Understanding PowerMax File for storage systems

Network-attached storage is a file-level storage architecture that makes stored data more accessible to networked devices.

A storage system running PowerMaxOS 10 (6079) with embedded Unisphere supports software-defined network-attached storage (PowerMax File).

PowerMax File support a file services architecture that provides a reliable, high performance, highly available, and highly scalable system. PowerMax File runs as a container instance inside each file guest offering based on the customer configuration.

Unisphere in the Embedded Element Manger (EEM) manages a single instance of PowerMax File that is present locally. The Unisphere that is installed on an external host does not manage any PowerMax File instances.

PowerMax File uses virtualized Network-Attached Storage (NAS) servers that use the SMB, NFS, and FTP protocols to catalog, organize, and transfer files within file system shares and exports.

A NAS server, the basis for multi-tenancy, must be created before you can create file-level storage resources. NAS servers are responsible for the configuration parameters on the set of file systems that it serves.

Network File System (NFS) is an access protocol that enables users to access files and folders on a network. You can create an NFS export to make file system paths on your storage system available for mounting by NFS clients.

Server Message Block (SMB) is an access protocol that allows remote file data access from clients to hosts on a network. An SMB share, also known as an SMB file share, is a shared resource on an SMB server.

VLAN and Jumbo frames are supported for File services.

Services such as anti-virus, scheduled snapshots, and Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP) backups ensure that the data on the file systems is well protected.

Common Event Enablers (CEE) is an externally deployable software from Dell (primarily on Windows). This software has two packages - Common anti-virus Agent (CAVA) and Common Event Publishing Agent (CEPA). CAVA provides an anti-virus solution to clients using a NAS server. It uses an industry-standard SMB protocol in a Windows Server environment. CAVA uses third-party anti-virus software to identify and eliminate known viruses before they infect files on the storage system. The CEE CEPA ecosystem consists of dozens of applications that are designed to process SMB and NFS file and directory event notifications. See View NAS server details and Configure Events Publisher.

The high-level sequence of tasks to configure PowerMax File for storage systems running PowerMaxOS 10 (6079) is as follows:
  1. Configure subnets (subnet configuration is required in order to create a NAS server).
  2. Create NAS server (a NAS server is required in order to create a file system).
  3. Create File Systems (file systems enable you to partition data for your users).
  4. Protect File Systems (optionally protect file system data using snapshots or replication).
The detailed sequence of tasks to configure PowerMax File is as follows:
  1. View node inventory (under System > File Configuration> Node Inventory tab)— View file node inventory.
  2. Configure subnets. Create and configure bond devices (under System > File Configuration> Network Devices tab)— View file system network devices.
  3. Create and configure NAS servers (under Storage > File)— View NAS servers). Other properties and controls that are associated with NAS servers are in the following tabs:
  4. Create and configure file systems (under Storage > File)— View file systems. Other properties and controls that are associated with file systems are in the following tabs:
    • Details— View file system details
    • Snapshots— View file system snapshots. Snapshots can be used for restoring individual files or the entire file system back to a previous point in time.
    • User Quotas— View file system snapshots. Quota management allows you to place limits on the amount of space that can be consumed in order to regulate file system storage consumption. User quotas are set at a file system level and limit the amount of space a user may consume on a file system.
    • Tree Quotas— View file system tree quotas. Quota management allows you to place limits on the amount of space that can be consumed in order to regulate file system storage consumption. Quota trees limit the maximum size of a directory on a file system. Unlike user quotas, which are applied and tracked on a user-by-user basis, quota trees are applied to directories within the file system.
    • File Level Retention— View and modify file level retention properties. When a snapshot is created, it can be configured to have no automatic deletion or retention until a specific date and time. If retention is set, the snapshot is automatically deleted upon reaching the retention date. The retention setting does not prevent the snapshot from being deleted before the retention date.
  5. Create and configure SMB Shares (under Storage > File > SMB Shares)— View SMB shares.
  6. Create and configure NFS Exports (under Storage > File > NFS exports)— View file components NFS exports. You can create an NFS export to make file system paths on your storage system available for mounting by NFS clients.
  7. Create Global Namespaces (under Storage > File > Global Namespaces)— View global namespace servers.
  8. Create and configure snapshot policies (under Data Protection > File Protection> Snapshot policies)— View file protection snapshot policies.
  9. Create and configure replication (under Data Protection > File Protection > Replication. Properties and controls that are associated with replication are:

Migration support is provided for file objects, system configuration and user data from eNAS to PowerMax File.

The sequence of tasks to migrate from eNAS to PowerMax File is as follows:
  1. Set up File migration network for data import (under System > File Migration > Network tab)— View File migration network and Add remote storage system.
  2. Set up File migration management connection to the remote storage system (under System > File Migration > Remote Systems tab)— View remote systems and Add remote storage system.
  3. Set up File migration sessions by importing sessions from the remote source NAS server (under Data Protection > File Migration > File Imports)— View file imports and View file import details.

The state transitions for File migration are outlined in the following diagram and tables.

State Name Resume Pause Cutover Commit Cancel Modify
1 Initialized Allowed

-

-

-

Allowed Allowed
2 Initial_Provisioning

-

-

-

-

Allowed Allowed
3 Initial_Copy

-

Allowed

-

-

Allowed

-

4 Importing_Config

-

-

-

-

Allowed Allowed
5 Ready_to_Cutover Allowed*

-

Allowed

-

Allowed Allowed
6 Cutting_Over

-

-

-

-

Allowed

-

7 Incremental_Copy

-

Allowed

-

-

Allowed

-

8 Ready_to_Commit

-

-

-

Allowed Allowed

-

9 Committing

-

-

-

-

-

-

10 Completed

-

-

-

-

-

-

11 Cancelling

-

-

-

-

-

-

12 Canceled

-

-

-

-

-

-

13 Error Allowed** Allowed** Allowed** Allowed** Allowed** Allowed**
14 Pausing

-

-

-

-

Allowed

-

15 Paused Allowed

-

-

-

Allowed

-

* If repeatConfigImport is true..

** See the following table

State ID State Name Stage Name Resume Pause Cutover Commit Cancel Modify
13 Error 1 Initialized Allowed

-

-

-

Allowed Allowed
2 Initial_Provisioning Allowed

-

-

-

Allowed Allowed
3 Initial_Copy Allowed Allowed

-

-

Allowed

-

4 Importing_Config Allowed

-

-

-

Allowed Allowed
5 Ready_to_Cutover Allowed*

-

Allowed

-

Allowed Allowed
6 Cutting_Over

-

-

Allowed

-

Allowed

-

7 Incremental_Copy Allowed Allowed

-

-

Allowed

-

8 Ready_to_Commit

-

-

-

Allowed Allowed

-

9 Committing

-

-

-

Allowed

-

-

10 Completed

-

-

-

-

-

-

11 Cancelling

-

-

-

-

Allowed

-

12 Canceled

-

-

-

-

-

-

* If repeatConfigImport is true.