HPE Nimble Implementation

Specialist

Lab guide
Rev. 4.3
Confidential – For Training Purposes Only
Use of this material to deliver training without prior written permission from HPE is prohibited.
HPE Nimble Implementation Specialist - Lab Guide

 Copyright 2015-2017 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP

The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for
HPE products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying
such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional
warranty. Hewlett Packard Enterprise shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or
omissions contained herein.

This is an HPE copyrighted work that may not be reproduced without the written permission of
Hewlett Packard Enterprise. You may not use these materials to deliver training to any person
outside of your organization without the written permission of HPE.

Printed in the US

HPE Nimble Implementation Specialist

October 2017

Confidential – For Training Purposes Only

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Table of Contents
Requirements/login instructions ............................................................................................................... 4
Lab 1: Initialize an Array ............................................................................................................................. 5
Background ............................................................................................................................................ 5
Lab Topology ......................................................................................................................................... 5
Task 1: Launch Nimble Setup Manager ............................................................................................... 6
Task 2: Subnet Configuration ............................................................................................................. 11
Task 3: Post Setup Testing ................................................................................................................. 15
Lab 2: Basic Volume Creation ................................................................................................................. 17
Task 1: Create a volume ...................................................................................................................... 17
Task 2: Create a Volume Collection ................................................................................................... 20
Task 3: Create an Initiator and an Initiator Group ............................................................................ 23
Lab 3: Windows Host SetUp (NCM)......................................................................................................... 25
Background .......................................................................................................................................... 25
Task 1: Launch NCM and connect to a volume ................................................................................ 25
Task 2: Examine the newly connected volume ................................................................................ 27
Task 3: Return to the Windows host to prepare and mount the volume ....................................... 28
Lab 4: Snapshots and Data Recovery ..................................................................................................... 30
Background .......................................................................................................................................... 30
Task 1: Create Data.............................................................................................................................. 30
Task 2: Simulate a data loss event .................................................................................................... 32
Task 3: Create a Zero-Copy Clone ..................................................................................................... 34
Task 4: Connect to the clone and recover the data ......................................................................... 37
Task 5: Disconnect and delete the clone .......................................................................................... 39
Lab 5: Replication Partner Configuration ............................................................................................... 41
Background .......................................................................................................................................... 41
Lab Topology ....................................................................................................................................... 41
Task 1: Configure the Upstream Array .............................................................................................. 42
Task 2: Configuring the Downstream Array...................................................................................... 44
Conclusion/Review ................................................................................................................................... 46

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Objectives
Provide a common set of lab activities to demonstrate the following
a. Perform the Initial Setup of the HPE Nimble Storage Array
b. Perform the Initial Configuration of the HPE Nimble Storage Array
c. Create Volumes on the HPE Nimble Storage Array
d. Conduct Data Protection using the HPE Nimble Storage Arrays Snapshots
e. Conduct Data Protection using the HPE Nimble Storage Arrays Replication

Requirements/login instructions
Lab Requirements
Ensure that you have a Windows (preferred) or MAC client system with Remote Desktop
(RDP) installed.

Login Instructions
1. Follow access instructions provided to you by the lab administrator/instructor.
2. On the RDP login dialog, input the following credentials and click OK:
User name – student@edu.lab
Password – MSoft01!

Note: If you get a certificate warning, just click Yes to continue.

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Lab 1: Initialize an Array

Background
Before beginning an installation in a production environment, it is important to understand the following
before starting the initialization process.
• Planning
o Know the network in which you are deploying the array, including IP schemes, naming conventions
etc.
• Physical Array Installation
o Verify physical installation requirements including power and appropriate cabling and connections
o Ensure that the network interface of both controllers eth1 is connected to an appropriate switch
• Set-Up Host
o The Nimble Set-Up Manager (NSM) is installed on an appropriate Windows system
o The Windows system is connected to the same Layer 2 network as the array

Lab Topology

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Task 1: Launch Nimble Setup Manager

In the first step in this lab, you will initialize and configure the first array, Production, via Nimble Setup
Manager. The second array, DR, is preconfigured for an upcoming lab exercise.
1. Launch (double click) on the Nimble Setup Manager icon on the desktop.

2. Click Yes if prompted by Windows to make changes:

3. Discover Nimble Arrays.

a. The NSM will discovery and list uninitialized arrays that are located on the same L2
Network as your Windows system.

What information is displayed on this screen?

___________________________________________________________________________

b. Click on the radio button on the array listed and click on the Next button.

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4. You will be prompted with an information box alerting you to the fact that Setup Manager will
launch the default browser with default Microsoft IP address (169.254.x.x). Click OK to continue
the array setup in the browser.

5. When the browser launches (Chrome), it will present you with a security warning. Click
Advanced and then click on the “Proceed to…” link.

6. You will be presented with a license agreement. Read the agreement, scroll down, check the
box to acknowledge and then click on the Proceed button.

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7. At the subsequent array setup screen, you will keep the default option of setting up but not joining
a group and click Next.

8. Configure the array name, group name, management settings and password:
a. Enter the following data:
i. Array Name: prod-array-01
ii. Group Name: gr-prod-arrays
iii. Management IP: 192.168.100.100
iv. Netmask: 255.255.255.0
v. Default Gateway: 192.168.100.1
vi. Domain Name: edu.lab
vii. Password: Nimble01!
viii. Confirm Password: Nimble01!
b. Click on Finish when you are done.

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NOTE: It may take several minutes to initialize but you should get a success message when
done. At that point, click Continue.

9. You should then be presented with a browser window with the management IP that you entered during
setup (192.168.100.100)

10. Click Advanced and then click on the “Proceed to…” link.

11. You will then presented with the login page of the GUI. The username “admin” should be
prepopulated. Enter the password Nimble01!

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12. You may be presented with a login banner/usage warning, if so, click OK to bypass and continue.

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Task 2: Subnet Configuration

The second major task in this lab requires you to configure management and data interfaces.
1. In the last step of Task 1, you logged into the array GUI and should be at the Subnet
Configuration screen. If some time lapsed and you don’t see the screen below, simply log back
into the Production array (192.168.100.100) using the login information provided in the previous
task (admin/Nimble01).

2. Configure Subnets
You will configure the array to use three subnets -- one subnet for management only (on eth1 &
eth2) and two subnets for data only, data1 (eth3, eth5) and data2 (eth4, eth6).
a. Set the Management subnet as a management only network
i. Using the Traffic Type drop down, select Mgmt Only

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b. Click Add to add the first Data Only Subnet, data1, and enter the following data:
i. Subnet Label - data1
ii. Network - 172.0.1.0
iii. Netmask - 255.255.255.0
iv. Ensure the Traffic Type drop down is set to Data only
v. Discovery IP - 172.0.1.100

c. Click on Add to add the second Data Only Subnet, data2, and enter the following data:
i. Subnet Label - data2
ii. Network - 172.0.2.0
iii. Netmask - 255.255.255.0
iv. Ensure the Traffic Type drop down is set to Data only
v. Discovery IP - 172.0.2.100

d. Click NEXT

3. Assign Interfaces to Subnets

NOTE: Best practice configuration dictates that if you have two network cards, you should split
the interfaces into separate switches. For simplicity sake, Nimble recommends that you
configure even numbered interfaces into one switch and odd number interfaces into the
second switch.

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a. You’ll notice that eth1 should already be assigned to the management subnet – leave it
unchanged
b. Set eth2 to the management subnet by using the Subnet drop down and selecting
Management
c. Set eth3 to use the data subnet, data1, by using the Subnet drop down and selecting
data1.
i. In the Data IP Address text field, enter the IP address: 172.0.1.101
d. Set eth4 to use the data subnet, data2, by using the Subnet drop down and selecting
data2.
ii. In the Data IP Address text field, enter the IP address: 172.0.2.101
e. Set eth5 to use the data subnet, data1, by using the Subnet drop down and selecting
data1.
iii. In the Data IP Address text field, enter the IP address: 172.0.1.102
f. Set eth6 to use the data subnet, data2, by using the Subnet drop down and selecting
data2.
iv. In the Data IP Address text field, enter the IP address: 172.0.2.102
g. Set Controller A to IP address: 192.168.100.101
h. Set Controller B to IP address: 192.168.100.102

i. Click Next
4. Set Up Domain Information
a. Enter edu.lab.com for the domain name.
b. Input the DNS server IP as 192.168.100.3 and click Next
5. Set up Time Information
a. Configure the Time (NTP) Server to time.nimblestorage.com
b. Set the time zone region to America and the Country/State/City value to Los_Angeles
via the respective drop down menus.
b. Click Next
6. Configure Support Services
a. Email Alerts
i. The Send From Address should be auto populated with gr-prod-arrays@edu.lab.com, if
not enter the address in the Send From Address field
ii. Click Add and input admin@edu.lab.com for the Send To address

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iii. Input mail.edu.lab.com for the SMTP server

iv. Leave the remaining settings at default ensuring the Send event data to Nimble Storage
Support and Allow Nimble Storage Support to collect analytics data automatically
from the array are checked and Use Proxy server is unchecked.
b. Click Finish

NOTE: It may take several minutes for the setup to finish..

7. Setup Complete
a. The basic installation process is complete.

b. Click on the Continue button. This will take you to the GUI Home screen. You
may be presented with a browser security warning again so just use the typical
steps used earlier in the lab to advance (click on Advanced, then Proceed…).
NOTE: There’s a chance you may need to log back into the GUI (admin/Nimble01!) if you have
left your system for a period of time

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Task 3: Post Setup Testing

The final task in this lab is to show you how to verify that the support settings work. You’ll first take a look
at Diagnostics for Nimble Analytics. This is part of Nimble’s Proactive Wellness feature that allows the
array to be monitored by Nimble support. Any anomalies such as configuration errors or abnormal
operating conditions are logged and you are alerted before a failure occurs.
1. Testing AutoSupport (You are just viewing the AutoSupport area of the GUI, there is no
configuration – see note below)
a. Go the AutoSupport Screen by selecting Administration  Alerts & Monitoring
followed by Diagnostics (Diagnostics should default to the initial view – left pane)

NOTE: In a production environment, you would click on the Test Diagnostics for Nimble
Analytics Settings button to verify AutoSupport is functioning properly.

This action performs several tests and each will display a green light indicating success. To
expand and review the details of each test, you can click on the arrow next to the green light.

After that, you would then click Send Diagnostics For Nimble Analytics. The Send
Diagnostics For Nimble Analytics button is used if at any point you wish to manually initiate
analysis from Nimble Support.
Since this is a lab environment, you may not be able to run the test successfully; however,
when you perform these steps on a production network, you should see a message similar to the
one shown above.

2. Testing Email Alerts

a. While you are still in the Administration/Alerts and Monitoring view, click on Email located
within the left navigation pane directly below Diagnostics. This will bring you to the Email
Alerts area of the UI.

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b. Scroll down and click on the Test button in the button right of the screen.

c. Wait for Results (Success message)

i. In a production environment, you would then check the configured email account
box (eg: admin@edu.lab.com) to see if a message had been received.

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Lab 2: Basic Volume Creation

NOTE: The screen captures in this lab are meant for illustrative purposes and will not
necessarily reflect the all the configuration parameters shown in your array..

Task 1: Create a volume

During the first part of this lab exercise you will configure basic volume parameters including: name,
performance policy and volume size.

NOTE: You may skip steps 1-4 if you already have an active UI window to the production
array.
1. Launch Chrome and input the IP address of the production array (192.168.100.100) and hit Enter.
2. Input the username admin and password Nimble01! and click on Log In.
3. You may be presented with a browser security message if so, click on Advanced and the Proceed…link.

4. You may be presented with a login banner/usage warning, if so, click OK to bypass and continue.

5. Click on the Manage workspace and then select Data Storage from the drop down.

This screen provides a list of the volumes on the array and their sizes
6. Click on the plus sign (+) under Volumes to add a new volume

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a. Input the volume name – ms-fileserver-01

b. Click on the Location dropdown. Since we are not configuring or designating a specific pool or
folder in this lab, choose default.
c. Select the Performance Policy. For this configuration you will use the drop down menu and select
Windows File Server
d. Configure the size of the volume to be 100 GiB. Type 100 in the size input field and leave at GiB.

e. Since you’ll be addressing the volume collection and the initiator group configurations in a
subsequent task, set the Data Protection (Volume Collection) and Access (Initiator Group) values
as Not Protected and Unrestricted Access via their respective drop down options. Additionally,
you will not be configuring a CHAP account for this lab exercise so you will set the CHAP Account
field to Unrestricted Access as well.

NOTE: When creating a volume for the first time the available items in the drop down
menus for Data Protection, Access, and Chap Account will be generic. Once you have
created protection schedules, initiator groups, and chap accounts these menus will have
more options.
If you already had a volume collection, initiator group and CHAP account created, you
could associate them to this volume at this point in the configuration. Since we are
configuring Data Protection and Access in a subsequent step, you are temporarily
setting this values to Not Protected and Unrestricted Access respectively. As a result,
you will see a warning after setting these access values to unrestricted. Typically, as
best practice, you would configure these values to restrict access. For simplicity sake in
this lab, we are omitting CHAP configuration all together.

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f. When you have finished configuring the parameters defined above, click on Create to create the
volume. You should see a success message.

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Task 2: Create a Volume Collection

The second part of this lab exercise will have you configure data protection parameters with a Volume
Collection.
1. From the Manage workspace of the UI, select Data Protection.

2. You are now at the Volume Collections configuration area. Just as you did when you created a volume, click
on the plus sign (+) to add a new Volume collection.

What do you think is the purpose of a volume collection?

________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________

3. Input the VC name vc-ms-fileserver within the Name field. Start From Protection Template will be left at
default of No protection template and Replication Partner the Synchronization Service at the default of

None.
4. You will configure three schedules: Hourly, Minutes and Daily. Start with Hourly.
In the first schedule name field type Hourly.

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5. Leave all other values at default and click on Add Schedule. Depending on your window size, you may
need to scroll down.

6. In the next schedule name field type 2mins. Change the Every value to 2 and the time dropdown to
minutes.

NOTE: You are setting the interval to 2 minutes in order to quickly build snapshots for a
subsequent lab. Also be aware that this entry does not accept spaces.
7. Leave all other values at default and click on Add Schedule. You may need to scroll down.
8. In the next schedule name field type Daily. Keep the Every value to 1 and change the time dropdown to
days. Leave all other values at default.

Why is it important to have multiple schedules?

________________________________________________________________________________

9. Click Next. You may need to scroll down.

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10. Your schedules are created and now you can add your volume to your volume collection. Highlight the
volume under the available section by clicking on it and then and click on the Add button to move it to
Selected.

11. Click on Create to create the Volume Collection.

You should now see your volume collection, vc-ms-fileserver, listed within the Volume
Collections.

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Task 3: Create an Initiator and an Initiator Group

The final part of this lab exercise will have you configure an initiator group and understand how to restrict
access to the volume.
1. From the Manage workspace, select Data Access.

2. You are now at the Initiator Groups configuration area. Just as you did when you created a volume and a
VC, click on the plus sign (+) to add a new Initiator Group.
3. Input the name ig-fileserver and keep the default for Use all configured subnets.

4. Click Add under Initiators to add an initiator.

5. Add the initiator name – ms-fileservers

6. You’ll need to get the IQN from Nimble Connection Manager (NCM), which you’ll use more extensively in
the next lab. If needed minimize your browser window to reveal the desktop.

a. Double click on the Nimble Connection Manager (NCM) icon

b. Click Yes when prompted by the system to allow changes

7. In the bottom third of the NCM window you’ll see the IQN value to the right of Initiator Name.

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8. Double click on the IQN value to select it (it should be highlighted blue).

9. Use the Ctrl + C key combination on your keyboard to copy the value to the clipboard.

10. Return to the array UI. Click in the IQN field and paste the IQN value from your clipboard using the Ctrl + V
key combination.

11. Leave the IP address field with the wildcard value of * to allow access from any IP address from the network.
If you were to specify an IP address, access would be determined by both a match of the IQN and the IP
address that was requesting access.
12. Click Create and you will be presented with a success message indicating that the initiator group, ig-
fileserver, was added successfully. Also notice the newly created initiator, ms-fileservers, is reflected
under the Initiators tab.

NOTE: Depending the firmware version of the array, you may need to click on the initiator
group name, ig-fileserver, to view the details/tabbed screen area shown below.

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Lab 3: Windows Host Setup (NCM)

Background
This lab will show you how to connect a Windows Server 2012 R2 with the array using the Nimble
Connection Manager (NCM) host side software.
If you were working on a production system, the following steps would need to be done first:
1. Download Nimble Windows Toolkit (NWT) from the support site
2. Install hotfixes on the Windows hosts
3. Enable MPIO on the Windows hosts
4. Install Nimble Connection Manager (NCM) on the Windows host
5. Reboot the Windows host

Task 1: Launch NCM and connect to a volume

The first step in this lab requires you to launch Nimble Connection Manager (NCM) from a host machine
and add a target so that you can connect to the appropriate volume.
1. Minimize your browser window, if necessary and ensure NCM is open.
If NCM is not already running:
a. Double click on the Nimble Connection Manager (NCM) icon on the desktop
b. Click Yes when prompted by the system to allow changes

2. Setting Up the Host

a. Review the information presented under the System Settings tab. Notice that the host
management network (192.168.100.x) is excluded from the discovery process. The
configuration should look similar to the screenshot below with the 172.0.x.x addresses on the
Included list to the left and the 192.168.100.x (management) address on the Excluded list to
the right.
NOTE: If the host IP were not already on the Excluded list as shown below, you would select
the address by clicking on it to highlight, and then click on the Exclude button to move it to the
right.
3. Discover the Array

a. Click on Add button about mid-way down the screen and to the right.

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b. Select the group: gr-prod-arrays by clicking on it.

c. Click on the OK button.

NOTE: If you could not find the array within your production environment, you could
click on the Advanced button and enter the array’s IP address.
4. Connect the Volume
a. Click on the Nimble Volumes tab.

b. Click on the volume ms-fileserver-01 to select it (you may need to refresh the screen to see the
volume). Notice the “red x” on the volume indicating it is currently disconnected.

c. Click Connect.

d. The Connect to Target dialog box appears. Click on the OK button to accept all defaults – the
volume should now have a green icon indicating a successful connection.

What do you see in the Recent Tasks area in the lower portion of the screen?
_______________________________________________________________________
e. Click on the Properties button
f. Examine the Volume Properties
NOTE: Some of the key information listed, beyond the volume name, is the target IQN
and the list of connections.
5. Click on the OK button to close out the volume properties

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Task 2: Examine the newly connected volume

In this task of the lab you will re-launch the array GUI and examine volume connections.
You may skip directly to Step 4 if you already have an active browser session with the array.
1. Launch Chrome and enter the array IP (192.168.100.100) into the URL field.
2. Login with username admin and password Nimble01!
3. If presented with a login banner/usage warning, click OK to bypass.
4. Select Monitor  Connections

5. Click on the volume name – ms-fileserver-01, it will bring you to the Data Access tab.

What information is found under the Connections submenu?

___________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

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Task 3: Return to the Windows host to prepare and mount the volume
In the final task of the lab you will focus on the disk management settings of the Windows host by
preparing and mounting the volume.
1. Bring the Volume Online
a. If necessary, minimize your browser window to expose the desktop and bring up Server
Management by clicking on the icon in the task bar of the server.
b. From the Upper right corner of the screen, Select Tools Computer Management

c. Select Disk Management under Storage in the left pane

d. Right click on Disk 1

e. Select Online
f. Right click on Disk 1 again
g. Select Initialize Disk
i. The Initialize Disk dialog window appears. Click on GPT radio button
ii. Click on the OK button

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h. Right click on the Unallocated volume

i. Select New Simple Volume

j. The New Simple Volume Wizard is displayed.

i. Select Next
ii. Use the default volume sizes and select Next
iii. Accept the default drive letter (E) and click Next
iv. Type the volume name ms-fileserver-01 into the Volume label text field (leave all other
defaults)

v. Click Next
vi. Click Finish

Your volume now has a file system on it. Notice that the volume is online and is formatted for NTFS

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Lab 4: Snapshots and Data Recovery

Background
The first task in this lab requires you to create data for your new volume ms-fileserver-01. The remaining
tasks in this lab will simulate a data loss by deleting the data, recovering the data from a cloned volume
and lastly, disconnecting and deleting the clone.

Task 1: Create Data

You will use a file creator application to create data for your volume ms-fileserver-01.
1. If necessary, minimize any windows that may be in your way and open File Explorer using the
shortcut located in the task bar of the host.
2. Under the Computer section, click ms-fileserver-01 (E) and create a folder on the volume named
Lab Data

3. Launch Disk Tools from the shortcut icon on the server desktop.
4. Click Run when prompted on the security warning to open the File Generator program.
5. Adjust the default configuration settings to generate 5 files. Within the Generate box under the
Number of files section, type 5 and hit Enter. Leave the file size at the default setting (1GB) to
produce roughly 5GB total of data.

NOTE: The File Generator program may not reflect 5GB in total size on the configuration
screen until you close the program and open it back up again.

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6. Set the output folder to Lab Data on the volume (E:\Lab Data).

7. Click on the Create button.

8. It should take 1 – 2 minutes for the file creation to complete. When it is done, look at the folder
and ensure that all the data has been written.

You can also examine the progress of the files being written in the lower left of the program

9. Note the approximate time (from the right side of the task bar in your RDP host system clock) that
your data was fully written to the volume, here:
____________________

Where do you need to go on the array UI to verify how much data is written on the
volume?
____________________________________________________________________________

10. Wait several minutes and ensure that your 2Mins protection/snapshot schedule, has created at
least one snapshot from which you can recover the data in the Lab Data folder in the event of
data loss.

11. Unless you already have an active window, launch Chrome and initiate a UI connection to the
production array (192.168.100.100 admin/Nimble01!)

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12. From the Manage workspace, go to Data Protection and then click on your Volume Collection,
vc-ms-fileserver.

13. After clicking on the Volume Collection, vc-ms-fileserver, click on the Snapshot Collections tab.

14. The snapshots are presented chronologically with the most recent snapshots at the top of the list by
default. In step 9 of this task, you noted the time that your data was written to the volume.

So in this example, if your data was fully written by 11:07 with no changes, either of the top two
snapshots (since they took place after 11:07) would be appropriate choices from which to
recover the data in the Lab Data folder should a data loss event occur. Ensure that you have at
least one snapshot to recover from before moving on to the next task.

Task 2: Simulate a data loss event

You will now simulate data loss by deleting files from your volume ms-fileserver-01.

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1. From File Explorer, return to the E drive (ms-fileserver-01), highlight all the contents of the Lab
Data folder and delete. (If prompted by the system to permanently delete, click Yes)

2. All the data is now gone from the Lab Data folder on the ms-fileserver-01 volume.

3. Take note of the time that you deleted the files (RDP system time) so that you can choose an
appropriate snapshot to recover from in a subsequent task:
____________________

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Task 3: Create a Zero-Copy Clone

1. Find the an appropriate snapshot
a. Go back to the array UI to find a snapshot in order to recover the deleted data
b. Find an older snapshot that was created after the files were created and select it. See
the screenshot below for an example.

Why wouldn’t you pick the most recent snapshot in this case?

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

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2. Identify the first snapshot that was taken after all the data was originally written. Click in the
checkbox to the left of it to select it.

3. Create a Zero-Copy Clone

a. Click on the Clone button

b. By default, the system will append “clone” to the original volume name. For the sake of
simplicity, just keep the default name of ms-fileserver-01-clone and click OK.

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4. Return to the Manage Volumes menu (Manage Data Storage)

You can now see the clone has been created and that it is online (green disk icon).

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Task 4: Connect to the clone and recover the data

1. If necessary, minimize any windows that may be in your way and return to Nimble Connection
Manager.
a. Under the Nimble Volumes tab, click on the Refresh button
b. Click on the cloned volume ms-fileserver-01-clone to highlight it

c. Click on the Connect button and then OK.

d. The cloned volume now shows as connected (green).

2. Return to Computer Management

a. Select Disk Management
b. Right click on Disk 2 and select Online

The cloned volume is now accessible via the F drive within File Explorer.

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3. Return to File Explorer to recover data from the clone

a. Examine the F drive. Notice that the Lab Data folder within the cloned volume has the
data you need to recover to the production volume (E drive).

4. Select all the files in the Lab Data folder on the F drive and select Copy

5. Return to the E drive where the ms-fileserver-01 volume resides, open up the Lab Data folder

and paste the data into it.

6. After a couple minutes the files are restored.

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Task 5: Disconnect and delete the clone

1. Disconnect the Clone
a. Return to Computer Management on the windows host
b. Click on Disk Management, then right click on Disk2 and select Offline
c. Return to Nimble Connection Manager
i. Click on the cloned volume to highlight it, then select Disconnect

ii. In the Disconnect All Connections dialog window, click on the Remove
connect on startup checkbox
iii. Click on Yes button
d. The clone is now disconnected

2. Deleting the Clone

a. Return to the array GUI
b. Go to the Volumes screen (Manage  Data Storage)
c. Click the checkbox on the cloned volume to select it
d. Click on the three dots (…) above the volumes and then click Set Offline

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e. Click on YES when presented with a warning

f. The clone is now offline
g. With the clone still highlighted, click the delete (x) icon to delete.

h. Click Delete when prompted for confirmation

What do you observe?

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

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Lab 5: Replication Partner Configuration

Background
Setting up a partner replication involves two major steps:
1. Configure the upstream array group (gr-prod-arrays) and downstream array group (gr-dr-arrays) as
replication partners
2. Test the connection status

Lab Topology

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Task 1: Configure the Upstream Array

1. Return/launch the array GUI for the production array and login if necessary (192.168.100.100
admin/Nimble01!).
Without looking ahead at the next step in the guide, where do you think you’ll need to
go to configure Replication Partners?
_________________________________________________________________________

2. Go to Manage  Data Protection  Replication Partners

3. Click on Plus Sign (+)

a. Enter the following:
i. Partner name: gr-dr-arrays
What is the role of gr-dr-arrays?
____________________________________________________________________________
ii. Hostname/IP: 192.168.100.200
iii. Shared secret: Nimble01!
iv. Confirm shared secret: Nimble01!
v. Click on Use management or controller IPs for replication traffic radio button if it is not
already selected
vi. Use the drop down menu and set the Inbound Location to default

4. Click Next
5. You will not configure a QoS policy. Click Create to finish the partner configuration.

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Why would you want to limit replication bandwidth?

___________________________________________________________________________

Notice that the downstream replication partner has been configured successfully on the
production array but is unreachable. Why?
___________________________________________________________________________

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Task 2: Configuring the Downstream Array

1. In a new browser tab, launch the GUI for the disaster recovery using the address 192.168.100.200.
2. If presented with a browser security warning after clicking continue, just advance past it as in
previous steps by clicking on Advanced and then Proceed…
3. Log into the array GUI:
a. Username = admin
b. Password = Nimble01!
c. Click the Log In button
d. Click Ok if presented with a login banner/usage warning

4. Go to Manage  Data Protection  Replication partners

5. Click on Plus Sign (+)

a. Enter the following:
i. Partner name: gr-prod-arrays
ii. Hostname/IP: 192.168.100.100
iii. Shared secret: Nimble01!
iv. Confirm shared secret: Nimble01!
vii. Click on Use management or controller IPs for replication traffic radio button if it is not
already selected
viii. Use the drop down menu and set the Inbound Location to default
6. Click Next
7. You will not configure a QoS policy. Click Create to finish the partner configuration.

What is the status of the replication partner connection? ____________________________

8. Click the checkbox next to the Replication Partner name (gr-prod-arrays) in order to select it and click Test.

9. If configured properly, you should see the status change to Alive.

What is the replication partner status of the production array (you may need to refresh
the screen) and what does this tell you about the relationship between both arrays?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

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If the connection attempt failed, what could be the reason(s)? Troubleshoot until you get
an “Allive” status between the partners.
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

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Conclusion/Review
These labs took you through some of the common/basic configurations on Nimble Storage arrays. The
tasks you were introduced to included:
• Array initialization
• Volume creation
• Volume Collection configuration
• Using snapshots to recover lost data
• Configuring and testing communication between replication partners.

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