NAS migration using Robocopy

Robocopy - A command line utility to copy files from one location to other
Operating System -  Windows (installed in 2008), older versions can download from here
Command - 'robocopy'

Configure anonymous FTP access on VNX

Step:1 Disable FTP

server_ftp server_2 -service -stop

Step:2 Log in to Control Station as root

Step:3 Change to /nas/sbin direcotry

cd /nas/sbin

Celerra to VNX CIFS migration

Scenario: Migrate CIFS shares on Celerra to VNX

Tool: After experimenting with 4 different tools I recommend using Celerra Replicator as the best tool for this requirement

License: Get the free 180 day trial license for celerra replicator V2

Click here to learn about VDM

Useful Celerra commands

Command:1 Create file system

/nas/bin/nas_fs -name fs1 -type uxfs -create size=<initial size> pool=<from pool> -auto_extend yes -max_size <max size> -vp yes -option slice=y,mover=server_2

Command:2 Create Mount Point

/nas/bin/server_mountpoint server_2 -create /fs1

Command:3 Mount File System

/nas/bin/server_mount server_2 fs1 /fs1

Command:4 Enable Unicode for CIFS Compatibility

/nas/sbin/uc_config -on -mover server_2

Setup iSCSI storage on Celerra

Step:1 Validate network interface on data mover

server_ifconfig server_2 -all

Step:2 Create and mount a file system called iSCSI

nas_fs -n iscsi -c size=100G pool=clar_r5_performance

server_mount server_2 iscsi /iscsi

Step:3 Create the celerra iSCSI target

server_iscsi server_2 -target -alias target -create 1000:np=172.12.32.189

Virtual Data Mover (VDM)

What is a VDM?
=============
-It is a feature that allows the separation of CIFS servers and their associated environment into virtual containers
-Enables replication of CIFS environments from a primary site to a secondary site without impacting server access
-Allows the movement of CIFS servers from one Data Mover to another
-VDMs store dynamic configuration data such as; local groups, shares, security credentials, audit logs, home dir information, kerberos

NetApp Cluster-mode networking deep dive!

While administering NetApp cluster-mode, it's very important to understand networking and related concepts for successful troubleshooting in case of network failures. In this post I will be discussing the key network concepts related to cluster-mode.

Networking has gained special focus in cluster-mode with a goal to integrate fully qualified, high-performance switches into the sacle-out cluster and management networl

Key concepts:
==========
-Each controller have multiple physical network ports depending upon the controller model
-Physical network ports and logical interfaces (LIFs) are two different entities
-SAN environments use HBA ports as data ports

Replicated database - NetApp cluster-mode

The RDB is the 'vol0' volume which is created on every node of the cluster to manage the cluster operations. No user data is contained in it and is not available for client visibility. RDB's are made up of four units namely VLDB, Vifmgr, management and BCOM.

Dataflow in NetApp cluster-mode

To understand the dataflow in cluster-mode, one needs to understand the four major software components along with other key software components on every node in the cluster, they are as follows:

a. N-blade, network "blade"
b. D-blade, data "blade"
c. SCSI-blase, SCSI SAN "blade"
d. M-host, Management blade

Vserver and Flex Vol creation - NetApp Cluster-mode

Scenario:
======
a. Create a cluster virtual server (Vserver)
b. Create a flex vol

Step:1 View the available Vservers in the cluster

vserver show

"node" Vservers are the scope where vol0 volumes exist and the node management LIFs and cluster LIFs of each node. The "admin" Vserveris the scope in which the cluster management LIF exists

NetApp Cluster-mode aggregate creation

Scenario:
======
a. Create a new aggregate with name node1_aggr1 on node1
b. Add disks to the aggregate

Run SPcollects on Clariion - Basics

SPcollects contain detailed log and configuration data for a CLARiiON Storage Processor.  These are used by EMC Support to diagnose faults and configuration problems.  Gathering these files when creating a Service Request is highly recommended to troubleshoot a problem.  SPcollects should also be retrieved when gathering data for a performance analysis, along with NAR files.

An SPcollect has the filename format of:

Serial Number _ SP A/B _ Year_Month_Day _ Time _ signature _data.zip

A file that ends with runlog.txt, indicates that an SPcollect is still running and this will disappear once the SPcollect file completes.

Enhancements to NFS and SMB - NetApp Cluster-mode support

NFSv4:
=====
1. Data ONTAP 8.1 cluster-mode introduces support for NFSv4 protocol specification as well as elements of NFSv 4.1
2. cluster mode continues to fully support NFSv2 and NFSv3 although you should not use NFSv2 with cluster mode
3. NFSv4 support brings the Data ONTAP 8.1 cluster mode operating system in parity with the Data ONTAP 7.3 operating system
4. The key feature of NFSv4 is referrals, NFSv4.1 is a minor revision of version 4.0 and is an extension of version 4 not a modification, so it's fully compliant with the NFSv4 specification it extends delegations beyond files to directories and send links introduces NFS sessions for enhanced efficiency and reliability provides parallel NFS, pNFS

Basics of NetApp Cluster-mode Shells

Similar to 7-mode we have three administrative privilage levels: admin, advanced and diagnostic. Clustered ONTAP system can be managed either from CLI or GUI (system manager or element manager). There are three different shells available with different scopes: Clustershell, nodeshell, systemshell

Step:1 Access through CLI

Clustershell:
=========
-SSH is default method
-One can access clustershell using cluster management LIF (recommended) or the node management LIFs
-Scope: entire cluster

Steps to setup NetApp Cluster-mode

Step: 1 Hardware setup

a. Connect controllers to disk shelves (FC connectivity)
b. NVRAM interconnect to high availability cable between partners (10GbE or infiniBand)
c. Connect controllers to network such that each node have exactly two connections to the dedicated cluster network, at least one data connection. Also the well known RLM connection for troubleshooting purposes when needed.

Basics of NetApp Data ONTAP Cluster-mode

With ever increasing business needs the amount of data need to be stored, managed and backed up is getting complicated. To handle this kind of requirements industry has two models: scale up and scale out.

Scale up: 
======
1. limits performance and capacity
2. additional controllers are managed independently and do not provide any shared resources
3. not the best model for larger environments

How a qtree be accessed by both Unix and Windows - NetApp

Caution: I don't recommend using mixed mode for different reasons. Use UNIX style!

Step:1 Create a Unix qtree on the filer and export it for Unix clients
filer> qtree create /vol/vol0/share
filer> exportfs -o root=<unix_server> /vol/vol0/share

Step:2 From the Unix server mount the filer's share
unix> mount filer:/vol/vol0/share /share

UNIX host to access data with NTFS security style using NFS

Step:1 User login from the UNIX host, the host requests user and group information for the user from the name services configured in the /etc/nsswitch.conf file. The data can be retrieved from local files, an NIS server, or an LDAP server.

Step:2 The configured name service returns user and group information to the UNIX host.
All user information needed to log in, including UID, GID, and the user shell and home directory, is returned. Additionally, the user’s secondary group GIDs are returned.

MultiProtocol on NetApp storage system - Part 1

Ever wonder how to allocate same volume to both Windows and Unix environment on NetApp systems? Many of my colleagues and friends have questions on this and so I determined to write up a article on this, hope it makes good sense.

After the drive is mapped or an export is mounted users that request data access on the network must be authenticated by whatever method is configured, typically windows clients are authenticated in a windows domain or very less frequently by the workstation. Unix users are authenticated by system or kerberos (network-based authentication).

Open Replicator Hot Pull Migration Simplified!

Scenario:

=======