Isilon Drive firmware upgrade

And i love this photo :-D


Well i recently performed a Drive firmware upgrade for one of our Isilon cluster and below are the steps.

Procedure for Isilon Drive Firmware Upgrade:

1. Download the package from support.emc.com link

2. Copy the package to Install directory of the cluster, example:

<cluster>:/ifs/data/2015/upgrade/software

3. Disable the notifications:

a.  isi services -a celog_notification disable

b.  isi services -a supportiq disable

4. Install the package (once per cluster)
       Command: isi pkg install /ifs/data/2015/upgrade/software/<package_name.tar>

5. Flush the cache and reboot each node; normally prefer doing it in a bottom-up fashion

a.     Run  isi_flush step prior rebooting each node.

b.     After this comand runs, it will reboot the node.

                                                   i.   isi_disk_firmware_reboot –p

6. After the node comes back online, verify the firmware status on that node

                  i. isi devices

                 ii. isi_disk_firmware_reboot -p

Note: if all drives have been updated then the message "no disks needs firmware update" will be displayed

7. Repeat step 5 & 6 for the rest of the nodes in the cluster

8. Clear the alerts with command

a.  isi events quiet all

b.     isi events cancel all

9.  Enable the notifications with commands:

a.  isi services -a celog_notification enable

b.     isi services -a supportiq enable     

Happy Learning!

Isilon: Access Zones

Technical demo: Access zones in EMC Isilon

Isilon | How to setup SMB and NFS shares

Managing SMB and NFS service on Isilon array

Also read Isilon storage provisioning

SMB Service

Create new SMB share

# isi smb shares create SHARENAME --path=/ifs/data/SHARENAME --create-path --browsable=true --description="SHARENAME"  

Where --create-path option is used to create the path /ifs/data/SHARENAME, don't use it if it is already existing.

While you can give individual user level permission to a share so that specific user can access it but it is not recommended; instead always try to give access to via active directory groups because it is easy to manage a list AD groups instead of hundreds/thousands of users.

Share Permission

# isi smb shares permission create SHARENAME --group "domain\domain users" --permission-type allow --permission full --zone <zone name>

List the permissions

# isi smb share permission list SHARENAME --zone=<zone name> 

Modify SMB shares path

isi smb shares modify SHARENAME  --path=<new path>  --zone=<zone name>

Delete SMB share

# isi smb shares delete SHARENAME --zone=<zone name> 

NFS Service

To check the global settings and service status

# isi nfs settings global view 

Output:

NFSv3 Enabled: Yes
NFSv4 Enabled: No
NFS Service Enabled: Yes

Command to enable or disable the service

isi nfs settings global modify --nfsv3-enabled <no/yes> 

To check the current exports

# isi nfs exports list

To check any specific exportfs entry

# isi nfs exports view <number>

Create NFS export

# isi nfs exports create --clients=<IP/Server name> --root-clients=<IP/Server name> --description="useful comment" --paths=<path> --security-flavors=unix

Check for NFS export error

# isi nfs exports check

Modify the export entry

# isi nfs exports modify <export number --add-read-write-clients <IP/Server name>

To delete the export entry 

# isi nfs exports delete <export number>

use --force option for deleting forcefully

Below are the commands to create, modify,delete and list NFS aliases

# isi nfs aliases create /<alias name> /<share path> --zone <zone name>
# isi nfs aliases modify /<alias name> --zone <zone name> --name /<new alias name> 

# isi nfs aliases delete /<alias name> --zone <zone name> 

# isi nfs aliases list 


View an NFS alias

# isi nfs aliases view /<alias name> --zone <zone name> --check



Happy Learning!

Isilon | Storage provisioning

Storage Provisioning

The picture says it all about the about the topic!


Yesterday i shared my views on the Isilon file system architecture... F/S architecture what i thought about it and the ways to keep it simple and better.

After creating the file system architecture the next question that anyone will think of is how do i provision the storage? Well it is very simple as technology is meant to be available for everyone and by keeping it simple you can target a larger audience.

No Hassle

With Isilon you don't have to be a thinker; when it comes to provisioning the storage space and you need not to decide what layout in terms of aggregate, volume, qtree and RAID configuration, etc.


Being efficient

Isilon allows you to be more efficient and you just need to choose the file system hierarchy under which you wish to provision the new storage space and create a directory for that; after which you can apply smart quotas on the directory as per the size and it is completed...  Just two steps makes your life easier and more efficient

Below are the steps for storage provisioning:

# Go to the directory level where you wish you provision the new storage space and create a new directory:

# cd /ifs/<>/<>/<>/<>/

Where <> is the name of the sub-directories that you may have

# mkdir <name of the directory>

where <name of the directory> is the name of the new storage area you wish to provision

# isi quota quotas create --path=/ifs/<>/<>/<> --type=directory --hard-threshold=<quota limit> --advisory-threshold=<soft quota> --container=1

# Apply the notification rules by going to File system management -- > SmartQuotas --> Settings then option "Hard Limit notification rules"

Once completed you can update your record for tracking purpose.


Also read SMB and NFS services

Happy Learning!

Isilon | Design your own file system architecture

Today i'll be taking you back to graduation days where we studied about the data structure, arrays, queues, etc in our computer science classes.

Reason is simple... Simplicity has it's own charm.

And when it comes to designing your file system architecture then there is no substitute of simplicity. The more simple the better it is & you will have less trouble when it grows- less trouble in managing, administering and in tracking the growth pattern.

EMC Isilon array comes has a huge potential to tackle growth of your NAS environment. It takes only 3 nodes to form a cluster and it can go up to 144 nodes. With each node not only you add storage capacity but you also add the computing power & performance. Each node adds resources like disk, memory & throughput. A clusters storage capacity can range from 18 TB to a maximum of greater than 30 PB. So when you want to design the file system that can have such a huge capacity then a brain storming session is a must before you start.

 But what it has to do with the graduation days where we studied computer science ?

The answer is simple- Apply what you studied.

EMC's Isilon file system is not a different file system and it has just combined the functional blocks of a file system i.e. a file system, volume manager and data protection under a single naming unit called OneFS. By doing so it has eliminate the need of creating aggregates, volume, qtrees, etc (that we normally do in other NAS products mainly NetApp) and kept the basics simple i.e just one root directory under which you create and store everything.

Now the liability lies on you to design such a architecture which not only fulfills your current requirement but should be able to accommodate your future needs.  And you can achieve it by following what you studied i.e. a tree data structure.

Take /ifs (root file system of Isilon cluster) as root of your tree and after which you create as many as branches and sub-branches as you want...

What you can do is 

1) Leave /ifs as it is
2) Create branches as per the requirement like organization name, regions, etc
3) Have multiple sub-branches for different organization units, departments, etc
4) Each sub-branch can have their own directory structure based on teams, sub-departments and work units.

How to share it with clients

1) NFS Clients: Decide the level at which you want to share the exports and make the relevant entry in exportfs file.
2) CIFS clients: Decide the level at which you want to create the DFS mapping and create the relevant DFS paths.

Security:

You can achieve this by giving relevant permissions at the UNIX directory/file level and by adding appropriate AD group to a CIFS share.


Also read SMB & NFS shares and Isilon storage provisioning

PS: There will be many others ways to design your file system architecture and this is only one of it. Architecture always vary from requirement to requirement.


Happy Learning!