A Sun OpenStorage can be configured through a web interface or a command line (ssh).In this article I'll focus on the web interface.
Initial configuration has to be done via the serial console and type
start /SP/console
The following screen just asks for primary network interface for management and the IP address. After connecting the appliance through this interface the web interface on the left can be contacted (port 215 is standard).
After typing in username and password ("root" as user and "changeme" as password are the factory defaults) the "dashboard" appears:
This screen shows the usage statistics of the appliance.
You can see CPU usage, NFS traffic, network traffic, disk i/o, CIFS usage, iSCSI traffic and FTP (!) usage.
You have a status view of running services (on the left) as well as the functioning of the hardware. Last but not least, you see the alarms which occured.
1. Storage configuration
The storage appliance has one or more J7310 JBODs connected (with 12 drive bays).
You need at least six bays to form a storage zpool. Here the pool is formatted with double party RAID (raidz2).
In this example 7T can be used for data, 1.99T is used for parity, one disk (932G) is used as spare.
A "scrub" can be started here as well. Because ZFS is the filesystem this appliance is using it is quite the same scrub as you would do it on every (Open)Solaris machine with ZFS.
2. Network configuration
You can see CPU usage, NFS traffic, network traffic, disk i/o, CIFS usage, iSCSI traffic and FTP (!) usage.
You have a status view of running services (on the left) as well as the functioning of the hardware. Last but not least, you see the alarms which occured.
1. Storage configuration
The storage appliance has one or more J7310 JBODs connected (with 12 drive bays).You need at least six bays to form a storage zpool. Here the pool is formatted with double party RAID (raidz2).
In this example 7T can be used for data, 1.99T is used for parity, one disk (932G) is used as spare.
A "scrub" can be started here as well. Because ZFS is the filesystem this appliance is using it is quite the same scrub as you would do it on every (Open)Solaris machine with ZFS.
2. Network configuration
On the left you see the available network interfaces, the four 1 gigabit-Interfaces nge0 to nge3 are included, the 2 ten-gigabit-interfaces were installed by us.
This "nxge"-cards are functioning properly but the system has a problem with it when it comes to link them to iSCSI target groups (see below).
Network interfaces are defined as "data links" (including redundancy) and these data links can be set up with IP addresses.
3. SAN configuration
In OpenStorage terminology the "SAN" defines the relation between iSCSI targets and initiators.
The iSCSI initiator is the host requesting block storage (iSCSI). The iSCSI target is the "disk" in iSCSI notation.
You may define as many targets as you want - but which target will be shown to your hosts?
Each target you define here is tied to a network interface.
One or more iSCSI targets from a "iSCSI target group". Imagine a iSCSI target which is tied to a 1 gigabit interface and another tied to a 10 gigabit interface. These two iSCSI target definitions are tied together to a target group.
The target group can then by tied to a storage volume - ready to share for iSCSI. Your host computer now sees two ISCSI target IQNs for this volume - one through the gigabit interface, one through the ten gigabit interface. It can setup a redundant storage configuration now.
Here the problem with out 10 GBit/sec-Interface comes in: The "nxge0" is not shown to select - but it is used since "nge1" is NOT checked.
This "nxge"-cards are functioning properly but the system has a problem with it when it comes to link them to iSCSI target groups (see below).
Network interfaces are defined as "data links" (including redundancy) and these data links can be set up with IP addresses.
3. SAN configuration
In OpenStorage terminology the "SAN" defines the relation between iSCSI targets and initiators.The iSCSI initiator is the host requesting block storage (iSCSI). The iSCSI target is the "disk" in iSCSI notation.
You may define as many targets as you want - but which target will be shown to your hosts?
Each target you define here is tied to a network interface.
One or more iSCSI targets from a "iSCSI target group". Imagine a iSCSI target which is tied to a 1 gigabit interface and another tied to a 10 gigabit interface. These two iSCSI target definitions are tied together to a target group.
The target group can then by tied to a storage volume - ready to share for iSCSI. Your host computer now sees two ISCSI target IQNs for this volume - one through the gigabit interface, one through the ten gigabit interface. It can setup a redundant storage configuration now.
Here the problem with out 10 GBit/sec-Interface comes in: The "nxge0" is not shown to select - but it is used since "nge1" is NOT checked.
On the command line interface this error is not present - the nxge0 interface can be selected for a iSCSI target.
The iSCSI initiator definitions act like a filter to control which iSCSI hosts are able to see/mount your iSCSI target(s).
Each iSCSI host as an initiator id (like a network address) - just define them here and you're ready to define which hosts will see which storage targets of your OpenStorage appliance.
Volume generation and NFS sharing will be topic of my next posting. Stay tuned!
Each iSCSI host as an initiator id (like a network address) - just define them here and you're ready to define which hosts will see which storage targets of your OpenStorage appliance.
Volume generation and NFS sharing will be topic of my next posting. Stay tuned!
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