Unity Administration and Management - SRG

Welcome to the Unity Administration and Management.
Copyright ©2016 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Published in the USA. EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate as o f its publication date. The information is subject
to change without notice.
THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION IS PROVIDED “AS IS.” EMC CORPORATION MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION IN
THIS PUBLICATION, AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in this publication requires an applicable software license. The trademarks, logos, and service marks (collectively "Trademarks")
appearing in this publication are the property of EMC Corporation and other parties. Nothing contained in this publication sh ould be construed as granting any license or right to use any
Trademark without the prior written permission of the party that owns the Trademark.
EMC, EMC² AccessAnywhere Access Logix, AdvantEdge, AlphaStor, AppSync ApplicationXtender, ArchiveXtender, Atmos, Authentica, Authentic Problems, Automated Resource Manager,
AutoStart, AutoSwap, AVALONidm, Avamar, Bus-Tech, Captiva, Catalog Solution, C-Clip, Celerra, Celerra Replicator, Centera, CenterStage, CentraStar, EMC CertTracker. CIO Connect,
ClaimPack, ClaimsEditor, Claralert ,cLARiiON, ClientPak, CloudArray, Codebook Correlation Technology, Common Information Model, Compuset, Compute Anywhere, Configuration
Intelligence, Configuresoft, Connectrix, Constellation Computing, EMC ControlCenter, CopyCross, CopyPoint, CX, DataBridge , Data Protection Suite. Data Protection Advisor, DBClassify, DD
Boost, Dantz, DatabaseXtender, Data Domain, Direct Matrix Architecture, DiskXtender, DiskXtender 2000, DLS ECO, Document Sciences, Documentum, DR Anywhere, ECS, elnput, E-Lab,
Elastic Cloud Storage, EmailXaminer, EmailXtender , EMC Centera, EMC ControlCenter, EMC LifeLine, EMCTV, Enginuity, EPFM. eRoom, Event Explorer, FAST, FarPoint, FirstPass, FLARE,
FormWare, Geosynchrony, Global File Virtualization, Graphic Visualization, Greenplum, HighRoad, HomeBase, Illuminator , InfoArchive, InfoMover, Infoscape, Infra, InputAccel, InputAccel
Express, Invista, Ionix, ISIS,Kazeon, EMC LifeLine, Mainframe Appliance for Storage, Mainframe Data Library, Max Retriever, MCx, MediaStor , Metro, MetroPoint, MirrorView, Multi-Band
Deduplication,Navisphere, Netstorage, NetWorker, nLayers, EMC OnCourse, OnAlert, OpenScale, Petrocloud, PixTools, Powerlink, PowerPath, PowerSnap, ProSphere, ProtectEverywhere,
ProtectPoint, EMC Proven, EMC Proven Professional, QuickScan, RAPIDPath, EMC RecoverPoint, Rainfinity, RepliCare, RepliStor, ResourcePak, Retrospect, RSA, the RSA logo, SafeLine, SAN
Advisor, SAN Copy, SAN Manager, ScaleIO Smarts, EMC Snap, SnapImage, SnapSure, SnapView, SourceOne, SRDF, EMC Storage Administrator, StorageScope, SupportMate, SymmAPI,
SymmEnabler, Symmetrix, Symmetrix DMX, Symmetrix VMAX, TimeFinder, TwinStrata, UltraFlex, UltraPoint, UltraScale, Unisphere, Universal Data Consistency, Vblock, Velocity, Viewlets, ViPR,
Virtual Matrix, Virtual Matrix Architecture, Virtual Provisioning, Virtualize Everything, Compromise Nothing, Virtuent, VMAX, VMAXe, VNX, VNXe, Voyence, VPLEX, VSAM-Assist, VSAM I/O
PLUS, VSET, VSPEX, Watch4net, WebXtender, xPression, xPresso, Xtrem, XtremCache, XtremSF, XtremSW, XtremIO, YottaYotta, Zero-Friction Enterprise Storage.
Copyright 2016 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Unity Administration and Management 1
This course covers topics related to the configuration and management of a Unity storage
system using Unisphere. The focus areas include the basic system configuration settings
and monitoring, basic storage administration and advanced storage features.
This module focuses on the Unity basic system configuration, administration and
management using the available user interfaces. The module also will explain the
peculiarities of the Unisphere graphical interface navigation, as well as the concept of
Command Line Interface (CLI) for storage access and the remote monitoring with Unisphere
Central. The module will also discuss alert and events methods for Unity system health
monitoring.
This lesson covers the different user interfaces used for administration and management of
Unity storage systems, and how user authentication is used to protect the access to Unity
hardware, software, and specific product features.
Administration of Unity systems is performed with the Unisphere graphical user interface
(GUI), or the command line interface (CLI). Unity systems can be monitored using the
Unisphere Central interface . Unity Systems can also be managed via REST API .
Unisphere is a web-based user interface that is hosted on the Unity system, and enables
the user to securely manage Unity storage systems locally on the same LAN or remotely
over the Internet, using a common browser.
The Unisphere CLI enables the user to perform scripting for some of the most commonly
performed tasks in the Unity system.
Unisphere Central is a network application that remotely monitors the status, activity, and
resources of multiple supported EMC storage systems from a central location. The
application allows administrators to take a look at their storage environment from a single
interface and rapidly access the systems that need attention or maintenance.
REST API is a set of resources, operations and attributes that interacts with Unisphere
management functionality allowing the administrator to perform some automated routines
on the array using web browsers, and programming and scripting languages.
Access to Unity systems is controlled by the successful authentication of a valid user
account in Unisphere. Management accounts are used to perform most of the Unity
administrative tasks.
Unity provides two administrative user authentication scopes. Users can log in with
credentials maintained through either local user accounts or domain-mapped user accounts.
There is no Global authentication scope as the concept of storage domain does not exist for
the Unity systems.
Local user accounts can be created and managed through the Unisphere User
Management Settings page. These user accounts are associated with distinct roles and
provide username and password authentication only for the system on which they were
created. They do not allow management of multiple systems unless identical credentials are
created on each system.
The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is an application protocol for querying
directory services running on TCP/IP networks. LDAP provides central management for
network authorization operations by helping to centralize user and group management
across the network. With this method, the accounts used to access the system are domain-
mapped user accounts (members of an LDAP domain group). It uses the username and
password specified on an LDAP domain server. Integrating the system into an existing LDAP
environment provides a way to control user and user group access to the system through
Unisphere CLI or Unisphere.
The user authentication and system management operations are performed over the
network using industry standard protocols such as Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and Secure
Shell (SSH). GUI administration can be performed using a supported network browser or
CLI administration is done with the use of the Unisphere CLI client software.
For deployments where the Unity will be managed by more than one administrator, multiple
unique administrative accounts are allowed. Different administrative roles can be defined
for those accounts to distribute administrative tasks between users.
Copyright 2016 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Unity Administration and Management ‹#›
Unity storage systems come with factory default management and service user accounts to
be used when initially accessing and configuring the storage system. These accounts have
access to both Unisphere GUI and Unisphere CLI interfaces but have distinct privileges of
operations they can perform.
• Management accounts: Administrator privileges for resetting default passwords,

configure system settings, create user accounts, and allocate storage.
• Service account: Perform specialized service functions such as collecting system service
information, restart management software, reset system to factory defaults, etc.
During the initial configuration process, you are required to change the passwords for the
default admin and service accounts.
The Unisphere GUI is a web-based software that allows the configuration, administration,
and monitoring of a single Unity storage system from one single interface. Unity systems
cannot be configured to be part of a Storage Domain, so only Unisphere Central can be
used to provide access to more than one Unity system using a single sign-on.
Unisphere provides an overall view of what is happening in the environment plus an

intuitive and easier way to manage the Unity storage array.
Unisphere can be launched by simply entering the IP address of the Unity management port
on the URL address of a supported web browser.
Use Unisphere GUI for managing a Unity storage system.
The Unisphere graphical user interface is built on HTML5 technology with support on a wide
range of browsers, such as Google Chrome v33 or later, Internet Explorer v10 or later,
Mozilla Firefox v28 or later and Apple Safari v6 or later.
The Unisphere interface has 3 main areas which are used for navigation and visualization of
the content: the navigation pane, a main page, and the sub-menus.
The navigation pane on the left has the Unisphere options for provisioning storage, provide
host access, protect the data and monitor the system operation.
The main page is where the pertinent information about options from the navigation pane
and a particular submenu is displayed. The page also shows the available actions that can
be performed for the selected object. The selectable items will vary depending on the
selection. It could be information retrieved from the system, or configuration options for
storage provisioning, host access, and data protection. In this example the page shows the
System View content.
A sub-menu with different tabs (links) on the top of the main page provides additional
options for the selected item from the navigation pane.
There is also a top menu on the right-corner with links for the system alarms, job
notifications, help menu, and the configuration of Unisphere preferences and global
settings.
The Unisphere Main Dashboard provides a quick view of the storage system status including
the health information. A user can create its own Customized dashboard and save it. The
customized dashboards can be modified and deleted.
View blocks can be added to a dashboard. These view blocks can be used to view a
summary of system storage usage, monitor system alerts, view health of storage and
system resources, and provide graphs of system performance at a high-level.
To add view blocks to the selected Dashboard the user must open the sub-menu on the top,
choose customize, then select the desired block and click the Add View Block button.
Unisphere CLI enables you to run commands on a Unity storage system from a host with
the Unisphere CLI client installed.
The Unisphere CLI client can be downloaded from the support web site and installed on a
Microsoft Windows or UNIX/Linux computer.
Unisphere CLI supports provisioning and management of network block and file-based
storage. The application is intended for advanced users who want to use commands in
scripts for automating routine tasks. The routine tasks include:
• Configuring and monitoring the system.
• Managing users.
• Provisioning storage.
• Protecting data.
• Controlling host access to storage.
• Storage types
The example of command in this slide displays the general settings for a physical system.
In the example the uemcli command accesses the Unity system using the management
port with IP address 10.126.91.11 and logs into the system as the local user admin. The
system certificate is displayed and the user has the choice to accept or reject it. If the
certificate is accepted, the command retrieves the array general settings and outputs its
details on the screen.
Unisphere Central, formerly known as Unisphere Remote, consists of a Unisphere Central
server running on an ESX/ESXi server (standalone or through vCenter), which monitors
supported storage arrays (Unity, VNX, VNXe, or CX4 systems), and that can be remotely
accessed by a client host.
The Unisphere Central server is deployed as a virtual machine (VM) built from an OVF
template in a VMware environment. The Unisphere Central OVF template can be
downloaded from EMC Online Support. When deploying the OVF template an IP address for
the Unisphere Central can be assigned within vCenter or in the console of the VM on an
ESX/ESXi host.
The Unisphere Central server obtains aggregated status, alerts, host details, performance
and capacity metrics, and storage usage information from the Unity, VNX, VNXe and CX4
systems in the environment.
The Unisphere Central interface contains the navigation menu on the left and all the content
is displayed in the main pane.
The Dashboard page displays customizable view blocks for all monitored storage systems.
The Systems page shown here contains information about all the storage systems
monitored by the instance of Unisphere Central.
The Storage menu provides detailed information on storage use and configuration of the
storage environment for the systems being monitored by Unisphere Central.
The Hosts page provides a list of hosts configured on the storage systems monitored by
Unisphere Central.
The Alerts page provides a list of aggregated alerts from all storage systems being
monitored by Unisphere Central.
The Logs page provides a list of log messages/events that Unisphere Central generates to
record errors, commands, and other information.
The Performance page allows users to view and interact with charts that display historical
performance data for the storage systems currently being monitored by Unisphere Central.
For more information refer to the latest white paper on Unisphere Central available in the
EMC Online support web site (http://support.emc.com).
This video demo shows the next-generation Unisphere user interface navigation and
dashboard information.
This lesson covers the configuration of some of the basic system settings on Unisphere, for
Unity administration and management.
In Unisphere,system global settings can be configured and managed from the Settings
configuration window which is invoked by clicking on its icon from the top menu.
In the Settings configuration window it is possible to monitor installed licenses, manage

users that can access the system, configure the network environment, allow monitoring of
the system by Unisphere Central and the logging of system events to a remote log server,
start and pause FAST suite feature operations, register support credentials and enable
ESRS, create IP routes, enable CHAP authentication for iSCSI operations, and configure
email and SNMP alerts.
The first screen of the Settings window allows the management of licenses for the available
features. A product license can be selected from the list to have its description displayed.
To unlock features, license keys must be installed.
This lesson will focus on some of the basic settings that can be managed from the Settings
configuration window. Other configurations will be discussed on other modules and lessons.
User accounts can be created and managed through the Unisphere User Management
Settings page. Multiple unique administrative accounts are allowed and different
administrative roles can be defined for those accounts to distribute administrative tasks
between users.
To create an user account you must open the Settings window, and then select Users
and Groups > User Management.
Select the Add icon.
Then select the type of user or group to add: a local user or an LDAP user or group. When
users log in to Unisphere with an LDAP account, they must specify their username in the
following format: domain/username.
Specify the account information.
Define the role for the new user (explained on the next slide).
Then verify the information on the summary slide then click Finish to commit the changes.
Unisphere accounts combine a unique user name and password with a specific role for each
identity. The specified role determines the types of actions that the user can perform after
logging in.
The user roles are: Operator, Storage Administrator, Administrator, and VM Administrator.
Shown here is a table providing a description of the user roles.
In Unisphere, LDAP settings can be configured via the Directory Services link under the
Users and Groups section on the Settings page.
Specify the LDAP server credentials:
Enter the domain name of the LDAP authentication server.
Type the base distinguished name (DN) of the root of the LDAP directory tree. A DN is a
sequence of relative distinguished names connected by commas, which describes a fully
qualified path to an entry.
Enter the network name or address of the LDAP server.
Type the password the system will use for authentication with the LDAP server.
If LDAP over SSL (LDAPS) protocol is used, then the default communication port is set to
636 and the system will request that an LDAP trust certificate is uploaded to the storage
system.
For secure communication between the two entities (storage system and LDAP server), one
entity must accept the certificate from the other. When the certificate of the LDAP server is
accepted or validated for the storage system, the certificate is placed in the storage
system’s certificate store and is marked as trusted. So the subsequent connections to the
LDAP server are trusted by the storage system.
The user must follow the LDAP Server operating environment instructions to learn how to
retrieve the LDAP SSL certificate that will be imported.
Click on the Advanced link to configure user and Group settings parameters then click OK
to save the changes. Then click on Apply to commit the changes. The Login operations
are authenticated by the LDAP domain server.
Other network settings such as System Time Synchronization, DNS Servers, Unisphere
Central, SP management ports, and Remote Logging, can be configured from the
Management Section.
Unity supports two methods for configuring system time: Manual settings or NTP
synchronization.
The NTP synchronization method allows the Unity system to connect to a Network Time
Protocol (NTP) server in order to synchronize the system clock with other applications and
services on the network. Some applications will not operate correctly if the Unity system
clock is not synchronized to the same source as the host system clock.
Time synchronization is key for Microsoft Windows environments, when the Unity system
must be time synchronized to the same NTP servers as the systems accessing the Unity
storage. In Microsoft Windows environments, this is typically one or more of the Domain
Controllers. This configuration is necessary to connect a NAS server to the Active Directory,
to allow SMB and multi-protocol access.
If the network does not have an NTP server, the administrator can set the Unity system
time in the following ways:
• Manually set system time: Enter a specific time for the Unity system in the UTC format.
Consolidated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard by which the world
regulates clocks and time.
• Set system time to client time: Synchronize the Unity system time with the host where
you are running Unisphere (in UTC format).
In the System Time and NTP option under the Management section select the Enable NTP
synchronization. Then click add to enter the IP address of a NTP server. Click the add
button from the dialog box to close the window and add the NTP server.
There are Unity features that may require domain name resolution (For example: Unisphere
alert settings). The DNS Servers list can include multiple entries.
Select Obtain DNS server address automatically to have Unity automatically retrieve
one or more IP addresses for the DNS server if running Unity on a dynamic network that
includes DHCP and DNS servers.
If not running Unity on a dynamic network, or choosing to provide a static IP address for
the DNS server manually, select Configure DNS server address manually, then click on
the Add button and enter the IP address of a DNS server, and click Add.
Unisphere Central is a vApp that enables administrators to remotely monitor the status,
activity, and resources of multiple Unity systems that reside on a common network. The
administrator must configure Unity systems to communicate with Unisphere Central.
In the Unisphere Central Configuration page, select the check box Configure this storage
system for Unisphere Central to enable it.
If the security policy on the Unisphere Central server was set to manual you only need to
enter the IP address of the Unisphere Central server in the Unisphere Central IP field.
However, if the security policy on the Unisphere Central server is set to Automatic, then
you must retrieve from the server the security information: the Certificate Hash that was
automatically generated (8 to 256 characters) and the Challenge Phrase that was manually
configured.
Select the Use additional security information from Unisphere Central checkbox.
Type the Unisphere Central Hash - the Certificate Hash that was configured in the
Unisphere Central server.
Type and confirm the Challenge Phrase - the 8 characters long passphrase configured in
the Unisphere Central server.
Click Apply to commit the changes to the configuration.
Note that Unisphere Central does not provide active management capability or real -time
performance views of the Unity systems in the environment. However, it does provide a
means to "link-and-launch" to the management interfaces of individual Unity systems in
order to perform these tasks.
The Specify Network Configuration page of the Unisphere IPs section of the Settings
window allows the administrator to set up host name and network addresses for the storage
system. The Unity storage system supports both IPv4 and IPv6.
Select the Management section of the Settings window.
Choose the Unisphere IPs tab.
In the Specify Network Configuration page enter or modify the information for the Unity
network configuration. Each IP version has radio buttons to disable the configuration, and
select the dynamic or static configuration.
If you are running the Unity system on a dynamic network, the management IP address can
be assigned automatically, by selecting the proper radio button.
For a static IP address select the radio button to enable it and enter the IP address, the
subnet mask and gateway in the proper fields.
Click Apply to commit the changes.
Observation: If enabling ESRS support for the Unity system, then EMC recommends that a
static IP address is assigned to Unity to have it managed by ESRS.
The Remote Logging setting enables the Unity system to log user/audit messages to a
remote host.
Before configuring remote logging, a remote host running syslog must be configured to
receive logging messages from the storage system. In many scenarios, a root or
administrator account on the receiving computer can configure the remote syslog server to
receive log information from the Unity system by editing the syslog-ng.conf file on the
remote computer. For more information on setting up and running a remote syslog server,
refer to the documentation for the operating system running on the remote computer.
To configure Remote Logging you must check the Enable logging to a remote host
checkbox. Then you must specify the network address of the host that will receive the log
data. The remote host must be accessible from the Unity system, and security for the log
information must be provided through the network access controls or the system security at
the remote host.
Select the component that generates the log messages you want to record.
• Kernel Messages - Messages generated by the operating system kernel. These messages
are specified with the facility code 0 (keyword kern)
• User-Level Messages - This is the default option. Messages generated by random user
processes. These messages are specified with the facility code 1 (keyword user)
• Messages Generated Internally by syslogd - Messages generated internally by the system

logging utility (syslogd). These messages are specified with the facility code 5 (keyword
syslog)
Then select the protocol used to transfer log information: UDP or TCP. By default, the
system transfers log information using the UDP protocol on port 514. Click Apply to commit
the changes.
The Support Configuration section of the Settings Configuration window allows the user to
enter the EMC Support credentials, contact information, and configure the EMC Secure
Remote Services.
Support credentials are used to retrieve the customer current support contract information
and keep the information up-to-date automatically, providing access to all the options to
which the client is entitled on the Unisphere Support page.
In addition, support credentials are required to configure EMC Secure Remote Services
(ESRS), which provides EMC Support direct access to the storage system (via HTTPS or
SSH) to perform troubleshooting on the Unity system and resolve issues more quickly.
Enter the username and password on the proper fields and click Apply to commit the
changes. The credentials entered here must be associated with a support account.
EMC Secure Remote Support (ESRS) is a remote monitoring feature that allows authorized
EMC remote access capabilities to supported EMC storage systems via a secure and
encrypted tunnel. The secure tunnel that ESRS establishes between the systems on the
EMC network can be used to transfer files out to the Unity system or back to EMC.
The ESRS software is embedded into the Unity operating environment (OE) of the Unity
physical system as a managed service. The Unity OE is responsible for persisting the
configuration and the certificates needed for ESRS to work. UnityVSA systems can only be
managed by a centralized deployment of the ESRS Virtual Edition (VE) installed as an off-
array Virtual Machine (VM).
The Configure button on this page will be enabled and allow the setup of ESRS client
settings, only if valid EMC Support Credentials and the Contact Information were entered in
the respective pages of the Support Configuration section.
This lesson covers the Unisphere interfaces used for monitoring of system events and how
to set and manage different alert notification methods.
Alerts are usually events that require attention from the system administrator. Some alerts
indicate that there is a problem with the Unity system. For example, you might receive an
alert telling you that a disk has faulted, or that the Unity system is running out of space.
Alerts are registered to the System Alerts page in Unisphere. The system alerts page can
be accessed through the link on the top menu bar, from the option under the Events
section of the navigation pane and from the notification icons of the view block added to
the dashboard.
The view block on the dashboard shows these alerts categorized by critical, error and
warning which will be better explained on the next slide. Clicking on one of the icons will
open the Alerts page showing the records filtered by the chosen severity level.
System alerts with their severity levels are recorded on the System Alerts page. The
Dashboard of the Unisphere interface shows an icon with the number of alerts for each
recorded severity category. The link on these icons will open the Alerts page filtered by the
selected severity level.
Shown here is a table providing an explanation about the alert severity levels from least to
most severe. Logging levels are not configurable.
To view detailed information on a system alert:
- Select the alert from the list of records of the Alerts page.
Details about the selected alert record will be displayed in the right pane. The information
will include time the event was logged, severity level, alert message, description of the
event, Acknowledgement flag, the component that was affected by the event, and the
current status of the component.
Unisphere can also be configured to send the system administrator alert notifications in an
email or Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) message (known as a trap). Email
alerts are used only for internal communication. No Service Requests are created based on
Email alerts. Only the configuration of ESRS provide interaction with EMC Support.
In Unisphere open the Settings configuration window and select the Alerts section. On the
Specify Email Alerts and SMTP configuration click on the Add button. The Add a New
Email window will open - enter the e-mail that will receive the notification messages. When
done click on the window Add button.
Select from the drop-down list the severity level of the alert notifications to be sent.
Then type the IP address of the Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) server required to
send emails.
Click the Send Test Email to verify that the SMTP server and destination email addresses
are valid.
Then click Apply to commit the changes.
Select SNMP from the Alerts section to configure the SNMP trap destination targets and to
indicate the severity level of the alert notifications to be sent.
On the Manage SNMP Alerts page click on the Add button to add the SNMP trap
destination target. The SNMP target window will open - enter the network address (host
name or IP address).
Type the user name to authenticate, and select the authentication protocol used by traps.
You can only specify the privacy protocol used to encode trap messages when you edit an
existing destination.
Select from the drop-down list the severity level of the alert notifications to be sent.
Click Send Test SNMP Trap to verify that the SNMP configuration is valid.
When done click on the OK button.
This module covered the Unity basic system configuration, administration and management
using the available user interfaces. The module explained the peculiarities of the Unisphere
graphical interface navigation, as well as the concept of Command Line Interface (CLI) for
storage access and the remote monitoring with Unisphere Central. The module also
discussed Unisphere alert and events methods for Unity system health monitoring.
This module focuses on the management of block and NAS server interfaces for storage
provisioning. The module also shows how to verify and modify hosts profiles for storage
access.
The Unity architecture provides hosts and applications with Block storage through network-
based Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) or Fibre Channel (FC) protocols.
FC and iSCSI are based on a network-standard client/server model with iSCSI or FC
initiators (hosts) acting as storage clients and the relevant targets acting as storage
interfaces. Once a connection is established between the host and interface, the host can
request storage resources and services from the interface.
The iSCSI support allows Block storage access (LUNs, Consistency Groups, and VMware
VMFS datastores) using Initiator paths to each SP. Multiple iSCSI interfaces can be created
on one Ethernet port, and CHAP authentication can be optionally enabled for any host.
The Unity systems supports a 16 Gb/s Fibre Channel I/O module for block access. Fibre
Channel (FC) support provides the ability to share block storage resources over an FC
storage area network (SAN). Unity automatically creates FC interfaces when the I/O module
is available to the Storage Processor (SP).
To manage iSCSI interfaces select Block from the Storage session and the iSCSI interfaces
tab. The iSCSI interfaces page shows the list of interfaces, the SP and Ethernet port
where it was created, the network settings and its IQN (iSCSI Qualified Name). Note the
iSCSI Qualified Name on the Port IQN column. Its format is iqn.yyyy-
mm.com.xyz.aabbccddeeffgghh where:
• iqn is the naming convention identifier.
• yyyy-nn is the point in time when the .com domain was registered.
• com.xyz is the domain of the node backwards.
• aabbccddeeffgghh is the device identifier, which can be a WWN, the system name, or
any other vendor-implemented standard.
From this page it is possible to create, modify and delete an iSCSI interface.
To view and modify the properties of an iSCSI interface click the edit icon . The user can
change the network settings for the interface and assign a VLAN.
To create new interfaces click on the “ add sign” link, and on the Add iSCSI Network
Interface window select the SP and Ethernet port to create the interface. Then enter the
network address information:
• IP Address: You can specify an IPv4 or IPv6-based address.
• Subnet Mask or Prefix Length: IP address mask or prefix length that identifies the subnet
where the iSCSI target resides.
• Gateway: Enter the gateway IP address associated with the iSCSI network interface.
The IQN Alias is the alias name associated with the IQN. The IQN and the IQN alias are
associated with the port and not the iSCSI interface. Both IQN and IQN alias are generated
automatically.
On a Unity system, you can require that all hosts use CHAP authentication to access iSCSI
storage on one or more Unity iSCSI interfaces. To require CHAP authentication from all
initiators that attempt access to an iSCSI interface, you must open the Settings
Configuration Window and open the Access section.
Then from the CHAP page check the Enable CHAP Setting option .
When you enable this feature, Unity denies access to this iSCSI interface's storage
resources from all initiators that do not have CHAP configured.
You may also set a global forward CHAP secret that all initiators can use to access the
storage system. Global CHAP can be used in conjunction with initiator CHAP. To implement
Global CHAP authentication select Use Global CHAP and specify a username and Global
CHAP secret.
Mutual CHAP authentication occurs when the hosts on a network verify the identity of the
iSCSI interface by verifying the iSCSI interface's mutual CHAP secret. Any iSCSI initiator
can be used to specify the "reverse" CHAP secret to authenticate Unity. When Mutual CHAP
Secret is configured for the storage system, the specified mutual CHAP secret is used by all
iSCSI interfaces that run on the system.
To implement mutual CHAP authentication, enable the Use Mutual CHAP option for the
iSCSI interface and specify a username and mutual CHAP secret.
The Fibre Channel interfaces can be displayed by selecting the Fibre Channel option under
the Access section of the Settings Configuration window.
The Fibre Channel Ports page shows details about I/O modules and ports. Each Fibre
Channel initiator is uniquely identified by its world wide name (WWN).
To display information about a particular Fibre Channel port, select it from the list and click
on the edit link . The properties window shows details about the I/O module port. The user
verifies the speed the port is operating and changes it if desired.
Unisphere has a page that enables you to view and manage all host initiators connected to
the storage system. Initiators are endpoints from which FC and iSCSI sessions originate.
To access this page in Unisphere, select the Initiators option under the access section.
The properties window of a host or ESX host also include Initiators and Initiator Paths
tabs that enable you to view and manage associated host initiators.
Each initiator is uniquely identified by its world wide name (WWN or IQN).
The link between a host initiator and a target port on the Unity system is called the initiator
path.
NAS servers are software components used to transfer file data and provide the connection
ports for users, clients, and applications that access Unity file system storage.
NAS servers retrieve data from available disks over the SAS backend, and make it available
over the network via the SMB or NFS protocols.
Before you can provision a VMware NFS datastore or a File VVol datastore, or a file system
storage over SMB or NFS, a NAS server that is appropriate for managing the storage type
must be configured and running on the system. NAS servers can provide multi-protocol
access for both UNIX/Linux and Windows clients at the same time.
To manage NAS servers, select File from the Storage section of Unisphere.
From the NAS Servers page it is possible to create a new NAS server, view its properties,
modify some settings, and delete an existing NAS server.
The NAS Server page shows the list of created NAS servers, the SP providing the Ethernet
port for communication, and the Replication type if any configured.
To see the details about a NAS server select it from the list and its details will be displayed
on the right-pane.
To view and modify the properties of a NAS Server click the edit icon.
In the General tab of the properties window you can change the name of the NAS Server
and configure and modify network interfaces, including adding or deleting interfaces.
The Naming Services tab allows the user to define the Naming services to be used: DNS,
and/or Network Information Service (NIS).
The Sharing Protocols tab allows the user to manage settings for file system storage
access for Windows shares (SMB,CIFS) using the Active Directory or Standalone option and
Linux/UNIX shares (NFS). The user can also provide multi-protocol access to the file system
if a Unix Directory Service is enabled in the Naming Services tab.
The other tabs of the NAS Server properties window allows the user to configure Advanced
Storage Access (ASA), enable NDMP, Antivirus, and remote protection.
To create a NAS server click the add sign “link” .
Then follow the Create a NAS Server wizard steps:
• Enter a name for the NAS server, select the storage pool that will be used to supply file
storage, then choose the Storage Processor (SP) where you want the server to run.
• Select the Ethernet Port you want to use and specify the IP address, Subnet Mask, and
Gateway.
• In the Configure Sharing Protocols choose whether the NAS server supports Windows
shares (SMB, CIFS), Linux/UNIX shares (NFS), and multi-protocol (SMB and NFS shares
on the same file system). If you configure the NAS server to support Windows shares,
specify an SMB host name, a Windows domain, and the user name and password of a
Windows domain account. NFSv4 can be enabled for UNIX/Linux shares if desired as well
as File VVols.
• For UNIX/Linux shares choose a Unix Directory Service (NIS or LDAP) if necessary. For
multi-protocol support a Unix Directory Service must be used.
• If Windows shares were configured, then enable and add at least one DNS server for the
domain.
• Optionally configure remote replication for the NAS Server.
• Review the NAS server configuration and click Finish to commit the changes.
You can manage the Network interfaces by selecting the Ethernet option from the Access
section of the Settings Configuration window.
From the Ethernet Ports page, settings such as link aggregation and link transmission can
be verified and changed.
To display information about a particular Ethernet port, select it from the list and click on
the edit link . The properties window shows details about the port, including the speed and
MTU size. The user can change both these fields if necessary.
The MTU has a default value of 1500 bytes. If you change the value, you must also
change all components of the network path (switch ports and host).
If you want to support jumbo frames, set the MTU size field to 9000 bytes. This setting is
only appropriate in network environments where all components support jumbo frames
end-to-end. In virtualized environments, jumbo frames should be configured within the
virtual system, as well.
The user can also create a link aggregation, add or remove the port to an existing link
aggregation.
Host configurations are logical connections through which hosts or applications can access
storage resources. Before a network host can access storage, you must define a
configuration for it and associate it with a storage resource. Host configurations are
associated with storage following permission levels.
To manage Hosts configurations select Hosts from the Access section of Unisphere.
From the Hosts page it is possible to create a new Host configuration, view and modify a
Host configuration, and delete it.
The Hosts page shows the list of created Hosts configuration with its network address,
Operating system, Type, LUNs it has access to, number of registered initiators and initiator
paths.
The properties of a host configuration can be invoked by selecting the host and clicking on
the edit icon.
To create a Host configuration the user must click on the add link and follow the wizard. On
the Host Wizard window select the name for the host profile and the host operating system.
• To create a Host configuration for a SAN host that will connect to block storage choose
whether to connect via iSCSI or FC protocols. If the initiator was not automatically-
discovered and logged in the system, then the user needs to manually add the initiators
using the SAN host IQN and CHAP credentials (for iSCSI) or the SAN host HBA initiator
(Fibre Channel). The host will be added to the list of hosts.
• To create a Host configuration for a host that will connect to a file storage the user must
enter the network address for the host on the Network Address page. The host will be
registered and added to the list of hosts.
This module covered the management of block and NAS server interfaces for storage
provisioning. The module also showed how to verify and modify hosts profiles for storage
access.
This module focuses on the Unisphere tasks that deal with the management and
optimization of Unity storage resources: storage pools, LUNs and Consistency Groups, File
Systems and VMware Datastores.
Unity provides storage resources suited for the needs of specific applications, host
operating systems, and user requirements. These storage resources are categorized in
storage pools, block storage (LUNs or Consistency Groups), File storage (file systems and
shares), and VMware datastores (VMFS or NFS).
LUNs and Consistency Groups provide generic block-level storage to hosts and applications
that use the Fibre Channel (FC) or iSCSI protocol to access storage in the form of virtual
disks. LUN (Logical Unit) is a single element of storage while Consistency Group is a
container with one or more LUNs.
File Systems and shares provide network shares to clients in Windows and Linux/UNIX
environments. Windows environments use the SMB/CIFS protocol for file sharing, Microsoft
Active Directory for authentication, and Windows directory access for folder permissions.
Linux/UNIX environments use the NFS protocol for file sharing and POSIX access control
lists for folder permissions.
VMware datastores provides storage for VMware virtual machines through datastores that
are accessible through the FC, or iSCSI protocols (VMFS) and the NFS protocol.
Another modality of supported VMware datastores are the VVol (Block) and VVol (File)
datastores. These storage containers will store the virtual volumes (VVols) which are
VMware objects that corresponds to a Virtual Machine (VM) disk, and its snapshot and its
clones. These VVol (File) use NAS protocol endpoints and VVol (Block) uses iSCSI protocol
endpoints for I/O communications from the host to the storage system. The protocol
endpoints provides access points for ESXi host communication to the storage system.
Unity storage is provisioned from storage pools. A Pool is a collection of disks that are
dedicated to create LUNs, Consistency Groups, File Systems, and VMware datastores.
Storage pools provide optimized storage for a particular set of applications or conditions.
The storage pool configuration defines the types and capacities of the disks in the pool. A
user can defined the RAID configuration (RAID types and stripe widths) when selecting a
tier to build a storage pool.
Pools can be heterogeneous (made up of more than one type of drive) or homogeneous
(composed by only one type of drive).
In a homogeneous pool, only one disk type (flash, SAS, or NL-SAS) is selected during pool
creation.
If the FAST VP license is installed, and there are multiple disk types on the system, you can
define multiple tiers for a storage pool. There can be a maximum of three disk types in a
heterogeneous pool. Each tier can be associated with a different RAID type. Flash, SAS, and
NL-SAS disks provide tiers of Extreme Performance, Performance, and Capacity, on Unity
systems. However, observe that SAS Flash 3 drives cannot be part of a heterogeneous
pool.
To manage a storage pool, select Pools from the Storage section of Unisphere.
From the Pools page it is possible to create a new pool, expand existing pools, view pool
properties and modify some settings, and delete an existing pool.
The Storage Pools page shows the list of created pools with its allocated capacity, its
utilization details and free space.
Details about a pool are displayed on the right-pane whenever a pool is selected.
The Pool properties page can be invoked by selecting the storage pool and clicking on the
edit icon. The properties page is divided in 5 tabs: General, Disks, Usage, FAST VP, and
Snapshot Settings.
On the General tab it is possible to change the pool name and description.
The Disks tab displays the characteristics of the disks in the pool.
The Capacity option on the Usage tab shows information about storage pool allocation and
use including (as shown here):
• Total amount of space allocated to existing storage resources and metadata. This value
does not include the space used for snapshots.
• Free Space, which is the amount of pool space that is available for provisioning storage
resources and snapshots.
• Subscribed capacity, which is the percentage of the pool's total space requested by its
associated storage resources. When this value is over 100%, the pool is oversubscribed.
In this case, the storage pool can be expanded by adding drives to an existing tier or
adding an additional tier.
• Alert threshold, which is the percentage of storage allocation at which Unisphere
generates notifications about the amount of space remaining in the pool. Drag the slider
to set the value between 50% and 84%.
• Pool used capacity history
On the FAST VP tab (which appears if FAST VP is licensed), it is possible to view data
relocation and tier information for the pool.
On the Snapshot Settings tab, the user can review and optionally change the properties
for snapshot automatic deletion.
When a storage pool has been identified as in need of additional capacity, it can be
expanded from the Storage Pools page by selecting the pool, and clicking Expand Pool.
In the Select Storage Tiers step, select the storage tiers for the disks you want to add. If
your system is not licensed for FAST VP, you can only add disks to the existing tier.
If you are adding a new tier to the storage pool, you can select a different RAID
configuration for the disks in the tier. Click the Change link next to the tier name, select
the new RAID type (if applicable), and click OK. When the RAID configuration is complete,
click Next.
In the Select Amount of Storage page, select the number and type of disks to add, and
click Next.
Verify the information shown on the Summary page, and click Finish to expand the pool.
To create new storage pools, select Pools under the Storage section on the navigation pane.
Then click on the “add sign” link in the Pools page to launch the Create Pool wizard.
In the wizard window, enter the pool name, and optionally the pool description. Then click
Next.
The wizard will display the available storage tiers. The user can select the tier and change
the RAID configuration for the selected tier, and choose whether the pool will use FAST
Cache.
The user can then select the amount of disks from the selected tier to add to the pool.
Also, the user can create and associate a Capability Profile to the pool that’s being created.
A capability profile is a set of storage capabilities for a VVol datastore. This feature will be
described when discussing the management of VMware storage.
Review the Pool to be created on the Summary page then click Finish.
This lesson covers the management of block-level storage resources using Unisphere.
Block storage resources provide hosts with access to general purpose block-level storage
through iSCSI or Fibre Channel (FC) connections.
With Block storage you can manage addressable partitions of block storage resources so
that host systems can mount and use these resources (LUNs) over FC or IP connections.
After a host connects to a LUN, it can use the LUN like a local storage drive.
Components of Block storage include:
• LUN: A block of storage allocated from a storage pool that is accessed by a host. You can
allocate a LUN to more than one host, if you coordinate the access via a set of clustered
hosts.
• Consistency group: An addressable instance of LUN storage that can contain one or
more LUNs (up to 50) and is associated with one or more FC or iSCSI hosts. Snapshots
taken of a Consistency Group apply to all LUNs associated with the group.
To manage LUNs, select Block from the Storage section of Unisphere.
From the LUNs page it is possible to create a new LUN, view the LUN properties, modify
some settings, and delete an existing LUN.
The LUNs page shows the list of created LUNs with its size (in GB), the allocated capacity,
and the pool it was built from.
To see the details about a LUN select the LUN from the list and the details about the LUN
will be displayed on the right-pane.
To view and modify the properties of a LUN click the edit icon. The General tab of the LUN
page depicts its utilization details and free space. Also, the size of the LUN can be
expanded from this page.
The other tabs of the LUN properties window allow the user to configure and manage local
and remote protection, and advanced storage features. Advanced storage features will be
discussed in another module.
To create LUNs select the Block page under the Storage Section in Unisphere. The LUNs
page will be displayed with a list of existing LUNs with its size and percentage of allocated
capacity. You can then launch the Create a LUN wizard by clicking on the “ add sign” link.
Then follow the wizard steps:
• Provide the name and description for the LUN
• Select the storage pool previously created to use.
• Define the size of the LUN.
• Provide access to the SAN host using the host configuration that was previously
created (with a defined connectivity protocol).
• Define the access level of the SAN host to the LUN.
• Optionally configure local and remote protection for the LUN, tiering policy and Host
I/O limits.
• Review the LUN to be created on the Summary page then click Finish
The results of the process will be displayed.
To manage Consistency Groups, select Block from the Storage section of Unisphere.
From the top menu select Consistency Groups page. From this page it is possible to
create a new group, view its properties, modify some settings, and delete an existing
Consistency Group.
The Consistency Groups page shows the list of created groups with its size (in GB), the
allocated capacity, and the amount of pools that were used to build each pool.
For a selected Consistency Group it is possible to add LUNs to it by creating new ones or by
moving existing LUNs to the group.
To see the details about a Consistency Group select it from the list and its details will be
displayed on the right-pane.
To view and modify the properties of a Consistency Group click the edit icon. The General
tab of the Consistency Group properties page depicts its utilization details and free space.
The LUNs tab shows the LUNs that are part of the Consistency Group. The properties of
each LUN can be viewed and a LUN can be removed from the group or deleted.
The other tabs of the Consistency Group properties window allow the user to configure and
manage local and remote protection, and advanced storage features. Advanced storage
features will be discussed in another module.
To create Consistency Groups select the Block page under the Storage Section in
Unisphere. Then select the Consistency Groups page from the top menu. The Consistency
Groups page will be displayed with a list of existing groups with its size and percentage of
allocated capacity. You can then launch the Create a Consistency Group wizard by
clicking on the “add sign” link.
Then follow the wizard steps:
• Provide the name and description for the Consistency Group
• Click on the “add sign” link to open the Configure LUNs window.
• Define the number of LUNs, and name. The name of the LUNs will be the combination
of the name and a sequenced number.
• Select the storage pool that must be used.
• Define the size of the LUN(s) to be created.
• If the selected pool is tiered then it is possible to choose the tiering policy.
• Host I/O limits can also be defined before saving the configuration.
• Provide access to the SAN host using a previously created host configuration (with a
defined connectivity protocol).
• Define the access level of the SAN host to the LUN(s).
• Review the LUN(s) to be created on the Summary page then click Finish
This video demo shows how to provision block storage to hosts using the next-generation
Unisphere user interface.
This lesson covers the management of file-level storage resources using Unisphere.
Unity File storage is a set of storage resources that provide file-level storage over an IP
network.
From Unity File, SMB and/or NFS shares are created, and provided to Windows, Linux, and
UNIX clients as a file-based storage resource. Shares within the file system draw from the
total storage that is allocated to the file system.
The Unity components that work together to provision file-level storage include a NAS
server, file system, and shares.
The Unity NAS server is a virtual file server that provides the file resources on the IP
network, and to which NAS clients connect. The NAS server is configured with IP interfaces
and other settings used to export shared directories on various file systems.
The Unity File system is a manageable "container" for file-based storage that is associated
with the a specific quantity of storage, a particular file access protocol (SMB/CIFS or NFS),
and one or more shares through which network clients can access shared files or folders.
A Unity share is a exportable access point to file system storage that network clients can
use for file-based storage via the SMB/CIFS or NFS protocols.
To manage a File System, select File from the Storage section.
From the File Systems page it is possible to create a new File System, view its properties,
modify some settings, and delete an existing File System.
The File Systems page shows the list of created File Systems with its size (in GB), the
allocated capacity, the NAS server used to share it, and the pool it was built from.
To see the details about a File System select it from the list and the details about the File
System will be displayed on the right-pane.
To view and modify the properties of a File System click the edit icon.
The General tab of the properties window depicts the details about File System utilization
details and free space. Also, the size of the File System can be expanded and shrunk from
this page.
The other tabs of the File System properties window allow the user to configure and
manage local and remote protection, and advanced storage features. Advanced storage
features will be discussed in another module.
To create a new file system with a share click on the “add” link from the File Systems
page to launch the Create a File System wizard.
The steps of the wizard include:
• Configure the Protocols the file system will support
• Select the NAS Server to associate with the file system. Prior to provisioning the file
system a NAS server must be created as explained on the previous module.
• Enter a name and optional description for the file system
• Select the storage pool to create from and the size of the file system
• Define if thin provisioning must be used to create the file system
• Optionally select a tiering policy
• Provide a name for the share
• For Windows Shares it is possible to configure additional SMB settings
• For Linux/UNIX Shares it is possible to associate it with a host profile and set the
access level: read-only, read/write, and read/write, allow root.
• Optionally configure local and remote data protection
• Review the File system to be created then click Finish
To manage file systems shares created for Windows hosts access, select File from the
Storage section.
From the SMB Shares page it is possible to create a new share, view its properties, modify
some settings, and delete an existing SMB share.
The SMB Shares page shows the list of created shares, with the used NAS server, its file
system and local path.
To see the details about a share select it from the list and the details about the share will
be displayed in the right-pane.
To view and modify the properties of an SMB share click the edit icon.
The General tab of the properties window provides details about the Share name and
location of the share: NAS Server, File System, Local Path and the Export path.
The Advanced tab allows the configuration of advanced SMB share properties:
- Continuous availability gives host applications transparent, continuous access to a share

following a failover of the NAS server on the system (with the NAS server internal state
saved or restored during the failover process).
- Protocol Encryption enables SMB encryption of the network traffic through the share.
- Access-Based Enumeration filters the list of available files on the share to include only
those to which the requesting user has read access.
- Branch Cache Enabled copies content from the share and caches it at branch offices. This
allows client computers at branch offices to access the content locally rather than over
the WAN.
- Distributed File System (DFS) allows the user to group files located on different shares
by transparently connecting them to one or more DFS namespaces.
- Offline Availability configures the client-side caching of offline files.
New SMB shares for a file system can also be created from the SMB Shares page. Click on
the “add” link to launch the Create an SMB Share wizard.
• Selection of the file system it will support
• Enter a name and optional description for the Share
• Optionally configure advanced SMB properties
• Review the SMB share to be created then click Finish
For Windows (SMB) file systems, no host information is required because host access to the
storage is controlled by network access controls set for shares.
To manage file system shares created for Linux/Unix hosts access, select File from the
Storage section.
From the NFS Shares page it is possible to create a new share, view its properties, modify
some settings, and delete an existing NFS share.
The NFS Shares page shows the list of created shares, with the used NAS server, its file
system and local path.
To see the details about a share select it from the list and the details about the share will
be displayed in the right-pane.
To view and modify the properties of an NFS share click the edit icon.
The General tab of the properties window provides details about the Share name and
location of the share: NAS Server, File System, Local Path and the Export path.
The Host Access tab allows the definition of share properties:
For Linux/UNIX (NFS) file systems, if a host configuration does not exist, determine the
host, subnet, or netgroup address according to the following:
• Single-host access: IP address of the host that will use the storage.
• Subnet access: IP address and subnet mask that defines a range of network addresses
that can access shares.
• Netgroup access: Network address of a netgroup that defines a subset of hosts that can
access shares.
• vCenter or ESX server: Name (for vCenter servers) or network address (for ESX servers).
Another information related to Linux/UNIX (NFS) file system is the l evel of access for the
host, IP subnet, or netgroup (for example, read/write, read-only, root, or no access).
New NFS shares for a file system can also be created from the NFS Shares page.
Click on the “add” link to launch the Create an NFS Share (NFS Export) wizard.
• Selection of the file system it will support
• Enter a name and optional description for the Share
• Provide access to an existing host
• Review the NFS share to be created then click Finish
This video demo shows how to provision file storage to hosts using the next-generation
Unisphere user interface.
This lesson covers the management of storage resources dedicated to VMware ESXi hosts
using Unisphere.
Unisphere provides tools for creating specialized VMware storage resources, called
datastores, and then discovering and connecting to ESXi hosts and vCenter servers on the
network through VMware host configurations.
Datastores provide storage for one or more VMware hosts. The datastore represents a
specific quantity of storage made available from a particular NAS server and storage pool.
A storage pool must be associated to a Capability Profile in order to enable VMware VVols
based storage provisioning. Capability profiles describe the desired storage characteristics
so that a user-selected policy can be mapped to a set of compatible VVol datastores.
Protocol Endpoints are access points for ESXi host communication to the storage system
used only for provisioning VVol datastores. A NAS PE looks like an NFS mount and a Block
PE looks like a LUN. Each host has a PE created or deleted automatically when access is
granted or removed respectivelly.
Datastore shares are the NFS shares created to provide VMware NFS datastores access to
the ESXi hosts.
Virtual volumes are encapsulations of virtual machine files, virtual disks, and their
derivatives. These are automatically-provisioned storage objects stored on VVol datastores.
This information is available for diagnosis of performance issues and verification.
To manage a VMware Datastore, select VMware from the Storage section.
From the VMware storage page it is possible to create a new Datastore, view its
properties, modify some settings, and delete an existing Datastore.
The VMware storage page shows the list of created VMware datastores with its size (in
GB), the allocated capacity, the used capacity, type of datastore, the NAS server used, and
the number of pools.
To see the details about a Datastore select it from the list and the details about the
Datastore will be displayed in the right-pane.
To view and modify the properties of a VMware Datastore click the edit icon.
The General tab of the properties window depicts the details about Datastore capacity
utilization and free space. Also, the size of the Datastore can be expanded from this page.
The other tabs of the Datastore properties window allow the user to configure and manage
local and remote protection, and advanced storage features. Advanced storage features will
be discussed in another module.
To create a new Datastore click on the “add” link from the Datastores page to launch the
Create VMware Datastore wizard.
• Select the type of datastore that you want to create: File, Block, VVol (File) or VVol
(Block). If you select File, select the NAS server providing storage for the new
datastore. In order to create a VVol you must create a Capability Profile which will be
discussed next.
• Enter the datastore name and optional description
• Select a storage pool to use for the datastore
• Select one of the available tiering policies for the datastore and the quantity of
primary storage to allocate for the datastore.
• In the Configure Access window, specify which hosts can access the datastore
• Optionally enable local or remote protection for the datastore.
• Review the Datastore to be created then click Finish
A VVol datastore is associated with one or more capability profiles. A capability profile is a
set of storage capabilities for a VVol datastore. These capabilities are derived based on the
underlying pools for the VVol datastore. The VVol datastore will show as compatible storage
in vCenter or the vSphere Web Client if the associated capability profiles meet VMware
storage policy requirements.
Capability profiles must be created before you can create a VVol datastore. Capability
profiles can be created at the time of pool creation (recommended), or can be added to an
existing pool later.
Capability profiles define storage properties such as drive type, RAID level, FAST Cache,
FAST VP, and space efficiency (thin, thick). Also, service levels are associated with the
profile depending on the storage pool characteristics. The user can add tags to identify how
the VVol datastores associated with the Capability Profile should be used.
To manage a Capability Profile, select VMware from the Storage section, then choose
Capability Profiles from the top sub-menu.
From the Capability Profiles page it is possible to create a new Capability Profile, view its
properties, modify some settings, and delete an existing Capability Profile.
The Capability Profile page shows the list of created VMware Capability Profiles, and the
pools it is associated with.
To see the details about a Capability Profile select it from the list and the details about the
Capability Profile will be displayed in the right-pane.
To view and modify the properties of a VMware Capability Profile click the edit icon.
The Details tab of the properties window allows you to change the name of the Capability
Profile. Also, the UUID (Universally Unique Identifier) associated with the VMware object is
displayed here for reference.
The Constraints tabs shows the space efficiency, service level, and storage properties
associated with the profile, and allows the user to add and remove user tags.
To create a new Capability Profile click on the “add” link from the Capability Profiles page
to launch the Create VMware Capability Profile wizard.
• Enter the Capability Profile name and optional description
• Select the storage pool to associate the Capability Profile with.
• Optionally enter any Usage Tags that will be used to identify how the associated VVol
datastore should be used.
• Review the Capability Profile to be created then click Finish.
Only after creating a Capability Profile and associating it with a storage pool you will be able
to create a VVol datastore.
To create a new VVol Datastore click the “add” link from the Datastores page to launch
the Create VMware Datastore wizard.
• Select the type of datastore that you want to create: VVol File or VVol Block.
• Enter the datastore name and optional description.
• Select the Capability Profile to use for the VVol datastore.
• In the Configure Access page, specify which hosts can access the datastore.
• Review the VVol Datastore to be created then click Finish
For the VVol datastores created on the array to be used for provisioning VMware storage
policy-based virtual machines the Unity system must be registered as a storage provider on
the vCenter server. That’s a task the vSphere administrator must perform using the IP
address or FQDN of the VASA provider.
The vSphere administrator can then create Virtual Machine storage policies in vSphere. The
VM storage policy defines which VVOL datastores are compatible based on the capability
profiles associated with them. The administrator can then provision the Virtual Machine and
select the storage policy and the desired VVOL datastore.
Protocol Endpoints establish a datapath between the ESXi hosts and the respective VVol
datastores. The Protocol Endpoints are automatically created when a host is granted access
to a VVol datastore.
From the Protocol Endpoints page it is possible to view the properties and status of each
one of the PEs. The Protocol Endpoints page shows the list of created PEs, the type
(iSCSI or NFS) and the VMware UUID associated with it.
To see the details about a Protocol Endpoint select it from the list and the details about the
PE will be displayed in the right-pane.
This video demo shows how to provision VMware datastores to ESXi hosts using the next-
generation Unisphere user interface.
This module covered the Unisphere tasks that deal with the management and optimization
of Unity storage resources: storage pools, LUNs and Consistency Groups, File Systems and
VMware Datastores.
This module focuses on the configuration and management of FAST Cache and FAST VP,
setting Host I/O limits to storage resources, and managing File System Quotas.
Advanced Storage features include the FAST cache, FAST VP, Host I/O Limits and File
System Quotas.
FAST Cache is a large capacity secondary cache that uses SAS Flash 2 drives to improve
system performance. FAST Cache uses the Flash disks for the most frequently accessed
data in the storage system instead of dedicating Flash disks to a particular application.
Individual storage pools can be configured to use the FAST Cache, so that all storage
resources created in those pools use the FAST Cache.
Fully Automated Storage Tiering for Virtual Pools (FAST VP) enables the system to retain
the most frequently accessed or important data on fast, high-performance disks and move
the less frequently accessed and less important data to lower-performance, cost-effective
disks.
Both FAST Cache and FAST VP are not available in an All Flash Array configuration.
The Quality of Service feature is used to limit the amount of host IO that is serviced by the
storage system. It is not a guarantee of a level of IO. QoS is supported for LUNs, attached
Snapshots, and VMFS Datastores. QoS has the ability to limit host IO based on Maximum
IOPS or Maximum Bandwidth (KBPS or MBPS) or both.
File system quotas are used to enforce the limitation of disk space consumption defined per
user, directory or quota configurations.
FAST Cache can be created on licensed physical Unity systems with available SAS Flash 2
drives. In Unisphere, the FAST Cache can be created when running the Initial Configuration
wizard, or when accessing the system settings page.
In the Settings page, select the FAST Cache option under the Storage Configuration
section. Then hit the Create button and select the FAST Cache disks from available SAS
Flash drives and choose whether to enable FAST Cache for existing pools. The process will
create RAID Groups, add storage to FAST Cache and enable it for existing storage pools (if
the checkbox was selected). The status of the used disks can be seen from the FAST Cache
disks.
After the FAST Cache is created it can be expanded by adding more SAS Flash disks to it,
have disks removed from it, or it can be deleted.
The user can expand the FAST Cache capacity online by adding more SAS Flash 2 drives to
it.
To expand the FAST Cache, select Expand. Then select the amount of disks to add to the
FAST Cache.
FAST Cache supports online shrink. The user can shrink the FAST Cache by removing drives
from its configuration. It is possible to remove all but 1 RAID 1 pair – each RAID 1 pair is
considered a FAST Cache object.
To shrink the FAST Cache, select Shrink. Then select the amount of disks to remove from
the FAST Cache. A warning message will be displayed. Removing the drives from FAST
Cache requires the flushing of dirty data from each set being removed to disk.
Although the FAST Cache is a global resource, it is enabled on a per pool basis.
You can configure a pool to use the FAST Cache during pool creation.
For existing pools, navigate to the Pools page in Unisphere and select the storage pool to
modify its settings.
Click on the edit sign to open the properties page. Then use the General tab in the
Storage Pool Properties page to enable the FAST Cache. Check Use the FAST Cache and
click Apply.
To change system-level data relocation configuration on the Unity system, click on the
Settings icon on the top of the page, then under the Storage Configuration section select
the FAST VP option. The FAST VP settings page displays whether scheduled relocations
are enabled for the system.
The Relocation Schedule defines the timeframe during which FAST VP relocations are
allowed to occur. Users can select which days, and the timeframe during those days, for
relocations to occur. Relocations will continue to cycle as long as the Relocation Window is
open.
The user can manually pause (hit the pause button) and resume (hit the resume button)
the scheduled data relocations on the system, change the data relocation rate, disable and
re-enable scheduled data relocations, and modify the relocation window.
From Unisphere select Pools under the Storage section.
Select the pool and click on the pencil icon to edit its properties. Then navigate to the FAST
VP tab. The page will display the information of the tiers that are part of the pool including
the amount of data to be moved up and down between the tiers.
From the same page it is also possible to take the pool out of the data relocation schedule
and manually start the data relocation.
From Unisphere select Block or File under the Storage section.
Select the storage resource (LUN, Consistency Group or File System) and click on the pencil
icon to edit its properties. Then navigate to the FAST VP tab. The page will display the
information of the tiers that are been used for data distribution. From this page it is then
possible to change the tiering policy for the data relocation.
Quality of Service (QoS) can be set on physical or virtual deployments of Unity systems and
is supported on LUNs, snapshots, and VMFS Datastores.
QoS is either enabled or disabled in a Unity system. All host I/O limits are active if the
feature is active. By default, the system’s use of I/O limit policies is disabled.
From the Unisphere GUI, open the Settings window and select Performance under the
Management section. Then click on the Resume button to enable the use of Host I/O limits
by the system.
The host I/O limit policies are based on maximum IOPS (IOs per second) and maximum
bandwidth in KBPS (kilobytes per second) or MBPS (megabytes per second), or both.
To create a host I/O limit policy in Unisphere select Performance under the system section.
Then click on the “add sign” link. On the Create Host I/O Limit wizard window provide the
name for the policy and optional description then enter the maximum threshold for the
policy: maximum IOPS and/or maximum bandwidth. Then check the box if the I/O limit
policy is to be shared. If the box is unchecked, each resource will be assigned the specified
limits. If the box is checked then the resources the policy is assigned to are treated as a
group, and all the resources share the limits applied.
Then finally assign the policy to the desired storage resources.
Host I/O limit policies can also be created via command line interface using the uemcli
syntax shown here.
To assign a Host I/O limit to a LUN the user must navigate to the LUNs page in Unisphere.
Then select the LUN and open its properties window. Select the Host I/O Limit policy that
was created from the drop-down list.
Both real-time and historical data can be displayed. When you select a real -time display,
data is retrieved every 5 seconds in a 15 minute window.
This video demo shows how to set Host I/O limits to provisioned storage and monitor
Quality of Service (QOS) performance in Unisphere.
To manage the default quota settings, you must select and edit the properties of a file
system. From Unisphere select File under the Storage section. Then select the file system
and click on the pencil icon to edit its properties.
From the File System properties page select the Quota tab. Then click on the Manage
Quota Settings link on the top right-corner of the window.
The default quota policy is File Size.
Check the box to enable the enforcement of user quotas at the file system level.
Then change the default soft and hard limits for those quotas. Then specify the grace period
for which users of the file system can remain over the soft limit before it becomes the hard
limit. Click OK when done to apply the changes.
To define explicit quotas for individual users at the file system level, from Unisphere select
File under the Storage section, then select the desired file system and click on the pencil
icon to edit its properties. On the User Quota Report page click on the “add” sign to create
a user quota.
Then from the User name section of the Create a User Quota wizard click on the “add”
sign to configure a user. Select the host type and the user name or User ID (define the
domain name for windows accounts). Click on Add user. The user is displayed in the list of
users – select it and click on next to advance to the next screen. Enter the soft and hard
limits and click next. Review the summary of changes and click the finish button. The
progress and conclusion of the operation will be displayed on the Results page. Close it
once the operation is done. Observe that the new user quota is displayed on the User Quota
Report page.
Quota trees can be created for each directory or subdirectory that will be created in the file
system. To create a quota tree select the File system under the File Systems option of the
File page from the Storage section in Unisphere. Then click on the “pencil” icon to edit the
file system properties. Navigate to the Quota tab, and select the Quota Tree option.
Then click on the “add symbol” icon to launch the Create Quota Tree wizard.
Define the path (relative to the file system root) of the directory you want to apply the
quota.
Then assign the soft and hard limits for the quota policy. Review the configuration on the
Summary page and click Finish to apply the settings to the quota. The next page will show
the results of the operation. Click Close to terminate the wizard.
For each quota tree it is necessary to define default limits and explicit quotas for users at
the quota tree level.
Select the quota tree and click on the “pencil” to edit its properties.
On the Quota Tree Properties window, click on the Enforce User Quotas checkbox, and
define the default soft and hard limits. Then click on the “add symbol” to launch the
Create User Quota wizard. Click on the “add symbol” to open the Configure User window.
Enter the host type, the domain (in case of Windows users) and the user name. Then click
on the Add User button. Click Next to advance the wizard. Enter the soft and hard limits for
the user. Review the configuration and click Finish.
This video demo shows how to set default quotas, user quotas and tree quotas for a file
system.
This module covered the configuration and management of FAST Cache and FAST VP,
setting Host I/O limits to storage resources, and managing File System Quotas.
This course covered topics related to the configuration and management of a Unity storage
system using Unisphere. The focus areas included the basic system configuration settings
and monitoring , basic storage administration and advanced storage features.
This concludes the training.

Unity Administration and Management - SRG

Încărcat de

Informații document

Titlu original

Drepturi de autor

Formate disponibile

Partajați acest document

Partajați sau inserați document

Opțiuni de partajare

Vi se pare util acest document?

Este necorespunzător acest conținut?

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

Unity Administration and Management - SRG

Încărcat de

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

Welcome to the Unity Administration and Management.

• Management accounts: Administrator privileges for resetting default passwords,

Unisphere provides an overall view of what is happening in the environment plus an

Use Unisphere GUI for managing a Unity storage system.

• Configuring and monitoring the system.

• Controlling host access to storage.

In the Settings configuration window it is possible to monitor installed licenses, manage

Select the Add icon.

Specify the account information.

Specify the LDAP server credentials:

Enter the domain name of the LDAP authentication server.

Enter the network name or address of the LDAP server.

Select the Management section of the Settings window.

Choose the Unisphere IPs tab.

Click Apply to commit the changes.

• Messages Generated Internally by syslogd - Messages generated internally by the system

Then click Apply to commit the changes.

When done click on the OK button.

• iqn is the naming convention identifier.

• com.xyz is the domain of the node backwards.

Then follow the Create a NAS Server wizard steps:

• Optionally configure remote replication for the NAS Server.

The results of the process will be displayed.

The results of the process will be displayed.

The results of the process will be displayed.

- Continuous availability gives host applications transparent, continuous access to a share

- Offline Availability configures the client-side caching of offline files.

The results of the process will be displayed.

The Host Access tab allows the definition of share properties:

The results of the process will be displayed.

The results of the process will be displayed.

The results of the process will be displayed.

The results of the process will be displayed.

Then finally assign the policy to the desired storage resources.

The default quota policy is File Size.

This concludes the training.

S-ar putea să vă placă și