Dell EMC Unity™ Family Configuring SMB
Dell EMC Unity™ Family Configuring SMB
File Sharing
Version 5.1
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Contents
Additional resources......................................................................................................................6
Chapter 1: Overview..................................................................................................................8
Unity SMB support........................................................................................................................................................ 8
Unisphere storage provisioning.................................................................................................................................. 9
Thin provisioning best practices...............................................................................................................................10
Planning considerations.............................................................................................................................................. 10
Related features and functionality information..................................................................................................... 11
Contents 3
System - Client File System Bandwidth.................................................................................................................28
System - Client File System Response Time........................................................................................................ 28
System - Client File System I/O Size..................................................................................................................... 28
System - Client File System IOPS........................................................................................................................... 28
System - CIFS Bandwidth......................................................................................................................................... 29
System - CIFS I/O Size..............................................................................................................................................29
System - CIFS IOPS....................................................................................................................................................29
System - CIFS Response Time.................................................................................................................................30
File System Bandwidth...............................................................................................................................................30
File System I/O Size................................................................................................................................................... 30
File System IOPS......................................................................................................................................................... 30
System - File System Bandwidth............................................................................................................................. 31
System - File System I/O Size..................................................................................................................................31
System - File System IOPS........................................................................................................................................31
Tenant Bandwidth........................................................................................................................................................31
4 Contents
Configure file replication for a tenant ................................................................................................................... 45
Contents 5
Preface
As part of an improvement effort, revisions of the software and hardware are periodically released. Therefore, some functions
described in this document might not be supported by all versions of the software or hardware currently in use. The product
release notes provide the most up-to-date information on product features. Contact your technical support professional if a
product does not function properly or does not function as described in this document.
Product information
For product and feature documentation or release notes, go to Unity Technical Documentation at: dell.com/unitydocs.
Troubleshooting
For information about products, software updates, licensing, and service, go to Support (registration required) at: dell.com/
support. After logging in, locate the appropriate product page.
6 Additional resources
I
Basic Functionality
Topics:
• Overview
• Configuring NAS servers
• Configuring file systems
• Configuring file system shares
• Performance metrics for SMB
Basic Functionality 7
1
Overview
Topics:
• Unity SMB support
• Unisphere storage provisioning
• Thin provisioning best practices
• Planning considerations
• Related features and functionality information
8 Overview
Unisphere storage provisioning
Storage provisioning is the process of allocating available drive capacity to meet the capacity, performance, and availability
requirements of hosts and applications. When you provision storage with Unisphere, you create storage resources to which
hosts and applications can connect in order to access storage.
When you provision a storage resource in Unisphere, the system uses thin provisioning by default. This type of provisioning can
improve storage efficiency while reducing the time and effort required for monitoring and rebalancing existing pool resources.
Organizations can purchase less storage capacity up front, and increase available drive capacity (by adding drives) on an
on-demand basis, and according to actual storage usage, instead of basing drive requirements in the requests or predictions of
connected hosts. Thin provisioning allows multiple storage resources to subscribe to common storage capacity within a pool,
while the system allocates only a portion of the physical capacity requested by each storage resource. The remaining storage is
available for other storage resources to use.
NOTE: All storage resources require some amount of metadata from the pools where the storage resources were
provisioned.
Overview 9
Creating a thin storage resource
When you create a thin storage resource, you specify a target size for the resource. The size represents the maximum capacity
to which the storage resource can grow without being increased by an administrator. The system reserves only a portion of
the requested size, called the initial allocation. The requested size of the storage resource represents a subscribed quantity.
Additional storage is allocated on-demand.
When a host or application uses approximately 75% of its initial allocation, an additional incremental quantity of storage is
automatically allocated to the storage resource. The incremental allocation process continues until the quantity of storage
allocated for the storage resource reaches the limit determined by its target size.
NOTE: A storage resource may appear full when data copied or written to the storage resource is greater than the space
available at that time. When this occurs, the system begins to automatically extend the storage space and accommodate
the write operation. As long as there is enough extension space available, this operation will complete successfully.
Planning considerations
The following table summarizes the tasks to perform in a Windows Server environment before you start configuring SMB
on your Unity system. For more information on performing these tasks, see the Unity online help and the Windows Server
documentation.
1. Configure one or more DNS servers.
10 Overview
2. If you are joining the NAS server to the Active Directory (AD), configure at least one NTP server on the storage system to
synchronize the date and time. It is recommended that you set up a minimum of two NTP servers per domain to avoid a
single point of failure.
3. Create a domain account in Active Directory.
4. Optionally configure VLANs and tenants if you plan to implement multi-tenancy.
Overview 11
2
Configuring NAS servers
Topics:
• Overview of configuring NAS servers
• Create a NAS server for Windows-only file sharing (SMB)
• Configure NAS server sharing protocols and FTP/SFTP settings
• Change NAS server properties
• View the active LDAPS CA certificate for a NAS server
• Upload an LDAPS CA certificate for a NAS server
• NDMP settings
• Understanding Common AntiVirus Agent (CAVA)
Steps
1. Under Storage, select File > NAS Servers.
2. Select the Add icon.
3. On the General and Interface pages, specify the relevant settings. Note the following:
● On the General page, the Server name identifies the NAS server. It is not a network name.
● Optionally select a tenant to associate with the NAS server.
NOTE: Once you create a NAS server that has an associated tenant, you cannot change this association.
● On the Interface page, optionally select a VLAN. If you selected a tenant on the General page, you must select a VLAN.
The list of VLANs represent the VLANs associated with the selected tenant.
4. On the Sharing Protocols page:
● Select Windows Shares (SMB, CIFS). Then select Standalone to create a standalone SMB server, or select Join to
the Active Directory domain to create a domain member SMB server.
● If you join the NAS server to the AD, optionally click Advanced to change the default NetBios name and organizational
unit.
5. On the DNS page, configure DNS for the NAS server. This step is mandatory when joining to an AD domain, but optional for
a standalone NAS server.
6. On the Replication page, optionally select a replication mode and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) for the NAS server.
SMB support
If you are changing NAS server properties, select the SMB sub-tab on the Sharing Protocols tab.
Task Description
Enable or disable the NAS server's ability to serve files using Select or clear the Enable Windows shares (SMB, CIFS
the SMB protocol. Server) option. You cannot disable this option if multiprotocol
sharing mode is enabled.
Configure SMB without Active Directory (AD) support. Select Standalone and specify the requested information.
Configure SMB with AD support. 1. Select Join to the Active Directory domain.
2. Specify the requested information.
3. Optionally, click Show Advanced to change the default
NetBios name and organizational unit.
Task Description
Enable or disable the NAS server's ability to share files using Select or clear Enable FTP. If this option is selected,
the FTP protocol. optionally click the other options to customize user
authentication, user home directory, and message settings.
Enable or disable the NAS server's ability to share files using Select or clear Enable SFTP. If this option is selected,
the SFTP protocol. optionally click the other options to customize user
authentication, user home directory, and message settings.
FTP access can be authenticated using the same methods as SMB. Once authentication is complete, access is the same as
SMB for security and permission purposes. If the format is domain@user or domain\user, SMB authentication is used. SMB
authentication uses the Windows Domain Controller.
To use local files for FTP access, the passwd file must include an encrypted password for the users. This password is used
for FTP access only. The passwd file uses the same format and syntax as a standard Unix system, so you can leverage this to
generate the local passwd file. On a Unix system, use useradd to add a new user and passwd to set the password for that
user. Then, copy the hashed password from the /etc/shadow file, add it to the second field in the /etc/passwd file, and
upload the /etc/passwd file to the NAS server.
Steps
1. Under Storage, select File > NAS Servers.
2. Select the relevant NAS server, and then select the Edit icon.
3. On the General tab:
● Change the NAS server name.
● Select SP Owner to transition from one SP to the other SP for this NAS server. For example, you may want to do this if
you have an overloaded SP, and want to reduce the load by moving the server to the other SP.
4. On the Network tab:
● Select the Interfaces & Routes sub-tab to add, change, delete, or verify NAS server interfaces, enable or disable IP
packet reflect for the NAS server, or change the NAS server's preferred interfaces. Select an interface, and then select
Show external routes for interfaces to access the per-interface routing table, where you can add, change, or delete
the selected interface's routes for responding to client requests.
● Select the Routes to External Services sub-tab to add, change, or verify NAS server routes for external service
requests, or to configure default gateways.
5. On the Naming Services tab, configure DNS and either configure the UNIX Directory Service (UDS) for the NAS server
(LDAP or NIS) or use local files. Alternatively, you can use local files with a UDS. In this case, the system checks the local
files first.
6. On the Sharing Protocols tab:
● Select the SMB sub-tab to enable or disable support for Windows shares and to change SMB properties.
● Select the FTP sub-tab to enable or disable FTP or SFTP, or to change FTP or SFTP properties.
7. On the Protection & Events tab:
● Select the NDMP Backup sub-tab to enable or disable NDMP, and to change the NDMP password.
● Select the DHSM sub-tab to enable or disable Distributed Hierarchical Storage Management (DHSM) and to change the
DHSM password.
Steps
1. Under Storage, select File > NAS Servers.
2. Select the relevant NAS server from the list, and then select the Edit icon.
3. Select the Naming Services tab, and then select the LDAP/NIS sub-tab.
4. Click Retrieve CA Certificate.
NDMP settings
The Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP) provides a standard for backing up file servers on a network. NDMP allows
centralized applications to back up file servers running on various platforms and platform versions. NDMP reduces network
congestion by isolating control path traffic from data path traffic, which permits centrally managed and monitored local backup
operations. Enabling NDMP for file system storage resources makes it possible to use third party NDMP products to back up
and restore file system data.
You can enable NDMP by configuring NAS server settings.
Steps
1. Under Storage, select File > File Systems.
2. Select the Add icon.
3. On the Protocol window, select Windows Shares (SMB). Then select the associated NAS server.
4. Optionally click Advanced to select advanced SMB settings.
5. Continue following the steps in the wizard while noting the following:
● On the Storage page, the Thin checkbox is selected by default. If you do not want to create a thin file system, remove
the checkmark from the Thin checkbox. Removing the checkmark also disables the Data Reduction option.
● On the Storage page, select the Data Reduction checkbox to enable data reduction on the file system. Data reduction
is applied on all new incoming writes. Data that already exists on the file system does not have data reduction applied.
Data reduction can be enabled only on thin file systems that reside in All-Flash pools, and only for thin file systems
created on Unity systems running OE version 4.2.x or later.
● On the Shares page, optionally, configure the initial share for the file system.
● You can configure a snapshot schedule for the file system when you create the file system, or you can do this at a later
time.
Setting Description
Sync Writes Enabled When you enable the synchronous writes option for a Windows (SMB) or multiprotocol
file system, the storage system performs immediate synchronous writes for storage
operations, regardless of how the SMB protocol performs write operations. Enabling
synchronous writes operations allow you to store and access database files (for
example, MySQL) on storage system SMB shares. This option guarantees that any
write to the share is done synchronously and reduces the chances of data loss or file
corruption in various failure scenarios, for example, loss of power.
Oplocks Enabled (Enabled by default) Opportunistic file locks (oplocks) allow SMB clients to buffer file
data locally before sending it to a server. SMB clients can then work with files locally
and periodically communicate changes to the storage system rather than having to
communicate every operation over the network to the storage system. This feature
is enabled by default for Windows (SMB) and multiprotocol file systems. Unless your
application handles critical data or has specific requirements that make this mode or
operation unfeasible, leaving the oplocks enabled is recommended.
The following oplocks implementations are supported:
● Level II oplocks, which informs a client that multiple clients are currently accessing
a file, but no client has yet modified it. A level II oplock lets the client perform
read operations and file attribute fetches by using cached or read-ahead local
information. All other file access requests must be sent to the server.
● Exclusive oplocks, which informs a client that it is the only client opening the file.
An exclusive oplock lets a client perform all file operations by using cached or
read-ahead information until it closes the file, at which time the server must be
updated with any changes made to the state of the file (contents and attributes).
● Batch oplocks, which informs a client that it is the only client opening the file. A
batch oplock lets a client perform all file operations by using cached or read-ahead
information (including opens and closes). The server can keep a file opened for
a client even though the local process on the client machine has closed the file.
This mechanism curtails the amount of network traffic by letting clients skip the
extraneous close and open requests.
Notify on Write Enabled Enable notification when a file system is written to.
This option is disabled by default.
Enable SMB Events publishing Enable the processing of SMB events for this file system.
Steps
1. Under Storage, select File > File Systems.
2. Select the relevant file system, and then select the Edit icon.
3. On the General tab:
● You can change the description of the file system and the file system size.
● You can view the file system capacity, including used space and free space, on this tab.
● If a thin file system was created on a Unity system running OE version 4.1, you can also change the minimum allocation
size. You cannot reduce the storage size lower than the current allocation.
● You can enable data reduction for thin file systems created on a Unity system running OE version 4.2.x or later. As data
reduction is applied to all new incoming writes to a file system, data reduction statistics (such as data reduction ratio)
display on the Properties page.
If data reduction is enabled and then subsequently disabled, existing data in the file system will remain as is, but
newly-written data will not have data reduction applied.
9. On the FLR tab (FLR-enabled file systems only), optionally modify the retention periods, enable auto-lock of new files, set an
auto-lock policy interval, or enable automatic deletion of files once the retention period expires.
NOTE: If the file system is a replication destination, FLR properties cannot be modified.
Steps
1. Under Storage, select File > NAS Servers.
2. Select the relevant NAS Server, and then select the Edit icon.
3. On the Protection & Events tab, select the Events Publishing sub-tab.
4. Select the Enable Common Event Publishing checkbox.
5. On the New Event Pool window, specify the required items. You must configure at least one event from one of the
available categories (pre-event, post-event, or post-error event).
6. Click Configure.
7. Optionally, select Show policy settings to configure pre-events and post-events failure policies.
8. Optionally, select Show advanced settings to configure CEPA server options.
9. Click Apply after you finish configuring events.
NOTE: You can cancel a manual shrink operation, but the progress made prior to cancellation will not be reverted.
Steps
1. Select a storage resource, and then click the Edit icon.
2. In the Size field, enter the new reduced (shrink) or increased (extend) size of the storage resource.
Setting Description
Local path The path to the file system storage resource on the storage system. This
path specifies the unique location of the share on the storage system.
SMB shares
● An SMB file system allows you to create multiple shares with the same
local path. In these cases, you can specify different host-side access
controls for different users, but the shares within the file system will all
access common content.
● A directory must exist before you can create shares on it. Therefore,
if you want the SMB shares within the same file system to access
different content, you must first create a directory on the Windows host
that is mapped to the file system. Then, you can create corresponding
shares using Unisphere. You can also create and manage SMB shares
from the Microsoft Management Console.
Export path The path used by the host to connect to the share. Unisphere creates the
share export path based on the name of the share and the name of the file
system where it resides. Hosts use either the file name or the export path
to mount or map to the share from a network host.
Steps
1. Under Storage, select File > File Systems.
2. Select the relevant file system, and then select More Actions > Create an SMB share (CIFS).
3. On the File System page, specify whether the share is for the selected file system or for a snapshot of the selected file
system.
4. On the General page, enter the relevant information, noting the following:
● The value specified in the Share Name field, along with the NAS server name, constitutes the name by which hosts
access the share.
● Share names must be unique at the NAS server level per protocol.
● Local Path must correspond to an existing folder name within the file system that was created from the host-side.
Next steps
Once you create a share, you can modify it using the Microsoft Management Console. For information, see Configuring Hosts to
Access SMB File Systems, which is available on the support website.
Option Description
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).
NOTE: Enable continuous availability for a share only when you want to use
Microsoft Server Message Block (SMB) 3.0 protocol clients with the specific share.
Protocol Encryption Enables SMB encryption of the network traffic through the share. SMB encryption is
supported by SMB 3.0 clients and above. By default, access is denied if an SMB 2 client
attempts to access a share with protocol encryption enabled.
You can control this by configuring the RejectUnencryptedAccess registry key on the
NAS Server. 1 (default) rejects non-encrypted access and 0 allows clients that do not
support encryption to access the file system without encryption.
Access-Based Enumeration Filters the list of available files and directories on the share to include only those to
which the requesting user has read access.
NOTE: Administrators can always list all files.
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.
BranchCache is managed from Microsoft hosts.
Distributed File System (DFS) (Read only) Lets you group files located on different shares by transparently connecting
them to one or more DFS namespaces. This simplifies the process of moving data
from one share to another. This option is read only in Unisphere because you manage
DFS from Microsoft hosts. For information, see the MIcrosoft Distributed File System
documentation.
Offline Availability Configures the client-side caching of offline files:
● Manual: Files are cached and available offline only when caching is explicitly
requested.
● Programs and files opened by users: All files that clients open from the share are
automatically cached and available offline. Clients open these files from the share
when they are connected to it. This option is recommended for files with shared
work.
● Programs and files opened by users, optimize for performance: All files that
clients open from the share are automatically cached and available offline. Clients
open these files from the share's local cache, if possible, even when they are
connected to the network. This option is recommended for executable programs.
● None: Client-side caching of offline files is not configured.
Tenant Bandwidth
Total amount of I/O requests, in KB/s, for the selected tenant.
32 Advanced functionality
6
Managing quotas
Topics:
• About file system quotas
• Recommended approach for configuring quotas
• Quota policies
• Enable or disable the enforcement of user quotas on a quota tree
• Enable or disable the enforcement of user quotas on a file system
• Create a user quota on a file system
• Create a quota tree on a file system
• Create a user quota on a quota tree
• View file system storage space usage by user
• View quota tree storage space usage
• Change quota properties for a file system
• Change properties for a quota tree
• Change the quota policy for a file system
Quota configurations
The storage system supports three types of quota configurations:
User quota on a quota tree Limits the amount of storage consumed by an individual user storing data on the
quota tree.
Managing quotas 33
You can set a grace period for a file system or a quota tree, which counts down time once the soft limit is met. The default
grace period is 7 days, and can be set to a minimum value of 1 minute. When the grace period is set to:
○ A specific number of days, hours, or minutes (minimum value of 1 minute), warnings will be generated when the soft
quota is reached. If the grace period expires, users cannot write to the file system or quota tree even if the hard limit has
not been met.
○ Unlimited, warnings will be generated when soft quotas are reached, but neither client will get quota exceeded errors
until the hard limit is exceeded.
NOTE: If you update the grace period value, the new value affects only the quota or quotas which will exceed the soft
limit after the update is performed. Any existing quotas which have been counting down using the older grace period
value will not be affected.
● A hard limit is an absolute limit on storage usage.
If a hard limit is reached for a user quota on a file system or quota tree, the user will not be able to write data to the file
system or tree until more space becomes available. If a hard limit is reached for a quota tree, no user will be able to write
data to the tree until more space becomes available.
Quota policies
Before enabling and defining quotas, ensure that the file system is configured to use the quota policy that best suits the client
environment:
● File Size policy (default): Calculates drive usage in terms of logical file sizes, and ignores the size of directories and symbolic
links. Use this policy where file sizes are critical to quotas, such as where user usage is based on the size of the files created,
and exceeding the size limit is unacceptable.
NOTE: It is recommended that you use this policy for SMB file systems.
● Blocks policy: Calculates drive usage in terms of file system blocks (8 KB units), and includes drive usage by directories and
symbolic links in the calculations. With this policy, any operation resulting in allocating or removing blocks, such as creating,
expanding, or deleting a directory; writing or deleting files; or creating or deleting symbolic links changes block usage. Block
usage depends solely on the number of bytes added to or removed from the file.
NOTE: When using the Blocks policy, a user can create a sparse file whose size is larger than the file size, but that uses
fewer blocks on the drive.
34 Managing quotas
When the grace period is set to:
● A specific number of days, hours, or minutes (minimum value of 1 minute), warnings will be generated when the soft quota is
reached. If the grace period expires, users cannot write to the file system or quota tree even if the hard limit has not been
met.
● Unlimited, warnings will be generated when soft quotas are reached, but neither client will get quota exceeded errors until
the hard limit is exceeded.
If the use of default soft quotas is required, set the specific grace periods you desire (minimum value of 1 minute), or keep the
default grace period of 7 days.
NOTE: If you update a grace period value, the new value affects only the quota or quotas which will exceed the soft limit
after the update is performed. Any existing quotas which have been counting down using the older grace period value will
not be affected.
Steps
1. Under Storage, select File > File Systems.
2. Select the file system, and then select the Edit icon.
3. On the Quota tab, select the Quota Tree sub-tab.
4. Do either of the following:
● To enforce user quotas, locate the quota tree, and select the No link in the Enforce User Quotas column. Then select
Enforce User Quotas.
● To disable the enforcement of user quotas, locate the quota tree, and select the Yes link in the Enforce User Quotas
column. Then clear Enforce User Quotas.
Steps
1. Under Storage, select File > File Systems.
2. Select the file system, and then select the Edit icon.
3. On the Quota tab, select the File System sub-tab.
4. Select Manage Quota Settings.
5. Select or clear Enforce User Quotas.
6. If you are enabling user quotas, optionally do the following:
● Change the quota policy for the file system.
Managing quotas 35
● Change the default quota limits. This limit applies to all file system users who do not have explicit user quotas defined. A
value of 0 indicates no limit.
● Change the default grace period. The default grace period is 7 days, and can be set to a minimum value of 1 minute.
Steps
1. Under Storage, select File > File Systems.
2. Select the file system, and then select the Edit icon.
3. On the Quota tab, select the File System sub-tab.
4. Select the Add icon.
5. In the Create User Quota wizard, select the Add icon, and then provide the requested information. To track space
consumption without setting limits, set Soft Limit and Hard Limit to 0, which indicates no limit.
Steps
1. Under Storage, select File > File Systems.
2. Select the file system, and then select the Edit icon.
3. On the Quota tab, select the Quota Tree sub-tab.
4. Select the Add icon.
5. Follow the steps in the wizard. To track space consumption without setting limits, set the Soft Limit and Hard Limit fields
to 0, which indicates no limit.
Steps
1. Under Storage, select File > File Systems.
2. Select the file system, and then select the Edit icon.
3. On the Quota tab, select the Quota Tree sub-tab.
4. Select the quota tree, and then select the Edit icon.
5. On the User Quotas tab, be sure that Enforce User Quotas is selected, and provide the limits information. To track space
consumption without setting limits, set the Soft Limit and Hard Limit fields to 0, which indicates no limit.
36 Managing quotas
View file system storage space usage by user
Steps
1. Under Storage, select File > File Systems.
2. Select the file system, and then click the Edit icon.
3. Select the Quota tab to view the User Quota Report.
Steps
1. Under Storage, select File > File Systems.
2. Select the file system, and then click the Edit icon.
3. On the Quota tab, select the Quota Tree sub-tab.
The system displays the total storage space usage by quota tree.
4. To view quota tree storage space usage by user, select the quota tree, select the Edit icon, and then select the User
Quotas tab.
Managing quotas 37
3. On the Quota tab, select the Quota Tree sub-tab.
4. Select the relevant quota tree, and then select the Edit icon.
5. On the General tab, do any of the following:
● Select Use Default Limits to keep the file system's default limits and grace period on the quota tree.
● Clear Use Default Limits to override the file system's default limits and grace period.
● Change the hard limit, soft limit, and grace period settings for the quota tree.
NOTE: The default grace period is 7 days, and can be set to a minimum value of 1 minute. If you update the
grace period value, the new value affects only the quota or quotas which will exceed the soft limit after the update
is performed. Any existing quotas which have been counting down using the older grace period value will not be
affected.
When the grace period is set to:
○ A specific number of days, hours, or minutes (minimum value of 1 minute), warnings will be generated when the soft
quota is reached. If the grace period expires, users cannot write to the file system or quota tree even if the hard limit
has not been met.
○ Unlimited, warnings will be generated when soft quotas are reached, but neither client will get quota exceeded
errors until the hard limit is exceeded.
6. On the User Quotas tab, do any of the following:
● Select or clear Enforce User Quotas to enable or disable the enforcement of user quotas on the quota tree.
These actions impact system performance, but do not disrupt file system operations. It is recommended that you
perform these operations only during non-peak production hours. You can change other quota settings without impacting
performance.
● If you enable the enforcement of user quotas on the quota tree, you can specify the soft and hard limits for those quotas.
(You can override these values when you create individual quotas.)
● Create a new user quota on the quota tree.
● Edit properties for existing user quotas.
Steps
1. Under Storage, select File > File Systems.
2. Select the file system, and then select the Edit icon.
3. On the Quota tab, select Manage Quota Settings.
4. Change the quota policy, as desired.
38 Managing quotas
7
Configuring IP routes
Topics:
• About NAS server routing
• NAS server interfaces
• Preferred interfaces for NAS servers
• IP Packet reflect functionality for NAS server interfaces
• Manage NAS server network interfaces and default routes
• Manage NAS server routes for responding to client requests
• Manage NAS server routes for external service requests
• Enable or disable IP packet reflect for a NAS server
• Verify NAS server routes
Configuring IP routes 39
You can add additional routes to these tables, as you would to any standard routing table, and you can modify or delete existing
routes. When you make changes to routes in one table, the changes are reflected in the other table.
In a complex environment, you may need to configure granular routes to external services. To access a server from a specific
interface through a specific gateway, add a route with the following information following to the External Services Access
Routes table:
From: <interface_ip>
Type: host
Gateway: <gateway_ip>
Destination: <external_server_ip>
Netmask/Prefix Length: 255.255.255.0
For example, to configure resilient DNS access, the standard recommendation is to configure the NAS server with three DNS
servers, with each being accessed by a different physical or virtual connection. To do this:
● Add three DNS server IP addresses to the NAS server DNS configuration.
● Configure three NAS server interfaces, with each on a different physical port and/or VLAN.
● Add three routes as shown above, with each using a different NAS server interface IP and a different DNS server IP.
To access a server located on a different subnet, add a route like the following with the following information to the External
Services Access Routes table.
From: <interface_ip>
Type: net
Gateway: empty
Destination: < subnet number>
Netmask/Prefix Length: <length>
40 Configuring IP routes
Preferred interfaces for NAS servers
If you have multiple interfaces configured for a NAS server, the system will automatically select the interface that the default
route uses for outgoing communication to external services. To change which interface is selected, you can specify preferred
interface settings.
The NAS server uses preferred interfaces in the following circumstances:
● The application does not specify the source interface.
● The destination is on a remote subnet.
NOTE: Locally connected hosts, which are attached to the same subnets as the NAS server interfaces, are accessed by
using corresponding interfaces directly, and not through the preferred interface gateways.
You can select one preferred interface for each of the following interface types:
● IPv4 interface of type Production
● IPv6 interface of type Production
● IPv4 interface of type Backup & DR Testing
● IPv6 interface of type Backup & DR Testing
When the Preferred Interface field is set to Auto (the default), the system selects the preferred interface automatically,
based on how many routes the interface has and how wide the destination range is of its routes. For most user environments
using Auto provides an optimal selection of the preferred interface.
When a NAS server initiates outbound traffic to an external service, it compiles a list of all the available network interfaces on
the proper subnet and performs one of the following actions if a preferred interface of the appropriate type (IPv4 or IPv6) is in
the compiled list:
● If the preferred production interface is active, the system uses the preferred production interface.
● If the preferred production interface is not active, and there is a preferred active backup interface, the system uses the
preferred backup interface.
● If the preferred production interface is not active (as in the case of a NAS server failover), and there is no preferred backup
interface, the system does nothing.
If a preferred interface is not in the compiled list, the underlying operating environment platform chooses the network interface.
Configuring IP routes 41
Manage NAS server network interfaces and default
routes
Steps
1. Under Storage, select File > NAS Servers.
2. Select the NAS server to modify, and select the Edit icon.
3. Select the Network tab.
4. Make the desired changes as follows:
Task Description
Add a network interface and a. In the Network Interfaces field, select the Add icon, and then select the type of
default route IP interface to add.
b. Select the port and enter the IP address for the new interface.
c. Optionally enter a gateway to use for the default route.
d. If the switch port supports VLAN tagging, optionally specify a VLAN ID (between
0 and 4095) for the VLAN with which the NAS server is associated. If the NAS
server is associated with a tenant, you must select a VLAN ID.
Modify a network interface a. In the Network Interfaces field, select the network interface to modify, and then
select the Edit icon.
b. Modify the desired values.
Specify or change the preferred a. Select Change Preferred Interface.
network interfaces b. Select the appropriate preferred interfaces or select Auto.
Remove a network interface Select the network interface you wish to remove from the NAS Server configuration,
and click the Delete icon.
NOTE: If you delete a preferred interface, the system will select a new preferred
interface.
42 Configuring IP routes
Steps
1. Under Storage, select File > NAS Servers.
2. Select the NAS server, and then select the Edit icon.
3. Select the Network tab.
4. Select Routes to External Services.
5. To add a route, select the Add icon, and then specify the relevant information.
6. To change a route, select the route, select the Edit icon, and then specify the relevant information.
7. To hide default and local subnet routes from view, select More Actions > Hide default and local subnet routes.
Steps
1. Under Storage, select File > NAS Servers.
2. Select the NAS server to modify, and select the Edit icon.
3. Select the Network tab.
4. In the Packet Reflect field, select the Edit, icon, and then select Enabled or Disabled.
Steps
1. Under Storage, select File > NAS Servers.
2. Select the NAS server, and then select the Edit icon.
3. Select the Network tab.
4. To verify routes from a specific interface:
a. From the Interfaces & Routes sub-tab, select the interface, and then select Ping/Trace.
b. Fill in the requested information, and select Ping or Trace.
5. To verify routes from any interface:
a. Select the Routes to External Services sub-tab, and then select Ping/Trace.
b. Fill in the requested information, and select Ping or Trace.
Configuring IP routes 43
8
Configuring IP multi-tenancy
Topics:
• About IP multi-tenancy
• Configuring IP multi-tenancy
• Add a tenant
• Change tenant properties
• Configure file replication for a tenant
About IP multi-tenancy
IP multi-tenancy provides the ability to assign isolated, file-based storage partitions to the NAS servers on a storage processor.
Tenants are used to enable the cost-effective management of available resources, while at the same time ensuring that tenant
visibility and management is restricted to assigned resources only.
With IP multi-tenancy, each tenant can have its own:
● IP addresses and port numbers.
● VLAN domain.
● Routing table.
● IP firewall.
● DNS server or other administrative servers to allow the tenant to have its own authentication and security validation.
IP multi-tenancy is implemented by adding a tenant to the storage system, associating a set of VLANs with the tenant, and then
creating one NAS server for each of the tenant's VLANs, as needed. It is recommended that you create a separate pool for the
tenant and that you associate that pool with all of the tenant's NAS servers.
Note the following about the IP multi-tenancy feature:
● There is a one-to-many relationship between tenants and NAS servers. A tenant can be associated with multiple NAS
servers, but a NAS server can be associated with only one tenant.
● You can associate a NAS server with a tenant when you create the NAS server. Once you create a NAS server that is
associated with a tenant, you cannot change this association. (You cannot associate this NAS server with any other tenant
or remove the association with this tenant.)
● During replication, data for a tenant is transferred over the service provider's network rather than the tenant's network.
● Because multiple tenants can share the same storage system, a spike in traffic for one tenant can negatively impact the
response time for other tenants.
Configuring IP multi-tenancy
To configure IP multi-tenancy, follow this process:
1. Create a storage pool for each tenant (recommended).
2. Add the tenants to the system. When you add tenants, you assign each one a non-overlapping set of VLANs.
3. Create a NAS server for each tenant. When you create a NAS server, select the tenant to associate with the NAS server,
and select the tenant's pool, which will be used to store the NAS server's metadata. You can add network interface
information for the tenant now or later on.
NOTE: In a network interface, each subnet must be unique for a given VLAN. Using the same subnet for different
VLANs can cause connectivity issues.
4. Create the file systems and shares for each tenant.
44 Configuring IP multi-tenancy
Example
The following table shows the Unity components used for tenants T1 and T2. In this example, each tenant has two VLANs and
separate NAS servers for the Engineering (eng) and Human Resources (hr) departments. Each NAS server has one file system
and one share.
Add a tenant
Prerequisites
Obtain the VLAN IDs to associate with the tenant.
Steps
1. Under Storage, select File > Tenants.
2. Select the Add icon.
3. Specify the information on the Add Tenant window. If this is the first creation of a tenant in your environment, have the
system automatically generate a UUID value for this tenant. Otherwise, for existing tenants in your environment that have a
system generated UUID value, enter that UUID value manually.
Configuring IP multi-tenancy 45
For general information about replication, see the Unity online help and Configuring Replication, which is available from the Unity
Info Hub.
Steps
1. Create a pool for the tenant on the destination system.
2. Add the tenant to the destination system. When you add the tenant, use the same UUID and VLANs as the tenant on the
source system.
3. If you are configuring remote replication, perform the following steps to set up the remote connection. Once you set this up,
the same connection can be used again for subsequent replication sessions between the same systems.
a. Configure a mobility interface on the source and destination systems. The IP addresses of both systems should be on the
same subnet.
b. Configure a replication connection on the source system using the Asynchronous connection mode.
4. On the NAS server properties page, create a replication session for the NAS server associated with the file storage. When
you configure this session, specify the pool you created in Step 1.
Storage resources included in a NAS server automatically get replicated when a replication session is first configured for the
NAS server. The replication session for the storage resources will inherit the same attributes as the associated replication
session of the associated NAS server. For the storage resources you do not want participating in replication, you can choose
to remove the associated replication sessions manually.
5. To configure automatic synchronization of the NAS server and all of its files, select Sync on the Replication tab of the
source NAS server.
6. To replicate the NAS server and a specific file system, access the properties page for the source file system, and select
Sync on the Replication tab.
46 Configuring IP multi-tenancy
9
Troubleshooting an SMB configuration
Topics:
• Service commands for troubleshooting SMB issues in Unity