Server, and – initially – the proverbial finger is pointed at a recent VMware Capacity Planning report pointing out that the SQL Server System was not a recommended candidate for virtualization. The Capacity Planning report – under 'System Exceptions' – flagged the SQL server as generating excessive disk I/O of 102.92 MBps. Now, a 1 Gbps NIC has maximum throughput of 128 MBps (1024 Mbps / 8 bits per byte,) so this fits closely with the indicated excessive disk I/O being likely to cause a near maxed out 1 Gbps NIC.

Solution:

It turned out that the SQL server had never been running with an optimal configuration, and just happened that the excessive disk I/O had not been noticed as a problem in its physical incarnation (running on a RAID 5 across 4 x Ultra320 (320 MBps) SCSI disks.) Using SQL Server Management Studio, and checking the Server Properties -> Memory page, displayed the Maximum server memory for the SQL server was only set to 1000 MB, and upping this to 3000 MB (the underlying OS was Windows Server 2003 Standard 32-bit, and the virtual machine was configured with the OS's maximum memory of 4 GB) caused the iSCSI NIC utilization to drop from near 100% to below 5%. The excessive disk I/O had been caused by the SQL server not having enough memory and having to page excessively to disk.

SQL Server Revisited:

Revisiting the SQL Server a short time later; in Windows Task Manager, the 'Mem Usage' of the sqlservr.exe is running at 2'739'252 KB (or ~2675 MB,) which is under the 3000 MB Maximum server memory allocated to SQL Server, hence SQL Server has no need to page to disk, and iSCSI utilization is aok.

Note: My involvement was only on the fringes in this particular scenario, and can take no credit for the solution. An interesting problem though and worthy of a write up.

Problem: Websense WSLOGDB70 Files Causing High Disk Space Utilization

2012-01-07T17:17:00.000-08:00

Scenario:

A customer's web proxy server running 'Websense Web Security / Web Filter', is running low on free disk space, and the WSLOGDB70 files in C:\Program Files\Websense are identified as the major culprit of excessive disk consumption.

Solution:

Note: This applies to an installation of Websense installed with the bundled MSDE 2000 (Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine,) which had a built in database rollover feature to avoid hitting the 2GB single database size limit of MSDE 2000.

To correct way to delete wslogdb70_X.mdf and wslogdb70_X_log.ldf files {where X is a positive integer} is:

1) Log onto the Websense Manager WebUI at https://IPADDRESSofWEBPROXY:9443/mng with a Websense administrative account

2) Navigate to Settings -> Reporting -> Log Database

3) Browse down to 'Available partitions'

4.1) Click Delete to the right of the partition to be deleted (assuming reporting is no longer required for the date range contained in the partition,)

4.2) Click OK to the message 'Are you sure you want to delete partition WSLOGDB70_X? This is irrevocable!'

5) Repeat 4 for as many of the partitions as you want to delete

6) Click 'Save Now'

7) The WSLOGDB70 files will not be deleted straight away, but will be deleted next time the maintenance schedule runs. The 'Maintenance start time' can be checked in the 'Maintenance Configuration' section. If necessary, temporarily adjust the 'Maintenance start time' to purge the deleted database partions sooner.

THE END

Question: Can I delete wslogdb70 files?

Answer: Yes, but it should not be done manually via Windows explorer, remove via WebsenseManager WebUI.

How to Configure iSCSI Multipathing (MPIO) in VMware vSphere 5 using ESXCLI

2012-01-04T08:13:00.000-08:00

The script below will enable the iSCSI Software Adapter, create two standard switches each with one active network adapter, configure each switch with a configured VMkernel port, bind the iSCSI VMkernels to the iSCSI Software Adapter vmhba, add a send target portal, set the multi-pathing to default to round-robin, and then perform a rescan for storage devices and new volumes. Testing in the lab had a complete VMware Host iSCSI and MPIO configuration applied in less that 20 seconds!

The easiest way to run this script is to establish an SSH connection to the ESXi 5 host to be configured using Putty or similar (first start the SSH service on the host using a vSphere Client connection.) Then simply copy the script and right-click to paste into the Putty window - the script will run.

Notes:

1: In practice you will probably want to run part 1 separately to enable the iSCSI Software Adapter, so can provide the iSCSI Initiator name to input into the SAN management software to allow access to volumes, and also to check the vmhbaXX number.

2: Substitute the following values as per requirements: vmnic4, vmnic5, 192.168.0.111, 255.255.255.0, 192.168.0.121, 255.255.255.0, vmhba33, 192.168.0.100:3260

3: The line in Part 6 works for HP LeftHand/P4000 iSCSI SANs. If you want the multi-pathing to default to round-robin for devices not detected as VMW_SATP_DEFAULT_AA, then this line will need to be modified.

4: It is not currently possible with ESXCLI to create just one Standard Switch for iSCSI and add multiple VMkernels in, as there is no command to set an adapter as unused (only active and standby can be configured using ESXCLI.)

5: See http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/index.jsp for the full vSphere Command-Line Interface Reference.

6: The lines beginning with 'echo' are just there for cosmetic reasons to explain what the line underneath does

7: It is pretty straightforward to modify the script for more than 2-way MPIO (vSphere 5 supports up to 8-way MPIO.)

The Script:

echo # START COPYING ON THIS LINE!

echo #########################

echo # PART 1: Enable iSCSI Software Adapter

esxcli iscsi software set -e on

echo #########################

echo # PART 2: Create 1^st iSCSI vSwitch and iSCSI VMkernel

echo ## 2.1 Add a new Standard Switch called iSCSIVMk1

esxcli network vswitch standard add -v iSCSIVMk1

echo ## 2.2 Add vmnic4 to the iSCSIVMk1 Standard Switch

esxcli network vswitch standard uplink add -u vmnic4 -v iSCSIVMk1

echo ## 2.3 set vmnic4 as active adapter for the iSCSIVMk1 Standard Switch iSCSIVMk1

esxcli network vswitch standard policy failover set -a vmnic4 -v iSCSIVMk1

echo ## 2.4 Add a portgroup called iSCSIVMk1 to the iSCSIVMk1 Standard Switch

esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup add -p iSCSIVMkernel1 -v iSCSIVMk1

echo ## 2.5 Add a VMkernel interface called vmk11 to the iSCSIVMk1 portgroup

esxcli network ip interface add -i vmk11 -p iSCSIVMkernel1

echo ## 2.6 configure vmk11 with IP Address and Subnet Mask

esxcli network ip interface ipv4 set -i vmk11 -I 192.168.0.111 -N 255.255.255.0 -t static

echo #########################

echo # PART 3: Create 2^nd iSCSI vSwitch and iSCSI VMkernel

echo ## 3.1 Add a new Standard Switch called iSCSIVMk2

esxcli network vswitch standard add -v iSCSIVMk2

echo ## 3.2 Add vmnic5 to the iSCSIVMk2 Standard Switch

esxcli network vswitch standard uplink add -u vmnic5 -v iSCSIVMk2

echo ## 3.3 set vmnic5 as active adapter for the iSCSIVMk2 Standard Switch iSCSIVMk2

esxcli network vswitch standard policy failover set -a vmnic5 -v iSCSIVMk2

echo ## 3.4 Add a portgroup called iSCSIVMk2 to the iSCSIVMk2 Standard Switch

esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup add -p iSCSIVMkernel2 -v iSCSIVMk2

echo ## 3.5 Add a VMkernel interface called vmk12 to the iSCSIVMk2 portgroup

esxcli network ip interface add -i vmk12 -p iSCSIVMkernel2

echo ## 3.6 configure vmk12 with IP Address and Subnet Mask

esxcli network ip interface ipv4 set -i vmk12 -I 192.168.0.121 -N 255.255.255.0 -t static

echo #########################

echo # PART 4: Bind the iSCSI VMkernels to the iSCSI Software Adapter vmhba33

esxcli iscsi networkportal add -A vmhba33 -n vmk11

esxcli iscsi networkportal add -A vmhba33 -n vmk12

echo #########################

echo # PART 5: Add send target portal for iSCSI SAN with IP address 192.168.0.100

esxcli iscsi adapter discovery sendtarget add -A vmhba33 -a 192.168.0.100:3260

echo #########################

echo # PART 6: Set the multi-pathing to default to round-robin

esxcli storage nmp satp set -P VMW_PSP_RR -s VMW_SATP_DEFAULT_AA

echo #########################

echo # PART 7: Perform a rescan for storage devices and new volumes

esxcli storage core adapter rescan -a

esxcli storage filesystem rescan

echo # FINISH COPYING ON THIS LINE!

A List of aaS-es (Alternative Title: Members of the "as a Service" (aaS) Family)

2012-01-02T10:39:00.000-08:00

On this 2^nd day of 2012, I just happened to be thinking about the evolution of "as a Service" offerings going forward over the next year; which led me to question "how many aaS-es can I find?" (Apologies if that sounds a bit rude.) A quick Google, and low and behold, nothing specific came up under the search phrases used in this post's title. So, what follows is an attempt to make a list of the members of the aaS family.

The List

AaaS = Applications as a Service

BaaS = Backup as a Service

DaaS = Data as a Service
DaaS = Database as a Service

DaaS = Desktop as a Service

DRaaS = Disaster Recovery as a Service

EaaS = Email as a Service

EaaS = Everything as a Service

HaaS = Hardware as a Service

IaaS = Infrastructure as a Service

ITaaS = IT as a Service

ITaaS = Information Technology as a Service

PaaS = Platform as a Service

SaaS = Security as a Service

SaaS = Software as a Service

VaaS = Voice as a Service

Note: If the time and inclination permits, I may come back to this post and add more descriptive information for each aaS – in effect, this list is a kind-of work in progress.

NetApp NCDA NS0-154 Exam Cram Notes: Part 3 of 3

2012-01-01T15:32:00.000-08:00

17: Troubleshooting Resources and Commands

Bugs Online ( http://now.netapp.com/NOW/cgi-bin/bol ) provides a suite of tools to help manage and resolve bug issues:

i) Bug Search Tools.

ii) Software & Bug Tools: Release Bug Comparision Tool, Release Bug Advisor, Panic Message Analyzer, Syslog Translator

iii) Notification Tools: Bug Watcher Summary, New Bug Alerts Profiler

Counter Manager is a thin layer built into the DOT architecture that provides a single view of DOT performance counters, and a standard performance API set for all clients (includes: ZAPI, AutoSupport, Operations Manager, Windows perfmon, SNMP, and CLI – stats.)

ifconfig assigns an address to a network interface and configures network interface parameters.

ifstat displays statistics about packets received and sent on a specified network interface or on all network interfaces.

netdiag command analyzes the statistics continuously gathered by the network protocol code and (if required) performs various tests to ensure the sanity of operation of the protocol code.

netstat command symbolically displays the contents of various network-related data structures.

nfsstat displays statistical information about the NFS and remote procedure call interfaces to the kernel.

Turn on the option "nfs.per_client_stats.enable" to provide NFS operations stats per client. Use "nfsstat -l" to display client statistics. Example:

FILER> options nfs.per_client_stats.enable on

FILER> nfsstat -l

perfstat script is available for download from the NOW site. The script runs several system commands and client commands to collect data.

pktt – Data ONTAP utility for packet capture. pktt trace saved in tcpdump format. A tcpdump-compliant program such as Wireshark ( www.wireshark.org ) can be used to read and analyze a pktt trace file. Alternatively, convert pktt trace to a Netmon-compliant format using "capconv" utility from NetApp.

stats family of commands reports various statistics collected by the system. The stats utility supports preset queries using the -p argument (preset files are stored in /etc/stats/preset with name pre_setname.xml.)

sysconfig displays the configuration information about the filer.

sysstat reports aggregated filer performance statistics such as the current CPU utilization, the amount of network I/O, the amount of disk I/O, and the amount of tape I/O.

sysstat [ -c count ] [ -s ] [ -u | -x | -m | -f | -i | -b ] [ interval ]

-f : For the default format display FCP statistics (CPU, NFS, CIFS, FCP, Net in, kB/s out, Disk read, kB/s write, FCP in, kB/s out, Cache age)

-s : Display a summary of the output columns upon termination

NFS Error 70: Stale File Handle

Probable cause is that a file or directory that was opened by an NFS client was either removed or replaced on the NFS file server -> try reopenning the file or if affecting a directory then remount the file system.

A qtree having NTFS security style setting, is a likely cause of an "Access Denied" message when UNIX super user attempts access.

The aggr command

The aggr command family manages aggregates.

Syntax examples:

aggr split aggrname/plexname new_aggrname

Removes plexname from a mirrored aggregate and creates a new unmirrored aggregate named new_aggrname that contains the plex.

Creating an Aggregate Using the CLI:

Create 64 bit aggregate with 24 disks (uses RAID-DP by default)

> aggr create aggrname -B 64 24

Create 32 bit aggregate with 24 disks

> aggr create aggrname -B 32 24

> aggr create aggrname 24

The disk command

The disk family of commands provides a means to manage and control RAID disk configuration.

Syntax Example:

disk show [ -o | -s | -n | -v | -a ]

Used to display information about the ownership of the disks. Available only on systems with software-based disk ownership.

-o lists all disks owned by the filer with the name

-s lists all disks owned by the filer with the serial number

-n lists all unassigned disks

-v lists all disks

-a lists all assigned disks

Note: OWNER = "Not Owned" signifies the disk is not used

The igroup command

The igroup family of commands manages the initiator groups. These commands can be used to create new initiator groups and to show, modify or destroy existing ones.

Syntax examples:

igroup show [ -v ] [ initiator_group ]

Displays the nodes in an initiator group and their aliases, set with the fcp wwpnalias command. If no initiator_group is specified, the members of all initiator groups are displayed. You can use the -v flag to get a verbose listing.

The lun command

The lun command is used to create and manage luns, and their mappings using SAN protocols.

The following commands are available in the lun suite: clone / comment / config_check / create / destroy / help / map / maxsize / move / offline / online / resize / serial / set / setup / share / show / snap / stats / unmap

lun setup is an easy to use interactive mechanism for setting up initiator groups (igroup(s),) LUNs and mapping configuration.

To enable LUN reservations:

lun create : create (writable) LUN storage at the LUN path specified (exactly one of -s, -f and -b should be supplied)

usage:

lun create -s <size> -t <ostype> [ -o noreserve ] [ -e space_alloc ] <lun_path>

lun create -f -t [ -o noreserve ] [ -e space_alloc ]

lun create -b [ -o noreserve ]

lun set reservation : Display/Set space reservation state for LUN

Syntax examples:

Displays the status (lun_path, size, online/offline state, shared state) of the given lun or class of luns.

-v displays additional information (comment string, serial number, LUN mapping and to what type of device)

-m displays information about lun_path to initiator_group mappings

-c displays information about lun cloning status

The quota command

The quota command controls quotas, and the /etc/quotas file describes the quotas to impose (in DOT, the UNIX root user and Windows Administrator, are exempt from user and group quotas.)

Syntax examples:

quota resize volume

Adjusts currently active quotas in the specified volume to reflect changes in the /etc/quotas file.

The reallocate command

reallocate start [-t threshold] [-i interval] [-n] [-o] [-p] pathname | /vol/volname

The reallocate family of commands manages the allocation, or layout optimization, of large files and LUNs on a filer.

-p : The -p option may reduce the extra storage requirements in a flexible volume when reallocation is run on a volume with snapshots

Note i: Do not run on files, volumes, and LUNs, that are in an aggregrate created pre DOT 7.2.

Note ii: Volume snapshots do not need to be deleted for the reallocate to run effectively.

Note iii: SnapMirror relationships do not need to be re-initialized for the new physical geometry.

Note iv: Reallocating a file or volume can increase space consumed when it has data blocks in common with a Snapshot copy, and requires at least 25% free space when processing a volume.

The vol command

vol command argument ...

The vol family of commands manages volumes. The following commands are available:

add / autosize / clone / container / copy / create / destroy / lang / media_scrub /

mirror / move / offline / online / options / rename / restrict / scrub / size / split / status / verify

Syntax examples:

Vol options volname fs_size_fixed on | off : This option causes the file system to remain the same size and not grow or shrink when a SnapMirrored volume relationship is broken, or when a vol add is performed on it. This option is automatically set to be on when a volume becomes a SnapMirrored volume.

Usage Examples:

vol options vol1 nosnapdir on : disables client access to Snapshot copies on volume vol1

vol status vol1 -r : displays a list of the RAID information for vol1

NetApp NCDA NS0-154 Exam Cram Notes: Part 1 of 3

NetApp NCDA NS0-154 Exam Cram Notes: Part 2 of 3

2012-01-01T15:31:00.000-08:00

7: Availability Overview

For correct operation of aggregates/traditional volume SyncMirror, ensure configuration of each plex is identical with regard to RAID groups and disk sizes.

The SyncMirror license cannot be removed if one or more mirrored volumes exist.

To add SyncMirror to an existing system, required hardware = disk shelves, Fibre Channel adapters, cabling.

Creating a SyncMirror volume requires an even number of disks and equally divided between the two plexes. Disks are selected first by equivalent bytes per sector size; then size of disk; finally – if no equivalent size – DOT right-sizes a larger capacity disk.

Before splitting a SyncMirror volume first ensure both plexes are online and normal.

8: Snapshot Copies (and snap command)

Even if the Snapshot reserve is 0%, you can still create Snapshot copies. If there is no Snapshot reserve, Snapshot copies take their blocks from the active file system.

An inode is a data structure used to represent file system objects. It is 192 bytes in size and describes a file's attributes including: type, size, owner & permissions, pointer to xinode (ACLs,) complete file data if file <= 64 bytes, pointers to data blocks.

The snap family of commands provides a means to create and manage Snapshot copies in each volume or aggregate.

Syntax examples:

snap restore [ -f ] [ -t vol | file ] [ -s snapshot_name] [ -r restore_as_path ] vol_name | restore_from_path

-f : The -f option suppresses user confirmation

Usage examples:

> snap list engineering

Volume engineering

%/used / %/total / date / name

0% ( 0%) / 0% ( 0%) / Nov 14 08:00 / hourly.0

50% (50%) / 0% ( 0%) / Nov 14 00:00 / nightly.0

67% (50%) / 0% ( 0%) / Nov 13 20:00 / hourly.1

75% (50%) / 0% ( 0%) / Nov 13 16:00 / hourly.2

80% (50%) / 0% ( 0%) / Nov 13 12:00 / hourly.3

To protect from LUN overwrites when using Snapshot copies on a volume with 0% fractional reserve, configure either snap autodelete or vol autosize.

9: SnapRestore

SnapRestore can be used to revert an aggregate, LUN, volume, or a single file (but not a qtree or directory.)

Pre-requisites for using volume SnapRestore:

i: SnapRestore must be licensed before use.

ii: Snapshot copies for the volume to be reverted, must exist on the storage system.

iii: The volume to be reverted must be online.

iv: The volume to be restored must be taken offline or unmapped

v: The volume to be reverted must not be a SnapMirror destination

Note: A volume-level SnapRestore operation cannot be undone.

Volume SnapRestore completion:

i: The volume automatically comes back online.

ii: More recent snapshot copies than the restored snapshot are deleted.

SnapRestore and Backup Operations

> After a reversion, incremental backup and restore operations can no longer rely on the AFS timestamps

> Recommendations:

- After the reversion, perform a level-0 (base level) backup

- When restoring from tape, use only backups created after the volume reversion

10: SnapVault (and snapvault command)

SnapVault = a disk-based backup feature of DOT that enables data stored on multiple storage systems to be backed up to a central, secondary storage system quickly and efficiently as read-only Snapshot copies.

- In the event of data loss or corruption, backed-up data can be restored from the SnapVault secondary with minimal downtime.

- Additionally, the SnapVault secondary may be configured with NFS exports or CIFS shares to let users copy the file from the Snapshot copy to the correct location.

- Available data protection solutions:

i: SnapVault to volume SnapMirror

ii: SnapVault to volume SnapMirror to volume SnapMirror

iii: volume SnapMirror to SnapVault

SnapVault: Backup to Remote Storage – recover qtrees, directories, or files

The qtree is the basic unit of SnapVault backup and restore

FAS with NearStore license recommended as a secondary storage system for SnapVault.

The SnapVault secondary system allows a separate schedule of Snapshot copies from the primary.

A SnapVault secondary volume can contain up to 251 Snapshot copies for data protection.

Deduplication with SnapVault destinations:

i: source (primary) system sends duplicated data even if source data is deduplicated

ii: internally synchronizes with the SnapVault schedule on the destination

iii: creates a snapshot, deduplicates, then deletes and recreates the snapshot

Via the SnapDrive for Windows GUI, it is possible to create disks and snapshots.

Note: SnapDrive allows Server Administrators to provision storage, create snapshots, and manage application consistent backups, all without needing to trouble the Storage Administrator.

NearStore Personality

- Converts the destination storage system to a NearStore system

- Requires the nearstore_option license on the secondary and DOT 7.1 or later

- Installing the nearstore_option license increases the number of concurrent transfers

The snapvault command is used to configure and control SnapVault.

Syntax Examples:

snapvault snap sched [ -f ] [ -x ] [ -o options ] [ volname [ snapname [ schedule ]]]

options : opt_name=opt_value[[,opt_name=opt_value]...]

schedule : cnt[@day_list][@hour_list] or cnt[@hour_list][@day_list]

example: snapvault snap sched -x vault sv_daily 12@23@sun-fri

(When setting or changing a snapshot schedule, the snapvault snap sched -x option tells SnapVault to transfer new data (incremental) from all primary paths before creating the snapshot.)

snapvault snap create [ -w ] [ -o options ] volname snapname

Available on the primary and secondary. Initiates creation of the previously configured snapshot snapname in volume volname just as if its scheduled time for creation had arrived.

snapvault start [ options ] sec_qtree

Available on the secondary only. The qtree specified for sec_qtree must not exist.

snapvault update [ options ] sec_qtree

Available on the secondary only. Immediately starts an update of the specified qtree on the secondary.

snapvault restore [ options ] -S sec_filer:sec_path pri_path

Available on the primary only. If rapid_restore is not licensed, the secondary_path and the primary_path must be qtree paths.

SnapVault Qtree or Volume Qtree Restore:

- Pre-DOT 7.3, can restore to a non-existing qtree.

- DOT 7.3 and later, can restore to an existing qtree.

11: Open Systems SnapVault (OSSV)

Use OSSV Free Space Estimator utility to determine if there is sufficient disk space available on the primary to perform an OSSV transfer. The secondary system is a NetApp storage appliance. An initial baseline copy must be executed for each Open Systems platform directory to be backed up to the SnapVault secondary storage system. Open TCP ports 10000 (for central management using NDMP) and 10566 (QSMSERVER) before install. The NetApp Host Agent requires HTTP port 4092 and HTTPS port 4093.

Use the OSSV Configurator GUI (installed during OSSV agent installation, and available from Windows Programs menu or from installdir/bin/svconfigurator.exe) to verify and modify OSSV paramaters – such as QSM access list, modifying NDMP settings – and perform actions - such as starting or stopping the OSSV service, enabling debugging, and capturing trace files.

To change NDMP password on OSSV host from CLI:

Navigate to install_dir/bin folder e.g $> cd /usr/snapvault/bin

Run svpassword e.g $> ./svpassword

You will be prompted for a new password.

Enter the password.

Restart the OSSV service on the host.

12: High-Availability

Negotiated Failover: DOT allows failover to occur with one or more interfaces to ensure continual client interaction

13: MetroCluster

A "site failure" is a complete failure of the primary controller and disk shelves

Stretch MetroCluster provides campus disaster recovery protection and can stretch up to 500m.

Fabric MetroCluster provides Metropolitan disaster recovery protection and can stretch up to 100km with FC switches.

Maximum number of disk shelves per loop in a fabric-attached MetroCluster = 2

Each storage system in a cluster must have network access to the same collection of subnets.

Configure local node notes:

i) add the following licenses

- cf (Cluster)

- syncmirror_local (Syncmirror_local)

- cf_remote (Cluster_remote)

ii) Use storage show disk -p to verify disks are connected and have dual paths

To make an ifconfig partner address configuration persistent across reboots, edit the /etc/rc file for each system.
Surviving controller interfaces running in takeover mode within an active/active configuration, reflect the identity of the interfaces as defined in the /etc/rc file.

Verify clusters with cf-config-check (there is a .cgi and a .exe version) which is downloaded from the NOW site and run from a host machine.

The cf command controls the controller failover monitor, which determines when takeover and giveback operations take place within a HA pair.

- The manual cf forcetakeover -d command causes a storage system controller takeover to occur (to avoid data corruption the remote node should be powered off and inaccessible.) Data needs to be set online to allow operations to continue. *This will cause mirrored volumes to be implicitly split, and the surviving cluster node takes over the functions of its failed partner (the failed cluster node is not powered off automatically.)

To prevent a split brain, restrict access to previous failed site controller until proper site recovery (either use manual fencing or power off the disaster site node)

Re-create the synchronous mirror to re-establish a mirrored volume after resync failure from a level-0 resync state.

To remove a cluster setup:

1) Type cf disable

2) Unlicense cluster

3) Remove partner entries for network interfaces for the /etc/rc file

4) Halt and make sure the partner-sysid is blank

5) Power down and remove the cluster interconnect card

6) Perform steps 1-5 on the partner node

14: SnapMirror (and snapmirror command)

Volume SnapMirror

Requirements and Limitations:

i: SnapMirror must be licensed for each storage system.

ii: Destination's DOT version must be equal to or more recent than the source.

iii: Like-to-like transfers only: flex-to-flex.

iv: Destination volume capacity equal to or greater than source.

v: TCP port range 10565-10569 must be open.

vi: The source volume must be online.

vii: Must create a restricted volume to be used as the SnapMirror.

viii: Quota cannot be enabled on destination volume.
ix: If a mirrored volume has a failed disk and no available spare, DOT will warn of this!

SnapMirror Configuration Process

1) Install SnapMirror license on source and destination systems

2) On source, specify host name or IP address of SnapMirror destination systems you wish to authorize to replicate this source system

options snapmirror.access host=dst1,dst2

3) For each source volume or qtree to replicate, perform an initial baseline transfer

4) After the initial transfer completes, set the SnapMirror mode of replication by creating the /etc/snapmirror.conf file in the destination's root volume

The snapmirror.conf configuration file resides on the destination.

The syntax for entries in the snapmirror.conf file is as follows:

src:/vol/src_vol/[src_qtree] dst:/vol/dst_vol[/dst_qtree] [arguments] [schedule]

[arguments] field:

- indicates that all arguments default values apply

visibility_interval = ? (controls the view of the data on the destination and specifies the amount of time before an automatic snapshot is created on the synchronously mirrored source: default value = 3 mins, and smallest supported value = 30s)

Semi-Sync Mode: Pre-DOT 7.3 use the outstanding argument ( outstanding={x ops | x ms | x s} .) DOT 7.3 and later: use the semi-sync argument ( example: src:vol dst:vol - semi-sync )

[schedule] field: (4 space-separated fields: minute, hours, day_of_month, day_of_week)

* for all possible values

- means "never" and prevents this schedule entry from executing

Examples:

src:/vol/vol1 dst:/vol/vol1 – sync

src:/vol/vol1 dst:/vol/vol1 outstanding=3s sync

src:/vol/vol1 dst:/vol/vol1 visibility_interval=1hr, outstanding=3ms, cksum=crc32 sync

src:/vol/vol1/q1 dst:/vol/vol1/q1 – 15 * * *

src:vol2 dst:vol2 kbs=2000 10 8,20 * *

Note i: SnapMirror updates can be scheduled to occur as frequently as every minute

Note ii: To convert an asynchronous SnapMirror relationship to synchronous, edit the snapmirror.conf file with the keyword sync.

Note iii: To cause a currently in-sync SnapMirror relationship to fall out of sync, modify the snapmirror.conf file

The snapmirror command is used to control SnapMirror, a method of mirroring volumes and qtrees.

Some snapmirror subcommands:

resync [ -n ] [ -f ] [ -S source ] [ -k kilobytes ] [ -s src_snap ] [ -c create_dest_snap ] [ -w ] destination

Resynchronizes a broken-off destination to its former source, putting the destination in the snap-mirrored state and making it ready for update transfers. Resynchronization finds the newest common snapshot and removes all newer information. The resync command must be issued on the destination filer.

initialize [ -S source ] [ -k kilobytes ] [ -s src_snap ] [ -c create_dest_snap ] [ -w ] destination

Starts an initial transfer over the network. An initial transfer is required before update transfers can take place.The initialize command must be issued on the destination filer.

resume destination

Resumes transfers to destination. The command restores the state of the destination from quiescing or quiesced to whatever it was prior to the quiesce operation.

SnapMirror log files /etc/log/snapmirror.[0-5] are saved in the root volume.

SnapMirror will automatically try to restart a transfer after a scheduled incremental update is interrupted.

SnapMirror over Multiple Paths

SnapMirror supports up to two paths for a particular SnapMirror relationship, for both Async and Sync replication modes. Supported paths modes are: multiplexing (both paths at the same time) and failover (first path as active, second path as failover.)

Throttling Network

Per transfer:- use the kbs agument in snapmirror.conf

Dynamic throttle (while transfer is active):- use CLI:> snapmirror throttle dst_hostname:dst_path

System-wide throttle:- use CLI:

> options replication.throttle.enable on

> options replication.throttle.incoming.max_kbs

> options replication.throttle.outgoing.max_kbs

Note: For SnapVault, there is also the "snapvault start -k" and "snapvault update -k" flag to set throttling speed.

15: SnapLock

NetApp SnapLock software delivers high-performance, disk-based data permanence.

- SnapMirror supports SnapLock volumes

- SnapLock is available in two versions: SnapLock Compliance and SnapLock Enterprise

- SnapLock volumes support per-file retention periods

- Snapshot copies for SnapLock volumes are deleted automatically according to the retention count set in the schedule

- A volume SnapMirror relationship is not allowed between two SnapLock Compliance volumes if the destination volume has unexpired WORM files

16: Protection Manager

Download the NetApp Management Console (NMC) software - which contains Protection Manager - from Operations Manager and install the package on either a UNIX or Windows host.

Protection Manager provides a high level of assurance for data protection by proactively identifying unprotected data, checking for errors in configurations, diagnosing root cause of issues, and suggesting corrective actions, and providing detailed status reports.

Operations Manager is the user interface for the Web-based application called DataFabric Manager. DataFabric Manager discovers, monitors, and manages NetApp storage systems.

The NetApp host agent must be installed on target hosts for file-level reporting only. Operations Manager does not require agents to monitor NetApp storage systems.

Protection Manager integrates the NetApp suite of products with other products in the market for management of ITaaS deployments as well as industry tape backup solutions (has policies that allow for disk-based protection but not tape-based protection.)

Datasets are collections of units of primary storage – storage system volumes, qtrees, and directories – stored on Windows or UNIX hosts. Units of primary storage are grouped together to be protected by the same protection policy and schedule. Valid objects to be backed up via a Protection Manager policy managing an OSSV backup of a UNIX server, include: a file, a directory, or the entire client.

NetApp NCDA NS0-154 Exam Cram Notes: Part 3 of 3
NetApp NCDA NS0-154 Exam Cram Notes: Part 1 of 3

NetApp NCDA NS0-154 Exam Cram Notes: Part 1 of 3

2012-01-01T15:28:00.000-08:00

Following below are some rough exam cram notes generated for the NetApp NCDA NS0-154 Exam, and posted here for convenience:

Contents:

Part 1 of 3

0: Definitions

1: Overview

2: Miscellaneous

3: NFS (and exportfs command)

4: CIFS (and cifs command)

5: iSCSI (and iscsi command)

6: FC (and fcp command)

Part 2 of 3

7: Availability Overview

8: Snapshot Copies (and snap command)

9: SnapRestore

10: SnapVault (and snapvault command)

11: Open Systems SnapVault (OSSV)

12: High-Availability

13: MetroCluster

14: SnapMirror (and snapmirror command)

15: Protection Manager

16: SnapLock

Part 3 of 3

17: Troubleshooting Resources and Commands

The aggr command

The disk command

The igroup command

The lun command

The quota command

The reallocate command

The vol command

0: Definitions

DOT = Data ONTAP
inodes = Used by DOT in an active file system to reference disk blocks

NetApp FAS = NetApp Fabric-Attached Storage system

NAS = a file based storage system that makes data available over the network using NFS and CIFS protocols

NOW = NetApp on the Web

NS0-154 = code for the Data ONTAP 8.0 7-MODE Administrator exam

SAN = a block-based storage system that makes data available over the network using FC, FCoE, and iSCSI protocols

VLD = Virtualized Local Disk : a pre-iSCSI storage protocol NetApp developed several years ago to satisfy the market need for IP-based storage networking solutions for key Windows NT and Windows 2000 applications. It was developed as a proprietary interim solution until an industry standard protocol with Microsoft support became available.

WAFL = Write Anywhere File Layout : designed by NetApp, it is not a file system but provides mechanisms that enable a variety of file systems and technologies that want access to disk blocks.

WORM = Write Once Read Many

1: NCDA Overview

7-Mode:

Data ONTAP 7-mode (or classic mode) allows FAS arrays to be deployed as a local two-node cluster, a geographically spanned MetroCluster, and as a remote distributed FlexCache

Cluster-Mode:

Data ONTAP C-Mode (or cluster mode) expands a NetApp storage cluster from 2 nodes to 24 nodes, increases the features found in 7-mode to include endless scaling, global name spaces, and the complete separation of data and data access from the hardware layer in the form of next generation vFilers

Data ONTAP 8.0 7-Mode Storage Architecture:

system> sysconfig -r

Disks – parity, double-parity, or data disks

RAID group – contains physical disks, and are either RAID4* or RAID-DP**

Plex – contain RAID groups, and an aggregate will normally have one plex***

Aggregate – contain its own plex(es) and provide storage to a volume or volumes

*RAID 4 is similar to RAID 5 except it uses a dedicated parity disk as opposed to distributed parity

**RAID-DP is similar to RAID 6 except it uses two dedicated parity disks as opposed to distributed parity

***SyncMirror mirrored aggregates have two plexes – plex0 and plex1, with plex1 containing a mirror of plex0's data

Flexible Volumes (FlexVol volume):

A flexible volume:

- Is loosely coupled to its container aggregate

- Is managed separately from the aggregate

- Can be created almost instantaneously

- Can be as small as 20 MB

- Limited to aggregate capacity (if guaranteed)

- Can be as large as the volume capacity supported for the storage system (not guaranteed)

- Can increase and decrease while online (resize without disruption)

- Can size in any increment (as small as 4 KB) and size quickly

Aggregates and FlexVol Volumes:

Three possible FlexVol guarantees

- Volume option (default): space is allocated or “taken away” from the aggregate when the volume is created

- File option: space is allocated from the aggregate when certain “space-reserved” files (such as space-reserved LUN) is created

- None (thin provisioning): space is not allocated from the aggregate until used by the file

2: Miscellaneous

CIFS, FCP, and NFS, can coexist on a NetApp storage system.

In an iSCSI or FC configuration, the host's HBA is referred to as the initiator, and the storage system's HBA is referred to as the target.

Masking controls LUN availability to initiators.

Host multi-pathing describes a FC or IP SAN solution that has at least two distinct physical paths to a LUN.

A pre-requisite before configuring a storage system as a member of a Windows active directory domain, is for the time on the storage system to be set to within +/- 5 minutes of the time on the domain controller.

NTFS allows file access based on NT ACLs and SID.

UNIX allows file access based on GID or UID and UNIX permissions.

The three qtree security styles:

i) NTFS

- For CIFS clients, security is handled using Windows NTFS ACLs.

- For NFS clients, the NFS username is mapped to a Windows username which is then associated with a Windows security identifier (SID) and its group. These mapped credentials are used to determine file access based on the NTFS ACL.

ii) UNIX

- Just like UNIX, files and directories have UNIX permissions.

- For CIFS client, the Windows username is mapped to a UNIX username. This mapped account is then used to determine file access based on the UNIX security.

iii) Mixed

- Both NTFS and UNIX security is allowed. A file or directory can have either NTFS ACLs or UNIX permissions.

- For NTFS ACLs and NFS clients, the NFS username is mapped to a Windows username and its associated groups. These mapped credentials are used to determine file access based on the NTFS ACL.

- For UNIX permissions and CIFS clients, the Windows username is mapped to an NFS user. These mapped credentials are used to determine file access based on the UNIX security.

- The default file security style is the style most recently used to set permissions on the file.

DOT 7G to 8.0 7-mode migration: non-traditional aggregates designated as 32-bit aggregates.

Cannot currently (with 8.0) convert a 32-bit aggregate into 64-bit aggregate.

Maximum size of a 32-bit FlexVol = 16 TB.

Maximum size of a 64-bit FlexVol = maximum size of the corresponding aggregate.

Maximum number of FlexVols per system = 500 (FAS2040 & FAS3210 = 200)

When two aggregates are rejoined, one is overwritten and any data changed on it after the split is lost.

DOT will warn if a mirrored volume has a failed disk and there are no available spares.

If the spare disk is larger than a failed disk, DOT will use the disk and right-size it.

3: NFS (and exportfs command)

The storage system provides two types of exports:

- Persistent: defined in /etc/exports and persistent across reboots

- Temporary: defined through command and located in memory only

Exportable NFS resources: volume, directory/Qtree, file

Rules for Exporting Resources:

i: Specify complete path name; must begin with /vol prefix

ii: Cannot export /vol – which is not a path name – to a file, directory or volume (export each volume separately)

iii: When export a resource to multiple targets, separate the target names with a colon (:)

iv: Storage system must resolve hostnames using DNS, NIS or /etc/hosts per order in /etc/nsswitch.conf

v: Exporting ancestors and descendants is allowed (exports can access multiple paths on the same volume)

vi: Storage system determines permissions by matching the longest prefix

exportfs

-a : Exports all file system paths specified in the /etc/exports file.

-b : Enables or disables fencing of specific NFS clients from specific file system paths, giving the NFS clients read-only or read-write access, respectively.

-c : Checks whether NFS clients have a specific type of access to a file system path.

-f : Flushes entries from the access cache.

-h : Displays help for all exportfs options.

-i : Ignores the options specified for a file system path in the /etc/exports file.

-o : Specifies one or more export options for a file system path as a comma-delimited list.

-p : Exports a file system path and adds a corresponding export entry to the /etc/exports file.

-q : Displays the export options for a file system path.

-r : Exports all file system paths specified in the /etc/exports file and unexports all file system paths not specified in the /etc/exports file.

-s : Displays the actual file system path corresponding to an exported file system path.

-u : Unexports a file system path.

-v : Specifies that Data ONTAP should be verbose.

-w : Saves exported file system paths and their export options into a file.

-z : Unexports a file system path and removes its export entry from the /etc/exports file.

4: CIFS (and cifs command)

The SMB 2.0 protocol is not supported in the DOT 8.0 release.

In the circumstance that a CIFS and UNIX user name are the same, automatic mapping will occur if the user name authentication is available.

option wafl.default_security_style causes all new volumes to default to NTFS security style.

cifs command examples:

cifs shares -add sharename /vol/vol2/data : shares out the directory /vol/vol2/data under the name "sharename"

5: iSCSI (and iscsi command)

The iscsi command manages the iSCSI service on a filer

iscsi status : returns whether iscsi service is running or not (if licensed)

iSCSI session established when host initiator logs into iSCSI target. An iSCSI session can have one or more connections.

6: FC (and fcp command)

Both storage systems in the active-active configuration must have the same settings (as defined in the /etc/rc file)

The fcp family of commands manages the Fibre Channel Target adapters and the FCP target protocol.

Syntax examples:

fcp show adapter [ -v ] [ adapter ]

If no adapter name is given, information about all adapters are shown (and FCP target(s) on a storage system.)

fcp show initiator [ -v ] [ adapter ]

If no adapter name is given, information about all initiators (including WWPNs of hosts logged into a storage system) connected to all adapters are shown.

NetApp NCDA NS0-154 Exam Cram Notes: Part 2 of 3
NetApp NCDA NS0-154 Exam Cram Notes: Part 3 of 3

A Brocade Switch CLI Zoning Configuration Walkthrough

2011-12-24T16:23:00.000-08:00

Scenario:

A new VMware host server has been purchased with a couple of Fibre Channel (FC) HBAs. You are tasked with patching the fibre cables into a Fibre Channel switch stack pair – one fibre cable per switch – and then need to configure the zoning on the FC switches to support connection to an FC SAN.

Walkthrough:

Note: The output examples below have been truncated to show just the most interesting bits. In the examples we are configuring the zoning for a new host called ESX03, have connected the FC HBA's into ports number 8 on each FC switch. The FC switches are called FCSW01 and FCSW02. The FC switches used were HP 4/16 B-Series (Brocade) running Fabric O/S 6.2.2d. And the SAN is a HP EVA with two controllers (EVA_ContrA and EVA_ContrB.)

Using a tool like Putty (for SSH, Telnet, Serial, ...) or similar, and via a connection to a fibre channel switch using either a serial console connection or ethernet management interface; log in to the CLI and run these commands:

Step 1:> switchshow

Run the switchshow command to find the zoning config name and WWN of newly connected HBA. Copy the WWN for later use.

Example:

The example below shows the config name "Company_Default" and looking on the line for port 8 gives us the WWN of connected FC HBA

FCSW01:admin> switchshow

zoning: ON (Company_Default)

Area Port Media Speed State Proto

=====================================

8 8 id N4 Online F-Port 10:00:00:00:c9:83:63:1d

Step 2:> cfgshow

Run the cfgshow command to display the configuration and see how the zoning is currently configured.

Example:

The example below shows how the ESX02 zone (ESX02z) is configured. The ESX02 zone contains the EVA SAN's controller A port 1 and controller B port 1 (controller ports 2 are plugged into FCSW02,) and the ESX02 hosts FC HBA which is connected into FCSW01.) Also displayed are the aliases used and their associated WWNs.

FCSW01:admin> cfgshow

Defined configuration:

cfg: Company_Default

ESX02z

zone: ESX02z EVA_ContrBP1; EVA_ContrAP1; ESX02

alias: EVA_ContrBP1 50:00:1f:e1:50:0b:81:5c

alias: EVA_ContrAP1 50:00:1f:e1:50:0b:81:58

alias: ESX02_1 10:00:00:00:c9:5e:8d:06

Effective configuration:

cfg: Company_Default

zone: S_ESX02z

50:00:1f:e1:50:0b:81:5c

50:00:1f:e1:50:0b:81:58

10:00:00:00:c9:5e:8d:06

Step 3:> alicreate "NAME", "WWN"

Run the alicreate command with the alias name you want to give to the connected FC HBA, and the WWN number obtained from step 1.

Example:

The example below shows creation of an alias name of ESX03_1 for the new host ESX03's 1^st HBA, with WWN 10:00:00:00:c9:83:63:1d

FCSW01:admin> alicreate "ESX03_1", "10:00:00:00:c9:83:63:1d"

Step 4:> zonecreate "NAME", "ALIASofFCHBA"

Run the zonecreate command to create a zone for the VMware host server, and use the alias created in step 3 to add the FC HBA to the zone.

Example:

The example below shows creation of a zone called ESX03z with the alias ESX03_1 added

FCSW01:admin> zonecreate "ESX03z", "ESX03_1"

Step 5:> zoneadd "NAME", "ALIASofSAN(s)"

Run the zoneadd command to add the aliases of the SAN's FC controller ports to the zone

Example:

The example below shows addition of the EVA's controller A port 1 (EVA_ContrAP1) and controller B port 1 (EVA_ContrBP1) to the ESX03z zone.

FCSW01:admin> zoneadd "ESX03z", "EVA_ContrAP1"

FCSW01:admin> zoneadd "ESX03z", "EVA_ContrBP1"

Step 6:> cfgadd "CONFIG_NAME","ZONEtoADD"

Run the cfgadd command to add the newly create zone to the configuration.

Example:

The example below shows the addition of the ESX03z zone to the Company_Default configuration.

FCSW01:admin> cfgadd "Company_Default","ESX03z"

Step 7:> cfgsave

Run the cfgsave command to save the configuration, entering yes to the prompt

Example:

FCSW01:admin> cfgsave

You are about to save the Defined zoning configuration. This action will only save the changes on Defined configuration. Any changes made on the Effective configuration will not take effect until it is re-enabled.

Do you want to save Defined zoning configuration only? (yes, y, no, n): [no] yes

... FCSW01, cfgSave completes successfully. ...

Step 8:> cfgenable CONFIG_NAME

Run the cfgenable command to enable the configuration, entering yes to the prompt.

Example:

FCSW01:admin> cfgenable Company_Default

You are about to enable a new zoning configuration. This action will replace the old zoning configuration with the current configuration selected. If the update includes changes to one or more traffic isolation zones, the update may result in localized disruption to traffic on ports associated with the traffic isolation zone changes.

Do you want to enable 'Company_Default' configuration (yes, y, no, n): [no] yes

... zone config "Company_Default" is in effect ...

Updating flash ...

Step 9: Repeat

Repeat Steps 1 to 8 on the other FC Switch, for the VMware hosts 2^nd FC HBA, and FC SANs other controller ports.

THE END

Note: Instead of adding WWNs to zones, can also designate specific ports to be a member of a zone (a default configuration may have one zone with all ports designated.)

Example:
In the example below, instead of defining a WWN for ESX01 (as is done for ESX02), a port number is designated instead:
alias: ESX01_SP3 1,3
alias: ESX02 10:00:00:00:c9:5e:8d:06

For Search Engine: How to configure / setup additional zoning - using CLI - on a Brocade switch.

Windows 7 XP Mode User Experience (or How Easy it is to Run Native XP Apps from Windows 7)

2011-12-22T01:37:00.000-08:00

Windows XP Mode is a preconfigured Windows XP Mode environment, and this quick walkthrough will show how easy it is to get a native XP application running from Windows 7. With Christmas and the New Year coming, might be fun to crack out some old XP games and have a go at running them again alongside Windows 7 games to reminisce on times gone by and compare old to new.

1: Download Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC from

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

2: Install WindowsXPMode

Note: The WindowsXPMode virtual PC is a 1.13GB base disk, and configured with 512MB RAM by default

3: Install Windows Virtual PC and reboot system

4: i: All Programs -> Windows Virtual PC -> Click Windows XP Mode

ii: Accept License Agreement -> Next

iii: Choose installation folder and credentials -> Next

iv: Choose Automatic Updates settings -> Next

v: Start Setup (the drives on the computer will be shared with Windows XP Mode)

5: After the Windows XP Mode Virtual PC has loaded; install the native Windows XP application and copy a shortcut for the application to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs

Note that you can place any shortcut into the above folder to use later from the Windows 7 PC. In the below image, the shortcut to Internet Explorer 6 is placed in the folder

6: Log off and then click the X in the top right corner of the Windows XP Mode window and the XP Mode Virtual PC will hibernate.

7: From the Windows 7 Machine:

All Programs -> Windows Virtual PC -> Windows XP Mode Applications

Click on the XP Mode Application to run (can also copy the shortcut to desktop)

Example below showing Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 8 running side-by-side on Windows 7

THE END

Afternote

Windows XP Mode is included in the Microsoft Exam 70-669 syllabus. The 70-669 Exam is one of three exams required for the 'MCITP: Virtualization Administrator on Windows Server 2008 R2' qualification - full list of exams below:

Exam 70-659: TS: Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization

Exam 70-669: TS: Windows Server 2008 R2, Desktop Virtualization

Exam 70-693: Pro: Windows Server 2008 R2, Virtualization Administrator

Links to useful resources for Exam 70-669

An excellent list of video links:

http://scriptimus.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/mcts-70-669-desktop-virtualization-exam-video-links/

Free e-book:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft_press/archive/2010/02/16/free-ebook-understanding-microsoft-virtualization-r2-solutions.aspx

Microsoft links:

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/cert-virtualization.aspx

http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en/CertGeneral/thread/ace00c86-94d9-4652-9c6f-95a2d56a72d8

Citrix Udadmin Delete Script & Event 1163

2011-12-15T16:41:00.000-08:00

Scenario:

Users are unable to logon to their Citrix XenDesktop 5 desktops, and the following error is seen in the Windows Application log on the XenDesktop 5 Controller:

“Event 1163, Citrix Broker Service : No connection license available. To resolve, free licenses by closing sessions that are not needed, or add more licenses.”

Solution to free one license at a time:

i: Logon to the Citrix Licensing server and open up a command prompt.

ii: Run the command below to 'list all licensed users and devices organized by feature and version':

udadmin -list -a

iii: Then run either the first command below to 'delete a licensed user from the feature specified' or the second command below to 'delete a licensed device from the feature specified' (Note that … -device … -delete did not work until Citrix License Server Version 11.9 Build #11011.)

udadmin -f featurename -user username -delete

udadmin -f featurename -device devicename -delete

Solution to free multiple licenses at a time:

i: From a command prompt run the command

udadmin -list -a > users.txt

ii: Edit the users.txt file to contain just the user strings (users or devices) as desired (don't worry about preceding spaces,) remembering to note the feature name from the output.

iii: (If required) Edit strFeature string in udadmindelete.vbs script if different from XDT_ENT_UD.

iv: (If required) Change strUserDev string in udadmindelete.vbs script from user to device if running against a list of devices.

v: Double-click on the udadmindelete.vbs script to run (the users.txt file needs to be in the same location as the udadmindelete.vbs script.)

And we're done!

udadmindelete.vbs script:

Copy all the contents below into a text document and save as udadmindelete.vbs.

Remember to change the string contents for strFeature and strUserDev (user or device) as per requirements.

Apologies if this is not the most elegant script, was a mash up of bits and pieces from around the net!

Option Explicit

Dim objFSO, strTextFile, strData, strLine, arrLines, objShell, strTmp, strFeature, strUserDev

CONST ForReading = 1

set objShell = wscript.createObject("wscript.shell")

'Name of the text file to be read

strTextFile = "users.txt"

'ADJUST strFeature AS PER REQUIREMENTS

strFeature = "XDT_ENT_UD"

'ADJUST strUserDev AS PER REQUIREMENTS

strUserDev = "user"

'Create a File System Object

Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

'Open the text file - strData now contains the whole file

strData = objFSO.OpenTextFile(strTextFile,ForReading).ReadAll

'Split the text file into lines

arrLines = Split(strData,vbCrLf)

'Step through the lines

For Each strLine in arrLines

strTmp = "udadmin -f " & strFeature & " -" & strUserDev & " " & strLine & " -delete"

'To see the command being, run add a line below with wscript.echo strtmp

objShell.Run strTmp

'Cleanup

Set objFSO = Nothing

Veeam Backup and Replication v6 Pre-Install Checklist

2011-12-13T07:44:00.000-08:00

1: Does Veeam Backup and Replication 6 (VBR6) Support your infrastructure?

VBR6 supports VMware ESX(i) 3.5, ESX(i) 4.x, ESXi 5.0 Hosts

VBR6 does not need to use a Virtual Center, but supports Virtual Center 2.5, vCenter Server 4.x, vCenter 5.0

VBR6 supports Windows Server Hyper-V 2008 R2 SP1, and Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 SP1 Hosts

VBR6 does not need to use Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager, but supports the 2008 R2 SP1 version

2: Physical or Virtual Veeam Backup Server?

Advantages of physical:

Veeam server's resources are separate from the Virtual Environment

Unconstrained by hypervisor limits for such things as Virtual SMP

Advantages of virtual:

Can backup/replicate the Veeam server with Veeam

Reduced hardware footprint in the datacenter

Comment:

Some of the advantages which existed in Veeam Backup and Replication 5 no longer apply in Veeam Backup and Replication 6 because of the Backup Proxy and Backup Repository functionality; these include but are not limited to:

Physical server able to backup using dedicated HBA (Host Bus Adapter) for say Fibre Channel (can now have a physical backup proxy with HBA)

Virtual server able to backup using virtual appliance mode (can now have a virtual backup proxy)

Really comes down to personal preference or available resources

3: Available Operating System for Veeam Backup & Replication Server Installation?

VBR6 installs on a wide variety of Microsoft Windows operating systems - XP SP3, Server 2003 SP2, Vista SP2, Server 2008 SP2, Server 2008 R2 SP1, 7 SP1

VBR6 does not install on any version of Windows Storage Server

VBR6 will install on a member server or workgroup server (highly recommended to install with a local administrator account which rules out installing on a DC)

Comment:

Personal preference here is to use the latest Windows Server version (currently 2008 R2 SP1)

4: Available Hardware Resources for Veeam Backup & Replication Server?

CPU: Minimum 2 cores, mores cores will improve data processing performance, and allows for more concurrent jobs

Memory: Minimum 2GB RAM (with remote SQL server,) Minimum 4GB RAM (using local SQL server.) Using faster memory (DDR3) improves data processing performance.

Disk Space: 300MB product installation. Minimum 1 GB per 500 VM for guest file system catalog folder. Minimum 10GB for Instant VM Recovery cache.

Network: 1 Gbps LAN for on-site backup, 1 Mbps or faster WAN for off-site backup and replication

Note: high latency links are supported but TCP/IP connection must not drop

Comment:

i: If installing Veeam Backup onto a physical backup server; in order to use the recommended 'Direct SAN access' Processing Mode – and when not using a Backup Proxy with direct access to the SAN – then the physical server will need a FibreChannel HBA to connect to a FibreChannel SAN or spare ethernet ports to connect to an iSCSI SAN.

ii: A suggestion to partition the VBR6 server is for: system disk partition, application disk partition, vPower NFS disk partition (could put on SSD for faster write cache performance of Instant Recovery VMs,) and backup data partition.

5: Available Software?

The binaries for Veeam Backup 6 need to be available (the download of Veeam Backup & Replication v6 includes Setup, Search_Setup, Enterprise_Manager_Setup)

Microsoft SQL Server 2005/2008 (SQL 2005 SP4 Express is included in the setup)

(Optional) SearchServerExpress (if intend to install Backup Search)

(Optional) Microsoft PowerShell 2.0 or later

(Optional) System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 Admin UI (to be able to register SCVMM servers)

Comment:

Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express as opposed to the bundled SQL 2005 SP4 Express, allows for greater database size and enhanced database functionality.

6: Backup Target?

There needs to be enough available free disk space to hold the required number of roll-backs before optional archival to other media is performed. Backups targets can be:

- Direct Attached Storage (DAS) connected to the backup repository server (includes USB drives)

- Network Attached Storage (NAS) able to present itself as CIFS (SMB) share (direct operation), or NFS share (must be mounted on Linux backup repository server)

- Storage Area Network (SAN) – the backup repository server must be connected directly into SAN fabric via hardware HBA or software iSCSI initiator, and the corresponding volumes must be seen in the Microsoft Windows Disk Management snap in.

Comment:

Backup storage should typically be on Tier-2 or Tier-3 deduplicated storage, separate from Tier-1 storage used by critical production servers. Depending on compliance requirements, this backup storage will either need to be replicated to another site or archived off to removeable media. In the absense of a hot-DR solution, it is essential the backup is off the main production SAN so that in the event of a SAN failure the latest backups are still safe.

The following components are all optional, and add performance, useability, and management benefits:

7: (Optional) Additional Backup Proxy Server(s)

Note: The Veeam Backup and Replication Server is itself a Backup Proxy

OS: Windows – XP SP3, Server 2003 SP2, Vista SP2, Server 2008 SP2, Server 2008 R2 SP1, 7 SP1

Note: for Hyper-V Proxy, only Server 2008 R2 SP1 with Hyper-V role enabled is supported

CPU: Minimum 2 cores, mores cores will improve data processing performance, and allows for more concurrent jobs

Memory: 2 GB RAM. Using faster memory (DDR3) improves data processing performance.

Disk Space: 300MB

Network: 1 Gbps LAN for on-site backup, 1 Mbps or faster WAN for off-site backup and replication

Note: high latency links are supported but TCP/IP connection must not drop

8: (Optional) Additional Backup Respository Server(s)

Note: The Veeam Backup and Replication Server is in itself a Backup Repository

OS: Linux (with SSH and Perl) / Windows – XP SP3, Server 2003 SP2, Vista SP2, Server 2008 SP2, Server 2008 R2 SP1, 7 SP1

CPU: x86/x64 processor

Memory: 1 GB RAM

Network: 1 Gbps LAN for on-site backup, 1 Mbps or faster WAN for off-site backup and replication

Note: high latency links are supported but TCP/IP connection must not drop

9: (Optional) Veeam Backup & Replication Enterprise Manager

OS: Windows – XP SP3, Server 2003 SP2, Vista SP2, Server 2008 SP2, Server 2008 R2 SP1, 7 SP1

CPU: x86/x64 processor

Memory: 2 GB RAM

Disk Space: 100MB for product installation and sufficient disk space to store guest file system catalog from connected backup servers (according to data retention policy)

Network: 1 Mbps or faster connection to Veeam Backup & Replication servers

Server Software:

- IIS 5.1 or later ("IIS6.0 Metabase Compatibility", and "Windows Authentication" components are required for IIS 7.0)

- Microsoft SQL Server 2005/2008 (SQL 2005 SP4 Express included in the setup)

- Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 SP1 (included in the setup)

Client Software:

- Internet Explorer 7 or later, and Mozilla Firefox 3 or later

- (to view Excel reports) Microsoft Excel 2003 or later

10: (Optional) Veeam Backup Search Server

Software: Microsoft Search Server 2008/2010 (including Express Edition)

Requirement for Microsoft Search Server 2010:

- OS: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2

- CPU: 64-bit, four core

- Memory: 4 GB for development, 8 GB for evaluation or single-server production use, 16GB for multiple-server production use

- Disk Space: 80 GB for system drive and the computer should have twice as much free disk space as it has RAM

Comment:

It is recommended to install Microsoft Search Server on a separate computer

Credit: Much of this information comes from Veeam's Veeam Backup & Replication 6.0 Release Notes