Managing Virtual Private Storage Arrays

Virtual private storage array instances running in the cloud can be centrally managed and monitored by cloud admins from Command center. Command center VPSA management feature set provides administrators with a single pain of glass in which the receive a holistic image of the underlying instances status and operations and allows for enforcements of policies , lifecycle management and supervised resource distribution.

Viewing Virtual Private Storage Array Properties

Specific VPSAs can be reached by clicking on the VPSAs label on Command centers left menu panel and selecting the appropriate Instance from the displayed list. The VPSA main dashboard tab provides information regarding its configuration, current health status and network topology.

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Property

Description

Name

Instance display name

Internal Name

internal instance name

Company

Creating user company

Description

Description given while instance was provisioned

Nova ID

Nova ID for this instance

Status

Current Instance status

Protection Zone

Instance protection zone configuration

Image

Instance deployment image

IO Engine Type

VPSA IO Engine Flavor

App Engine Type

VPSA APP Engine Flavor

VCPUs

Instance VCPU count

RAM

Instance Configured RAM capacity

Base cache

Instance Base Cache capacity

Extended Cache

Instance Extended SSD cache configured capacity

Setup Volume Capacity

Instance setup volume capacity

IP Address

Instance Floating frontend IP address

Public IP

Instance public IP address

Mgmt. Address

Instance hostname for management access

UUID

Instance UUID

SNMPv3 Engine ID

Instance SNMPv3 EngineID

Created

Creation timestamp

Updated

Last update timestamp

The main dashboard also contains monitoring charts regarding the VPSA capacity utilization and Network activity.

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For VPSA Flash array the main dashboard also contains a data reduction savings chart presenting used capacity vs. provisioned and effective capacity. The Flash Array Data reduction tile also includes information about savings from inline data deduplication and inline data compression and the VPSA overall data reduction ratio.

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The VPSA resource tabs provides information regarding underlying resources attached to the VPSA:

  • Physical drives

  • Virtual controllers

  • RAID groups

  • Pools

Note

The RAID group tab also displays information on internal groups such as Metering and journal which are not visible or accessible to VPSA users.

The VPSA Pools tab contains pool capacity consumption trend charts that provides cloud administration with an overview of the pools capacity change over time and the effect of data reduction mechanisms such as deduplication and compression on all flash VPSA pools. To present the capacity trend for a specific pool navigate to the VPSA pools tab, select the required pool and click on the relevant chart icon on the capacity trend column.

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The pool capacity charts display differs between a hybrid VPSA and a Flash VPSA:

An all flash VPSA pool capacity trend display contains 2 charts:

  • Overall pool capacity trend over time

  • Provisioned capacity vs. virtual capacity and effective capacity over time

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A hybrid VPSA pool capacity trend contains only the Overall pool capacity trend over time chart.

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Configuring Virtual Private Storage Array Settings

To view or alter VPSA settings click on the Settings tab on the VPSA dashboard.

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Remote mirroring properties

Parameter

Description

Dst total quota pc

Allowance for amount of unapplied data for all VPSA mirror jobs 0 - No quota enforcement

Connections count

Number of TCP sessions established between two VPAs performing mirroring

Backup to object storage(B2OS)

Parameter

Description

Src buffers count

Amount of source buffers allocated for B2OS activities

Dst buffers count

Amount of destination buffers allocated for B2OS activities

NAS defragmentation

Parameter

Description

Minimum extents count

Amount of extents a file needs to have to be considered for defragmentation

RAID

Parameter

Description

Allow mixed types

Is HDD type mixture in RAID group/pool allowed?

RAID6 max drives

Maximum members in a RAID-6 group

Maximum Pool & Volume Sizes

Parameter

Description

Pool repository max size

Maximum capacity(TB) of a repository pool

Pool transactional max size

Maximum capacity(TB) of a transactional pool

Pool archival max size

Maximum capacity(TB) of a archival pool

Maximum Pool & Volume Sizes

Parameter

Description

Check interval

Interval in seconds for validation of metered objects threshold alerts

Report interval

Interval in seconds for rate limiting all metered objects thresholds alerts

Read cache late IO threshold

Amount of read hit IO operations with late time exception required to trigger an alert

Read cache late IO threshold time(ms)

Read hit IO operation service time value that is considered as late IO

Write cache late IO threshold

Amount of write hit IO operations with late time exception required to trigger an alert

Write cache late io threshold time (ms)

Write hit IO operation service time value that is considered as late IO

Enable metering upload agent

Enable upload of metering data to an external cloud repository

Ticket Settings Please go to Managing Cloud Settings Management settings section in this manual for details regarding the ticket settings section

Performing Virtual Private Storage Array Operations

Changing VPSA engine configuration

Command center can be used to modify a VPSA engine type (to a bigger or smaller engine) and to add or change configuration of a VPSA ZCS engine.

To change engine configuration click on the actions button from the VPSA dashboard and select Change Engine Type(s) from the drop down menu.

In the popup window that will appear select the type of VPSA engine you would like to shift to and/or the type of ZCS engine.

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You can also configure advanced option for the model change process by clicking on Advanced options

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option

Description

Advanced scheduling

Configure when does the engine change process performs required virtual controller failover: Immediate Failover will take place immediately after Standby Virtual Controller engine is changed(default) Manual Failover will be done on demand, upon Resume action initiation Scheduled Failover will be done at the requested time (starting 30 minutes from now and up to 7 days).

Version upgrade

Perform VPSA version upgrade alongside the engine model change process

Click on the Change Engine Type(s) button to proceed and approve the operation in the popup windows that will appear. The engine reconfiguration process will commence and your VPSA status will be modified to change engine and will be remodified to Normal as the process concludes.

Adding physical drives

To add physical drives to a VPSA click the Actions button then select Add drives from the drop down menu. On the popup dialog that will appear select the number of drives to be added and the drive type. Click on the Add drives button, the request will be submitted.

Note

New Drives added to a VPSA will not be associated with a RAID group or data pool. The VPSA administrator will be required to configure drive association.

Change VPSA cache configuration

Cloud Administrators can use Command center to change the Flash cache configuration of a VPSA and add/remove Flash cache capacity on top of the specific model baseline.

Note

VPSA model 200 does not support extended flash cache.

To change cache configuration for a specific VPSA click the Actions button then select Change Cache from the drop down menu. On the popup dialog that will appear select the new cache configuration you would like to apply for the VPSA and click on the Submit button to confirm.

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Upgrading a VPSA

Command center allows administrators to perform version upgrade on the VPSA instances running in the cloud. To perform version upgrade click on the Actions button then select Upgrade from the drop down menu.

On the popup dialog that will appear select the specific image level to which you would like to upgrade to. Advanced options for upgrade can also be selected these options include the ability to schedule the VPSA upgrade and perform an manual VPSA upgrade ( failover performed manually by admin). You can also request that version checking will be skipped in the upgrade process. to finalize selection click on the Upgrade button .

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Another Pop up dialog will appear requesting confirmation for upgrading to the selected version click on the Upgrade button to confirm the process.

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The request will be submitted and the VPSA status property will change to Upgrading version while the process is running.

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When the VPSA version upgrade process is completed the status property will be changed back to Normal.

Note

A scheduled VPSA upgrade operation performs immediate upgrade of the passive virtual controller.

Canceling a Scheduled VPSA upgrade For VPSAs in version 20.12 and above who was set up for a scheduled upgrade operation this scheduled upgrade can be canceled from Command Center.

To cancel a scheduled upgrade click on the Actions button then select Cancel Scheduled upgrade from the drop down menu. on the popup window that will appear confirm upgrade cancellation and the scheduled upgrade will be canceled.

Note

As scheduled upgrade operation performs immediate upgrade of the passive virtual controller
canceling a schedule upgrade will revert the passive virtual controller back to the base version.

Assigning a Public IP address to a VPSA

In specific cases where a VPSA needs to be available for management access from outside of his Cloud allocated VLAN, a public IP address can be assigned to it. On information regarding the definition of Cloud level public IP ranges please refer to Creating Public IP addresses in this manual.

To assign a public IP address go to the appropriate object storage instance and click the Actions button and select assign public IP from the drop down menu.

Note

- From cloud version 20.12 VPSA upgrade to a version which more then 2 major release higher then the
current version will be blocked by Command Center
- From cloud version 20.12 VPSA version downgrade will be blocked by Command Center

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Public IP addresses can be automatically assigned from a cloud level pool or manually selected. To automatically assign a public IP address: On the popup dialog that will appear make sure Automatic IP address assignment is selected and confirm the operation by clicking on the Confirm button. To manually select a specific public IP address: On the popup dialog that will appear select Manual IP address assignment, select the required public IP and confirm the operation by clicking on the Confirm button.

Note

- Manual public IP assignment is only available for VPSAs in version 20.01 and above
- Public IP is not supported for VPSA object storage instances with IPV6 frontend address

Adding\Removing a virtual network to a VPSA

An Existing VSPA is created with one primary virtual network and can be assigned with additional virtual networks. VPSAs connected to multiple networks can be utilized to Enable use cases requiring per volume partitioning/isolation.

To assign a virtual network to a VPSA first make sure that an appropriate virtual network is defined in the cloud (except the one already used by the VPSA). Click the Actions button and select Add Virtual Network from the drop down menu.

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On the popup dialog that will appear select the appropriate virtual network and confirm the operation by clicking on the Add button.

Warning

Addition of a virtual network will restart SMB services causing existing mapped shares to be temporarily unavailable.

When the add operation completes the newly added virtual network should be displayed in the VPSA virtual networks tab.

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Note

  • Number of virtual networks per VPSA is limited to 5.

  • VPSA REST API/GUI is accessible through any virtual networks.

  • Only Primary virtual networks IP is registered in DNSimple

  • VPSA can’t have two virtual networks with the same VLAN.

  • Only “Primary Virtual Network” is a routable network. Remaining virtual networks are not routable.

  • Active Directory can be joined only through “primary virtual network”.

  • Backup (B2OS), Mirror, Remote Clone through FE network are only allowed via the “primary virtual network”.

  • ZCS container services exposed through FE network can be done only on “primary virtual network”.

  • “iSER” host connectivity is available only on the “Primary Virtual Network”.

To release a virtual network from a VPSA click the Actions button and select Release Virtual Network from the drop down menu.

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On the popup dialog that will appear select the appropriate virtual network and confirm the operation by clicking on the Release button.

Note

Release of a virtual network will restart SMB services causing existing mapped shares to be temporarily unavailable.
The exact reaction to such disconnections is dependent on the underlying application that is using the files shares.

Reconfirm the release operation on the popup dialog that will appear by clicking the red Release button.

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Dedicating VPSA to NeoKarm compute cloud

A VPSA can be connected to a NeoKarm compute cloud to be utilized as a backend to a NeoKarm Storage Pool ( used for creation of EBS compatible block volumes for NeoKarm VMs). A VPSA connected to NeoKarm cloud is used solely for this compute cloud and therefore “dedicated” to it.

To dedicate a VPSA to a NeoKarm Compute Cloud click the actions and select Dedicate VPSA to Compute from the drop down menu.

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On the popup dialog that will appear provide the following :

  • An admin username for this VPSA to be used by NeoKarm for VPSA API

  • The admin user password

You can also toggle :

  • Volume encryption for the compute cloud block volumes provisioned from this VPSA

  • The use of VPSA default snapshot policies for the compute cloud block volumes

  • Whether this VPSA will be attached to the NeoKarm compute cloud default storage pool.

After providing all required information click on submit to confirm dedication of this VPSA .

The operation will commence. If it concludes successfully the VPSA will be marked with a image256 label.

Releasing a VPSA from NeoKarm compute cloud dedication

A VPSA dedicated to NeoKarm compute cloud can be released from its dedication.

To release a VPSA from compute cloud dedication click the actions and select Release VPSA from Compute from the drop down menu.

On the popup dialog that will appear confirm release by clicking on the submit button.

Performing managed virtual controller failover

Command center can be used to trigger a managed VPSA failover to its standby virtual controller. Managed failover can be used by cloud administrator to evacuate all active virtual controllers from a specific Storage node before infrastructure operations or hardware replacement.

Warning

Virtual controller failover restart SMB services causing existing mapped shares to be temporarily unavailable.
The exact reaction to such disconnections is dependent on the underlying application that is using the files shares.

To perform virtual controller failover click the Actions button and select Failover from the drop down menu. Failover can be performed immediately or be scheduled to a specific date and time.

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To perform immediate Failover: on the popup dialog that will appear confirm the action by clicking on the Failover button or click on the advanced settings link and make sure that failover is set to immediate and then click on the Failover button.

To schedule failover to a specific point in time: on the popup dialog that will appear click on the advanced settings and select Scheduled, select the date and time in which failover should be performed and then click on the Failover button.

The failover process will be initiated, Failover status and progress can be monitored from the VPSA log tab.

Moving a virtual controller

In cases where the cloud Storage Node inventory & capacity are sufficient- virtual controllers can be moved from the SN the currently reside in to another. Both primary and secondary virtual controllers can be moved, moving the primary virtual controller will trigger a failover operation prior to its relocation.

to move a virtual controller failover click the Actions button and select Move Virtual controller from the drop down menu.

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Select the virtual controller you want to relocate and select one or more storage nodes as the destination, in case multiple storage node a slected relocation will be performed to the first SN that has sufficient resource capacity. to confirm relocation click on the Move button.

Note

- Virtual controllers that belong to a VPSA instance with sw version older then 20.01 cannot be spawn on Storage Nodes with ConnectX-5 NICs

Hibernate a VPSA

VPSA Hibernation will take the instance offline and free its consumed resources ( vCPU , RAM ) on the Storage Nodes level. Hibernation of a VPSA will also reduce its associated service cost. For VPSA in a hibernated state only drives are billed. Hibernating a VPSA involves the process of deleting its Virtual Controllers (the VPSA) while maintaining the data drives and all the necessary metadata to resume its operation at a later stage. Resuming a hibernated VPSA only takes a few minutes.

To hibernate a VPSA click the Actions button and select Hibernate from the drop down menu. On the popup dialog that will appear Type HIBERNATE on the textbox item as required and confirm the operation by clicking on the Hibernate button.

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The request will be submitted for processing, upon successful completion the VPSA status will change to Hibernated.

Creating VPSA Zsnap

To Trigger Manual creation of Zsnap for a VPSA go to its dashboard, click the Actions button and select Create Zsnap from the drop down menu.

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VPSA Zsnaps can be created immediately or scheduled. To create Zsnap immediately: On the popup dialog that will appear provide the prefix for the Zsnap and confirm creation by clicking on the Create Zsnap button. To schedule a Zsnap creation: On the popup dialog that will appear provide the prefix for the Zsnap and click on Advanced option. select Scheduled Zsnap and provide creation date and time. to confirm scheduling the Zsnap click on the Create Zsnap button.

Purging\Restoring a deleted VPSA

Any VPSA instance that has been deleted from the cloud will remain in the clouds recycle bin for a period specified in it’s settings (see Managing Cloud Settings). Cloud administrator can manually purge a deleted VPSA prior to the recycle bin retention period expiration to free cloud resources allocated by it (Physical drives). Administrator can also restore the VPSA from the recycle bin and get it up and running on the same data set it contained as it was deleted.

To purge a VPSA from the clouds recycle bin make sure the status of the VPSA is Recycle bin , click the Actions button then select Purge from the drop down menu. Type the VPSA ID specified in the popup dialog that will appear and click on the Purge button to confirm the operation.

To restore a VPSA from the clouds recycle bin make sure the status of the VPSA is recycle bin , click the Actions button then select Restore from the drop down menu. On the popup dialog that will appear click on the Restore button to confirm the operation. The restoration will start and the VPSA status will be modified to Lunching and reverted back to Normal as the restoration concludes.