Administrator Guide
Table Of Contents
- Dell EqualLogic Group Manager Administrator’s Guide PS Series Firmware Version 9.1 FS Series Firmware Version 4.0
- About This Manual
- About Group Manager
- Architecture Fundamentals
- Set Up the iSCSI SAN
- Post-Setup Tasks
- Data Security
- About Group-Level Security
- Enable or Disable GUI and CLI Access
- Switch Administration Authentication Type
- About Administration Accounts
- Types of Administration Accounts
- Differences Between Authentication Methods
- Administration Account Attributes
- About Security Access Protocols
- SSH Key Pair Authentication
- Minimum Requirements for Administrative Access
- Create a Local Administration Account
- Modify Local Administration Accounts
- Delete Local Administration Accounts
- About RADIUS Accounts
- About LDAP Authorization and Active Directory
- About Single Sign-On
- About SNMP Access to the Group
- About VDS and VSS Authentication
- About IPsec
- About Dedicated Management Networks
- About Volume-Level Security
- Connect Initiators to iSCSI Targets
- Access Control Methods
- About Access Policies
- Access Policies: Use Cases
- Create a New Access Policy
- Create a New Basic Access Point
- Modify or Delete a Basic Access Point
- Modify Access Policies and Basic Access Points by Volume
- Associate Access Control Policies with Volumes
- Create an Access Policy Group
- Associate an Access Policy Group to a Volume
- Manage Access Controls for VDS/VSS Access
- Authenticate Initiators with CHAP
- Display Local CHAP Accounts
- Create a Local CHAP Account
- Modify a Local CHAP Account
- Delete a Local CHAP Account
- Configure CHAP for Initiator Authentication on Existing Volumes
- Configure CHAP for Initiator Authentication on New Volumes
- Configure CHAP Accounts on a RADIUS Authentication Server
- Configure Target Authentication
- About iSNS Servers
- Prevent Discovery of Unauthorized Targets
- About Multihost Access to Targets
- About Snapshot Access Controls
- About NAS Container Security
- PS Series Group Operations
- About Group Network Configuration
- Modify the Group IP Address or Group Name
- Add a Member to an Existing Group
- Set the RAID Policy and Pool for a New Member
- Enable and Disable a Volume RAID Preference
- About Overriding Automatic Load Balancing
- Shut Down a Group
- Create an Empty Storage Pool
- Create a Storage Pool from an Existing Member
- Change a Storage Pool Name or Description
- Merge Storage Pools
- Delete a Storage Pool
- About Groupwide Volume Defaults
- About Space Borrowing
- About Compression of Snapshots and Replicas
- Compression Prerequisites
- About Rehydration
- About Compression Statistics
- Compression Statistics by Pool
- Compression Statistics by Member
- Compression Statistics by Volume
- Member Compression States
- Enable Compression
- Suspend Compression
- Resume Compression
- View Compression Statistics by Pool
- View Compression Statistics by Member
- View Compression Statistics by Volume
- Compression Commands in the CLI
- About Volumes
- Create a Volume
- Modify a Volume Name or Description
- Modify a Volume Permission
- Modify a Volume Alias
- Modify the Administrator for a Volume
- About Smart Tags
- Set a Volume Offline or Online
- Delete a Volume
- About Volume Collections
- About Volume Folders
- About Restoring Deleted Volumes
- About Changing the Reported Volume Size
- About Reclaiming Unallocated Space
- Set a Volume or Snapshot with Lost Blocks Online
- Volume and Snapshot Status
- Volume and Snapshot Requested Status
- About Managing Storage Capacity Utilization On Demand (Thin Provisioning)
- About Improving Pool Space Utilization (Template Volumes and Thin Clones)
- About Data Center Bridging
- VMware Group Access Panel
- NAS Operations
- NAS Cluster Operations
- NAS Cluster Configuration
- NAS Cluster Post-Setup Tasks
- Modify a NAS Cluster Name
- Modify NAS Clusterwide Default NAS Container Settings
- Select an NFS Protocol Version
- Modify the Size of the NAS Reserve
- Add a Local Group for a NAS Cluster
- Delete a Local Group from a NAS Cluster
- Add a Local User on a NAS Cluster
- Modify a Local User on a NAS Cluster
- Delete a Local User from a NAS Cluster
- Map Users for a NAS Cluster
- Set the User Mapping Policy for a NAS Cluster
- Delete a User Mapping for a NAS Cluster
- Configure an Active Directory for a NAS Cluster
- Configure Preferred Domain Controllers
- Leave Active Directory
- Configure or Modify NIS or LDAP for a NAS Cluster
- Delete NIS or LDAP Configuration for a NAS Cluster
- Modify the Client Network Configuration
- Configure DNS for a NAS Cluster
- About the Internal Network Required for NAS Configuration
- About NAS Cluster Maintenance Mode
- Shut Down and Restart a NAS Cluster Manually
- About Deleting a NAS Cluster
- NAS Controller Operations
- NAS Container Operations
- Create a NAS Container
- Modify NAS Clusterwide Default NAS Container Settings
- Modify NAS Clusterwide Default NAS Container Permissions
- Modify NAS Clusterwide Default NFS Export Settings
- Modify NAS Clusterwide Default SMB Share Settings
- Modify a NAS Container Name
- Modify the Size of a NAS Container
- Modify the Snapshot Reserve and Warning Limit for a NAS Container
- Modify the In-Use Space Warning Limit for a NAS Container
- Modify a NAS Container for Few Writers Workloads
- Delete a NAS Container
- NFS Netgroups
- Access NFS Exports
- Create an NFS Export
- Modify the Client Access Setting for an NFS Export
- Modify the Permission for an NFS Export
- Modify the Trusted Users for an NFS Export
- Modify NAS Clusterwide Default NFS Export Settings
- Modify an NFS Export Directory
- Modify an NFS Export
- About NFS Export Security Methods
- Delete an NFS Export
- About SMB Shares
- Access SMB Shares in Windows
- Mount a NAS SMB Share from UNIX
- Create an SMB Share
- Set the SMB Password
- Modify an SMB Share Directory
- Delete an SMB Share
- Rebalance SMB Client Connections Across NAS Controllers
- Enable or Disable SMB Message Signing
- Enable or Disable SMB Message Encryption
- Modify SMB Share NAS Antivirus Settings
- Access-Based Enumeration
- About SMB Home Shares
- Create a NAS Thin Clone
- Client Networks
- About NAS Antivirus Servers
- How NAS Antivirus Protects Data
- NAS Antivirus Server Specifications
- Add a NAS Antivirus Server
- Modify a NAS Antivirus Server
- Delete a NAS Antivirus Server
- About NAS Antivirus Clusterwide Defaults
- Enable the NAS Antivirus Service on an SMB Share
- Monitor the NAS Antivirus Service
- NAS Directory Paths and File Types Scan
- Antivirus Policy
- Access Infected Files
- Create a NAS Container Quota
- Modify a NAS Container Quota
- Delete a NAS Container Quota
- About Quota Directories
- Quotas and NAS Containers
- About NAS Thin Provisioning
- NAS Container Storage Space Terminology
- About NAS Containers
- About Data Rehydration
- NAS Container Data Reduction
- Enable Data Reduction
- Modify NAS Container Data Reduction Settings
- Modify NAS Cluster Default Data Reduction Settings
- Data Reduction Policy
- Create Default Data Reduction Properties
- About NAS Data Reduction Schedules
- FS Series VAAI Plugin
- Diagnose and Resolve NAS Cluster and PS Series Issues
- About Backing Up and Protecting Your Data
- About Volume Data Protection
- Protect NAS Container Data with NDMP
- About Snapshots
- How Snapshots Work
- About Snapshot Reserve
- Create a Snapshot
- Set a Snapshot Online or Offline
- Clone a Snapshot to Create a New Volume
- Modify a Snapshot Name or Description
- Delete Snapshots
- Restore a Volume from a Snapshot
- About Snapshots and NAS Container Data
- About Snapshot Collections
- About Snapshot Space Borrowing
- About Replication
- About Schedules
- About Data Recovery
- About Recovering Data from a Snapshot
- Failback to Primary Operation (Manual)
- Move a Failback Replica Set to a Different Pool
- Replicate to Partner Operation (Manual)
- Switch Partner Roles Permanently
- Make a Temporary Volume Available on the Secondary Group
- Replicate a Recovery Volume to the Primary Group
- Promote an Inbound Replica Set to a Recovery Volume
- How to Handle a Failed Operation
- Fail Back to the Primary Group
- Volume Failover and Failback
- Recover Data from a Replica
- About NAS Disaster Recovery
- About Cloning Volumes
- About Synchronous Replication
- How Synchronous Replication Works
- Compare SyncRep and Traditional Replication
- How Synchronous Replication Protects Volume Availability in Different Scenarios
- Requirements for Using Synchronous Replication
- Synchronous Replication States
- About System Snapshots and SyncRep
- About Synchronous Replication and Snapshots
- About Synchronous Replication Switches and Failovers
- About Synchronous Replication Volume Collections
- About Using Thin Clones and Templates with Synchronous Replication
- Configure Synchronous Replication (SyncRep) on a Volume
- Disable Synchronous Replication (SyncRep) for a Volume
- Monitor Synchronous Replication (SyncRep) Volumes
- Pause Synchronous Replication (SyncRep)
- Resume Synchronous Replication (SyncRep)
- Enable Synchronous Replication (SyncRep) for a Volume Collection
- Disable Synchronous Replication (SyncRep) for a Volume Collection
- Change the Pool Assignment of a Synchronous Replication (SyncRep) Volume
- View the Distribution of a Volume Across Pools
- About Switching and Failing Over SyncRep Pools
- Disconnect the SyncActive Volume
- About Self-Encrypting Drives (SEDs) and AutoSED
- Scenarios Covered by AutoSED
- Scenarios Not Covered by AutoSED
- About Self-Encrypting Drives (SED)
- How Self-Encryption Protects Data
- About SED Members in a Group
- Back Up a Self-Encrypting Drive (SED) Key
- Self-Encrypting Drives (SED) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- Why are my backups always different?
- Why is a secure-erase command not available?
- What is the difference between a locked drive and a securely erased drive?
- I accidentally reset an SED array. What can I do?
- What if the entire array is stolen?
- What if the grpadmin password is stolen?
- Is it safe to discard or return a locked SED?
- Can I add SEDs to a non-SED array, or vice versa?
- Does a SED system also use RAID?
- Does SED encrypt my volumes?
- If I create a new set of backup units, does the new set invalidate the previous set of backup units?
- Self-Encrypting Drives (SED) Examples
- Self-Encrypting Drives (SED) Advanced Encryption
- About Monitoring
- Tools That Monitor and Manage Storage Performance
- Monitor Group Members
- About Storage Performance
- Monitor Administrative Sessions
- Monitor Snapshot Schedules
- Monitor Volumes and Snapshots
- About Monitoring Replication
- About Monitoring Replication Operations
- Monitor Alarms and Operations
- About Diagnostics
- Troubleshooting Performance Issues
- Third-Party Copyrights
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Architecture Fundamentals
The Dell EqualLogic product family provides a unied le and block storage platform.
Block-level storage consists of a sequence of bytes and bits of a certain length, called a block. Each block stores the data (like a hard
drive) and the disk controller reads and writes data to the disks inside the storage array. Block-level access enables storage
administrators to stipulate which block to send reads and writes to for the best performance. In le-level storage, the operating
system keeps track of data in a directory of le and folder names. Access to data by an application is by le name and location within
the le, and then translated into block-level access for physical reading and writing of data. Block-level transfers in a SAN are
typically faster than le-level transfers in a NAS because they do not have any le system or network overhead.
The PS Series SAN provides block-level access to storage data through direct iSCSI access to PS Series arrays. The FS Series NAS
appliance provides le-level access to storage data using NFS (UNIX) or SMB (Windows) protocols and the Dell FluidFS le system.
This architecture uses a scale-out design, which enables you to increase performance as you add capacity, because the software
manages the workload of data writes and the subsequent data reads across all the resources in the storage infrastructure.
PS Series Architecture
The PS Series architecture comprises three fundamental components: the PS Series array, the PS Series group, and the PS Series
storage pool. These components coordinate operations and work together to form a virtual storage system.
The foundation of the PS Series architecture is a PS Series array. Each array is composed of redundant components: disks,
controllers with mirrored write-back caches, network interfaces, power supplies, and cooling fans. When you congure a PS Series
array, you add it to a PS Series group. A group can consist of up to 16 arrays of any family or model, as long as all arrays in the group
are running rmware with the same major and minor release number. The group appears to the client servers as a single entity that
oers network storage access in block mode.
NOTE: Dell recommends that all arrays run the same version of PS Series rmware at all times, except during the
rmware update process.
Each array in a group is called a group member. You add members to the group, and allocate storage space in the group by creating
storage pools. A pool can have from one to eight members, and you can create up to four pools in a group. Each member contributes
its resources to the pool (disk space, processing power, and network bandwidth). As you add or remove members, the pool of
storage space grows or shrinks. Hardware and other details remain hidden.
By default, a group member’s RAID-protected disk space is added to the default storage pool. When you add a new member, it is
automatically assigned to the default pool. The default pool cannot be deleted; however, you can create additional pools as required
for your environment. You can assign members to the pools at any time.
The PS Series array software load balances data and network I/O to the group across all the group members’ resources. When a
group contains more than one member, those members might have dierent capacity levels and use dierent RAID levels. The load
balancers transparently maintain optimal system performance and eliminate downtime to servers, applications, and users.
Next, you create volumes and assign them to the appropriate pool. (You can also organize volumes into folders for easy reference.) A
volume provides the structure for the group. You can create a volume on a single group member or one that spans multiple group
members. You identify a volume by specifying a unique volume name. Hosts on the network see these volumes as iSCSI targets. You
set access controls for each volume so that only computers with an iSCSI initiator and the correct access credentials can access
volume data.
Architecture Fundamentals
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