Isilon

OneFS
Version 7.2

Web Administration Guide

Copyright 2001-2014 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Published in USA.

Published November, 2014
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OneFS 7.2 Web Administration Guide

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Introduction to this guide

19

About this guide............................................................................................20

Isilon scale-out NAS overview........................................................................20
Where to go for support.................................................................................20

Chapter 2

Isilon scale-out NAS

21

OneFS storage architecture........................................................................... 22

Isilon node components................................................................................22
Internal and external networks...................................................................... 23
Isilon cluster................................................................................................. 23
Cluster administration......................................................................23
Quorum............................................................................................23
Splitting and merging.......................................................................24
Storage pools...................................................................................25
IP address pools.............................................................................. 25
The OneFS operating system......................................................................... 25
Data-access protocols......................................................................26
Identity management and access control......................................... 26
Structure of the file system............................................................................27
Data layout...................................................................................... 27
Writing files......................................................................................28
Reading files.................................................................................... 28
Metadata layout...............................................................................28
Locks and concurrency.....................................................................29
Striping............................................................................................ 29
Data protection overview...............................................................................29
N+M data protection........................................................................ 30
Data mirroring.................................................................................. 31
The file system journal..................................................................... 31
Virtual hot spare.............................................................................. 31
Balancing protection with storage space.......................................... 31
VMware integration....................................................................................... 31
Software modules......................................................................................... 32

Chapter 3

General cluster administration

33

General cluster administration overview........................................................34

User interfaces.............................................................................................. 34
Connecting to the cluster...............................................................................35
Log in to the web administration interface........................................35
Open an SSH connection to a cluster................................................35
Licensing.......................................................................................................35
License status..................................................................................36
License configuration....................................................................... 38
Activate a license............................................................................. 39
View license information.................................................................. 39
Unconfigure a license.......................................................................39
Certificates....................................................................................................40
Replace or renew the SSL certificate................................................. 40
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Verify an SSL certificate update........................................................ 41

Self-signed SSL certificate data example.......................................... 42
Cluster identity..............................................................................................42
Set the cluster name........................................................................ 42
Cluster contact information........................................................................... 43
Specify contact information..............................................................43
Cluster date and time.................................................................................... 43
Set the cluster date and time........................................................... 44
Specify an NTP time server............................................................... 44
SMTP email settings...................................................................................... 44
Configure SMTP email settings......................................................... 45
Configuring the cluster join mode..................................................................45
Specify the cluster join mode........................................................... 45
Cluster join modes........................................................................... 46
File system settings.......................................................................................46
Specify the cluster character encoding............................................. 46
Enable or disable access time tracking.............................................47
Cluster monitoring.........................................................................................47
Monitor the cluster...........................................................................48
View node status............................................................................. 48
Monitoring cluster hardware..........................................................................49
View node hardware status.............................................................. 49
Chassis and drive states.................................................................. 49
Check battery status........................................................................ 52
SNMP monitoring............................................................................. 52
Events and notifications................................................................................ 55
Coalesced events............................................................................. 55
Viewing event information................................................................57
Responding to events.......................................................................59
Managing event notification settings................................................59
Managing event notification rules.................................................... 62
Cluster maintenance..................................................................................... 63
Replacing node components............................................................ 63
Upgrading node components........................................................... 64
Managing drive firmware..................................................................64
Managing cluster nodes................................................................... 68
Upgrading OneFS............................................................................. 69
Remote support.............................................................................................70
Remote support using SupportIQ..................................................... 70
Remote support using ESRS Gateway............................................... 73

Chapter 4

Access zones

77

Access zones overview ................................................................................. 78

Access zone base directory rules...................................................................78
Access zones best practices..........................................................................79
Access zone limits.........................................................................................79
Quality of service...........................................................................................80
Managing access zones................................................................................ 81
Create an access zone......................................................................81
Associate an IP address pool with an access zone............................82
View a list of access zones............................................................... 82
Modify an access zone..................................................................... 82
Delete an access zone......................................................................82

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Chapter 5

Authentication and access control

85

Authentication and access control overview.................................................. 86

Role-based access........................................................................................ 86
Roles and privileges......................................................................... 86
Data backup and restore privileges.................................................. 97
User permissions utility....................................................................98
Authentication.............................................................................................. 98
Supported authentication providers.................................................98
Authentication provider features...................................................... 99
Kerberos authentication...................................................................99
LDAP.............................................................................................. 100
Active Directory.............................................................................. 100
NIS.................................................................................................101
File provider................................................................................... 101
Local provider................................................................................ 102
Data access control..................................................................................... 102
Authorization.............................................................................................. 102
SMB...............................................................................................103
NFS................................................................................................ 103
Mixed-permission environments.................................................... 104
Managing roles........................................................................................... 105
View a role..................................................................................... 105
View privileges...............................................................................105
Create a custom role...................................................................... 106
Modify a role.................................................................................. 106
Copy a role.....................................................................................106
Add a privilege to a custom role..................................................... 106
Add a member to a role.................................................................. 107
Delete a custom role...................................................................... 107
Managing authentication providers............................................................. 107
Managing LDAP providers.............................................................. 108
Managing Active Directory providers.............................................. 111
Managing NIS providers................................................................. 114
Managing file providers..................................................................116
Managing local users and groups...................................................120
Managing MIT Kerberos authentication.......................................... 123
Managing access permissions.....................................................................129
View expected user permissions.................................................... 130
Configure access management settings......................................... 131
Modify ACL policy settings..............................................................132
ACL policy settings options............................................................ 132
Update cluster permissions............................................................139

Chapter 6

Identity management

141

Identity management overview....................................................................142

Identity types.............................................................................................. 142
Access tokens............................................................................................. 143
Access token generation............................................................................. 144
ID mapping.................................................................................... 144
User mapping................................................................................ 146
On-disk identity............................................................................. 148
Managing ID mappings............................................................................... 149
Create an identity mapping............................................................ 149
Modify an identity mapping............................................................150
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Delete an identity mapping............................................................ 150

View an identity mapping...............................................................150
Flush the identity mapping cache...................................................151
View a user token...........................................................................151
Configure identity mapping settings...............................................152
View identity mapping settings...................................................... 152
Managing user identities.............................................................................152
View user identity.......................................................................... 153
Create a user-mapping rule............................................................ 154
Test a user-mapping rule................................................................154
Merge Windows and UNIX tokens................................................... 155
Retrieve the primary group from LDAP............................................ 156
Mapping rule options..................................................................... 157
Mapping rule operators..................................................................158

Chapter 7

Auditing

161

Auditing overview........................................................................................162
Protocol audit events.................................................................................. 162
Supported event types................................................................................ 162
Supported audit tools................................................................................. 163
Enable system configuration auditing..........................................................164
Enable protocol access auditing..................................................................164
Auditing settings......................................................................................... 165

Chapter 8

File sharing

167

File sharing overview...................................................................................168

SMB............................................................................................................ 168
SMB shares in access zones.......................................................... 169
SMB Multichannel..........................................................................169
SMB share management through MMC.......................................... 171
Symbolic links through SMB.......................................................... 172
Anonymous access to SMB shares................................................. 173
NFS............................................................................................................. 173
NFS exports....................................................................................173
NFS aliases.................................................................................... 174
NFS log files................................................................................... 174
HTTP and HTTPS.......................................................................................... 175
FTP.............................................................................................................. 175
Mixed protocol environments...................................................................... 175
Write caching with SmartCache................................................................... 175
Write caching for asynchronous writes........................................... 176
Write caching for synchronous writes............................................. 176
Managing SMB settings...............................................................................177
Configure SMB server settings........................................................177
Configure default SMB share settings.............................................177
Enable or disable SMB Multichannel.............................................. 178
Snapshots directory settings..........................................................178
File and directory permission settings............................................ 179
SMB performance settings............................................................. 179
SMB security settings.....................................................................180
Managing SMB shares.................................................................................180
Create an SMB share......................................................................180
Modify SMB share permissions, performance, or security...............182
Delete an SMB share......................................................................183
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Limit access to /ifs share for the Everyone account........................ 183

Configure anonymous access to a single SMB share...................... 183
Configure anonymous access to all SMB shares in an access zone.184
Add a user or group to an SMB share..............................................184
Configure multi-protocol home directory access............................. 185
Managing the NFS service........................................................................... 185
Configure NFS file sharing.............................................................. 186
Create a root-squashing rule for the default NFS export.................. 186
NFS global settings........................................................................ 186
Managing NFS exports.................................................................................187
Create an NFS export......................................................................187
Modify an NFS export..................................................................... 189
Delete an NFS export......................................................................189
Check NFS exports for errors.......................................................... 189
View and configure default NFS export settings.............................. 190
Basic NFS export settings............................................................... 190
NFS export performance settings....................................................191
NFS export client compatibility settings..........................................191
NFS export behavior settings..........................................................192
Managing NFS aliases................................................................................. 192
Create an NFS alias........................................................................ 192
Modify an NFS alias........................................................................193
Delete an NFS alias........................................................................ 193
List NFS aliases.............................................................................. 194
View an NFS alias...........................................................................194
Enable and configure FTP file sharing.......................................................... 194
Enable and configure HTTP.......................................................................... 195

Chapter 9

Home directories

197

Home directories overview.......................................................................... 198

Home directory permissions........................................................................198
Authenticating SMB users........................................................................... 198
Home directory creation through SMB......................................................... 198
Create home directories with expansion variables..........................199
Create home directories with the --inheritable-path-acl option....... 200
Create special home directories with the SMB share %U variable...201
Home directory creation through SSH and FTP............................................. 202
Set the SSH or FTP login shell ........................................................ 202
Set SSH/FTP home directory permissions....................................... 202
Set SSH/FTP home directory creation options.................................203
Provision home directories with dot files........................................204
Home directory creation in a mixed environment......................................... 205
Interactions between ACLs and mode bits................................................... 205
Default home directory settings in authentication providers........................ 205
Supported expansion variables................................................................... 206
Domain variables in home directory provisioning........................................ 207

Chapter 10

Snapshots

209

Snapshots overview.................................................................................... 210

Data protection with SnapshotIQ.................................................................210
Snapshot disk-space usage........................................................................ 210
Snapshot schedules....................................................................................211
Snapshot aliases........................................................................................ 211
File and directory restoration.......................................................................211
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Best practices for creating snapshots..........................................................212

Best practices for creating snapshot schedules........................................... 212
File clones...................................................................................................213
Shadow-store considerations.........................................................214
Snapshot locks........................................................................................... 214
Snapshot reserve........................................................................................ 215
SnapshotIQ license functionality.................................................................215
Creating snapshots with SnapshotIQ...........................................................215
Create a SnapRevert domain.......................................................... 216
Create a snapshot schedule........................................................... 216
Create a snapshot.......................................................................... 217
Snapshot naming patterns............................................................. 218
Managing snapshots .................................................................................. 220
Reducing snapshot disk-space usage............................................ 220
Delete snapshots........................................................................... 221
Modify snapshot attributes............................................................ 221
Assign a snapshot alias to a snapshot........................................... 222
View snapshots..............................................................................222
Snapshot information.................................................................... 222
Restoring snapshot data............................................................................. 223
Revert a snapshot.......................................................................... 223
Restore a file or directory using Windows Explorer..........................223
Restore a file or directory through a UNIX command line.................224
Clone a file from a snapshot...........................................................224
Managing snapshot schedules....................................................................225
Modify a snapshot schedule.......................................................... 225
Delete a snapshot schedule........................................................... 225
View snapshot schedules...............................................................225
Managing snapshot aliases.........................................................................226
Configure a snapshot alias for a snapshot schedule.......................226
Assign a snapshot alias to a snapshot........................................... 226
Reassign a snapshot alias to the live file system............................ 226
View snapshot aliases................................................................... 227
Snapshot alias information............................................................ 227
Managing with snapshot locks.................................................................... 227
Create a snapshot lock...................................................................228
Modify a snapshot lock expiration date..........................................228
Delete a snapshot lock...................................................................228
Snapshot lock information............................................................. 229
Configure SnapshotIQ settings.................................................................... 229
SnapshotIQ settings.......................................................................229
Set the snapshot reserve.............................................................................231

Chapter 11

Deduplication with SmartDedupe

233

Deduplication overview...............................................................................234
Deduplication jobs......................................................................................234
Data replication and backup with deduplication..........................................235
Snapshots with deduplication.....................................................................235
Deduplication considerations......................................................................235
Shadow-store considerations......................................................................236
SmartDedupe license functionality..............................................................236
Managing deduplication............................................................................. 236
Assess deduplication space savings.............................................. 237
Specify deduplication settings....................................................... 237
View deduplication space savings..................................................238
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View a deduplication report........................................................... 238

Deduplication job report information............................................. 238
Deduplication information............................................................. 239

Chapter 12

Data replication with SyncIQ

241

SyncIQ backup and recovery overview......................................................... 242

Replication policies and jobs...................................................................... 242
Automated replication policies.......................................................243
Source and target cluster association.............................................243
Full and differential replication.......................................................244
Controlling replication job resource consumption.......................... 244
Replication reports.........................................................................245
Replication snapshots.................................................................................245
Source cluster snapshots............................................................... 245
Target cluster snapshots................................................................ 246
Data failover and failback with SyncIQ.........................................................246
Data failover.................................................................................. 247
Data failback..................................................................................247
Recovery times and objectives for SyncIQ....................................................247
SyncIQ license functionality........................................................................ 248
Creating replication policies........................................................................ 248
Excluding directories in replication.................................................248
Excluding files in replication.......................................................... 249
File criteria options........................................................................ 250
Configure default replication policy settings...................................252
Create a replication policy..............................................................252
Create a SyncIQ domain................................................................. 257
Assess a replication policy............................................................. 258
Managing replication to remote clusters......................................................258
Start a replication job.....................................................................258
Pause a replication job...................................................................259
Resume a replication job................................................................259
Cancel a replication job..................................................................259
View active replication jobs............................................................259
Replication job information............................................................ 259
Initiating data failover and failback with SyncIQ.......................................... 260
Fail over data to a secondary cluster...............................................260
Revert a failover operation............................................................. 261
Fail back data to a primary cluster.................................................. 261
Performing disaster recovery for SmartLock directories................................262
Recover SmartLock directories on a target cluster...........................262
Migrate SmartLock directories........................................................263
Managing replication policies..................................................................... 264
Modify a replication policy............................................................. 264
Delete a replication policy..............................................................264
Enable or disable a replication policy............................................. 265
View replication policies................................................................ 265
Replication policy information........................................................265
Replication policy settings............................................................. 266
Managing replication to the local cluster..................................................... 268
Cancel replication to the local cluster.............................................269
Break local target association........................................................ 269
View replication policies targeting the local cluster........................ 269
Remote replication policy information............................................ 269
Managing replication performance rules..................................................... 270
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Create a network traffic rule........................................................... 270

Create a file operations rule........................................................... 270
Modify a performance rule............................................................. 271
Delete a performance rule.............................................................. 271
Enable or disable a performance rule............................................. 271
View performance rules..................................................................271
Managing replication reports.......................................................................272
Configure default replication report settings...................................272
Delete replication reports...............................................................272
View replication reports................................................................. 272
Replication report information........................................................273
Managing failed replication jobs................................................................. 274
Resolve a replication policy............................................................274
Reset a replication policy............................................................... 274
Perform a full or differential replication.......................................... 275
Managing changelists................................................................................. 275
Create a changelist........................................................................ 276
View a changelist........................................................................... 276
Changelist information...................................................................277

Chapter 13

Data layout with FlexProtect

279

FlexProtect overview....................................................................................280
File striping................................................................................................. 280
Requested data protection.......................................................................... 280
FlexProtect data recovery.............................................................................281
Smartfail........................................................................................ 281
Node failures................................................................................. 281
Requesting data protection......................................................................... 282
Requested protection settings.....................................................................282
Requested protection disk space usage...................................................... 283

Chapter 14

NDMP backup

285

NDMP backup and recovery overview.......................................................... 286

NDMP two way backup................................................................................ 286
Snapshot-based incremental backups........................................................ 287
NDMP protocol support............................................................................... 288
Supported DMAs......................................................................................... 288
NDMP hardware support............................................................................. 289
NDMP backup limitations............................................................................ 289
NDMP performance recommendations........................................................ 289
Excluding files and directories from NDMP backups.................................... 291
Configuring basic NDMP backup settings.................................................... 292
Configure and enable NDMP backup.............................................. 292
Disable NDMP backup....................................................................292
View NDMP backup settings...........................................................293
NDMP backup settings................................................................... 293
Managing NDMP user accounts................................................................... 293
Create an NDMP user account........................................................ 293
Modify the password of an NDMP user account.............................. 293
Delete an NDMP user account........................................................ 294
View NDMP user accounts..............................................................294
Managing NDMP backup devices.................................................................294
Detect NDMP backup devices.........................................................294
Modify the name of an NDMP backup device..................................295
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Delete an entry for an NDMP backup device................................... 295

View NDMP backup devices........................................................... 295
NDMP backup device settings........................................................ 295
Managing NDMP backup ports.................................................................... 296
Modify NDMP backup port settings................................................ 296
Enable or disable an NDMP backup port.........................................296
View NDMP backup ports............................................................... 296
NDMP backup port settings............................................................297
Managing NDMP backup sessions...............................................................297
End an NDMP session.................................................................... 297
View NDMP sessions......................................................................298
NDMP session information............................................................. 298
Managing restartable backups.................................................................... 299
Configure restartable backups for EMC NetWorker..........................300
Delete a restartable backup context............................................... 300
View restartable backup contexts...................................................301
Configure restartable backup settings............................................ 301
View restartable backup settings................................................... 301
Managing file list backups.......................................................................... 301
Format of a backup file list............................................................. 302
Placement of the file list.................................................................303
Start a file list backup.................................................................... 303
Improving NDMP restore performance......................................................... 303
Specify a serial restore operation................................................... 304
Sharing tape drives between clusters.......................................................... 304
Managing default NDMP settings.................................................................305
Set default NDMP settings for a directory....................................... 305
Modify default NDMP settings for a directory.................................. 305
View default NDMP settings for directories..................................... 305
NDMP environment variables......................................................... 306
Managing snapshot based incremental backups.........................................308
Enable snapshot-based incremental backups for a directory.......... 308
Delete snapshots for snapshot-based incremental backups...........309
View snapshots for snapshot-based incremental backups............. 309
View NDMP backup logs..............................................................................309

Chapter 15

File retention with SmartLock

311

SmartLock overview.................................................................................... 312

Compliance mode....................................................................................... 312
SmartLock directories................................................................................. 312
Replication and backup with SmartLock...................................................... 313
SmartLock replication and backup limitations................................313
SmartLock license functionality...................................................................314
SmartLock considerations........................................................................... 314
Set the compliance clock............................................................................ 315
View the compliance clock.......................................................................... 315
Creating a SmartLock directory.................................................................... 315
Retention periods...........................................................................315
Autocommit time periods............................................................... 316
Create a SmartLock directory..........................................................316
Managing SmartLock directories................................................................. 317
Modify a SmartLock directory......................................................... 317
View SmartLock directory settings..................................................317
SmartLock directory configuration settings.....................................318
Managing files in SmartLock directories...................................................... 321
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Set a retention period through a UNIX command line..................... 321

Set a retention period through Windows Powershell.......................321
Commit a file to a WORM state through a UNIX command line........ 322
Commit a file to a WORM state through Windows Explorer..............322
Override the retention period for all files in a SmartLock directory.. 322
Delete a file committed to a WORM state ....................................... 323
View WORM status of a file.............................................................323

Chapter 16

Protection domains

325

Protection domains overview...................................................................... 326

Protection domain considerations...............................................................326
Create a protection domain......................................................................... 327
Delete a protection domain......................................................................... 327

Chapter 17

Data-at-rest-encryption

329

Data-at-rest encryption overview................................................................. 330

Self-encrypting drives..................................................................................330
Data security on self-encrypted drives......................................................... 330
Data migration to a self-encrypted-drives cluster......................................... 331
Chassis and drive states............................................................................. 331
Smartfailed drive ERASE and REPLACE state examples................................ 334

Chapter 18

SmartQuotas

337

SmartQuotas overview................................................................................ 338

Quota types................................................................................................ 338
Default quota type.......................................................................................339
Usage accounting and limits....................................................................... 341
Disk-usage calculations.............................................................................. 342
Quota notifications..................................................................................... 343
Quota notification rules...............................................................................343
Quota reports..............................................................................................344
Creating quotas...........................................................................................344
Create an accounting quota........................................................... 345
Create an enforcement quota......................................................... 345
Managing quotas........................................................................................ 346
Search for quotas...........................................................................346
Manage quotas.............................................................................. 347
Export a quota configuration file.................................................... 348
Import a quota configuration file.................................................... 348
Managing quota notifications......................................................................349
Configure default quota notification settings..................................349
Configure custom quota notification rules...................................... 350
Map an email notification rule for a quota...................................... 351
Configure a custom email quota notification template....................351
Managing quota reports.............................................................................. 352
Create a quota report schedule...................................................... 352
Generate a quota report................................................................. 353
Locate a quota report..................................................................... 353
Basic quota settings....................................................................................353
Advisory limit quota notification rules settings............................................ 354
Soft limit quota notification rules settings................................................... 355
Hard limit quota notification rules settings.................................................. 355
Limit notification settings............................................................................356
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Quota report settings.................................................................................. 356

Custom email notification template variable descriptions........................... 357

Chapter 19

Storage Pools

359

Storage pools overview............................................................................... 360

Storage pool functions................................................................................ 360
Autoprovisioning.........................................................................................362
Virtual hot spare..........................................................................................362
Spillover..................................................................................................... 363
Node pools................................................................................................. 363
Node compatibilities......................................................................363
Manual node pools........................................................................ 364
Suggested protection.................................................................................. 365
Protection policies...................................................................................... 365
SSD strategies.............................................................................................366
Global namespace acceleration.................................................................. 366
L3 cache overview....................................................................................... 367
Migration to L3 cache.....................................................................368
L3 cache on HD400 node pools......................................................368
Required privileges........................................................................ 369
Tiers............................................................................................................369
File pools.................................................................................................... 369
File pool policies......................................................................................... 369
Managing node pools in the web administration interface...........................370
Add node pools to a tier................................................................. 370
Change the name or requested protection of a node pool...............370
Add a compatible node to a node pool........................................... 371
Merge compatible node pools........................................................ 371
Delete a compatibility.................................................................... 372
Managing L3 cache from the web administration interface.......................... 373
Set L3 cache as the default for node pools..................................... 373
Set L3 cache on a specific node pool..............................................373
Restore SSDs to storage drives for a node pool.............................. 374
Managing tiers............................................................................................ 374
Create a tier................................................................................... 375
Edit a tier....................................................................................... 375
Delete a tier................................................................................... 375
Creating file pool policies............................................................................376
Create a file pool policy..................................................................377
File-matching options for file pool policies..................................... 377
Valid wildcard characters............................................................... 379
SmartPools settings....................................................................... 379
Managing file pool policies......................................................................... 381
Configure default file pool protection settings................................ 382
Default file pool requested protection settings............................... 382
Configure default I/O optimization settings....................................383
Default file pool I/O optimization settings...................................... 384
Modify a file pool policy................................................................. 384
Prioritize a file pool policy.............................................................. 385
Create a file pool policy from a template........................................ 385
Delete a file pool policy..................................................................385
Monitoring storage pools............................................................................ 386
Monitor storage pools.................................................................... 386
View subpools health.....................................................................386
View the results of a SmartPools job.............................................. 387
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Chapter 20

System jobs

389

System jobs overview..................................................................................390

System jobs library......................................................................................390
Job operation.............................................................................................. 393
Job performance impact.............................................................................. 394
Job priorities............................................................................................... 395
Managing system jobs................................................................................ 395
View active jobs............................................................................. 395
View job history............................................................................. 395
Start a job...................................................................................... 396
Pause a job.................................................................................... 396
Resume a job................................................................................. 396
Cancel a job................................................................................... 396
Update a job.................................................................................. 397
Modify job type settings................................................................. 397
Managing impact policies........................................................................... 398
Create an impact policy..................................................................398
Copy an impact policy.................................................................... 398
Modify an impact policy................................................................. 399
Delete an impact policy..................................................................399
View impact policy settings............................................................ 400
Viewing job reports and statistics................................................................400
View statistics for a job in progress................................................ 400
View a report for a completed job...................................................400

Chapter 21

Networking

403

Networking overview................................................................................... 404

Internal network overview........................................................................... 404
Internal IP address ranges..............................................................404
Internal network failover................................................................ 405
External client network overview................................................................. 405
External network settings............................................................... 405
IP address pools............................................................................ 406
IPv6 support.................................................................................. 406
SmartConnect module....................................................................407
Connection balancing.................................................................... 407
IP address allocation......................................................................408
IP address failover......................................................................... 409
IP address rebalancing...................................................................409
SmartConnect DNS service.............................................................410
DNS name resolution..................................................................... 410
NIC aggregation............................................................................. 411
Routing options............................................................................. 411
VLANs............................................................................................ 412
Configuring the internal network................................................................. 413
Modify the internal IP address range.............................................. 413
Modify the internal network netmask............................................. 413
Configure and enable internal failover ........................................... 414
Disable internal network failover....................................................415
Configuring an external network.................................................................. 415
Adding a subnet.............................................................................415
Managing external network subnets...............................................420
Managing IP address pools............................................................ 423
Managing network interface members............................................426
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Managing external client connections with SmartConnect........................... 430

Configure client connection balancing............................................430
Managing network interface provisioning rules............................................431
Create a node provisioning rule......................................................431
Modify a node provisioning rule..................................................... 433
Delete a node provisioning rule......................................................433
Managing routing options........................................................................... 433
Enable or disable source-based routing......................................... 433
Add or remove a static route...........................................................434

Chapter 22

Hadoop

435

Hadoop overview........................................................................................ 436

Hadoop architecture....................................................................................436
Hadoop compute layer................................................................... 436
HDFS storage layer......................................................................... 436
How Hadoop is implemented on OneFS.......................................................437
Hadoop distributions supported by OneFS.................................................. 437
WebHDFS.................................................................................................... 438
Secure impersonation................................................................................. 438
Ambari agent.............................................................................................. 439
Virtual HDFS racks.......................................................................................439
HDFS implementation considerations..........................................................440
HDFS directories and Hadoop user accounts.................................. 440
HDFS settings in access zones....................................................... 440
HDFS and SmartConnect................................................................ 440
Implementing Hadoop with OneFS................................................. 441
Managing the HDFS service......................................................................... 441
Configure HDFS service settings..................................................... 441
HDFS service settings.....................................................................442
View HDFS service settings.............................................................443
Enable or disable the HDFS service................................................ 443
Managing HDFS access zone settings..........................................................444
Supported HDFS authentication methods.......................................444
Set the HDFS authentication method in an access zone..................444
Configure HDFS authentication properties on the Hadoop client.....445
Create a local Hadoop user............................................................ 445
Set the HDFS root directory in an access zone................................ 446
Enable or disable WebHDFS within an access zone........................ 446
Configure Ambari agent settings.................................................... 447
Configuring secure impersonation...............................................................447
Create a proxy user........................................................................ 447
Modify a proxy user........................................................................448
Delete a proxy user........................................................................ 448
List the members of a proxy user....................................................448
View proxy users............................................................................ 449
Managing virtual HDFS racks....................................................................... 449
Create a virtual HDFS rack.............................................................. 449
Modify a virtual HDFS rack..............................................................450
Delete a virtual HDFS rack.............................................................. 451
View virtual HDFS racks..................................................................451

Chapter 23

Antivirus

453

Antivirus overview....................................................................................... 454

On-access scanning.................................................................................... 454
OneFS 7.2 Web Administration Guide

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CONTENTS

Antivirus policy scanning............................................................................ 455

Individual file scanning............................................................................... 455
Antivirus scan reports................................................................................. 455
ICAP servers................................................................................................ 456
Supported ICAP servers............................................................................... 456
Anitvirus threat responses...........................................................................456
Configuring global antivirus settings........................................................... 457
Exclude files from antivirus scans.................................................. 457
Configure on-access scanning settings...........................................458
Configure antivirus threat response settings.................................. 459
Configure antivirus report retention settings...................................459
Enable or disable antivirus scanning.............................................. 459
Managing ICAP servers................................................................................ 459
Add and connect to an ICAP server................................................. 459
Test an ICAP server connection.......................................................460
Modify ICAP connection settings.................................................... 460
Temporarily disconnect from an ICAP server................................... 460
Reconnect to an ICAP server........................................................... 460
Remove an ICAP server...................................................................460
Create an antivirus policy............................................................................ 461
Managing antivirus policies.........................................................................461
Modify an antivirus policy.............................................................. 461
Delete an antivirus policy............................................................... 462
Enable or disable an antivirus policy.............................................. 462
View antivirus policies................................................................... 462
Managing antivirus scans............................................................................462
Scan a file...................................................................................... 462
Manually run an antivirus policy.....................................................462
Stop a running antivirus scan.........................................................463
Managing antivirus threats..........................................................................463
Manually quarantine a file..............................................................463
Rescan a file.................................................................................. 463
Remove a file from quarantine........................................................463
Manually truncate a file..................................................................463
View threats...................................................................................464
Antivirus threat information........................................................... 464
Managing antivirus reports..........................................................................465
Export an antivirus report............................................................... 465
View antivirus reports.................................................................... 465
View antivirus events..................................................................... 465

Chapter 24

VMware integration

467

VMware integration overview.......................................................................468

VAAI............................................................................................................ 468
VASA...........................................................................................................468
Isilon VASA alarms......................................................................... 468
VASA storage capabilities.............................................................. 469
Configuring VASA support........................................................................... 469
Enable VASA.................................................................................. 469
Download the Isilon vendor provider certificate..............................470
Add the Isilon vendor provider....................................................... 470
Disable or re-enable VASA...........................................................................471

Chapter 25
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File System Explorer

OneFS 7.2 Web Administration Guide

473

CONTENTS

File System Explorer overview......................................................................474

Browse the file system................................................................................ 474
File System Explorer icons..............................................................474
Create a directory........................................................................................ 475
Modify file and directory properties............................................................. 475
View file and directory properties................................................................ 475
File and directory properties........................................................................ 476

OneFS 7.2 Web Administration Guide

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CONTENTS

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CHAPTER 1
Introduction to this guide

This section contains the following topics:

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l
l

About this guide....................................................................................................20

Isilon scale-out NAS overview................................................................................20
Where to go for support.........................................................................................20

Introduction to this guide

19

Introduction to this guide

About this guide

This guide describes how the Isilon OneFS web administration interface provides access
to cluster configuration, management, and monitoring functionality.
We value your feedback. Please send any comments or suggestions about this guide to
[email protected].

Isilon scale-out NAS overview

The EMC Isilon scale-out NAS storage platform combines modular hardware with unified
software to harness unstructured data. Powered by the distributed OneFS operating
system, an EMC Isilon cluster delivers a scalable pool of storage with a global
namespace.
The platform's unified software provides centralized web-based and command-line
administration to manage the following features:
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A symmetrical cluster that runs a distributed file system

Scale-out nodes that add capacity and performance

Storage options that manage files, block data, and tiering

Flexible data protection and high availability

Software modules that control costs and optimize resources

Where to go for support

You can contact EMC Isilon Technical Support for any questions about EMC Isilon
products.
Online Support

Live Chat
Create a Service Request

Telephone Support

United States: 800-782-4362 (1-800-SVC-4EMC)

Canada: 800-543-4782
Worldwide: +1-508-497-7901
For local phone numbers in your country, see EMC Customer
Support Centers.

Help with online

support

20

OneFS 7.2 Web Administration Guide

For questions specific to EMC Online Support registration or

access, email [email protected].

CHAPTER 2
Isilon scale-out NAS

This section contains the following topics:

l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l

OneFS storage architecture................................................................................... 22

Isilon node components........................................................................................22
Internal and external networks.............................................................................. 23
Isilon cluster......................................................................................................... 23
The OneFS operating system................................................................................. 25
Structure of the file system....................................................................................27
Data protection overview.......................................................................................29
VMware integration............................................................................................... 31
Software modules................................................................................................. 32

Isilon scale-out NAS

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Isilon scale-out NAS

OneFS storage architecture

EMC Isilon takes a scale-out approach to storage by creating a cluster of nodes that runs
a distributed file system. OneFS combines the three layers of storage architecturefile
system, volume manager, and data protectioninto a scale-out NAS cluster.
Each node adds resources to the cluster. Because each node contains globally coherent
RAM, as a cluster becomes larger, it becomes faster. Meanwhile, the file system expands
dynamically and redistributes content, which eliminates the work of partitioning disks
and creating volumes.
Nodes work as peers to spread data across the cluster. Segmenting and distributing data
a process known as stripingnot only protects data, but also enables a user
connecting to any node to take advantage of the entire cluster's performance.
OneFS uses distributed software to scale data across commodity hardware. Each node
helps control data requests, boosts performance, and expands the cluster's capacity. No
master device controls the cluster; no slaves invoke dependencies. Instead, each node
helps control data requests, boosts performance, and expands the cluster's capacity.

Isilon node components

As a rack-mountable appliance, a storage node includes the following components in a
2U or 4U rack-mountable chassis with an LCD front panel: memory, CPUs, RAM, NVRAM,
network interfaces, InfiniBand adapters, disk controllers, and storage media. An Isilon
cluster comprises three or more nodes, up to 144.
When you add a node to a cluster, you increase the cluster's aggregate disk, cache, CPU,
RAM, and network capacity. OneFS groups RAM into a single coherent cache so that a
data request on a node benefits from data that is cached anywhere. NVRAM is grouped to
write data with high throughput and to protect write operations from power failures. As
the cluster expands, spindles and CPU combine to increase throughput, capacity, and
input-output operations per second (IOPS).
EMC Isilon makes several types of nodes, all of which can be added to a cluster to
balance capacity and performance with throughput or IOPS:
Node

Use Case

S-Series

IOPS-intensive applications

X-Series

High-concurrency and throughput-driven workflows

NL-Series Near-primary accessibility, with near-tape value

HD-Series Maximum capacity

The following EMC Isilon nodes improve performance:

Node

Function

A-Series Performance Accelerator Independent scaling for high performance

A-Series Backup Accelerator

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High-speed and scalable backup-and-restore solution for tape

drives over Fibre Channel connections

Isilon scale-out NAS

Internal and external networks

A cluster includes two networks: an internal network to exchange data between nodes
and an external network to handle client connections.
Nodes exchange data through the internal network with a proprietary, unicast protocol
over InfiniBand. Each node includes redundant InfiniBand ports so you can add a second
internal network in case the first one fails.
Clients reach the cluster with 1 GigE or 10 GigE Ethernet. Since every node includes
Ethernet ports, the cluster's bandwidth scales with performance and capacity as you add
nodes.

Isilon cluster
An Isilon cluster consists of three or more hardware nodes, up to 144. Each node runs the
Isilon OneFS operating system, the distributed file-system software that unites the nodes
into a cluster. A clusters storage capacity ranges from a minimum of 18 TB to a maximum
of 15.5 PB.

Cluster administration
OneFS centralizes cluster management through a web administration interface and a
command-line interface. Both interfaces provide methods to activate licenses, check the
status of nodes, configure the cluster, upgrade the system, generate alerts, view client
connections, track performance, and change various settings.
In addition, OneFS simplifies administration by automating maintenance with a job
engine. You can schedule jobs that scan for viruses, inspect disks for errors, reclaim disk
space, and check the integrity of the file system. The engine manages the jobs to
minimize impact on the cluster's performance.
With SNMP versions 2c and 3, you can remotely monitor hardware components, CPU
usage, switches, and network interfaces. EMC Isilon supplies management information
bases (MIBs) and traps for the OneFS operating system.
OneFS also includes a RESTful application programming interfaceknown as the Platform
APIto automate access, configuration, and monitoring. For example, you can retrieve
performance statistics, provision users, and tap the file system. The Platform API
integrates with OneFS role-based access control to increase security. See the Isilon
Platform API Reference.

Quorum
An Isilon cluster must have a quorum to work properly. A quorum prevents data conflicts
for example, conflicting versions of the same filein case two groups of nodes become
unsynchronized. If a cluster loses its quorum for read and write requests, you cannot
access the OneFS file system.
For a quorum, more than half the nodes must be available over the internal network. A
seven-node cluster, for example, requires a four-node quorum. A 10-node cluster requires
a six-node quorum. If a node is unreachable over the internal network, OneFS separates
the node from the cluster, an action referred to as splitting. After a cluster is split, cluster
operations continue as long as enough nodes remain connected to have a quorum.
In a split cluster, the nodes that remain in the cluster are referred to as the majority
group. Nodes that are split from the cluster are referred to as the minority group.
Internal and external networks

23

Isilon scale-out NAS

When split nodes can reconnect with the cluster and resynchronize with the other nodes,
the nodes rejoin the cluster's majority group, an action referred to as merging.
A OneFS cluster contains two quorum properties:
l

read quorum (efs.gmp.has_quorum)

write quorum (efs.gmp.has_super_block_quorum)

By connecting to a node with SSH and running the sysctl command-line tool as root,
you can view the status of both types of quorum. Here is an example for a cluster that has
a quorum for both read and write operations, as the command's output indicates with a
1, for true:
sysctl efs.gmp.has_quorum
efs.gmp.has_quorum: 1
sysctl efs.gmp.has_super_block_quorum
efs.gmp.has_super_block_quorum: 1

The degraded states of nodessuch as smartfail, read-only, offline, and so onaffect

quorum in different ways. A node in a smartfail or read-only state affects only write
quorum. A node in an offline state, however, affects both read and write quorum. In a
cluster, the combination of nodes in different degraded states determines whether read
requests, write requests, or both work.
A cluster can lose write quorum but keep read quorum. Consider a four-node cluster in
which nodes 1 and 2 are working normally. Node 3 is in a read-only state, and node 4 is
in a smartfail state. In such a case, read requests to the cluster succeed. Write requests,
however, receive an input-output error because the states of nodes 3 and 4 break the
write quorum.
A cluster can also lose both its read and write quorum. If nodes 3 and 4 in a four-node
cluster are in an offline state, both write requests and read requests receive an inputoutput error, and you cannot access the file system. When OneFS can reconnect with the
nodes, OneFS merges them back into the cluster. Unlike a RAID system, an Isilon node
can rejoin the cluster without being rebuilt and reconfigured.

Splitting and merging

Splitting and merging optimize the use of nodes without your intervention.
OneFS monitors every node in a cluster. If a node is unreachable over the internal
network, OneFS separates the node from the cluster, an action referred to as splitting.
When the cluster can reconnect to the node, OneFS adds the node back into the cluster,
an action referred to as merging.
When a node is split from a cluster, it will continue to capture event information locally.
You can connect to a split node with SSH and run the isi events list command to
view the local event log for the node. The local event log can help you troubleshoot the
connection issue that resulted in the split. When the split node rejoins the cluster, local
events gathered during the split are deleted. You can still view events generated by a
split node in the node's event log file located at /var/log/
isi_celog_events.log.
If a cluster splits during a write operation, OneFS might need to re-allocate blocks for the
file on the side with the quorum, which leads allocated blocks on the side without a
quorum to become orphans. When the split nodes reconnect with the cluster, the OneFS
Collect system job reclaims the orphaned blocks.
Meanwhile, as nodes split and merge with the cluster, the OneFS AutoBalance job
redistributes data evenly among the nodes in the cluster, optimizing protection and
conserving space.
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Storage pools
Storage pools segment nodes and files into logical divisions to simplify the management
and storage of data.
A storage pool comprises node pools and tiers. Node pools group equivalent nodes to
protect data and ensure reliability. Tiers combine node pools to optimize storage by
need, such as a frequently used high-speed tier or a rarely accessed archive.
The SmartPools module groups nodes and files into pools. If you do not activate a
SmartPools license, the module provisions node pools and creates one file pool. If you
activate the SmartPools license, you receive more features. You can, for example, create
multiple file pools and govern them with policies. The policies move files, directories, and
file pools among node pools or tiers. You can also define how OneFS handles write
operations when a node pool or tier is full. SmartPools reserves a virtual hot spare to
reprotect data if a drive fails regardless of whether the SmartPools license is activated.

IP address pools
Within a subnet, you can partition a cluster's external network interfaces into pools of IP
address ranges. The pools empower you to customize your storage network to serve
different groups of users. Although you must initially configure the default external IP
subnet in IPv4 format, you can configure additional subnets in IPv4 or IPv6.
You can associate IP address pools with a node, a group of nodes, or NIC ports. For
example, you can set up one subnet for storage nodes and another subnet for accelerator
nodes. Similarly, you can allocate ranges of IP addresses on a subnet to different teams,
such as engineering and sales. Such options help you create a storage topology that
matches the demands of your network.
In addition, network provisioning rules streamline the setup of external connections.
After you configure the rules with network settings, you can apply the settings to new
nodes.
As a standard feature, the OneFS SmartConnect module balances connections among
nodes by using a round-robin policy with static IP addresses and one IP address pool for
each subnet. Activating a SmartConnect Advanced license adds features, such as
defining IP address pools to support multiple DNS zones.

The OneFS operating system

A distributed operating system based on FreeBSD, OneFS presents an Isilon cluster's file
system as a single share or export with a central point of administration.
The OneFS operating system does the following:
l

Supports common data-access protocols, such as SMB and NFS.

Connects to multiple identity management systems, such as Active Directory and

LDAP.

Authenticates users and groups.

Controls access to directories and files.

Storage pools

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Data-access protocols
With the OneFS operating system, you can access data with multiple file-sharing and
transfer protocols. As a result, Microsoft Windows, UNIX, Linux, and Mac OS X clients can
share the same directories and files.
OneFS supports the following protocols.
SMB
The Server Message Block (SMB) protocol enables Windows users to access the
cluster. OneFS works with SMB 1, SMB 2, and SMB 2.1, as well as SMB 3.0 for
Multichannel only. With SMB 2.1, OneFS supports client opportunity locks (oplocks)
and large (1 MB) MTU sizes. The default file share is /ifs.
NFS
The Network File System (NFS) protocol enables UNIX, Linux, and Mac OS X systems
to remotely mount any subdirectory, including subdirectories created by Windows
users. OneFS works with NFS versions 3 and 4. The default export is /ifs.
HDFS
The Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) protocol enables a cluster to work with
Apache Hadoop, a framework for data-intensive distributed applications. HDFS
integration requires you to activate a separate license.
FTP
FTP allows systems with an FTP client to connect to the cluster and exchange files.
HTTP
HTTP gives systems browser-based access to resources. OneFS includes limited
support for WebDAV.

Identity management and access control

OneFS works with multiple identity management systems to authenticate users and
control access to files. In addition, OneFS features access zones that allow users from
different directory services to access different resources based on their IP address. Rolebased access control, meanwhile, segments administrative access by role.
OneFS authenticates users with the following identity management systems:
l

Microsoft Active Directory (AD)

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)

Network Information Service (NIS)

Local users and local groups

A file provider for accounts in /etc/spwd.db and /etc/group files. With the file
provider, you can add an authoritative third-party source of user and group
information.

You can manage users with different identity management systems; OneFS maps the
accounts so that Windows and UNIX identities can coexist. A Windows user account
managed in Active Directory, for example, is mapped to a corresponding UNIX account in
NIS or LDAP.
To control access, an Isilon cluster works with both the access control lists (ACLs) of
Windows systems and the POSIX mode bits of UNIX systems. When OneFS must
transform a file's permissions from ACLs to mode bits or from mode bits to ACLs, OneFS
merges the permissions to maintain consistent security settings.
OneFS presents protocol-specific views of permissions so that NFS exports display mode
bits and SMB shares show ACLs. You can, however, manage not only mode bits but also
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ACLs with standard UNIX tools, such as the chmod and chown commands. In addition,
ACL policies enable you to configure how OneFS manages permissions for networks that
mix Windows and UNIX systems.
Access zones
OneFS includes an access zones feature. Access zones allow users from different
authentication providers, such as two untrusted Active Directory domains, to access
different OneFS resources based on an incoming IP address. An access zone can
contain multiple authentication providers and SMB namespaces.
RBAC for administration
OneFS includes role-based access control (RBAC) for administration. In place of a
root or administrator account, RBAC lets you manage administrative access by role.
A role limits privileges to an area of administration. For example, you can create
separate administrator roles for security, auditing, storage, and backup.

Structure of the file system

OneFS presents all the nodes in a cluster as a global namespacethat is, as the default
file share, /ifs.
In the file system, directories are inode number links. An inode contains file metadata
and an inode number, which identifies a file's location. OneFS dynamically allocates
inodes, and there is no limit on the number of inodes.
To distribute data among nodes, OneFS sends messages with a globally routable block
address through the cluster's internal network. The block address identifies the node and
the drive storing the block of data.
Note

It is recommended that you do not save data to the root /ifs file path but in directories
below /ifs. The design of your data storage structure should be planned carefully. A
well-designed directory optimizes cluster performance and cluster administration.

Data layout
OneFS evenly distributes data among a cluster's nodes with layout algorithms that
maximize storage efficiency and performance. The system continuously reallocates data
to conserve space.
OneFS breaks data down into smaller sections called blocks, and then the system places
the blocks in a stripe unit. By referencing either file data or erasure codes, a stripe unit
helps safeguard a file from a hardware failure. The size of a stripe unit depends on the
file size, the number of nodes, and the protection setting. After OneFS divides the data
into stripe units, OneFS allocates, or stripes, the stripe units across nodes in the cluster.
When a client connects to a node, the client's read and write operations take place on
multiple nodes. For example, when a client connects to a node and requests a file, the
node retrieves the data from multiple nodes and rebuilds the file. You can optimize how
OneFS lays out data to match your dominant access patternconcurrent, streaming, or
random.

Structure of the file system

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Isilon scale-out NAS

Writing files
On a node, the input-output operations of the OneFS software stack split into two
functional layers: A top layer, or initiator, and a bottom layer, or participant. In read and
write operations, the initiator and the participant play different roles.
When a client writes a file to a node, the initiator on the node manages the layout of the
file on the cluster. First, the initiator divides the file into blocks of 8 KB each. Second, the
initiator places the blocks in one or more stripe units. At 128 KB, a stripe unit consists of
16 blocks. Third, the initiator spreads the stripe units across the cluster until they span a
width of the cluster, creating a stripe. The width of the stripe depends on the number of
nodes and the protection setting.
After dividing a file into stripe units, the initiator writes the data first to non-volatile
random-access memory (NVRAM) and then to disk. NVRAM retains the information when
the power is off.
During the write transaction, NVRAM guards against failed nodes with journaling. If a
node fails mid-transaction, the transaction restarts without the failed node. When the
node returns, it replays the journal from NVRAM to finish the transaction. The node also
runs the AutoBalance job to check the file's on-disk striping. Meanwhile, uncommitted
writes waiting in the cache are protected with mirroring. As a result, OneFS eliminates
multiple points of failure.

Reading files
In a read operation, a node acts as a manager to gather data from the other nodes and
present it to the requesting client.
Because an Isilon cluster's coherent cache spans all the nodes, OneFS can store different
data in each node's RAM. By using the internal InfiniBand network, a node can retrieve
file data from another node's cache faster than from its own local disk. If a read operation
requests data that is cached on any node, OneFS pulls the cached data to serve it
quickly.
In addition, for files with an access pattern of concurrent or streaming, OneFS pre-fetches
in-demand data into a managing node's local cache to further improve sequential-read
performance.

Metadata layout
OneFS protects metadata by spreading it across nodes and drives.
Metadatawhich includes information about where a file is stored, how it is protected,
and who can access itis stored in inodes and protected with locks in a B+ tree, a
standard structure for organizing data blocks in a file system to provide instant lookups.
OneFS replicates file metadata across the cluster so that there is no single point of
failure.
Working together as peers, all the nodes help manage metadata access and locking. If a
node detects an error in metadata, the node looks up the metadata in an alternate
location and then corrects the error.

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Locks and concurrency

OneFS includes a distributed lock manager that orchestrates locks on data across all the
nodes in a cluster.
The lock manager grants locks for the file system, byte ranges, and protocols, including
SMB share-mode locks and NFS advisory locks. OneFS also supports SMB opportunistic
locks and NFSv4 delegations.
Because OneFS distributes the lock manager across all the nodes, any node can act as a
lock coordinator. When a thread from a node requests a lock, the lock manager's hashing
algorithm typically assigns the coordinator role to a different node. The coordinator
allocates a shared lock or an exclusive lock, depending on the type of request. A shared
lock allows users to share a file simultaneously, typically for read operations. An
exclusive lock allows only one user to access a file, typically for write operations.

Striping
In a process known as striping, OneFS segments files into units of data and then
distributes the units across nodes in a cluster. Striping protects your data and improves
cluster performance.
To distribute a file, OneFS reduces it to blocks of data, arranges the blocks into stripe
units, and then allocates the stripe units to nodes over the internal network.
At the same time, OneFS distributes erasure codes that protect the file. The erasure codes
encode the file's data in a distributed set of symbols, adding space-efficient redundancy.
With only a part of the symbol set, OneFS can recover the original file data.
Taken together, the data and its redundancy form a protection group for a region of file
data. OneFS places the protection groups on different drives on different nodescreating
data stripes.
Because OneFS stripes data across nodes that work together as peers, a user connecting
to any node can take advantage of the entire cluster's performance.
By default, OneFS optimizes striping for concurrent access. If your dominant access
pattern is streaming--that is, lower concurrency, higher single-stream workloads, such as
with video--you can change how OneFS lays out data to increase sequential-read
performance. To better handle streaming access, OneFS stripes data across more drives.
Streaming is most effective on clusters or subpools serving large files.

Data protection overview

An Isilon cluster is designed to serve data even when components fail. By default, OneFS
protects data with erasure codes, enabling you to retrieve files when a node or disk fails.
As an alternative to erasure codes, you can protect data with two to eight mirrors.
When you create a cluster with five or more nodes, erasure codes deliver as much as 80
percent efficiency. On larger clusters, erasure codes provide as much as four levels of
redundancy.
In addition to erasure codes and mirroring, OneFS includes the following features to help
protect the integrity, availability, and confidentiality of data:
Feature

Description

Antivirus

OneFS can send files to servers running the Internet Content Adaptation
Protocol (ICAP) to scan for viruses and other threats.

Locks and concurrency

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Isilon scale-out NAS

Feature

Description

Clones

OneFS enables you to create clones that share blocks with other files to save
space.

NDMP backup and

restore

OneFS can back up data to tape and other devices through the Network Data
Management Protocol. Although OneFS supports both NDMP 3-way and 2way backup, 2-way backup requires an Isilon Backup Accelerator node.

Protection
domains

You can apply protection domains to files and directories to prevent

changes.

The following software modules also help protect data, but they require you to activate a
separate license:
Licensed
Feature

Description

SyncIQ

SyncIQ replicates data on another Isilon cluster and automates failover and
failback operations between clusters. If a cluster becomes unusable, you can
fail over to another Isilon cluster.

SnapshotIQ

You can protect data with a snapshota logical copy of data stored on a
cluster.

SmartLock

The SmartLock tool prevents users from modifying and deleting files. You can
commit files to a write-once, read-many state: The file can never be modified
and cannot be deleted until after a set retention period. SmartLock can help
you comply with Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 17a-4.

N+M data protection

OneFS supports N+M erasure code levels of N+1, N+2, N+3, and N+4.
In the N+M data model, N represents the number of nodes, and M represents the number
of simultaneous failures of nodes or drives that the cluster can handle without losing
data. For example, with N+2 the cluster can lose two drives on different nodes or lose two
nodes.
To protect drives and nodes separately, OneFS also supports N+M:B. In the N+M:B
notation, M is the number of disk failures, and B is the number of node failures. With N
+3:1 protection, for example, the cluster can lose three drives or one node without losing
data.
The default protection level for clusters larger than 18 TB is N+2:1. The default for
clusters smaller than 18 TB is N+1.
The quorum rule dictates the number of nodes required to support a protection level. For
example, N+3 requires at least seven nodes so you can maintain a quorum if three nodes
fail.
You can, however, set a protection level that is higher than the cluster can support. In a
four-node cluster, for example, you can set the protection level at 5x. OneFS protects the
data at 4x until a fifth node is added, after which OneFS automatically reprotects the data
at 5x.

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Data mirroring
You can protect on-disk data with mirroring, which copies data to multiple locations.
OneFS supports two to eight mirrors. You can use mirroring instead of erasure codes, or
you can combine erasure codes with mirroring.
Mirroring, however, consumes more space than erasure codes. Mirroring data three
times, for example, duplicates the data three times, which requires more space than
erasure codes. As a result, mirroring suits transactions that require high performance.
You can also mix erasure codes with mirroring. During a write operation, OneFS divides
data into redundant protection groups. For files protected by erasure codes, a protection
group consists of data blocks and their erasure codes. For mirrored files, a protection
group contains all the mirrors of a set of blocks. OneFS can switch the type of protection
group as it writes a file to disk. By changing the protection group dynamically, OneFS can
continue writing data despite a node failure that prevents the cluster from applying
erasure codes. After the node is restored, OneFS automatically converts the mirrored
protection groups to erasure codes.

The file system journal

A journal, which records file-system changes in a battery-backed NVRAM card, recovers
the file system after failures, such as a power loss. When a node restarts, the journal
replays file transactions to restore the file system.

Virtual hot spare

When a drive fails, OneFS uses space reserved in a subpool instead of a hot spare drive.
The reserved space is known as a virtual hot spare.
In contrast to a spare drive, a virtual hot spare automatically resolves drive failures and
continues writing data. If a drive fails, OneFS migrates data to the virtual hot spare to
reprotect it. You can reserve as many as four disk drives as a virtual hot spare.

Balancing protection with storage space

You can set protection levels to balance protection requirements with storage space.
Higher protection levels typically consume more space than lower levels because you
lose an amount of disk space to storing erasure codes. The overhead for the erasure
codes depends on the protection level, the file size, and the number of nodes in the
cluster. Since OneFS stripes both data and erasure codes across nodes, the overhead
declines as you add nodes.

VMware integration
OneFS integrates with several VMware products, including vSphere, vCenter, and ESXi.
For example, OneFS works with the VMware vSphere API for Storage Awareness (VASA) so
that you can view information about an Isilon cluster in vSphere. OneFS also works with
the VMware vSphere API for Array Integration (VAAI) to support the following features for
block storage: hardware-assisted locking, full copy, and block zeroing. VAAI for NFS
requires an ESXi plug-in.
With the Isilon for vCenter plug-in, you can backup and restore virtual machines on an
Isilon cluster. With the Isilon Storage Replication Adapter, OneFS integrates with the

Data mirroring

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Isilon scale-out NAS

VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager to recover virtual machines that are replicated
between Isilon clusters.

Software modules
You can access advanced features by activating licenses for EMC Isilon software
modules.
SmartLock
SmartLock protects critical data from malicious, accidental, or premature alteration
or deletion to help you comply with SEC 17a-4 regulations. You can automatically
commit data to a tamper-proof state and then retain it with a compliance clock.
SyncIQ automated failover and failback
SyncIQ replicates data on another Isilon cluster and automates failover and failback
between clusters. If a cluster becomes unusable, you can fail over to another Isilon
cluster. Failback restores the original source data after the primary cluster becomes
available again.
File clones
OneFS provides provisioning of full read/write copies of files, LUNs, and other
clones. OneFS also provides virtual machine linked cloning through VMware API
integration.
SnapshotIQ
SnapshotIQ protects data with a snapshota logical copy of data stored on a
cluster. A snapshot can be restored to its top-level directory.
SmartPools
SmartPools enable you to create multiple file pools governed by file-pool policies.
The policies move files and directories among node pools or tiers. You can also
define how OneFS handles write operations when a node pool or tier is full.
SmartConnect
If you activate a SmartConnect Advanced license, you can balance policies to evenly
distribute CPU usage, client connections, or throughput. You can also define IP
address pools to support multiple DNS zones in a subnet. In addition, SmartConnect
supports IP failover, also known as NFS failover.
InsightIQ
The InsightIQ virtual appliance monitors and analyzes the performance of your Isilon
cluster to help you optimize storage resources and forecast capacity.
Aspera for Isilon
Aspera moves large files over long distances fast. Aspera for Isilon is a cluster-aware
version of Aspera technology for non-disruptive, wide-area content delivery.
HDFS
OneFS works with the Hadoop Distributed File System protocol to help clients
running Apache Hadoop, a framework for data-intensive distributed applications,
analyze big data.
SmartQuotas
The SmartQuotas module tracks disk usage with reports and enforces storage limits
with alerts.

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OneFS 7.2 Web Administration Guide

CHAPTER 3
General cluster administration

This section contains the following topics:

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General cluster administration overview................................................................34

User interfaces...................................................................................................... 34
Connecting to the cluster.......................................................................................35
Licensing...............................................................................................................35
Certificates............................................................................................................40
Cluster identity......................................................................................................42
Cluster contact information................................................................................... 43
Cluster date and time............................................................................................ 43
SMTP email settings.............................................................................................. 44
Configuring the cluster join mode..........................................................................45
File system settings...............................................................................................46
Cluster monitoring.................................................................................................47
Monitoring cluster hardware..................................................................................49
Events and notifications........................................................................................ 55
Cluster maintenance............................................................................................. 63
Remote support.....................................................................................................70

General cluster administration

33

General cluster administration

General cluster administration overview

You can manage general OneFS settings and module licenses for the EMC Isilon cluster.
General cluster administration covers several areas. You can manage general settings
such as cluster name, date and time, and email. You can monitor the cluster status and
performance, including hardware components. You can configure how events and
notifications are handled, and you can perform cluster maintenance such as adding,
removing, and restarting nodes.
Most management tasks are accomplished through both the web administration or
command-line interface; however, you will occasionally encounter a task that can only be
managed by one or the other.

User interfaces
OneFS provides several interfaces for managing the EMC Isilon cluster.

34

Interface

Description

Comment

OneFS web
administration
interface

The browser-based OneFS web administration The OneFS web

interface provides secure access with OneFSadministration interface uses
supported browsers. You can use this interface port 8080 as its default port.
to view robust graphical monitoring displays
and to perform cluster-management tasks.

OneFS command- You can run OneFS isi commands in the

line interface
command-line interface to configure, monitor,
and manage the cluster. Access to the
command-line interface is through a secure
shell (SSH) connection to any node in the
cluster.

The OneFS command-line

interface provides an
extended standard UNIX
command set for managing
the cluster.

OneFS API

The OneFS application programming interface

(API) is divided into two functional areas: one
area enables cluster configuration,
management, and monitoring functionality,
and the other area enables operations on files
and directories on the cluster. You can send
requests to the OneFS API through a
Representational State Transfer (REST)
interface, which is accessed through resource
URIs and standard HTTP methods.

You should have a solid

understanding of HTTP/1.1
and experience writing HTTPbased client software before
you implement client-based
software through the OneFS
API.

Node front panel

With the exception of accelerator nodes, the

front panel of each node contains an LCD
screen with five buttons that you can use to
monitor node and cluster details.

Node status, events, cluster

details, capacity, IP and MAC
addresses, throughput, and
drive status are available
through the node front panel.

OneFS 7.2 Web Administration Guide

General cluster administration

Connecting to the cluster

EMC Isilon cluster access is provided through the web administration interface or through
SSH. A serial connection can be used to perform cluster-administration tasks through the
command-line interface.
You can also access the cluster through the node front panel to accomplish a subset of
cluster-management tasks. For information about connecting to the node front panel, see
the installation documentation for your node.

Log in to the web administration interface

You can monitor and manage your EMC Isilon cluster from the browser-based web
administration interface.
Procedure
1. Open a browser window and type the URL for your cluster in the address field,
replacing <yourNodeIPaddress> in the following example with the first IP address you
provided when you configured ext-1:
https://<yourNodeIPaddress>:8080
The system displays a message if your security certificates have not been configured.
Resolve any certificate configurations and continue to the web site.
2. Log in to OneFS by typing your OneFS credentials in the Username and Password
fields.
After you log into the web administration interface, there is a 4-hour login timeout and
a 24-hour session inactivity timeout.

Open an SSH connection to a cluster

You can use any SSH client such as OpenSSH or PuTTY to connect to an EMC Isilon
cluster.
Before you begin
You must have valid OneFS credentials to log in to a cluster after the connection is open.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster, using the IP address
of the node and port number 22.
2. Log in with your OneFS credentials.
At the OneFS command line prompt, you can use isi commands to monitor and
manage your cluster.

Licensing
Advanced cluster features are available when you activate licenses for OneFS software
modules. Each optional OneFS software module requires you to activate a separate
license.
For more information about the following optional software modules, contact your EMC
Isilon sales representative.
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HDFS
Connecting to the cluster

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General cluster administration

InsightIQ

Isilon for vCenter

SmartConnect Advanced

SmartDedupe

SmartLock

SmartPools

SmartQuotas

SnapshotIQ

SyncIQ

License status
The status of a OneFS module license indicates whether the functionality provided by the
module are available on the cluster.
Licenses exist in one of the following states:
Status

Description

Inactive

The license has not been activated on the cluster. You cannot access the features
provided by the corresponding module.

Evaluation The license has been temporarily activated on the cluster. You can access the
features provided by the corresponding module for a limited period of time. After the
license expires, the features will become unavailable, unless the license is
reactivated.
Activated

The license has been activated on the cluster. You can access the features provided
by the corresponding module.

Expired

The evaluation license has expired on the cluster. You can no longer access the
features provided by the corresponding module. The features will remain
unavailable, unless you reactivate the license.

The following table describes what functionality is available for each license depending
on the license's status:

36

License

Inactive

Evaluation/
Activated

Expired

HDFS

Clients cannot
access the cluster
through HDFS.

You can configure

HDFS settings and
clients can access
the cluster through
HDFS.

You cannot configure HDFS

settings. After the HDFS
service restarts, clients can
no longer access the cluster
through HDFS.

InsightIQ

You cannot monitor

the cluster with
InsightIQ.

You can monitor the

cluster with
InsightIQ.

InsightIQ stops monitoring

the cluster. Data previously
collected by InsightIQ is still
available on the InsightIQ
instance.

Isilon for vCenter

You cannot back up You can back up

You cannot create new
virtual machines that virtual machines that backups of virtual machines

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General cluster administration

License

Inactive

Evaluation/
Activated

Expired

are stored on an
Isilon cluster with
Isilon for vCenter.

are stored on an
Isilon cluster with
Isilon for vCenter.

that are stored on an Isilon

cluster.

SmartPools

All files belong to the

default file pool and
are governed by the
default file pool
policy. Virtual hot
spare allocation,
which reserves
space for data repair
if a drive fails, is also
available.

You can create

multiple file pools
and file pool
policies. You can
also manage
spillover, which
defines how write
operations are
handled when a
storage pool is not
writable.

You can no longer manage

file pool policies, and the
SmartPools job will no
longer run. Newly added
files will be governed by the
default file pool policy, and
the SetProtectPlus job will
eventually apply the default
file pool policy to all files in
the cluster.
If the SmartPools job is
running when the license
expires, the job completes
before becoming disabled.

SmartConnect
Advanced

Client connections
are balanced by
using a round robin
policy. IP address
allocation is static.
Each external
network subnet can
be assigned only
one IP address pool.

You can access

You can no longer specify
features such as CPU SmartConnect Advanced
utilization,
settings.
connection counting,
and client
connection policies
in addition to the
round robin policy.
You can also
configure address
pools to support
multiple DNS zones
within a single
subnet, and support
IP failover.

SmartDedupe

You cannot
deduplicate data
with SmartDedupe.

You can deduplicate

data with
SmartDedupe.

You can no longer

deduplicate data. Previously
deduplicated data remains
deduplicated.

SmartLock

You cannot enforce

file retention with
SmartLock.

You can enforce file

retention with
SmartLock.

You cannot create new

SmartLock directories or
modify SmartLock directory
configuration settings for
existing directories.
You can still commit files to
a write once read many
(WORM) state, even after the
SmartLock license is
unconfigured, but you
cannot delete WORMcommitted files from
enterprise directories.

License status

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General cluster administration

License

Inactive

Evaluation/
Activated

Expired

SnapshotIQ

You can view and

manage snapshots
generated by OneFS
applications.
However, you cannot
create snapshots or
configure
SnapshotIQ settings.

You can create, view,

and manage
snapshots. You can
also configure
snapshot settings.

You will no longer be able to

generate snapshots.
Existing snapshot schedules
are not deleted; however,
the schedules will not
generate snapshots.
You can still delete
snapshots and access
snapshot data.

SmartQuotas

You cannot create

quotas with
SmartQuotas.

You can create

quotas with
SmartQuotas.

OneFS disables all quotas.

Exceeding advisory and soft
thresholds does not trigger
events. Hard and soft
thresholds are not enforced.

SyncIQ

You cannot replicate

data with SyncIQ.

You can replicate

data with SyncIQ

You will no longer be able to

replicate data to remote
clusters, and remote
clusters will not be able to
replicate data to the local
cluster. Replication policies
will still display a status of
enabled; however, future
replication jobs created by
the policy will fail.
If a replication job is in
progress when the license
expires, the job completes.

License configuration
You can configure or unconfigure some OneFS module licenses.
You can configure a license by performing specific operations through the corresponding
module. Not all actions that require you to activate a license will configure the license.
Also, not all licenses can be configured. Configuring a license does not add or remove
access to any features provided by a module.
You can unconfigure a license only through the isi license unconfigure
command. You may want to unconfigure a license for a OneFS software module if, for
example, you enabled an evaluation version of a module but later decided not to
purchase a permanent license. Unconfiguring a module license does not deactivate the
license. Unconfiguring a license does not add or remove access to any features provided
by a module.
The following table describes both the actions that cause each license to be configured
and the results of unconfiguring each license:

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License

Cause of configuring

Result of unconfiguring

HDFS

Cannot configure this license.

No system impact.

InsightIQ

Cannot configure this license.

No system impact.

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General cluster administration

License

Cause of configuring

Isilon for vCenter Cannot configure this license.

Result of unconfiguring
No system impact.

SmartPools

Create a file pool policy (other than the OneFS deletes all file pool policies
default file pool policy).
(except the default file pool policy).

SmartConnect

Configure SmartConnect Advanced

settings for at least one IP address
pool.

OneFS converts dynamic IP address

pools to static IP address pools.

SmartDedupe

Cannot configure this license.

No system impact.

SmartLock

Cannot configure this license.

No system impact.

SnapshotIQ

Create a snapshot schedule.

Deletes all snapshot schedules.

SmartQuotas

Create a quota.

No system impact.

SyncIQ

Create a replication policy.

No system impact.

Activate a license
To access a OneFS module, you must activate a license.
Before you begin
Before you can activate a license, you must obtain a valid license key, and you must have
root user privileges on your cluster. To obtain a license key, contact your EMC Isilon sales
representative.
Procedure
1. Click Help > About This Cluster.
2. In the Licensed Modules section, click Activate license.
3. In the License key field, type the license key for the module that you want to enable.
4. Read the end user license agreement, click I have read and agree, and then click
Submit.

View license information

You can view information about the current status of any optional Isilon software
modules.
Procedure
1. Click Help > About This Cluster.
2. In the Licensed Modules area, review information about licenses, including status and
expiration date.

Unconfigure a license
You can unconfigure a licensed module through the command-line interface.
You must have root user privileges on your Isilon cluster to unconfigure a module license.
This procedure is available only through the command-line interface (CLI).
Note

Unconfiguring a license does not deactivate the license.

Activate a license

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General cluster administration

Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster.
You must log in as root.
2. Run the isi license unconfigure command.
The following command unconfigures the license for SmartConnect:
isi license unconfigure -m smartconnect

If you do not know the module name, run the isi license command for a list of
OneFS modules and their status.
OnesFS returns a confirmation message similar to the following text: The
SmartConnect module has been unconfigured. The license is
unconfigured, and any processes enabled for the module are disabled.

Certificates
You can renew the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate for the Isilon web administration
interface or replace it with a third-party SSL certificate.
All Platform API communication, which includes communication through the web
administration interface, is over SSL. You can replace or renew the self-signed certificate
with a certificate that you generate. To replace or renew an SSL certificate, you must be
logged in as root.

Replace or renew the SSL certificate

You can replace or renew the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate, which is used to
access the EMC Isilon cluster through a browser.
Before you begin
When you renew or replace a self-signed SSL certificate, you must provide information for
your organization in the format that is described in the Self-signed SSL certificate data
example.
The following folders are the default locations for the server.crt and server.key
files in OneFS 6.0 and higher.
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SSL certificate: /usr/local/apache2/conf/ssl.crt/server.crt

SSL certificate key: /usr/local/apache2/conf/ssl.key/server.key

Procedure
1. Establish an SSH connection to any node in the cluster.
2. At the command prompt, run the following command to create the appropriate
directory.
mkdir /ifs/local/

3. At the command prompt, run the following command to change to the directory.
cd /ifs/local/

4. Choose the type of certificate you want to install.

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OneFS 7.2 Web Administration Guide

General cluster administration

Option

Description

Third-party
(public or
private) CAissued
certificate

a. At the command prompt, run the following command to

generate a new Certificate Signing Request (CSR) in addition to
a new key, where <common_name> is the host name, such as
isilon.example.com:
openssl req -new -nodes -newkey rsa:1024 -keyout
<common name>.key \
-out <common-name>.csr

b. Send the contents of the <common_name>.csr file from the

cluster to your Certificate Authority (CA) for signing. When you
receive the signed certificate (now a .crt file) from the CA,
copy the certificate to /ifs/local/<common-name>.crt.
Self-signed
a. At the command prompt, run the following command to create
certificate
a two-year certificate. Increase or decrease the value for -days
based on the
to generate a certificate with a different expiration date.
existing (stock)
ssl.key
cp /usr/local/apache2/conf/ssl.key/server.key ./openssl

req -new \/
-days 730 -nodes -x509 -key server.key -out server.crt

A renewal certificate is created, based on the existing (stock) ssl.key file.

5. Optional: At the command prompt, run the following command to verify the attributes
in an SSL certificate.
openssl x509 -text -noout -in <common-name>.crt

6. Run the following commands to install the certificate and key:

isi services -a isi_webui disable
chmod 640 <common name>.key
isi_for_array -s 'cp /ifs/local/<common-name>.key /usr/local/
apache2/conf/ssl.key/server.key'
isi_for_array -s 'cp /ifs/local/<common-name>.crt /usr/local/
apache2/conf/ssl.crt/server.crt'
isi services -a isi_webui enable

7. Run the following command to remove the files in /ifs/local.

rm /ifs/local/*

Verify an SSL certificate update

You can verify the details stored in a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate.
Procedure
1. Open a web browser window.
2. Browse to https://<common name>:8080, where <common name> is the host
name for the EMC Isilon web administration interface, such as isilon.example.com.
3. In the security details for the web page, verify that the subject line and other details
that you provided are correct.

Verify an SSL certificate update

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General cluster administration

Note

The steps to view security details vary by browser. For example, in some browsers, you
can click the padlock icon in the address bar to view the security details for the web
page. Follow the steps that are specific to your browser.

Self-signed SSL certificate data example

Self-signed SSL certificate renewal or replacement requires you to provide data such as
your fully qualified domain name and a contact email address.
When you renew or replace a self-signed SSL certificate, you are asked to provide data in
the format shown in the following example. Some fields in the certificate file contain a
default value. If you type '.', the field is left blank when the certificate is generated.
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Country Name (2 letter code) [XX]:US

State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:Washington

Locality Name (for example, city) [default city]:Seattle

Organization Name (for example, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]:Isilon

Organizational Unit Name (for example, section) []:Support

Common Name (for example, server FQDN or server name) []:isilon.example.com

Email Address []:[email protected]

In addition, you should add the following attributes to be sent with your certificate
request:
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Challenge password []:Isilon1

Optional company name []:

Cluster identity
You can specify identity attributes for the EMC Isilon cluster.
Cluster name
The cluster name appears on the login page, and it makes the cluster and its nodes
more easily recognizable on your network. Each node in the cluster is identified by
the cluster name plus the node number. For example, the first node in a cluster
named Images may be named Images-1.
Cluster description
The cluster description appears below the cluster name on the login page. The
cluster description is useful if your environment has multiple clusters.
Login message
The login message appears as a separate box on the login page. The login message
can convey cluster information, login instructions, or warnings that a user should
know before logging into the cluster.

Set the cluster name

You can specify a name, description, and login message to your EMC Isilon cluster.
Cluster names must begin with a letter and can contain only numbers, letters, and
hyphens. If the cluster is joined to an Active Directory domain, the cluster name must be
11 characters or fewer.
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Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > General Settings > Cluster Identity.
2. Optional: In the Cluster Name and Description area, type a name for the cluster in the
Cluster Name field and type a description in the Cluster Description field.
3. Optional: In the Login Message area, type a title in the Message Title field and a
message in the Message Body field.
4. Click Submit.
After you finish
You must add the cluster name to your DNS servers.

Cluster contact information

Isilon Technical Support personnel and event notification recipients will communicate
with the specified contacts.
You can specify the following contact information for your EMC Isilon cluster:
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Company name and location

Primary and secondary contact names

Phone number and email address for each contact

Specify contact information

You can specify contact information so that Isilon Technical Support personnel and event
notification recipients can contact you.
Procedure
1. Click Dashboard > Events > Notification Settings.
2. In the Contact Information area, click Modify contact information settings.
3. In the Contact Information area, type the name and contact information in the fields
for those details.
4. Click Submit.

Cluster date and time

The Network Time Protocol (NTP) service is configurable manually, so you can ensure that
all nodes in a cluster are synchronized to the same time source.
The NTP method automatically synchronizes cluster date and time settings through an
NTP server. Alternatively, you can set the date and time reported by the cluster by
manually configuring the service.
Windows domains provide a mechanism to synchronize members of the domain to a
master clock running on the domain controllers, so OneFS adjusts the cluster time to that
of Active Directory with a service. If a cluster is joined to an Active Directory domain and
an external NTP server is not configured, the cluster is set automatically to Active
Directory time, which is synchronized by a job that runs every 6 hours. When the cluster
and domain time become out of sync by more than 4 minutes, OneFS generates an event
notification.

Cluster contact information

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General cluster administration

Note

If the cluster and Active Directory become out of sync by more than 5 minutes,
authentication will not work.

Set the cluster date and time

You can set the date, time, and time zone that is used by the EMC Isilon cluster.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > General Settings > Date & Time.
The Date and Time page displays a list of each node's IP address and the date and
time settings for each node.
2. From the Date and time lists, select the month, date, year, hour, and minute settings.
3. From the Time zone list, select a value.
If the time zone that you want is not in the list, select Advanced from the Time zone
list, and then select the time zone from the Advanced time zone list.
4. Click Submit.

Specify an NTP time server

You can specify one or more Network Time Protocol (NTP) servers to synchronize the
system time on the EMC cluster. The cluster periodically contacts the NTP servers and
sets the date and time based on the information it receives.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > General Settings > NTP.
2. Optional: Add a server.
a. In the Server IP or hostname field, type the host name or IP address of the NTP
server, click Add, and then click Submit.
b. Optional: To enable NTP authentication with a keyfile, type the path and file name
in the Keyfile field, and then click Submit.
3. Optional: Delete a server.
a. Select the check box next to the server name in the Server list for each server that
you want to delete.
b. Click Delete.
c. Click Submit.

SMTP email settings

If your network environment requires the use of an SMTP server or if you want to route
EMC Isilon cluster event notifications with SMTP through a port, you can configure SMTP
email settings.
SMTP settings include the SMTP relay address and port number that email is routed
through. You can specify an origination email and subject line for all event notification
emails sent from the cluster.
If your SMTP server is configured to support authentication, you can specify a username
and password. You can also specify whether to apply encryption to the connection.
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Configure SMTP email settings

You can send event notifications through an SMTP mail server. You can also enable SMTP
authentication if your SMTP server is configured to support it.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > General Settings > Email Settings.
2. From the Email Settings area, in the SMTP relay address field, type the fully qualified
domain name or the IP address of the SMTP relay..
3. In the SMTP relay port field, type the port number.
The default port number is 25.
4. In the Send email as field, type the originating email address that will be displayed in
the To line of the email.
5. In the Subject field, type the text that will be displayed in the Subject line of the email.
6. Optional: To require SMTP authentication, from the Use SMTP AUTH area, select Yes.
a. In the Username, Password, and Confirm password fields, type the required user
credentials.
b. From the Connection security area, select one of the following options:
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To specify no encryption of the connection, select No security.

To specify TLS encryption of the connection, select STARTTLS.

7. Click Submit.
You can test your configuration by sending a test event notification.

Configuring the cluster join mode

The join mode specifies how a node can added to the EMC Isilon cluster and whether
authentication is required. You can specify a manual or secure join mode.

Specify the cluster join mode

You can specify a join mode that determines how nodes are added to the EMC Isilon
cluster.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > General Settings > Join Mode.
2. In the Settings area, select the mode that will determine how nodes can be added to
the cluster.
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Manual joins can be manually initiated.

Securejoins can be initiated only by the cluster and require authentication.

3. Click Submit.

Configure SMTP email settings

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General cluster administration

Cluster join modes

OneFS supports manual and secure join modes for adding nodes to the EMC Isilon
cluster.
Mode

Description

Manual Allows you to manually add a node to the cluster without requiring authorization.
Secure

Requires authorization of every node added to the cluster and the node must be added
through the web administration interface or through the isi devices -a add -d
<unconfigured_node_serial_no> command in the command-line interface.
Note

If you specify a secure join mode, you cannot join a node to the cluster through serial
console wizard option [2] Join an existing cluster.

File system settings

You can configure global file system settings on the EMC Isilon cluster.
You can enable or disable access time tracking which monitors the time of access on
each file. If necessary, you can change the default character encoding on the cluster.

Specify the cluster character encoding

You can modify the character encoding set for the EMC Isilon cluster after installation.
Only OneFS-supported character sets are available for selection. UTF-8 is the default
character set for OneFS nodes.
Note

If the cluster character encoding is not set to UTF-8, SMB share names are case-sensitive.
You must restart the cluster to apply character encoding changes.
CAUTION

Character encoding is typically established during installation of the cluster. Modifying

the character encoding setting after installation may render files unreadable if done
incorrectly. Modify settings only if necessary after consultation with Isilon Technical
Support.
Procedure
1. Click File System Management > File System Settings > Character Encoding.
2. Optional: From the Character encoding list, select the character-encoding set that you
want to use.
3. Click Submit, and then click Yes to acknowledge that the encoding change becomes
effective after the cluster is restarted.
4. Restart the cluster.

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Results
After the cluster restarts, the web administration interface reflects your change.

Enable or disable access time tracking

You can enable access time tracking to support features that require it.
By default, the EMC Isilon cluster does not track the timestamp when files are accessed.
You can enable this feature to support OneFS features that use it. For example, accesstime tracking must be enabled to configure SyncIQ policy criteria that match files based
on when they were last accessed.
Note

Enabling access-time tracking may affect cluster performance.

Procedure
1. Click File System Management > File System Settings > Access Time Tracking.
2. In the Access Time Tracking area, select a configuration option.
l

To enable access time tracking, click Enabled, and then specify in the Precision
fields how often to update the last-accessed time by typing a numeric value and by
selecting a unit of measure, such as Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks,
Months, or Years.
For example, if you configure a Precision setting of 1 day, the cluster updates the
last-accessed time once each day, even if some files were accessed more often
than once during the day.

To disable access-time tracking, click Disabled.

3. Click Submit.

Cluster monitoring
You can monitor the health, performance, and status of your EMC Isilon cluster.
Using the OneFS dashboard from the web administration interface, you can monitor the
status and health of the OneFS system. Information is available for individual nodes,
including node-specific network traffic, internal and external network interfaces, and
details about node pools, tiers, and overall cluster health. You can monitor the following
areas of your EMC Isilon cluster health and performance:
Node status
Health and performance statistics for each node in the cluster, including hard disk
drive (HDD) and solid-state drive (SSD) usage.
Client connections
Number of clients connected per node.
New events
List of event notifications generated by system events, including the severity, unique
instance ID, start time, alert message, and scope of the event.
Cluster size
Current view: Used and available HDD and SSD space and space reserved for the
virtual hot spare (VHS). Historical view: Total used space and cluster size for a oneyear period.

Enable or disable access time tracking

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Cluster throughput (file system)

Current view: Average inbound and outbound traffic volume passing through the
nodes in the cluster for the past hour. Historical view: Average inbound and
outbound traffic volume passing through the nodes in the cluster for the past two
weeks.
CPU usage
Current view: Average system, user, and total percentages of CPU usage for the past
hour. Historical view: CPU usage for the past two weeks.

Monitor the cluster

You can monitor the health and performance of an EMC Isilon cluster with charts and
tables that show the status and performance of nodes, client connections, events, cluster
size, cluster throughput, and CPU usage.
Procedure
1. Click Dashboard > Cluster Overview > Cluster Status.
2. Optional: View cluster details.
l

Status: To view details about a node, click the ID number of the node.

Client connection summary: To view a list of current connections, click Dashboard >
Cluster Overview > Client Connections Status.

New events: To view more information about an event, click View details in the
Actions column.

Cluster size: To switch between current and historical views, click Historical or
Current near the Monitoring section heading. In historical view, click Used or
Cluster size to change the display.

Cluster throughput (file system): To switch between current and historical views,
click Historical or Current next to the Monitoring section heading. To view
throughput statistics for a specific period within the past two weeks, click
Dashboard > Cluster Overview > Throughput Distribution.
Note

You can hide or show inbound or outbound throughput by clicking Inbound or

Outbound in the chart legend. To view maximum throughput, next to Show, select
Maximum.
l

CPU usage: To switch between current and historical views, click Historical or
Current near the Monitoring section heading.
Note

You can hide or show a plot by clicking System, User, or Total in the chart legend.
To view maximum usage, next to Show, select Maximum.

View node status

You can view the current and historical status of a node.
Procedure
1. Click Dashboard > Cluster Overview > Cluster Status.
2. Optional: In the Status area, click the ID number for the node that you want to view
status for.
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3. View node details.

l

Status: To view networks settings for a node interface or subnet or pool, click the
link in the Status area.

Client connections: To view current clients connected to this node, review the list
in this area.

Chassis and drive status: To view the state of drives in this node, review this area.
To view details about a drive, click the name link of the drive; for example, Bay1.

Node size: To switch between current and historical views, click Historical or
Current next to the Monitoring area heading. In historical view, click Used or
Cluster size to change the display accordingly.

Node throughput (file system): To switch between current and historical views,
click Historical or Current next to the Monitoring area heading. To view throughput
statistics for a period within the past two weeks, click Dashboard > Cluster
Overview > Throughput Distribution.
Note

You can hide or show inbound or outbound throughput by clicking Inbound or

Outbound in the chart legend. To view maximum throughput, next to Show, select
Maximum.
l

CPU usage: To switch between current and historical views, click Historical or
Current next to the Monitoring area heading.
Note

You can hide or show a plot by clicking System, User, or Total in the chart legend.
To view maximum usage, next to Show, select Maximum.

Monitoring cluster hardware

You can manually check the status of hardware on the EMC Isilon cluster as well as
enable SNMP to remotely monitor components.

View node hardware status

You can view the hardware status of a node.
Procedure
1. Click Dashboard > Cluster Overview > Cluster Status.
2. Optional: In the Status area, click the ID number for a node.
3. In the Chassis and drive status area, click Platform.

Chassis and drive states

You can view chassis and drive state details.
In a cluster, the combination of nodes in different degraded states determines whether
read requests, write requests, or both work. A cluster can lose write quorum but keep
read quorum. OneFS provides details about the status of chassis and drives in your
cluster. The following table describes all the possible states that you may encounter in
your cluster.
Monitoring cluster hardware

49

General cluster administration

State

Description

Interface

HEALTHY

All drives in the node are functioning

correctly.

Command-line
interface, web
administration
interface

SMARTFAIL or
Smartfail or
restripe in
progress

The drive is in the process of being

removed safely from the file system,
either because of an I/O error or by
user request. Nodes or drives in a
smartfail or read-only state affect only
write quorum.

Command-line
interface, web
administration
interface

NOT AVAILABLE

A drive is unavailable for a variety of

reasons. You can click the bay to view
detailed information about this
condition.

Command-line
interface, web
administration
interface

Note

In the web administration interface,

this state includes the ERASE and

SED_ERROR command-line
interface states.

50

SUSPENDED

This state indicates that drive activity

is temporarily suspended and the
drive is not in use. The state is
manually initiated and does not occur
during normal cluster activity.

Command-line
interface, web
administration
interface

NOT IN USE

A node in an offline state affects both

read and write quorum.

Command-line
interface, web
administration
interface

REPLACE

The drive was smartfailed successfully Command-line

and is ready to be replaced.
interface only

STALLED

The drive is stalled and undergoing

Command-line
stall evaluation. Stall evaluation is the interface only
process of checking drives that are
slow or having other issues.
Depending on the outcome of the
evaluation, the drive may return to
service or be smartfailed. This is a
transient state.

NEW

The drive is new and blank. This is the Command-line

state that a drive is in when you run
interface only
the isi dev command with the -a
add option.

USED

The drive was added and contained

Command-line
an Isilon GUID but the drive is not
interface only
from this node. This drive likely will be
formatted into the cluster.

OneFS 7.2 Web Administration Guide

Error
state

General cluster administration

State

Description

Interface

PREPARING

The drive is undergoing a format

operation. The drive state changes to
HEALTHY when the format is
successful.

Command-line
interface only

EMPTY

No drive is in this bay.

Command-line
interface only

WRONG_TYPE

The drive type is wrong for this node. Command-line

For example, a non-SED drive in a SED interface only
node, SAS instead of the expected
SATA drive type.

BOOT_DRIVE

Unique to the A100 drive, which has

boot drives in its bays.

Command-line
interface only

SED_ERROR

The drive cannot be acknowledged by

the OneFS system.

Command-line
interface, web
administration
interface

Note

Error
state

In the web administration interface,

this state is included in Not

available.
ERASE

The drive is ready for removal but

needs your attention because the
data has not been erased. You can
erase the drive manually to guarantee
that data is removed.

Command-line
interface only

Note

In the web administration interface,

this state is included in Not

available.
INSECURE

Data on the self-encrypted drive is

accessible by unauthorized
personnel. Self-encrypting drives
should never be used for nonencrypted data purposes.

Command-line
interface only

Web
administration
interface only

Note

In the web administration interface,

this state is labeled Unencrypted

SED.
UNENCRYPTED SED

Data on the self-encrypted drive is

accessible by unauthorized
personnel. Self-encrypting drives
should never be used for nonencrypted data purposes.

Chassis and drive states

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General cluster administration

State

Description

Interface

Error
state

Note

In the command-line interface, this

state is labeled INSECURE.

Check battery status

You can monitor the status of NVRAM batteries and charging systems.
This functionality is available only from the command line on node hardware that
supports the command.
Procedure
1. Run the isi batterystatus command to view the status of all NVRAM batteries
and charging systems on the node.
The system displays output similar to the following example:
battery 1 : Good
battery 2 : Good

SNMP monitoring
You can use SNMP to remotely monitor the EMC Isilon cluster hardware components,
such as fans, hardware sensors, power supplies, and disks. The default Linux SNMP tools
or a GUI-based SNMP tool of your choice can be used for this purpose.
You can enable SNMP monitoring on individual nodes on your cluster, and you can also
monitor cluster information from any node. Generated SNMP traps are sent to your SNMP
network. You can configure an event notification rule that specifies the network station
where you want to send SNMP traps for specific events, so that when an event occurs, the
cluster sends the trap to that server. OneFS supports SNMP in read-only mode. OneFS
supports SNMP version 2c, which is the default value, and SNMP version 3.
Note

OneFS does not support SNMP v1. Although an option for v1/v2c may be displayed, if you
select the v1/v2c pair, OneFS will only monitor through SNMP v2c.
You can configure settings for SNMP v3 alone or for both SNMP v2c and v3.
Note

If you configure SNMP v3, OneFS requires the SNMP-specific security level of AuthNoPriv
as the default value when querying the cluster. The security level AuthPriv is not
supported.
Elements in an SNMP hierarchy are arranged in a tree structure, similar to a directory tree.
As with directories, identifiers move from general to specific as the string progresses from
left to right. Unlike a file hierarchy, however, each element is not only named, but also
numbered.
For example, the SNMP
entity .iso.org.dod.internet.private.enterprises.isilon.oneFSss.s
sLocalNodeId.0 maps to .1.3.6.1.4.1.12124.3.2.0. The part of the name that
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refers to the OneFS SNMP namespace is the 12124 element. Anything further to the right
of that number is related to OneFS-specific monitoring.
Management Information Base (MIB) documents define human-readable names for
managed objects and specify their data types and other properties. You can download
MIBs that are created for SNMP-monitoring of an Isilon cluster from the webadministration interface or manage them using the command-line interface. MIBs are
stored in /usr/local/share/snmp/mibs/ on a OneFS node. The OneFS ISILONMIBs serve two purposes:
l

Augment the information available in standard MIBs

Provide OneFS-specific information that is unavailable in standard MIBs

ISILON-MIB is a registered enterprise MIB. Isilon clusters have two separate MIBs:
ISILON-MIB
Defines a group of SNMP agents that respond to queries from a network monitoring
system (NMS) called OneFS Statistics Snapshot agents. As the name implies, these
agents snapshot the state of the OneFS file system at the time that it receives a
request and reports this information back to the NMS.
ISILON-TRAP-MIB
Generates SNMP traps to send to an SNMP monitoring station when the
circumstances occur that are defined in the trap protocol data units (PDUs).
The OneFS MIB files map the OneFS-specific object IDs with descriptions. Download or
copy MIB files to a directory where your SNMP tool can find them, such as /usr/share/
snmp/mibs/ or /usr/local/share/snmp/mibs, depending on the tool that you
use.
To enable Net-SNMP tools to read the MIBs to provide automatic name-to-OID mapping,
add -m All to the command, as in the following example:
snmpwalk -v2c -c public -m All <node IP> isilon

If the MIB files are not in the default Net-SNMP MIB directory, you may need to specify the
full path, as in the following example. Note that all three lines are a single command.
snmpwalk -m /usr/local/share/snmp/mibs/ISILON-MIB.txt:/usr/local\
/share/snmp/mibs/ISILON-TRAP-MIB.txt:/usr/local/share/snmp/mibs \
/ONEFS-TRAP-MIB.txt -v2c -C c -c public <node IP> enterprises.onefs
Note

The previous examples are run from the snmpwalk command on a cluster. Your SNMP
version may require different arguments.

Managing SNMP settings

SNMP can be used to monitor cluster hardware and system information. Settings can be
configured through either the web administration interface or the command-line
interface.
You can enable SNMP monitoring on individual nodes in the cluster, and you can monitor
information cluster-wide from any node when you enable SNMP on each node. When
using SNMP on an Isilon cluster, you should use a fixed general username. A password
for the general user can be configured in the web administration interface.
You should configure a network monitoring system (NMS) to query each node directly
through a static IP address. This approach allows you to confirm that all nodes have
external IP addresses and therefore respond to SNMP queries. Because the SNMP proxy
SNMP monitoring

53

General cluster administration

is enabled by default, the SNMP implementation on each node is configured

automatically to proxy for all other nodes in the cluster except itself. This proxy
configuration allows the Isilon Management Information Base (MIB) and standard MIBs to
be exposed seamlessly through the use of context strings for supported SNMP versions.
After you download and save the appropriate MIBs, you can configure SNMP monitoring
through either the web administration interface or though the command-line interface.

Configure the cluster for SNMP monitoring

You can configure your EMC Isilon cluster to remotely monitor hardware components
using SNMP.
Before you begin
When SNMP v3 is used, OneFS requires the SNMP-specific security level of AuthNoPriv as
the default value when querying the cluster. The security level AuthPriv is not supported.
You can enable or disable SNMP monitoring, allow SNMP access by version, and
configure other settings, some of which are optional. All SNMP access is read-only.
Note

The Isilon cluster does not generate SNMP traps unless you configure an event
notification rule to send events.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > General Settings > SNMP Monitoring.
2. In the Service area of the SNMP Monitoring page, enable or disable SNMP monitoring.
a. To disable SNMP monitoring, click Disable, and then click Submit.
b. To enable SNMP monitoring, click Enable, and then continue with the following
steps to configure your settings.
3. In the Downloads area, click Download for the MIB file that you want to download.
Follow the download process that is specific to your browser.
4. Optional: If you are using Internet Explorer as your browser, right-click the Download
link, select Save As from the menu, and save the file to your local drive.
You can save the text in the file format that is specific to your Net-SNMP tool.
5. Copy MIB files to a directory where your SNMP tool can find them, such as /usr/
share/snmp/mibs/ or /usr/local/share/snmp/mibs, depending on the
SNMP tool that you use.
To have Net-SNMP tools read the MIBs to provide automatic name-to-OID mapping,
add -m All to the command, as in the following example: snmpwalk -v2c -c
public -m All <node IP> isilon
6. Navigate back to the SNMP Monitoring page and configure General Settings.
a. In the Settings area, configure protocol access by selecting the version that you
want.
OneFS does not support writable OIDs; therefore, no write-only community string
setting is available.
b. In the System location field, type the system name.
This setting is the value that the node reports when responding to queries. Type a
name that helps to identify the location of the node.

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c. Type the contact email address in the System contact field.

7. Optional: If you selected SNMP v1/v2 as your protocol, locate the SNMP v1/v2c
Settings section and type the community name in the Read-only community field.
The default community name is I$ilonpublic.
Note

OneFS no longer supports SNMP v1. Although an option for v1/v2c may be displayed,
if you select the v1/v2c pair, OneFS will only monitor through SNMP v2c.
8. Configure SNMP v3 Settings.
a. In the Read-only user field, type the SNMP v3 security name to change the name of
the user with read-only privileges.
The default read-only user is general.
The password must contain at least eight characters and no spaces.
b. In the SNMP v3 password field, type the new password for the read-only user to
set a new SNMP v3 authentication password.
The default password is password. It is recommended that you change the
password to improve security.
c. Type the new password in the Confirm password field to confirm the new
password.
9. Click Submit.

View SNMP settings

You can review SNMP monitoring settings.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > General Settings > SNMP Monitoring.

Events and notifications

You can monitor the health and performance of your EMC Isilon cluster through OneFS
event notifications.
When OneFS identifies an occurrence on your cluster that may require additional
attention, an event is generated. OneFS records events related to file system integrity,
network connections, hardware, and other vital components of your cluster.
You can select the events that you want to monitor, and you can cancel, quiet, or unquiet
events.
In addition, you can configure event notification rules to determine who receives a
notification when an event occurs.

Coalesced events
OneFS coalesces related, group events or repeated, duplicate events into a single event.

Coalesced group events

Group events are different types of events that are all related to a single occurrence.

Events and notifications

55

General cluster administration

In the following example, a single connection issue might generate the following events:
Event

Description

100010005 A SAS PHY topology problem or change was detected.

100010006 A drive's error log counter indicates there may be a problem.
100010007 A SAS link has exceeded the maximum Bit Error Rate (BER) .
100010008 A SAS link has been disabled for exceeding the maximum Bit Error Rate (BER).

Because the events are triggered by a single occurrence, OneFS creates a group event
and combines the related messages under the new group event numbered 24.294.
Instead of seeing four events, you will see a single group event alerting you to storage
transport issues. You can still view all the grouped events individually if you choose.
To view this coalesced event, run the following command:
isi events show 24.924

The system displays the following example output of the coalesced group event:
ID:
24.924
Type:
199990001
Severity:
critical
Value:
0.0
Message:
Disk Errors detected (Bay 1)
Node:
21
Lifetime:
Sun Jun 17 23:29:29 2012 - Now
Quieted:
Not quieted
Specifiers: disk: 35
val: 0.0
devid: 24
drive_serial: 'XXXXXXXXXXXXX'
lba: 1953520064L
lnn: 21
drive_type: 'HDD'
device: 'da1'
bay: 1
unit: 805306368
Coalesced by: -Coalescer Type: Group
Coalesced events:
ID
STARTED
ENDED SEV LNN MESSAGE
24.911 06/17 23:29 -- I
21 Disk stall: Bay 1, Type HDD, LNUM 35.
Disk ...
24.912 06/17 23:29 -- I
21 Sector error: da1 block 1953520064
24.913 06/17 23:29 -- I
21 Sector error: da1 block 2202232
24.914 06/17 23:29 -- I
21 Sector error: da1 block 2202120
24.915 06/17 23:29 -- I
21 Sector error: da1 block 2202104
24.916 06/17 23:29 -- I
21 Sector error: da1 block 2202616
24.917 06/17 23:29 -- I
21 Sector error: da1 block 2202168
24.918 06/17 23:29 -- I
21 Sector error: da1 block 2202106
24.919 06/17 23:29 -- I
21 Sector error: da1 block 2202105
24.920 06/17 23:29 -- I
21 Sector error: da1 block 1048670
24.921 06/17 23:29 -- I
21 Sector error: da1 block 223
24.922 06/17 23:29 -- C
21 Disk Repair Initiated: Bay 1, Type
HDD, LNUM...

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Coalesced duplicate events

Duplicate events are the same message repeated in response to an ongoing issue.
In the following example, a SmartQuotas maximum threshold is repeatedly exceeded,
and the system coalesces this sequence of identical but discrete occurrences into one
event numbered 1.3035.
To view this coalesced event, run the following command:
isi events show 1.3035

The system displays the following example output of the coalesced duplicate event:
ID: 1.3035
Type: 500010001
Severity: info
Value: 0.0
Message: SmartQuotas threshold violation on quota violated, domain
direc...
Node: All
Lifetime: Thu Jun 14 01:00:00 2012 - Now
Quieted: Not quieted
Specifiers: enforcement: 'advisory'
domain: 'directory /ifs/quotas'
name: 'violated'
val: 0.0
devid: 0
lnn: 0
Coalesced by: -Coalescer Type: Duplicate
Coalesced events:
ID STARTED ENDED SEV LNN MESSAGE
18.621 06/14 01:00 -- I All SmartQuotas threshold violation on quota
vio...
18.630 06/15 01:00 -- I All SmartQuotas threshold violation on quota
vio...
18.638 06/16 01:00 -- I All SmartQuotas threshold violation on quota
vio...
18.647 06/17 01:00 -- I All SmartQuotas threshold violation on quota
vio...
18.655 06/18 01:00 -- I All SmartQuotas threshold violation on quota
vio...

Viewing event information

You can view event details, event history, and event logs.

View event details

You can view the details of an event.
Procedure
1. Click Dashboard > Events > Summary.
2. In the Actions column of an event whose details you want to view, click View details.

Viewing event information

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View the event history

You can view all events in a chronological list and then select an event to view additional
information.
Procedure
1. Click Dashboard > Events > Events History.
The Events History page displays a list of all events in chronological ordernewest to
oldestthat have occurred on your Isilon cluster.

View the event log

You can log in to a node through the command-line interface and view the contents of the
local event log.
Event logs are typically used for support purposes. You can only view the event log using
the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Establish an SSH connection to any node in the EMC Isilon cluster.
2. View the /var/log/isi_celog_events.log file.
The log file lists all event activity. Each event row contains one of the following event
labels:
Event label

Description

COALESCED: FIRST EVENT

An event was tagged as a possible first event in a series of events

that can be coalesced. The first event label is a only a placeholder
for a potential parent coalescer event.

COALESCER EVENT: ADDED

A parent coalescer event was created.

COALESCED

An event was added as a child beneath a coalescer event.

CREATOR EV COALID UPDATED A group was created and the placeholder first event label was
updated to include actual group information.

58

DROPPED

An event did not include any new information and was not stored
in the master event database.

FORWARDED_TO_MASTER

An event was forwarded to the master node to be stored in the

master event database.

DB: STORED

An event was stored in the master event database.

DB: PURGED

An event was removed from the master event database. The

database has a limit of 50,000 entries, and old events are purged
when that limit is reached.

INVALID EVENT: DROPPED

An event contained invalid information and was not stored in the

master event database.

UPDATE EVENT: DROPPED

A request to update the group information in a parent coalescer

event was discontinued.

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Responding to events
You can view event details and respond to cluster events.
You can view and manage new events, open events, and recently ended events. You can
also view coalesced events and additional, more-detailed information about a specific
event. You also can quiet or cancel events.

Quieting, unquieting, and canceling events

You can change an event's state by quieting, unquieting, or canceling an event.
You can select the following actions to change the state of an event:
Quiet
Acknowledges and removes the event from the list of new events and adds the event
to a list of quieted events.
Note

If a new event of the same event type is triggered, it is a separate new event and
must be quieted.
Unquiet
Returns a quieted event to an unacknowledged state in the list of new events and
removes the event from the list of quieted events.
Cancel
Permanently ends an occurrence of an event. The system cancels an event when
conditions are met that end its duration, which is bounded by a start time and an
end time, or when you cancel the event manually.
Most events are canceled automatically by the system when the event reaches the end of
its duration. The event remains in the system until you manually acknowledge or quiet
the event. You can acknowledge events through either the web administration interface
or the command-line interface.

Respond to an event
You can change the status of an event by quieting, unquieting, or canceling it.
Procedure
1. Click Dashboard > Events > Summary.
2. Perform one of the following actions:
l

To acknowledge an event, click Quiet.

To restore an event to an unacknowledged state, click Unquiet.

To permanently remove an occurrence of an event, click Cancel.

Managing event notification settings

You can view and modify event notification settings and configure batch notifications.

Responding to events

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Event notification methods

You can define the method by which OneFS delivers notifications.
Email
You can send email messages to distribution lists and apply email templates to
notifications. You can also specify SMTP, authorization, and security settings.
SupportIQ
You can deliver notifications to Isilon Technical Support over HTTPS, SMTP, or both.
SNMP trap
You can send SNMP traps to one or more network monitoring stations or trap
receivers. Each event can generate one or more SNMP traps. You can download
management information base files (MIBs) from the cluster at /usr/local/
share/snmp/mibs/. The ISILON-TRAP-MIB.txt file describes the traps that
the cluster can generate, and the ISILON-MIB.txt file describes the associated
varbinds that accompany the traps.
ESRS
You can receive alerts from the EMC Secure Remote Support (ESRS) Gateway. The
ESRS Gateway is a secure, IP-based customer service support system.
The ESRS Gateway is similar to SupportIQ and performs many of the same functions:
l
l

Send alerts regarding the health of your devices.

Enable support personnel to run the same scripts used by SupportIQ to gather
data from your devices.
Allow support personnel to establish remote access to troubleshoot your cluster.

Event notification settings

You can specify whether you want to receive event notifications as aggregated batches or
as individual notifications for each event. Batch notifications are sent every 10 seconds.
The batch options that are described in this table affect both the content and the subject
line of notification emails that are sent in response to system events. You can specify
event notification batch options when you configure SMTP email settings.
Setting

Option

Description

Notification batch
mode

Batch all

Generates a single email for each event

notification.

Batch by severity

Generates an email that contains

aggregated notifications for each event of
the same severity, regardless of event
category.

Batch by category

Generates an email that contains

aggregated notifications for event of the
same category, regardless of severity.

No batching

Generates one email per event.

No custom notification
template is set

Sends the email notification in the default

OneFS notification template format.

Custom notification
template

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Setting

Option

Description

Set custom notification

template

Sends the email notifications in the format

that you defined in your custom template
file.

View event notification settings

You can view email, SupportIQ, and contact information for event notifications.
Procedure
1. Click Dashboard > Events > Notification Settings.

Modify event notification settings

You can modify email, SupportIQ, and contact settings for event notifications.
Procedure
1. Click Dashboard > Events > Notification Settings.
2. Click the Modify link for the setting that you want to change.
3. Click Submit.

Specify event-notification batch mode or template settings

You can choose an event-notification batch option to specify whether you want to receive
notifications individually or as an aggregate. You also can specify a custom notification
template for email notifications.
Before you begin
You must first create a custom notification template and then upload it to a directory at
the same level or below /ifs; for example, /ifs/templates.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > General Settings > Email Settings.
2. In the Event Notification Settings area on the General Settings page, select a
Notification batch mode option.
3. Leave the Set custom notification template field blank to use the default notification
template.
4. In the Custom notification template field, select the custom event notification
template.
l

Click Browse, navigate to and select the template file that you want to use, and
then click OK.

In the Set custom notification template field, type the path and file name of the
template file that you want to use.

5. Click Submit.

Managing event notification settings

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Managing event notification rules

You can modify or delete notification rules, configure event notification settings, and
configure batch notification settings through the web administration interface or the
command-line interface.
You can specify event notification settings, and you can create, modify, or delete event
notification rules. You can configure the setting for how notifications are received,
individually or in a batch.

Create an event notification rule

You can configure event notification rules based on specified events and event types.
You can configure email notification and SNMP trap generation for a specific event.
Procedure
1. Click Dashboard > Events > Event Notification Rules.
2. In the Notification Rules area on the Cluster Events page, click Add Rule.
3. In the Rule name field on the Add Notification Rule page, type a name for the rule.
4. In the Recipients area, specify a notification method.
a. To notify a recipient through email, select Email, type the email address to which
notifications will be sent, and then click Add.
b. To notify a community through SNMP traps, select SNMP, select the community
name and the SNMP host, which is the network monitoring station, from the
respective lists, and then click Add.
c. To add additional notification recipients or communities, repeat these steps.
5. In the Events area, expand the event types and select the check boxes for the events
and event types that you want to trigger this notification.
6. Click Submit.

Send a test event notification

You can generate a test event notification to confirm that event notifications are working
as you intend.
Procedure
1. Click Dashboard > Events > Notification Settings.
2. In the Send Test Event area on the Cluster Events page, click Send test event.
3. On the Cluster Events page, click Summary to verify whether the test event was
successful.
A corresponding test event notification appears in the New Events list, which appears
in the Message column as a message similar to Test event sent from WebUI.

View event notification rules

You can view a list of event notification rules and details about specific rules.
Procedure
1. Click Dashboard > Events > Event Notification Rules.
2. In the Actions column of the rule whose settings you want to view, click Edit.

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3. When you have finished viewing the rule details, click Cancel.

Modify an event notification rule

You can modify event notification rules that you created. System event notification rules
cannot be modified.
Procedure
1. Click Dashboard > Events > Event Notification Rules.
2. In the Actions column for the rule that you want to modify, click Edit.
3. Modify the event notification rule settings as needed.
4. Click Submit.

Delete an event notification rule

You can delete event notification rules that you created, but system event notification
rules cannot be deleted.
Procedure
1. Click Dashboard > Events > Event Notification Rules.
2. In the Notification Rules area, in the Actions column for the rule that you want to
delete, click Delete.
3. Click Yes to confirm the deletion.

Cluster maintenance
Trained service personnel can replace or upgrade components in Isilon nodes.
Isilon Technical Support can assist you with replacing node components or upgrading
components to increase performance.

Replacing node components

If a node component fails, Isilon Technical Support will work with you to quickly replace
the component and return the node to a healthy status.
Trained service personnel can replace the following field replaceable units (FRUs):
l

battery

boot flash drive

SATA/SAS Drive

memory (DIMM)

fan

front panel

intrusion switch

network interface card (NIC)

IB/NVRAM card

SAS controller

power supply

Cluster maintenance

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If you configure your cluster to send alerts to Isilon, Isilon Technical Support will contact
you if a component needs to be replaced. If you do not configure your cluster to send
alerts to Isilon, you must initiate a service request.

Upgrading node components

You can upgrade node components to gain additional capacity or performance.
Trained service personnel can upgrade the following components in the field:
l

drive

memory (DIMM)

network interface card (NIC)

If you want to upgrade components in your nodes, contact Isilon Technical Support.

Managing drive firmware

If the firmware of any drive in a cluster becomes obsolete, the cluster performance or
hardware reliability might get affected. To ensure overall data integrity, you may update
the drive firmware to the latest revision by installing the drive support package or the
drive firmware package.
You can determine whether the drive firmware on your cluster is of the latest revision by
viewing the status of the drive firmware.
Note

It is recommended that you contact EMC Isilon Technical Support before updating the
drive firmware.

Drive firmware update overview

You can update the drive firmware through drive support packages or drive firmware
packages.
Download and install either of these packages from http://support.emc.com depending
on the OneFS version running on your cluster and the type of drives on the nodes.
Drive Support Package
For clusters running OneFS 7.1.1 and later, install a drive support package to update the
drive firmware. You do not need to reboot the affected nodes to complete the firmware
update. A drive support package provides the following additional capabilities:
l

Updates the following drive configuration information:

n

List of supported drives

Drive firmware metadata

SSD wear monitoring data

SAS and SATA settings and attributes

Automatically updates the drive firmware for new and replacement drives to the latest
revision before those drives are formatted and used in a cluster. This is applicable
only for clusters running OneFS 7.2 and later.
Note

Firmware of drives in use cannot be updated automatically.

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Drive Firmware Package

For clusters running OneFS versions earlier than 7.1.1, or for clusters with non-bootflash
nodes, install a cluster-wide drive firmware package to update the drive firmware. You
must reboot the affected nodes to complete the firmware update.

Install a drive support package

For clusters running OneFS 7.1.1 and later, install the drive support package to update
your drive firmware to the latest supported revision.
Procedure
1. Go to the EMC Support page that lists all the available versions of the drive support
package.
2. Click the latest version of the drive support package and download the file.
3. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
4. Create or check for the availability of the directory structure /ifs/data/
Isilon_Support/dsp.
5. Copy the downloaded file to the dsp directory through SCP, FTP, SMB, NFS, or any
other supported data-access protocols.
6. Unpack the file by running the tar command.
For example, unpack drive support package version 1.2 as follows:
tar -zxvf Drive_Support_v1.2.tgz

7. Install the package by running the isi_dsp_install command.

For example, install drive support package version 1.2 as follows:
isi_dsp_install Drive_Support_v1.2.tar

View drive firmware status

You can view the status of the drive firmware on the cluster to determine whether you
need to update the firmware.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Perform one of the following tasks:
l

To view the drive firmware status of all the nodes, run the following command:
isi drivefirmware status

To view the drive firmware status of drives on a specific node, run the isi
devices command with the -a fwstatus option. Run the following command
to view the drive firmware status of each drive on node 1:
isi devices -a fwstatus -d 1

The output of the previous command is shown in the following example:

Node 1
Bay 1
Bay 2
Bay 3

Model
HGST HUS724030ALA640
HGST HUS724030ALA640
HGST HUS724030ALA640

FW
MF80AAC0
MF80AAC0
MF80AAC0

Desired FW

Managing drive firmware

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Run the following command to view the drive firmware status on node 1 and disk
12:
isi devices -a fwstatus -d 1:12

If a drive firmware update is not required, the Desired FW column is empty.

Update the drive firmware

You can update the drive firmware to the latest revision; updating the drive firmware
ensures overall data integrity.
This procedure explains how to update the drive firmware on nodes that have bootflash
drives after you have installed the latest drive support package. For a list of nodes with
bootflash drives, see the System requirements section of the Isilon Drive Support Package
Release Notes.
To update the drive firmware on nodes with non-bootflash drives, download and install
the latest drive firmware package. For more information, see the latest drive firmware
package release notes at https://support.emc.com/.
Note

Power cycling drives during a firmware update might return unexpected results. As a best
practice, do not restart or power off nodes when the drive firmware is being updated in a
cluster.
Procedure
1. Run the isi devices command with the -a fwupdate option.
The following command updates the drive firmware for all drives on node 1:
isi devices -a fwupdate -d 1

You must run the command once for each node that requires a drive firmware update.
Updating the drive firmware of a single drive takes approximately 15 seconds,
depending on the drive model. OneFS updates drives sequentially.

Verify a drive firmware update

After you update the drive firmware in a node, confirm that the firmware is updated
properly and that the affected drives are operating correctly.
Procedure
1. Ensure that no drive firmware updates are currently in progress by running the
following command:
isi devices

If a drive is currently being updated, [FW_UPDATE] appears in the status column.

2. Verify that all drives have been updated by running the following command:
isi drivefirmware status

If all drives have been updated, the Desired FW column is empty.

3. Verify that all affected drives are operating in a healthy state by running the following
command:
isi devices
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If a drive is operating in a healthy state, [HEALTHY] appears in the status column.

Drive firmware status information

You can view information about the status of the drive firmware through the OneFS
command-line interface.
The following example shows the output of the isi drivefirmware status
command:
Model
HGST HUS724030ALA640

FW
MF80AAC0

Desired FW
30

Count
1

Nodes

Where:
Model
Displays the name of the drive model.
FW
Displays the version number of the firmware currently running on the drives.
Desired FW
If the drive firmware should be upgraded, displays the version number of the drive
firmware that the firmware should be updated to.
Count
Displays the number of drives of this model that are currently running the specified
drive firmware.
Nodes
Displays the LNNs of nodes that the specified drives exist in.
The following example shows the output of the isi devices command with the -a
fwstatus option:
Node 1
Bay 1
Bay 2
Bay 3

Model
HGST HUS724030ALA640
HGST HUS724030ALA640
HGST HUS724030ALA640

FW
MF80AAC0
MF80AAC0
MF80AAC0

Desired FW

Where:
Drive
Displays the number of the bay that the drive is in.
Note

This column is not labeled in the output. The information appears under the node
number.
Model
Displays the name of the drive model.
FW
Displays the version number of the firmware currently running on the drive.
Desired FW
Displays the version number of the drive firmware that the drive should be updated
to. If a drive firmware update is not required, the Desired FW column is empty.

Managing drive firmware

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Automatic update of drive firmware

For clusters running OneFS 7.2 or later, install the latest drive support package on a node
to automatically update the firmware for a new or replacement drive.
The information within the drive support package determines whether the firmware of a
drive must be updated before the drive is formatted and used. If an update is available,
the drive is automatically updated with the latest firmware.
Note

New and replacement drives added to a cluster are formatted regardless of the status of
their firmware revision. You can identify a firmware update failure by viewing the firmware
status for the drives on a specific node. In case of a failure, run the isi devices
command with the fwupdate action on the node to update the firmware manually. For
example, run the following command to manually update the firmware on node 1:
isi devices -a fwupdate -d 1

Managing cluster nodes

You can add and remove nodes from a cluster. You can also shut down or restart the
entire cluster.

Add a node to a cluster

You can add a new node to an existing EMC Isilon cluster.
Before you begin
Before you add a node to a cluster, verify that an internal IP address is available. Add IP
addresses as necessary before you add a new node.
If a new node is running a different version of OneFS than a cluster, the system changes
the node version of OneFS to match the cluster.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Hardware Configuration > Add Nodes.
2. In the Available Nodes table, click Add for the node that you want to add to the
cluster.

Remove a node from the cluster

You can remove a node from an EMC Isilon cluster. When you remove a node, the system
smartfails the node to ensure that data on the node is transferred to other nodes in the
cluster.
Removing a storage node from a cluster deletes the data from that node. Before the
system deletes the data, the FlexProtect job safely redistributes data across the nodes
remaining in the cluster.
Procedure
1. Navigate to Cluster Management > Hardware Configuration > Remove Nodes.
2. In the Remove Node area, specify the node you want to remove.
3. Click Submit.

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If you remove a storage node, the Cluster Status area displays smartfail progress. If
you remove a non-storage accelerator node, it is immediately removed from the
cluster.

Shut down or restart a cluster

You can shut down or restart an entire EMC Isilon cluster.
Procedure
1. Navigate to Cluster Management > Hardware Configuration > Shutdown & Reboot
Controls.
2. In the Shut Down or Reboot This Cluster area, specify an action:
Option

Description

Shut down

Shuts down the cluster.

Reboot

Stops then restarts the cluster.

3. Click Submit.

Upgrading OneFS
Two options are available for upgrading the OneFS operating system: a rolling upgrade or
a simultaneous upgrade. Before upgrading OneFS software, a pre-upgrade check must be
performed.
A rolling upgrade individually upgrades and restarts each node in the EMC Isilon cluster
sequentially. During a rolling upgrade, the cluster remains online and continues serving
clients with no interruption in service, although some connection resets may occur on
SMB clients. Rolling upgrades are performed sequentially by node number, so a rolling
upgrade takes longer to complete than a simultaneous upgrade. The final node in the
upgrade process is the node that you used to start the upgrade process.
Note

Rolling upgrades are not available for all clusters. For instructions on how to plan an
upgrade, prepare the cluster for upgrade, and perform an upgrade of the operating
system, see the OneFS Upgrade Planning and Process Guide.
A simultaneous upgrade installs the new operating system and restarts all nodes in the
cluster at the same time. Simultaneous upgrades are faster than rolling upgrades but
require a temporary interruption of service during the upgrade process. Your data is
inaccessible during the time that it takes to complete the upgrade process.
Before beginning either a simultaneous or rolling upgrade, OneFS compares the current
cluster and operating system with the new version to ensure that the cluster meets
certain criteria, such as configuration compatibility (SMB, LDAP, SmartPools), disk
availability, and the absence of critical cluster events. If upgrading puts the cluster at
risk, OneFS warns you, provides information about the risks, and prompts you to confirm
whether to continue the upgrade.
If the cluster does not meet the pre-upgrade criteria, the upgrade does not proceed, and
the unsupported statuses are listed.

Upgrading OneFS

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Remote support
Isilon Technical Support personnel can remotely manage your Isilon cluster to
troubleshoot an open support case with your permission.
You can enable remote customer service support through SupportIQ or the EMC Secure
Remote Support (ESRS) Gateway.

Remote support using SupportIQ

Isilon Technical Support personnel can remotely manage your Isilon cluster to
troubleshoot an open support case with your permission. The Isilon SupportIQ module
allows Isilon Technical Support personnel to gather diagnostic data about the cluster.
Isilon Technical Support representatives run scripts that gather data about cluster
settings and operations. The SupportIQ agent then uploads the information to a secure
Isilon FTP site so it is available for Isilon Technical Support personnel to review. These
scripts do not affect cluster services or data availability.
Note

The SupportIQ scripts are based on the Isilon isi_gather_info log-gathering tool.
The SupportIQ module is included with the OneFS operating system and does not require
you to activate a separate license. You must enable and configure the SupportIQ module
before SupportIQ can run scripts to gather data. The feature may have been enabled
when the cluster was first set up, but you can enable or disable SupportIQ through the
Isilon web administration interface.
In addition to enabling the SupportIQ module to allow the SupportIQ agent to run scripts,
you can enable remote access, which allows Isilon Technical Support personnel to
monitor cluster events and remotely manage your cluster using SSH or the web
administration interface. Remote access helps Isilon Technical Support to quickly identify
and troubleshoot cluster issues. Other diagnostic tools are available for you to use in
conjunction with Isilon Technical Support to gather and upload information such as
packet capture metrics.
Note

If you enable remote access, you must also share cluster login credentials with Isilon
Technical Support personnel. Isilon Technical Support personnel remotely access your
cluster only in the context of an open support case and only after receiving your
permission.

Configuring SupportIQ
OneFS logs contain data that Isilon Technical Support personnel can securely upload,
with your permission, and then analyze to troubleshoot cluster problems. The SupportIQ
technology must be enabled and configured for this process.
When SupportIQ is enabled, Isilon Technical Support personnel can request logs through
scripts that gather cluster data and then upload the data to a secure location. You must
enable and configure the SupportIQ module before SupportIQ can run scripts to gather
data. The feature may have been enabled when the cluster was first set up.
You can also enable remote access, which allows Isilon Technical Support personnel to
troubleshoot your cluster remotely and run additional data-gathering scripts. Remote

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access is disabled by default. To enable remote SSH access to your cluster, you must
provide the cluster password to a Technical Support engineer.

Enable and configure SupportIQ

You can enable and configure SupportIQ to allow the SupportIQ agent to run scripts that
gather and upload information about your cluster to Isilon Technical Support personnel.
Optionally, you can enable remote access to your EMC Isilon cluster.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > General Settings > SupportIQ.
2. In the SupportIQ Settings area, select the Enable SupportIQ check box.
3. For SupportIQ alerts, select an option.
l

Send alerts via SupportIQ agent (HTTPS) and by email (SMTP) SupportIQ
delivers notifications to Isilon through the SupportIQ agent over HTTPS and by
email over SMTP.

Send alerts via SupportIQ agent (HTTPS) SupportIQ delivers notifications to

Isilon only through the SupportIQ agent over HTTPS.

4. Optional: Enable HTTPS proxy support for SupportIQ.

a. Select the HTTPS proxy for SupportIQ check box.
b. In the Proxy host field, type the IP address or fully qualified domain name (FQDN)
of the HTTP proxy server.
c. In the Proxy port field, type the number of the port on which the HTTP proxy server
receives requests.
d. Optional: In the Username field, type the user name for the proxy server.
e. Optional: In the Password field, type the password for the proxy server.
5. Optional: Enable remote access to the cluster.
a. Select the Enable remote access to cluster via SSH and web interface check box.
b. Review the remote-access end user license agreement (EULA) and, if you agree to
the terms and conditions, select the I have read and agree to check box.
6. Click Submit.
A successful configuration is indicated by a message similar to SupportIQ
settings have been updated.

Disable SupportIQ
You can disable SupportIQ so the SupportIQ agent does not run scripts to gather and
upload data about your EMC Isilon cluster.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > General Settings > SupportIQ.
2. Clear the Enable SupportIQ check box.
3. Click Submit.

Remote support using SupportIQ

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SupportIQ scripts
When SupportIQ is enabled, Isilon Technical Support personnel can request logs with
scripts that gather cluster data and then upload the data. The SupportIQ scripts are
located in the /usr/local/SupportIQ/Scripts/ directory on each node.
The following table lists the data-gathering activities that SupportIQ scripts perform.
These scripts can be run automatically, at the request of an Isilon Technical Support
representative, to collect information about your cluster's configuration settings and
operations. The SupportIQ agent then uploads the information to a secure Isilon FTP site,
so that it is available for Isilon Technical Support personnel to analyze. The SupportIQ
scripts do not affect cluster services or the availability of your data.

72

Action

Description

Clean watch folder

Clears the contents of /var/crash.

Get application data

Collects and uploads information about OneFS application

programs.

Generate dashboard file

daily

Generates daily dashboard information.

Generate dashboard file

sequence

Generates dashboard information in the sequence that it occurred.

Get ABR data (as built

record)

Collects as-built information about hardware.

Get ATA control and GMirror

status

Collects system output and invokes a script when it receives an

event that corresponds to a predetermined eventid.

Get cluster data

Collects and uploads information about overall cluster

configuration and operations.

Get cluster events

Gets the output of existing critical events and uploads the

information.

Get cluster status

Collects and uploads cluster status details.

Get contact info

Extracts contact information and uploads a text file that contains

it.

Get contents (var/crash)

Uploads the contents of /var/crash.

Get job status

Collects and uploads details on a job that is being monitored.

Get domain data

Collects and uploads information about the clusters Active

Directory Services (ADS) domain membership.

Get file system data

Collects and uploads information about the state and health of the
OneFS /ifs/ file system.

Get IB data

Collects and uploads information about the configuration and

operation of the InfiniBand back-end network.

Get logs data

Collects and uploads only the most recent cluster log information.

Get messages

Collects and uploads active /var/log/messages files.

Get network data

Collects and uploads information about cluster-wide and nodespecific network configuration settings and operations.

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Action

Description

Get NFS clients

Runs a command to check if nodes are being used as NFS clients.

Get node data

Collects and uploads node-specific configuration, status, and

operational information.

Get protocol data

Collects and uploads network status information and configuration

settings for the NFS, SMB, FTP, and HTTP protocols.

Get Pcap client stats

Collects and uploads client statistics.

Get readonly status

Warns if the chassis is open and uploads a text file of the event
information.

Get usage data

Collects and uploads current and historical information about

node performance and resource usage.

isi_gather_info

Collects and uploads all recent cluster log information.

isi_gather_info -incremental

Collects and uploads changes to cluster log information that have

occurred since the most recent full operation.

isi_gather_info -incremental single

node

Collects and uploads details for a single node.

Prompts you for the node number.

isi_gather_info
single node

Collects and uploads changes to cluster log information that have

occurred since the most recent full operation.
Prompts you for the node number.

Upload the dashboard file

Uploads dashboard information to the secure Isilon Technical

Support FTP site.

Remote support using ESRS Gateway

EMC Isilon clusters support enablement of the ESRS Gateway.
The EMC Secure Remote Support (ESRS) Gateway is a secure, IP-based customer service
support system. The EMC ESRS Gateway features include 24x7 remote monitoring and
secure authentication with AES 256-bit encryption and RSA digital certificates. You can
select monitoring on a node-by node basis, allow or deny remote support sessions, and
review remote customer service activities.
The ESRS Gateway is similar to SupportIQ and performs many of the same functions:
l

Send alerts regarding the health of your devices.

Enable support personnel to run the same scripts used by SupportIQ to gather data
from your devices.

Allow support personnel to establish remote access to troubleshoot your cluster.

An important difference between SupportIQ and the ESRS Gateway is that SupportIQ
management is cluster-wide; SupportIQ manages all nodes. The ESRS Gateway manages
nodes individually; you select which nodes should be managed.
You can only enable one remote support system on your Isilon cluster. The EMC products
you use and your type of environment determine which system is most appropriate for
your Isilon cluster:
l

If your environment comprises one or more EMC products that can be monitored, use
the ESRS Gateway.
Remote support using ESRS Gateway

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If ESRS is currently implemented in your environment, use the ESRS Gateway.

If your use of ESRS requires the ESRS Client, use SupportIQ. Isilon nodes do not
support ESRS Client connectivity.

If you have a high-security environment, use the ESRS Gateway.

If the only EMC products in your environment are Isilon nodes, use SupportIQ.

See the most recent version of the document titled EMC Secure Remote Support Technical
Description for a complete description of EMC Secure Remote Support features and
functionality.
Additional documentation on ESRS can be found on the EMC Online Support site.

Configuring ESRS Gateway support

You can configure support for the ESRS Gateway on your Isilon cluster.
Before configuring ESRS Gateway support on your Isilon cluster, at least one ESRS
Gateway server must be installed and configured. The server acts as the single point of
entry and exit for IP-based remote support activities and monitoring notifications. You
can designate a subnet on your Isilon cluster as a point for remote access by support
personnel.
You can also set up a secondary gateway server as a failover, specify whether to use
SMTP if ESRS transmission fails, and specify whether an email should be sent upon
transmission failure.
When you enable support for the ESRS Gateway on a cluster, the serial number and IP
address of each node is sent to the ESRS Gateway server. Once node information is
received, you can:
l

Select which nodes you want managed through the ESRS Gateway with the ESRS
Configuration Tool.

Create rules for remote support connection to Isilon nodes with the ESRS Policy
Manager.

See the most recent version of the document titled EMC Secure Remote Site Planning Guide
for a complete description of ESRS Gateway server requirements, installation, and
configuration.
See the most recent version of the document titled EMC Secure Remote Support Gateway
for Windows Operations Guide for a complete description of the ESRS Configuration Tool.
See the most recent version of the document titled EMC Secure Remote Support Policy
Manager Operations Guide for a complete description of the ESRS Policy Manger.
Additional documentation on ESRS can be found on the EMC Online Support site.

Enable and configure ESRS Gateway support

You can enable support for the ESRS Gateway on an Isilon cluster.
Before you begin
An ESRS Gateway server must be installed and configured before you can enable ESRS
Gateway support on an Isilon cluster. SupportIQ must be disabled.
Procedure
1. Run the isi remotesupport connectemc modify command to enable and
configure ESRS Gateway support.

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The following command enables ESRS Gateway support, specifies a primary gateway,
a remote support subnet, and that an SMTP failover should be used.
isi remotesupport connectemc modify --enabled yes \
-- primary-esrs-gateway gw-serv-esrs1 --use-smtp-failover yes \
--remote-support-subnet subnet0

Disable ESRS Gateway support

You can disable ESRS Gateway support on the Isilon cluster.
You can disable support for the ESRS Gateway in order to use SupportIQ. Isilon clusters
only allow one remote support system to be enabled at a time.
Procedure
1. Disable ESRS Gateway support on an Isilon cluster by running the following command:
isi remotesupport connectemc modify --enabled no

View ESRS Gateway settings

You can view ESRS Gateway settings specified on an EMC Isilon cluster.
Procedure
1. Run the isi remotesupport connectemc view command.
The system displays output similar to the following example:
Enabled:
Primary Esrs Gateway:
Secondary Esrs Gateway:
Use Smtp Failover:
Email Customer On Failure:
Remote Support Subnet:

yes
gw-serv-esrs1
gw-serv-esrs2
yes
no
subnet0

Remote support using ESRS Gateway

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CHAPTER 4
Access zones

This section contains the following topics:

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Access zones overview ......................................................................................... 78

Access zone base directory rules...........................................................................78
Access zones best practices.................................................................................. 79
Access zone limits.................................................................................................79
Quality of service...................................................................................................80
Managing access zones........................................................................................ 81

Access zones

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Access zones

Access zones overview

Although the default view of an EMC Isilon cluster is that of one physical machine, you
can partition a cluster into multiple virtual containers called access zones. Access zones
allow you to isolate data and control who can access data in each zone.
Access zones support all configuration settings for authentication and identity
management services on a cluster, so you can configure authentication providers and
provision SMB shares and NFS exports on a zone-by-zone basis. When you create an
access zone, a local provider is created automatically, which allows you to configure each
access zone with a list of local users and groups. You can also authenticate through a
different authentication provider in each access zone.
To control data access, you can direct incoming connections to the access zone through a
specific IP address pool. Associating an access zone with an IP address pool restricts
authentication to the associated access zone and reduces the number of available and
accessible SMB shares and NFS exports. Another advantage to multiple access zones is
the ability to configure audit protocol access for individual access zones. You can modify
the default list of successful and failed protocol audit events and then generate reports
through a third-party tool for an individual access zone.
A cluster includes a built-in access zone named System, where you manage all aspects of
a cluster and other access zones. By default, all cluster IP addresses connect to the
System zone. Even if you create additional access zones, you configure all access zones
in the System zone. Role-based access, which primarily allows configuration actions, is
available through only the System zone. All administrators, including those given
privileges by a role, must connect to the System zone to configure a cluster.
Configuration management of a non-System access zone is not permitted through SSH,
the OneFS Platform API, or the web administration interface. However, you can create and
delete SMB shares in an access zone through the Microsoft Management Console (MMC).

Access zone base directory rules

You must assign a base directory to each access zone. A base directory defines the file
system tree exposed by an access zone and isolates data contained in the directory to
the access zone.
A base directory path is unique for each access zone and cannot overlap or be nested
inside base directories of other access zones.
Base directories restrict configuration options for several features such as SMB share
paths, NFS exports, the HDFS root directory, and the local provider home directory
template. You must observe the following rules when specifying a base directory:

78

The base directory cannot be identical to the base directory of any other access zone,
except the System zone. For example, you cannot specify /ifs/data/hr to both
the zone2 and zone3 access zones.

Cannot overlap with the file system tree of a base directory in any other access zone,
except the System zone. For example, if /ifs/data/hr is assigned to zone2, you
cannot assign /ifs/data/hr/personnel to zone3.

The base directory of the default System access zone is /ifs and cannot be
modified.

OneFS 7.2 Web Administration Guide

Access zones

Note

Assigning a base directory that is identical to or overlaps with the System zone is
allowed, but only recommended as a temporary base directory when modifying the base
directory path and migrating data to the new directory.

Access zones best practices

You can avoid configuration problems on the EMC Isilon cluster when creating access
zones by following best practices guidelines.
Best practice

Details

Create unique base directories.

The base directory path of each access zone must be unique

and cannot overlap or be nested inside the base directory of
another access zone.

Separate the function of the

System zone from other access
zones.

If you choose to create any additional access zones, do not

allow data access in both the System zone and created zones.
Reserve the System zone for configuration access, and create
additional zones for data access. Move current data out of the
System zone and into a new access zone.

Create access zones to isolate

data access for different clients
or users.

Do not create access zones if a workflow requires data sharing

between different classes of clients or users.

Assign only one authentication

provider of each type to each
access zone.

An access zone is limited to a single Active Directory provider;

however, OneFS allows multiple LDAP, NIS, and file
authentication providers in each access zone. It is
recommended that you assign only one type of each provider
per access zone in order to simplify administration.

Avoid overlapping UID or GID

ranges for authentication
providers in the same access
zone.

The potential for zone access conflicts is slight but possible if

overlapping UIDs/GIDs are present in the same access zone.

Configure a single DNS server

for all access zones.

OneFS does not support one DNS server per access zone. It is
recommended that all access zones point to a single DNS
server.

Access zone limits

You can follow access zone limits guidelines to help size the workloads on the OneFS
system.
If you configure multiple access zones on an EMC Isilon cluster, limits guidelines are
recommended for optimal system performance. The limits described in the following
table are recommended for heavy enterprise workflows on a cluster, treating each access
zone as a separate physical machine. For more information about EMC Isilon cluster
limits, see the EMC Isilon Guidelines for Large Workloads publication.
Entity

Recommended limit per cluster

Access zones

20
Access zones best practices

79

Access zones

Entity

Recommended limit per cluster

Active Directory providers

20

LDAP providers

20

NIS providers

20

Local providers

20

File providers

20

Kerberos providers

20

SMB shares per access zone A cluster cannot exceed a total of 30000 SMB shares across all the
access zones.

Note

Access is denied when an attempt is made to connect to a non-System access zone IP

address on all of the following configuration-path and data-path protocols:
l

SSH

HTTP

FTP

WebHDFS

RAN API

Quality of service
You can set upper bounds on quality of service by assigning specific physical resources
to each access zone.
Quality of service addresses physical hardware performance characteristics that can be
measured, improved, and sometimes guaranteed. Characteristics measured for quality of
service include but are not limited to throughput rates, CPU usage, and disk capacity.
When you share physical hardware in an EMC Isilon cluster across multiple virtual
instances, competition exists for the following services:
l

CPU

Memory

Network bandwidth

Disk I/O

Disk capacity

Access zones do not provide logical quality of service guarantees to these resources, but
you can partition these resources between access zones on a single cluster. The following
table describes a few ways to partition resources to improve quality of service:

80

Use

Notes

NICs

You can assign specific NICs on specific nodes to an IP address pool that is
associated with an access zone. By assigning these NICs, you can determine the

OneFS 7.2 Web Administration Guide

Access zones

Use

Notes
nodes and interfaces that are associated with an access zone. This enables the
separation of CPU, memory, and network bandwidth.

SmartPools

SmartPools are separated by node hardware equivalence classes, usually into

multiple tiers of high, medium, and low performance. The data written to a
SmartPool is written only to the disks in the nodes of that pool.
Associating an IP address pool with only the nodes of a single SmartPool enables
partitioning of disk I/O resources.

SmartQuotas Through SmartQuotas, you can limit disk capacity by a user or a group or in a
directory. By applying a quota to an access zone's base directory, you can limit
disk capacity used in that access zone.

Managing access zones

You can create access zones on the EMC Isilon cluster, view and modify access zone
settings, and delete access zones.

Create an access zone

You can create an access zone and define a base directory and authentication providers.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Access Zones.
2. Click Create an access zone.
3. In the Access Zone Name field, type a name for the access zone.
4. In the Zone Base Directory field, type the base directory path for the access zone.
The path must be unique and not overlap with the path of any other access zone as
specified by the base directory rules.
5. From the Authentication Providers list, select the method that you want to use to
configure an authentication provider for this access zone.
The available sub-settings differ depending on the method that you select for
configuring authentication providers.
l

Select Use all authentication providers all authentication providers

configured on the EMC Isilon cluster are assigned to the access zone.

Select Manually select authentication providers, and the Add an

Authentication Provider button appears.

6. Optional: If you chose to manually select providers, click Add an Authentication

Provider in the New Authentication Provider area.
a. From the Authentication Provider Type list, select a provider type. A provider type
is listed only if an instance of that type exists and is not already in use by the
access zone.
b. From the Authentication Provider list, select an available provider instance.
c. To change the order in which authentication providers are searched during
authentication and user lookup, click the title bar of a provider instance and drag it
to a new position in the list.
Managing access zones

81

Access zones

7. Click Create Access Zone.

After you finish
Before users can connect to an access zone, you must associate it with an IP address
pool.

Associate an IP address pool with an access zone

You can specify which access zone that a user is to connect to by associating an IP
address pool with the access zone.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Network Configuration.
2. In the External Network Settings area, under Subnets, click a subnet namefor
example, subnet0.
3. In the Basic Settings area of the IP Address Pools settings, click Edit for the IP
address pool you want to modify.
The Configure IP address pool settings dialog box appears.
4. Select from the Access Zone list the access zone to use when connecting through an
IP address that belongs to this pool.
5. Click Submit.

View a list of access zones

You can view a list of all access zones on the cluster.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Access Zones.
2. Click View details for more information about a specific access zone.

Modify an access zone

You can modify the properties of any access zone with one exception: You cannot change
the name of the built-in System zone.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Access Zones.
2. For the access zone whose settings you want to modify, click View details.
3. For each setting that you want to modify, click Edit, make the change, and then click
Save.

Delete an access zone

You can delete any access zone except the built-in System zone. When you delete an
access zone, all associated authentication providers remain available to other zones, but
IP addresses are not reassigned to other zones. SMB shares, NFS exports, and HDFS data
paths are deleted when you delete an access zone; however, the directories and data still
exist, and you can map new shares, exports, or paths in another access zone.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Access Zones.
2. From the table of access zones, click Delete next to the access zone that you want to
delete.
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Access zones

3. In the Confirm Delete dialog box, click Delete.

Delete an access zone

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Access zones

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OneFS 7.2 Web Administration Guide

CHAPTER 5
Authentication and access control

This section contains the following topics:

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Authentication and access control overview.......................................................... 86

Role-based access................................................................................................ 86
Authentication...................................................................................................... 98
Data access control............................................................................................. 102
Authorization...................................................................................................... 102
Managing roles................................................................................................... 105
Managing authentication providers..................................................................... 107
Managing access permissions.............................................................................129

Authentication and access control

85

Authentication and access control

Authentication and access control overview

OneFS supports several methods for ensuring that your cluster remains secure, including
UNIX- and Windows-style permissions for data-level access control, access zones for data
isolation, and role-based administration control access to system configuration settings.
OneFS is designed for a mixed environment that allows you to configure both Access
Control Lists (ACLs) and standard UNIX permissions on the cluster file system.
Note

In most situations, the default settings are sufficient. You can configure additional access
zones, custom roles, and permissions policies as necessary for your particular
environment.

Role-based access
You can assign role-based access to delegate administrative tasks to selected users.
Role based access control (RBAC) allows the right to perform particular administrative
actions to be granted to any user who can authenticate to a cluster. Roles are created by
a Security Administrator, assigned privileges, and then assigned members. All
administrators, including those given privileges by a role, must connect to the System
zone to configure the cluster. When these members log in to the cluster through a
configuration interface, they have these privileges. All administrators can configure
settings for access zones, and they always have control over all access zones on the
cluster.
Roles also give you the ability to assign privileges to member users and groups. By
default, only the root user and the admin user can log in to the web administration
interface through HTTP or the command-line interface through SSH. Using roles, the root
and admin users can assign others to built-in or customer roles that have login and
administrative privileges to perform specific administrative tasks.
Note

As a best practice, assign users to roles that contain the minimum set of necessary
privileges. For most purposes, the default permission policy settings, system access
zone, and built-in roles are sufficient. You can create role-based access management
policies as necessary for your particular environment.

Roles and privileges

In addition to controlling access to files and directories through ACLs and POSIX mode
bits, OneFS controls configuration-level access through administrator roles. A role is a
collection of OneFS privileges that are usually associated with a configuration subsystem.
Those privileges are granted to members of that role as they log in to the cluster through
the Platform API, command-line interface, or web administration interface

Roles
You can permit and limit access to administrative areas of your EMC Isilon cluster on a
per-user basis through roles.
OneFS includes built-in administrator roles with predefined sets of privileges that cannot
be modified. The following list describes what you can and cannot do through roles:
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Authentication and access control

You can assign privileges through role membership.

You can add any user to a role as long as the user can authenticate to the cluster.

You can create custom roles and assign privileges to those roles.

You can add users singly or as groups, including well-known groups.

You can assign a user as a member of more than one role.

You can add a group to a role, which grants to all users who are members of that
group all of the privileges associated with the role.

You cannot assign privileges directly to users or groups.

Note

When OneFS is first installed, only users with root- or admin-level can log in and assign
users to roles.

Built-in roles
Built-in roles include privileges to perform a set of administrative functions.
The following tables describe each of the built-in roles from most powerful to least
powerful. The tables include the privileges and read/write access levels, if applicable,
that are assigned to each role. You can assign users and groups to built-in roles and to
roles that you create.
Table 1 SecurityAdmin role

Description

Privileges

Read/write
access

Administer security configuration on the cluster,

including authentication providers, local users and
groups, and role membership.

ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_CONSOLE N/A
ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_PAPI

N/A

ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_SSH

N/A

ISI_PRIV_AUTH

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_ROLE

Read/write

Table 2 SystemAdmin role

Description

Privileges

Read/write
access

Administer all aspects of cluster configuration that

are not specifically handled by the SecurityAdmin
role.

ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_CONSOLE

N/A

ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_PAPI

N/A

ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_SSH

N/A

ISI_PRIV_SYS_SHUTDOWN

N/A

ISI_PRIV_SYS_SUPPORT

N/A

ISI_PRIV_SYS_TIME

N/A

ISI_PRIV_ANTIVIRUS

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_AUDIT

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_CLUSTER

Read/write

Roles and privileges

87

Authentication and access control

Table 2 SystemAdmin role (continued)

Description

Privileges

Read/write
access

ISI_PRIV_DEVICES

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_EVENT

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_FTP

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_HDFS

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_HTTP

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_ISCSI

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_JOB_ENGINE

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_LICENSE

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_NDMP

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_NETWORK

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_NFS

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_NTP

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_QUOTA

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_REMOTE_SUPPORT Read/write
ISI_PRIV_SMARTPOOLS

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_SMB

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_SNAPSHOT

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_STATISTICS

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_SYNCIQ

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_VCENTER

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_WORM

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_NS_TRAVERSE

N/A

ISI_PRIV_NS_IFS_ACCESS

N/A

Table 3 AuditAdmin role

Description

Privileges

View all system configuration settings. ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_CONSOLE

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OneFS 7.2 Web Administration Guide

Read/write access
N/A

ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_PAPI

N/A

ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_SSH

N/A

ISI_PRIV_ANTIVIRUS

Read-only

ISI_PRIV_AUDIT

Read-only

ISI_PRIV_CLUSTER

Read-only

Authentication and access control

Table 3 AuditAdmin role (continued)

Description

Privileges

Read/write access

ISI_PRIV_DEVICES

Read-only

ISI_PRIV_EVENT

Read-only

ISI_PRIV_FTP

Read-only

ISI_PRIV_HDFS

Read-only

ISI_PRIV_HTTP

Read-only

ISI_PRIV_ISCSI

Read-only

ISI_PRIV_JOB_ENGINE

Read-only

ISI_PRIV_LICENSE

Read-only

SI_PRIV_NDMP

Read-only

ISI_PRIV_NETWORK

Read-only

ISI_PRIV_NFS

Read-only

ISI_PRIV_NTP

Read-only

ISI_PRIV_QUOTA

Read-only

ISI_PRIV_REMOTE_SUPPORT Read-only
ISI_PRIV_SMARTPOOLS

Read-only

ISI_PRIV_SMB

Read-only

ISI_PRIV_SNAPSHOT

Read-only

ISI_PRIV_STATISTICS

Read-only

ISI_PRIV_SYNCIQ

Read-only

ISI_PRIV_VCENTER

Read-only

ISI_PRIV_WORM

Read-only

Table 4 VMwareAdmin role

Description

Privileges

Read/write
access

Administers remotely all aspects of storage

needed by VMware vCenter.

ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_PAPI

N/A

ISI_PRIV_ISCSI

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_NETWORK

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_SMARTPOOLS

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_SNAPSHOT

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_SYNCIQ

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_VCENTER

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_NS_TRAVERSE

N/A

Roles and privileges

89

Authentication and access control

Table 4 VMwareAdmin role (continued)

Description

Privileges

Read/write
access

ISI_PRIV_NS_IFS_ACCESS N/A
Table 5 BackupAdmin role

Description

Privileges

Allows backup and restore of files from /ifs ISI_PRIV_IFS_BACKUP

Read/write access
Read-only

ISI_PRIV_IFS_RESTORE Read-only

Custom roles
Custom roles supplement built-in roles.
You can create custom roles and assign privileges mapped to administrative areas in your
EMC Isilon cluster environment. For example, you can create separate administrator roles
for security, auditing, storage provisioning, and backup.
You can designate certain privileges as read-only or read/write when adding the privilege
to a role. You can modify this option at any time.
You can add or remove privileges as user responsibilities grow and change.

Privileges
Privileges permit users to complete tasks on an EMC Isilon cluster.
Privileges are associated with an area of cluster administration such as Job Engine, SMB,
or statistics.
Privileges have one of two forms:
Action
Allows a user to perform a specific action on a cluster. For example, the
ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_SSH privilege allows a user to log in to a cluster through an SSH
client.
Read/Write
Allows a user to view or modify a configuration subsystem such as statistics,
snapshots, or quotas. For example, the ISI_PRIV_SNAPSHOT privilege allows an
administrator to create and delete snapshots and snapshot schedules. A read/write
privilege can grant either read-only or read/write access. Read-only access allows a
user to view configuration settings; read/write access allows a user to view and
modify configuration settings.
Privileges are granted to the user on login to a cluster through the OneFS API, the web
administration interface, SSH, or a console session. A token is generated for the user,
which includes a list of all privileges granted to the user. Each URI, web-administration
interface page, and command requires a specific privilege to view or modify the
information available through any of these interfaces.

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Authentication and access control

Note

Privileges are not granted to users that do not connect to the System Zone during login or
to users that connect through the deprecated Telnet service, even if they are members of
a role.

OneFS privileges
Privileges in OneFS are assigned through role membership; privileges cannot be assigned
directly to users and groups.
Table 6 Login privileges

OneFS privilege

User right

Privilege type

ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_CONSOLE Log in from the console

Action

ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_PAPI

Log in to the Platform API

and the web
administration interface

Action

ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_SSH

Log in through SSH

Action

User right

Privilege type

Table 7 System privileges

OneFS privilege

ISI_PRIV_SYS_SHUTDOWN Shut down the system

Action

ISI_PRIV_SYS_SUPPORT

Run cluster diagnostic

tools

Action

ISI_PRIV_SYS_TIME

Change the system time

Action

OneFS privilege

User right

Privilege type

ISI_PRIV_AUTH

Configure external
authentication providers

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_ROLE

Create new roles and

assign privileges

Read/write

Table 8 Security privileges

Table 9 Configuration privileges

OneFS privilege

User right

Privilege type

ISI_PRIV_ANTIVIRUS

Configure antivirus
scanning

Read/write

IS_PRIV_AUDIT

Configure audit
capabilities

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_CLUSTER

Configure cluster identity

and general settings

Read/write

Roles and privileges

91

Authentication and access control

Table 9 Configuration privileges (continued)

92

OneFS privilege

User right

Privilege type

ISI_PRIV_DEVICES

Create new roles and

assign privileges

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_EVENT

View and modify system

events

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_FTP

Configure FTP server

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_HDFS

Configure HDFS server

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_HTTP

Configure HTTP server

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_ISCSI

Configure iSCSI server

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_JOB_ENGINE

Schedule cluster-wide
jobs

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_LICENSE

Activate OneFS software

licenses

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_NDMP

Configure NDMP server

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_NETWORK

Configure network
interfaces

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_NFS

Configure the NFS server

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_NTP

Configure NTP

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_QUOTA

Configure file system

quotas

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_REMOTE_SUPPO
RT

Configure remote support

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_SMARTPOOLS

Configure storage pools

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_SMB

Configure the SMB server

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_SNAPSHOT

Schedule, take, and view

snapshots

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_SNMP

Configure SNMP server

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_STATISTICS

View file system

performance statistics

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_SYNCIQ

Configure SyncIQ

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_VCENTER

Configure VMware for

vCenter

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_WORM

Configure SmartLock
directories

Read/write

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Authentication and access control

Table 10 Platform API-only privileges

OneFS privilege

User right

Privilege type

ISI_PRIV_EVENT

View and modify system

events

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_LICENSE

Activate OneFS software

licenses

Read/write

ISI_PRIV_STATISTICS

View file system

performance statistics

Read/write

Table 11 File access privileges

OneFS privilege

User right

Privilege type

ISI_PRIV_IFS_BACKUP

Back up files from /ifs.

Action

Note

This privilege circumvents

traditional file access
checks, such as mode bits
or NTFS ACLs.
ISI_PRIV_IFS_RESTORE

Restore files from /ifs.

Action

Note

This privilege circumvents

traditional file access
checks, such as mode bits
or NTFS ACLs.

Command-line interface privileges

You can perform most tasks granted by a privilege through the command-line interface.
Some OneFS commands require root access, but if you do not have root access, you can
perform most of the commands associated with a privilege through the sudo program.
The system automatically generates a sudoers file of users based on existing roles.
Prefixing a command with sudo allows you to run commands that require root access. For
example, if you do not have root access, the following command fails:
isi alert list

If you are on the sudoers list because you are a member of a role that has the
ISI_PRIV_EVENT privilege, the following command succeeds:
sudo isi alert list

The following tables list all One FS commands available, the associated privilege or rootaccess requirement, and whether sudo is required to run the command.

Roles and privileges

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Authentication and access control

Note

If you are running in compliance mode, additional sudo commands are available.
Table 12 Privileges sorted by CLI command

94

isi command

Privilege

Requires sudo

isi alert

ISI_PRIV_EVENT

isi audit

ISI_PRIV_AUDIT

isi auth - excluding isi auth

role

ISI_PRIV_AUTH

isi auth role

ISI_PRIV_ROLE

isi avscan

ISI_PRIV_ANTIVIRUS

isi batterystatus

ISI_PRIV_STATISTICS

isi config

root

isi dedupe - excluding isi

dedupe stats

ISI_PRIV_JOB_ENGINE

isi dedupe stats

ISI_PRIV_STATISTICS

isi devices

ISI_PRIV_DEVICES

isi drivefirmware

root

isi domain

root

isi email

ISI_PRIV_CLUSTER

isi events

ISI_PRIV_EVENT

isi exttools

root

isi fc

root

isi filepool

ISI_PRIV_SMARTPOOLS

isi firmware

root

isi ftp

ISI_PRIV_FTP

isi get

root

isi hdfs

ISI_PRIV_HDFS

isi iscsi

ISI_PRIV_ISCSI

isi job

ISI_PRIV_JOB_ENGINE

isi license

ISI_PRIV_LICENSE

isi lun

ISI_PRIV_ISCSI

isi ndmp

ISI_PRIV_NDMP

isi networks

ISI_PRIV_NETWORK

isi nfs

ISI_PRIV_NFS

isi perfstat

ISI_PRIV_STATISTICS

OneFS 7.2 Web Administration Guide

Authentication and access control

Table 12 Privileges sorted by CLI command (continued)

isi command

Privilege

Requires sudo

isi pkg

root

isi quota

ISI_PRIV_QUOTA

isi readonly

root

isi remotesupport

ISI_PRIV_REMOTE_SUPPORT

isi servicelight

ISI_PRIV_DEVICES

isi services

root

isi set

root

isi smb

ISI_PRIV_SMB

isi snapshot

ISI_PRIV_SNAPSHOT

isi snmp

ISI_PRIV_SNMP

isi stat

ISI_PRIV_STATISTICS

isi statistics

ISI_PRIV_STATISTICS

isi status

ISI_PRIV_STATISTICS

isi storagepool

ISI_PRIV_SMARTPOOLS

isi sync

ISI_PRIV_SYNCIQ

isi tape

ISI_PRIV_NDMP

isi target

ISI_PRIV_ISCSI

isi update

root

isi version

ISI_PRIV_CLUSTER

isi worm

ISI_PRIV_WORM

isi zone

ISI_PRIV_AUTH

Table 13 CLI commands sorted by privilege

Privilege

isi commands

ISI_PRIV_ANTIVIRUS

isi avscan

ISI_PRIV_AUDIT

isi audit

ISI_PRIV_AUTH

isi auth - excluding isi auth

role

isi zone

ISI_PRIV_IFS_BACKUP

N/A

ISI_PRIV_CLUSTER

isi email

isi version

Requires sudo
x

N/A
x

Roles and privileges

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Table 13 CLI commands sorted by privilege (continued)

Privilege

isi commands

ISI_PRIV_DEVICES

isi devices

isi servicelight

isi alert

isi events

ISI_PRIV_FTP

isi ftp

ISI_PRIV_HDFS

isi hdfs

ISI_PRIV_ISCSI

isi iscsi

isi lun

isi target

isi job

isi dedupe - excluding isi

dedupe stats

ISI_PRIV_LICENSE

isi license

ISI_PRIV_NDMP

isi ndmp

isi tape

ISI_PRIV_NETWORK

isi networks

ISI_PRIV_NFS

isi nfs

ISI_PRIV_QUOTA

isi quota

ISI_PRIV_ROLE

isi auth role

ISI_PRIV_REMOTE_SUPPORT

isi remotesupport

ISI_PRIV_IFS_RESTORE

N/A

ISI_PRIV_SMARTPOOLS

isi filepool

isi storagepool

ISI_PRIV_SMB

isi smb

ISI_PRIV_SNAPSHOT

isi snapshot

ISI_PRIV_SNMP

isi snmp

ISI_PRIV_STATISTICS

isi batterystatus

isi dedupe stats

isi perfstat

isi stat

ISI_PRIV_EVENT

ISI_PRIV_JOB_ENGINE

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x

N/A

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Table 13 CLI commands sorted by privilege (continued)

Privilege

isi commands

Requires sudo

isi statistics

isi status

ISI_PRIV_SYNCIQ

isi sync

ISI_PRIV_WORM

isi worm

root

isi config

isi domain

isi drivefirmware

isi exttools

isi fc

isi firmware

isi get

isi pkg

isi readonly

isi services

isi set

isi update

Data backup and restore privileges

You can assign privileges to a user that are explicitly for cluster data backup and restore
actions.
Two privileges allow a user to backup and restore cluster data over supported client-side
protocols: ISI_PRIV_IFS_BACKUP and ISI_PRIV_IFS_RESTORE.
CAUTION

These privileges circumvent traditional file access checks, such as mode bits or NTFS
ACLs.
Most cluster privileges allow changes to cluster configuration in some manner. The
backup and restore privileges allow access to cluster data from the System zone, the
traversing of all directories, and reading of all file data and metadata regardless of file
permissions.
Users assigned these privileges use the protocol as a backup protocol to another
machine without generating access-denied errors and without connecting as the root
user. These two privileges are supported over the following client-side protocols:
l

SMB

RAN API

FTP

SSH
Data backup and restore privileges

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Over SMB, the ISI_PRIV_IFS_BACKUP and ISI_PRIV_IFS_RESTORE privileges emulate the

Windows privileges SE_BACKUP_NAME and SE_BACKUP_NAME. The emulation means
that normal file-open procedures are protected by file system permissions. To enable the
backup and restore privileges over the SMB protocol, you must open files with the
FILE_OPEN_FOR_BACKUP_INTENT option, which occurs automatically through Windows
backup software such as Robocopy. Application of the option is not automatic when files
are opened through general file browsing software such as Windows File Explorer.
Both ISI_PRIV_IFS_BACKUP and ISI_PRIV_IFS_RESTORE privileges primarily support
Windows backup tools such as Robocopy. A user must be a member of the BackupAdmin
built-in role to access all Robocopy features, which includes copying file DACL and SACL
metadata.

User permissions utility

You can view expected user or group permissions to a given file or directory with the
expected user permissions utility.
The command-line interface expected user permissions utility provides quick discovery of
user and group permissions, displaying ACL or mode bits permissions. The utility does
not display privileges or SMB share permissions, however.
Note

You must be a member of a role that has ISI_PRIV_LOGIN_SSH and ISI_PRIV_AUTH

privileges to run this utility.
For information about viewing group or user permissions, see the View expected user
permissions topic.

Authentication
OneFS supports local and remote authentication providers to verify that users attempting
to access an EMC Isilon cluster are who they claim to be. Anonymous access, which does
not require authentication, is supported for protocols that allow it.
OneFS supports concurrent multiple authentication provider types, which are analogous
to directory services. For example, OneFS is often configured to authenticate Windows
clients with Active Directory and to authenticate UNIX clients with LDAP. You can also
configure NIS, designed by Sun Microsystems, to authenticate users and groups when
they access a cluster.
Note

OneFS is RFC 2307-compliant.

Supported authentication providers

You can configure local and remote authentication providers to authenticate or deny user
access to an EMC Isilon cluster.
The following table compares features that are available with each of the authentication
providers that OneFS supports. In the following table, an x indicates that a feature is fully
supported by a provider; an asterisk (*) indicates that additional configuration or support
from another provider is required.

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Authentication
provider

NTLM Kerberos User/group

Netgroups UNIX
Windows
management
properties properties
(RFC 2307)

Active Directory

LDAP

NIS
Local

File

MIT Kerberos

x
x

Authentication provider features

You can configure authentication providers for your environment.
Authentication providers support a mix of the features described in the following table.
Feature

Description

Authentication

All authentication providers support plain-text authentication. You

can configure some providers to support NTLM or Kerberos
authentication also.

Users and groups

OneFS provides the ability to manage users and groups directly on

the cluster.

Netgroups

Specific to NFS, netgroups restrict access to NFS exports.

UNIX-centric user and group

properties

Login shell, home directory, UID, and GID. Missing information is

supplemented by configuration templates or additional
authentication providers.

Windows-centric user and

group properties

NetBIOS domain and SID. Missing information is supplemented by

configuration templates.

Kerberos authentication
Kerberos is a network authentication provider that negotiates encryption tickets for
securing a connection. OneFS supports Active Directory Kerberos and MIT Kerberos
authentication providers on an EMC Isilon cluster. If you configure an Active Directory
provider, Kerberos authentication is provided automatically. MIT Kerberos works
independently of Active Directory.
For MIT Kerberos authentication, you define an administrative domain known as a realm.
Within this realm, an authentication server has the authority to authenticate a user, host,
or service. You can optionally define a Kerberos domain to allow additional domain
extensions to be associated with a realm.
The authentication server in a Kerberos environment is called the Key Distribution Center
(KDC) and distributes encrypted tickets. When a user authenticates with an MIT Kerberos
provider within a realm, an encrypted ticket with the user's service principal name (SPN)
is created and validated to securely pass the user's identification for the requested
service.

Authentication provider features

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You can include an MIT Kerberos provider in specific access zones for authentication.
Each access zone may include at most one MIT Kerberos provider. You can discontinue
authentication through an MIT Kerberos provider by removing the provider from all the
referenced access zones.

Keytabs and SPNs overview

A Key Distribution Center (KDC) is an authentication server that stores accounts and
keytabs for users connecting to a network service within an EMC Isilon cluster. A keytab is
a key table that stores keys to validate and encrypt Kerberos tickets.
One of the fields in a keytab entry is a service principal name (SPN). An SPN identifies a
unique service instance within a cluster. Each SPN is associated with a specific key in the
KDC. Users can use the SPN and its associated keys to obtain Kerberos tickets that
enable access to various services on the cluster. A member of the SecurityAdmin role can
create new keys for the SPNs and modify them later as necessary. An SPN for a service
typically appears as <service>/<fqdn>@<realm>.
Note

SPNs must match the SmartConnect zone name and the FQDN hostname of the cluster. If
the SmartConnect zone settings are changed, you must update the SPNs on the cluster to
match the changes.

MIT Kerberos protocol support

MIT Kerberos supports certain standard network communication protocols such as HTTP,
HDFS, and NFS. MIT Kerberos does not support SMB, SSH, and FTP protocols.
For the NFS protocol support, MIT Kerberos must be enabled for an export and also a
Kerberos provider must be included within the access zone.

LDAP
The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is a networking protocol that enables
you to define, query, and modify directory services and resources.
OneFS can authenticate users and groups against an LDAP repository in order to grant
them access to the cluster. OneFS supports Kerberos authentication for an LDAP provider.
The LDAP service supports the following features:
l
Users, groups, and netgroups.
l
Configurable LDAP schemas. For example, the ldapsam schema allows NTLM
authentication over the SMB protocol for users with Windows-like attributes.
l
Simple bind authentication, with and without SSL.
l
Redundancy and load balancing across servers with identical directory data.
l
Multiple LDAP provider instances for accessing servers with different user data.
l
Encrypted passwords.

Active Directory
The Active Directory directory service is a Microsoft implementation of Lightweight
Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), Kerberos, and DNS technologies that can store
information about network resources. Active Directory can serve many functions, but the
primary reason for joining the cluster to an Active Directory domain is to perform user and
group authentication.
When the cluster joins an Active Directory domain, a single Active Directory machine
account is created. The machine account establishes a trust relationship with the domain
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and enables the cluster to authenticate and authorize users in the Active Directory forest.
By default, the machine account is named the same as the cluster. If the cluster name is
more than 15 characters long, the name is hashed and displayed after joining the
domain.
Note

If you configure an Active Directory provider, Kerberos authentication is provided

automatically.
Whenever possible, observe the following guidelines when you configure Active Directory
providers on a cluster:
l

Configure a single Active Directory instance if all domains have a trust relationship.

Configure multiple Active Directory instances only to grant access to multiple sets of
mutually-untrusted domains.

NIS
The Network Information Service (NIS) provides authentication and identity uniformity
across local area networks. OneFS includes an NIS authentication provider that enables
you to integrate the cluster with your NIS infrastructure.
NIS, designed by Sun Microsystems, can authenticate users and groups when they
access the cluster. The NIS provider exposes the passwd, group, and netgroup maps from
an NIS server. Hostname lookups are also supported. You can specify multiple servers for
redundancy and load balancing.
Note

NIS is different from NIS+, which OneFS does not support.

File provider
A file provider enables you to supply an authoritative third-party source of user and group
information to an EMC Isilon cluster. A third-party source is useful in UNIX and Linux
environments that synchronize /etc/passwd, /etc/group, and etc/netgroup
files across multiple servers.
Standard BSD /etc/spwd.db and /etc/group database files serve as the file
provider backing store on a cluster. You generate the spwd.db file by running the
pwd_mkdb command in the OneFS command-line interface (CLI). You can script updates
to the database files.
On a cluster, a file provider hashes passwords with libcrypt. The Modular Crypt
Format is parsed to determine the hashing algorithm. The following algorithms are
supported:
l

MD5

Blowfish

NT-Hash

SHA-256

SHA-512

NIS

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Note

The built-in System file provider includes services to list, manage, and authenticate
against system accounts such as root, admin, and nobody. It is recommended that you
do not modify the System file provider.

Local provider
The local provider provides authentication and lookup facilities for user accounts added
by an administrator.
Local authentication is useful when Active Directory, LDAP, or NIS directory services are
not configured or when a specific user or application needs access to the cluster. Local
groups can include built-in groups and Active Directory groups as members.
In addition to configuring network-based authentication sources, you can manage local
users and groups by configuring a local password policy for each node in the cluster.
OneFS settings specify password complexity, password age and re-use, and passwordattempt lockout policies.

Data access control

You can configure an EMC Isilon cluster so that both UNIX and Windows users have
access to content over NFS and SMB, regardless of the protocol that stored the data.
The OneFS operating system supports multiprotocol data access over Server Message
Block (SMB) and Network File System (NFS) with a unified security model. For NFS, the
default export on a cluster, /ifs, enables Linux and UNIX clients to remotely mount any
subdirectory, including subdirectories created by Windows users. Linux and UNIX clients
also can mount ACL-protected subdirectories created by a OneFS administrator.
Conversely, for SMB the default file share on a cluster, /ifs, provides Windows users
access to file system resources over the network that includes resources stored by UNIX
and Linux systems. The same access model applies to directories and files.
By default, OneFS maintains the same file permissions regardless of the clients
operating system, the users identity management system, or the file sharing protocol.
When OneFS must transform a files permissions from ACLs to mode bits or vice versa, it
merges the permissions into an optimal representation that uniquely balances user
expectations and file security.

Authorization
OneFS supports two types of authorization data on a file: Windows-style access control
lists (ACLs) and POSIX mode bits (UNIX permissions). Authorization type is based on the
ACL policies that are set and on the file-creation method.
Access to a file or directory is governed by either a Windows access control list (ACL) or
UNIX mode bits. Regardless of the security model, OneFS enforces access rights
consistently across access protocols. A user is granted or denied the same rights to a file
when using SMB for Windows file sharing as when using NFS for UNIX file sharing.
An EMC Isilon cluster includes global policy settings that enable you to customize the
default ACL and UNIX permissions to best support your environment. Generally, files that
are created over SMB or in a directory that has an ACL receive an ACL; otherwise, OneFS
relies on the POSIX mode bits that define UNIX permissions. In either case, the owner is
represented by a UNIX identifier (UID or GID) or by its Windows identifier (SID). The
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primary group is represented by a GID or SID. Although mode bits are present when a file
has an ACL, the mode bits are provided for only protocol compatibility, not for access
checks.
Note

Although you can configure ACL policies to optimize a cluster for UNIX or Windows, you
should do so only if you understand how ACL and UNIX permissions interact.
The OneFS file system installs with UNIX permissions as the default. By using Windows
Explorer or OneFS administrative tools, you can give a file or directory an ACL. In addition
to Windows domain users and groups, ACLs in OneFS can include local, NIS, and LDAP
users and groups. After you give a file an ACL, OneFS stops enforcing the file's mode bits,
which remain only as an estimate of the effective permissions.

SMB
You can configure SMB shares to provide Windows clients network access to file system
resources on the cluster. You can grant permissions to users and groups to carry out
operations such as reading, writing, and setting access permissions on SMB shares.

ACLs
In Windows environments, file and directory permissions, referred to as access rights, are
defined in access control lists (ACLs). Although ACLs are more complex than mode bits,
ACLs can express much more granular sets of access rules. OneFS checks the ACL
processing rules commonly associated with Windows ACLs.
A Windows ACL contains zero or more access control entries (ACEs), each of which
represents the security identifier (SID) of a user or a group as a trustee. In OneFS, an ACL
can contain ACEs with a UID, GID, or SID as the trustee. Each ACE contains a set of rights
that allow or deny access to a file or folder. An ACE can optionally contain an inheritance
flag to specify whether the ACE should be inherited by child folders and files.
Note

Instead of the standard three permissions available for mode bits, ACLs have 32 bits of
fine-grained access rights. Of these, the upper 16 bits are general and apply to all object
types. The lower 16 bits vary between files and directories but are defined in a way that
allows most applications to apply the same bits for files and directories.
Rights grant or deny access for a given trustee. You can block user access explicitly
through a deny ACE or implicitly by ensuring that a user does not directly, or indirectly
through a group, appear in an ACE that grants the right.

NFS
You can configure NFS exports to provide UNIX clients network access to file system
resources on the cluster.

SMB

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UNIX permissions
In a UNIX environment, file and directory access is controlled by POSIX mode bits, which
grant read, write, or execute permissions to the owning user, the owning group, and
everyone else.
OneFS supports the standard UNIX tools for viewing and changing permissions, ls,
chmod, and chown. For more information, run the man ls, man chmod, and man
chown commands.
All files contain 16 permission bits, which provide information about the file or directory
type and the permissions. The lower 9 bits are grouped as three 3-bit sets, called triples,
which contain the read, write, and execute (rwx) permissions for each class of users
owner, group, and other. You can set permissions flags to grant permissions to each of
these classes.
Unless the user is root, OneFS checks the class to determine whether to grant or deny
access to the file. The classes are not cumulative: The first class matched is applied. It is
therefore common to grant permissions in decreasing order.

Mixed-permission environments
When a file operation requests an objects authorization data, for example, with the ls l command over NFS or with the Security tab of the Properties dialog box in Windows
Explorer over SMB, OneFS attempts to provide that data in the requested format. In an
environment that mixes UNIX and Windows systems, some translation may be required
when performing create file, set security, get security, or access operations.

NFS access of Windows-created files

If a file contains an owning user or group that is a SID, the system attempts to map it to a
corresponding UID or GID before returning it to the caller.
In UNIX, authorization data is retrieved by calling stat(2) on a file and examining the
owner, group, and mode bits. Over NFSv3, the GETATTR command functions similarly. The
system approximates the mode bits and sets them on the file whenever its ACL changes.
Mode bit approximations need to be retrieved only to service these calls.
Note

SID-to-UID and SID-to-GID mappings are cached in both the OneFS ID mapper and the
stat cache. If a mapping has recently changed, the file might report inaccurate
information until the file is updated or the cache is flushed.

SMB access of UNIX-created files

No UID-to-SID or GID-to-SID mappings are performed when creating an ACL for a file; all
UIDs and GIDs are converted to SIDs or principals when the ACL is returned.
OneFS initiates a two-step process for returning a security descriptor, which contains
SIDs for the owner and primary group of an object:
1. The current security descriptor is retrieved from the file. If the file does not have a
discretionary access control list (DACL), a synthetic ACL is constructed from the files
lower 9 mode bits, which are separated into three sets of permission triplesone
each for owner, group, and everyone. For details about mode bits, see the UNIX
permissions topic.
2. Two access control entries (ACEs) are created for each triple: the allow ACE contains
the corresponding rights that are granted according to the permissions; the deny ACE
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contains the corresponding rights that are denied. In both cases, the trustee of the
ACE corresponds to the file owner, group, or everyone. After all of the ACEs are
generated, any that are not needed are removed before the synthetic ACL is returned.

Managing roles
You can view, add, or remove members of any role. Except for built-in roles, whose
privileges you cannot modify, you can add or remove OneFS privileges on a role-by-role
basis.
Note

Roles take both users and groups as members. If a group is added to a role, all users who
are members of that group are assigned the privileges associated with the role. Similarly,
members of multiple roles are assigned the combined privileges of each role.

View a role
You can view information about built-in and custom roles.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Membership & Roles > Roles.
2. In the Roles area, select a role and click View / Edit.
3. In the View Role Details dialog box, view information about the role.
4. Click Close to return to the Membership & Roles page.

View privileges
You can view user privileges.
This procedure must be performed through the command-line interface (CLI). You can
view a list of your privileges or the privileges of another user using the following
commands:
Procedure
1. Establish an SSH connection to any node in the cluster.
2. To view privileges, run one of the following commands.
l

To view a list of all privileges, run the following command:

isi auth privileges --verbose

To view a list of your privileges, run the following command:

isi auth id

To view a list of privileges for another user, run the following command, where
<user> is a placeholder for another user by name:
isi auth mapping token <user>

Managing roles

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Create a custom role

You can create a custom role and add privileges and members to that role.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Membership & Roles > Roles.
2. Click Create a Role.
3. In the Role Name field, type a name for the role.
4. In the Description field, type a description.
5. Click Add a member to this role to add a member to the role.
6. Click Add a privilege to this role to assign access rights and privileges.
7. Click Create Role.

Modify a role
You can modify the description and the user or group membership of any role, including
built-in roles. However, you can modify the name and privileges only for custom roles.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Membership & Roles > Roles.
2. In the Roles area, select a role and click View / Edit.
The View Role Details dialog box appears.
3. Click Edit Role and modify the settings as needed in the Edit Role Details dialog box.
4. Click Save Changes to return to the View Role Details dialog box.
5. Click Close.

Copy a role
You can copy an existing role and add or remove privileges and members for that role as
needed.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Membership & Roles > Roles.
2. In the Roles area, select a role and click More > Copy.
3. Modify the role name, description, members, and privileges as needed.
4. Click Copy Role.

Add a privilege to a custom role

You can add or remove privileges to a custom role as needed. You can designate certain
privileges as read-only or read/write. You cannot modify the privileges assigned to a
built-in role. Repeat this procedure for each privilege that you want to add to a custom
role.
Procedure
1. Click Add a privilege to this role in the dialog box for creating, copying, or editing a
role.
2. In the Add a privilege to this role dialog box, select an access type for the role.
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3. Select a privilege from the list.

4. Click Add Privilege.

Add a member to a role

You can add one or more members to a role when creating, copying, or modifying the
role. A user or a group can be a member of more than one role. The privileges associated
with a role are granted to all members of that role. Repeat this procedure to add more
members to the role.
Procedure
1. Click Add a member to this role in the dialog box for creating, copying, or editing a
role.
2. In the Select a User dialog box, select one of following options:
l

Users

Groups

Well-known SIDs

3. If you selected User or Group, locate the user or group through one of the following
methods:
l

Type the Username or Group Name you want to search for in the text field.

Select the authentication provider you want to search for from the Provider list.
Only providers that are currently configured and enabled on the cluster are listed.

4. Click Search.
5. Select a user name, group name, or a well-known SID from the search results to add
as members to the role.
6. Click Select.

Delete a custom role

Deleting a custom role does not affect the privileges or users that are assigned to it. You
cannot delete built-in roles.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Membership & Roles > Roles.
2. In the Roles area, select one or more roles, and then perform one of the following
actions:
l

To delete a single role, click More > Delete from the Actions column against the
selected role.

To delete multiple roles, select Delete Selection from the Select a bulk action list.

3. In the confirmation dialog box, click Delete.

Managing authentication providers

You can configure one or more LDAP, Active Directory, NIS, file, and Kerberos providers. A
local provider is created automatically when you create an access zone, which allows you
to create a configuration for each access zone so it has its own list of local users that can
authenticate to it. You also can create a password policy for each local provider to
enforce password complexity.
Add a member to a role

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Managing LDAP providers

You can view, configure, modify, and delete LDAP providers. You can discontinue
authentication through an LDAP provider by removing it from all access zones that are
using it.

Configure an LDAP provider

By default, when you configure an LDAP provider, it is automatically added to the System
access zone.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > LDAP.
2. Click Add an LDAP provider.
3. In the LDAP Provider Name field, type a name for the provider.
4. In the Server URIs field, type one or more valid LDAP server URIs, one per line, in the
format ldaps://<server>:<port> (secure LDAP) or ldap://<server>:<port> (non-secure
LDAP).
Note

If you do not specify a port, the default port is used. The default port for non-secure
LDAP (ldap://) is 389; for secure LDAP (ldaps://), it is 636. If you specify non-secure
LDAP, the bind password is transmitted to the server in clear text.
5. Optional: Configure the following settings as needed.
Load balance servers
Select the check box to connect to a random server, or clear the check box to
connect according to the order in which the servers are listed in the Servers field.
Base Distinguished Name
Type the distinguished name (DN) of the entry at which to start LDAP searches.
Base DNs can include cn (Common Name), l (Locality), dc (Domain Component),
ou (Organizational Unit), or other components. For example, dc=emc,dc=com is
a base DN for emc.com.
Bind to
Type the distinguished name of the entry at which to bind to the LDAP server.
Password
Specify the password to use when binding to the LDAP server. Use of this
password does not require a secure connection; if the connection is not using
Transport Layer Security (TLS), the password is sent in clear text.
6. Optional: To modify the default settings for user, group, and netgroup queries, click
Default Query Settings.
7. Optional: To modify the settings for user queries and home directory provisioning,
click User Query Settings.
8. Optional: To modify the settings for group queries, click Group Query Settings.
9. Optional: To modify the settings for netgroup queries, click Netgroup Query Settings.
10.Optional: To modify the default LDAP attributes that contain user information or to
modify LDAP security settings, click Advanced LDAP Settings.
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11.Click Add LDAP Provider.

Modify an LDAP provider

You can modify any setting for an LDAP provider except its name. You must specify at
least one server for the provider to be enabled.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > LDAP.
2. In the LDAP Providers table, click View details for the provider whose settings you
want to modify.
3. For each setting that you want to modify, click Edit, make the change, and then click
Save.
4. Optional: Click Close.

Delete an LDAP provider

When you delete an LDAP provider, it is removed from all the access zones. As an
alternative, you can stop using an LDAP provider by removing it from each access zone
that contains it so that the provider remains available for future use.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > LDAP.
2. In the LDAP Providers table, click Delete for the provider you want to delete.
3. In the confirmation dialog box, click Delete.

LDAP query settings

You can configure the entry point and depth at which to search for LDAP users, groups,
and netgroups. You also can configure the settings for user home directory provisioning.
Note

OneFS is RFC 2307-compliant.

Distinguished Name
Specifies the base distinguished name (base DN) of the entry at which to start LDAP
searches for user, group, or netgroup objects. Base DNs can include cn (Common
Name), l (Locality), dc (Domain Component), ou (Organizational Unit), or other
components. For example, dc=emc,dc=com is a base DN for emc.com.
Search Scope
Specifies the depth from the base DN at which to perform LDAP searches.
The following values are valid:
default
Applies the search scope that is defined in the default query settings. This
option is not available for the default query search scope.
base
Searches only the entry at the base DN.
onelevel
Searches all entries exactly one level below the base DN.
subtree
Searches the base DN and all entries below it.
children
Searches all entries below the base DN, excluding the base DN itself.
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Search Timeout
Specifies the number of seconds after which to stop retrying and fail a search. The
default value is 100. This setting is available only in the default query settings.
Query Filter
Specifies the LDAP filter for user, group, or netgroup objects. This setting is not
available in the default query settings.
Authenticate users from this provider
Specifies whether to allow the provider to respond to authentication requests. This
setting is available only in the user query settings.
Home Directory Naming
Specifies the path to use as a template for naming home directories. The path must
begin with /ifs and can contain variables, such as %U, that are expanded to
generate the home directory path for the user. This setting is available only in the
user query settings.
Create home directories on first login
Specifies whether to create a home directory the first time a user logs in, if a home
directory does not already exist for the user. This setting is available only in the user
query settings.
UNIX Shell
Specifies the path to the user's login shell, for users who access the file system
through SSH. This setting is available only in the user query settings.

LDAP advanced settings

You can configure LDAP security settings and specify the LDAP attributes that contain
user information.
Note

OneFS is RFC 2307-compliant.

Name Attribute
Specifies the LDAP attribute that contains UIDs, which are used as login names. The
default value is uid.
Common Name Attribute
Specifies the LDAP attribute that contains common names (CNs). The default value is
cn.
Email Attribute
Specifies the LDAP attribute that contains email addresses. The default value is
mail.
GECOS Field Attribute
Specifies the LDAP attribute that contains GECOS fields. The default value is gecos.
UID Attribute
Specifies the LDAP attribute that contains UID numbers. The default value is
uidNumber.
GID Attribute
Specifies the LDAP attribute that contains GIDs. The default value is gidNumber.
Home Directory Attribute
Specifies the LDAP attribute that contains home directories. The default value is
homeDirectory.

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UNIX Shell Attribute

Specifies the LDAP attribute that contains UNIX login shells. The default value is
loginShell.
Netgroup Members Attribute
Specifies the LDAP attribute that contains netgroup members. The default value is
memberNisNetgroup.
Netgroup Triple Attribute
Specifies the LDAP attribute that contains netgroup triples. The default value is
nisNetgroupTriple.
Group Members Attribute
Specifies the LDAP attribute that contains group members. The default value is
memberUid.
Unique Group Members Attribute
Specifies the LDAP attribute that contains unique group members. This attribute is
used to determine which groups a user belongs to if the LDAP server is queried by
the users DN instead of the users name. This setting has no default value.
UNIX Password Attribute
Specifies the LDAP attribute that contains UNIX passwords. This setting has no
default value.
Windows Password Attribute
Specifies the LDAP attribute that contains Windows passwords. The default value is
ntpasswdhash.
Certificate Authority File
Specifies the full path to the root certificates file.
Require secure connection for passwords
Specifies whether to require a Transport Layer Security (TLS) connection.
Ignore TLS Errors
Continues over a secure connection even if identity checks fail.

Managing Active Directory providers

You can view, configure, modify, and delete Active Directory providers. OneFS includes a
Kerberos configuration file for Active Directory in addition to the global Kerberos
configuration file, both of which you can configure through the command-line interface.
You can discontinue authentication through an Active Directory provider by removing it
from all access zones that are using it.

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Configure an Active Directory provider

You can configure one or more Active Directory providers, each of which must be joined to
a separate Active Directory domain. By default, when you configure an Active Directory
provider, it is automatically added to the System access zone.
Note

Consider the following information when you configure an Active Directory provider:
l

When you join Active Directory from OneFS, cluster time is updated from the Active
Directory server, as long as an NTP server has not been configured for the cluster.

If you migrate users to a new or different Active Directory domain, you must re-set the
ACL domain information after you configure the new provider. You can use third-party
tools such as Microsoft SubInACL.

Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > Active Directory.
2. Click Join a domain.
3. In the Domain Name field, type a fully qualified Active Directory domain name.
The domain name will also be used as the provider name.
4. In the User field, type the username of an account that is authorized to join the Active
Directory domain.
5. In the Password field, type the password of the user account.
6. Optional: In the Organizational Unit field, type the name of the organizational unit
(OU) to connect to on the Active Directory server. Specify the OU in the format OuName
or OuName1/SubName2.
7. Optional: In the Machine Account field, type the name of the machine account.
Note

If you specified an OU to connect to, the domain join will fail if the machine account
does not reside in the OU.
8. Optional: To enable Active Directory authentication for NFS, select the Enable Secure
NFS check box.
Note

If you specified an OU to connect to, the domain join will fail if the machine account
does not reside in the OU.
If you enable this setting, OneFS registers NFS service principal names (SPNs) during
the domain join.
9. Optional: To configure advanced settings, click Advanced Active Directory Settings.
10.Click Join.

Modify an Active Directory provider

You can modify the advanced settings for an Active Directory provider.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > Active Directory.
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2. In the Active Directory Providers table, click View details for the provider whose
settings you want to modify.
3. Click Advanced Active Directory Settings.
4. For each setting that you want to modify, click Edit, make the change, and then click
Save.
5. Optional: Click Close.

Delete an Active Directory provider

When you delete an Active Directory provider, you disconnect the cluster from the Active
Directory domain that is associated with the provider, disrupting service for users who
are accessing it. After you leave an Active Directory domain, users can no longer access
the domain from the cluster.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > Active Directory.
2. In the Active Directory Providers table, click Leave for the domain you want to leave.
3. In the confirmation dialog box, click Leave.

Active Directory provider settings

You can view or modify the advanced settings for an Active Directory provider.
Setting

Description

Services For UNIX

Specifies whether to support RFC 2307 attributes for domain

controllers. RFC 2307 is required for Windows UNIX Integration and
Services For UNIX technologies.

Map to primary domain

Enables the lookup of unqualified user names in the primary domain.

If this setting is not enabled, the primary domain must be specified
for each authentication operation.

Ignore trusted domains

Ignores all trusted domains.

Trusted Domains

Specifies trusted domains to include if the Ignore Trusted

Domains setting is enabled.

Domains to Ignore

Specifies trusted domains to ignore even if the Ignore Trusted

Domains setting is disabled.

Send notification when

domain is unreachable

Sends an alert as specified in the global notification rules.

Use enhanced privacy and Encrypts communication to and from the domain controller.
encryption
Home Directory Naming

Specifies the path to use as a template for naming home directories.

The path must begin with /ifs and can contain variables, such as
%U, that are expanded to generate the home directory path for the
user.

Create home directories

on first login

Creates a home directory the first time that a user logs in if a home
directory does not already exist for the user.

UNIX Shell

Specifies the path to the login shell to use if the Active Directory
server does not provide login-shell information. This setting applies
only to users who access the file system through SSH.

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Setting

Description

Query all other providers

for UID

If no UID is available in the Active Directory, looks up Active Directory

users in all other providers for allocating a UID.

Match users with

lowercase

If no UID is available in the Active Directory, normalizes Active

Directory user names to lowercase before lookup.

Auto-assign UIDs

If no UID is available in the Active Directory, enables UID allocation

for unmapped Active Directory users.

Query all other providers

for GID

If no GID is available in the Active Directory, looks up Active Directory

groups in all other providers before allocating a GID.

Match groups with

lowercase

If no GID is available in the Active Directory, normalizes Active

Directory group names to lowercase before lookup.

Auto-assign GIDs

If no GID is available in the Active Directory, enables GID allocation

for unmapped Active Directory groups.

Make UID/GID
Restricts user and group lookups to the specified domains.
assignments for users and
groups in these specific
domains

Managing NIS providers

You can view, configure, and modify NIS providers or delete providers that are no longer
needed. You can discontinue authentication through an NIS provider by removing it from
all access zones that are using it.

Configure an NIS provider

By default, when you configure an NIS provider it is automatically added to the System
access zone.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > NIS.
2. Click Add a NIS provider.
3. In the NIS Provider Name field, type a name for the provider.
4. In the Servers field, type one or more valid NIS server IP addresses, host names, or
fully qualified domain names (FQDNs), separated by commas.
Note

If the Load balance servers option is not selected, servers are accessed in the order in
which they are listed.
5. In the NIS Domain field, type the domain name.
6. Optional: Configure the Load balance servers setting:
l

To connect to a random server, select the check box.

To connect according to the order in which the servers are listed in the Servers
field, clear the check box.

7. Optional: Specify the Default Query Settings.

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a. In the Search Timeout field, specifies the number of seconds after which to stop
retrying and fail a search. The default value is 100.
b. In the Retry Frequency field, specify the timeout period in seconds after which a
request will be retried. The default value is 5.
8. Optional: Specify the User Query Settings.
a. Select the Authenticate users from this provider check box to allow the provider to
respond to authentication requests.
b. Type a path in the Home Directory Naming field to use as a template for naming
home directories. The path must begin with /ifs and can contain expansion
variables, such as %U, which expand to generate the home directory path for the
user. For more information, see the Home directories section.
c. Select the Create home directories on first login check box to specify whether to
create a home directory the first time a user logs in, if a home directory does not
already exist for the user.
d. Select a path from the UNIX Shell list to specify the path to the user's login shell
for users who access the file system through SSH.
9. Optional: Click Host Name Query Settings and then configure the Resolve hosts from
this provider setting:
l

To enable host resolution, select the check box.

To disable host resolution, clear the check box.

10.Click Add NIS provider.

Modify an NIS provider

You can modify any setting for an NIS provider except its name. You must specify at least
one server for the provider to be enabled.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > NIS.
2. In the NIS Providers table, click View details for the provider whose settings you want
to modify.
3. For each setting that you want to modify, click Edit, make the change, and then click
Save.
4. Click Close.

Delete an NIS provider

When you delete an NIS provider, it is removed from all access zones. As an alternative,
you can stop using an NIS provider by removing it from each access zone that contains it
so that the provider remains available for future use.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > NIS.
2. In the NIS Providers table, click Delete for the provider that you want to delete.
3. In the confirmation dialog box, click Delete.

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Managing file providers

You can configure one or more file providers, each with its own combination of
replacement files, for each access zone. Password database files, which are also called
user database files, must be in binary format.
Each file provider pulls directly from up to three replacement database files: a group file
that has the same format as /etc/group; a netgroups file; and a binary password file,
spwd.db, which provides fast access to the data in a file that has the /etc/
master.passwd format. You must copy the replacement files to the cluster and
reference them by their directory path.
Note

If the replacement files are located outside the /ifs directory tree, you must distribute
them manually to every node in the cluster. Changes that are made to the system
provider's files are automatically distributed across the cluster.

Configure a file provider

You can configure one or more file providers, each with its own combination of
replacement files, for each access zone. You can specify replacement files for any
combination of users, groups, and netgroups.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > File Provider.
2. Click Add a file provider.
3. In the File Provider Name field, type a name for the file provider.
4. In the File location for authentication information area, specify one or more of the
following files:
l

To specify a user replacement file, in the Users File field, type or browse to the
location of the spwd.db file.

To specify a group replacement file, in the Groups File field, type or browse to the
location of the group file.

To specify a netgroup replacement file, in the Netgroups File field, type or browse
to the location of the netgroup file.

5. Optional: Configure the following settings:

116

Option

Description

Authenticate users
from this provider

Specifies whether to allow the provider to respond to

authentication requests.

Home Directory
Naming

Specifies the path to use as a template for naming home

directories. The path must begin with /ifs and can contain
expansion variables such as %U, which expand to generate
the home directory path for the user. For more information,
see the Home directories section.

Create home
directories on first
login

Specifies whether to create a home directory the first time a

user logs in, if a home directory does not already exist for the
user.

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Option

Description

UNIX Shell

Specifies the path to the user's login shell, for users who
access the file system through SSH.

6. Click Add File Provider.

Generate a password file

Password database files, which are also called user database files, must be in binary
format.
This procedure must be performed through the command-line interface (CLI). For
command-usage guidelines, run the man pwd_mkdb command.
Procedure
1. Establish an SSH connection to any node in the cluster.
2. Run the pwd_mkdb <file> command, where <file> is the location of the source password
file.
Note

By default, the binary password file, spwd.db, is created in the /etc directory. You
can override the location to store the spwd.db file by specifying the -d option with a
different target directory.
The following command generates an spwd.db file in the /etc directory from a
password file that is located at /ifs/test.passwd:
pwd_mkdb /ifs/test.passwd

The following command generates an spwd.db file in the /ifs directory from a
password file that is located at /ifs/test.passwd:
pwd_mkdb -d /ifs /ifs/test.passwd

Password file format

The file provider uses a binary password database file, spwd.db. You can generate a
binary password file from a master.passwd-formatted file by running the pwd_mkdb
command.
The master.passwd file contains ten colon-separated fields, as shown in the following
example:
admin:*:10:10::0:0:Web UI Administrator:/ifs/home/admin:/bin/zsh

The fields are defined below in the order in which they appear in the file.
Note

UNIX systems often define the passwd format as a subset of these fields, omitting the
Class, Change, and Expiry fields. To convert a file from passwd to master.passwd
format, add :0:0: between the GID field and the Gecos field.
Username
The user name. This field is case-sensitive. OneFS does not limit the length; many
applications truncate the name to 16 characters, however.
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Password
The users encrypted password. If authentication is not required for the user, you can
substitute an asterisk (*) for a password. The asterisk character is guaranteed to not
match any password.
UID
The UNIX user identifier. This value must be a number in the range 0-4294967294
that is not reserved or already assigned to a user. Compatibility issues occur if this
value conflicts with an existing account's UID.
GID
The group identifier of the users primary group. All users are a member of at least
one group, which is used for access checks and can also be used when creating
files.
Class
This field is not supported by OneFS and should be left empty.
Change
OneFS does not support changing the passwords of users in the file provider. This
field is ignored.
Expiry
OneFS does not support the expiration of user accounts in the file provider. This field
is ignored.
Gecos
This field can store a variety of information but is usually used to store the users full
name.
Home
The absolute path to the users home directory, beginning at /ifs.
Shell
The absolute path to the users shell. If this field is set to /sbin/nologin, the
user is denied command-line access.

Group file format

The file provider uses a group file in the format of the /etc/group file that exists on
most UNIX systems.
The group file consists of one or more lines containing four colon-separated fields, as
shown in the following example:
admin:*:10:root,admin

The fields are defined below in the order in which they appear in the file.
Group name
The name of the group. This field is case-sensitive. Although OneFS does not limit
the length of the group name, many applications truncate the name to 16 characters.
Password
This field is not supported by OneFS and should contain an asterisk (*).
GID
The UNIX group identifier. Valid values are any number in the range 0-4294967294
that is not reserved or already assigned to a group. Compatibility issues occur if this
value conflicts with an existing group's GID.

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Group members
A comma-delimited list of user names.

Netgroup file format

A netgroup file consists of one or more netgroups, each of which can contain members.
Hosts, users, or domains, which are members of a netgroup, are specified in a member
triple. A netgroup can also contain another netgroup.
Each entry in a netgroup file consists of the netgroup name, followed by a spacedelimited set of member triples and nested netgroup names. If you specify a nested
netgroup, it must be defined on a separate line in the file.
A member triple takes the following form:
(<host>, <user>, <domain>)

Where <host> is a placeholder for a machine name, <user> is a placeholder for a user name,
and <domain> is a placeholder for a domain name. Any combination is valid except an
empty triple: (,,).
The following sample file contains two netgroups. The rootgrp netgroup contains four
hosts: two hosts are defined in member triples and two hosts are contained in the nested
othergrp netgroup, which is defined on the second line.
rootgrp (myserver, root, somedomain.com) (otherserver, root,
somedomain.com) othergrp
othergrp (other-win,, somedomain.com) (other-linux,, somedomain.com)
Note

A new line signifies a new netgroup. You can continue a long netgroup entry to the next
line by typing a backslash character (\) in the right-most position of the first line.

Modify a file provider

You can modify any setting for a file provider, with the exception that you cannot rename
the System file provider.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > File Provider.
2. In the File Providers table, click View details for the provider whose settings you want
to modify.
3. For each setting that you want to modify, click Edit, make the change, and then click
Save.
4. Click Close.

Delete a file provider

To stop using a file provider, you can clear all of its replacement file settings or you can
permanently delete the provider.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > File Provider.
2. In the File Providers table, select the provider name.
3. Select Delete from the Select an action list.
4. In the confirmation dialog box, click Delete.
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Managing local users and groups

When you create an access zone, each zone includes a local provider that allows you to
create and manage local users and groups. Although you can view the users and groups
of any authentication provider, you can create, modify, and delete users and groups in
the local provider only.

View a list of users or groups by provider

You can view the users and groups of any authentication provider.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Membership & Roles.
2. Click one of the following, depending on what you want to view:
Option

Description

Users

Select this tab to view all users by provider.

Groups

Select this tab to view all groups by provider.

3. From the Current Access Zone list, select an access zone.

4. Depending on your selection in step 2, select the local provider for the access zone
from the Users list or the Groups list.

Create a local user

Each access zone includes a local provider that allows you to create and manage local
users and groups. When creating a local user account, you can configure its name,
password, home directory, UNIX user identifier (UID), UNIX login shell, and group
memberships.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Membership & Roles > Users.
2. From the Current Access Zone list, select an access zone.
3. From the Users list, select the local provider for the zone.
4. Click Create a user.
5. In the Username field, type a username for the account.
6. In the Password field, type a password for the account.
7. Optional: Configure the following additional settings as needed.

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Option

Description

Allow password
to expire

Select this check box to specify that the password is allowed to

expire.

UID

If this setting is left blank, the system automatically allocates a

UID for the account. This is the recommended setting. You cannot
assign a UID that is in use by another local user account.

Full Name

Type a full name for the user.

Email Address

Type an email address for the account.

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Option

Description

Primary Group

Click Select group to specify the owner group using the Select a
Primary Group dialog box.
a. To locate a group under the selected local provider, type a
group name or click Search.
b. Select a group to return to the Manage Users window.

Additional
Groups

Click Add group to specify any additional groups to make this user
a member of.

Home Directory

Type the path to the user's home directory. If you do not specify a
path, a directory is automatically created at /ifs/home/
<username>.

UNIX Shell

This setting applies only to users who access the file system
through SSH. From the list, select a shell. By default,
the /bin/zsh shell is selected.

Account
Expiration Date

Click the calendar icon to select the expiration date or type the
expiration date in the field, and then type the date in the format
<mm>/<dd>/<yyyy>.

Enable the
account

Select this check box to allow the user to authenticate against the
local database for SSH, FTP, HTTP, and Windows file sharing
through SMB. This setting is not used for UNIX file sharing through
NFS.

8. Click Create.

Create a local group

In the local provider of an access zone, you can create groups and assign members to
them.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Membership & Roles > Groups.
2. From the Current Access Zone list, select an access zone.
3. From the Groups list, select the local provider for the zone.
4. Click Create a group.
5. In the Group Name field, type a name for the group.
6. Optional: To override automatic allocation of the UNIX group identifier (GID), in the
GID field, type a numerical value.
Note

You cannot assign a GID that is in use by another group. It is recommended that you
leave this field blank to allow the system to automatically generate the GID.
7. Optional: For each member that you want to add to the group, click Add user and
perform the following tasks in the Select a User dialog box:
a. Search for either Users or Well-known SIDs.
b. If you selected Users, specify values for the following fields:
Username
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Type all or part of a user name, or leave the field blank to return all users. Wildcard
characters are accepted.
Access Zone
Select the access zone that contains the authentication provider that you want to
search.
Provider
Select an authentication provider.
c. Click Search.
d. In the Search Results table, select a user and then click Select.
The dialog box closes.
8. Click Create.

Naming rules for local users and groups

Local user and group names must follow naming rules in order to ensure proper
authentication and access to the EMC Isilon cluster.
You must adhere to the following naming rules when creating and modifying local users
and groups:
l

The maximum name length is 104 characters. It is recommended that names do not
exceed 64 characters.

Names cannot contain the following invalid characters:

"/\[]:;|=,+*?<>

Names can contain any special character that is not in the list of invalid characters. It
is recommend that names do not contain spaces.

Names are not case sensitive.

Modify a local user

You can modify any setting for a local user account except the user name.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Membership & Roles > Users.
2. From the Current Access Zone list, select an access zone.
3. From the Users list, select the local provider for the access zone.
4. In the list of users, click View details for the local user whose settings you want to
modify.
5. For each setting that you want to modify, click Edit, make the change, and then click
Save.
6. Click Close.

Modify a local group

You can add or remove members from a local group.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Membership & Roles > Groups.
2. From the Current Access Zone list, select an access zone.
3. From the Groups list, select the local provider for the access zone.

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4. In the list of groups, click View details for the local group whose settings you want to
modify.
5. For the Members setting, click Edit.
6. Add or remove the users that you want, and then click Save.
7. Click Close.

Delete a local user

A deleted user can no longer access the cluster through the command-line interface, web
administration interface, or file access protocol. When you delete a local user account,
the corresponding home directory remains in place.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Membership & Roles > Users.
2. From the Current Access Zone list, select an access zone.
3. From the Users list, select the local provider for the access zone.
4. Click Delete for the user that you want to delete.
5. In the confirmation dialog box, click Delete.

Delete a local group

You can delete a local group even if members are assigned to it; deleting a group does
not affect the members of that group.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Membership & Roles > Groups.
2. From the Current Access Zone list, select an access zone.
3. From the Groups list, select the local provider for the access zone.
4. Click Delete for the group that you want to delete.
5. In the confirmation dialog box, click Delete.

Naming rules for local users and groups

Local user and group names must follow naming rules in order to ensure proper
authentication and access to the EMC Isilon cluster.
You must adhere to the following naming rules when creating and modifying local users
and groups:
l

The maximum name length is 104 characters. It is recommended that names do not
exceed 64 characters.

Names cannot contain the following invalid characters:

"/\[]:;|=,+*?<>

Names can contain any special character that is not in the list of invalid characters. It
is recommend that names do not contain spaces.

Names are not case sensitive.

Managing MIT Kerberos authentication

You can configure an MIT Kerberos provider for authentication without Active Directory.
Configuring an MIT Kerberos provider involves creating an MIT Kerberos realm, creating a
provider, and joining a predefined realm. Optionally, you can configure an MIT Kerberos
domain for the provider. You can also update the encryption keys if there are any
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configuration changes to the Kerberos provider. You can include the provider in one or
more access zones.

Managing MIT Kerberos realms

An MIT Kerberos realm is an administrative domain that defines the boundaries within
which an authentication server has the authority to authenticate a user or service. You
can create, view, edit, or delete a realm. As a best practice, specify a realm name using
uppercase characters.

Create an MIT Kerberos realm

An MIT Kerberos realm is an administrative domain that defines the boundaries within
which an authentication server has the authority to authenticate a user or service. You
can create a realm by defining a Key Distribution Center (KDC) and an administrative
server.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > Kerberos Provider.
2. Click Create a Kerberos Realm.
3. In the Realm Name field, type a domain name in uppercase characters. For example,
CLUSTER-NAME.COMPANY.COM.
4. Select the Set as the default realm check box to set the realm as the default.
5. In the Key Distribution Centers (KDCs) field add one or more KDCs by specifying the
hostnames or IP addresses of the authentication servers.
6. Optional: In the Admin Server field, type the hostname or the IP address of the
authentication server to use as the master KDC. If you omit this step, the first KDC that
you added previously is used as the default administrative server.
7. Optional: In the Default Domain field, specify the domain name to use for translating
the service principal names.
8. Click Create Realm.

Modify an MIT Kerberos realm

You can modify an MIT Kerberos realm by modifying the Key Distribution Center (KDC) and
the administrative server settings for that realm.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > Kerberos Provider.
2. In the Kerberos Realms table, select a realm and click View / Edit.
3. In the View a Kerberos Realm page, click Edit Realm.
4. Select or clear the Set as the default realm check box to modify the default realm
setting.
5. In the Key Distribution Centers (KDCs) field, specify the hostname or the IP address of
an alternate authentication server.
6. In the Admin Server field, type the hostname or the IP address of an alternate
administrative server to use as the master KDC.
7. In the Default Domain field, specify an alternate domain name for translating the
service principal names (SPNs).
8. Click Save Changes to return to the View a Kerberos Realm page.

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9. Click Close.

View an MIT Kerberos realm

You can view details related to the name, Key Distribution Centers (KDCs), and
administrative server associated with an MIT Kerberos realm.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > Kerberos Provider.
2. In the Kerberos Realms table, select a realm and click View / Edit to view the
information associated with the realm.

Delete an MIT Kerberos realm

You can delete one or more MIT Kerberos realms and all the associated MIT Kerberos
domains. Kerberos realms are referenced by Kerberos providers. Hence before you delete
a realm for which you have created a provider, you must first delete that provider.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > Kerberos Provider.
2. In the Kerberos Realms table, select one or more realms and then perform one of the
following actions:
l

To delete a single realm, select the realm and click More > Delete from the Actions
column.

To delete multiple realms, select the realms and then select Delete Selection from
the Select a bulk action list.

3. In the confirmation dialog box, click Delete.

Managing MIT Kerberos providers

You can create view, delete, or modify an MIT Kerberos provider. You can also configure
the Kerberos provider settings.

Creating an MIT Kerberos provider

You can create an MIT Kerberos provider by obtaining the credentials for accessing a
cluster through the Key Distribution Center (KDC) of the Kerberos realm. This process is
also known as joining a realm. Thus when you create a Kerberos provider you also join a
realm that you have previously created. You must be a member of the SecurityAdmin role
to create an MIT Kerberos provider.
Using the web interface, you can perform the following tasks through a single workflow or
perform each task individually before creating the provider.
l

Defining a realm

Defining a domain

Managing a service principal name (SPN)

Create an MIT Kerberos realm, domain, and a provider

You can create an MIT Kerberos realm, domain, and a provider through a single workflow
instead of configuring each of these objects individually.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > Kerberos Provider.
2. Click Get Started.
3. In the Create Realm section, specify the following parameters:
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a. In the Realm Name field, type a domain name preferably in uppercase characters.
For example, type CLUSTER-NAME.COMPANY.COM.
b. Select the Set as the default realm check box to set the realm as the default.
c. In the Key Distribution Centers (KDCs) field, add one or more KDCs by specifying
the hostnames or IP addresses of the authentication servers.
d. In the Admin Server field, type the hostname or IP address of the authentication
server to use as the master KDC. If you omit this step, the first KDC that you added
previously is used as the default admin server.
e. Optional: In the Default Domain field, specify the domain name to use for
translating the service principal names (SPNs).
4. Optional: In the Create Domain(s) section, specify one or more domain names to
associate with the realm.
5. In the Authenticate to Realm section, specify the following parameters:
a. In the User field, type a user name who has the permission to create the SPNs in
the Kerberos realm.
b. In the Password field, type the password for the user.
6. In the Create Provider section, select one of the following options for managing the
SPNs:
l

Use the recommended SPNs.

Type an SPN in the format service/principal@realm to manually associate

it with the selected realm. You can add more than one SPNs for association, if
necessary.

7. Click Create Provider and Join Realm.

Create an MIT Kerberos provider and join a realm
You join a realm automatically as you create an MIT Kerberos provider. A realm defines a
domain within which the authentication for a specific user or service takes place.
Before you begin
You must be a member of the SecurityAdmin role to view and access the Create a
Kerberos Provider button and perform the tasks described in this procedure.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > Kerberos Provider.
2. Click Create a Kerberos Provider.
3. In the Realm Authentication Information section, specify the following parameters:
a. In the User field, type a user name who has the permission to create service
principal names (SPNs) in the Kerberos realm.
b. In the Password field, type the password for the user.
4. In the Provider Information section, specify the following parameters:
a. Select a pre-existing realm from the list.
b. Select one of the following options for managing the SPNs:

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Use the recommended SPNs.

Type an SPN in the format service/principal@realm to manually associate

it with the selected realm. You can add more than one SPN for association, if
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5. Click Create Provider and Join Realm.

Modify an MIT Kerberos provider

You can modify the realm authentication information and the service principal name
(SPN) information for an MIT Kerberos provider.
Before you begin
You must be a member of the SecurityAdmin role to view and access the View / Edit
button to modify an MIT Kerberos provider.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > Kerberos Provider.
2. In the Kerberos Provider table, select a domain and click View / Edit.
3. In the View a Kerberos Provider page, click Edit Provider.
4. In the Realm Authentication Information section, specify the credentials for a user
with permissions to create SPNs in the given Kerberos realm.
5. In the Provider Information section, select one of the following options for managing
the SPNs:
l

Use the recommended SPNs.

Type an SPN in the format service/principal@realm to manually associate

the SPN with the selected realm. You can add more than one SPN for association,
if necessary.

6. Click Save Changes to return to the View a Kerberos Provider page.

7. Click Close.

View an MIT Kerberos provider

You can view information related to MIT Kerberos realms and service principal names
(SPNs) associated with an MIT Kerberos provider.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > Kerberos Provider.
2. In the Kerberos Providers table, select a provider and click View / Edit to view the
provider information including the realm, recommended SPNs, and any other SPNs
that are discovered.

Delete an MIT Kerberos provider

You can delete an MIT Kerberos provider and remove it from all the referenced access
zones. When you delete a provider, you also leave an MIT Kerberos realm.
Before you begin
You must be a member of the SecurityAdmin role to perform the tasks described in this
procedure.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > Kerberos Provider.
2. In the Kerberos Providers table, select one or more providers and then perform one of
the following actions:
l

To delete a single provider, select the provider and click More > Delete from the
Actions column.

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To delete multiple providers, select the providers and then select Delete Selection
from the Select a bulk action list.

3. In the confirmation dialog box, click Delete.

Configure Kerberos provider settings

You can configure the settings of a Kerberos provider to allow the DNS records to locate
the Key Distribution Center (KDC), Kerberos realms, and the authentication servers
associated with a Kerberos realm. These settings are global to all the users of Kerberos
across all the nodes, services, and access zones. Some settings are applicable only to
the client-side Kerberos that is relevant when joining a realm or when communicating
with an Active Directory KDC. Typically, you do not need to change the settings after the
initial configuration.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > Kerberos Settings.
2. In the Default Realm field, specify the realm to use for the service principal name
(SPN). The default realm is the first realm that you create.
3. Select a check box to always send pre-authentication. This is a client-side Kerberos
configuration setting.
Selecting this check box enables the Kerberos ticket requests to include
ENC_TIMESTAMP as the pre-authentication data even if the authentication server did
not request it. This is useful when working with Active Directory servers.
4. Select a check box to specify whether to use the DNS server records to locate the
KDCs and other servers for a realm, if that information is not listed for the realm.
5. Select a check box to specify whether to use the DNS text records to determine the
Kerberos realm of a host.
6. Click Save Changes.

Managing MIT Kerberos domains

You can optionally define MIT Kerberos domains to allow additional domain extensions to
be associated with an MIT Kerberos realm. You can always specify a default domain for a
realm.
You can create, modify, delete, and view an MIT Kerberos domain. A Kerberos domain
name is a DNS suffix that you specify typically using lowercase characters.

Create an MIT Kerberos domain

You optionally create an MIT Kerberos domain to allow additional domain extensions to
be associated with an MIT Kerberos realm apart from the default domains.
Before you begin
You must be a member of the SecurityAdmin role to perform the tasks described in this
procedure.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > Kerberos Provider.
2. Click Create a Kerberos Domain.
3. In the Domain field, specify a domain name which is typically a DNS suffix in
lowercase characters.
4. From the Realm list, select a realm that you have configured previously.

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5. Click Create Domain.

Modify an MIT Kerberos domain

You can modify an MIT Kerberos domain by modifying the realm settings.
Before you begin
You must be a member of the SecurityAdmin role to perform the tasks described in this
procedure.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > Kerberos Provider.
2. In the Kerberos Domains table, select a domain and click View / Edit.
3. In the View a Kerberos Domain page, click Edit Domain.
4. From the Realm list, select an alternate realm.
5. Click Save Changes to return to the View a Kerberos Domain page.
6. Click Close.

View an MIT Kerberos domain

You can view the properties of an MIT Kerberos domain mapping.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > Kerberos Provider.
2. In the Kerberos Domains table, select a domain and click View / Edit to view the
properties of the domain mapping.

Delete an MIT Kerberos domain

You can delete one or more MIT Kerberos domain mappings.
Before you begin
You must be a member of the SecurityAdmin role to perform the tasks described in this
procedure.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Authentication Providers > Kerberos Provider.
2. In the Kerberos Domains table, select one or more domain mappings and then
perform one of the following actions:
l

To delete a single domain mapping, select the mapping and click More > Delete
from the Actions column.

To delete multiple domain mappings, select the mappings and then select Delete
Selection from the Select a bulk action list.

Managing access permissions

The internal representation of identities and permissions can contain information from
UNIX sources, Windows sources, or both. Because access protocols can process the
information from only one of these sources, the system may need to make
approximations to present the information in a format the protocol can process.

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View expected user permissions

You can view the expected permissions for user access to a file or directory.
This procedure must be performed through the command-line interface (CLI).
Procedure
1. Establish an SSH connection to any node in the cluster.
2. View expected user permissions by running the isi auth access command.
The following command displays permissions in /ifs/ for the user that you specify
in place of <username>:
isi auth access <username> /ifs/

The system displays output similar to the following example:

User
Name : <username>
UID : 2018
SID :
SID:S-1-5-21-2141457107-1514332578-1691322784-1018
File
Owner : user:root
Group : group:wheel
Mode : drwxrwxrwx
Relevant Mode : d---rwx--Permissions
Expected : user:<username> \
allow
dir_gen_read,dir_gen_write,dir_gen_execute,delete_child

3. View mode-bits permissions for a user by running the isi auth access command.
The following command displays verbose-mode file permissions information in /
ifs/ for the user that you specify in place of <username>:
isi auth access <username> /ifs/ -v

The system displays output similar to the following example:

User Name : <username> UID \
: 2018 SID : SID:S-1-5-21-2141457107-1514332578-1691322784-1018
File Owner : user:root Group : group:wheel Mode : drwxrwxrwx
Relevant Mode : d---rwx--- Permissions Expected : user:<username>
allow dir_gen_read,dir_gen_write,dir_gen_execute,delete_child

4. View expected ACL user permissions on a file for a user by running the isi auth
access command.
The following command displays verbose-mode ACL file permissions for the file
file_with_acl.tx in /ifs/data/ for the user that you specify in place of
<username>:
isi auth access <username> /ifs/data/file_with_acl.tx -v

The system displays output similar to the following example:

User Name : <username> \
UID : 2097 SID :
SID:S-1-7-21-2141457107-1614332578-1691322789-1018
File Owner : user:<username> Group : group:wheel
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Permissions Expected : user:<username>

allow file_gen_read,file_gen_write,std_write_dac
Relevant Acl: group:<group-name> Users allow file_gen_read
user:<username> allow std_write_dac,file_write,
append,file_write_ext_attr,file_write_attr
group:wheel allow file_gen_read,file_gen_write

Configure access management settings

Default access settings include whether to send NTLMv2 responses for SMB connections,
the identity type to store on disk, the Windows workgroup name for running in local
mode, and character substitution for spaces encountered in user and group names.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Settings.
2. Configure the following settings as needed.
Option

Description

Send NTLMv2

Specifies whether to send only NTLMv2 responses to SMB clients

with NTLM-compatible credentials.

On-Disk Identity Controls the preferred identity to store on disk. If OneFS is unable
to convert an identity to the preferred format, it is stored as is.
This setting does not affect identities that are currently stored on
disk. Select one of the following settings:
native
Allow OneFS to determine the identity to store on disk. This is
the recommended setting.
unix
Always store incoming UNIX identifiers (UIDs and GIDs) on
disk.
sid
Store incoming Windows security identifiers (SIDs) on disk,
unless the SID was generated from a UNIX identifier; in that
case, convert it back to the UNIX identifier and store it on
disk.
Workgroup

Specifies the NetBIOS workgroup. The default value is

WORKGROUP.

Space
Replacement

For clients that have difficulty parsing spaces in user and group
names, specifies a substitute character.

3. Click Save.
After you finish
If you changed the on-disk identity selection, it is recommended that you run the
PermissionRepair job with the Convert repair type to prevent potential permissions
errors. For more information, see Update cluster permissions on page 139.

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Modify ACL policy settings

You can modify ACL policy settings but the default ACL policy settings are sufficient for
most cluster deployments.
CAUTION

Because ACL policies change the behavior of permissions throughout the system, they
should be modified only as necessary by experienced administrators with advanced
knowledge of Windows ACLs. This is especially true for the advanced settings, which are
applied regardless of the cluster's environment.
For UNIX, Windows, or balanced environments, the optimal permission policy settings are
selected and cannot be modified. However, you can choose to manually configure the
cluster's default permission settings if necessary to support your particular environment.
Note

You must be logged in to the web administration interface to perform this task.
Procedure
1. Click Protocols > ACLs > ACL Policies.
2. In the Standard Settings area, under Environment, select the option that best
describes your environment, or select Configure permission policies manually to
configure individual permission policies.
3. If you selected the Configure permission policies manually option, configure the
settings as needed.
For more information about these settings, see ACL policy settings options.
4. In the Advanced Settings area, configure the settings as needed.

ACL policy settings options

You can configure an ACL policy by choosing from the available settings options.
Environment settings
UNIX only
Causes cluster permissions to operate with UNIX semantics, as opposed to Windows
semantics. Enabling this option prevents ACL creation on the system.
Balanced
Causes cluster permissions to operate in a mixed UNIX and Windows environment.
This setting is recommended for most cluster deployments.
Windows only
Causes cluster permissions to operate with Windows semantics, as opposed to UNIX
semantics. Enabling this option causes the system to return an error on UNIX chmod
requests.
Configure permission policies manually
Allows you to configure the individual permissions policy settings available under
Permission Policies.

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Permission policies settings

ACL creation over SMB
Specifies whether to allow or deny creation of ACLs over SMB. Select one of the
following options.
Do not allow the creation of ACLs over Windows File Sharing (SMB)
Prevents ACL creation on the cluster.
Allow the creation of ACLs over SMB
Allows ACL creation on the cluster.
Note

Inheritable ACLs on the system take precedence over this setting: If inheritable ACLs
are set on a folder, any new files and folders created in that folder will inherit the
folder's ACL. Disabling this setting does not remove ACLs currently set on files. If you
want to clear an existing ACL, run the chmod -b <mode> <file> command to remove
the ACL and set the correct permissions.

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chmod on files with existing ACLs

Controls what happens when a chmod operation is initiated on a file with an ACL,
either locally or over NFS. This setting controls any elements that set UNIX
permissions, including File System Explorer. Enabling this policy setting does not
change how chmod operations affect files that do not have ACLs. Select one of the
following options.
Remove the existing ACL and set UNIX permissions instead
For chmod operations, removes any existing ACL and instead sets the chmod
permissions. Select this option only if you do not need permissions to be set
from Windows.
Remove the existing ACL and create an ACL equivalent to the UNIX permissions
Stores the UNIX permissions in a Windows ACL. Select this option only if you
want to remove Windows permissions but do not want files to have synthetic
ACLs.
Remove the existing ACL and create an ACL equivalent to the UNIX permissions, for
all users/groups referenced in old ACL
Stores the UNIX permissions in a Windows ACL. Select this option only if you
want to remove Windows permissions but do not want files to have synthetic
ACLs.
Merge the new permissions with the existing ACL
Causes Windows and UNIX permissions to operate smoothly in a balanced
environment by merging permissions that are applied by chmod with existing
ACLs. An ACE for each identity (owner, group, and everyone) is either modified
or created, but all other ACEs are unmodified. Inheritable ACEs are also left
unmodified to enable Windows users to continue to inherit appropriate
permissions. UNIX users can set specific permissions for each of those three
standard identities, however.
Deny permission to modify the ACL
Prevents users from making NFS and local chmod operations. Enable this
setting if you do not want to allow permission sets over NFS.
Ignore operation if file has an existing ACL
Prevents an NFS client from making changes to the ACL. Select this option if you
defined an inheritable ACL on a directory and want to use that ACL for
permissions.
CAUTION

If you try to run the chmod command on the same permissions that are currently set
on a file with an ACL, you may cause the operation to silently failThe operation
appears to be successful, but if you were to examine the permissions on the cluster,
you would notice that the chmod command had no effect. As a workaround, you can
run the chmod command away from the current permissions and then perform a
second chmod command to revert to the original permissions. For example, if your
file shows 755 UNIX permissions and you want to confirm this number, you could
run chmod 700 file; chmod 755 file.

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ACLs created on directories by UNIX chmod

On Windows systems, the access control entries for directories can define finegrained rules for inheritance; on UNIX, the mode bits are not inherited. Making ACLs
that are created on directories by the chmod command inheritable is more secure for
tightly controlled environments but may deny access to some Windows users who
would otherwise expect access.
Select one of the following options.
l

Make them inheritable

Do not make them inheritable

chown/chgrp on files with existing ACLs

Changes a file or folder's owning user or group. Select one of the following options.
Modify the owner and/or group
Causes the chown or chgrp operation to perform as it does in UNIX. Enabling
this setting modifies any ACEs in the ACL associated with the old and new
owner or group.
Modify the owner and/or group and ACL permissions
Cause the NFS chown or chgrp operation to function as it does in Windows.
When a file owner is changed over Windows, no permissions in the ACL are
changed.
Ignore operation if file has an existing ACL
Prevents an NFS client from making changes to the owner or group.
Note

Over NFS, the chown or chgrp operation changes the permissions and the owner or
owning group. For example, consider a file owned by user Joe with rwx------ (700)
permissions, signifying rwx permissions for the owner, but no permissions for
anyone else. If you run the chown command to change ownership of the file to user
Bob, the owner permissions are still rwx but they now represent the permissions for
Bob, rather than for Joe, who lost all of his permissions. This setting does not affect
UNIX chown or chgrp operations performed on files with UNIX permissions, and it
does not affect Windows chown or chgrp operations, which do not change any
permissions.

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Authentication and access control

Access checks (chmod, chown)

In UNIX environments, only the file owner or superuser has the right to run a chmod
or chown operation on a file. In Windows environments, you can implement this
policy setting to give users the right to perform chmod operations, called the change
permissions right, or the right to perform chown operations, called the take
ownership right.
Note

The take ownership right only gives users the ability to take file ownership, not to
give ownership away.
Select one of the following options.
Allow only owners to chmod or chown
Causes chmod and chown access checks to operate with UNIX-like behavior.
Allow owner and users with 'take ownership' right to chown, and owner and users
with 'change permissions' right to chmod
Causes chmod and chown access checks to operate with Windows-like
behavior.
Advanced settings
Treatment of 'rwx' permissions
In UNIX environments, rwx permissions signify two things: A user or group has read,
write, and execute permissions; and a user or group has the maximum possible level
of permissions.
When you assign UNIX permissions to a file, no ACLs are stored for that file. A
Windows system processes only ACLs; Windows does not process UNIX permissions.
Therefore, when you view a file's permissions on a Windows system, the cluster
must translate the UNIX permissions into an ACL. This type of ACL is called a
synthetic ACL. Synthetic ACLs are not stored anywhere; instead, they are dynamically
generated as needed and then they are discarded. If a file has UNIX permissions,
you may notice synthetic ACLs when you run the ls file command on the cluster to
view a files ACLs.
When you generate a synthetic ACL, the cluster maps UNIX permissions to Windows
rights. Windows supports a more granular permissions model than UNIX does, and it
specifies rights that cannot easily be mapped from UNIX permissions. If the cluster
maps rwx permissions to Windows rights, you must enable one of the following
options. The main difference between rwx and Full Control is the broader set of
permissions with Full Control.
Select one of the following options.
Retain 'rwx' permissions
Generates an ACE that provides only read, write, and execute permissions.
Treat 'rwx' permissions as Full Control
Generates an ACE that provides the maximum Windows permissions for a user
or a group by adding the change permissions right, the take ownership right,
and the delete right.

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Group owner inheritance

Operating systems tend to work with group ownership and permissions in two
different ways: BSD inherits the group owner from the file's parent folder; Windows
and Linux inherit the group owner from the file creator's primary group. If you enable
a setting that causes the group owner to be inherited from the creator's primary
group, you can override it on a per-folder basis by running the chmod command to
set the set-gid bit. This inheritance applies only when the file is created. For more
information, see the manual page for the chmod command.
Select one of the following options.
When an ACL exists, use Linux and Windows semantics, otherwise use BSD
semantics
Controls file behavior based on whether the new file inherits ACLs from its
parent folder. If it does, the file uses the creator's primary group. If it does not,
the file inherits from its parent folder.
BSD semantics - Inherit group owner from the parent folder
Causes the group owner to be inherited from the file's parent folder.
Linux and Windows semantics - Inherit group owner from the creator's primary
group
Causes the group owner to be inherited from the file creator's primary group.
chmod (007) on files with existing ACLs
Specifies whether to remove ACLs when running the chmod (007) command.
Select one of the following options.
chmod(007) does not remove existing ACL
Sets 007 UNIX permissions without removing an existing ACL.
chmod(007) removes existing ACL and sets 007 UNIX permissions
Removes ACLs from files over UNIX file sharing (NFS) and locally on the cluster
through the chmod (007) command. If you enable this setting, be sure to run
the chmod command on the file immediately after using chmod (007) to
clear an ACL. In most cases, you do not want to leave 007 permissions on the
file.
Owner permissions
It is impossible to represent the breadth of a Windows ACL's access rules using a set
of UNIX permissions. Therefore, when a UNIX client requests UNIX permissions for a
file with an ACL over NFS, an action known as a stat, it receives an imperfect
approximation of the file's true permissions. By default, executing an ls -l
command from a UNIX client returns a more open set of permissions than the user
expects. This permissiveness compensates for applications that incorrectly inspect
the UNIX permissions themselves when determining whether to attempt a filesystem operation. The purpose of this policy setting is to ensure that these
applications proceed with the operation to allow the file system to properly
determine user access through the ACL.
Select one of the following options.
Approximate owner mode bits using all possible group ACEs
Makes the owner permissions appear more permissive than the actual
permissions on the file.
Approximate owner mode bits using only the ACE with the owner ID
Makes the owner permissions appear more accurate, in that you see only the
permissions for a particular owner and not the more permissive set. This may
cause access-denied problems for UNIX clients, however.

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Group permissions
Select one of the following options for group permissions:
Approximate group mode bits using all possible group ACEs
Makes the group permissions appear more permissive than the actual
permissions on the file.
Approximate group mode bits using only the ACE with the group ID
Makes the group permissions appear more accurate, in that you see only the
permissions for a particular group and not the more permissive set. This may
cause access-denied problems for UNIX clients, however.
No "deny" ACEs
The Windows ACL user interface cannot display an ACL if any deny ACEs are out of
canonical ACL order. To correctly represent UNIX permissions, deny ACEs may be
required to be out of canonical ACL order.
Select one of the following options.
Do not modify synthetic ACLs and mode bit approximations
Specifies to not modify synthetic ACL generation; deny ACEs will be generated
when necessary.
CAUTION

This option can lead to permissions being reordered, permanently denying

access if a Windows user or an application performs an ACL get, an ACL
modification, and an ACL set (known as a round trip) to and from Windows.
Remove deny ACEs from ACLs. This setting can cause ACLs to be more permissive
than the equivalent mode bits
Does not include deny ACEs when generating synthetic ACLs. This setting can
cause ACLs to be more permissive than the equivalent mode bits.
Access check (utimes)
You can control who can change utimes, which are the access and modification
times of a file, by selecting one of the following options.
Allow only owners to change utimes to client-specific times (POSIX compliant)
Allows only owners to change utimes, which complies with the POSIX standard,
an approach that is probably familiar to administrators of UNIX systems.
Allow owners and users with write access to change utimes to client-specific times
Allows owners as well as users with write access to modify utimesa less
restrictive approach that is probably familiar to administrators of Windows
systems.
Read-only DOS attribute
Deny permission to modify files with DOS read-only attribute over Windows Files
Sharing (SMB)
Duplicates DOS-attribute permissions behavior over only the SMB protocol, so
that they use the read-only attribute over SMB.
Deny permission to modify files with DOS read-only attribute over both UNIX (NFS)
and Windows File Sharing (SMB)
Duplicates DOS-attribute permissions behavior over both NFS and SMB
protocols. For example, if permissions are read-only on a file over SMB,
permissions are read-only over NFS.

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Displayed mode bits

Use ACL to approximate mode bits
Presents the OneFS approximation of the NFS mode bits, based on ACL
permissions in the security descriptor.
Always display 777 if ACL existsIf the approximated NFS permissions are less permissive than those in the
security descriptor, you may want to use this setting so the NFS client does not
stop with the access check before performing its operation. Use this setting
when a third-party application may be blocked if the ACL does not provide the
proper access.

Update cluster permissions

You can update file permissions or ownership by running the Repair Permissions job. To
prevent permissions issues that can occur after changing the on-disk identity, run this
job with the Convert Permissions job to ensure that the changes are fully propagated
throughout the cluster.
Procedure
1. Click Protocols > ACLs > Repair Permissions Job.
2. Optional: From the Priority list, select the priority level at which to run the job in
relation to other jobs.
3. Optional: From the Impact policy list, select an impact policy for the job to follow.
4. In the Paths field, type or browse to the directory in /ifs whose permissions you
want to repair.
5. Optional: Click Add another directory path and in the added Paths field, type or
browse for an additional directory in /ifs whose permissions you want to repair.
You can repeat this step to add directory paths as needed.
6. From the Repair task list, select one of the following methods for updating
permissions:
Option

Description

Clone
permissions

Applies the permissions settings for the directory specified by

the Template Directory setting to the Path to repair directory.

Inherit
permissions

Recursively applies the ACL of the directory that is specified by

the Template Directory setting to each file and subdirectory in
the specified Path to repair directory, according to standard
inheritance rules.

Convert
permissions

For each file and directory in the specified Path to repair

directory, converts the owner, group, and access control list
(ACL) to the target on-disk identity.

The remaining settings options differ depending on the selected repair task.
7. In the Template File or Directory field, type or browse to the directory in /ifs that you
want to copy permissions from. This setting applies to only the Clone and Inherit
repair types.
8. Optional: From the Mapping type list, select the preferred on-disk identity type to
apply. This setting applies to only the Convert permissions repair task.
Update cluster permissions

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Option

Description

Global

Applies the system's default identity.

SID (Windows) Applies the Windows identity.

UNIX

Applies the UNIX identity.

Native

If a user or group does not have an authoritative UNIX identifier (UID

or GID), applies the Windows identity (SID)

9. Optional: From the Access Zone list, select an access zone to use for ID mapping. This
setting applies to only the Convert permissions repair task.

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Identity management

This section contains the following topics:

l
l
l
l
l
l

Identity management overview............................................................................142

Identity types...................................................................................................... 142
Access tokens..................................................................................................... 143
Access token generation..................................................................................... 144
Managing ID mappings........................................................................................149
Managing user identities.....................................................................................152

Identity management

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Identity management overview

In environments with several different types of directory services, OneFS maps the users
and groups from the separate services to provide a single unified identity on an EMC
Isilon cluster and uniform access control to files and directories, regardless of the
incoming protocol. This process is called identity mapping.
Isilon clusters are frequently deployed in multiprotocol environments with multiple types
of directory services, such as Active Directory and LDAP. When a user with accounts in
multiple directory services logs in to a cluster, OneFS combines the users identities and
privileges from all the directory services into a native access token.
You can configure OneFS settings to include a list of rules for access token manipulation
to control user identity and privileges. For example, you can set a user mapping rule to
merge an Active Directory identity and an LDAP identity into a single token that works for
access to files stored over both SMB and NFS. The token can include groups from Active
Directory and LDAP. The mapping rules that you create can solve identity problems by
manipulating access tokens in many ways, including the following examples:
l

Authenticate a user with Active Directory but give the user a UNIX identity.

Select a primary group from competing choices in Active Directory or LDAP.

Disallow login of users that do not exist in both Active Directory and LDAP.

For more information about identity management, see the white paper Managing identities
with the Isilon OneFS user mapping service at EMC Online Support.

Identity types
OneFS supports three primary identity types, each of which you can store directly on the
file system. Identity types are user identifier and group identifier for UNIX, and security
identifier for Windows.
When you log on to an EMC Isilon cluster, the user mapper expands your identity to
include your other identities from all the directory services, including Active Directory,
LDAP, and NIS. After OneFS maps your identities across the directory services, it
generates an access token that includes the identity information associated with your
accounts. A token includes the following identifiers:
l

A UNIX user identifier (UID) and a group identifier (GID). A UID or GID is a 32-bit
number with a maximum value of 4,294,967,295.

A security identifier (SID) for a Windows user account. A SID is a series of authorities
and sub-authorities ending with a 32-bit relative identifier (RID). Most SIDs have the
form S-1-5-21-<A>-<B>-<C>-<RID>, where <A>, <B>, and <C> are specific to a domain or
computer and <RID> denotes the object in the domain.

A primary group SID for a Windows group account.

A list of supplemental identities, including all groups in which the user is a member.

The token also contains privileges that stem from administrative role-based access
control.
On an Isilon cluster, a file contains permissions, which appear as an access control list
(ACL). The ACL controls access to directories, files, and other securable system objects.
When a user tries to access a file, OneFS compares the identities in the users access
token with the files ACL. OneFS grants access when the files ACL includes an access
control entry (ACE) that allows the identity in the token to access the file and that does
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not include an ACE that denies the identity access. OneFS compares the access token of
a user with the ACL of a file.
Note

For more information about access control lists, including a description of the
permissions and how they correspond to POSIX mode bits, see the white paper titled EMC
Isilon multiprotocol data access with a unified security model on the EMC Online Support
web site.
When a name is provided as an identifier, it is converted into the corresponding user or
group object and the correct identity type. You can enter or display a name in various
ways:
l

UNIX assumes unique case-sensitive namespaces for users and groups. For example,
Name and name represent different objects.

Windows provides a single, case-insensitive namespace for all objects and also
specifies a prefix to target an Active Directory domain; for example, domain\name.

Kerberos and NFSv4 define principals, which require names to be formatted the same
way as email addresses; for example, [email protected].

Multiple names can reference the same object. For example, given the name support and
the domain example.com, support, EXAMPLE\support and [email protected] are all
names for a single object in Active Directory.

Access tokens
An access token is created when the user first makes a request for access.
Access tokens represent who a user is when performing actions on the cluster and supply
the primary owner and group identities during file creation. Access tokens are also
compared against the ACL or mode bits during authorization checks.
During user authorization, OneFS compares the access token, which is generated during
the initial connection, with the authorization data on the file. All user and identity
mapping occurs during token generation; no mapping takes place during permissions
evaluation.
An access token includes all UIDs, GIDs, and SIDs for an identity, in addition to all OneFS
privileges. OneFS reads the information in the token to determine whether a user has
access to a resource. It is important that the token contains the correct list of UIDs, GIDs,
and SIDs. An access token is created from one of the following sources:
Source

Authentication

Username

SMB impersonate user

Kerberized NFSv3

Kerberized NFSv4

NFS export user mapping

HTTP

FTP

HDFS

SMB NTLM

Privilege Attribute Certificate (PAC)

Access tokens

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Source

Authentication

User identifier (UID)

Active Directory Kerberos

NFS AUTH_SYS mapping

Access token generation

For most protocols, the access token is generated from the username or from the
authorization data that is retrieved during authentication.
The following steps present a simplified overview of the complex process through which
an access token is generated:
Step Process

Description

Using the initial identity, the user is looked up in all configured

authentication providers in the access zone, in the order in which they
are listed, until a match is found. The user identity and group list are
retrieved from the authenticating provider. Any SIDs, UIDs, or GIDs are
added to the initial token.

User identity
lookup

Note

An exception to this behavior occurs if the AD provider is configured to

call other providers, such as LDAP or NIS.
2

ID mapping

The user's identifiers are associated across directory services. All SIDs
are converted to their equivalent UID/GID and vice versa. These ID
mappings are also added to the access token.

User mapping

Access tokens from other directory services are combined. If the

username matches any user mapping rules, the rules are processed in
order and the token is updated accordingly.

On-disk identity The default on-disk identity is calculated from the final token and the
calculation
global setting. These identities are used for newly created files.

ID mapping
The Identity (ID) mapping service maintains relationship information between mapped
Windows and UNIX identifiers to provide consistent access control across file sharing
protocols within an access zone.
Note

ID mapping and user mapping are different services, despite the similarity in names.
During authentication, the authentication daemon requests identity mappings from the
ID mapping service in order to create access tokens. Upon request, the ID mapping
service returns Windows identifiers mapped to UNIX identifiers or UNIX identifiers
mapped to Windows identifiers. When a user authenticates to a cluster over NFS with a
UID or GID, the ID mapping service returns the mapped Windows SID, allowing access to
files that another user stored over SMB. When a user authenticates to the cluster over

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SMB with a SID, the ID mapping service returns the mapped UNIX UID and GID, allowing
access to files that a UNIX client stored over NFS.
Mappings between UIDs or GIDs and SIDs are stored according to access zone in a
cluster-distributed database called the ID map. Each mapping in the ID map is stored as a
one-way relationship from the source to the target identity type. Two-way mappings are
stored as complementary one-way mappings.

Mapping Windows IDs to UNIX IDs

When a Windows user authenticates with an SID, the authentication daemon searches
the external Active Directory provider to look up the user or group associated with the
SID. If the user or group has only an SID in the Active Directory, the authentication
daemon requests a mapping from the ID mapping service.
Note

User and group lookups may be disabled or limited, depending on the Active Directory
settings. You enable user and group lookup settings through the isi auth ads
modify command.
If the ID mapping service does not locate and return a mapped UID or GID in the ID map,
the authentication daemon searches other external authentication providers configured
in the same access zone for a user that matches the same name as the Active Directory
user.
If a matching user name is found in another external provider, the authentication daemon
adds the matching user's UID or GID to the access token for the Active Directory user, and
the ID mapping service creates a mapping between the UID or GID and the Active
Directory user's SID in the ID map. This is referred to as an external mapping.
Note

When an external mapping is stored in the ID map, the UID is specified as the on-disk
identity for that user. When the ID mapping service stores a generated mapping, the SID
is specified as the on-disk identity.
If a matching user name is not found in another external provider, the authentication
daemon assigns a UID or GID from the ID mapping range to the Active Directory user's
SID, and the ID mapping service stores the mapping in the ID map. This is referred to as a
generated mapping. The ID mapping range is a pool of UIDs and GIDs allocated in the
mapping settings.
After a mapping has been created for a user, the authentication daemon retrieves the UID
or GID stored in the ID map upon subsequent lookups for the user.

Mapping UNIX IDs to Windows IDs

The ID mapping service creates temporary UID-to-SID and GID-to-SID mappings only if a
mapping does not already exist. The UNIX SIDs that result from these mappings are never
stored on disk.
UIDs and GIDs have a set of predefined mappings to and from SIDs.
If a UID-to-SID or GID-to-SID mapping is requested during authentication, the ID mapping
service generates a temporary UNIX SID in the format S-1-22-1-<UID> or S-1-22-2-<GID> by
applying the following rules:
l

For UIDs, the ID mapping service generates a UNIX SID with a domain of S-1-22-1 and
a resource ID (RID) matching the UID. For example, the UNIX SID for UID 600 is
S-1-22-1-600.
ID mapping

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For GIDs, the ID mapping service generates a UNIX SID with a domain of S-1-22-2 and
an RID matching the GID. For example, the UNIX SID for GID 800 is S-1-22-2-800.

ID mapping ranges
In access zones with multiple external authentication providers, such as Active Directory
and LDAP, it is important that the UIDs and GIDs from different providers that are
configured in the same access zone do not overlap. Overlapping UIDs and GIDs between
providers within an access zone might result in some users gaining access to other users'
directories and files.
The range of UIDs and GIDs that can be allocated for generated mappings is configurable
in each access zone through the isi auth settings mappings modify
command. The default range for both UIDs and GIDs is 10000002000000 in each
access zone.
Do not include commonly used UIDs and GIDs in your ID ranges. For example, UIDs and
GIDs below 1000 are reserved for system accounts and should not be assigned to users
or groups.

User mapping
User mapping provides a way to control permissions by specifying a user's security
identifiers, user identifiers, and group identifiers. OneFS uses the identifiers to check file
or group ownership.
With the user-mapping feature, you can apply rules to modify which user identity OneFS
uses, add supplemental user identities, and modify a user's group membership. The
user-mapping service combines a users identities from different directory services into a
single access token and then modifies it according to the rules that you create.
Note

You can configure mapping rules on a per-zone basis. Mapping rules must be configured
separately in each access zone that uses them. OneFS maps users only during login or
protocol access.

Default user mappings

Default user mappings determine access if explicit user-mapping rules are not created.
If you do not configure rules, a user who authenticates with one directory service receives
the identity information in other directory services when the account names are the same.
For example, a user who authenticates with an Active Directory domain as Desktop\jane
automatically receives identities in the final access token for the corresponding UNIX user
account for jane from LDAP or NIS.
In the most common scenario, OneFS is connected to two directory services, Active
Directory and LDAP. In such a case, the default mapping provides a user with the
following identity attributes:
l

A UID from LDAP

The user SID from Active Directory

An SID from the default group in Active Directory

The user's groups come from Active Directory and LDAP, with the LDAP groups and the
autogenerated group GID added to the list. To pull groups from LDAP, the mapping
service queries the memberUid attribute. The users home directory, gecos, and shell
come from Active Directory.

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Elements of user-mapping rules

You combine operators with user names to create a user-mapping rule.
The following elements affect how the user mapper applies a rule:
l

The operator, which determines the operation that a rule performs

Fields for usernames

Options

A parameter

Wildcards

User-mapping best practices

You can follow best practices to simplify user mapping.
Use Active Directory with RFC 2307 and Windows Services for UNIX
Use Microsoft Active Directory with Windows Services for UNIX and RFC 2307
attributes to manage Linux, UNIX, and Windows systems. Integrating UNIX and Linux
systems with Active Directory centralizes identity management and eases
interoperability, reducing the need for user-mapping rules. Make sure your domain
controllers are running Windows Server 2003 or later.
Employ a consistent username strategy
The simplest configurations name users consistently, so that each UNIX user
corresponds to a similarly named Windows user. Such a convention allows rules
with wildcard characters to match names and map them without explicitly specifying
each pair of accounts.
Do not use overlapping ID ranges
In networks with multiple identity sources, such as LDAP and Active Directory with
RFC 2307 attributes, you should ensure that UID and GID ranges do not overlap. It is
also important that the range from which OneFS automatically allocates UIDs and
GIDs does not overlap with any other ID range. OneFS automatically allocates UIDs
and GIDs from the range 1,000,000-2,000,000. If UIDs and GIDs overlap multiple
directory services, some users might gain access to other users directories and files.
Avoid common UIDs and GIDs
Do not include commonly used UIDs and GIDs in your ID ranges. For example, UIDs
and GIDs below 1000 are reserved for system accounts; do not assign them to users
or groups.
Do not use UPNs in mapping rules
You cannot use a user principal name (UPN) in a user mapping rule. A UPN is an
Active Directory domain and username that are combined into an Internet-style
name with an @ symbol, such as an email address: jane@example. If you include a
UPN in a rule, the mapping service ignores it and may return an error. Instead,
specify names in the format DOMAIN\user.com.

User mapping

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Group rules by type and order them

The system processes every mapping rule by default, which can present problems
when you apply a deny-all rulefor example, to deny access to all unknown users. In
addition, replacement rules might interact with rules that contain wildcard
characters. To minimize complexity, it is recommended that you group rules by type
and organize them in the following order:
1. Replacement rules: Specify all rules that replace an identity first to ensure that
OneFS replaces all instances of the identity.
2. Join, add, and insert rules: After the names are set by any replacement
operations, specify join, add, and insert rules to add extra identifiers.
3. Allow and deny rules: Specify rules that allow or deny access last.
Note

Stop all processing before applying a default deny rule. To do so, create a rule
that matches allowed users but does nothing, such as an add operator with no
field options, and has the break option. After enumerating the allowed users,
you can place a catchall deny at the end to replace anybody unmatched with an
empty user.
To prevent explicit rules from being skipped, in each group of rules, order explicit
rules before rules that contain wildcard characters.
Add the LDAP or NIS primary group to the supplemental groups
When an Isilon cluster is connected to Active Directory and LDAP, a best practice is
to add the LDAP primary group to the list of supplemental groups. This lets OneFS
honor group permissions on files created over NFS or migrated from other UNIX
storage systems. The same practice is advised when an Isilon cluster is connected to
both Active Directory and NIS.

On-disk identity
After the user mapper resolves a user's identities, OneFS determines an authoritative
identifier for it, which is the preferred on-disk identity.
OnesFS stores either UNIX or Windows identities in file metadata on disk. On-disk identity
types are UNIX, SID, and native. Identities are set when a file is created or a file's access
control data is modified. Almost all protocols require some level of mapping to operate
correctly, so choosing the preferred identity to store on disk is important. You can
configure OneFS to store either the UNIX or the Windows identity, or you can allow OneFS
to determine the optimal identity to store.
On-disk identity types are UNIX, SID, and native. Although you can change the type of ondisk identity, the native identity is best for a network with UNIX and Windows systems. In
native on-disk identity mode, setting the UID as the on-disk identity improves NFS
performance.
Note

The SID on-disk identity is for a homogeneous network of Windows systems managed
only with Active Directory. When you upgrade from a version earlier than OneFS 6.5, the
on-disk identity is set to UNIX. When you upgrade from OneFS 6.5 or later, the on-disk
identity setting is preserved. On new installations, the on-disk identity is set to native.
The native on-disk identity type allows the OneFS authentication daemon to select the
correct identity to store on disk by checking for the identity mapping types in the
following order:
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Order Mapping
type

Description

Algorithmic
mapping

An SID that matches S-1-22-1-UID or S-1-22-2-GID in the internal ID

mapping database is converted back to the corresponding UNIX identity,
and the UID and GID are set as the on-disk identity.

External
mapping

A user with an explicit UID and GID defined in a directory service (such as
Active Directory with RFC 2307 attributes, LDAP, NIS, or the OneFS file
provider or local provider) has the UNIX identity set as the on-disk
identity.

Persistent
mapping

Mappings are stored persistently in the identity mapper database. An

identity with a persistent mapping in the identity mapper database uses
the destination of that mapping as the on-disk identity, which occurs
primarily with manual ID mappings. For example, if there is an ID
mapping of GID:10000 to S-1-5-32-545, a request for the on-disk storage
of GID:10000 returns S-1-5-32-545.

No mapping

If a user lacks a UID or GID even after querying the other directory
services and identity databases, its SID is set as the on-disk identity. In
addition, to make sure a user can access files over NFS, OneFS allocates
a UID and GID from a preset range of 1,000,000 to 2,000,000. In native
on-disk identity mode, a UID or GID that OneFS generates is never set as
the on-disk identity.

Note

If you change the on-disk identity type, you should run the PermissionRepair job in
convert mode to make sure that the disk representation of all files is consistent with the
changed setting.

Managing ID mappings
You can create, modify, and delete identity mappings and configure ID mapping settings.

Create an identity mapping

You can create a manual identity mapping between source and target identities or
automatically generate a mapping for a source identity.
This procedure is available only through the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Run the isi auth mapping create command.
The following command specifies IDs of source and target identities in the zone3
access zone to create a two-way mapping between the identities:
isi auth mapping create --2way --source-sid=S-1-5-21-12345 \
--target-uid=5211 --zone=zone3

Managing ID mappings

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Modify an identity mapping

You can modify the configuration of an identity mapping.
This procedure is available only through the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Run the isi auth mapping modify command.
The following command modifies the mapping of the user with UID 4236 in the zone3
access zone to include a reverse, 2-way mapping between the source and target
identities:
isi auth mapping modify --source-uid=4236 \
--target-sid=S-1-5-21-12345 --zone=zone3 --2way

Delete an identity mapping

You can delete one or more identity mappings.
This procedure is available only through the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Run the isi auth mapping delete command.
The following command deletes all identity mappings in the zone3 access zone:
isi auth mapping delete --all --zone=zone3

The following command deletes all identity mappings in the zone3 access zone that
were both created automatically and include a UID or GID from an external
authentication source:
isi auth mapping delete --all --only-external --zone=zone3

The following command deletes the identity mapping of the user with UID 4236 in the
zone3 access zone:
isi auth mapping delete --source-uid=4236 --zone=zone3

View an identity mapping

You can display mapping information for a specific identity.
This procedure is available only through the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Run the isi auth mapping view command.
The following command displays mappings for the user with UID 4236 in the zone3
access zone:
isi auth mapping view --uid=4236 --zone=zone3

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The system displays output similar to the following example:

Name: user_36
On-disk: UID: 4236
Unix uid: 4236
Unix gid: -100000
SMB: S-1-22-1-4236

Flush the identity mapping cache

You can flush the ID map cache to remove in-memory copies of all or specific identity
mappings.
Modifications to ID mappings may cause the cache to become out-of-sync and users
might experience slowness or stalls when authenticating. You can flush the cache to
synchronize the mappings.
This procedure is available only through the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Run the isi auth mapping flush command.
The following command flushes all identity mappings on the EMC Isilon cluster:
isi auth mapping flush --all

The following command flushes the mapping of the user with UID 4236 in the zone3
access zone:
isi auth mapping flush --source-uid-4236 --zone=zone3

View a user token

You can view the contents of an access token generated for a user during authentication.
This procedure is available only through the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Run the isi auth mapping token command.
The following command displays the access token of a user with UID 4236 in the
zone3 access zone:
isi auth mapping token --uid=4236 --zone=zone3

The system displays output similar to the following example:

User
Name: user_36
UID: 4236
SID: S-1-22-1-4236
On Disk: 4236
ZID: 3
Zone: zone3
Privileges: Primary Group
Name: user_36
GID: 4236

Flush the identity mapping cache

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SID: S-1-22-2-4236
On Disk: 4236

Configure identity mapping settings

You can enable or disable automatic allocation of UIDs and GIDS and customize the
range of ID values in each access zone. The default range is 10000002000000.
This procedure is available only through the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Run the isi auth settings mapping modify command.
The following command enables automatic allocation of both UIDs and GIDs in the
zone3 access zone and sets their allocation ranges to 2500050000:
isi auth settings mapping modify --gid-range-enabled=yes \
--gid-range-min=25000 --gid-range-max=50000 --uid-rangeenabled=yes \
--uid-range-min=25000 --uid-range-max=50000 --zone=zone3

View identity mapping settings

You can view the current configuration of identity mapping settings in each zone.
This procedure is available only through the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Run the isi auth settings mapping view command.
The following command displays the current settings in the zone3 access zone:
isi auth settings mapping view --zone=zone3

The system displays output similar to the following example:

GID Range Enabled:
GID Range Min:
GID Range Max:
UID Range Enabled:
UID Range Min:
UID Range Max:

Yes
25000
50000
Yes
25000
50000

Managing user identities

You can manage user identities by creating user-mapping rules.
When you create user-mapping rules, it is important to remember the following
information:

152

You can only create user-mapping rules if you are connected to the EMC Isilon cluster
through the System zone; however, you can apply user-mapping rules to specific
access zones. If you create a user-mapping rule for a specific access zone, the rule
applies only in the context of its zone.

When you change user-mapping on one node, OneFS propagates the change to the
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After you make a user-mapping change, the OneFS authentication service reloads the
configuration.

View user identity

You can view the identities and group membership that a specified user has within the
Active Directory and LDAP directory services.
This procedure must be performed through the command-line interface (CLI).
Note

The OneFS user access token contains a combination of identities from Active Directory
and LDAP if both directory services are configured. You can run the following commands
to discover the identities that are within each specific directory service.
Procedure
1. Establish an SSH connection to any node in the cluster.
2. View a user identity from Active Directory only by running the isi auth users
view command.
The following command displays the identity of a user named stand in the Active
Directory domain named YORK:
isi auth users view --user=YORK\\stand --show-groups

The system displays output similar to the following example:

Name: YORK\stand
DN:
CN=stand,CN=Users,DC=york,DC=hull,DC=example,DC=com
DNS Domain: york.hull.example.com
Domain: YORK
Provider: lsa-activedirectory-provider:YORK.HULL.EXAMPLE.COM
Sam Account Name: stand
UID: 4326
SID: S-1-5-21-1195855716-1269722693-1240286574-591111
Primary Group
ID : GID:1000000
Name : YORK\york_sh_udg
Additional Groups: YORK\sd-york space group
YORK\york_sh_udg
YORK\sd-york-group
YORK\sd-group
YORK\domain users

3. Vew a user identity from LDAP only by running the isi auth users view
command.
The following command displays the identity of an LDAP user named stand:
isi auth user view --user=stand --show-groups

The system displays output similar to the following example:

Name: stand
DN:
uid=stand,ou=People,dc=colorado4,dc=hull,dc=example,dc=com
DNS Domain: Domain: LDAP_USERS
Provider: lsa-ldap-provider:Unix LDAP
Sam Account Name: stand
View user identity

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UID: 4326
SID: S-1-22-1-4326
Primary Group
ID : GID:7222
Name : stand
Additional Groups: stand
sd-group
sd-group2

Create a user-mapping rule

You can create a user-mapping rule to manage user identities.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Membership & Roles > User Mapping.
2. From the Current Access Zone list, select an access zone that contains the rules you
want to manage, and then click Edit User Mapping Rules.
The Edit User Mapping Rules dialog box appears.
3. Click Create a User Mapping Rule.
The Create a User Mapping Rule dialog box appears.
4. From the Operation list, select an operation.
Depending on your selection, the Create a User Mapping Rule displays additional
fields.
5. Fill in the fields as needed.
6. Click Add Rule to save the rule and return to the Edit User Mapping Rules dialog box.
7. In the User Mapping Rules area, click the title bar of a rule and drag it to a new
position to change the position of a rule in the list.
Rules are applied in the order they are listed. To ensure that each rule gets processed,
list replacement rules first and list allow or deny rules at the end.
8. If the access token is not associated with a default UNIX user or if the default UNIX
user does not have a primary UID or GID, select one of the following options for
authentication:
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Generate a primary UID or GID from the reserved range of UIDs and GIDs

Deny access to the user

Assign another user as the default UNIX user

Note

It is recommended that you assign a user from the well-known account that has a
read-only access.
9. Click Save Changes.

Test a user-mapping rule

After creating a user-mapping rule, you can test it to make sure that the token results for
a user are as expected.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Membership & Roles > User Mapping.
2. From the Current Access Zone list, select an access zone that contains the rules you
want to test.
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3. In the Test User Mapping section, type or select a user, group, or a well-known SID
from the Select a User dialog box.
4. Click Test Mapping.
The token results appear in the Results section as shown:
User

Name:krb_user_002
UID:1002
SID:S-1-22-1-1001
On disk:1001
ZID:1
Zone:System

Privileges:Primary Group
Name:krb_user_001
GID:1000
SID:S-1-22-2-1001
On disk:1000
Supplemental Identities
Name:Authenticated Users
GID: SID:S-1-5-11

Merge Windows and UNIX tokens

You can use either the join or append operator to merge tokens from different directory
services into a single OneFS user token.
When Windows and Unix user names do not match across directory services, you can
write user-mapping rules that use either the join or the append operator to merge two
user names into a single token. For example, if a user's Windows username is win_bob
and the users Unix username is UNIX_bob, you can join or append the user tokens of the
two different users.
When you append an account to another account, the append operator adds information
from one identity to another: OneFS appends the fields that the options specify from the
source identity to the target identity. OneFS appends the identifiers to the additional
group list.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Membership & Roles > User Mapping.
2. Select the Current Access Zone that contains the rules you want to manage, and then
click Edit User Mapping Rules.
The Edit User Mapping Rules dialog box appears.
3. Click Create a User Mapping Rule.
The Create a User Mapping Rule dialog box appears.
4. From the Operation list, select an option:
Option

Description

Join two users together

Inserts the new identity into the token.

Append field from a user

Modifies the access token by adding fields to it.

Depending on your selection, the Create a User Mapping Rule dialog box refreshes to
display additional fields.
Merge Windows and UNIX tokens

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5. Populate the fields as needed.

6. Click Add Rule.
Note

Rules are called in the order they are listed. To ensure that each rule gets processed,
list replacements first and allow/deny rules last. You can change the order in which a
rule is listed by clicking its title bar and dragging it to a new position.
7. Click Save Changes.

Retrieve the primary group from LDAP

You can create a user-mapping rule to insert primary group information from LDAP into a
user's access token.
By default, the user-mapping service combines information from AD and LDAP but gives
precedence to the information from AD. You can create a mapping rule to control how
OneFS combines the information, giving precedence to a primary group from LDAP rather
than from Active Directory for a user.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Membership & Roles > User Mapping.
2. Select the Current Access Zone that contains the rules you want to manage, and then
click Edit User Mapping Rules.
The Edit User Mapping Rules dialog box appears.
3. Click Create a User Mapping Rule.
The Create a User Mapping Rule dialog box appears.
4. From the Operation list, select Insert fields from a user.
The Create a User Mapping Rule dialog box refreshes to display additional fields.
5. To populate the Insert Fields into this User field, perform the following steps:
a. Click Browse.
The Select a User dialog box appears.
b. Select a user and an Active Directory authentication provider.
c. Click Search to view the search results.
d. Select a username and click Select to return to the Create a User Mapping Rule
dialog box.
The primary group of the second user is inserted as the primary group of the first
user.
6. Select the Insert primary group SID and GID check box.
7. To populate the Insert Fields from this User field, perform the following steps:
a. Click Browse.
The Select a User dialog box appears.
b. Select a user and an LDAP authentication provider.
c. Click Search to view the search results.
d. Select a username and click Select to return to the Create a User Mapping Rule
dialog box.
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8. Click Add Rule.

Note

Rules are called in the order they are listed. To ensure that each rule gets processed,
list the replacements first and the allow or deny rules at the end. You can change the
order in which a rule is listed by clicking its title bar and dragging it to a new position.
9. Click Save Changes.

Mapping rule options

Mapping rules can contain options that target the fields of an access token.
A field represents an aspect of a cross-domain access token, such as the primary UID and
primary user SID from a user that you select. You can see some of the fields in the OneFS
web administration interface. User in the web administration interface is the same as
username. You can also see fields in an access token by running the command isi
auth mapping token.
When you create a rule, you can add an option to manipulate how OneFS combines
aspects of two identities into a single token. For example, an option can force OneFS to
append the supplement groups to a token.
A token includes the following fields that you can manipulate with user mapping rules:
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username

unix_name

primary_uid

primary_user_sid

primary_gid

primary_group_sid

additional_ids (includes supplemental groups)

Options control how a rule combines identity information in a token. The break option is
the exception: It stops OneFS from processing additional rules.
Although several options can apply to a rule, not all options apply to all operators. The
following table describes the effect of each option and the operators that they work with.
Option

Operator

Description

user

insert, append

Copies the primary UID and primary user SID, if they exist, to the
token.

groups

insert, append

Copies the primary GID and primary group SID, if they exist, to the
token.

groups

insert, append

Copies all the additional identifiers to the token. The additional

identifiers exclude the primary UID, the primary GID, the primary
user SID, and the primary group SID.

default_user all operators

except remove
groups

If the mapping service fails to find the second user in a rule, the
service tries to find the username of the default user. The name
of the default user cannot include wildcards. When you set the
option for the default user in a rule with the command-line
interface, you must set it with an underscore: default_user.

Mapping rule options

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Option

Operator

Description

break

all operators

Stops the mapping service from applying rules that follow the
insertion point of the break option. The mapping service
generates the final token at the point of the break.

Mapping rule operators

The operator determines what a mapping rule does.
You can create user-mapping rules through either the web-administration interface,
where the operators are spelled out in a list, or from the command-line interface.
When you create a mapping rule with the OneFS command-line interface (CLI), you must
specify an operator with a symbol. The operator affects the direction in which the
mapping service processes a rule. For more information about creating a mapping rule,
see the white paper Managing identities with the Isilon OneFS user mapping service. The
following table describes the operators that you can use in a mapping rule.
A mapping rule can contain only one operator.
Operator

Web interface

CLI Direction

Description

append

Append fields
from a user

++

Left-to-right

Modifies an access token by adding fields to

it. The mapping service appends the fields
that are specified in the list of options (user,
group, groups) to the first identity in the
rule. The fields are copied from the second
identity in the rule. All appended identifiers
become members of the additional groups
list. An append rule without an option
performs only a lookup operation; you must
include an option to alter a token.

insert

Insert fields
from a user

+=

Left-to-right

Modifies an existing access token by adding

fields to it. Fields specified in the options
list (user, group, groups) are copied from
the new identity and inserted into the
identity in the token. When the rule inserts a
primary user or primary group, it become the
new primary user and primary group in the
token. The previous primary user and
primary group move to the additional
identifiers list. Modifying the primary user
leaves the tokens username unchanged.
When inserting the additional groups from
an identity, the service adds the new groups
to the existing groups.

replace

Replace one
user with a
different user

=>

Left-to-right

Removes the token and replaces it with the

new token that is identified by the second
username. If the second username is empty,
the mapping service removes the first
username in the token, leaving no
username. If a token contains no username,
OneFS denies access with a no such

user error.
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Operator

Web interface

CLI Direction

Description

remove
groups

Remove
supplemental
groups from a
user

--

Modifies a token by removing the

supplemental groups.

join

Join two users

together

&= Bidirectional Inserts the new identity into the token. If the
new identity is the second user, the
mapping service inserts it after the existing
identity; otherwise, the service inserts it
before the existing identity. The location of
the insertion point is relevant when the
existing identity is already the first in the list
because OneFS uses the first identity to
determine the ownership of new file system
objects.

Unary

Mapping rule operators

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CHAPTER 7
Auditing

This section contains the following topics:

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Auditing overview................................................................................................162
Protocol audit events.......................................................................................... 162
Supported event types........................................................................................ 162
Supported audit tools......................................................................................... 163
Enable system configuration auditing..................................................................164
Enable protocol access auditing..........................................................................164
Auditing settings................................................................................................. 165

Auditing

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Auditing

Auditing overview
You can audit system configuration changes and SMB and NFS protocol activity on an
EMC Isilon cluster. All audit data is stored and protected in the cluster file system and
organized by audit topics.
When you enable or disable system configuration auditing, no additional configuration is
required. If you enable configuration auditing, all configuration events that are handled
by the APIincluding writes, modifications, and deletionsare tracked and recorded in
the config audit topic directories.
You can enable and configure protocol auditing for one or more access zones in a cluster.
If you enable protocol auditing for an access zone, file-access events through the SMB
and NFS protocol are recorded in the protocol audit topic directories. The protocol
audit log file is consumable by auditing applications that support the EMC Common Event
Enabler (CEE), such as Varonis DatAdvantage for Windows. By default, OneFS logs only
the events that are handled by Varonis, but you can specify which events to log in each
access zone. For example, you might want to audit the default set of protocol events in
the System access zone but audit only successful attempts to delete files in a different
access zone.

Protocol audit events

By default, audited access zones track only the events on the EMC Isilon cluster that are
used by Varonis DatAdvantageincluding successful and failed attempts to access files
or directories.
Although recent versions of Varonis DatAdvantage do not directly audit read and write
attempts, the intention to read or write is captured by the access bits for a create event.
The names of generated events are loosely based on the Windows I/O request packet
(IRP) model in which all operations begin with a create event to obtain a file handle. All
delete, rename, read, write, or set_security events must be preceded by a create event. A
close event marks when the client is finished with the file handle that was produced by a
create event.
These internally-stored events are translated to events that are forwarded through CEE to
the auditing application. The CEE export facilities on OneFS perform this mapping.
It is important to note that different SMB and NFS clients issue different requests, and
that one version of Windows or Mac OS X may differ from another. It is also important to
note that different versions of an application such as Microsoft Word or Explorer might
make different protocol requests. For example, a client with an open Microsoft Explorer
window might occasionally generate many events if an automatic or manual refresh of
that window occurs. Because programs issue requests with the logged-in user's
credentials, examining file system audit events under the assumption that they were
purposeful user activities may yield unexpected results.

Supported event types

You can view or modify the event types that are audited in an access zone. By default,
OneFS audits only the event types that are supported by Varonis DatAdvantage.
The following event types are configured by default on each audited access zone:

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Event name Example protocol activity

create

close

Create a file or directory

Open a file, directory, or share

Mount a share

Delete a file

Close a directory

Close a modified or unmodified file

rename

Rename a file or directory

delete

Delete a file or directory

set_security

Attempt to modify file or directory permissions

The following event types are available for forwarding through CEE but are unsupported
by Varonis DatAdvantage:
Event name Example protocol activity
read

The first read request on an open file handle

write

The first write request on an open file handle

close

The client is finished with an open file handle

get_security

The client reads security information for an open file handle

The following protocol audit events are not exported through CEE and are unsupported by
Varonis DatAdvantage:
Event name Example protocol activity
logon

SMB session create request by a client

logoff

SMB session logoff

tree_connect SMB first attempt to access a share

Supported audit tools

You can configure OneFS to send protocol auditing logs to servers that support the EMC
Common Event Enabler (CEE).
CEE has been tested and verified to work with Varonis DatAdvantage for Windows and
StealthAUDIT Management Platform v6.3. Supported features and audit events for
Varonis DatAdvantage are displayed in the following table:
Application
Varonis DatAdvantage for
Windows

Supported features

Audit events

Usable Access Auditing

create

Recommendations, Analytics, and Modeling

close

Data Owner Identification and Involvement

delete

rename

Supported audit tools

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Auditing

Application

Supported features

Audit events
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set_security

Note

It is recommended that you install and configure third-party auditing applications before
you enable the OneFS auditing feature. Otherwise, the backlog consumed by the tool may
be so large that results may be stale for a prolonged time.
For the most current list of supported auditing tools, see the Isilon Third-Party Software &
Hardware Compatibility Guide.

Enable system configuration auditing

You can enable or disable the auditing of system configuration changes. No additional
settings are available.
Note

It is recommended that you install and configure third-party auditing applications before
you enable the OneFS auditing feature. Otherwise, the backlog consumed by the tool may
be so large that results may be stale for a prolonged time.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Auditing.
2. In the Settings area, select the Enable Configuration Change Auditing checkbox.
3. Click Save Changes.

Enable protocol access auditing

You can audit SMB protocol access on a per-access zone basis and optionally forward the
generated events to the EMC Common Event Enabler (CEE) for export to third-party
products.
Note

It is recommended that you install and configure third-party auditing applications before
you enable the OneFS auditing feature. Otherwise, the backlog consumed by the tool may
become so large that results might be stale for a prolonged time.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Auditing.
2. In the Settings area, select the Enable Protocol Access Auditing checkbox.
3. In the Audited Zones area, click Add Zones.
4. In the Select Zones dialog box, select the checkbox for one or more access zones, and
then click Add Zones.
5. Optional: In the Event Forwarding area, specify one or more CEE servers to forward
logged events to.
a. In the CEE Server URIs field, type the URI of each CEE server in the CEE server pool.
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The OneFS CEE export service uses round robin load-balancing when exporting
events to multiple CEE servers. Valid URIs start with http:// and include the port
number and path to the CEE server if necessaryfor example, http://
example.com:12228/cee.
b. In the Storage Cluster Name field, specify the name of the storage cluster to use
when forwarding protocol events.
This name value is typically the SmartConnect zone name, but in cases where
SmartConnect is not implemented, the value must match the hostname of the
cluster as Varonis recognizes it. If the field is left blank, events from each node are
filled with the node name (clustername + lnn). This setting is required only if
needed by your third-party audit application.
Note

Although this step is optional, be aware that a backlog of events will accumulate
regardless of whether CEE servers have been configured. When configured, CEE
forwarding begins with the oldest events in the backlog and moves toward newest
events in a first-in-first-out sequence.
6. Click Save Changes.
Results
The following protocol events, which are the only events supported by Varonis
DatAdvantage, are collected for audited access zones by default: create, close,
delete, rename, and set_security. You can modify the set of events that are
audited in an access zone by running the isi zone zones modify command in the
command-line interface. Because each audited event consumes system resources, it is
recommended that you only configure zones for events that are needed by your auditing
application.

Auditing settings
You can view or modify basic settings for configuration change auditing and protocol
access auditing.
Enable Configuration Change Auditing
Audits requests that are made through the API for system configuration changes.
Enable Protocol Access Auditing
Audits requests that are made through the SMB protocol to access data.
Audited Zones
Specifies one or more access zones to audit. This setting applies only to protocol
access auditing.
CEE Server URIs
Specifies one or more CEE server URIs where audit events will be forwarded. The
OneFS CEE export service uses round robin load-balancing when exporting events to
multiple CEE servers. This setting applies only to protocol access auditing.
Storage Cluster Name
Specifies the name of the storage cluster to use when forwarding protocol events
typically, the SmartConnect zone name. This setting is required only if needed by
your third-party audit application.

Auditing settings

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CHAPTER 8
File sharing

This section contains the following topics:

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File sharing overview........................................................................................... 168

SMB.................................................................................................................... 168
NFS..................................................................................................................... 173
HTTP and HTTPS.................................................................................................. 175
FTP...................................................................................................................... 175
Mixed protocol environments.............................................................................. 175
Write caching with SmartCache........................................................................... 175
Managing SMB settings.......................................................................................177
Managing SMB shares.........................................................................................180
Managing the NFS service................................................................................... 185
Managing NFS exports.........................................................................................187
Managing NFS aliases......................................................................................... 192
Enable and configure FTP file sharing.................................................................. 194
Enable and configure HTTP.................................................................................. 195

File sharing

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File sharing overview

Multi-protocol support in OneFS enables files and directories on the Isilon cluster to be
accessed through SMB for Windows file sharing, NFS for UNIX file sharing, secure shell
(SSH), FTP, and HTTP. By default, only the SMB and NFS protocols are enabled.
OneFS creates the /ifs directory, which is the root directory for all file system data on
the cluster. The /ifs directory is configured as an SMB share and an NFS export by
default. You can create additional shares and exports within the /ifs directory tree.
Note

It is recommended that you do not save data to the root /ifs file path but in directories
below /ifs. The design of your data storage structure should be planned carefully. A
well-designed directory structure optimizes cluster performance and administration.
You can set Windows- and UNIX-based permissions on OneFS files and directories. Users
who have the required permissions and administrative privileges can create, modify, and
read data on the cluster through one or more of the supported file sharing protocols.
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SMB. Allows Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X clients to access files that are stored
on the cluster.

NFS. Allows Linux and UNIX clients that adhere to the RFC1813 (NFSv3) and RFC3530
(NFSv4) specifications to access files that are stored on the cluster.

HTTP and HTTPS (with optional DAV). Allows clients to access files that are stored on
the cluster through a web browser.

FTP. Allows any client that is equipped with an FTP client program to access files that
are stored on the cluster through the FTP protocol.

SMB
OneFS includes a configurable SMB service to create and manage SMB shares. SMB
shares provide Windows clients network access to file system resources on the cluster.
You can grant permissions to users and groups to carry out operations such as reading,
writing, and setting access permissions on SMB shares.
The /ifs directory is configured as an SMB share and is enabled by default. OneFS
supports both user and anonymous security modes. If the user security mode is enabled,
users who connect to a share from an SMB client must provide a valid user name with
proper credentials.
The SMB protocol uses security identifiers (SIDs) for authorization data. All identities are
converted to SIDs during retrieval and are converted back to their on-disk representation
before they are stored on the cluster.
When a file or directory is created, OneFS checks the access control list (ACL) of its parent
directory. If the ACL contains any inheritable access control entries (ACEs), a new ACL is
generated from those ACEs. Otherwise, OneFS creates an ACL from the combined file and
directory create mask and create mode settings.
OneFS supports the following SMB clients:

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SMB version

Supported operating systems

1.0

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SMB version

Supported operating systems

Windows XP or later
Mac OS X 10.5 or later

2.0

Windows Vista or later

Windows Server 2008 or later
Mac OS X 10.9 or later

2.1

Windows 7 or later
Windows Server 2008 R2 or later

3.0 - Multichannel only Windows 8 or later

Windows Server 2012 or later

SMB shares in access zones

You can create and manage SMB shares within access zones.
You can create access zones that partition storage on the EMC Isilon cluster into multiple
virtual containers. Access zones support all configuration settings for authentication and
identity management services on the cluster, so you can configure authentication
providers and provision SMB shares on a zone-by-zone basis. When you create an access
zone, a local provider is created automatically, which allows you to configure each access
zone with a list of local users and groups. You can also authenticate through a different
Active Directory provider in each access zone, and you can control data access by
directing incoming connections to the access zone from a specific IP address in a pool.
Associating an access zone with an IP address pool restricts authentication to the
associated access zone and reduces the number of available and accessible SMB shares.
The following list describes a few ways to simplify SMB management with access zones:
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You can migrate multiple SMB servers, such as Windows file servers or NetApp filers,
to a single Isilon cluster. You can then configure a separate access zone for each SMB
server.

You can configure each access zone with a unique set of SMB share names that do
not conflict with share names in other access zones, and then join each access zone
to a different Active Directory domain.

You can reduce the number of available and accessible shares to manage by
associating an IP address pool with an access zone to restrict authentication to the
zone.

You can configure default SMB share settings that apply to all shares in an access
zone.

The Isilon cluster includes a built-in access zone named System, where you manage all
aspects of the cluster and other access zones. If you don't specify an access zone when
managing SMB shares, OneFS will default to the System zone.

SMB Multichannel
SMB Multichannel supports establishing a single SMB session over multiple network
connections.
SMB Multichannel is a feature of the SMB 3.0 protocol that provides the following
capabilities:
SMB shares in access zones

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Increased throughput
OneFS can transmit more data to a client through multiple connections over a high
speed network adapters or over multiple network adapters.
Connection failure tolerance
When an SMB Multichannel session is established over multiple network
connections, the session is not lost if one of the connections has a network fault,
which enables the client to continue to work.
Automatic discovery
SMB Multichannel automatically discovers supported hardware configurations on
the client that have multiple available network paths and then negotiates and
establishes a session over multiple network connections. You are not required to
install components, roles, role services, or features.

SMB Multichannel requirements

You must meet software and NIC configuration requirements to support SMB
Multichannel on the EMC Isilon cluster.
OneFS can only support SMB Multichannel when the following software requirements are
met:
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Windows Server 2012, 2012r2 or Windows 8, 8.1 clients

SMB Multichannel must be enabled on both the EMC Isilon cluster and the Windows
client computer. It is enabled on the Isilon cluster by default.

SMB Multichannel establishes a single SMB session over multiple network connections
only on supported network interface card (NIC) configurations. SMB Multichannel
requires at least one of the following NIC configurations on the client computer:
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Two or more network interface cards.

One or more network interface cards that support Receive Side Scaling (RSS).

One or more network interface cards configured with link aggregation. Link
aggregation enables you to combine the bandwidth of multiple NICs on a node into a
single logical interface.

Client-side NIC configurations supported by SMB Multichannel

SMB Multichannel automatically discovers supported hardware configurations on the
client that have multiple available network paths.
Each node on the EMC Isilon cluster has at least one RSS-capable network interface card
(NIC). Your client-side NIC configuration determines how SMB Multichannel establishes
simultaneous network connections per SMB session.

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Client-side NIC
Configuration

Description

Single RSS-capable
NIC

SMB Multichannel establishes a maximum of four network connections to

the Isilon cluster over the NIC. The connections are more likely to be
spread across multiple CPU cores, which reduces the likelihood of
performance bottleneck issues and achieves the maximum speed
capability of the NIC.

Multiple NICs

If the NICs are RSS-capable, SMB Multichannel establishes a maximum of

four network connections to the Isilon cluster over each NIC. If the NICs on
the client are not RSS-capable, SMB Multichannel establishes a single
network connection to the Isilon cluster over each NIC. Both configurations

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Client-side NIC
Configuration

Description
allow SMB Multichannel to leverage the combined bandwidth of multiple
NICs and provides connection fault tolerance if a connection or a NIC fails.
Note

SMB Multichannel cannot establish more than eight simultaneous network

connections per session. In a multiple NIC configuration, this might limit
the number connections allowed per NIC. For example, if the configuration
contains three RSS-capable NICs, SMB Multichannel might establish three
connections over the first NIC, three connections over the second NIC and
two connections over the third NIC.
Aggregated NICs

SMB Multichannel establishes multiple network connections to the Isilon

cluster over aggregated NICs, which results in balanced connections
across CPU cores, effective consumption of combined bandwidth, and
connection fault tolerance.
Note

The aggregated NIC configuration inherently provides NIC fault tolerance

that is not dependent upon SMB.

SMB share management through MMC

OneFS supports the Shared Folders snap-in for the Microsoft Management Console
(MMC), which allows SMB shares on the EMC Isilon cluster to be managed using the MMC
tool.
Typically, you connect to the global System zone through the web administration
interface or the command line interface to manage and configure shares. If you configure
access zones, you can connect to a zone through the MMC Shared Folders snap-in to
directly manage all shares in that zone.
You can establish a connection through the MMC Shared Folders snap-in to an Isilon
node and perform the following SMB share management tasks:
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Create and delete shared folders

Configure access permission to an SMB share

View a list of active SMB sessions

Close open SMB sessions

View a list of open files

Close open files

When you connect to a zone through the MMC Shared Folders snap-in, you can view and
manage all SMB shares assigned to that zone; however, you can only view active SMB
sessions and open files on the specific node that you are connected to in that zone.
Changes you make to shares through the MMC Shared Folders snap-in are propagated
across the cluster.

SMB share management through MMC

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MMC connection requirements

You can connect to an EMC Isilon cluster through the MMC Shared Folders snap-in if you
meet access requirements.
The following conditions are required to establish a connection through the MMC Shared
Folders snap-in:
l

You must run the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) from a Windows workstation
that is joined to the domain of an Active Directory (AD) provider configured on the
cluster.

You must be a member of the local <cluster>\Administrators group.

Note

Role-based access control (RBAC) privileges do not apply to the MMC. A role with
SMB privileges is not sufficient to gain access.
l

You must log in to a Windows workstation as an Active Directory user that is a

member of the local <cluster>\Administrators group.

Symbolic links through SMB

OneFS allows SMB2 clients to access symbolic links in a seamless manner.
In an SMB share, a symbolic link (also known as a symlink or soft link) is a type of file
that contains a path to a target file or directory. Symbolic links are transparent to
applications running on SMB clients, and they function as typical files and directories. A
symbolic link that points to a network file or directory that is not in the path of the active
SMB session might be referred to as a wide or remote link.
OneFS exposes symbolic links through the SMB protocol, enabling SMB clients to resolve
the links instead of relying on OneFS to resolve the links on behalf of the clients. To
transverse a symbolic link or wide link, the SMB client must be authenticated to the SMB
shares that the link can be followed through. However, if the SMB client does not have
permission to access the share, access to the target is denied and Windows will not
prompt the user for credentials.
You can create symbolic links through the mklink Windows command from an SMB
client. You can delete symbolic links to files through the del Windows command. When
a symbolic link is created, it is designated as a file link or a directory link. Once the link is
set, the designation cannot be changed. Symbolic link paths can be formatted as either a
relative or absolute path.
Support for symbolic links and wide links are enabled by the SMB client. The specific
configuration depends on the client type and version.
In the following example, Windows supports the following link types:
l

local to local

local to remote

remote to local

remote to remote

To allow Windows SMB clients to traverse each type of symbolic link, the type must be
enabled on the client. The following Windows command enables all four link types:
fsutil behavior set SymlinkEvaluation L2L:1 R2R:1 L2R:1 R2L:1

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In another example, the following options must be enabled in your Samba configuration
file (smb.conf) to allow Samba clients to traverse symbolic links and wide links:
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follow symlinks=yes

wide links=yes

For more information, refer to the symbolic link configuration information for your specific
SMB client and version.

Anonymous access to SMB shares

You can configure anonymous access to SMB shares by enabling the local Guest user and
allowing impersonation of the guest user.
For example, if you store files such as browser executables or other data that is public on
the internet, anonymous access allows any user to access the SMB share without
authenticating.

NFS
OneFS provides an NFS server so you can share files on your cluster with NFS clients that
adhere to the RFC1813 (NFSv3) and RFC3530 (NFSv4) specifications.
In OneFS, the NFS server is fully optimized as a multi-threaded service running in user
space instead of the kernel. This architecture load balances the NFS service across all
nodes of the cluster, providing the stability and scalability necessary to manage up to
thousands of connections across multiple NFS clients.
NFS mounts execute and refresh quickly, and the server constantly monitors fluctuating
demands on NFS services and makes adjustments across all nodes to ensure continuous,
reliable performance. Using a built-in process scheduler, OneFS ensures fair allocation of
node resources so that no client can seize more than its fair share of NFS services.
The NFS server also supports access zones defined in OneFS, so that clients can access
only the exports appropriate to their zone. For example, if NFS exports are specified for
Zone 2, only clients assigned to Zone 2 can access these exports.
To simplify client connections, especially for exports with large pathnames, the NFS
server also supports aliases, which are shortcuts to mount points that clients can specify
directly.
For secure NFS file sharing, OneFS supports NIS and LDAP authentication providers.

NFS exports
You can manage individual NFS export rules that define mount-points (paths) available to
NFS clients and how the server should perform with these clients.
In OneFS, you can create, delete, list, view, modify, and reload NFS exports.
NFS export rules are zone-aware. Each export is associated with a zone, can only be
mounted by clients on that zone, and can only expose paths below the zone root. By
default, any export command applies to the client's current zone.
Each rule must have at least one path (mount-point), and can include additional paths.
You can also specify that all subdirectories of the given path or paths are mountable.
Otherwise, only the specified paths are exported, and child directories are not
mountable.
An export rule can specify a particular set of clients, enabling you to restrict access to
certain mount-points or to apply a unique set of options to these clients. If the rule does
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not specify any clients, then the rule applies to all clients that connect to the server. If the
rule does specify clients, then that rule is applied only to those clients.

NFS aliases
You can create and manage aliases as shortcuts for directory pathnames in OneFS. If
those pathnames are defined as NFS exports, NFS clients can specify the aliases as NFS
mount points.
NFS aliases are designed to give functional parity with SMB share names within the
context of NFS. Each alias maps a unique name to a path on the file system. NFS clients
can then use the alias name in place of the path when mounting.
Aliases must be formed as top-level Unix pathnames, having a single forward slash
followed by name. For example, you could create an alias named /q4 that mapped
to /ifs/data/finance/accounting/winter2013 (a path in OneFS). An NFS
client could mount that directory through either of:
mount cluster_ip:/q4
mount cluster_ip:/ifs/data/finance/accounting/winter2013

Aliases and exports are completely independent. You can create an alias without
associating it with an NFS export. Similarly, an NFS export does not require an alias.
Each alias must point to a valid path on the file system. While this path is absolute, it
must point to a location beneath the zone root (/ifs on the System zone). If the alias
points to a path that does not exist on the file system, any client trying to mount the alias
would be denied in the same way as attempting to mount an invalid full pathname.
NFS aliases are zone-aware. By default, an alias applies to the client's current access
zone. To change this, you can specify an alternative access zone as part of creating or
modifying an alias.
Each alias can only be used by clients on that zone, and can only apply to paths below
the zone root. Alias names are unique per-zone, but the same name can be used in
different zones, for example, /home.
When you create an alias in the Web Administration interface, the alias list displays the
status of the alias. Similarly, using the --check option of the isi nfs aliases
command, you can check the status of an NFS alias. Status can be one of good, illegal
path, name conflict, not exported, or path not found.

NFS log files

OneFS writes log messages associated with NFS events to a set of files in /var/log.
With the log level option, you can now specify the detail at which log messages are
output to log files. The following table describes the log files associated with NFS.

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Log file

Description

nfs.log

Primary NFS server functionality (v3, v4, mount)

rpc_lockd.log

NFS v3 locking events through the NLM protocol

rpc_statd.log

NFS v3 reboot detection through the NSM protocol

isi_netgroup_d.log

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HTTP and HTTPS

OneFS includes a configurable HTTP service, which is used to request files that are stored
on the cluster and to interact with the web administration interface.
OneFS supports both HTTP and its secure variant, HTTPS. Each node in the cluster runs an
instance of the Apache HTTP Server to provide HTTP access. You can configure the HTTP
service to run in different modes.
Both HTTP and HTTPS are supported for file transfer, but only HTTPS is supported for
Platform API calls. The HTTPS-only requirement includes the web administration interface.
In addition, OneFS supports a form of the web-based DAV (WebDAV) protocol that
enables users to modify and manage files on remote web servers. OneFS performs
distributed authoring, but does not support versioning and does not perform security
checks. You can enable DAV in the web administration interface.

FTP
OneFS includes a secure FTP service called vsftpd, which stands for Very Secure FTP
Daemon, that you can configure for standard FTP and FTPS file transfers.

Mixed protocol environments

The /ifs directory is the root directory for all file system data in the cluster, serving as
an SMB share, an NFS export, and a document root directory. You can create additional
shares and exports within the /ifs directory tree. You can configure your OneFS cluster
to use SMB or NFS exclusively. You can also enable HTTP, FTP, and SSH.
Access rights are consistently enforced across access protocols on all security models. A
user is granted or denied the same rights to a file whether using SMB or NFS. Clusters
running OneFS support a set of global policy settings that enable you to customize the
default access control list (ACL) and UNIX permissions settings.
OneFS is configured with standard UNIX permissions on the file tree. Through Windows
Explorer or OneFS administrative tools, you can give any file or directory an ACL. In
addition to Windows domain users and groups, ACLs in OneFS can include local, NIS, and
LDAP users and groups. After a file is given an ACL, the mode bits are no longer enforced
and exist only as an estimate of the effective permissions.
Note

It is recommended that you configure ACL and UNIX permissions only if you fully
understand how they interact with one another.

Write caching with SmartCache

Write caching accelerates the process of writing data to the cluster. OneFS includes a
write-caching feature called SmartCache, which is enabled by default for all files and
directories.
If write caching is enabled, OneFS writes data to a write-back cache instead of
immediately writing the data to disk. OneFS can write the data to disk at a time that is
more convenient.
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Note

It is recommended that you keep write caching enabled. You should also enable write
caching for all file pool policies.
OneFS interprets writes to the cluster as either synchronous or asynchronous, depending
on a client's specifications. The impacts and risks of write caching depend on what
protocols clients use to write to the cluster, and whether the writes are interpreted as
synchronous or asynchronous. If you disable write caching, client specifications are
ignored and all writes are performed synchronously.
The following table explains how clients' specifications are interpreted, according to the
protocol.
Protocol Synchronous

Asynchronous

NFS

The stable field is set to data_sync or

file_sync.

The stable field is set to unstable.

SMB

The write-through flag has been

applied.

The write-through flag has not been

applied.

Write caching for asynchronous writes

Writing to the cluster asynchronously with write caching is the fastest method of writing
data to your cluster.
Write caching for asynchronous writes requires fewer cluster resources than write caching
for synchronous writes, and will improve overall cluster performance for most workflows.
However, there is some risk of data loss with asynchronous writes.
The following table describes the risk of data loss for each protocol when write caching
for asynchronous writes is enabled:
Protocol Risk
NFS

If a node fails, no data will be lost except in the unlikely event that a client of that
node also crashes before it can reconnect to the cluster. In that situation,
asynchronous writes that have not been committed to disk will be lost.

SMB

If a node fails, asynchronous writes that have not been committed to disk will be lost.

It is recommended that you do not disable write caching, regardless of the protocol that
you are writing with. If you are writing to the cluster with asynchronous writes, and you
decide that the risks of data loss are too great, it is recommended that you configure your
clients to use synchronous writes, rather than disable write caching.

Write caching for synchronous writes

Write caching for synchronous writes costs cluster resources, including a negligible
amount of storage space. Although it is not as fast as write caching with asynchronous
writes, unless cluster resources are extremely limited, write caching with synchronous
writes is faster than writing to the cluster without write caching.
Write caching does not affect the integrity of synchronous writes; if a cluster or a node
fails, none of the data in the write-back cache for synchronous writes is lost.

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Managing SMB settings

You can enable or disable the SMB service, configure global settings for the SMB service,
and configure default SMB share settings that are specific to each access zone.

Configure SMB server settings

You can enable or disable the SMB server and configure global settings for SMB shares
and snapshot directories.
CAUTION

Modifying the advanced settings could result in operational failures. Be aware of the
potential consequences before committing changes to these settings.
Procedure
1. Click Protocols > Windows Sharing (SMB) > SMB Server Settings.
2. From the SMB service setting, select Enabled.
3. From the Snapshot Directory Settings box, choose the system default or a custom
configuration for the following settings:
l

Visible at root

Accessible at root

Visible in subdirectories

Accessible in subdirectories

4. Click Save.

Configure default SMB share settings

You can configure SMB share settings specific to each access zone.
The default settings are applied to all new shares that are added to the access zone.
CAUTION

If you modify the default settings, the changes are applied to all existing shares in the
access zone unless the setting was configured at the SMB share-level.
Procedure
1. Click Protocols > Windows Sharing (SMB) > SMB Default Share Settings.
2. From the Current Access Zones drop-down list, select the access zone that the default
settings will apply to.
3. From the File and Directory Permissions Settings box, choose the system default or a
custom configuration for the following settings:
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Create Permissions

Create Mask (Dir)

Create Mode (Dir)

Create Mask (File)

Create Mode (File)

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4. From the Performance Settings box, choose the system default or a custom
configuration for the following settings:
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Change Notify

Oplocks

Performance settings are advanced and should only be modified if necessary.

5. From the Security Settings box, choose the system default or a custom configuration
for the following settings:
l

Impersonate Guest

Impersonate User

NTFS ACL

6. Click Save.

Enable or disable SMB Multichannel

SMB Multichannel is required for multiple, concurrent SMB sessions from a Windows
client computer to a node in an EMC Isilon cluster. SMB Multichannel is enabled in the
Isilon cluster by default.
You can enable or disable SMB Multichannel only through the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Run the isi smb settings global modify command.
The following command enables SMB Multichannel on the EMC Isilon cluster:
isi smb settings global modify -support-multichannel=yes

The following command disables SMB Multichannel on the EMC Isilon cluster:
isi smb settings global modify -support-multichannel=no

Snapshots directory settings

You can view and configure the settings that control the snapshots directories in SMB.
CAUTION

These settings affect the behavior of the SMB service. Changes to these settings can
affect all current and future SMB shares.

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Setting

Setting value

Visible at Root

Specifies whether to make the .snapshot directory visible at the root

of the share. The default value is Yes.

Accessible at Root

Specifies whether to make the .snapshot directory accessible at the

root of the share. The default value is Yes.

Visible in Subdirectories

Specifies whether to make the .snapshot directory visible in

subdirectories of the share root. The default value is No.

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Setting

Setting value

Accessible in
Subdirectories

Specifies whether to make the .snapshot directory accessible in

subdirectories of the share root. The default value is Yes.

File and directory permission settings

You can view and configure the default source permissions and UNIX create mask/mode
bits that are applied when a file or directory is created in an SMB share.
Note

Changes that are made directly to an SMB share override the default settings configured
from the Default SMB Share Settings tab.
If the mask and mode bits match the default values, a green check mark next to a setting
appears, indicating that the specified read (R), write (W), or execute (X) permission is
enabled at the user, group, or "other" level. The "other" level includes all users who are
not listed as the owner of the share, and are not part of the group level that the file
belongs to.
Setting

Setting value

Create Permissions Sets the default source permissions to apply when a file or directory is
created. The default value is Default ACL.
Create Mask (Dir)

Specifies UNIX mode bits that are removed when a directory is created,
restricting permissions. Mask bits are applied before mode bits are applied.

Create Mode (Dir)

Specifies UNIX mode bits that are added when a directory is created,
enabling permissions. Mode bits are applied after mask bits are applied.

Create Mask (File)

Specifies UNIX mode bits that are removed when a file is created, restricting
permissions. Mask bits are applied before mode bits are applied.

Create Mode (File)

Specifies UNIX mode bits that are added when a file is created, enabling
permissions. Mode bits are applied after mask bits are applied.

SMB performance settings

You can view and configure the change notify and oplocks performance settings of an
SMB share.
Note

Changes that are made directly to an SMB share override the default settings configured
from the Default SMB Share Settings tab.

File and directory permission settings

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Setting

Setting value

Change Notify Configures notification of clients when files or directories change. This helps
prevent clients from seeing stale content, but requires server resources. The
default value is Norecurse.
Oplocks

Indicates whether an opportunistic lock (oplock) request is allowed. An oplock

allows clients to provide performance improvements by using locally-cached
information. The default value is Yes.

SMB security settings

You can view and configure the Impersonate Guest, Impersonate User, and NTFS ACL
security settings of an SMB share.
Note

Changes that are made directly to an SMB share override the default settings configured
from the Default SMB Share Settings tab.
Setting

Setting value

Impersonate Guest Determines guest access to a share. The default value is Never.
Impersonate User

Allows all file access to be performed as a specific user. This must be a fully
qualified user name. The default value is No value.

NTFS ACL

Allows ACLs to be stored and edited from SMB clients. The default value is
Yes.

Managing SMB shares

You can configure the rules and other settings that govern the interaction between your
Windows network and individual SMB shares on the cluster.
OneFS supports %U, %D, %Z, %L, %0, %1, %2, and %3 variable expansion and
automatic provisioning of user home directories.
You can configure the users and groups that are associated with an SMB share, and view
or modify their share-level permissions.
Note

It is recommended that you configure advanced SMB share settings only if you have a
solid understanding of the SMB protocol.

Create an SMB share

When you create an SMB share, you can override the default permissions, performance,
and access settings. You can configure SMB home directory provisioning by including

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expansion variables in the share path to automatically create and redirect users to their
own home directories.
Before you begin
You must specify a path to use as the SMB share; create the directory before you create
an SMB share. Shares are specific to access zones and the share path must exist under
the zone path. Create access zones before you create SMB shares.
Procedure
1. Click Protocols > Windows Sharing (SMB) > SMB Shares.
2. From the Current Access Zones drop-down list, select the access zone the share will
belong to.
3. Click Add a share.
4. In the Share Name field, type a name for the share.
Share names can contain up to 80 characters, and can only contain alphanumeric
characters, hyphens, and spaces. Also, if the cluster character encoding is not set to
UTF-8, SMB share names are case-sensitive.
5. Optional: In the Description field, type a comment about the share.
A description is optional, but can be helpful if you are managing multiple shares. This
field is limited to 255 characters.
6. In the Directory to be Shared field, type the full path of the share, beginning with /
ifs, or click Browse to locate the share.
Note

You can specify one or more of the following variables in the directory path but you
must select the Allow Variable Expansion check box or the string is interpreted
literally by the system.
Variable Expansion
%D

NetBIOS domain name.

%U

User namefor example, user_001.

%Z

Zone namefor example, System.

%L

Host name of the cluster, normalized to lowercase.

%0

First character of the user name.

%1

Second character of the user name.

%2

Third character of the user name.

For example, if a user is in a domain named DOMAIN and has a username of user_1,
the path /ifs/home/%D/%U expands to /ifs/home/DOMAIN/user_1.
7. Apply the initial ACL settings for the directory. You can modify these settings later.
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To apply a default ACL to the shared directory, click Apply Windows default ACLs.

Create an SMB share

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Note

If the Auto-Create Directories setting is enabled, OneFS creates an ACL with the
equivalent of UNIX 700 mode bit permissions for any directory that is created
automatically.
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To maintain the existing permissions on the shared directory, click Do not change
existing permissions.

8. Optional: Configure home directory provisioning settings.

l

To expand path variables such as %U in the share directory path, select Allow
Variable Expansion.

To automatically create home directories when users access the share for the first
time, select Auto-Create Directories. This option is available only if the Allow
Variable Expansion option is enabled.

9. Optional: Apply advanced SMB share settings if needed.

10.Click Create.
After you finish
The default permissions configuration is read-only access for the well-known Everyone
account. Modify the Users and Groups section settings to allow users to write to the
share.

Modify SMB share permissions, performance, or security

You can modify the permissions, performance, and access settings for individual SMB
shares.
You can configure SMB home directory provisioning by using directory path, or
expansion, variables to automatically create and redirect users to their own home
directories.
Note

Any changes made to these settings will only affect the settings for this share. If you need
to make changes to default SMB share values, that can be done from the Default SMB
Share Settings tab.
Procedure
1. Click Protocols > Windows Sharing (SMB) > SMB Shares.
2. From the Current Access Zones drop-down list, select the access zone that contains
the share you want to modify.
3. From the list of SMB shares, locate the share you want to modify and then click View
details.
4. For each setting that you want to modify, click Edit, make the change, and then click
Save.
5. To modify the settings for file and directory permissions, performance, or security,
click Advanced SMB Share Settings.
6. Click Save.

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Delete an SMB share

You can delete SMB shares that are no longer needed.
Unused SMB shares do not hinder cluster performance. If you delete an SMB share, the
share path is deleted but the directory it referenced still exists. If you create a new share
with the same path as the share that was deleted, the directory that the previous share
referenced will be accessible again through the new share.
Procedure
1. Click Protocols > Windows Sharing (SMB) > SMB Shares.
2. From the Current Access Zones drop-down list, select the access zone that contains
the share that you want to delete.
3. From the list of SMB shares, select the share that you want to delete.
Note

You can delete all of the shares on the cluster by selecting the Name/Path option, and
then selecting Delete from the drop-down menu.
4. Click Delete.
5. In the confirmation dialog box, click Delete to confirm the deletion.

Limit access to /ifs share for the Everyone account

By default, the /ifs root directory is configured as an SMB share in the System access
zone. It is recommended that you restrict the Everyone account of this share to read-only
access.
Procedure
1. Click Protocols > Windows Sharing (SMB) > SMB Shares.
2. From the Current Access Zone drop-down list, select System.
3. Click View details for the /ifs share.
4. Click Edit next to the Users & Groups option.
5. In the User/Group Accounts list, click Edit next to the Everyone account.
6. Click Specify Permission Level and then select the Read option.
The Full Control and Read-Write options should not be selected.
7. Click Save.

Configure anonymous access to a single SMB share

You can configure anonymous access to data stored on a single share through Guest user
impersonation.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Membership & Roles > Users.
2. From the Current Access Zone list, select the access zone that contains the share you
want to allow anonymous access.
3. From the Users list, select Local.

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a. Click View details for the Guest account.

b. Next to the Enable Account area, click Edit.
c. Select the Enable Account check box, and then click Save.
4. Click Protocols > Windows Sharing (SMB) > SMB Shares.
5. Click View details next to the share you to allow anonymous access.
6. Click Advanced SMB Share Settings, and then click Security Settings.
7. From the Impersonate Guest drop-down list, select Use Custom.
8. At the Confirm Default Override dialog box, click Continue.
A second drop-down list is displayed.
9. Select Always from the drop-down list, and then click Save.

Configure anonymous access to all SMB shares in an access zone

You can configure anonymous access to data stored in an access zone through Guest
user impersonation.
Procedure
1. Click Access > Membership & Roles > Users.
2. From the Current Access Zone list, select the access zone you want to allow
anonymous access.
3. From the Users list, select Local.
a. Click View details for the Guest account.
b. Next to the Enable Account area, click Edit.
c. Select the Enable Account check box, and then click Save.
4. Click Protocols > Windows Sharing (SMB) > Default Share Settings.
5. From the Current Access Zone list, select the access zone you want to allow
anonymous access.
6. Click Show, and then click Security Settings.
7. From the Impersonate Guest drop-down list, select Use Custom.
8. At the Confirm Default Override dialog box, click Continue.
A second drop-down list is displayed.
9. Select Always from the drop-down list, and then click Save.

Add a user or group to an SMB share

For each SMB share, you can add share-level permissions for specific users and groups.
Procedure
1. Click Protocols > Windows Sharing (SMB) > SMB Shares.
2. From the Current Access Zones drop-down list, select the access zone that contains
the share you want to add a user or group to.
3. From the list of SMB shares, locate the share you want to modify and then click View
details.
4. Click Edit next to the Users & Groups option.
The User/Group permission list for the share appears.
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5. Click Add a User or Group. Then select the option you want to search for.
l

Users

Groups

Well-known SIDs

6. If you selected User or Group, you can locate the user or group through one of the
following methods:
l

Type the Username or Group Name you want to search for in the text field, and
then click Search.

Select the authentication provider you want to search in the text field, and then
click Search. Only providers that are currently configured and enabled on the
cluster are listed.

Type the Username or Group Name and select an authentication provider and click
Search.

7. If you selected Well-known SIDs, click Search.

8. In the search results, click the user, group, or SID that you want to add to the SMB
share and then click Select.
9. By default, the access rights of the new account are set to Deny All. To enable a
user or group to access the share, follow these additional steps:
a. Next to the user or group account you added, click Edit.
b. Select Run as Root or select Specify Permission Level and then select one or more
of the following permission levels: Full Control, Read-Write, and Read.
10.Click Save.

Configure multi-protocol home directory access

For users who will access this share through FTP or SSH, you can ensure that their home
directory path is the same whether they connect through SMB or they log in through FTP
or SSH.
This command directs the SMB share to use the home directory template that is specified
in the user's authentication provider. This procedure is available only through the
command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Establish an SSH connection to any node in the cluster.
2. Run the following command, where <homedir_share> is the name of the SMB share:
isi smb share modify <homedir_share> --path=""

Managing the NFS service

You can enable or disable the NFS service and specify the NFS versions to support,
including NFSv3 and NFSv4. NFS settings are applied across all nodes in the cluster.

Configure multi-protocol home directory access

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Configure NFS file sharing

You can enable or disable the NFS service, and set the lock protection level and security
type. These settings are applied across all nodes in the cluster. You can change the
settings for individual NFS exports that you define.
Procedure
1. Click Protocols > UNIX Sharing (NFS) > Global Settings.
2. Enable or disable the following settings:
l

NFS Export Service

NFSv3

NFSv4

3. Select the Requested Lock Protection Level setting from the drop-down list.
Because the NFS service is distributed across all nodes on the cluster, you can select
the number of node failures that would be tolerated and still keep the service running.
The default of [+2] is the optimal value. It is recommended that you not change it.
4. Click the Reload button for the Cached Export Configuration setting.
The cached NFS export settings are reloaded to ensure that changes to DNS or NIS are
applied.
5. Click Save.

Create a root-squashing rule for the default NFS export

By default, the NFS service implements a root-squashing rule for the default NFS export.
This prevents root users on NFS clients from exercising root privileges on the NFS server.
Procedure
1. Click Protocols > UNIX Sharing (NFS) > NFS Exports.
2. For the default export in the NFS Exports list, click View details.
3. Verify that Map Root User is set to Use default. If so, proceed to step 6.
4. If Map Root User is set to Use custom, restore root user options to these values:
User: Map root users to user nobody
Primary Group: No primary group
Secondary Groups: No secondary groups

5. Click Save.
6. Click Close.
Results
With these settings, regardless of the users' credentials on the NFS client, they would not
be able to gain root privileges on the NFS server.

NFS global settings

NFS global settings determine how the NFS service operates. You can modify these
settings according to your organization's needs.
The following table describes NFS global settings and their default values:

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Setting

Description

NFS Export Service

Enables or disables the NFS service. This setting is enabled by default.

NFSv3

Enables or disables support for NFSv3. This setting is enabled by

default.

NFSv4

Enables or disables support for NFSv4. This setting is disabled by

default.

Requested Lock
Protection Level

Determines the number of node failures that can happen before a lock
might be lost. The default value is [+2] Tolerate failure of 2
nodes.

Cached Export
Configuration

Enables you to reload cached NFS exports to ensure that any domain or
network changes take effect immediately.

Managing NFS exports

You can create NFS exports, view and modify export settings, and delete exports that are
no longer needed.
The /ifs directory is the top-level directory for data storage in OneFS, and is also the
path defined in the default export. By default, the /ifs export disallows root access, but
other enables UNIX clients to mount this directory and any subdirectories beneath it.
Note

It is recommended that you modify the default export to limit access only to trusted
clients, or to restrict access completely. To ensure that sensitive data is not
compromised, other exports that you create should be lower in the OneFS file hierarchy,
and can be protected by access zones or limited to specific clients with either root, readwrite, or read-only access, as appropriate.

Create an NFS export

You can create NFS exports to share files in OneFS with UNIX-based clients.
The NFS service runs in user space and distributes the load across all nodes in the
cluster. This enables the service to be highly scalable and support thousands of exports.
As a best practice, however, you should avoid creating a separate export for each client
on your network. It is more efficient to create fewer exports, and to use access zones and
user mapping to control access.
Procedure
1. Select Protocols > UNIX Sharing (NFS) > NFS Exports.
2. Click + Add an NFS Export.
3. Optional: In the Description field, type a comment that describes the export.
4. Optional: Specify the NFS clients that are allowed to access the export.
You can specify NFS clients in any or all of the client fields, as described in the
following table. A client can be identified by host name, IP address, subnet, or
netgroup, and you can specify multiple clients in each field by typing one entry per
line.

Managing NFS exports

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Note

If no clients are specified, all clients on your network are allowed to access the export.
If you add the same client to more than one list and the client is entered in the same
format for each entry, the client is normalized to a single list in the following order of
priority: Root Clients, Always Read-Write Clients, Always Read-Only
Clients, Clients.
Setting

Description

Clients

Specifies one or more clients to be allowed access to the export.

Access level is controlled through export permissions.

Always
Read-Write
Clients

Specifies one or more clients to be allowed read/write access to the

export regardless of the export's access-restriction setting. This is
equivalent to adding a client to the Clients list with the Restrict
access to read-only setting cleared.

Always
Read-Only
Clients

Specifies one or more clients to be allowed read-only access to the

export regardless of the export's access-restriction setting. This is
equivalent to adding a client to the Clients list with the Restrict
access to read-only setting selected.

Root Clients

Specifies one or more clients to be mapped as root for the export.

This setting is equivalent to adding a client to the Clients list and
mapping root users to the root username.

5. For the Directory Paths setting, type or browse to the directory that you want to export.
You can add multiple directory paths by clicking Add another directory path for each
additional path.
6. Specify export permissions:
l

Restrict actions to read-only.

Enable mount access to subdirectories. Allow subdirectories below the path(s) to

be mounted.

7. Specify User/Group mapping.

If you select the Use custom option, you can limit access by mapping root users or all
users to a specific user and group ID. For root squash, map root users to the user
name nobody.
8. Specify Security Type(s).
If you select the Use custom option, you can select one or more of the following
security types:
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UNIX (system)

Kerberos5

Kerberos5 Integrity

Kerberos5 Privacy

9. Configure Advanced NFS Export Settings.

It is highly recommended that you do not change advanced settings unless it is
necessary and you fully understand the consequences of these changes.
10.Click Save.
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Results
The new NFS export is created and shown at the top of the NFS Exports list.

Modify an NFS export

You can modify the settings for an existing NFS export. In some cases, modifying an NFS
export could invalidate existing NFS client connections.
Procedure
1. Select Protocols > UNIX Sharing (NFS) > NFS Exports.
2. In the NFS Exports list, click View details for the export that you want to modify.
3. For each setting that you want to modify, click Edit, make the change, and then click
Save.
4. Click Close.
5. Click Hide details to redisplay the NFS Exports list.

Delete an NFS export

You can delete unneeded NFS exports. Any current NFS client connections to these
exports become invalid.
Note

You can delete all the exports on a cluster at once. Click the Export ID/Path check box at
the top of the NFS Exports list, and then select Delete from the drop-down list to the right.
Procedure
1. Select Protocols > UNIX Sharing (NFS) > NFS Exports.
2. In the NFS Exports list, click the check box to the left of the export that you want to
delete.
3. Click Delete.
4. In the confirmation dialog box, click Delete to confirm the operation.

Check NFS exports for errors

You can check for errors in NFS exports, such as conflicting export rules, invalid paths,
and unresolvable hostnames and netgroups.
This procedure is available only through the CLI.
Procedure
1. Run the isi nfs exports check command.
In the following example output, no errors were found:
ID Message
------------------Total: 0

In the following example output, export 1 contains a directory path that does not
currently exist:
ID
Message
----------------------------------Modify an NFS export

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1
'/ifs/test' does not exist
----------------------------------Total: 1

View and configure default NFS export settings

You can view and configure default NFS export settings. All new exports and any existing
exports using default values are affected by changes to the default settings.
Note

Changes to default export settings affect all current and future NFS exports that use
default settings, and, if specified incorrectly, could impact the availability of the NFS file
sharing service. It is recommended that you not make changes to default settings,
particularly advanced settings, unless you have experience working with NFS. Instead,
you should change settings as needed for individual NFS exports as you create them.
Procedure
1. Select Protocols > UNIX Sharing (NFS) > Export Settings.
Four common NFS export settings are displayed: Map Root User, Map Non Root User,
Map Failure, and Security Types. In addition, a link to advanced default export
settings is provided.
2. Modify any of default settings that you want to apply to all new NFS exports, or to
existing exports that use any of the default values.
3. When you are finished modifying settings, click Save.

Basic NFS export settings

The basic NFS export settings are global settings that apply to any new NFS exports that
you create.
The basic NFS export settings are described in the following table.
Setting

Default values

Map Root User

User: Map root users to user nobody

Primary Group: No primary group
Secondary Groups: No secondary groups
Note

The default settings result in a root squashing rule whereby no user on the NFS
client, even a root user, can gain root privileges on the NFS server.

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Map Non Root

User

User mapping is disabled by default. It is recommended that you specify this

setting on a per-export basis, when appropriate.

Map Failure

User mapping is disabled by default. It is recommended that you specify this

setting on a per-export basis, when appropriate.

Security Types

System default. Available options include UNIX (sys), Kerberos5,

Kerberos5 Integrity, and Kerberos5 Privacy.

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NFS export performance settings

You can specify settings to control the performance of NFS exports.
The following table describes the performance category of settings for NFS exports:
Setting

Description

Block Size

The block size used to calculate block counts for NFSv3 FSSTAT and
NFSv4 GETATTR requests. The default value is 8192 bytes.

Commit Asynchronous

If set to yes, allows NFSv3 and NFSv4 COMMIT operations to be

asynchronous. The default value is No.

Directory Transfer Size

The preferred directory read transfer size reported to NFSv3 and NFSv4
clients. The default value is 131072 bytes.

Read Transfer Max Size The maximum read transfer size reported to NFSv3 and NFSv4 clients.
The default value is 1048576 bytes.
Read Transfer Multiple

The recommended read transfer size multiple reported to NFSv3 and

NFSv4 clients. The default value is 512 bytes.

Read Transfer Size

The preferred read transfer size reported to NFSv3 and NFSv4 clients.
The default value is 1048576 bytes.

Setattr Asynchronous

If set to yes, performs set attribute operations asynchronously. The

default value is No.

Write Datasync Action

The action to perform for DATASYNC writes. The default value is

DATASYNC.

Write Datasync Reply

The reply to send for DATASYNC writes. The default value is DATASYNC.

Write Filesync Action

The action to perform for FILESYNC writes. The default value is

FILESYNC.

Write Filesync Reply

The reply to send for FILESYNC writes. The default value is FILESYNC.

Write Transfer Max Size The maximum write transfer size reported to NFSv3 and NFSv4 clients.
The default value is 1048576 bytes.
Write Transfer Multiple

The recommended write transfer size reported to NFSv3 and NFSv4

clients. The default value is 512 bytes.

Write Transfer Size

The preferred write transfer size reported to NFSv3 and NFSv4 clients.
The default value is 524288.

Write Unstable Action

The action to perform for UNSTABLE writes. The default value is

UNSTABLE.

Write Unstable Reply

The reply to send for UNSTABLE writes. The default value is UNSTABLE.

NFS export client compatibility settings

The NFS export client compatibility settings affect the customization of NFS exports.
These settings are described in the following table.

NFS export performance settings

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Setting

Setting value

Max File Size

Specifies the maximum file size to allow. This setting is advisory in nature
and is returned to the client in a reply to an NFSv3 FSINFO or NFSv4 GETATTR
request. The default value is 9223372036854776000 bytes.

Readdirplus Enable Enables the use of NFSv3 readdirplus service whereby a client can send a
request and received extended information about the directory and files in
the export. The default is Yes.
Return 32 bit File
IDs

Specifies return 32-bit file IDs to the client. The default is No.

NFS export behavior settings

The NFS export behavior settings control whether NFS clients can perform certain
functions on the NFS server, such as setting the time.
The NFS export behavior settings are described in the following table.
Setting

Description

Can Set Time

When this setting is enabled, OneFS allows the NFS client to set various time
attributes on the NFS server. The default value is Yes.

Encoding

Overrides the general encoding settings the cluster has for the export. The
default value is DEFAULT.

Map Lookup UID Looks up incoming user identifiers (UIDs) in the local authentication database.
The default value is No.
Symlinks

Informs the NFS client that the file system supports symbolic link file types. The
default value is Yes.

Time Delta

Sets the server clock granularity. The default value is 1e-9 seconds
(0.000000001 second).

Managing NFS aliases

You can create NFS aliases to simplify exports that clients connect to. An NFS alias maps
an absolute directory path to a simple directory path.
For example, suppose you created an NFS export to /ifs/data/hq/home/archive/
first-quarter/finance. You could create the alias /finance1 to map to that
directory path.
NFS aliases can be created in any access zone, including the system zone.

Create an NFS alias

You can create an NFS alias to map a long directory path to a simple pathname.
Aliases must be formed as a simple Unix-style directory path, for example, /home.
Procedure
1. Select Protocols > UNIX Sharing (NFS).
The UNIX Sharing (NFS) page is displayed with four tabs across the top.
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2. Click NFS Aliases.

The NFS Aliases list appears, displaying at minimum the current zone's NFS root alias.
Any other aliases previously created for the current zone are also listed.
3. Click Create an NFS Alias.
4. In the Create an NFS Alias dialog box, enter a name for the alias.
The alias name must be formed as a simple UNIX-style path with one element, for
example, /home.
5. Enter the full path that the alias is to be associated with.
If you have set up access zones in OneFS, the full path must begin with the root of the
current access zone.
6. Click Create Alias.
The Create an NFS Alias dialog box closes.
Results
The name, status, and path of the new alias are shown at the top of the NFS Aliases list.

Modify an NFS alias

You can modify an NFS alias.
Procedure
1. Select Protocols > UNIX Sharing (NFS).
The UNIX Sharing (NFS) page is displayed with four tabs across the top.
2. Click NFS Aliases.
The NFS Aliases list appears, displaying all aliases for the current access zone.
3. Next to the alias that you intend to modify, click View/Edit.
4. In the View NFS Alias Details dialog box, click Edit Alias.
5. Modify either or both the alias name and the path that the alias represents.
The alias name must be formed as a simple UNIX-style path with one element, for
example, /home. The path must begin with the root of the current access zone. If you
are unsure of the pathname, you can click Browse to navigate to the pathname in
OneFS.
6. When you are finished modifying the alias, click Save Changes.
The View NFS Alias Details dialog box is displayed, and a message at the top of the
dialog box indicates the operation was successful.
7. Click Close.
The View NFS Alias Details dialog box closes.
Results
The modified alias name, status, and path are shown in the NFS Aliases list.

Delete an NFS alias

You can delete an NFS alias.
If an NFS alias is mapped to an NFS export, deleting the alias can disconnect clients that
used the alias to mount the export.
Modify an NFS alias

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Procedure
1. Select Protocols > UNIX Sharing (NFS).
The UNIX Sharing (NFS) page is displayed with four tabs across the top.
2. Click NFS Aliases.
The NFS Aliases list appears, displaying all aliases created for the current access
zone.
3. Next to the alias that you intend to delete, select More> Delete Alias.
A Confirm Delete dialog box appears.
4. Click Delete.
The alias is removed from the NFS Aliases list.

List NFS aliases

You can view a list of NFS aliases that have already been defined.
Procedure
1. Select Protocols > UNIX Sharing (NFS).
The UNIX Sharing (NFS) page is displayed with four tabs across the top.
2. Click NFS Aliases.
The NFS Aliases list appears, displaying all aliases for the current access zone. The
names, states, and paths for all aliases are shown.

View an NFS alias

You can view the settings of an NFS alias.
Procedure
1. Select Protocols > UNIX Sharing (NFS).
The UNIX Sharing (NFS) page is displayed with four tabs across the top.
2. Click NFS Aliases.
The NFS Aliases list appears, displaying all aliases for the current access zone.
3. Next to the alias that you want to view, click View/Edit.
The View NFS Alias Details dialog box displays the settings associated with the alias.
4. When you are done viewing the alias, click Close.

Enable and configure FTP file sharing

You can set the FTP service to allow any node in the cluster to respond to FTP requests
through a standard user account.
You can enable the transfer of files between remote FTP servers and enable anonymous
FTP service on the root by creating a local user named anonymous or ftp.
When configuring FTP access, make sure that the specified FTP root is the home directory
of the user who logs in. For example, the FTP root for local user jsmith should be ifs/
home/jsmith.

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Procedure
1. Click Protocols > FTP Settings.
2. Click Enable.
3. Select one or more of the following settings:
Option

Description

Server-toserver
transfers

Enables the transfer of files between two remote FTP servers.

This setting is disabled by default.

Anonymous
access

Enables users with "anonymous" or "ftp" as the user name to

access files and directories without requiring authentication.
This setting is disabled by default.

Local access

Enables local users to access files and directories with their

local user name and password, allowing them to upload files
directly through the file system. This setting is enabled by
default.

4. Click Submit.

Enable and configure HTTP

You can configure HTTP and DAV to enable users to edit and manage files collaboratively
across remote web servers.
This procedure is available only through the web administration interface.
Procedure
1. Click Protocols > HTTP Settings.
2. From the Service options, select one of the following settings:
Option

Description

Enable HTTP

Allows HTTP access for cluster administration and browsing

content on the cluster.

Disable HTTP and

redirect to the web
interface

Allows only administrative access to the web administration

interface. This is the default setting.

Disable HTTP entirely Closes the HTTP port used for file access. Users can continue
to access the web administration interface by specifying the
port number in the URL. The default port is 8080.
3. In the Document root directory field, type or click Browse to navigate to an existing
directory in /ifs, or click File System Explorer to create a new directory and set its
permissions.
Note

The HTTP server runs as the daemon user and group. To properly enforce access
controls, you must grant the daemon user or group read access to all files under the
document root, and allow the HTTP server to traverse the document root.

Enable and configure HTTP

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4. In the Server hostname field, type the HTTP server name. The server hostname must
be a fully-qualified, SmartConnect zone name and valid DNS name. The name must
begin with a letter and contain only letters, numbers, and hyphens (-).
5. In the Administrator email address field, type an email address to display as the
primary contact for issues that occur while serving files.
6. From the Active Directory Authentication list, select an authentication setting:
Option

Description

Off

Disables HTTP authentication.

Basic Authentication Only

Enables HTTP basic authentication. User credentials

are sent in plain text.

Integrated Authentication
Only

Enables HTTP authentication via NTLM, Kerberos, or

both.

Integrated and Basic

Authentication

Enables both basic and integrated authentication.

Basic Authentication with

Access Controls

Enables HTTP authentication via NTLM and

Kerberos, and enables the Apache web server to
perform access checks.

Integrated and Basic Auth

with Access Controls

Enables HTTP basic authentication and integrated

authentication, and enables access checks via the
Apache web server.

7. Click the Enable DAV check box. This allows multiple users to manage and modify files
collaboratively across remote web servers.
8. Click the Disable access logging check box.
9. Click Submit.

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CHAPTER 9
Home directories

This section contains the following topics:

l
l
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l
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l

Home directories overview.................................................................................. 198

Home directory permissions................................................................................198
Authenticating SMB users................................................................................... 198
Home directory creation through SMB................................................................. 198
Home directory creation through SSH and FTP..................................................... 202
Home directory creation in a mixed environment................................................. 205
Interactions between ACLs and mode bits........................................................... 205
Default home directory settings in authentication providers................................ 205
Supported expansion variables........................................................................... 206
Domain variables in home directory provisioning................................................ 207

Home directories

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Home directories overview

When you create a local user, OneFS automatically creates a home directory for the user.
OneFS also supports dynamic home directory provisioning for users who access the
cluster by connecting to an SMB share or by logging in through FTP or SSH. Regardless of
the method by which a home directory was created, you can configure access to the
home directory through a combination of SMB, SSH, and FTP.

Home directory permissions

You can set up a user's home directory with a Windows ACL or with POSIX mode bits,
which are then converted into a synthetic ACL. The method by which a home directory is
created determines the initial permissions that are set on the home directory.
When you create a local user, the user's home directory is created with mode bits by
default.
For users who authenticate against external sources, you can specify settings to create
home directories dynamically at login time. If a home directory is created during a login
through SSH or FTP, it is set up with mode bits; if a home directory is created during an
SMB connection, it receives either mode bits or an ACL. For example, if an LDAP user first
logs in through SSH or FTP, the user's home directory is created with mode bits. If the
same user first connects through an SMB share, the home directory is created with the
permissions indicated by the configured SMB settings. If the --inheritable-pathacl option is enabled, an ACL is generated; otherwise, mode bits are used.

Authenticating SMB users

You can authenticate SMB users from authentication providers that can handle NT
hashes.
SMB sends an NT password hash to authenticate SMB users, so only users from
authentication providers that can handle NT hashes can log in over SMB. The following
OneFS-supported authentication providers can handle NT hashes:
l

Active Directory

Local

LDAPSAM (LDAP with Samba extensions enabled)

Home directory creation through SMB

You can create SMB shares by including expansion variables in the share path.
Expansion variables give users to access their home directories by connecting to the
share. You can also enable dynamic provisioning of home directories that do not exist at
SMB connection time.
Note

Share permissions are checked when files are accessed, before the underlying file
system permissions are checked. Either of these permissions can prevent access to the
file or directory.

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Create home directories with expansion variables

You can configure settings with expansion variables to create SMB share home
directories.
When users access the EMC Isilon cluster over SMB, home directory access is through
SMB shares. You can configure settings with a path that uses a variable expansion
syntax, allowing a user to connect to their home directory share.
Note

Home directory share paths must begin with /ifs/ and must be in the root path of the
access zone in which the home directory SMB share is created.
In the following commands, the --allow-variable-expansion option is enabled to
indicate that %U should be expanded to the user name, which is user411 in this
example. The --auto-create-directory option is enabled to create the directory if
it does not exist:
isi smb shares create HOMEDIR --path=/ifs/home/%U \
--allow-variable-expansion=yes --auto-create-directory=yes
isi smb shares permission modify HOMEDIR --wellknown Everyone \
--permission-type allow --permission full
isi smb shares view HOMEDIR

The system displays output similar to the following example:

Share Name: HOMEDIR
Path: /ifs/home/%U
Description:
Client-side Caching Policy: manual
Automatically expand user names or domain names: True
Automatically create home directories for users: True
Browsable: True
Permissions:
Account Account Type Run as Root Permission Type Permission
-----------------------------------------------------------Everyone wellknown
False
allow
full
-----------------------------------------------------------Total: 1
...

When user411 connects to the share with the net use command, the user's home
directory is created at /ifs/home/user411. On user411's Windows client, the net
use m: command connects /ifs/home/user411 through the HOMEDIR share:
net use m: \\cluster.company.com\HOMEDIR /u:user411

Procedure
1. Run the following commands on the cluster with the --allow-variableexpansion option enabled. The %U expansion variable expands to the user name,
and the --auto-create-directory option is enabled to create the directory if it
does not exist:
isi smb shares create HOMEDIR --path=/ifs/home/%U \
--allow-variable-expansion=yes --auto-create-directory=yes
isi smb shares permission modify HOMEDIR --wellknown Everyone \
--permission-type allow --permission full

Create home directories with expansion variables

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Home directories

2. Run the following command to view the home directory settings:

isi smb shares view HOMEDIR

The system displays output similar to the following example:

Share Name: HOMEDIR
Path: /ifs/home/%U
Description:
Client-side Caching Policy: manual
Automatically expand user names or domain names: True
Automatically create home directories for users: True
Browsable: True
Permissions:
Account Account Type Run as Root Permission Type Permission
-----------------------------------------------------------Everyone wellknown
False
allow
full
-----------------------------------------------------------Total: 1
...

If user411 connects to the share with the net use command, user411's home
directory is created at /ifs/home/user411. On user411's Windows client, the net
use m: command connects /ifs/home/user411 through the HOMEDIR share,
mapping the connection similar to the following example:
net use m: \\cluster.company.com\HOMEDIR /u:user411

Create home directories with the --inheritable-path-acl option

You can enable the --inheritable-path-acl option on a share to specify that it is
to be inherited on the share path if the parent directory has an inheritable ACL.
Before you begin
To perform most configuration tasks, you must log on as a member of the SecurityAdmin
role.
By default, an SMB share's directory path is created with a synthetic ACL based on mode
bits. You can enable the --inheritable-path-acl option to use the inheritable ACL
on all directories that are created, either at share creation time or for those dynamically
provisioned when connecting to that share.
Procedure
1. Run commands similar to the following examples to enable the --inheritablepath-acl option on the cluster to dynamically provision a user home directory at
first connection to a share on the cluster:
isi smb shares create HOMEDIR_ACL --path=/ifs/home/%U \
--allow-variable-expansion=yes --auto-create-directory=yes \
--inheritable-path-acl=yes
isi smb shares permission modify HOMEDIR_ACL \
--wellknown Everyone \
--permission-type allow --permission full

2. Run a net use command, similar to the following example, on a Windows client to
map the home directory for user411:
net use q: \\cluster.company.com\HOMEDIR_ACL /u:user411

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3. Run a command similar to the following example on the cluster to view the inherited
ACL permissions for the user411 share:
cd /ifs/home/user411
ls -lde .

The system displays output similar to the following example:

drwx------ + 2 user411 Isilon Users 0 Oct 19 16:23 ./
OWNER: user:user411
GROUP: group:Isilon Users
CONTROL:dacl_auto_inherited,dacl_protected
0: user:user411 allow dir_gen_all,object_inherit,container_inherit

Create special home directories with the SMB share %U variable

The special SMB share name %U enables you to create a home-directory SMB share that
appears the same as a user's user name.
You typically set up a %U SMB share with a share path that includes the %U expansion
variable. If a user attempts to connect to a share matching the login name and it does not
exist, the user connects to the %U share instead and is directed to the expanded path for
the %U share.
Note

If another SMB share exists that matches the user's name, the user connects to the
explicitly named share rather than to the %U share.
Procedure
1. Run the following command to create a share that matches the authenticated user
login name when the user connects to the share:
isi smb share create %U /ifs/home/%U \
--allow-variable-expansion=yes --auto-create-directory=yes \
--zone=System

After running this command, user Zachary will see a share named 'zachary' rather
than '%U', and when Zachary tries to connect to the share named 'zachary', he will be
directed to /ifs/home/zachary. On a Windows client, if Zachary runs the
following commands, he sees the contents of his /ifs/home/zachary directory:
net use m: \\cluster.ip\zachary /u:zachary
cd m:
dir

Similarly, if user Claudia runs the following commands on a Windows client, she sees
the directory contents of /ifs/home/claudia:
net use m: \\cluster.ip\claudia /u:claudia
cd m:
dir

Zachary and Claudia cannot access one another's home directory because only the
share 'zachary' exists for Zachary and only the share 'claudia' exists for Claudia.

Create special home directories with the SMB share %U variable

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Home directories

Home directory creation through SSH and FTP

You can configure home directory support for users who access the cluster through SSH
or FTP by modifying authentication provider settings.

Set the SSH or FTP login shell

You can use the --login-shell option to set the default login shell for the user.
By default, the --login-shell option, if specified, overrides any login-shell
information provided by the authentication provider, except with Active Directory. If the
--login-shell option is specified with Active Directory, it simply represents the
default login shell if the Active Directory server does not provide login-shell information.
Procedure
1. Run the following command to set the login shell for all local users to /bin/bash:
isi auth local modify System --login-shell /bin/bash

2. Run the following command to set the default login shell for all Active Directory users
in your domain to /bin/bash:
isi auth ads modify YOUR.DOMAIN.NAME.COM --login-shell /bin/bash

Set SSH/FTP home directory permissions

You can specify home directory permissions for a home directory that is accessed
through SSH or FTP by setting a umask value.
Before you begin
To perform most configuration tasks, you must log on as a member of the SecurityAdmin
role.
When a user's home directory is created at login through SSH or FTP, it is created using
POSIX mode bits. The permissions setting on a user's home directory is set to 0755, then
masked according to the umask setting of the user's access zone to further limit
permissions. You can modify the umask setting for a zone with the --homedirectory-umask option, specifying an octal number as the umask value.
Procedure
1. Run the following command to view umask setting:
isi zone zones view System

The system displays output similar to the following example:

Name:
Path:
Cache Size:
Map Untrusted:
Auth Providers:
NetBIOS Name:
All Auth Providers:
User Mapping Rules:
Home Directory Umask:
Skeleton Directory:
Audit Success:
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System
/ifs
4.77M
Yes
0077
/usr/share/skel
create, delete, rename, set_security, close

Home directories

Audit Failure: create, delete, rename, set_security, close

HDFS Authentication: all
HDFS Keytab: /etc/hdfs.keytab
HDFS Root Directory: /ifs
WebHDFS Enabled: Yes
Syslog Forwarding Enabled: No
Syslog Audit Events: create, delete, rename, set_security
Zone ID: 1

In the command result, you can see the default setting for Home Directory
Umask for the created home directory is 0700, which is equivalent to (0755 &
~(077)). You can modify the Home Directory Umask setting for a zone with the
--home-directory-umask option, specifying an octal number as the umask
value. This value indicates the permissions that are to be disabled, so larger mask
values indicate fewer permissions. For example, a umask value of 000 or 022 yields
created home directory permissions of 0755, whereas a umask value of 077 yields
created home directory permissions of 0700.
2. Run a command similar to the following example to allow a group/others write/
execute permission in a home directory:
isi zone zones modify System --home-directory-umask=022

In this example, user home directories will be created with mode bits 0755 masked
by the umask field, set to the value of 022. Therefore, user home directories will be
created with mode bits 0755, which is equivalent to (0755 & ~(022)).

Set SSH/FTP home directory creation options

You can configure home directory support for a user who accesses the cluster through
SSH or FTP by specifying authentication provider options.
Procedure
1. Run the following command to view settings for an Active Directory authentication
provider on the cluster:
isi auth ads list

The system displays output similar to the following example:

Name
Authentication Status DC Name Site
--------------------------------------------------------YOUR.DOMAIN.NAME.COM Yes
online SEA
--------------------------------------------------------Total: 1

2. Run the isi auth ads modify command with the --home-directorytemplate and --create-home-directory options.
isi auth ads modify YOUR.DOMAIN.NAME.COM \
--home-directory-template=/ifs/home/ADS/%D/%U \
--create-home-directory=yes

3. Run the isi auth ads view command with the --verbose option.
The system displays output similar to the following example:
Name: YOUR.DOMAIN.NAME.COM
NetBIOS Domain: YOUR
...
Create Home Directory: Yes
Set SSH/FTP home directory creation options

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Home directories

Home Directory Template: /ifs/home/ADS/%D/%U

Login Shell: /bin/sh

4. Run the id command.

The system displays output similar to the following example:
uid=1000008(<your-domain>\user_100) gid=1000000(<your-domain>
\domain users)
groups=1000000(<your-domain>\domain users),1000024(<your-domain>
\c1t),1545(Users)

5. Optional: To verify this information from an external UNIX node, run the ssh command
from an external UNIX node.
For example, the following command would create /ifs/home/ADS/<yourdomain>/user_100 if it did not previously exist:
ssh <your-domain>\\[email protected]

Provision home directories with dot files

You can provision home directories with dot files.
Before you begin
To perform most configuration tasks, you must log on as a member of the SecurityAdmin
role.
The skeleton directory, which is located at /usr/share/skel by default, contains a set
of files that are copied to the user's home directory when a local user is created or when a
user home directory is dynamically created during login. Files in the skeleton directory
that begin with dot. are renamed to remove the dot prefix when they are copied to the
user's home directory. For example, dot.cshrc is copied to the user's home directory
as .cshrc. This format enables dot files in the skeleton directory to be viewable through
the command-line interface without requiring the ls -a command.
For SMB shares that might use home directories that were provisioned with dot files, you
can set an option to prevent users who connect to the share through SMB from viewing
the dot files.
Procedure
1. Run the following command to display the default skeleton directory in the System
access zone:
isi zone zones view System

The system displays output similar to the following example:

Name: System
...
Skeleton Directory: /usr/share/skel

2. Run the isi zone zones modify command to modify the default skeleton
directory.
The following command modifies the default skeleton directory, /usr/share/skel,
in an access zone, where System is the value for the <zone> option and /usr/share/
skel2 is the value for the <path> option:
isi zone zones modify System --skeleton-directory=/usr/share/skel2

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Home directories

Home directory creation in a mixed environment

If a user logs in through both SMB and SSH, it is recommended that you configure home
directory settings so the path template is the same for the SMB share and each
authentication provider against which the user is authenticating through SSH.

Interactions between ACLs and mode bits

Home directory setup is determined by several factors, including how users authenticate
and the options that specify home directory creation.
A user's home directory may be set up with either ACLs or POSIX mode bits, which are
converted into a synthetic ACL. The directory of a local user is created when the local user
is created, and the directory is set up with POSIX mode bits by default. Directories can be
dynamically provisioned at log in for users who authenticate against external sources,
and in some cases for users who authenticate against the File provider. In this situation,
the user home directory is created according to how the user first logs in.
For example, if an LDAP user first logs in through SSH or FTP and the user home directory
is created, it is created with POSIX mode bits. If that same user first connects through an
SMB home directory share, the home directory is created as specified by the SMB option
settings. If the --inherited-path-acl option is enabled, ACLs are generated.
Otherwise, POSIX mode bits are used.

Default home directory settings in authentication providers

The default settings that affect how home directories are set up differ, based on the
authentication provider that the user authenticates against.
Authentication
provider
Local

File

Active Directory

Home directory

Home directory
creation

Enabled
--homedirectorytemplate=/ifs
/home/%U

--createhomedirectory=yes

--loginshell=/bin/sh

--homedirectorytemplate=""

--createhomedirectory=no

--homedirectory-

UNIX login shell

/bin/sh

Disabled

None

Disabled

/bin/sh

Home directory creation in a mixed environment

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Home directories

Authentication
provider

Home directory

Home directory
creation

UNIX login shell

Disabled

None

Disabled

None

template=/ifs
/home/%D/%U
l

--createhomedirectory=no

--loginshell=/bin/sh

Note

If available, provider
information overrides
this value.
LDAP

NIS

--homedirectorytemplate=""

--createhomedirectory=no

--homedirectorytemplate=""

--createhomedirectory=no

Supported expansion variables

You can include expansion variables in an SMB share path or in an authentication
provider's home directory template.
OneFS supports the following expansion variables. You can improve performance and
reduce the number of shares to be managed when you configure shares with expansion
variables. For example, you can include the %U variable for a share rather than create a
share for each user. When a %U is included in the name so that each user's path is
different, security is still ensured because each user can view and access only his or her
home directory.
Note

When you create an SMB share through the web administration interface, you must select
the Allow Variable Expansion check box or the string is interpreted literally by the system.

206

Variable Value

Description

%U

Expands to the user name to allow different users

to use different home directories. This variable is

User name (for example,

user_001)

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Home directories

Variable Value

Description
typically included at the end of the path. For
example, for a user named user1, the path /ifs/
home/%U is mapped to /ifs/home/user1.

%D

NetBIOS domain name (for

example, YORK for
YORK.EAST.EXAMPLE.COM)

Expands to the user's domain name, based on the

authentication provider:
l

For Active Directory users, %D expands to the

Active Directory NetBIOS name.

For local users, %D expands to the cluster

name in uppercase characters. For example,
for a cluster named cluster1, %D expands to
CLUSTER1.

For users in the System file provider, %D

expands to UNIX_USERS.

For users in other file providers, %D expands

to FILE_USERS.

For LDAP users, %D expands to LDAP_USERS.

For NIS users, %D expands to NIS_USERS.

%Z

Zone name (for example,

ZoneABC)

Expands to the access zone name. If multiple

zones are activated, this variable is useful for
differentiating users in separate zones. For
example, for a user named user1 in the System
zone, the path /ifs/home/%Z/%U is mapped
to /ifs/home/System/user1.

%L

Host name (cluster host name in

lowercase)

Expands to the host name of the cluster,

normalized to lowercase. Limited use.

%0

First character of the user name

Expands to the first character of the user name.

%1

Second character of the user

name

Expands to the second character of the user name.

%2

Third character of the user name

Expands to the third character of the user name.

Note

If the user name includes fewer than three characters, the %0, %1, and %2 variables
wrap around. For example, for a user named ab, the variables maps to a, b, and a,
respectively. For a user named a, all three variables map to a.

Domain variables in home directory provisioning

You can use domain variables to specify authentication providers when provisioning
home directories.
The domain variable (%D) is typically used for Active Directory users, but it has a value
set that can be used for other authentication providers. %D expands as described in the
following table for the various authentication providers.

Domain variables in home directory provisioning

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Home directories

Authenticated user %D expansion

Active Directory user

Active Directory NetBIOS namefor example, YORK for provider

YORK.EAST.EXAMPLE.COM.

Local user

The cluster name in all-uppercase charactersfor example, if the cluster

is named MyCluster, %D expands to MYCLUSTER.

File user

208

UNIX_USERS (for System file provider)

FILE_USERS (for all other file providers)

LDAP user

LDAP_USERS (for all LDAP authentication providers)

NIS user

NIS_USERS (for all NIS authentication providers)

OneFS 7.2 Web Administration Guide

CHAPTER 10
Snapshots

This section contains the following topics:

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Snapshots overview............................................................................................ 210

Data protection with SnapshotIQ.........................................................................210
Snapshot disk-space usage................................................................................ 210
Snapshot schedules............................................................................................211
Snapshot aliases................................................................................................ 211
File and directory restoration............................................................................... 211
Best practices for creating snapshots.................................................................. 212
Best practices for creating snapshot schedules................................................... 212
File clones...........................................................................................................213
Snapshot locks................................................................................................... 214
Snapshot reserve................................................................................................ 215
SnapshotIQ license functionality.........................................................................215
Creating snapshots with SnapshotIQ...................................................................215
Managing snapshots .......................................................................................... 220
Restoring snapshot data..................................................................................... 223
Managing snapshot schedules............................................................................225
Managing snapshot aliases.................................................................................226
Managing with snapshot locks............................................................................ 227
Configure SnapshotIQ settings............................................................................ 229
Set the snapshot reserve.....................................................................................231

Snapshots

209

Snapshots

Snapshots overview
A OneFS snapshot is a logical pointer to data that is stored on a cluster at a specific point
in time.
A snapshot references a directory on a cluster, including all data stored in the directory
and its subdirectories. If the data referenced by a snapshot is modified, the snapshot
stores a physical copy of the data that was modified. Snapshots are created according to
user specifications or are automatically generated by OneFS to facilitate system
operations.
To create and manage snapshots, you must activate a SnapshotIQ license on the cluster.
Some applications must generate snapshots to function but do not require you to
activate a SnapshotIQ license; by default, these snapshots are automatically deleted
when OneFS no longer needs them. However, if you activate a SnapshotIQ license, you
can retain these snapshots. You can view snapshots generated by other modules without
activating a SnapshotIQ license.
You can identify and locate snapshots by name or ID. A snapshot name is specified by a
user and assigned to the virtual directory that contains the snapshot. A snapshot ID is a
numerical identifier that OneFS automatically assigns to a snapshot.

Data protection with SnapshotIQ

You can create snapshots to protect data with the SnapshotIQ software module.
Snapshots protect data against accidental deletion and modification by enabling you to
restore deleted and modified files. To use SnapshotIQ, you must activate a SnapshotIQ
license on the cluster.
Snapshots are less costly than backing up your data on a separate physical storage
device in terms of both time and storage consumption. The time required to move data to
another physical device depends on the amount of data being moved, whereas
snapshots are always created almost instantaneously regardless of the amount of data
referenced by the snapshot. Also, because snapshots are available locally, end-users can
often restore their data without requiring assistance from a system administrator.
Snapshots require less space than a remote backup because unaltered data is
referenced rather than recreated.
Snapshots do not protect against hardware or file-system issues. Snapshots reference
data that is stored on a cluster, so if the data on the cluster becomes unavailable, the
snapshots will also be unavailable. Because of this, it is recommended that you back up
your data to separate physical devices in addition to creating snapshots.

Snapshot disk-space usage

The amount of disk space that a snapshot consumes depends on both the amount of
data stored by the snapshot and the amount of data the snapshot references from other
snapshots.
Immediately after OneFS creates a snapshot, the snapshot consumes a negligible
amount of disk space. The snapshot does not consume additional disk space unless the
data referenced by the snapshot is modified. If the data that a snapshot references is
modified, the snapshot stores read-only copies of the original data. A snapshot
consumes only the space that is necessary to restore the contents a directory to the state
it was in when the snapshot was taken.

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To reduce disk-space usage, snapshots that reference the same directory reference each
other, with older snapshots referencing newer snapshots. If a file is deleted, and several
snapshots reference the file, a single snapshot stores a copy the file, and the other
snapshots reference the file from the snapshot that stored the copy. The reported size of
a snapshot reflects only the amount of data stored by the snapshot and does not include
the amount of data referenced by the snapshot.
Because snapshots do not consume a set amount of storage space, there is no availablespace requirement for creating a snapshot. The size of a snapshot grows according to
how the data referenced by the snapshot is modified. A cluster cannot contain more than
20,000 snapshots.

Snapshot schedules
You can automatically generate snapshots according to a snapshot schedule.
With snapshot schedules, you can periodically generate snapshots of a directory without
having to manually create a snapshot every time. You can also assign an expiration
period that determines when SnapshotIQ deletes each automatically generated
snapshot.

Snapshot aliases
A snapshot alias is a logical pointer to a snapshot. If you specify an alias for a snapshot
schedule, the alias will always point to the most recent snapshot generated by that
schedule. Assigning a snapshot alias allows you to quickly identify and access the most
recent snapshot generated according to a snapshot schedule.
If you allow clients to access snapshots through an alias, you can reassign the alias to
redirect clients to other snapshots. In addition to assigning snapshot aliases to
snapshots, you can also assign snapshot aliases to the live version of the file system.
This can be useful if clients are accessing snapshots through a snapshot alias, and you
want to redirect the clients to the live version of the file system.

File and directory restoration

You can restore the files and directories that are referenced by a snapshot by copying
data from the snapshot, cloning a file from the snapshot, or reverting the entire snapshot.
Copying a file from a snapshot duplicates the file, which roughly doubles the amount of
storage space consumed. Even if you delete the original file from the non-snapshot
directory, the copy of the file remains in the snapshot.
Cloning a file from a snapshot also duplicates the file. However, unlike a copy, which
immediately consumes additional space on the cluster, a clone does not consume any
additional space on the cluster unless the clone or cloned file is modified.
Reverting a snapshot replaces the contents of a directory with the data stored in the
snapshot. Before a snapshot is reverted, SnapshotIQ creates a snapshot of the directory
that is being replaced, which enables you to undo the snapshot revert later. Reverting a
snapshot can be useful if you want to undo a large number of changes that you made to
files and directories. If new files or directories have been created in a directory since a
snapshot of the directory was created, those files and directories are deleted when the
snapshot is reverted.

Snapshot schedules

211

Snapshots

Best practices for creating snapshots

Consider the following snapshot best practices when working with a large number of
snapshots.
It is recommended that you do not create more than 1,000 snapshots of a single directory
to avoid performance degradation. If you create a snapshot of a root directory, that
snapshot counts towards the total number of snapshots for any subdirectories of the root
directory. For example, if you create 500 snapshots of /ifs/data and 500 snapshots
of /ifs/data/media, you have created 1000 snapshots of /ifs/data/media.
Avoid creating snapshots of directories that are already referenced by other snapshots.
It is recommended that you do not create more than 1000 hard links per file in a
snapshot to avoid performance degradation. Always attempt to keep directory paths as
shallow as possible. The deeper the depth of directories referenced by snapshots, the
greater the performance degradation.
Creating snapshots of directories higher on a directory tree will increase the amount of
time it takes to modify the data referenced by the snapshot and require more cluster
resources to manage the snapshot and the directory. However, creating snapshots of
directories lower on directories trees will require more snapshot schedules, which can be
difficult to manage. It is recommended that you do not create snapshots of /ifs
or /ifs/data.
You can create up to 20,000 snapshots on a cluster at a time. If you create a large
number of snapshots, you might not be able to manage snapshots through the OneFS
web administration interface. However, you can manage any number of snapshots
through the OneFS command-line interface.
Note

It is recommended that you do not disable the snapshot delete job. Disabling the
snapshot delete job prevents unused disk space from being freed and can also cause
performance degradation.

Best practices for creating snapshot schedules

Snapshot schedule configurations can be categorized by how they delete snapshots:
ordered deletions and unordered deletions.
An ordered deletion is the deletion of the oldest snapshot of a directory. An unordered
deletion is the deletion of a snapshot that is not the oldest snapshot of a directory.
Unordered deletions take approximately twice as long to complete and consume more
cluster resources than ordered deletions. However, unordered deletions can save space
by retaining a smaller total number of snapshots.
The benefits of unordered deletions versus ordered deletions depend on how often the
data referenced by the snapshots is modified. If the data is modified frequently,
unordered deletions will save space. However, if data remains unmodified, unordered
deletions will most likely not save space, and it is recommended that you perform
ordered deletions to free cluster resources.
To implement ordered deletions, assign the same duration period for all snapshots of a
directory. The snapshots can be created by one or multiple snapshot schedules. Always
ensure that no more than 1000 snapshots of a directory are created.

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Snapshots

To implement unordered snapshot deletions, create several snapshot schedules for a

single directory, and then assign different snapshot duration periods for each schedule.
Ensure that all snapshots are created at the same time when possible.
The following table describes snapshot schedules that follow snapshot best practices:
Table 14 Snapshot schedule configurations

Deletion
type

Snapshot
frequency

Snapshot time

Snapshot
expiration

Max snapshots
retained

Ordered
Every hour
deletion
(for mostly
static
data)

Beginning at 12:00
AM Ending at 11:59
AM

1 month

720

Unordered Every other hour

deletion
(for
frequently
Every day
modified
data)
Every week

Beginning at 12:00
AM Ending at 11:59
PM

1 day

27

At 12:00 AM

1 week

Saturday at 12:00
AM

1 month

The first Saturday of

the month at 12:00
AM

3 months

Every month

File clones
SnapshotIQ enables you to create file clones that share blocks with existing files in order
to save space on the cluster. A file clone usually consumes less space and takes less
time to create than a file copy. Although you can clone files from snapshots, clones are
primarily used internally by OneFS.
The blocks that are shared between a clone and cloned file are contained in a hidden file
called a shadow store. Immediately after a clone is created, all data originally contained
in the cloned file is transferred to a shadow store. Because both files reference all blocks
from the shadow store, the two files consume no more space than the original file; the
clone does not take up any additional space on the cluster. However, if the cloned file or
clone is modified, the file and clone will share only blocks that are common to both of
them, and the modified, unshared blocks will occupy additional space on the cluster.
Over time, the shared blocks contained in the shadow store might become useless if
neither the file nor clone references the blocks. The cluster routinely deletes blocks that
are no longer needed. You can force the cluster to delete unused blocks at any time by
running the ShadowStoreDelete job.
Clones cannot contain alternate data streams (ADS). If you clone a file that contains
alternate data streams, the clone will not contain the alternate data streams.

File clones

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Snapshots

Shadow-store considerations
Shadow stores are hidden files that are referenced by cloned and deduplicated files. Files
that reference shadow stores behave differently than other files.
l

Reading shadow-store references might be slower than reading data directly.

Specifically, reading non-cached shadow-store references is slower than reading noncached data. Reading cached shadow-store references takes no more time than
reading cached data.

When files that reference shadow stores are replicated to another Isilon cluster or
backed up to a Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP) backup device, the
shadow stores are not transferred to the target Isilon cluster or backup device. The
files are transferred as if they contained the data that they reference from shadow
stores. On the target Isilon cluster or backup device, the files consume the same
amount of space as if they had not referenced shadow stores.

When OneFS creates a shadow store, OneFS assigns the shadow store to a storage
pool of a file that references the shadow store. If you delete the storage pool that a
shadow store resides on, the shadow store is moved to a pool occupied by another
file that references the shadow store.

OneFS does not delete a shadow-store block immediately after the last reference to
the block is deleted. Instead, OneFS waits until the ShadowStoreDelete job is run to
delete the unreferenced block. If a large number of unreferenced blocks exist on the
cluster, OneFS might report a negative deduplication savings until the
ShadowStoreDelete job is run.

Shadow stores are protected at least as much as the most protected file that
references it. For example, if one file that references a shadow store resides in a
storage pool with +2 protection and another file that references the shadow store
resides in a storage pool with +3 protection, the shadow store is protected at +3.

Quotas account for files that reference shadow stores as if the files contained the
data referenced from shadow stores; from the perspective of a quota, shadow-store
references do not exist. However, if a quota includes data protection overhead, the
quota does not account for the data protection overhead of shadow stores.

Snapshot locks
A snapshot lock prevents a snapshot from being deleted. If a snapshot has one or more
locks applied to it, the snapshot cannot be deleted and is referred to as a locked
snapshot. If the duration period of a locked snapshot expires, OneFS will not delete the
snapshot until all locks on the snapshot have been deleted.
OneFS applies snapshot locks to ensure that snapshots generated by OneFS applications
are not deleted prematurely. For this reason, it is recommended that you do not delete
snapshot locks or modify the duration period of snapshot locks.
A limited number of locks can be applied to a snapshot at a time. If you create snapshot
locks, the limit for a snapshot might be reached, and OneFS could be unable to apply a
snapshot lock when necessary. For this reason, it is recommended that you do not create
snapshot locks.

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Snapshot reserve
The snapshot reserve enables you to set aside a minimum percentage of the cluster
storage capacity specifically for snapshots. If specified, all other OneFS operations are
unable to access the percentage of cluster capacity that is reserved for snapshots.
Note

The snapshot reserve does not limit the amount of space that snapshots can consume on
the cluster. Snapshots can consume a greater percentage of storage capacity specified by
the snapshot reserve. It is recommended that you do not specify a snapshot reserve.

SnapshotIQ license functionality

You can create snapshots only if you activate a SnapshotIQ license on a cluster. However,
you can view snapshots and snapshot locks that are created for internal use by OneFS
without activating a SnapshotIQ license.
The following table describes what snapshot functionality is available depending on
whether the SnapshotIQ license is active:
Inactive

Active

Create snapshots and

snapshot schedules

No

Yes

Configure SnapshotIQ
settings

No

Yes

View snapshot schedules

Yes

Yes

Delete snapshots

Yes

Yes

Access snapshot data

Yes

Yes

View snapshots

Yes

Yes

If you a SnapshotIQ license becomes inactive, you will no longer be able to create new
snapshots, all snapshot schedules will be disabled, and you will not be able to modify
snapshots or snapshot settings. However, you will still be able to delete snapshots and
access data contained in snapshots.

Creating snapshots with SnapshotIQ

To create snapshots, you must configure the SnapshotIQ licence on the cluster. You can
create snapshots either by creating a snapshot schedule or manually generating an
individual snapshot.
Manual snapshots are useful if you want to create a snapshot immediately, or at a time
that is not specified in a snapshot schedule. For example, if you plan to make changes to
your file system, but are unsure of the consequences, you can capture the current state of
the file system in a snapshot before you make the change.
Before creating snapshots, consider that reverting a snapshot requires that a SnapRevert
domain exist for the directory that is being reverted. If you intend on reverting snapshots
for a directory, it is recommended that you create SnapRevert domains for those
Snapshot reserve

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Snapshots

directories while the directories are empty. Creating a domain for a directory that contains
less data takes less time.

Create a SnapRevert domain

Before you can revert a snapshot that contains a directory, you must create a SnapRevert
domain for the directory. It is recommended that you create SnapRevert domains for a
directory while the directory is empty.
The root path of the SnapRevert domain must be the same root path of the snapshot. For
example, a domain with a root path of /ifs/data/media cannot be used to revert a
snapshot with a root path of /ifs/data/media/archive. To revert /ifs/data/
media/archive, you must create a SnapRevert domain with a root path of /ifs/
data/media/archive.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Job Types.
2. In the Job Types area, in the DomainMark row, from the Actions column, select Start
Job.
3. In the Domain Root Path field, type the path of a snapshot root directory.
4. From the Type of domain list, select SnapRevert.
5. Ensure that the Delete this domain check box is cleared.
6. Click Start Job.

Create a snapshot schedule

You can create a snapshot schedule to continuously generate snapshots of directories.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SnapshotIQ > Snapshot Schedules.
2. Click Create a snapshot schedule.
3. Optional: In the Create a Snapshot Schedule area, in the Schedule Name field, type a
name for the snapshot schedule.
4. Optional: In the Naming pattern for Generated Snapshots field, type a naming
pattern. Each snapshot generated according to this schedule is assigned a name
based on the pattern.
For example, the following naming pattern is valid:
WeeklyBackup_%m-%d-%Y_%H:%M

The example produces names similar to the following:

WeeklyBackup_07-13-2014_14:21

5. In the Directory Path field, specify the directory that you want to be contained in
snapshots that are generated according to this schedule.
6. From the Snapshot Frequency list, select how often you want to generate snapshots
according to the schedule.

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Option

Description

Generate snapshots every day, or skip

Select Daily, and specify how often
generating snapshots for a specified number you want to generate snapshots.
of days.
Generate snapshots on specific days of the
week, and optionally skip generating
snapshots for a specified number of weeks.

Select Weekly, and specify how often

you want to generate snapshots.

Generate snapshots on specific days of the

Select Monthly, and specify how
month, and optionally skip generating
often you want to generate
snapshots for a specified number of months. snapshots.
Generate snapshots on specific days of the
year.

Select Yearly, and specify how often

you want to generate snapshots.

Note

A snapshot schedule cannot span multiple days. For example, you cannot specify to
begin generating snapshots at 5:00 PM Monday and end at 5:00 AM Tuesday. To
continuously generate snapshots for a period greater than a day, you must create two
snapshot schedules. For example, to generate snapshots from 5:00 PM Monday to
5:00 AM Tuesday, create one schedule that generates snapshots from 5:00 PM to
11:59 PM on Monday, and another schedule that generates snapshots from 12:00 AM
to 5:00 AM on Tuesday.
7. Optional: To assign an alternative name to the most recent snapshot generated by the
schedule, specify a snapshot alias.
a. Next to Create an Alias, click Yes.
b. To modify the default snapshot alias name, in the Alias Name field, type an
alternative name for the snapshot.
8. Optional: To specify a length of time that snapshots generated according to the
schedule exist on the cluster before they are automatically deleted by OneFS, specify
an expiration period.
a. Next to Snapshot Expiration, click Snapshots expire.
b. Next to Snapshots expire, specify how long you want to retain the snapshots
generated according to the schedule.
9. Click Create.

Create a snapshot
You can create a snapshot of a directory.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SnapshotIQ > Summary.
2. Click Capture a new snapshot.
3. Optional: In the Capture a Snapshot area, in the Snapshot Name field, type a name.
4. In the Directory Path field, specify the directory that you want the snapshot to contain.
5. Optional: To create an alternative name for the snapshot, specify a snapshot alias.
a. Next to Create an Alias, click Yes.
Create a snapshot

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b. To modify the default snapshot alias name, in the Alias Name field, type an
alternative name for the snapshot.
6. Optional: To assign a time that OneFS will automatically delete the snapshot, specify
an expiration period.
a. Next to Snapshot Expiration, click Snapshot Expires on.
b. In the calendar, specify the day that you want the snapshot to be automatically
deleted.
7. Click Capture.

Snapshot naming patterns

If you schedule snapshots to be automatically generated, either according to a snapshot
schedule or a replication policy, you must assign a snapshot naming pattern that
determines how the snapshots are named. Snapshot naming patterns contain variables
that include information about how and when the snapshot was created.
The following variables can be included in a snapshot naming pattern:
Variable

Description

%A

The day of the week.

%a

The abbreviated day of the week. For example, if the snapshot is generated
on a Sunday, %a is replaced with Sun.

%B

The name of the month.

%b

The abbreviated name of the month. For example, if the snapshot is

generated in September, %b is replaced with Sep.

%C

The first two digits of the year. For example, if the snapshot is created in
2014, %C is replaced with 20.

%c

The time and day. This variable is equivalent to specifying %a %b %e %T

%Y.

%d

The two digit day of the month.

%e

The day of the month. A single-digit day is preceded by a blank space.

%F

The date. This variable is equivalent to specifying %Y-%m-%d

%G

The year. This variable is equivalent to specifying %Y. However, if the

snapshot is created in a week that has less than four days in the current year,
the year that contains the majority of the days of the week is displayed. The
first day of the week is calculated as Monday. For example, if a snapshot is
created on Sunday, January 1, 2017, %G is replaced with 2016, because only
one day of that week is in 2017.

%g

The abbreviated year. This variable is equivalent to specifying %y. However, if

the snapshot was created in a week that has less than four days in the
current year, the year that contains the majority of the days of the week is
displayed. The first day of the week is calculated as Monday. For example, if a
snapshot is created on Sunday, January 1, 2017, %g is replaced with 16,
because only one day of that week is in 2017.

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Variable

Description

%H

The hour. The hour is represented on the 24-hour clock. Single-digit hours are
preceded by a zero. For example, if a snapshot is created at 1:45 AM, %H is
replaced with 01.

%h

The abbreviated name of the month. This variable is equivalent to specifying

%b.

%I

The hour represented on the 12-hour clock. Single-digit hours are preceded
by a zero. For example, if a snapshot is created at 1:45 PM, %I is replaced
with 01.

%j

The numeric day of the year. For example, if a snapshot is created on

February 1, %j is replaced with 32.

%k

The hour represented on the 24-hour clock. Single-digit hours are preceded
by a blank space.

%l

The hour represented on the 12-hour clock. Single-digit hours are preceded
by a blank space. For example, if a snapshot is created at 1:45 AM, %I is
replaced with 1.

%M

The two-digit minute.

%m

The two-digit month.

%p

AM or PM.

%{PolicyName} The name of the replication policy that the snapshot was created for. This
variable is valid only if you are specifying a snapshot naming pattern for a
replication policy.
%R

The time. This variable is equivalent to specifying %H:%M.

%r

The time. This variable is equivalent to specifying %I:%M:%S %p.

%S

The two-digit second.

%s

The second represented in UNIX or POSIX time.

%{SrcCluster} The name of the source cluster of the replication policy that the snapshot was
created for. This variable is valid only if you are specifying a snapshot naming
pattern for a replication policy.
%T

The time. This variable is equivalent to specifying %H:%M:%S

%U

The two-digit numerical week of the year. Numbers range from 00 to 53. The
first day of the week is calculated as Sunday.

%u

The numerical day of the week. Numbers range from 1 to 7. The first day of
the week is calculated as Monday. For example, if a snapshot is created on
Sunday, %u is replaced with 7.

%V

The two-digit numerical week of the year that the snapshot was created in.
Numbers range from 01 to 53. The first day of the week is calculated as
Monday. If the week of January 1 is four or more days in length, then that
week is counted as the first week of the year.

Snapshot naming patterns

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Variable

Description

%v

The day that the snapshot was created. This variable is equivalent to
specifying %e-%b-%Y.

%W

The two-digit numerical week of the year that the snapshot was created in.
Numbers range from 00 to 53. The first day of the week is calculated as
Monday.

%w

The numerical day of the week that the snapshot was created on. Numbers
range from 0 to 6. The first day of the week is calculated as Sunday. For
example, if the snapshot was created on Sunday, %w is replaced with 0.

%X

The time that the snapshot was created. This variable is equivalent to
specifying %H:%M:%S.

%Y

The year that the snapshot was created in.

%y

The last two digits of the year that the snapshot was created in. For example,
if the snapshot was created in 2014, %y is replaced with 14.

%Z

The time zone that the snapshot was created in.

%z

The offset from coordinated universal time (UTC) of the time zone that the
snapshot was created in. If preceded by a plus sign, the time zone is east of
UTC. If preceded by a minus sign, the time zone is west of UTC.

%+

The time and date that the snapshot was created. This variable is equivalent
to specifying %a %b %e %X %Z %Y.

%%

Escapes a percent sign. "100%%" is replaced with 100%.

Managing snapshots
You can delete and view snapshots. You can also modify the name, duration period, and
alias of an existing snapshot. However, you cannot modify the data contained in a
snapshot; the data contained in a snapshot is read-only.

Reducing snapshot disk-space usage

If multiple snapshots contain the same directories, deleting one of the snapshots might
not free the entire amount of space that the system reports as the size of the snapshot.
The size of a snapshot is the maximum amount of data that might be freed if the
snapshot is deleted.
Deleting a snapshot frees only the space that is taken up exclusively by that snapshot. If
two snapshots reference the same stored data, that data is not freed until both
snapshots are deleted. Remember that snapshots store data contained in all
subdirectories of the root directory; if snapshot_one contains /ifs/data/, and
snapshot_two contains /ifs/data/dir, the two snapshots most likely share data.
If you delete a directory, and then re-create it, a snapshot containing the directory stores
the entire re-created directory, even if the files in that directory are never modified.
Deleting multiple snapshots that contain the same directories is more likely to free data
than deleting multiple snapshots that contain different directories.
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If multiple snapshots contain the same directories, deleting older snapshots is more
likely to free disk-space than deleting newer snapshots.
Snapshots that are assigned expiration dates are automatically marked for deletion by
the snapshot daemon. If the daemon is disabled, snapshots will not be automatically
deleted by the system. It is recommended that you do not disable the snapshot daemon.

Delete snapshots
You can delete a snapshot if you no longer want to access the data contained in the
snapshot.
OneFS frees disk space occupied by deleted snapshots when the SnapshotDelete job is
run. Also, if you delete a snapshot that contains clones or cloned files, data in a shadow
store might no longer be referenced by files on the cluster; OneFS deletes unreferenced
data in a shadow store when the ShadowStoreDelete job is run. OneFS routinely runs
both the shadow store delete and SnapshotDelete jobs. However, you can also manually
run the jobs at any time.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SnapshotIQ > Snapshots.
2. Specify the snapshots that you want to delete.
a. For each snapshot you want to delete, in the Saved File System Snapshots table,
in the row of a snapshot, select the check box.
b. From the Select an action list, select Delete.
c. In the confirmation dialog box, click Delete.
3. Optional: To increase the speed at which deleted snapshot data is freed on the
cluster, run the SnapshotDelete job.
a. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Job Types.
b. In the Job Types area, in the SnapshotDelete row, from the Actions column, select
Start Job.
c. Click Start.
4. Optional: To increase the speed at which deleted data shared between deduplicated
and cloned files is freed on the cluster, run the ShadowStoreDelete job.
Run the ShadowStoreDelete job only after you run the SnapshotDelete job.
a. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Job Types.
b. In the Job Types area, in the ShadowStoreDelete row, from the Actions column,
select Start Job.
c. Click Start.

Modify snapshot attributes

You can modify the name and expiration date of a snapshot.
Procedure
1. Click File System Management > SnapshotIQ > Snapshots.
2. In the Saved File System Snapshots table, in the row of a snapshot, click View
Details.
3. In the Snapshot Details area, modify snapshot attributes.
Delete snapshots

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4. Next to each snapshot attribute that you modified, click Save.

Assign a snapshot alias to a snapshot

You can assign a snapshot alias to a snapshot.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SnapshotIQ > Snapshots.
2. Above the Saved File System Snapshots table, click View snapshot aliases.
3. In the Snapshot Aliases table, in the row of an alias, click View details.
4. In the Snapshot Alias Details pane, in the Alias Name area, click Edit.
5. In the Alias Name field, type a new alias name.
6. Click Save.

View snapshots
You can view snapshots.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SnapshotIQ > Snapshots.
The 50 most recently generated snapshots appear in the Saved File System
Snapshots table.
2. Optional: To view additional snapshots, at the bottom of the Saved File System
Snapshots table, click Show 50 more.

Snapshot information
You can view information about snapshots, including the total amount of space
consumed by all snapshots.
The following information is displayed in the Saved Snapshots area:
SnapshotIQ Status
Indicates whether a SnapshotIQ license has been activated on the cluster.
Total Number of Saved Snapshots
Indicates the total number of snapshots that exist on the cluster.
Total Number of Snapshots Pending Deletion
Indicates the total number of snapshots that were deleted on the cluster since the
last snapshot delete job was run. The space consumed by the deleted snapshots is
not freed until the snapshot delete job is run again.
Total Number of Snapshot Aliases
Indicates the total number of snapshot aliases that exist on the cluster.
Capacity Used by Saved Snapshots
Indicates the total amount of space consumed by all snapshots.

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Restoring snapshot data

You can restore snapshot data through various methods. You can revert a snapshot or
access snapshot data through the snapshots directory.
From the snapshots directory, you can either clone a file or copy a directory or a file. The
snapshots directory can be accessed through Windows Explorer or a UNIX command line.
You can disable and enable access to the snapshots directory for any of these methods
through snapshots settings.

Revert a snapshot
You can revert a directory back to the state it was in when a snapshot was taken. Before
OneFS reverts a snapshot, OneFS generates a snapshot of the directory being reverted, so
that data stored in the directory is not lost. OneFS does not delete a snapshot after
reverting it.
Before you begin
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Create a SnapRevert domain for the directory.

Create a snapshot of a directory.

Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Job Types.
2. In the Job Types area, in the SnapRevert row, from the Actions column, select Start
Job.
3. Optional: To specify a priority for the job, from the Priority list, select a priority.
Lower values indicate a higher priority. If you do not specify a priority, the job is
assigned the default snapshot revert priority.
4. Optional: To specify the amount of cluster resources the job is allowed to consume,
from the Impact policy list, select an impact policy.
If you do not specify a policy, the job is assigned the default snapshot revert policy.
5. In the Snapshot ID to revert field, type the name or ID of the snapshot that you want to
revert, and then click Start.

Restore a file or directory using Windows Explorer

If the Microsoft Shadow Copy Client is installed on your computer, you can use it to
restore files and directories that are stored in snapshots.
Note

You can access up to 64 snapshots of a directory through Windows explorer, starting with
the most recent snapshot. To access more than 64 snapshots for a directory, access the
cluster through a UNIX command line.
Procedure
1. In Windows Explorer, navigate to the directory that you want to restore or the directory
that contains the file that you want to restore.
2. Right-click the folder, and then click Properties.
3. In the Properties window, click the Previous Versions tab.
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4. Select the version of the folder that you want to restore or the version of the folder
that contains the version of the file that you want to restore.
5. Restore the version of the file or directory.
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To restore all files in the selected directory, click Restore.

To copy the selected directory to another location, click Copy and then specify a
location to copy the directory to.

To restore a specific file, click Open, and then copy the file into the original
directory, replacing the existing copy with the snapshot version.

Restore a file or directory through a UNIX command line

You can restore a file or directory through a UNIX command line.
Procedure
1. Open a connection to the cluster through a UNIX command line.
2. Optional: To view the contents of the snapshot you want to restore a file or directory
from, run the ls command for a subdirectory of the snapshots root directory.
For example, the following command displays the contents of the /archive
directory contained in Snapshot2012Jun04:
ls /ifs/.snapshot/Snapshot2014Jun04/archive

3. Copy the file or directory by using the cp command.

For example, the following command creates a copy of file1:
cp /ifs/.snapshot/Snapshot2014Jun04/archive/file1 \
/ifs/archive/file1_copy

Clone a file from a snapshot

You can clone a file from a snapshot. This procedure is available only through the
command-line interface (CLI).
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. To view the contents of the snapshot you want to restore a file or directory from, run
the ls command for a subdirectory of the snapshots root directory.
For example, the following command displays the contents of the /archive
directory contained in Snapshot2014Jun04:
ls /ifs/.snapshot/Snapshot2014Jun04/archive

3. Clone a file from the snapshot by running the cp command with the -c option.
For example, the following command clones test.txt from Snapshot2014Jun04:
cp -c /ifs/.snapshot/Snapshot2014Jun04/archive/test.txt \
/ifs/archive/test_clone.text

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Managing snapshot schedules

You can modify, delete, and view snapshot schedules.

Modify a snapshot schedule

You can modify a snapshot schedule. Any changes to a snapshot schedule are applied
only to snapshots generated after the modifications are made. Existing snapshots are not
affected by schedule modifications.
If you modify the alias of a snapshot schedule, the alias is assigned to the next snapshot
generated based on the schedule. However, if you do this, the old alias is not removed
from the last snapshot that it was assigned to. Unless you manually remove the old alias,
the alias will remain attached to the last snapshot that it was assigned to.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SnapshotIQ > Snapshot Schedules.
2. In the Snapshot Schedules table, in the row of the snapshot schedule you want to
modify, click View details.
3. In the Snapshot Schedule Details area, modify snapshot schedule attributes.
4. Next to each snapshot schedule attribute that you modified, click Save.

Delete a snapshot schedule

You can delete a snapshot schedule. Deleting a snapshot schedule will not delete
snapshots that were previously generated according to the schedule.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SnapshotIQ > Snapshot Schedules.
2. In the Snapshot Schedules table, in the row of the snapshot schedule you want to
delete, click Delete.
3. In the Confirm Delete dialog box, click Delete.

View snapshot schedules

You can view snapshot schedules.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SnapshotIQ > Snapshot Schedules.
2. In the Snapshot Schedules table, view snapshot schedules.
3. Optional: To view detailed information about a snapshot schedule, in the Snapshot
Schedules table, in the row of the snapshot schedule that you want to view, click View
details.
Snapshot schedule settings are displayed in the Snapshot Schedule Details area.
Snapshots that are scheduled to be generated according to the schedule are
displayed in the Snapshot Calendar area.

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Managing snapshot aliases

You can configure snapshot schedules to assign a snapshot alias to the most recent
snapshot created by a snapshot schedule. You can also manually assign snapshot
aliases to specific snapshots or the live version of the file system.

Configure a snapshot alias for a snapshot schedule

You can configure a snapshot schedule to assign a snapshot alias to the most recent
snapshot created by the schedule.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SnapshotIQ > Snapshot Schedules
2. In the Snapshot Schedules table, in the row of the snapshot schedule you want to
configure, click View details.
3. Next to Snapshot Alias, click Create an Alias.
4. In the Snapshot Alias area, select Yes.
5. In the Alias Name field, type the name of the snapshot alias.
6. In the Snapshot Alias area, click Save.

Assign a snapshot alias to a snapshot

You can assign a snapshot alias to a snapshot.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SnapshotIQ > Snapshots.
2. Above the Saved File System Snapshots table, click View snapshot aliases.
3. In the Snapshot Aliases table, in the row of an alias, click View details.
4. In the Snapshot Alias Details pane, in the Alias Name area, click Edit.
5. In the Alias Name field, type a new alias name.
6. Click Save.

Reassign a snapshot alias to the live file system

You can reassign a snapshot alias to redirect clients from a snapshot to the live file
system. This procedure is available only through the command-line interface (CLI).
Procedure
1. Run the isi snapshot aliases modify command.
The following command reassigns the latestWeekly alias to the live file system:
isi snapshot aliases modify latestWeekly --target LIVE

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View snapshot aliases

You can view a list of all snapshot aliases. This procedure is available only through the
command-line interface (CLI).
Procedure
1. View a list of all snapshot aliases by running the following command:
isi snapshot aliases list

If a snapshot alias references the live version of the file system, the Target ID is
-1.
2. Optional: View information about a specific snapshot by running the isi snapshot
aliases view command.
The following command displays information about latestWeekly:
isi snapshot aliases view latestWeekly

Snapshot alias information

You can view information about snapshot aliases through the output of the isi
snapshot aliases view command.
ID
The numerical ID of the snapshot alias.
Name
The name of the snapshot alias.
Target ID
The numerical ID of the snapshot that is referenced by the alias.
Target Name
The name of the snapshot that is referenced by the alias.
Created
The date that the snapshot alias was created.

Managing with snapshot locks

You can delete, create, and modify the expiration date of snapshot locks.
CAUTION

It is recommended that you do not create, delete, or modify snapshots locks unless you
are instructed to do so by Isilon Technical Support.
Deleting a snapshot lock that was created by OneFS might result in data loss. If you
delete a snapshot lock that was created by OneFS, it is possible that the corresponding
snapshot might be deleted while it is still in use by OneFS. If OneFS cannot access a
snapshot that is necessary for an operation, the operation will malfunction and data loss
might result. Modifying the expiration date of a snapshot lock created by OneFS can also
result in data loss because the corresponding snapshot can be deleted prematurely.

View snapshot aliases

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Create a snapshot lock

You can create snapshot locks that prevent snapshots from being deleted. This
procedure is available only through the command-line interface (CLI).
Although you can prevent a snapshot from being automatically deleted by creating a
snapshot lock, it is recommended that you do not create snapshot locks. To prevent a
snapshot from being automatically deleted, it is recommended that you extend the
duration period of the snapshot.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Create a snapshot lock by running the isi snapshot locks create command.
For example, the following command applies a snapshot lock to
"SnapshotApril2012", sets the lock to expire in one month, and adds a description of
"Maintenance Lock":
isi snapshot locks create SnapshotApril2012 --expires 1M \
--comment "Maintenance Lock"

Modify a snapshot lock expiration date

You can modify the expiration date of a snapshot lock. This procedure is available only
through the command-line interface (CLI).
CAUTION

It is recommended that you do not modify the expiration dates of snapshot locks.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Run the isi snapshot locks modify command.
The following command sets an expiration date two days from the present date for a
snapshot lock with an ID of 1 that is applied to a snapshot named
SnapshotApril2014:
isi snapshot locks modify SnapshotApril2014 1 --expires 2D

Delete a snapshot lock

You can delete a snapshot lock. This procedure is available only through the commandline interface (CLI).
CAUTION

It is recommended that you do not delete snapshot locks.

Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Delete a snapshot lock by running the isi snapshot locks delete command.

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For example, the following command deletes a snapshot lock that is applied to
SnapshotApril2014 and has a lock ID of 1:
isi snapshot locks delete Snapshot2014Apr16 1

The system prompts you to confirm that you want to delete the snapshot lock.
3. Type yes and then press ENTER.

Snapshot lock information

You can view snapshot lock information through the isi snapshot locks view and
isi snapshot locks list commands.
ID
Numerical identification number of the snapshot lock.
Comment
Description of the snapshot lock. This can be any string specified by a user.
Expires
The date that the snapshot lock will be automatically deleted by OneFS.
Count
The number of times the snapshot lock is held.
The file clone operation can hold a single snapshot lock multiple times. If multiple
file clones are created simultaneously, the file clone operation holds the same lock
multiple times, rather than creating multiple locks. If you delete a snapshot lock that
is held more than once, you will delete only one of the instances that the lock is
held. In order to delete a snapshot lock that is held multiple times, you must delete
the snapshot lock the same number of times as displayed in the count field.

Configure SnapshotIQ settings

You can configure SnapshotIQ settings that determine how snapshots can be created and
the methods that users can access snapshot data.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SnapshotIQ > Settings.
2. Modify SnapshotIQ settings, and then click Save.

SnapshotIQ settings
SnapshotIQ settings determine how snapshots behave and can be accessed.
The following SnapshotIQ settings can be configured:

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Snapshot Scheduling
Determines whether snapshots can be generated.
Note

Disabling snapshot generation might cause some OneFS operations to fail. It is

recommended that you do not disable this setting.
Auto-create Snapshots
Determines whether snapshots are automatically generated according to
snapshot schedules.
Auto-delete Snapshots
Determines whether snapshots are automatically deleted according to their
expiration dates.
NFS Visibility & Accessibility
Root Directory Accessible
Determines whether snapshot directories are accessible through NFS.
Root Directory Visible
Determines whether snapshot directories are visible through NFS.
Sub-directories Accessible
Determines whether snapshot subdirectories are accessible through NFS.
SMB Visibility & Accessible
Root Directory Accessible
Determines whether snapshot directories are accessible through SMB.
Root Directory Visible
Determines whether snapshot directories are visible through SMB.
Sub-directories Accessible
Determines whether snapshot subdirectories are accessible through SMB.
Local Visibility & Accessibility
Root Directory Accessible
Determines whether snapshot directories are accessible through the local file
system. You can access the local file system through an SSH connection or the
local console.
Root Directory Visible
Determines whether snapshot directories are visible through the local file
system. You can access the local file system through an SSH connection or the
local console.
Sub-directories Accessible
Determines whether snapshot subdirectories are accessible through the local
file system. You can access the local file system through an SSH connection or
the local console.

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Set the snapshot reserve

You can specify a minimum percentage of cluster-storage capacity that you want to
reserve for snapshots. This procedure is available only through the command-line
interface (CLI).
The snapshot reserve does not limit the amount of space that snapshots are allowed to
consume on the cluster. Snapshots can consume more than the percentage of capacity
specified by the snapshot reserve. It is recommended that you do not specify a snapshot
reserve.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Set the snapshot reserve by running the isi snapshot settings modify
command with the --reserve option.
For example, the following command sets the snapshot reserve to 20%:
isi snapshot settings modify --reserve 20

Set the snapshot reserve

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CHAPTER 11
Deduplication with SmartDedupe

This section contains the following topics:

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Deduplication overview....................................................................................... 234

Deduplication jobs.............................................................................................. 234
Data replication and backup with deduplication..................................................235
Snapshots with deduplication.............................................................................235
Deduplication considerations..............................................................................235
Shadow-store considerations.............................................................................. 236
SmartDedupe license functionality......................................................................236
Managing deduplication..................................................................................... 236

Deduplication with SmartDedupe

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Deduplication overview
The SmartDedupe software module enables you to save storage space on your cluster by
reducing redundant data. Deduplication maximizes the efficiency of your cluster by
decreasing the amount of storage required to store multiple files with similar blocks.
SmartDedupe deduplicates data by scanning an Isilon cluster for identical data blocks.
Each block is 8 KB. If SmartDedupe finds duplicate blocks, SmartDedupe moves a single
copy of the blocks to a hidden file called a shadow store. SmartDedupe then deletes the
duplicate blocks from the original files and replaces the blocks with pointers to the
shadow store.
Deduplication is applied at the directory level, targeting all files and directories
underneath one or more root directories. You can first assess a directory for
deduplication and determine the estimated amount of space you can expect to save. You
can then decide whether to deduplicate the directory. After you begin deduplicating a
directory, you can monitor how much space is saved by deduplication in real time.
SmartDedupe does not deduplicate files that are 32 KB and smaller, because doing so
would consume more cluster resources than the storage savings are worth. Each shadow
store can contain up to 255 blocks. Each block in a shadow store can be referenced
32000 times.

Deduplication jobs
Deduplication is performed by maintenance jobs referred to as deduplication jobs. You
can monitor and control deduplication jobs as you would any other maintenance job on
the cluster. Although the overall performance impact of deduplication is minimal, the
deduplication job consumes 256 MB of memory per node.
When a deduplication job is first run on a cluster, SmartDedupe samples blocks from
each file and creates index entries for those blocks. If the index entries of two blocks
match, SmartDedupe scans the blocks adjacent to the matching pair and then
deduplicates all duplicate blocks. After a deduplication job samples a file once, new
deduplication jobs will not sample the file again until the file is modified.
The first deduplication job you run might take significantly longer to complete than
subsequent deduplication jobs. The first deduplication job must scan all files under the
specified directories to generate the initial index. If subsequent deduplication jobs take a
long time to complete, this most likely indicates that a large amount of data is being
deduplicated. However, it can also indicate that clients are creating a large amount of
new data on the cluster. If a deduplication job is interrupted during the deduplication
process, the job will automatically restart the scanning process from where the job was
interrupted.
It is recommended that you run deduplication jobs when clients are not modifying data
on the cluster. If clients are continually modifying files on the cluster, the amount of
space saved by deduplication is minimal because the deduplicated blocks are constantly
removed from the shadow store. For most clusters, it is recommended that you start a
deduplication job every ten days.
The permissions required to modify deduplication settings are not the same as those
needed to run a deduplication job. Although a user must have the maintenance job
permission to run a deduplication job, the user must have the deduplication permission
to modify deduplication settings. By default, the deduplication job is configured to run at
a low priority.

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Data replication and backup with deduplication

When deduplicated files are replicated to another Isilon cluster or backed up to a tape
device, the deduplicated files no longer share blocks on the target Isilon cluster or
backup device. However, although you can deduplicate data on a target Isilon cluster,
you cannot deduplicate data on an NDMP backup device.
Shadows stores are not transferred to target clusters or backup devices. Because of this,
deduplicated files do not consume less space than non-deduplicated files when they are
replicated or backed up. To avoid running out of space, you must ensure that target
clusters and tape devices have enough free space to store deduplicated data as if the
data had not been deduplicated. To reduce the amount of storage space consumed on a
target Isilon cluster, you can configure deduplication for the target directories of your
replication policies. Although this will deduplicate data on the target directory, it will not
allow SyncIQ to transfer shadow stores. Deduplication is still performed by deduplication
jobs running on the target cluster.
The amount of cluster resources required to backup and replicate deduplicated data is
the same as for non-deduplicated data. You can deduplicate data while the data is being
replicated or backed up.

Snapshots with deduplication

You cannot deduplicate the data stored in a snapshot. However, you can create
snapshots of deduplicated data.
If you create a snapshot for a deduplicated directory, and then modify the contents of
that directory, the references to shadow stores will be transferred to the snapshot over
time. Therefore, if you enable deduplication before you create snapshots, you will save
more space on your cluster. If you implement deduplication on a cluster that already has
a significant amount of data stored in snapshots, it will take time before the snapshot
data is affected by deduplication. Newly created snapshots can contain deduplicated
data, but snapshots created before deduplication was implemented cannot.
If you plan on reverting a snapshot, it is best to revert the snapshot before running a
deduplication job. Restoring a snapshot can overwrite many of the files on the cluster.
Any deduplicated files are reverted back to normal files if they are overwritten by a
snapshot revert. However, after the snapshot revert is complete, you can deduplicate the
directory and the space savings persist on the cluster.

Deduplication considerations
Deduplication can significantly increase the efficiency at which you store data. However,
the effect of deduplication varies depending on the cluster.
You can reduce redundancy on a cluster by running SmartDedupe. Deduplication creates
links that can impact the speed at which you can read from and write to files. In
particular, sequentially reading chunks smaller than 512 KB of a deduplicated file can be
significantly slower than reading the same small, sequential chunks of a nondeduplicated file. This performance degradation applies only if you are reading noncached data. For cached data, the performance for deduplicated files is potentially better
than non-deduplicated files. If you stream chunks larger than 512 KB, deduplication does
not significantly impact the read performance of the file. If you intend on streaming 8 KB
or less of each file at a time, and you do not plan on concurrently streaming the files, it is
recommended that you do not deduplicate the files.
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Deduplication is most effective when applied to static or archived files and directories.
The less files are modified, the less negative effect deduplication has on the cluster. For
example, virtual machines often contain several copies of identical files that are rarely
modified. Deduplicating a large number of virtual machines can greatly reduce consumed
storage space.

Shadow-store considerations
Shadow stores are hidden files that are referenced by cloned and deduplicated files. Files
that reference shadow stores behave differently than other files.
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Reading shadow-store references might be slower than reading data directly.

Specifically, reading non-cached shadow-store references is slower than reading noncached data. Reading cached shadow-store references takes no more time than
reading cached data.
When files that reference shadow stores are replicated to another Isilon cluster or
backed up to a Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP) backup device, the
shadow stores are not transferred to the target Isilon cluster or backup device. The
files are transferred as if they contained the data that they reference from shadow
stores. On the target Isilon cluster or backup device, the files consume the same
amount of space as if they had not referenced shadow stores.
When OneFS creates a shadow store, OneFS assigns the shadow store to a storage
pool of a file that references the shadow store. If you delete the storage pool that a
shadow store resides on, the shadow store is moved to a pool occupied by another
file that references the shadow store.
OneFS does not delete a shadow-store block immediately after the last reference to
the block is deleted. Instead, OneFS waits until the ShadowStoreDelete job is run to
delete the unreferenced block. If a large number of unreferenced blocks exist on the
cluster, OneFS might report a negative deduplication savings until the
ShadowStoreDelete job is run.
Shadow stores are protected at least as much as the most protected file that
references it. For example, if one file that references a shadow store resides in a
storage pool with +2 protection and another file that references the shadow store
resides in a storage pool with +3 protection, the shadow store is protected at +3.
Quotas account for files that reference shadow stores as if the files contained the
data referenced from shadow stores; from the perspective of a quota, shadow-store
references do not exist. However, if a quota includes data protection overhead, the
quota does not account for the data protection overhead of shadow stores.

SmartDedupe license functionality

You can deduplicate data only if you activate a SmartDedupe license on a cluster.
However, you can assess deduplication savings without activating a SmartDedupe
license.
If you activate a SmartDedupe license, and then deduplicate data, the space savings are
not lost if the license becomes inactive. You can also still view deduplication savings
while the license is inactive. However, you will not be able to deduplicate additional data
until you re-activate the SmartDedupe license.

Managing deduplication
You can manage deduplication on a cluster by first assessing how much space you can
save by deduplicating individual directories. After you determine which directories are
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worth deduplicating, you can configure SmartDedupe to deduplicate those directories

specifically. You can then monitor the actual amount of disk space you are saving.

Assess deduplication space savings

You can assess the amount of disk space you will save by deduplicating a directory.
Procedure
1. Click File System Management > Deduplication > Settings.
2. In the Assess Deduplication area, click Browse and select a directory that you want to
deduplicate.
If you assess multiple directories, disk savings are not differentiated by directory in
the deduplication report.
3. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Job Types.
4. In the Job Types table, in the row of the DedupeAssessment job, from the Actions
column, select Start Job.
5. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Job Summary.
6. Wait for the assessment job to complete.
When the DedupeAssessment job is complete, the job is removed from the Active
Jobs table.
7. Click File System Management > Deduplication > Summary.
In the Deduplication Assessment Reports table, in the row of the most recent
assessment job, click View Details.
8. View the amount of disk space that will be saved if you deduplicate the directory.
The number of blocks that will be deduplicated is displayed in the Deduped blocks
field.

Specify deduplication settings

You can specify which directories you want to deduplicate.
Procedure
1. Click File System Management > Deduplication > Settings.
2. In the Deduplication Settings area, click Browse and select a directory that you want
to deduplicate.
3. Optional: Specify additional directories.
a. Click Add another directory path.
b. Click Browse and select a directory that you want to deduplicate.
4. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Jobs Types.
5. In the Jobs table, in the row of the Dedupe job, click View/Edit.
6. Click Edit Job Type.
7. Modify the settings of the deduplication job, and then click Save Changes.

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View deduplication space savings

You can view the amount of disk space that you are currently saving with deduplication.
Procedure
1. Click File System Management > Deduplication > Summary.
2. In the Deduplication Savings area, view the amount of disk space saved.

View a deduplication report

After a deduplication job completes, you can view information about the job in a
deduplication report.
Procedure
1. Click File System Management > Deduplication > Summary.
2. Select a deduplication report.
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To view a report about a deduplication job, in the Deduplication Reports table,

click View Report.

To view a report about a deduplication assessment job, in the Deduplication

Assessment Reports table, click View Report.

Deduplication job report information

You can view the following deduplication specific information in deduplication job
reports:
Start time
The time the deduplication job started.
End time
The time the deduplication job ended.
Iteration Count
The number of times that SmartDedupe interrupted the sampling process. If
SmartDedupe is sampling a large amount of data, SmartDedupe might interrupt
sampling in order to start deduplicating the data. After SmartDedupe finishes
deduplicating the sampled data, SmartDedupe will continue sampling the remaining
data.
Scanned blocks
The total number of blocks located underneath the specified deduplicated
directories.
Sampled blocks
The number of blocks that SmartDedupe created index entries for.
Deduped blocks
The number of blocks that were deduplicated.
Dedupe percent
The percentage of scanned blocks that were deduplicated.
Created dedupe requests
The total number of deduplication requests created. A deduplication request is
created for each matching pair of data blocks. For example, if you have 3 data blocks
that all match, SmartDedupe creates 2 requests. One of the requests could pair file1
and file2 together and the other request could pair file2 and file3 together.

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Successful dedupe requests

The number of deduplication requests that completed successfully.
Failed dedupe requests
The number of deduplication requests that failed. If a deduplication request fails, it
doesn't mean that the job failed too. A deduplication request can fail for any number
of reasons. For example, the file might have been modified since it was sampled.
Skipped files
The number of files that were not scanned by the deduplication job. SmartDedupe
skips files for a number of reasons. For example, SmartDedupe skips files that have
already been scanned and haven't been modified since. SmartDedupe also skips all
files that are smaller than 4 KB.
Index entries
The number of entries that currently exist in the index.
Index lookup attempts
The total number of lookups that have been done by earlier deduplication jobs plus
the number of lookups done by this deduplication job. A lookup is when the
deduplication job attempts to match a block that was indexed with a block that
hasn't been indexed.
Index lookup hits
The number of blocks that matched index entries.

Deduplication information
You can view the amount of disk space saved by deduplication in the Deduplication
Savings area:
Space Savings
The total amount of physical disk space saved by deduplication, including
protection overhead and metadata. For example, if you have three identical files that
are all 5 GB, the estimated physical saving would be greater than 10 GB, because
deduplication saved space that would have been occupied by file metadata and
protection overhead.
Deduplicated data
The amount of space on the cluster occupied by directories that were deduplicated.
Other data
The amount of space on the cluster occupied by directories that were not
deduplicated.

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CHAPTER 12
Data replication with SyncIQ

This section contains the following topics:

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SyncIQ backup and recovery overview................................................................. 242

Replication policies and jobs.............................................................................. 242
Replication snapshots.........................................................................................245
Data failover and failback with SyncIQ.................................................................246
Recovery times and objectives for SyncIQ............................................................247
SyncIQ license functionality................................................................................ 248
Creating replication policies................................................................................ 248
Managing replication to remote clusters..............................................................258
Initiating data failover and failback with SyncIQ.................................................. 260
Performing disaster recovery for SmartLock directories........................................262
Managing replication policies............................................................................. 264
Managing replication to the local cluster............................................................. 268
Managing replication performance rules............................................................. 270
Managing replication reports...............................................................................272
Managing failed replication jobs......................................................................... 274
Managing changelists......................................................................................... 275

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SyncIQ backup and recovery overview

OneFS enables you to replicate data from one Isilon cluster to another through the SyncIQ
software module. You must activate a SyncIQ license on both Isilon clusters before you
can replicate data between them.
You can replicate data at the directory level while optionally excluding specific files and
sub-directories from being replicated. SyncIQ creates and references snapshots to
replicate a consistent point-in-time image of a root directory. Metadata such as access
control lists (ACLs) and alternate data streams (ADS) are replicated along with data.
SyncIQ enables you to maintain a consistent backup copy of your data on another Isilon
cluster. SyncIQ offers automated failover and failback capabilities that enable you to
continue operations on another Isilon cluster if a primary cluster becomes unavailable.

Replication policies and jobs

Data replication is coordinated according to replication policies and jobs. Replication
policies specify what data is replicated, where the data is replicated to, and how often
the data is replicated. Replication jobs are the operations that replicate data from one
Isilon cluster to another. SyncIQ generates replication jobs according to replication
policies.
A replication policy specifies two clusters: the source and the target. The cluster on which
the replication policy exists is the source cluster. The cluster that data is being replicated
to is the target cluster. When a replication policy starts, SyncIQ generates a replication
job for the policy. When a replication job runs, files from a directory on the source cluster
are replicated to a directory on the target cluster; these directories are known as source
and target directories.
After the first replication job created by a replication policy finishes, the target directory
and all files contained in the target directory are set to a read-only state, and can be
modified only by other replication jobs belonging to the same replication policy. There is
no limit to the number of replication policies that can exist on a cluster.
Note

To prevent permissions errors, make sure that ACL policy settings are the same across
source and target clusters.
You can create two types of replication policies: synchronization policies and copy
policies. A synchronization policy maintains an exact replica of the source directory on
the target cluster. If a file or sub-directory is deleted from the source directory, the file or
directory is deleted from the target cluster when the policy is run again.
You can use synchronization policies to fail over and fail back data between source and
target clusters. When a source cluster becomes unavailable, you can fail over data on a
target cluster and make the data available to clients. When the source cluster becomes
available again, you can fail back the data to the source cluster.
A copy policy maintains recent versions of the files that are stored on the source cluster.
However, files that are deleted on the source cluster are not deleted from the target
cluster. Failback is not supported for copy policies. Copy policies are most commonly
used for archival purposes.
Copy policies enable you to remove files from the source cluster without losing those files
on the target cluster. Deleting files on the source cluster improves performance on the
source cluster while maintaining the deleted files on the target cluster. This can be useful
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if, for example, your source cluster is being used for production purposes and your target
cluster is being used only for archiving.
After creating a job for a replication policy, SyncIQ must wait until the job completes
before it can create another job for the policy. Any number of replication jobs can exist on
a cluster at a given time; however, only five replication jobs can run on a source cluster at
the same time. If more than five replication jobs exist on a cluster, the first five jobs run
while the others are queued to run. The number of replication jobs that a single target
cluster can support concurrently is dependent on the number of workers available on the
target cluster.
You can replicate any number of files and directories with a single replication job. You
can prevent a large replication job from overwhelming the system by limiting the amount
of cluster resources and network bandwidth that data synchronization is allowed to
consume. Because each node in a cluster is able to send and receive data, the speed at
which data is replicated increases for larger clusters.

Automated replication policies

You can manually start a replication policy at any time, but you can also configure
replication policies to start automatically based on source directory modifications or a
schedule.
You can configure a replication policy to run according to a schedule, so that you can
control when replication is performed. You can also configure a replication policy to start
when SyncIQ detects a modification to the source directory, so that SyncIQ maintains a
more current version of your data on the target cluster.
Scheduling a policy can be useful under the following conditions:
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You want to replicate data when user activity is minimal

You can accurately predict when modifications will be made to the data

Configuring a policy to start when changes are made to the source directory can be useful
under the following conditions:
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You want retain a consistent copy of your data at all times

You are expecting a large number of changes at unpredictable intervals

For policies that are configured to start whenever changes are made to the source
directory, SyncIQ checks the source directories every ten seconds. SyncIQ does not
account for excluded files or directories when detecting changes, so policies that exclude
files or directories from replication might be run unnecessarily. For example, assume that
newPolicy replicates /ifs/data/media but excludes /ifs/data/media/temp. If a
modification is made to /ifs/data/media/temp/file.txt, SyncIQ will run
newPolicy, but will not replicate /ifs/data/media/temp/file.txt.
If a policy is configured to start whenever changes are made to its source directory, and a
replication job fails, SyncIQ will wait one minute before attempting to run the policy
again. SyncIQ will increase this delay exponentially for each failure up to a maximum
delay of eight hours. You can override the delay by running the policy manually at any
time. After a job for the policy completes successfully, SyncIQ will resume checking the
source directory every ten seconds.

Source and target cluster association

SyncIQ associates a replication policy with a target cluster by marking the target cluster
when the job runs for the first time. Even if you modify the name or IP address of the

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target cluster, the mark persists on the target cluster. When a replication policy is run,
SyncIQ checks the mark to ensure that data is being replicated to the correct location.
On the target cluster, you can manually break an association between a replication policy
and target directory. Breaking the association between a source and target cluster causes
the mark on the target cluster to be deleted. You might want to manually break a target
association if an association is obsolete. If you break the association of a policy, the
policy is disabled on the source cluster and you cannot run the policy. If you want to run
the disabled policy again, you must reset the replication policy.
Note

Breaking a policy association causes either a full or differential replication to occur the
next time you run the replication policy. During a full or differential replication, SyncIQ
creates a new association between the source and target clusters. Depending on the
amount of data being replicated, a full or differential replication can take a very long time
to complete.

Full and differential replication

If a replication policy encounters an issue that cannot be fixed (for example, if the
association was broken on the target cluster), you might need to reset the replication
policy. If you reset a replication policy, SyncIQ performs either a full or differential
replication the next time the policy is run. You can specify the type of replication that
SyncIQ performs.
During a full replication, SyncIQ transfers all data from the source cluster regardless of
what data exists on the target cluster. A full replication consumes large amounts of
network bandwidth and can take a very long time to complete. However, a full replication
is less strenuous on CPU usage than a differential replication.
During a differential replication, SyncIQ first checks whether a file already exists on the
target cluster and then transfers only data that does not already exist on the target
cluster. A differential replication consumes less network bandwidth than a full
replication; however, differential replications consume more CPU. Differential replication
can be much faster than a full replication if there is an adequate amount of available CPU
for the differential replication job to consume.

Controlling replication job resource consumption

You can create rules that limit the network traffic created and the rate at which files are
sent by replication jobs. You can also specify the number of workers that are spawned by
a replication policy to limit the amount of cluster resources that are consumed. Also, you
can restrict a replication policy to connect only to a specific storage pool.
You can create network-traffic rules that control the amount of network traffic generated
by replication jobs during specified time periods. These rules can be useful if, for
example, you want to limit the amount of network traffic created during other resourceintensive operations.
You can create multiple network traffic rules to enforce different limitations at different
times. For example, you might allocate a small amount of network bandwidth during peak
business hours, but allow unlimited network bandwidth during non-peak hours.
When a replication job runs, OneFS generates workers on the source and target cluster.
Workers on the source cluster send data while workers on the target cluster write data.
OneFS generates no more than 40 workers for a replication job. You can modify the
maximum number of workers generated per node to control the amount of resources that
a replication job is allowed to consume. For example, you can increase the maximum
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number of workers per node to increase the speed at which data is replicated to the
target cluster.
You can also reduce resource consumption through file-operation rules that limit the rate
at which replication policies are allowed to send files. However, it is recommended that
you only create file-operation rules if the files you intend to replicate are predictably
similar in size and not especially large.

Replication reports
After a replication job completes, SyncIQ generates a report that contains detailed
information about the job, including how long the job ran, how much data was
transferred, and what errors occurred.
If a replication report is interrupted, SyncIQ might create a subreport about the progress
of the job so far. If the job is then restarted, SyncIQ creates another subreport about the
progress of the job until the job either completes or is interrupted again. SyncIQ creates a
subreport each time the job is interrupted until the job completes successfully. If multiple
subreports are created for a job, SyncIQ combines the information from the subreports
into a single report.
SyncIQ routinely deletes replication reports. You can specify the maximum number of
replication reports that SyncIQ retains and the length of time that SyncIQ retains
replication reports. If the maximum number of replication reports is exceeded on a
cluster, SyncIQ deletes the oldest report each time a new report is created.
You cannot customize the content of a replication report.
Note

If you delete a replication policy, SyncIQ automatically deletes any reports that were
generated for that policy.

Replication snapshots
SyncIQ generates snapshots to facilitate replication, failover, and failback between Isilon
clusters. Snapshots generated by SyncIQ can also be used for archival purposes on the
target cluster.

Source cluster snapshots

SyncIQ generates snapshots on the source cluster to ensure that a consistent point-intime image is replicated and that unaltered data is not sent to the target cluster.
Before running a replication job, SyncIQ creates a snapshot of the source directory.
SyncIQ then replicates data according to the snapshot rather than the current state of the
cluster, allowing users to modify source-directory files while ensuring that an exact pointin-time image of the source directory is replicated.
For example, if a replication job of /ifs/data/dir/ starts at 1:00 PM and finishes at
1:20 PM, and /ifs/data/dir/file is modified at 1:10 PM, the modifications are not
reflected on the target cluster, even if /ifs/data/dir/file is not replicated until
1:15 PM.
You can replicate data according to a snapshot generated with the SnapshotIQ tool. If
you replicate data according to a SnapshotIQ snapshot, SyncIQ does not generate
another snapshot of the source directory. This method can be useful if you want to
replicate identical copies of data to multiple Isilon clusters.

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SyncIQ generates source snapshots to ensure that replication jobs do not transfer
unmodified data. When a job is created for a replication policy, SyncIQ checks whether it
is the first job created for the policy. If it is not the first job created for the policy, SyncIQ
compares the snapshot generated for the earlier job with the snapshot generated for the
new job.
SyncIQ replicates only data that has changed since the last time a snapshot was
generated for the replication policy. When a replication job is completed, SyncIQ deletes
the previous source-cluster snapshot and retains the most recent snapshot until the next
job is run.

Target cluster snapshots

When a replication job is run, SyncIQ generates a snapshot on the target cluster to
facilitate failover operations. When the next replication job is created for the replication
policy, the job creates a new snapshot and deletes the old one.
If a SnapshotIQ license has been activated on the target cluster, you can configure a
replication policy to generate additional snapshots that remain on the target cluster even
as subsequent replication jobs run.
SyncIQ generates target snapshots to facilitate failover on the target cluster regardless of
whether a SnapshotIQ license has been configured on the target cluster. Failover
snapshots are generated when a replication job completes. SyncIQ retains only one
failover snapshot per replication policy, and deletes the old snapshot after the new
snapshot is created.
If a SnapshotIQ license has been activated on the target cluster, you can configure
SyncIQ to generate archival snapshots on the target cluster that are not automatically
deleted when subsequent replication jobs run. Archival snapshots contain the same data
as the snapshots that are generated for failover purposes. However, you can configure
how long archival snapshots are retained on the target cluster. You can access archival
snapshots the same way that you access other snapshots generated on a cluster.

Data failover and failback with SyncIQ

SyncIQ enables you to perform automated data failover and failback operations between
Isilon clusters. If a cluster is rendered unusable, you can fail over to another Isilon
cluster, enabling clients to access to access their data on the other cluster. If the
unusable cluster becomes accessible again, you can fail back to the original Isilon
cluster.
For the purposes of explaining failover and failback procedures, the cluster originally
accessed by clients is referred to as the primary cluster, and the cluster that client data is
originally replicated to is referred to as the secondary cluster. Failover is the process that
allows clients to modify data on a secondary cluster. Failback is the process that allows
clients to access data on the primary cluster again and begins to replicate data back to
the secondary cluster.
Failover and failback can be useful in disaster recovery procedures. For example, if a
primary cluster is damaged by a natural disaster, you can migrate clients to a secondary
cluster until the primary cluster is repaired and then migrate the clients back to the
primary cluster.
You can fail over and fail back to facilitate scheduled cluster maintenance. For example, if
you are upgrading the primary cluster, you might want to migrate clients to a secondary
cluster until the upgrade is complete and then migrate clients back to the primary cluster.

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Note

Data failover and failback is not supported for SmartLock directories.

Data failover
Data failover is the process of preparing data on a secondary cluster to be modified by
clients. After you fail over to a secondary cluster, you can redirect clients to modify their
data on the secondary cluster.
Before failover is performed, you must create and run a replication policy on the primary
cluster. You initiate the failover process on the secondary cluster. Failover is performed
per replication policy; to migrate data that is spread across multiple replication policies,
you must initiate failover for each replication policy.
You can use any replication policy to fail over. However, if the action of the replication
policy is set to copy, any file that was deleted on the primary cluster will be present on
the secondary cluster. When the client connects to the secondary cluster, all files that
were deleted on the primary cluster will be available to the client.
If you initiate failover for a replication policy while an associated replication job is
running, the failover operation completes but the replication job fails. Because data
might be in an inconsistent state, SyncIQ uses the snapshot generated by the last
successful replication job to revert data on the secondary cluster to the last recovery
point.
If a disaster occurs on the primary cluster, any modifications to data that were made after
the last successful replication job started are not reflected on the secondary cluster.
When a client connects to the secondary cluster, their data appears as it was when the
last successful replication job was started.

Data failback
Data failback is the process of restoring clusters to the roles they occupied before a
failover operation. After data failback is complete, the primary cluster hosts clients and
replicates data to the secondary cluster for backup.
The first step in the failback process is updating the primary cluster with all of the
modifications that were made to the data on the secondary cluster. The next step in the
failback process is preparing the primary cluster to be accessed by clients. The final step
in the failback process is resuming data replication from the primary to the secondary
cluster. At the end of the failback process, you can redirect users to resume accessing
their data on the primary cluster.
You can fail back data with any replication policy that meets all of the following criteria:
l

The source directory is not a SmartLock directory.

The policy has been failed over.

The policy is a synchronization policy.

The policy does not exclude any files or directories from replication.

Recovery times and objectives for SyncIQ

The Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and the Recovery Time Objective (RTO) are
measurements of the impacts that a disaster can have on business operations. You can
calculate your RPO and RTO for a disaster recovery with replication policies.
RPO is the maximum amount of time for which data is lost if a cluster suddenly becomes
unavailable. For an Isilon cluster, the RPO is the amount of time that has passed since
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the last completed replication job started. The RPO is never greater than the time it takes
for two consecutive replication jobs to run and complete.
If a disaster occurs while a replication job is running, the data on the secondary cluster is
reverted to the state it was in when the last replication job completed. For example,
consider an environment in which a replication policy is scheduled to run every three
hours, and replication jobs take two hours to complete. If a disaster occurs an hour after
a replication job begins, the RPO is four hours, because it has been four hours since a
completed job began replicating data.
RTO is the maximum amount of time required to make backup data available to clients
after a disaster. The RTO is always less than or approximately equal to the RPO,
depending on the rate at which replication jobs are created for a given policy.
If replication jobs run continuously, meaning that another replication job is created for
the policy before the previous replication job completes, the RTO is approximately equal
to the RPO. When the secondary cluster is failed over, the data on the cluster is reset to
the state it was in when the last job completed; resetting the data takes an amount of
time proportional to the time it took users to modify the data.
If replication jobs run on an interval, meaning that there is a period of time after a
replication job completes before the next replication job for the policy starts, the
relationship between RTO and RPO depends on whether a replication job is running when
the disaster occurs. If a job is in progress when a disaster occurs, the RTO is roughly
equal to the RPO. However, if a job is not running when a disaster occurs, the RTO is
negligible because the secondary cluster was not modified since the last replication job
ran, and the failover process is almost instantaneous.

SyncIQ license functionality

You can replicate data to another Isilon cluster only if you activate a SyncIQ license on
both the local cluster and the target cluster.
If a SyncIQ license becomes inactive, you cannot create, run, or manage replication
policies. Also, all previously created replication policies are disabled. Replication policies
that target the local cluster are also disabled. However, data that was previously
replicated to the local cluster is still available.

Creating replication policies

You can create replication policies that determine when data is replicated with SyncIQ.

Excluding directories in replication

You can exclude directories from being replicated by replication policies even if the
directories exist under the specified source directory.
Note

Failback is not supported for replication policies that exclude directories.

By default, all files and directories under the source directory of a replication policy are
replicated to the target cluster. However, you can prevent directories under the source
directory from being replicated.
If you specify a directory to exclude, files and directories under the excluded directory are
not replicated to the target cluster. If you specify a directory to include, only the files and

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directories under the included directory are replicated to the target cluster; any
directories that are not contained in an included directory are excluded.
If you both include and exclude directories, any excluded directories must be contained
in one of the included directories; otherwise, the excluded-directory setting has no effect.
For example, consider a policy with the following settings:
l

The root directory is /ifs/data

The included directories are /ifs/data/media/music and /ifs/data/

media/movies

The excluded directories are /ifs/data/archive and /ifs/data/media/

music/working

In this example, the setting that excludes the /ifs/data/archive directory has no
effect because the /ifs/data/archive directory is not under either of the included
directories. The /ifs/data/archive directory is not replicated regardless of whether
the directory is explicitly excluded. However, the setting that excludes the /ifs/data/
media/music/working directory does have an effect, because the directory would be
replicated if the setting was not specified.
In addition, if you exclude a directory that contains the source directory, the excludedirectory setting has no effect. For example, if the root directory of a policy is /ifs/
data, explicitly excluding the /ifs directory does not prevent /ifs/data from being
replicated.
Any directories that you explicitly include or exclude must be contained in or under the
specified root directory. For example, consider a policy in which the specified root
directory is /ifs/data. In this example, you could include both the /ifs/data/
media and the /ifs/data/users/ directories because they are under /ifs/data.
Excluding directories from a synchronization policy does not cause the directories to be
deleted on the target cluster. For example, consider a replication policy that
synchronizes /ifs/data on the source cluster to /ifs/data on the target cluster. If
the policy excludes /ifs/data/media from replication, and /ifs/data/media/
file exists on the target cluster, running the policy does not cause /ifs/data/
media/file to be deleted from the target cluster.

Excluding files in replication

If you do not want specific files to be replicated by a replication policy, you can exclude
them from the replication process through file-matching criteria statements. You can
configure file-matching criteria statements during the replication-policy creation process.
Note

You cannot fail back replication policies that exclude files.

A file-criteria statement can include one or more elements. Each file-criteria element
contains a file attribute, a comparison operator, and a comparison value. You can
combine multiple criteria elements in a criteria statement with Boolean "AND" and "OR"
operators. You can configure any number of file-criteria definitions.
Configuring file-criteria statements can cause the associated jobs to run slowly. It is
recommended that you specify file-criteria statements in a replication policy only if
necessary.
Modifying a file-criteria statement will cause a full replication to occur the next time that a
replication policy is started. Depending on the amount of data being replicated, a full
replication can take a very long time to complete.
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For synchronization policies, if you modify the comparison operators or comparison

values of a file attribute, and a file no longer matches the specified file-matching criteria,
the file is deleted from the target the next time the job is run. This rule does not apply to
copy policies.

File criteria options

You can configure a replication policy to exclude files that meet or do not meet specific
criteria.
You can specify file criteria based on the following file attributes:
Date created
Includes or excludes files based on when the file was created. This option is
available for copy policies only.
You can specify a relative date and time, such as "two weeks ago", or specific date
and time, such as "January 1, 2012." Time settings are based on a 24-hour clock.
Date accessed
Includes or excludes files based on when the file was last accessed. This option is
available for copy policies only, and only if the global access-time-tracking option of
the cluster is enabled.
You can specify a relative date and time, such as "two weeks ago", or specific date
and time, such as "January 1, 2012." Time settings are based on a 24-hour clock.
Date modified
Includes or excludes files based on when the file was last modified. This option is
available for copy policies only.
You can specify a relative date and time, such as "two weeks ago", or specific date
and time, such as "January 1, 2012." Time settings are based on a 24-hour clock.

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File name
Includes or excludes files based on the file name. You can specify to include or
exclude full or partial names that contain specific text.
The following wildcard characters are accepted:
Note

Alternatively, you can filter file names by using POSIX regular-expression (regex) text.
Isilon clusters support IEEE Std 1003.2 (POSIX.2) regular expressions. For more
information about POSIX regular expressions, see the BSD man pages.
Table 15 Replication file matching wildcards

Wildcard Description
*

Matches any string in place of the asterisk.

For example, m* matches movies and m123.

[ ]

Matches any characters contained in the brackets, or a range of characters

separated by a dash.
For example, b[aei]t matches bat, bet, and bit.
For example, 1[4-7]2 matches 142, 152, 162, and 172.
You can exclude characters within brackets by following the first bracket with an
exclamation mark.
For example, b[!ie] matches bat but not bit or bet.
You can match a bracket within a bracket if it is either the first or last character.
For example, [[c]at matches cat and [at.
You can match a dash within a bracket if it is either the first or last character.
For example, car[-s] matches cars and car-.

Matches any character in place of the question mark.

For example, t?p matches tap, tip, and top.

Path
Includes or excludes files based on the file path. This option is available for copy
policies only.
You can specify to include or exclude full or partial paths that contain specified text.
You can also include the wildcard characters *, ?, and [ ].
Size
Includes or excludes files based on their size.
Note

File sizes are represented in multiples of 1024, not 1000.

File criteria options

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Type
Includes or excludes files based on one of the following file-system object types:
l

Soft link

Regular file

Directory

Configure default replication policy settings

You can configure default settings for replication policies. If you do not modify these
settings when creating a replication policy, the specified default settings are applied.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Settings.
2. In the Default Policy Settings section, specify how you want replication policies to
connect to target clusters by selecting one of the following options:
l

Click Connect to any nodes in the cluster.

Click Connect to only the nodes in the subnet and pool if the target cluster name
specifies a SmartConnect zone.

3. Specify which nodes you want replication policies to connect to when a policy is run.
Option

Description

Connect policies to all nodes on

a source cluster.

Click Run the policy on all nodes in this cluster.

Connect policies only to nodes

contained in a specified subnet
and pool.

a. Click Run the policy only on nodes in the

specified subnet and pool.
b. From the Subnet and pool list, select the
subnet and pool .

Note

SyncIQ does not support dynamically allocated IP address pools. If a replication job
connects to a dynamically allocated IP address, SmartConnect might reassign the
address while a replication job is running, which would disconnect the job and cause
it to fail.
4. Click Submit.

Create a replication policy

You can create a replication policy with SyncIQ that defines how and when data is
replicated to another Isilon cluster. Configuring a replication policy is a five-step process.
Configure replication policies carefully. If you modify any of the following policy settings
after the policy is run, OneFS performs either a full or differential replication the next time
the policy is run:

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Source directory

Included or excluded directories

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Target cluster name or address

This applies only if you target a different cluster. If you modify the IP or domain name
of a target cluster, and then modify the replication policy on the source cluster to
match the new IP or domain name, a full replication is not performed.

Target directory

Configure basic policy settings

You must configure basic settings for a replication policy.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Policies.
2. Click Create a SyncIQ policy.
3. In the Settings area, in the Policy name field, type a name for the replication policy.
4. Optional: In the Description field, type a description for the replication policy.
5. In the Action area, specify the type of replication policy.
l

To copy all files from the source directory to the target directory, click Copy.
Note

Failback is not supported for copy policies.

l

To copy all files from the source directory to the target directory and delete any
files on the target directory that are not in the source directory, click Synchronize.

6. In the Run job area, specify whether replication jobs will be run.
Option

Description

Run jobs only when manually

initiated by a user.

Click Only manually.

Run jobs automatically

according to a schedule.

a. Click On a schedule.
b. Specify a schedule.
If you configure a replication policy to run more
than once a day, you cannot configure the interval
to span across two calendar days. For example,
you cannot configure a replication policy to run
every hour starting at 7:00 PM and ending at 1:00
AM.

Run jobs automatically every

time a change is made to the
source directory.

Click Whenever the source is modified.

After you finish

The next step in the process of creating a replication policy is specifying source
directories and files.

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Specify source directories and files

You must specify the directories and files you want to replicate.
Procedure
1. In the Source Cluster area, in the Source Root Directory field, type the full path of the
source directory that you want to replicate to the target cluster.
You must specify a directory contained in /ifs. You cannot specify the /
ifs/.snapshot directory or subdirectory of it.
2. Optional: Prevent specific subdirectories of the root directory from being replicated.
l

To include a directory, in the Included Directories area, click Add a directory path.

To exclude a directory, in the Excluded Directories area, click Add a directory path.

3. Optional: Prevent specific files from being replicated by specifying file matching
criteria.
a. In the File Matching Criteria area, select a filter type.
b. Select an operator.
c. Type a value.
Files that do not meet the specified criteria will not be replicated to the target cluster.
For example, if you specify File Type doesn't match .txt, SyncIQ will not
replicate any files with the .txt file extension. If you specify Created after
08/14/2013, SyncIQ will not replicate any files created before August 14th, 2013.
If you want to specify more than one file matching criterion, you can control how the
criteria relate to each other by clicking either Add an "Or" condition or Add an "And"
condition.
4. Specify which nodes you want the replication policy to connect to when the policy is
run.
Option

Description

Connect the policy to all nodes in

the source cluster.

Click Run the policy on all nodes in this cluster.

Connect the policy only to nodes

contained in a specified subnet
and pool.

a. Click Run the policy only on nodes in the

specified subnet and pool.
b. From the Subnet and pool list, select the
subnet and pool .

Note

SyncIQ does not support dynamically allocated IP address pools. If a replication job
connects to a dynamically allocated IP address, SmartConnect might reassign the
address while a replication job is running, which would disconnect the job and cause
it to fail.
After you finish
The next step in the process of creating a replication policy is specifying the target
directory.

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Specify the policy target directory

You must specify a target cluster and directory to replicate data to.
Procedure
1. In the Target Cluster area, in the Target Host field, type one of the following:
l

The fully qualified domain name of any node in the target cluster.

The host name of any node in the target cluster.

The name of a SmartConnect zone in the target cluster.

The IPv4 or IPv6 address of any node in the target cluster.

localhost

This will replicate data to another directory on the local cluster.

Note

SyncIQ does not support dynamically allocated IP address pools. If a replication job
connects to a dynamically allocated IP address, SmartConnect might reassign the
address while a replication job is running, which would disconnect the job and cause
it to fail.
2. In the Target Directory field, type the absolute path of the directory on the target
cluster that you want to replicate data to.
CAUTION

If you specify an existing directory on the target cluster, ensure that the directory is
not the target of another replication policy. If this is a synchronization policy, ensure
that the directory is empty. All files are deleted from the target of a synchronization
policy the first time the policy is run.
If the specified target directory does not already exist on the target cluster, the
directory is created the first time the job is run. It is recommended that you do not
specify the /ifs directory. If you specify the /ifs directory, the entire target cluster
is set to a read-only state, preventing you from storing any other data on the cluster.
If this is a copy policy, and files in the target directory share the same name as files in
the source directory, the target directory files are overwritten when the job is run.
3. If you want replication jobs to connect only to the nodes included in the SmartConnect
zone specified by the target cluster, click Connect only to the nodes within the target
cluster SmartConnect Zone.
After you finish
The next step in the process of creating a replication policy is specifying policy target
snapshot settings.

Configure policy target snapshot settings

You can optionally specify how archival snapshots are generated on the target cluster.
You can access archival snapshots the same way that you access SnapshotIQ snapshots.
SyncIQ always retains one snapshot on the target cluster to facilitate failover, regardless
of these settings.

Create a replication policy

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Procedure
1. To create archival snapshots on the target cluster, in the Target Snapshots area, click
Capture snapshots on the target cluster.
2. Optional: To modify the default alias of the last snapshot created according to the
replication policy, in the Snapshot Alias Name field, type a new alias.
You can specify the alias name as a snapshot naming pattern. For example, the
following naming pattern is valid:
%{PolicyName}-on-%{SrcCluster}-latest

The previous example produces names similar to the following:

newPolicy-on-Cluster1-latest

3. Optional: To modify the snapshot naming pattern for snapshots created according to
the replication policy, in the Snapshot Naming Pattern field, type a naming pattern.
Each snapshot generated for this replication policy is assigned a name based on this
pattern.
For example, the following naming pattern is valid:
%{PolicyName}-from-%{SrcCluster}-at-%H:%M-on-%m-%d-%Y

The example produces names similar to the following:

newPolicy-from-Cluster1-at-10:30-on-7-12-2012

4. Select one of the following options:

l

Click Snapshots do not expire.

Click Snapshots expire after... and specify an expiration period.

After you finish

The next step in the process of creating a replication policy is configuring advanced
policy settings.

Configure advanced policy settings

You can optionally configure advanced settings for a replication policy.
Procedure
1. Optional: In the Worker Threads Per Node field, specify the maximum number of
concurrent processes per node that will perform replication operations.
Note

Do not modify the default setting without consulting Isilon Technical Support.
2. Optional: From the Log Level list, select the level of logging you want SyncIQ to
perform for replication jobs.
The following log levels are valid, listed from least to most verbose:

256

Click Error.

Click Notice.

Click Network Activity.

Click File Activity.

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3. Optional: If you want SyncIQ to perform a checksum on each file data packet that is
affected by the replication policy, select the Validate File Integrity check box.
If you enable this option, and the checksum values for a file data packet do not
match, SyncIQ retransmits the affected packet.
4. Optional: To modify the length of time SyncIQ retains replication reports for the policy,
in the Keep Reports For area, specify a length of time.
After the specified expiration period has passed for a report, SyncIQ automatically
deletes the report.
Some units of time are displayed differently when you view a report than how they
were originally entered. Entering a number of days that is equal to a corresponding
value in weeks, months, or years results in the larger unit of time being displayed. For
example, if you enter a value of 7 days, 1 week appears for that report after it is
created. This change occurs because SyncIQ internally records report retention times
in seconds and then converts them into days, weeks, months, or years.
5. Optional: Specify whether to record information about files that are deleted by
replication jobs by selecting one of the following options:
l

Click Record when a synchronization deletes files or directories.

Click Do not record when a synchronization deletes files or directories.

This option is applicable for synchronization policies only.

After you finish
The next step in the process of creating a replication policy is saving the replication
policy settings.

Save replication policy settings

SyncIQ does not create replication jobs for a replication policy until you save the policy.
Before you begin
Review the current settings of the replication policy. If necessary, modify the policy
settings.
Procedure
1. Click Create Policy.
After you finish
You can increase the speed at which you can failback a replication policy by creating a
SyncIQ domain for the source directory of the policy.

Create a SyncIQ domain

You can create a SyncIQ domain to increase the speed at which failback is performed for
a replication policy. Because you can fail back only synchronization policies, it is not
necessary to create SyncIQ domains for copy policies.
Failing back a replication policy requires that a SyncIQ domain be created for the source
directory. OneFS automatically creates a SyncIQ domain during the failback process.
However, if you intend on failing back a replication policy, it is recommended that you
create a SyncIQ domain for the source directory of the replication policy while the
directory is empty. Creating a domain for a directory that contains less data takes less
time.

Create a SyncIQ domain

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Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Job Types.
2. In the Job Types area, in the DomainMark row, from the Actions column, select Start
Job.
3. In the Domain Root Path field, type the path of a source directory of a replication
policy.
4. From the Type of domain list, select SyncIQ.
5. Ensure that the Delete domain check box is cleared.
6. Click Start Job.

Assess a replication policy

Before running a replication policy for the first time, you can view statistics on the files
that would be affected by the replication without transferring any files. This can be useful
if you want to preview the size of the data set that will be transferred if you run the policy.
Note

You can assess only replication policies that have never been run before.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Policies.
2. In the SyncIQ Policies table, in the row of a replication policy, from the Actions
column, select Assess Sync.
3. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Summary.
4. After the job completes, in the SyncIQ Recent Reports table, in the row of the
replication job, click View Details.
The report displays the total amount of data that would have been transferred in the
Total Data field.

Managing replication to remote clusters

You can manually run, view, assess, pause, resume, cancel, resolve, and reset replication
jobs that target other clusters.
After a policy job starts, you can pause the job to suspend replication activities.
Afterwards, you can resume the job, continuing replication from the point where the job
was interrupted. You can also cancel a running or paused replication job if you want to
free the cluster resources allocated for the job. A paused job reserves cluster resources
whether or not the resources are in use. A cancelled job releases its cluster resources and
allows another replication job to consume those resources. No more than five running
and paused replication jobs can exist on a cluster at a time. However, an unlimited
number of canceled replication jobs can exist on a cluster. If a replication job remains
paused for more than a week, SyncIQ automatically cancels the job.

Start a replication job

You can manually start a replication job for a replication policy at any time.
If you want to replicate data according to an existing snapshot, at the OneFS command
prompt, run the isi sync jobs start command with the --source-snapshot
option. You cannot replicate data according to snapshots generated by SyncIQ.
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Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Policies.
2. In the SyncIQ Policies table, in the Actions column for a job, select Start Job.

Pause a replication job

You can pause a running replication job and then resume the job later. Pausing a
replication job temporarily stops data from being replicated, but does not free the cluster
resources replicating the data.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Summary.
2. In the Active Jobs table, in the Actions column for a job, click Pause Running Job.

Resume a replication job

You can resume a paused replication job.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Summary.
2. In the Currently Running table, in the Actions column for a job, click Resume Running
Job.

Cancel a replication job

You can cancel a running or paused replication job. Cancelling a replication job stops
data from being replicated and frees the cluster resources that were replicating data. You
cannot resume a cancelled replication job. To restart replication, you must start the
replication policy again.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Summary.
2. In the Active Jobs table, in the Actions column for a job, click Cancel Running Job.

View active replication jobs

You can view information about replication jobs that are currently running or paused.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Policies.
2. In the Active Jobs table, review information about active replication jobs.

Replication job information

You can view information about replication jobs through the Active Jobs table.
Status
The status of the job. The following job statuses are possible:
Running
The job is currently running without error.
Paused
The job has been temporarily paused.

Pause a replication job

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Policy Name
The name of the associated replication policy.
Started
The time the job started.
Elapsed
How much time has elapsed since the job started.
Transferred
The number of files that have been transferred, and the total size of all transferred
files.
Source Directory
The path of the source directory on the source cluster.
Target Host
The target directory on the target cluster.
Actions
Displays any job-related actions that you can perform.

Initiating data failover and failback with SyncIQ

You can fail over from one Isilon cluster to another if, for example, a cluster becomes
unavailable. You can then fail back to a primary cluster if the primary cluster becomes
available again. You can revert failover if you decide that the failover was unnecessary, or
if you failed over for testing purposes.
If you fail over a scheduled replication policy on the secondary cluster, and the
corresponding policy on the primary cluster runs a replication job, the job might fail and
the policy might be set to an unrunnable state. To resolve this, modify the replication
policy so that it is set to run only manually, resolve the policy, and complete the failback
process. After you complete the failback process, you can modify the policy to run
according to a schedule again.
Note

Although you cannot fail over or fail back SmartLock directories, you can recover
SmartLock directories on a target cluster. After you recover SmartLock directories, you can
migrate them back to the source cluster.

Fail over data to a secondary cluster

You can fail over to a secondary Isilon cluster if, for example, a cluster becomes
unavailable.
Before you begin
Create and successfully run a replication policy.
Complete the following procedure for each replication policy that you want to fail over.
Procedure
1. On the secondary Isilon cluster, click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Local Targets.
2. In the SyncIQ Local Targets table, in the row for a replication policy, from the Actions
column, select Allow Writes.
After you finish
Direct clients to begin accessing the secondary cluster.
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Revert a failover operation

Failover reversion undoes a failover operation on a secondary cluster, enabling you to
replicate data from the primary cluster to the secondary cluster again. Failover reversion
is useful if the primary cluster becomes available before data is modified on the
secondary cluster or if you failed over to a secondary cluster for testing purposes.
Before you begin
Fail over a replication policy.
Reverting a failover operation does not migrate modified data back to the primary cluster.
To migrate data that clients have modified on the secondary cluster, you must fail back to
the primary cluster.
Complete the following procedure for each replication policy that you want to fail over:
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Local Targets.
2. In the SyncIQ Local Targets table, in the row for a replication policy, from the Actions
column, select Disallow Writes.

Fail back data to a primary cluster

After you fail over to a secondary cluster, you can fail back to the primary cluster.
Before you begin
Fail over a replication policy.
Procedure
1. On the primary cluster, click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Policies.
2. In the SyncIQ Policies table, in the row for a replication policy, from the Actions
column, select Resync-prep.
SyncIQ creates a mirror policy for each replication policy on the secondary cluster.
SyncIQ names mirror policies according to the following pattern:
<replication-policy-name>_mirror

3. On the secondary cluster, replicate data to the primary cluster by using the mirror
policies.
You can replicate data either by manually starting the mirror policies or by modifying
the mirror policies and specifying a schedule.
4. Prevent clients from accessing the secondary cluster and then run each mirror policy
again.
To minimize impact to clients, it is recommended that you wait until client access is
low before preventing client access to the cluster.
5. On the primary cluster, click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Local Targets.
6. In the SyncIQ Local Targets table, from the Actions column, select Allow Writes for
each mirror policy.
7. On the secondary cluster, click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Policies.
8. In the SyncIQ Policies table, from the Actions column, select Resync-prep for each
mirror policy.
Revert a failover operation

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After you finish

Redirect clients to begin accessing the primary cluster.

Performing disaster recovery for SmartLock directories

Although you cannot fail over or fail back SmartLock directories, you can recover
SmartLock directories on a target cluster. After you recover SmartLock directories, you can
migrate them back to the source cluster.

Recover SmartLock directories on a target cluster

You can recover SmartLock directories that you have replicated to a target cluster.
Before you begin
Create and successfully run a replication policy.
Complete the following procedure for each SmartLock directory that you want to recover.
Procedure
1. On the target cluster, click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Local Targets.
2. In the SyncIQ Local Targets table, in the row of the replication policy, enable writes to
the target directory of the policy.
l

If the last replication job completed successfully and a replication job is not
currently running, select Allow Writes.

If a replication job is currently running, wait until the replication job completes,
and then select Allow Writes.

If the primary cluster became unavailable while a replication job was running,
select Break Association.

3. If you clicked Break Association, restore any files that are left in an inconsistent state.
a. Delete all files that are not committed to a WORM state from the target directory.
b. Copy all files from the failover snapshot to the target directory.
Failover snapshots are named according to the following naming pattern:
SIQ-Failover-<policy-name>-<year>-<month>-<day>_<hour>-<minute><second>

Snapshots are stored in the /ifs/.snapshot directory.

4. If any SmartLock directory configuration settings, such as an autocommit time period,
were specified for the source directory of the replication policy, apply those settings to
the target directory.
Because autocommit information is not transferred to the target cluster, files that
were scheduled to be committed to a WORM state on the source cluster will not be
scheduled to be committed at the same time on the target cluster. To ensure that all
files are retained for the appropriate time period, you can commit all files in target
SmartLock directories to a WORM state. For example, the following command
automatically commits all files in /ifs/data/smartlock to a WORM state after
one minute.
isi smartlock modify --path /ifs/data/smartlock --autocommit 1n

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After you finish

Redirect clients to begin accessing the target cluster.

Migrate SmartLock directories

You might want to migrate SmartLock directories if you restored the directories on a
target cluster, and want to transfer those directories either back to the source cluster or
to a new cluster.
Procedure
1. On a cluster, create a replication policy for each directory that you want to migrate.
The policies must meet the following requirements:
l

The source directory is the SmartLock directory that you are migrating.

The target directory is an empty SmartLock directory. The source and target
directories must be of the same SmartLock type. For example, if the target
directory is a compliance directory, the source must also be a compliance
directory.

2. Replicate data to the target cluster by running the policies you created.
You can replicate data either by manually starting the policies or by specifying a policy
schedule.
3. Optional: To ensure that SmartLock protection is enforced for all files, commit all files
in the SmartLock source directory to a WORM state.
Because autocommit information is not transferred to the target cluster, files that
were scheduled to be committed to a WORM state on the source cluster will not be
scheduled to be committed at the same time on the target cluster. To ensure that all
files are retained for the appropriate time period, you can commit all files in target
SmartLock directories to a WORM state.
For example, the following command automatically commits all files in /ifs/data/
smartlock to a WORM state after one minute:
isi smartlock modify --path /ifs/data/smartlock --autocommit 1n

This step is unnecessary if you have not configured an autocommit time period for the
SmartLock directory being replicated.
4. Prevent clients from accessing the source cluster and run the policy that you created.
To minimize impact to clients, it is recommended that you wait until client access is
low before preventing client access to the cluster.
5. On the target cluster, click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Local Targets.
6. In the SyncIQ Local Targets table, in the row of each replication policy, from the
Actions column, select Allow Writes.
7. Optional: If any SmartLock directory configuration settings, such as an autocommit
time period, were specified for the source directories of the replication policies, apply
those settings to the target directories.
8. Optional: Delete the copy of your SmartLock data on the source cluster.
If the SmartLock directories are compliance directories or enterprise directories with
the privileged delete functionality permanently disabled, you cannot recover the
space consumed by the source SmartLock directories until all files are released from a

Migrate SmartLock directories

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WORM state. If you want to free the space before files are released from a WORM
state, contact Isilon Technical Support for information about reformatting your cluster.

Managing replication policies

You can modify, view, enable and disable replication policies.

Modify a replication policy

You can modify the settings of a replication policy.
If you modify any of the following policy settings after a policy runs, OneFS performs
either a full or differential replication the next time the policy runs:
l

Source directory

Included or excluded directories

File-criteria statement

Target cluster
This applies only if you target a different cluster. If you modify the IP or domain name
of a target cluster, and then modify the replication policy on the source cluster to
match the new IP or domain name, a full replication is not performed.

Target directory

Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Policies.
2. In the SyncIQ Policies table, in the row for a policy, click View/Edit.
3. In the View SyncIQ Policy Details dialog box, click Edit Policy.
4. Modify the settings of the replication policy, and then click Save Changes.

Delete a replication policy

You can delete a replication policy. Once a policy is deleted, SyncIQ no longer creates
replication jobs for the policy. Deleting a replication policy breaks the target association
on the target cluster, and allows writes to the target directory.
If you want to temporarily suspend a replication policy from creating replication jobs, you
can disable the policy, and then enable the policy again later.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Policies.
2. In the SyncIQ Policies table, in the row for a policy, select Delete Policy.
3. In the confirmation dialog box, click Delete.

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Enable or disable a replication policy

You can temporarily suspend a replication policy from creating replication jobs, and then
enable it again later.
Note

If you disable a replication policy while an associated replication job is running, the
running job is not interrupted. However, the policy will not create another job until the
policy is enabled.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Policies.
2. In the SyncIQ Policies table, in the row for a replication policy, select either Enable
Policy or Disable Policy.
If neither Enable Policy nor Disable Policy appears, verify that a replication job is not
running for the policy. If an associated replication job is not running, ensure that the
SyncIQ license is active on the cluster.

View replication policies

You can view information about replication policies.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Policies.
2. In the SyncIQ Policies table, review information about replication policies.

Replication policy information

You can view information about replication policies through the SyncIQ Policies table.
Policy Name
The name of the policy.
State
Whether the policy is enabled or disabled.
Last Known Good
When the last successful job ran.
Schedule
When the next job is scheduled to run. A value of Manual indicates that the job can
be run only manually. A value of When source is modified indicates that the job will
be run whenever changes are made to the source directory.
Source Directory
The path of the source directory on the source cluster.
Target Host : Directory
The IP address or fully qualified domain name of the target cluster and the full path
of the target directory.
Actions
Any policy-related actions that you can perform.

Enable or disable a replication policy

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Replication policy settings

You configure replication policies to run according to replication policy settings.
Policy name
The name of the policy.
Description
Describes the policy. For example, the description might explain the purpose or
function of the policy.
Enabled
Determines whether the policy is enabled.
Action
Determines the how the policy replicates data. All policies copy files from the source
directory to the target directory and update files in the target directory to match files
on the source directory. The action determines how deleting a file on the source
directory affects the target. The following values are valid:
Copy
If a file is deleted in the source directory, the file is not deleted in the target
directory.
Synchronize
Deletes files in the target directory if they are no longer present on the source.
This ensures that an exact replica of the source directory is maintained on the
target cluster.
Run job
Determines whether jobs are run automatically according to a schedule or only when
manually specified by a user.
Last Successful Run
Displays the last time that a replication job for the policy completed successfully.
Last Started
Displays the last time that the policy was run.
Source Root Directory
The full path of the source directory. Data is replicated from the source directory to
the target directory.
Included Directories
Determines which directories are included in replication. If one or more directories
are specified by this setting, any directories that are not specified are not replicated.
Excluded Directories
Determines which directories are excluded from replication. Any directories specified
by this setting are not replicated.
File Matching Criteria
Determines which files are excluded from replication. Any files that do not meet the
specified criteria are not replicated.
Restrict Source Nodes
Determines whether the policy can run on all nodes on the source cluster or run only
on specific nodes.
Target Host
The IP address or fully qualified domain name of the target cluster.

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Target Directory
The full path of the target directory. Data is replicated to the target directory from the
source directory.
Restrict Target Nodes
Determines whether the policy can connect to all nodes on the target cluster or can
connect only to specific nodes.
Capture Snapshots
Determines whether archival snapshots are generated on the target cluster.
Snapshot Alias Name
Specifies an alias for the latest archival snapshot taken on the target cluster.
Snapshot Naming Pattern
Specifies how archival snapshots are named on the target cluster.
Snapshot Expiration
Specifies how long archival snapshots are retained on the target cluster before they
are automatically deleted by the system.
Workers Threads Per Node
Specifies the number of workers per node that are generated by OneFS to perform
each replication job for the policy.
Log Level
Specifies the amount of information that is recorded for replication jobs.
More verbose options include all information from less verbose options. The
following list describes the log levels from least to most verbose:
Notice
Includes job and process-level activity, including job starts, stops, and worker
coordination information. This is the recommended log level.
Error
Includes events related to specific types of failures.
Network Activity
Includes more job-level activity and work-item information, including specific
paths and snapshot names.
File Activity
Includes a separate event for each action taken on a file. Do not select this
option without first consulting Isilon Technical Support.
Replication logs are typically used for debugging purposes. If necessary, you can log
in to a node through the command-line interface and view the contents of
the /var/log/isi_migrate.log file on the node.
Validate File Integrity
Determines whether OneFS performs a checksum on each file data packet that is
affected by a replication job. If a checksum value does not match, OneFS retransmits
the affected file data packet.
Keep Reports For
Specifies how long replication reports are kept before they are automatically deleted
by OneFS.
Log Deletions on Synchronization
Determines whether OneFS records when a synchronization job deletes files or
directories on the target cluster.
The following replication policy fields are available only through the OneFS command-line
interface.
Replication policy settings

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Source Subnet
Specifies whether replication jobs connect to any nodes in the cluster or if jobs can
connect only to nodes in a specified subnet.
Source Pool
Specifies whether replication jobs connect to any nodes in the cluster or if jobs can
connect only to nodes in a specified pool.
Password Set
Specifies a password to access the target cluster.
Report Max Count
Specifies the maximum number of replication reports that are retained for this
policy.
Target Compare Initial Sync
Determines whether full or differential replications are performed for this policy. Full
or differential replications are performed the first time a policy is run and after a
policy is reset.
Source Snapshot Archive
Determines whether snapshots generated for the replication policy on the source
cluster are deleted when the next replication policy is run. Enabling archival source
snapshots does not require you to activate the SnapshotIQ license on the cluster.
Source Snapshot Pattern
If snapshots generated for the replication policy on the source cluster are retained,
renames snapshots according to the specified rename pattern.
Source Snapshot Expiration
If snapshots generated for the replication policy on the source cluster are retained,
specifies an expiration period for the snapshots.
Restrict Target Network
Determines whether replication jobs connect only to nodes in a given SmartConnect
zone. This setting applies only if the Target Host is specified as a SmartConnect
zone.
Target Detect Modifications
Determines whether SyncIQ checks the target directory for modifications before
replicating files. By default, SyncIQ always checks for modifications.
Note

Disabling this option could result in data loss. It is recommended that you consult
Isilon Technical Support before disabling this option.
Resolve
Determines whether you can manually resolve the policy if a replication job
encounters an error.

Managing replication to the local cluster

You can interrupt replication jobs that target the local cluster.
You can cancel a currently running job that targets the local cluster, or you can break the
association between a policy and its specified target. Breaking a source and target
cluster association causes SyncIQ to perform a full replication the next time the policy is
run.

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Cancel replication to the local cluster

You can cancel a replication job that is targeting the local cluster.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Local Targets.
2. In the SyncIQ Local Targets table, specify whether to cancel a specific replication job
or all replication jobs targeting the local cluster.
l

To cancel a specific job, in the row for a replication job, select Cancel Running Job.

To cancel all jobs targeting the local cluster, select the check box to the left of
Policy Name and then select Cancel Selection from the Select a bulk action list.

Break local target association

You can break the association between a replication policy and the local cluster.
Breaking the target association will allow writes to the target directory but will also
require you to reset the replication policy before you can run the policy again.
CAUTION

After a replication policy is reset, SyncIQ performs a full or differential replication the
next time the policy is run. Depending on the amount of data being replicated, a full or
differential replication can take a very long time to complete.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Local Targets.
2. In the SyncIQ Local Targets table, in the row for a replication policy, select Break
Association.
3. In the Confirm dialog box, click Yes.

View replication policies targeting the local cluster

You can view information about replication policies that are currently replicating data to
the local cluster.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Local Targets.
2. In the SyncIQ Local Targets table, view information about replication policies.

Remote replication policy information

You can view information about replication policies that are currently targeting the local
cluster.
The following information is displayed in the SyncIQ Local Targets table:
ID
The ID of the replication policy.
Policy Name
The name of the replication policy.
Source Host
The name of the source cluster.
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Source Cluster GUID

The GUID of the source cluster.
Coordinator IP
The IP address of the node on the source cluster that is acting as the job coordinator.
Updated
The time when data about the policy or job was last collected from the source
cluster.
Target Path
The path of the target directory on the target cluster.
Status
The current status of the replication job.
Actions
Displays any job-related actions that you can perform.

Managing replication performance rules

You can manage the impact of replication on cluster performance by creating rules that
limit the network traffic created and the rate at which files are sent by replication jobs.

Create a network traffic rule

You can create a network traffic rule that limits the amount of network traffic that
replication policies are allowed to generate during a specified time period.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Performance Rules.
2. Click Create a SyncIQ Performance Rule.
3. From the Rule Type list, select Bandwidth.
4. In the Limit field, specify the maximum number of bytes per second that replication
policies are allowed to send.
5. In the Schedule area, specify the time and days of the week that you want to apply the
rule.
6. Click Create Performance Rule.

Create a file operations rule

You can create a file-operations rule that limits the number of files that replication jobs
can send per second.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Performance Rules.
2. Click Create a SyncIQ Performance Rule.
3. From the Rule Type list, select Bandwidth.
4. In the Limit field, specify the maximum number of files per second that replication
policies are allowed to send.
5. In the Schedule area, specify the time and days of the week that you want to apply the
rule.
6. Click Create Performance Rule.
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Modify a performance rule

You can modify a performance rule.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Performance Rules.
2. In the SyncIQ Performance Rules, in the row for the rule you want to modify, click
View/Edit.
3. Click Edit Performance Rule.
4. Modify rule settings, and then click Save Changes.

Delete a performance rule

You can delete a performance rule.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Performance Rules.
2. In the SyncIQ Performance Rules table, in the row for the rule you want to delete,
select Delete Rule.
3. In the Confirm Delete dialog box, click Delete.

Enable or disable a performance rule

You can disable a performance rule to temporarily prevent the rule from being enforced.
You can also enable a performance rule after it has been disabled.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Performance Rules.
2. In the SyncIQ Performance Rules table, in the row for a rule you want to enable or
disable, select either Enable Rule or Disable Rule.

View performance rules

You can view information about replication performance rules.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Performance Rules.
2. In the SyncIQ Performance Rules table, view information about performance rules.

Modify a performance rule

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Managing replication reports

In addition to viewing replication reports, you can configure how long reports are retained
on the cluster. You can also delete any reports that have passed their expiration period.

Configure default replication report settings

You can configure the default amount of time that SyncIQ retains replication reports for.
You can also configure the maximum number of reports that SyncIQ retains for each
replication policy.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Settings.
2. In the Report Settings area, in the Keep Reports For area, specify how long you want
to retain replication reports for.
After the specified expiration period has passed for a report, SyncIQ automatically
deletes the report.
Some units of time are displayed differently when you view a report than how you
originally enter them. Entering a number of days that is equal to a corresponding
value in weeks, months, or years results in the larger unit of time being displayed. For
example, if you enter a value of 7 days, 1 week appears for that report after it is
created. This change occurs because SyncIQ internally records report retention times
in seconds and then converts them into days, weeks, months, or years for display.
3. In the Number of Reports to Keep Per Policy field, type the maximum number of
reports you want to retain at a time for a replication policy.
4. Click Submit.

Delete replication reports

Replication reports are routinely deleted by SyncIQ after the expiration date for the
reports has passed. SyncIQ also deletes reports after the number of reports exceeds the
specified limit. Excess reports are periodically deleted by SyncIQ; however, you can
manually delete all excess replication reports at any time. This procedure is available
only through the command-line interface (CLI).
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Delete excess replication reports by running the following command:
isi sync reports rotate

View replication reports

You can view replication reports and subreports.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Reports.
2. In the SyncIQ Reports table, in the row for a report, click View Details.
If a report is composed of subreports, the report is displayed as a folder. Subreports
are displayed as files within report folders.

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Replication report information

You can view information about replication jobs through the Reports table.
Policy Name
The name of the associated policy for the job. You can view or edit settings for the
policy by clicking the policy name.
Started
Indicates when the job started.
Ended
Indicates when the job ended.
Duration
Indicates how long the job took to complete.
Transferred
The total number of files that were transferred during the job run, and the total size
of all transferred files. For assessed policies, Assessment appears.
Sync Type
The action that was performed by the replication job.
Initial Sync
Indicates that either a differential or a full replication was performed.
Incremental Sync
Indicates that only modified files were transferred to the target cluster.
Failover / Failback Allow Writes
Indicates that writes were enabled on a target directory of a replication policy.
Failover / Failback Disallow Writes
Indicates that an allow writes operation was undone.
Failover / Failback Resync Prep
Indicates that an association between files on the source cluster and files on
the target cluster was created. This is the first step in the failback preparation
process.
Failover / Failback Resync Prep Domain Mark
Indicates that a SyncIQ domain was created for the source directory. This is the
second step in the failback preparation process.
Failover / Failback Resync Prep Restore
Indicates that a source directory was restored to the last recovery point. This is
the third step in the failback preparation process.
Failover / Failback Resync Prep Finalize
Indicates that a mirror policy was created on the target cluster. This is the last
step in the failback preparation process.
Upgrade
Indicates that a policy-conversion replication occurred after upgrading the
OneFS operating system or merging policies.

Replication report information

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Source
The path of the source directory on the source cluster.
Target
The IP address or fully qualified domain name of the target cluster.
Actions
Displays any report-related actions that you can perform.

Managing failed replication jobs

If a replication job fails due to an error, SyncIQ might disable the corresponding
replication policy. For example SyncIQ might disable a replication policy if the IP or
hostname of the target cluster is modified. If a replication policy is disabled, the policy
cannot be run.
To resume replication for a disabled policy, you must either fix the error that caused the
policy to be disabled, or reset the replication policy. It is recommended that you attempt
to fix the issue rather than reset the policy. If you believe you have fixed the error, you
can return the replication policy to an enabled state by resolving the policy. You can then
run the policy again to test whether the issue was fixed. If you are unable to fix the issue,
you can reset the replication policy. However, resetting the policy causes a full or
differential replication to be performed the next time the policy is run.
Note

Depending on the amount of data being synchronized or copied, a full and differential
replications can take a very long time to complete.

Resolve a replication policy

If SyncIQ disables a replication policy due to a replication error, and you fix the issue that
caused the error, you can resolve the replication policy. Resolving a replication policy
enables you to run the policy again. If you cannot resolve the issue that caused the error,
you can reset the replication policy.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Policies.
2. In the Policies table, in the row for a policy, select Resolve.

Reset a replication policy

If a replication job encounters an error that you cannot resolve, you can reset the
corresponding replication policy. Resetting a policy causes OneFS to perform a full or
differential replication the next time the policy is run. Resetting a replication policy
deletes the latest snapshot generated for the policy on the source cluster.
CAUTION

Depending on the amount of data being replicated, a full or differential replication can
take a very long time to complete. Reset a replication policy only if you cannot fix the
issue that caused the replication error. If you fix the issue that caused the error, resolve
the policy instead of resetting the policy.

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Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > SyncIQ > Policies.
2. In the SyncIQ Policies table, in the row for a policy, select Reset Sync State.

Perform a full or differential replication

After you reset a replication policy, you must perform either a full or differential
replication.
Before you begin
Reset a replication policy.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in through the
root or compliance administrator account.
2. Specify the type of replication you want to perform by running the isi sync
policies modify command.
l

To perform a full replication, disable the --target-compare-initial-sync

option.
For example, the following command disables differential synchronization for
newPolicy:
isi sync policies modify newPolicy \
--target-compare-initial-sync false

To perform a differential replication, enable the --target-compareinitial-sync option.

For example, the following command enables differential synchronization for
newPolicy:
isi sync policies modify newPolicy \
--target-compare-initial-sync true

3. Run the policy by running the isi sync jobs start command.
For example, the following command runs newPolicy:
isi sync jobs start newPolicy

Managing changelists
You can create and view changelists that describe what data was modified by a
replication job. Changelists are most commonly accessed by applications through the
OneFS Platform API.
To create a changelist, you must enable changelists for a replication policy. If changelists
are enabled for a policy, SyncIQ does not automatically delete the repstate files
generated by the policy; if changelists are not enabled for a policy, SyncIQ automatically
deletes the repstate files after the corresponding replication jobs complete. SyncIQ
generates one repstate file for each replication job. Because a large amount of repstate
files can consume a large amount of disk space, it is recommended that you do not
enable changelists for a policy unless it is necessary for your workflow.

Perform a full or differential replication

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If changelists are enabled for a policy, SyncIQ does not automatically delete source
cluster snapshots for the policy. To create a changelist, you must have access to two
consecutive snapshots and an associated repstate generated by a replication policy.

Create a changelist
You can create a changelist to view what data was modified by a replication job.
Before you begin
Through the OneFS command line, enable changelists for a replication policy, and then
run the policy at least twice. The following command enables changelists for newPolicy:
isi sync policies modify newPolicy --changelist true
Note

You can enable changelists only through the command-line interface (CLI).
Procedure
1. Optional: Record the IDs of the snapshots generated by the replication policy.
a. Click File System Management > SnapshotIQ > Snapshots.
b. In the row of the snapshots that were created for the replication policies that you
want to create a change list for, click, View Details and record the IDs of the
snapshots
The snapshots must have been generated sequentially for the same replication
policy. Changelist snapshots are generated according to the following snapshot
naming convention:
SIQ-Changelist-<policy-name>-<date>

If source-archival snapshots are enabled for the policy, the change-list snapshots
are named according to the naming convention specified by the policy.
2. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Job Types.
3. In the Job Types area, in the ChangelistCreate row, from the Actions column, select
Start Job.
4. In the Older Snapshot ID field, type the ID of the snapshot generated when the
replication policy started.
5. In the Newer Snapshot ID field, type the ID of the snapshot generated when the
replication policy ended.
6. Optional: If you want to recreate the changelist later, select Retain the replication
record after a changelist is created. If you do not select this option, the repstate file
used to generate the changelist is deleted after the changelist is created.
7. Click Start Job.

View a changelist
You can view a changelist that describes what data was modified by a replication job.
This procedure is available only through the command-line interface (CLI).
Procedure
1. View the IDs of changelists by running the following command:
isi_changelist_mod -l
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Changelist IDs include the IDs of both snapshots used to create the changelist. If
OneFS is still in the process of creating a changelist, inprog is appended to the
changelist ID.
2. Optional: View all contents of a changelist by running the isi_changelist_mod
command with the -a option.
The following command displays the contents of a changelist named 2_6:
isi_changelist_mod -a 2_6

3. View a specific changelist entry by running the isi_changelist_mod command

with the -g option.
The following command displays an entry with a LIN of 1003402c3 from a changelist
named 2_6:
isi_changelist_mod -g 2_6 1003402c3

Changelist information
You can view the information contained in changelists.
Note

The information contained in changelists is meant to be consumed by applications

through the OneFS Platform API. The information might be less useful when consumed
through the command-line interface (CLI).
The following information is displayed in the output of the isi_changelist_mod
command:
lin
The LIN of the changelist entry. Metadata entries are assigned a LIN of 1.
entry_type
The type of changelist entry. The field is set to either metadata or file.
size
The total size of the changelist entry, in bytes.
reserved
This field is not currently used by changelists.
root_path
The root path of the snapshots used to create the changelist.
owning_job_id
The ID of the ChangelistCreate job that created the changelist.
num_cl_entries
The number of changelist entries in the changelist.
root_path_size
The total size of the null-terminated UTF-8 string that contains the root path of the
snapshots, in bytes.
root_path_offset
The number of bytes between the start of the changelist entry structure and the nullterminated UTF-8 string that contains the root path of the snapshots.
path
The path, relative to the root path, of the file or directory that was modified or
removed.
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type
If an item was modified, describes the type of item that was modified. The following
types of items might have been modified:
regular
A regular file was modified.
directory
A directory was modified.
symlink
A symbolic link was modified.
fifo
A first-in-first-out (FIFO) queue was modified.
socket
A Unix domain socket was modified.
char device
A character device was modified.
block device
A block device was modified.
unknown
An unknown type of file was modified.
If any type of item was removed, this field is set to (REMOVED).
size
The size of the item that was modified, in bytes. If an item was removed, this field is
set to 0.
path_size
The total size of the null-terminated UTF-8 string that contains the path, relative to
the root path, of the file or directory that was modified or removed, in bytes.
path_offset
The number of bytes between the start of the changelist entry structure and the path,
relative to the root path, of the file or directory that was modified or removed.
atime
The POSIX timestamp of when the item was last accessed.
atimensec
The number of nanoseconds past the atime that the item was last accessed.
ctime
The POSIX timestamp of when the item was last changed.
ctimensec
The number of nanoseconds past the ctime that the item was last changed.
mtime
The POSIX timestamp of when the item was last modified.
mtimensec
The number of nanoseconds past the mtime that the item was last modified.

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Data layout with FlexProtect

This section contains the following topics:

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FlexProtect overview............................................................................................280
File striping......................................................................................................... 280
Requested data protection.................................................................................. 280
FlexProtect data recovery.....................................................................................281
Requesting data protection................................................................................. 282
Requested protection settings.............................................................................282
Requested protection disk space usage.............................................................. 283

Data layout with FlexProtect

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FlexProtect overview
An Isilon cluster is designed to continuously serve data, even when one or more
components simultaneously fail. OneFS ensures data availability by striping or mirroring
data across the cluster. If a cluster component fails, data stored on the failed component
is available on another component. After a component failure, lost data is restored on
healthy components by the FlexProtect proprietary system.
Data protection is specified at the file level, not the block level, enabling the system to
recover data quickly. Because all data, metadata, and parity information is distributed
across all nodes, the cluster does not require a dedicated parity node or drive. This
ensures that no single node limits the speed of the rebuild process.

File striping
OneFS uses the internal network to automatically allocate and stripe data across nodes
and disks in the cluster. OneFS protects data as the data is being written. No separate
action is necessary to stripe data.
OneFS breaks files into smaller logical chunks called stripes before writing the files to
disk; the size of each file chunk is referred to as the stripe unit size. Each OneFS block is
8 KB, and a stripe unit consists of 16 blocks, for a total of 128 KB per stripe unit. During a
write, OneFS breaks data into stripes and then logically places the data in a stripe unit.
As OneFS stripes data across the cluster, OneFS fills the stripe unit according to the
number of nodes and protection level.
OneFS can continuously reallocate data and make storage space more usable and
efficient. As the cluster size increases, OneFS stores large files more efficiently.

Requested data protection

The requested protection of data determines the amount of redundant data created on
the cluster to ensure that data is protected against component failures. OneFS enables
you to modify the requested protection in real time while clients are reading and writing
data on the cluster.
OneFS provides several data protection settings. You can modify these protection
settings at any time without rebooting or taking the cluster or file system offline. When
planning your storage solution, keep in mind that increasing the requested protection
reduces write performance and requires additional storage space for the increased
number of nodes.
OneFS uses the Reed Solomon algorithm for N+M protection. In the N+M data protection
model, N represents the number of data-stripe units, and M represents the number of
simultaneous node or drive failuresor a combination of node and drive failuresthat
the cluster can withstand without incurring data loss. N must be larger than M.
In addition to N+M data protection, OneFS also supports data mirroring from 2x to 8x,
allowing from two to eight mirrors of data. In terms of overall cluster performance and
resource consumption, N+M protection is often more efficient than mirrored protection.
However, because read and write performance is reduced for N+M protection, data
mirroring might be faster for data that is updated often and is small in size. Data
mirroring requires significant overhead and might not always be the best data-protection
method. For example, if you enable 3x mirroring, the specified content is duplicated three
times on the cluster; depending on the amount of content mirrored, this can consume a
significant amount of storage space.
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FlexProtect data recovery

OneFS uses the FlexProtect proprietary system to detect and repair files and directories
that are in a degraded state due to node or drive failures.
OneFS protects data in the cluster based on the configured protection policy. OneFS
rebuilds failed disks, uses free storage space across the entire cluster to further prevent
data loss, monitors data, and migrates data off of at-risk components.
OneFS distributes all data and error-correction information across the cluster and ensures
that all data remains intact and accessible even in the event of simultaneous component
failures. Under normal operating conditions, all data on the cluster is protected against
one or more failures of a node or drive. However, if a node or drive fails, the cluster
protection status is considered to be in a degraded state until the data is protected by
OneFS again. OneFS reprotects data by rebuilding data in the free space of the cluster.
While the protection status is in a degraded state, data is more vulnerable to data loss.
Because data is rebuilt in the free space of the cluster, the cluster does not require a
dedicated hot-spare node or drive in order to recover from a component failure. Because
a certain amount of free space is required to rebuild data, it is recommended that you
reserve adequate free space through the virtual hot spare feature.
As you add more nodes, the cluster gains more CPU, memory, and disks to use during
recovery operations. As a cluster grows larger, data restriping operations become faster.

Smartfail
OneFS protects data stored on failing nodes or drives through a process called
smartfailing.
During the smartfail process, OneFS places a device into quarantine. Data stored on
quarantined devices is read only. While a device is quarantined, OneFS reprotects the
data on the device by distributing the data to other devices. After all data migration is
complete, OneFS logically removes the device from the cluster, the cluster logically
changes its width to the new configuration, and the node or drive can be physically
replaced.
OneFS smartfails devices only as a last resort. Although you can manually smartfail
nodes or drives, it is recommended that you first consult Isilon Technical Support.
Occasionally a device might fail before OneFS detects a problem. If a drive fails without
being smartfailed, OneFS automatically starts rebuilding the data to available free space
on the cluster. However, because a node might recover from a failure, if a node fails,
OneFS does not start rebuilding data unless the node is logically removed from the
cluster.

Node failures
Because node loss is often a temporary issue, OneFS does not automatically start
reprotecting data when a node fails or goes offline. If a node reboots, the file system does
not need to be rebuilt because it remains intact during the temporary failure.
If you configure N+1 data protection on a cluster, and one node fails, all of the data is still
accessible from every other node in the cluster. If the node comes back online, the node
rejoins the cluster automatically without requiring a full rebuild.
To ensure that data remains protected, if you physically remove a node from the cluster,
you must also logically remove the node from the cluster. After you logically remove a
node, the node automatically reformats its own drives, and resets itself to the factory
FlexProtect data recovery

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Data layout with FlexProtect

default settings. The reset occurs only after OneFS has confirmed that all data has been
reprotected. You can logically remove a node using the smartfail process. It is important
that you smartfail nodes only when you want to permanently remove a node from the
cluster.
If you remove a failed node before adding a new node, data stored on the failed node
must be rebuilt in the free space in the cluster. After the new node is added, OneFS
distributes the data to the new node. It is more efficient to add a replacement node to the
cluster before failing the old node because OneFS can immediately use the replacement
node to rebuild the data stored on the failed node.

Requesting data protection

You can request the protection of a file or directory by setting its requested protection.
This flexibility enables you to protect distinct sets of data at different levels.
The default requested protection of node pools is N+2:1, which means that two drives or
one node can fail without causing any data loss. For clusters or node pools containing
less than two petabytes or fewer than 16 nodes, N+2:1 is the recommended requested
protection. However, if the cluster or node pool is larger, you might consider higher
requested protection.
OneFS allows you to request protection that the cluster is currently incapable of
matching. If you request an unmatchable protection, the cluster will continue trying to
match the requested protection until a match is possible. For example, in a four-node
cluster, you might request a protection of 5x. In this example, OneFS would protect the
data at 4x until you added a fifth node to the cluster, at which point OneFS would
reprotect the data at the 5x.
Note

For 4U Isilon IQ X-Series and NL-Series nodes, and IQ 12000X/EX 12000 combination
platforms, the minimum cluster size of three nodes requires a minimum of N+2:1.

Requested protection settings

Requested protection settings determine the level of hardware failure that a cluster can
recover from without suffering data loss.

282

Requested protection
setting

Minimum number of
nodes required

Definition

[+1n]

The cluster can recover from one

drive or node failure without
sustaining any data loss.

[+2d:1n]

The cluster can recover from two

simultaneous drive failures or one
node failure without sustaining any
data loss.

[+2n]

The cluster can recover from two

simultaneous drive or node failures
without sustaining any data loss.

[+3d:1n]

The cluster can recover from three

simultaneous drive failures or one

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Requested protection
setting

Minimum number of
nodes required

Definition
node failure without sustaining any
data loss.

[+3d:1n1d]

The cluster can recover from three

simultaneous drive failures or
simultaneous failures of one node
and one drive without sustaining any
data loss.

[+3n]

The cluster can recover from three

simultaneous drive or node failures
without sustaining any data loss.

[+4d:1n]

The cluster can recover from four

simultaneous drive failures or one
node failure without sustaining any
data loss.

[+4d:2n]

The cluster can recover from four

simultaneous drive failures or two
node failures without sustaining any
data loss.

[+4n]

The cluster can recover from four

simultaneous drive or node failures
without sustaining any data loss.

Nx (Data mirroring)

N
The cluster can recover from N - 1
For example, 5x requires drive or node failures without
a minimum of five nodes. sustaining data loss. For example, 5x
protection means that the cluster can
recover from four drive or node
failures.

Requested protection disk space usage

Increasing the requested protection of data also increases the amount of space
consumed by the data on the cluster.
The parity overhead for N + M protection depends on the file size and the number of
nodes in the cluster. The percentage of parity overhead declines as the cluster gets
larger.
The following table describes the estimated amount of overhead depending on the
requested protection and the size of the cluster or node pool. The table does not show
recommended protection levels based on cluster size.
Number [+1n]
of
nodes

[+2d:1n] [+2n]

[+3d:
1n]

[+3d:
1n1d]

[+3n]

[+4d:
1n]

[+4d:
2n]

[+4n]

4+2
(33%)

6+3
(33%)

3+3
(50%)

8+4
(33%)

2 +1
(33%)

Requested protection disk space usage

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Number [+1n]
of
nodes

[+2d:1n] [+2n]

[+3d:
1n]

[+3d:
1n1d]

[+3n]

[+4d:
1n]

[+4d:
2n]

[+4n]

3 +1
(25%)

6+2
(25%)

9+3
(25%)

5+3
(38%)

12 + 4
(25%)

4+4
(50%)

4 +1
(20%)

8+2
(20%)

3+2
(40%)

12 + 3
(20%)

7+3
(30%)

16 + 4
(20%)

6+4
(40%)

5 +1
(17%)

10 + 2
(17%)

4+2
(33%)

15 + 3
(17%)

9+3
(25%)

16 + 4
(20%)

8+4
(33%)

6 +1
(14%)

12 + 2
(14%)

5+2
(29%)

15 + 3
(17%)

11 + 3
(21%)

4+3
(43%)

16 + 4
(20%)

10 + 4
(29%)

7 +1
(13%)

14 + 2
(12.5%)

6+2
(25%)

15 + 3
(17%)

13 + 3
(19%)

5+3
(38%)

16 + 4
(20%)

12 + 4
(25% )

8 +1
(11%)

16 + 2
(11%)

7+2
(22%)

15 + 3
(17%)

15+3
(17%)

6+3
(33%)

16 + 4
(20%)

14 + 4
(22%)

5+4
(44%)

10

9 +1
(10%)

16 + 2
(11%)

8+2
(20%)

15 + 3
(17%)

15+3
(17%)

7+3
(30%)

16 + 4
(20%)

16 + 4
(20%)

6+4
(40%)

12

11 +1
(8%)

16 + 2
(11%)

10 + 2
(17%)

15 + 3
(17%)

15+3
(17%)

9+3
(25%)

16 + 4
(20%)

16 + 4
(20%)

8+4
(33%)

14

13 + 1
(7%)

16 + 2
(11%)

12 + 2
(14%)

15 + 3
(17%)

15+3
(17%)

11 + 3
(21%)

16 + 4
(20%)

16 + 4
(20%)

10 + 4
(29%)

16

15 + 1
(6%)

16 + 2
(11%)

14 + 2
(13%)

15 + 3
(17%)

15+3
(17%)

13 + 3
(19%)

16 + 4
(20%)

16 + 4
(20%)

12 + 4
(25%)

18

16 + 1
(6%)

16 + 2
(11%)

16 + 2
(11%)

15 + 3
(17%)

15+3
(17%)

15 + 3
(17%)

16 + 4
(20%)

16 + 4
(20%)

14 + 4
(22%)

20

16 + 1
(6%)

16 + 2
(11%)

16 + 2
(11%)

16 + 3
(16%)

16 + 3
(16%)

16 + 3
(16%)

16 + 4
(20%)

16 + 4
(20% )

16 + 4
(20%)

30

16 + 1
(6%)

16 + 2
(11%)

16 + 2
(11%)

16 + 3
(16%)

16 + 3
(16%)

16 + 3
(16%)

16 + 4
(20%)

16 + 4
(20%)

16 + 4
(20%)

The parity overhead for mirrored data protection is not affected by the number of nodes in
the cluster. The following table describes the parity overhead for requested mirrored
protection.
2x

3x

4x

5x

6x

7x

8x

50% 67% 75% 80% 83% 86% 88%

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CHAPTER 14
NDMP backup

This section contains the following topics:

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NDMP backup and recovery overview.................................................................. 286

NDMP two way backup........................................................................................ 286
Snapshot-based incremental backups................................................................ 287
NDMP protocol support....................................................................................... 288
Supported DMAs................................................................................................. 288
NDMP hardware support..................................................................................... 289
NDMP backup limitations.................................................................................... 289
NDMP performance recommendations................................................................ 289
Excluding files and directories from NDMP backups............................................ 291
Configuring basic NDMP backup settings............................................................ 292
Managing NDMP user accounts........................................................................... 293
Managing NDMP backup devices.........................................................................294
Managing NDMP backup ports............................................................................ 296
Managing NDMP backup sessions.......................................................................297
Managing restartable backups............................................................................ 299
Managing file list backups...................................................................................301
Improving NDMP restore performance................................................................. 303
Sharing tape drives between clusters.................................................................. 304
Managing default NDMP settings.........................................................................305
Managing snapshot based incremental backups.................................................308
View NDMP backup logs......................................................................................309

NDMP backup

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NDMP backup

NDMP backup and recovery overview

In OneFS, you can back up and restore file-system data through the Network Data
Management Protocol (NDMP). From a backup server, you can direct backup and recovery
processes between an Isilon cluster and backup devices such as tape devices, media
servers, and virtual tape libraries (VTLs).
OneFS supports both NDMP three-way backup and NDMP two-way backup. During an
NDMP three-way backup operation, a data management application (DMA) on a backup
server instructs the cluster to start backing up data to a tape media server that is either
attached to the LAN or directly attached to the DMA.
During a two-way NDMP backup, a DMA on a backup server instructs a Backup
Accelerator node on the cluster to start backing up data to a tape media server that is
attached to the Backup Accelerator node.
NDMP two-way backup is the most efficient method in terms of cluster resource
consumption. However, NDMP two-way backup requires that you attach one or more
Backup Accelerator nodes to the cluster.
In both the NDMP two-way and three-way backup models, file history data is transferred
from the cluster to the backup server. Before a backup begins, OneFS creates a snapshot
of the targeted directory, then backs up the snapshot, which ensures that the backup
image represents a specific point in time.
You do not need to activate a SnapshotIQ license on the cluster to perform NDMP
backups. If you have activated a SnapshotIQ license on the cluster, you can generate a
snapshot through the SnapshotIQ tool, and then back up the same snapshot to multiple
tape devices. If you back up a SnapshotIQ snapshot, OneFS does not create another
snapshot for the backup.
Note

If you are backing up SmartLock directories for compliance purposes, it is recommended

that you do not specify autocommit time periods for the SmartLock directories. This is
because, depending on the autocommit period, files in the SmartLock directories may
still be subject to change.

NDMP two way backup

To perform NDMP two-way backups, you must attach a Backup Accelerator node to your
Isilon cluster and attach a tape device to the Backup Accelerator node. You must then
use OneFS to detect the tape device before you can back up to that device.
You can connect supported tape devices directly to the Fibre Channel ports of a Backup
Accelerator node. Alternatively, you can connect Fibre Channel switches to the Fibre
Channel ports on the Backup Accelerator node, and connect tape and media changer
devices to the Fibre Channel switches. For more information, see your Fibre Channel
switch documentation about zoning the switch to allow communication between the
Backup Accelerator node and the connected tape and media changer devices.
If you attach tape devices to a Backup Accelerator node, the cluster detects the devices
when you start or restart the node or when you re-scan the Fibre Channel ports to
discover devices. If a cluster detects tape devices, the cluster creates an entry for the
path to each detected device.
If you connect a device through a Fibre Channel switch, multiple paths can exist for a
single device. For example, if you connect a tape device to a Fibre Channel switch, and
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then connect the Fibre Channel switch to two Fibre Channel ports, OneFS creates two
entries for the device, one for each path.
Note

If you perform an NDMP two-way backup operation, you must assign static IP addresses
to the Backup Accelerator node. If you connect to the cluster through a data management
application (DMA), you must connect to the IP address of a Backup Accelerator node. If
you perform an NDMP three-way backup, you can connect to any node in the cluster.

Snapshot-based incremental backups

You can implement snapshot-based incremental backups to increase the speed at which
these backups are performed.
During a snapshot-based incremental backup, OneFS checks the snapshot taken for the
previous NDMP backup operation and compares it to a new snapshot. OneFS then backs
up all data that was modified since the last snapshot was made.
If the incremental backup does not involve snapshots, OneFS must scan the directory to
discover which files were modified. OneFS can perform incremental backups significantly
faster if snapshots are referenced.
You can perform incremental backups without activating a SnapshotIQ license on the
cluster. Although SnapshotIQ offers a number of useful features, it does not enhance
snapshot capabilities in NDMP backup and recovery.
Set the BACKUP_MODE environment variable to SNAPSHOT to enable snapshot-based
incremental backups. If you enable snapshot-based incremental backups, OneFS retains
each snapshot taken for NDMP backups until a new backup of the same or lower level is
performed. However, if you do not enable snapshot-based incremental backups, OneFS
automatically deletes each snapshot generated after the corresponding backup is
completed or canceled.
After setting the BACKUP_MODE environment variable, snapshot-based incremental
backup works with certain data management applications (DMAs) as listed in the next
table.
Table 16 DMA support for snapshot-based incremental backups

DMA

Supported

Symantec NetBackup

Yes

EMC Networker

Yes

EMC Avamar

Yes

Commvault Simpana

No

IBM Tivoli Storage Manager No

Symantec Backup Exec

Yes

Dell NetVault

Yes

ASG-Time Navigator

Yes

Snapshot-based incremental backups

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NDMP protocol support

You can back up cluster data through version 3 or 4 of the NDMP protocol.
OneFS supports the following features of NDMP versions 3 and 4:
l

Full (level 0) NDMP backups

Incremental (levels 1-10) NDMP backups

Note

In a level 10 NDMP backup, only data changed since the most recent incremental
(level 1-9) backup or the last level 10 backup is copied. By repeating level 10
backups, you can be assured that the latest versions of files in your data set are
backed up without having to run a full backup.
l

Token-based NDMP backups

NDMP TAR backup type

Path-based and dir/node file history format

Direct Access Restore (DAR)

Directory DAR (DDAR)

Including and excluding specific files and directories from backup

Backup of file attributes

Backup of Access Control Lists (ACLs)

Backup of Alternate Data Streams (ADSs)

Backup Restartable Extension (BRE)

OneFS supports connecting to clusters through IPv4 or IPv6.

Supported DMAs
NDMP backups are coordinated by a data management application (DMA) that runs on a
backup server.
OneFS supports the following DMAs:
l

Symantec NetBackup

EMC NetWorker

EMC Avamar

Symantec Backup Exec

IBM Tivoli Storage Manager

Dell NetVault

CommVault Simpana

ASG-Time Navigator

Note

All supported DMAs can connect to an Isilon cluster through IPv4. CommVault Simpana is
currently the only DMA that also supports connecting to an Isilon cluster through IPv6.
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See the Isilon Third-Party Software and Hardware Compatibility Guide for the latest
information about supported DMAs.

NDMP hardware support

OneFS can back up data to and restore data from tape devices and virtual tape libraries
(VTLs).
OneFS supports the following types of emulated and physical tape devices:
l

LTO-3

LTO-4

LTO-5

LTO-6

OneFS supports the following VTLs:

l

FalconStor VTL 5.20

Data Domain VTL 5.1.04 or later

NDMP backup limitations

OneFS NDMP backups have the following limitations:
l

OneFS does not back up file system configuration data, such as file protection level
policies and quotas.

OneFS does not support multiple concurrent backups onto the same tape.

OneFS does not support restoring data from a file system other than OneFS. However,
you can migrate data via the NDMP protocol from a NetApp or EMC VNX storage
system to OneFS.

Backup Accelerator nodes cannot interact with more than 1024 device paths,
including the paths of tape and media changer devices. For example, if each device
has four paths, you can connect 256 devices to a Backup Accelerator node. If each
device has two paths, you can connect 512 devices.

OneFS does not support more than 64 concurrent NDMP sessions per Backup
Accelerator node.

NDMP performance recommendations

Consider the following recommendations to optimize OneFS NDMP backups.
General performance recommendations
l

Install the latest patches for OneFS and your data management application (DMA).

If you are backing up multiple directories that contain small files, set up a separate
schedule for each directory.

If you are performing three-way NDMP backups, run multiple NDMP sessions on
multiple nodes in your Isilon cluster.

Restore files through Direct Access Restore (DAR), especially if you restore files
frequently. However, it is recommended that you do not use DAR to restore a full
backup or a large number of files, as DAR is better suited to restoring smaller
numbers of files.
NDMP hardware support

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NDMP backup

Restore files through Directory DAR (DDAR) if you restore large numbers of files
frequently.

Use the largest tape record size available for your version of OneFS. The largest tape
record size for OneFS versions 6.5.5 and later is 256 KB. The largest tape record size
for versions of OneFS earlier than 6.5.5 is 128 KB.

If possible, do not include or exclude files from backup. Including or excluding files
can affect backup performance, due to filtering overhead.

Limit the depth of nested subdirectories in your file system.

Limit the number of files in a directory. Distribute files across multiple directories
instead of including a large number of files in a single directory.

Networking recommendations
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Assign static IP addresses to Backup Accelerator nodes.

Configure SmartConnect zones to specify pools of IP address ranges that are

exclusive to NDMP backup operations.

Connect NDMP sessions only through SmartConnect zones that are exclusively used
for NDMP backup.

Configure multiple policies when scheduling backup operations, with each policy
capturing a portion of the file system. Do not attempt to back up the entire file system
through a single policy.

Backup Accelerator recommendations

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Run a maximum of four concurrent streams per Backup Accelerator node.

Note

This is recommended only if you are backing up a significant amount of data. Running
four concurrent streams might not be necessary for smaller backups.
l

Attach more Backup Accelerator nodes to larger clusters. The recommended number
of Backup Accelerator nodes is listed in the following table.
Table 17 Nodes per Backup Accelerator node

Node type Recommended number of nodes per Backup Accelerator node

X-Series

NL-Series

S-Series

HD-Series

Attach more Backup Accelerator nodes if you are backing up to more tape devices.
The following table lists the recommended number of tape devices per backup
accelerator node:
Table 18 Tape devices per Backup Accelerator node

Tape device type Recommended number of tape devices per Backup Accelerator node

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LTO-5, LTO-6

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Table 18 Tape devices per Backup Accelerator node (continued)

Tape device type Recommended number of tape devices per Backup Accelerator node
LTO-3

DMA-specific recommendations
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Apply path-based file history instead of directory/inode (dir/node) file history.

Turn on multi-streaming, which enables OneFS to back up data to multiple tape

devices at the same time.

Excluding files and directories from NDMP backups

You can exclude files and directories from NDMP backup operations by specifying NDMP
environment variables through a data management application (DMA). If you include a
file or directory, all other files and directories are automatically excluded from backup
operations. If you exclude a file or directory, all files and directories except the excluded
one are backed up.
You can include or exclude files and directories by specifying the following character
patterns:
Table 19 NDMP file and directory matching wildcards

Character

Description

Example

Includes or excludes the following

directories

Takes the place of

any character or
characters

archive*

/ifs/data/archive1
/ifs/data/archive42_a/media

[]

Takes the place of data_store_[a-f]

a range of letters or data_store_[0-9]
numbers

/ifs/data/data_store_a
/ifs/data/data_store_c

Takes the place of

any single
character

user_?

/ifs/data/user_1
/ifs/data/user_2

Includes a blank
space

user\ 1

/ifs/data/user 1

/ifs/data/data_store_8

Unanchored patterns such as home or user1 target a string of text that might belong to
many files or directories. Anchored patterns target specific file pathnames, such as ifs/
data/home. You can include or exclude either type of pattern.
For example, suppose you want to back up the /ifs/data/home directory, which
contains the following files and directories:
l

/ifs/data/home/user1/file.txt

/ifs/data/home/user2/user1/file.txt

/ifs/data/home/user3/other/file.txt

/ifs/data/home/user4/emptydirectory
Excluding files and directories from NDMP backups

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If you simply include the /ifs/data/home directory, all files and directories, including
emptydirectory would be backed up.
If you specify both include and exclude patterns, any excluded files or directories under
the included directories would not be backed up. If the excluded directories are not found
in any of the included directories, the exclude specification would have no effect.
Note

Specifying unanchored patterns can degrade the performance of backups. It is

recommended that you avoid unanchored patterns whenever possible.

Configuring basic NDMP backup settings

You can configure NDMP backup settings to control how these backups are performed for
the cluster. You can also configure OneFS to interact with a specific data management
application (DMA) for NDMP backups.

Configure and enable NDMP backup

OneFS prevents NDMP backups by default. Before you can perform NDMP backups, you
must enable NDMP backups and configure NDMP settings.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Backup > NDMP Settings.
2. In the Service area, click Enable.
3. Optional: To specify a port through which data management applications (DMAs)
access the cluster, or the DMA vendor that OneFS is to interact with, in the Settings
area, click Edit settings.
l

In the Port number field, type a port number.

From the DMA vendor list, select the name of the DMA vendor to manage backup
operations.
If your DMA vendor is not included in the list, select generic. However, note that
any vendors not included on the list are not officially supported and might not
function as expected.

4. Click Add administrator to add an NDMP user account through which your DMA can
access the cluster.
a. In the Add Administrator dialog box, in the Name field, type a name for the
account.
b. In the Password and Confirm password fields, type a password for the account.
c. Click Submit.

Disable NDMP backup

You can disable NDMP backup if you no longer want to use this backup method.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Backup > NDMP Settings.
2. In the Service area, click Disable.

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View NDMP backup settings

You can view current NDMP backup settings. These settings define whether NDMP
backup is enabled, the port through which your data management application (DMA)
connects to the cluster, and the DMA vendor that OneFS is configured to interact with.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Backup > NDMP Settings and view NDMP backup settings.
2. In the Settings area, review NDMP backup settings.

NDMP backup settings

You can configure the following settings to control how NDMP backups are performed on
the cluster.
Port number
The number of the port through which the data management application (DMA) can
connect to the cluster.
DMA vendor
The DMA vendor that the cluster is configured to interact with.

Managing NDMP user accounts

You can create, delete, and modify the passwords of NDMP user accounts.

Create an NDMP user account

Before you can perform NDMP backups, you must create an NDMP user account through
which your data management application (DMA) can access the Isilon cluster.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Backup > NDMP Settings.
2. In the NDMP Administrators area, click Add administrator.
3. In the Add Administrator dialog box, in the Name field, type a name for the account.
4. In the Password and Confirm password fields, type a password for the account.
5. Click Submit.

Modify the password of an NDMP user account

You can modify the password for an NDMP user account.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Backup > NDMP Settings.
2. In the NDMP Administrator table, in the row for an NDMP user account, click Change
password.
3. In the Password and Confirm password fields, type a new password for the account.
4. Click Submit.

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Delete an NDMP user account

You can delete an NDMP user account.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Backup > NDMP Settings.
2. In the NDMP Administrators table, in the row for an NDMP user account, click Delete.
3. In the Confirm dialog box, click Yes.

View NDMP user accounts

You can view information about NDMP user accounts.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Backup > NDMP Settings.
2. In the NDMP administrators area, review information about NDMP user accounts.

Managing NDMP backup devices

After you attach a tape or media changer device to a Backup Accelerator node, you must
configure OneFS to detect and establish a connection to the device. After the connection
between the cluster and the backup device is established, you can modify the name that
the cluster has assigned to the device, or disconnect the device from the cluster.

Detect NDMP backup devices

If you connect a tape device or media changer to a Backup Accelerator node, you must
configure OneFS to detect the device. Only then can OneFS back up data to and restore
data from the device. In OneFS, you can scan a specific node, a specific port, or all ports
on all nodes.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Backup > Devices.
2. Click Discover devices.
3. Optional: To scan only a specific node for NDMP devices, from the Nodes list, select a
node.
4. Optional: To scan only a specific port for NDMP devices, from the Ports list, select a
port.
If you specify a port and a node, only the specified port on the node is scanned.
However, if you specify only a port, the specified port will be scanned on all nodes.
5. Optional: To remove entries for devices or paths that have become inaccessible,
select the Delete inaccessible paths or devices check box.
6. Click Submit.
Results
For each device that is detected, an entry is added to either the Tape Devices or Media
Changers tables.

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Modify the name of an NDMP backup device

You can modify the name of an NDMP backup device in OneFS.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Backup > Devices.
2. In the Tape Devices table, click the name of a backup device entry.
3. In the Rename Device dialog box, in the Device Name field, type a new name for the
backup device.
4. Click Submit.

Delete an entry for an NDMP backup device

If you physically remove an NDMP device from a cluster, OneFS retains the entry for the
device. You can delete a device entry for a removed device. You can also remove the
device entry for a device that is still physically attached to the cluster; this causes OneFS
to disconnect from the device.
If you remove a device entry for a device that is connected to the cluster, and you do not
physically disconnect the device, OneFS will detect the device the next time it scans the
ports. You cannot remove a device entry for a device that is currently in use.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Backup > Devices.
2. In the Tape Devices table, in the row for the target device, click Delete device.
3. In the Confirm dialog box, click Yes.

View NDMP backup devices

You can view information about tape and media changer devices that are currently
attached to your Isilon cluster.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Backup > Devices.
2. In the Tape Devices and Media Changers tables, review information about NDMP
backup devices.

NDMP backup device settings

OneFS creates a device entry for each device you attach to the cluster through a Backup
Accelerator node.
The following table describes the settings available in the Tape Devices and Media
Changers tables:
Table 20 NDMP backup device settings

Setting

Description

Name

A device name assigned by OneFS.

Modify the name of an NDMP backup device

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Table 20 NDMP backup device settings (continued)

Setting

Description

State

Indicates whether the device is in use. If data is currently being backed up to

or restored from the device, Read/Write appears. If the device is not in
use, Closed appears.

WWN

The world wide node name (WWNN) of the device.

Product

The name of the device vendor and the model name or number of the device.

Serial Number

The serial number of the device.

Paths

The name of the Backup Accelerator node that the device is attached to and
the port number or numbers to which the device is connected.

LUN

The logical unit number (LUN) of the device.

Port ID

The port ID of the device that binds the logical device to the physical device.

WWPN

The world wide port name (WWPN) of the port on the tape or media changer
device.

Managing NDMP backup ports

You can manage the Fibre Channel ports that connect tape and media changer devices to
a Backup Accelerator node. You can also enable, disable, or modify the settings of an
NDMP backup port.

Modify NDMP backup port settings

You can modify the settings of an NDMP backup port.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Backup > Ports.
2. In the Sessions table, click the name of a port.
3. In the Edit Port dialog box, modify port settings as needed, and then click Submit.

Enable or disable an NDMP backup port

You can enable or disable an NDMP backup port.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Backup > Ports.
2. In the Ports table, in the row of a port, click Enable or Disable.

View NDMP backup ports

You can view information about Fibre Channel ports of Backup Accelerator nodes
attached to a cluster.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Backup > Ports.
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2. In the Ports table, review information about NDMP backup ports.

NDMP backup port settings

OneFS assigns default settings to each port on each Backup Accelerator node attached to
the cluster. These settings identify each port and specify how the port interacts with
NDMP backup devices.
The settings that appear in the Ports table are as follows:
Table 21 NDMP backup port settings

Setting

Description

Port

The name of the Backup Accelerator node, and the number of the port.

Topology

The type of Fibre Channel topology that the port is configured to support..
Options are:

Point to Point
A single backup device or Fibre Channel switch directly connected to
the port.

Loop
Multiple backup devices connected to a single port in a circular
formation.

Auto
Automatically detects the topology of the connected device. This is the
recommended setting, and is required if you are using a switchedfabric topology.

WWNN

The world wide node name (WWNN) of the port. This name is the same for
each port on a given node.

WWPN

The world wide port name (WWPN) of the port. This name is unique to the
port.

Rate

The rate at which data is sent through the port. The rate can be set to 1
Gb/s, 2 Gb/s, 4 Gb/s, 8 Gb/s, and Auto. 8 Gb/s is available for
A100 nodes only. If set to Auto, OneFS automatically negotiates with the
DMA to determine the rate. Auto is the recommended setting.

Managing NDMP backup sessions

You can view the status of NDMP backup sessions or terminate a session that is in
progress.

End an NDMP session

You can end an NDMP backup or restore session at any time.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Backup > Sessions.
2. In the Sessions table, in the row of the NDMP session that you want to end, click Kill.

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3. In the Confirm dialog box, click Yes.

View NDMP sessions

You can view information about active NDMP sessions.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Backup > Sessions.
2. In the Sessions table, review information about NDMP sessions.

NDMP session information

You can view information about active NDMP sessions.
The following information is included in the Sessions table, as follows:
Table 22 NDMP session information

Item

Description

Session

The unique identification number that OneFS assigned to the

session.

Elapsed

How much time has elapsed since the session started.

Transferred

The amount of data that was transferred during the session.

Throughput

The average throughput of the session over the past five minutes.

Client/Remote

The IP address of the backup server that the data management

application (DMA) is running on. If a three-way NDMP backup or
restore operation is currently running, the IP address of the remote
tape media server also appears.

Mover/Data

The current state of the data mover and the data server. The first
word describes the activity of the data mover. The second word
describes the activity of the data server.
The data mover and data server send data to and receive data from
each other during backup and restore operations. The data mover is
a component of the backup server that receives data during
backups and sends data during restore operations. The data server
is a component of OneFS that sends data during backups and
receives information during restore operations.
The following states might appear:

Active
The data mover or data server is currently sending or receiving
data.

Paused
The data mover is temporarily unable to receive data. While the
data mover is paused, the data server cannot send data to the
data mover. The data server cannot be paused.

Idle
The data mover or data server is not sending or receiving data.

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Table 22 NDMP session information (continued)

Item

Description
Listen
The data mover or data server is waiting to connect to the data
server or data mover.

Operation

The type of operation (backup or restore) that is currently in

progress. If no operation is in progress, this field is blank.

Backup (0-10)
Indicates that data is currently being backed up to a media
server. The number indicates the level of NDMP backup.

Restore
Indicates that data is currently being restored from a media
server.

Source/Destination

If an operation is currently in progress, specifies the /ifs

directories that are affected by the operation. If a backup is in
progress, displays the path of the source directory that is being
backed up. If a restore operation is in progress, displays the path of
the directory that is being restored along with the destination
directory to which the tape media server is restoring data. If you are
restoring data to the same location that you backed up your data
from, the same path appears twice.

Device

The name of the tape or media changer device that is

communicating with the cluster.

Mode

How OneFS is interacting with data on the backup media server, as

follows:

Read/Write
OneFS is reading and writing data during a backup operation.

Read
OneFS is reading data during a restore operation.

Raw
The DMA has access to tape drives, but the drives do not
contain writable tape media.

Managing restartable backups

A restartable backup is a type of NDMP backup that you can enable in your data
management application (DMA). If a restartable backup fails, for example, because of a
power outage, you can restart the backup from a checkpoint close to the point of failure.
In contrast, when a non-restartable backup fails, you must back up all data from the
beginning, regardless of what was transferred during the initial backup process.
After you enable restartable backups from your DMA, you can manage restartable backup
contexts from OneFS. These contexts are the data that OneFS stores to facilitate
restartable backups. Each context represents a checkpoint that the restartable backup
process can return to if a backup fails.
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Restartable backups are supported only for EMC NetWorker 8.1 and later.

Configure restartable backups for EMC NetWorker

You must configure EMC NetWorker to enable restartable backups and, optionally, define
the checkpoint interval.
If you do not specify a checkpoint interval, NetWorker uses the default interval of 5 GB.
Procedure
1. Configure the client and the directory path that you want to back up as you would
normally.
2. In the Client Properties dialog box, enable restartable backups.
a. On the General page, click the Checkpoint enabled checkbox.
b. In the Checkpoint granularity drop-down list, select File.
3. In the Application information field, type any NDMP variables that you want to specify.
The following variable setting specifies a checkpoint interval of 1 GB:
CHECKPOINT_INTERVAL_IN_BYTES=1GB

4. Finish configuration and click OK in the Client Properties dialog box.

5. Start the backup.
6. If the backup is interruptedfor example, because of a power failurerestart it.
a. On the Monitoring page, locate the backup process in the Groups list.
b. Right-click the backup process and then, in the context menu, click Restart.
NetWorker automatically restarts the backup from the last checkpoint.

Delete a restartable backup context

After a restartable backup context is no longer needed, your data management
application (DMA) automatically requests that OneFS delete the context. You can
manually delete a restartable backup context before the DMA requests it.
Note

It is recommended that you do not manually delete restartable backup contexts.

Manually deleting a restartable backup context requires you to restart the corresponding
NDMP backup from the beginning.
Procedure
1. Run the isi ndmp extensions contexts delete command.
The following command deletes a restartable backup context with an ID of
792eeb8a-8784-11e2-aa70-0025904e91a4:
isi ndmp extensions contexts delete 792eeb8a-8784-11e2aa70-0025904e91a4

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View restartable backup contexts

You can view restartable backup contexts that have been configured.
Procedure
1. View all backup contexts by running the following command:
isi ndmp extensions contexts list

2. To view detailed information about a specific backup context, run the isi ndmp
extensions contexts view command.
The following command displays detailed information about a backup context with an
ID of 792eeb8a-8784-11e2-aa70-0025904e91a4:
isi ndmp extensions contexts view 792eeb8a-8784-11e2aa70-0025904e91a4

Configure restartable backup settings

You can specify the number of restartable backup contexts that OneFS retains at a time,
up to a maximum of 1024 contexts.
Procedure
1. Run the isi ndmp extensions settings modify command.
The following command sets the maximum number of restartable backup contexts to
128:
isi ndmp extensions settings modify --bre_max_contexts 128

View restartable backup settings

You can view the current limit of restartable backup contexts that OneFS retains at one
time.
Procedure
1. Run the following command:
isi ndmp extensions settings view

Managing file list backups

If your data management application (DMA) can pass environment variables to OneFS,
you can control backups by specifying a file list.
Currently, EMC Networker and Symantec NetBackup can pass environment variables to
OneFS.
With a normal NDMP level 0 (full) backup, your DMA backs up an entire source directory.
With an NDMP incremental (level 1-10) backup, your DMA backs up only those files that
have been created or changed since the previous incremental backup of the same level.
When you specify a file list backup, only the listed files and subdirectories in the source
directory are backed up. With a level 0 file list backup, all listed files and directories in
the source directory are backed up.
A backup level other than 0 triggers an incremental file list backup. In an incremental file
list backup, only the listed files that were created or changed in the source directory since
the last incremental backup of the same level are backed up.
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To configure a file list backup, you must complete the following tasks:
l

Create the file list and place it in OneFS

Specify the path of the source directory

Specify the file list location

The file list is an ASCII text file that lists the pathnames of files to be backed up. The
pathnames must be relative to the path specified in the FILESYSTEM environment
variable. Absolute file paths in the file list are not supported. The pathnames of all files
must be included, or they are not backed up. For example, if you include the pathname of
a subdirectory, only the subdirectory, not the files it contains, is backed up.
To specify the full path of the source directory to be backed up, you must specify the
FILESYSTEM environment variable in your DMA. For example:
FILESYSTEM=/ifs/data/projects

To specify the pathname of the file list, you must specify the environment variable,
BACKUP_FILE_LIST in your DMA. The file list must be accessible from the node
performing the backup. For example:
BACKUP_FILE_LIST=/ifs/data/proj_list.txt

Format of a backup file list

You must create a file list to enable a file list backup.
A file list backup requires an ASCII text file in a particular format to identify the
pathnames of files to be backed up. Following is an example of a file list with pathnames
relative to /ifs/data/projects:
project-summary_rev0.xls
project-summary_rev3.xls
proj001/plan/plan001.doc
proj001/plan/plan001.pdf
proj001/plan/proj-logo.png
proj001/plan/schedule001.xls
proj001/plan/stakeholders_list.txt
proj001/plan/team_pic.png
proj002/plan/logo.png
proj002/plan/projplan002.doc
proj002/plan/projplan002.pdf
proj002/plan/sched-002.xls
proj002/plan/stakeholders.txt
proj002/plan/team.png
proj005/plan/projectlogo.png
proj005/plan/projectteam.png
proj005/plan/proj-plan005.doc
proj005/plan/proj-plan005.pdf
proj005/plan/schedule.xls
proj005/plan/stakeholders.txt

As shown in the example, the pathnames are relative to the full path of the source
directory, which you specify in the FILESYSTEM environment variable. Absolute file paths
are not supported in the file list.
Also as shown, the directories and files should be in sorted order.
The pathnames of all files must be included in the file list, or they are not backed up. For
example, if you only include the pathname of a subdirectory, the subdirectory is backed
up, but not the files the subdirectory contains. The exception is ADS (alternate data
streams). All ADS associated with a file to be backed up are automatically backed up.
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Placement of the file list

Before you can perform a file list backup, you must place the file list in OneFS.
For example, suppose the FILESYSTEM environment variable specifies the full path of the
directory to be backed up as /ifs/data/projects. You can place the text file
containing the file list anywhere within the /ifs path.

Start a file list backup

You can configure and start a file list backup from your data management application
(DMA).
Before you begin
You should have already specified and saved the list of files to be backed up in an ASCII
text file.
Configure a file list backup from your DMA as you would any backup, but with a few
additional steps as described in the following procedure.
Procedure
1. Copy the file list to the OneFS file system on the cluster containing the files to be
backed up.
For example, if the directory that you specify in the FILESYSTEM environment
variable is /ifs/data/projects, you could place your file list at /ifs/data.
2. In your DMA, specify the BACKUP_FILE_LIST environment variable to be the full
pathname of the file list.
For example, if the file list was named proj_backup.txt, and you placed it
at /ifs/data, specify /ifs/data/proj_backup.txt as the full pathname of
the file list.
3. Start your backup as you normally would.
Results
The files in your file list are backed up as specified.

Improving NDMP restore performance

Previously, the NDMP restore operation was supported as a serial, or single-threaded,
process. For improved performance, restore now operates as a parallel, or multithreaded, process.
The multi-threading in parallel restore enables the restore operation to keep up with the
speed at which data is read from the tape.
Parallel restore is the default mode. If you want to change restore back to a singlethreaded process, you can specify the following environment variable before you start the
restore operation:
RESTORE_OPTIONS=1

Parallel restore works for full and selective restore operations. If you specify DAR (direct
access restore), however, the operation reverts to serial processing.

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Specify a serial restore operation

You can use the RESTORE_OPTIONS environment variable to specify a serial (singlethreaded) restore operation.
In OneFS, the default NDMP restore for any path is parallel restore. Parallel (multithreaded) restore enables faster full or partial restore operations by writing data to the
cluster as fast as the data can be read from the tape. For troubleshooting or other
purposes, you might want to try a serial restore operation, which uses fewer system
resources.
Procedure
1. In your data management application, configure a restore operation as you normally
would.
2. Specify the RESTORE_OPTIONS environment variable with a value of 1.
You can specify the RESTORE_OPTIONS environment variable from your data
management application or from the OneFS command line. To specify the
environment variable from the OneFS command line, use the isi ndmp settings
variables modify command. The following command specifies serial restore for
the /ifs/data/projects directory:
isi ndmp settings variables modify --path /ifs/data/projects -name restore_options --value 1

3. Start the restore operation.

Results
The serial restore process runs as a single-threaded operation as files and subdirectories
are restored to the specified path.

Sharing tape drives between clusters

Multiple Isilon clusters, or an Isilon cluster and a third-party NAS system, can be
configured to share a single tape drive. This helps to maximize the use of the tape
infrastructure in your data center.
In your data management application (DMA), you must configure NDMP to control the
tape drive and ensure that it is shared properly. The following configurations are
supported.
OneFS Versions

Supported DMAs

Tested configurations

7.1.1

EMC NetWorker 8.0 and later

7.1.0.1 (and
later)*

Symantec NetBackup 7.5

and later

Isilon Backup Accelerator with a

second Backup Accelerator

Isilon Backup Accelerator with a

NetApp storage system

7.0.2.5

6.6.5.26

* The tape drive sharing function is not supported in the OneFS 7.0.1 release.

EMC NetWorker refers to the tape drive sharing capability as DDS (dynamic drive sharing).
Symantec NetBackup uses the term SSO (shared storage option). Consult your DMA
vendor documentation for configuration instructions.
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Managing default NDMP settings

In OneFS, you can manage NDMP backup and restore operations by specifying default
NDMP environment variables. You can also override default NDMP environment variables
through your data management application (DMA). For more information about specifying
NDMP environment variables through your DMA, see your DMA documentation.

Set default NDMP settings for a directory

You can set default NDMP settings for a directory.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Set default NDMP settings by running the isi ndmp settings variables
create command.
For example, the following command sets the default file history format to path-based
format for /ifs/data/media:
isi ndmp settings variables create /ifs/data/media HIST F

Modify default NDMP settings for a directory

You can modify the default NDMP settings for a directory.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Modify default NDMP settings by running the isi ndmp settings variables
modify command.
For example, the following command sets the default file history format to path-based
format for /ifs/data/media:
isi ndmp settings variables modify /ifs/data/media HIST F

3. Optional: To remove a default NDMP setting for a directory, run the isi ndmp
settings variables delete command:
For example, the following command removes the default file history format
for /ifs/data/media:
isi ndmp settings variables delete /ifs/data/media --name HIST

View default NDMP settings for directories

You can view the default NDMP settings for directories.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. View default NDMP settings by running the following command:
isi ndmp settings variables list

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NDMP environment variables

You can specify default settings of NDMP backup and restore operations through NDMP
environment variables. You can also specify NDMP environment variables through your
data management application (DMA).
Table 23 NDMP environment variables

Environment variable

Valid values

Default

Description

BACKUP_MODE=

TIMESTAMP
SNAPSHOT

TIMESTAMP

Enables or disables snapshotbased incremental backups. To

enable snapshot-based
incremental backups, specify
SNAPSHOT. To disable snapshotbased incremental backups,
specify TIMESTAMP.

FILESYSTEM=

<file-path>

None

Specifies the full path of the

directory you want to back up.
Must be specified by the DMA
before starting the backup, or an
error is generated.

LEVEL=

<integer>

Specifies the level of NDMP

backup to perform. The following
values are valid:

0
Performs a full NDMP
backup.

1-9
Performs an incremental
backup at the specified level.

10
Performs unlimited
incremental backups.
UPDATE=

Y
N

Determines whether OneFS

updates the dump dates file.

Y
OneFS updates the dump
dates file.

N
OneFS does not update the
dump dates file.
HIST=

<file-historyformat>

Specifies the file history format.

The following values are valid:

D
Specifies dir/node file
history.

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Table 23 NDMP environment variables (continued)

Environment variable

Valid values

Default

Description
F
Specifies path-based file
history.

Y
Specifies the default file
history format determined by
your NDMP backup settings.

N
Disables file history.
DIRECT=

Y
N

Enables or disables Direct Access

Restore (DAR) and Directory DAR
(DDAR). The following values are
valid:

Y
Enables DAR and DDAR.

N
Disables DAR and DDAR.
FILES=

<file-matchingpattern>

None

If you specify this option, OneFS

backs up only files and directories
that meet the specified pattern.
Separate multiple patterns with a
space.

EXCLUDE=

<file-matchingpattern>

None

If you specify this option, OneFS

does not back up files and
directories that meet the specified
pattern. Separate multiple
patterns with a space.

RESTORE_HARDLINK
_BY_TABLE=

Y
N

Determines whether OneFS

recovers hard links by building a
hard-link table during restore
operations. Specify this option if
hard links were incorrectly backed
up, and restore operations are
failing.
If a restore operation fails because
hard links were incorrectly backed
up, the following message
appears in the NDMP backup logs:
Bad hardlink path for
<path>

CHECKPOINT_INTERVAL
_IN_BYTES=

<size>

5 GB

Specifies the checkpoint interval

for a restartable backup. If a
restartable backup fails during the
backup process, you can restart
NDMP environment variables

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Table 23 NDMP environment variables (continued)

Environment variable

Valid values

Default

Description
the backup from where the
process failed. The <size>
parameter is the space between
each checkpoint.
Note that this variable can only be
set from the DMA. For example, if
you specify 2 GB, your DMA would
create a checkpoint each time 2
GB of data were backed up.
Restartable backups are
supported only for EMC NetWorker
8.1 and later.

BACKUP_FILE_LIST=

<file-path>

None

Specifies the pathname in OneFS

of the file list to control the
backup. This variable must be
passed from the DMA initiating the
backup.
Currently, only EMC Networker and
Symantec NetBackup can pass
environment variables to OneFS.

RESTORE_OPTIONS=

0
1

The restore operation, by default,

is now multi-threaded to improve
performance. To change the
restore operation to singlethreaded, specify
RESTORE_OPTIONS=1

Managing snapshot based incremental backups

After you enable snapshot-based incremental backups, you can view and delete the
snapshots created for these backups.

Enable snapshot-based incremental backups for a directory

You can configure OneFS to perform snapshot-based incremental backups for a directory
by default. You can also override the default setting in your data management application
(DMA).
Procedure
1. Run the isi ndmp settings variable create command.
The following command enables snapshot-based incremental backups for /ifs/
data/media:
isi ndmp settings variables create /ifs/data/media BACKUP_MODE
SNAPSHOT

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Delete snapshots for snapshot-based incremental backups

You can delete snapshots created for snapshot-based incremental backups.
Note

It is recommended that you do not delete snapshots created for snapshot-based

incremental backups. If all snapshots are deleted for a path, the next backup performed
for the path is a full backup.
Procedure
1. Run the isi ndmp dumpdates delete command.
The following command deletes all snapshots created for backing up /ifs/data/
media:
isi ndmp dumpdates delete /ifs/data/media

View snapshots for snapshot-based incremental backups

You can view snapshots generated for snapshot-based incremental backups.
Procedure
1. Run the following command:
isi ndmp dumpdates list

View NDMP backup logs

You can view information about NDMP backup and restore operations through NDMP
backup logs.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Backup > Logs.
2. In the Log Location area, from the Node list, select a node.
3. In the Log Contents area, review information about NDMP backup and restore
operations.

Delete snapshots for snapshot-based incremental backups

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NDMP backup

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CHAPTER 15
File retention with SmartLock

This section contains the following topics:

l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l

SmartLock overview............................................................................................ 312

Compliance mode............................................................................................... 312
SmartLock directories..........................................................................................312
Replication and backup with SmartLock.............................................................. 313
SmartLock license functionality...........................................................................314
SmartLock considerations................................................................................... 314
Set the compliance clock.................................................................................... 315
View the compliance clock.................................................................................. 315
Creating a SmartLock directory............................................................................ 315
Managing SmartLock directories......................................................................... 317
Managing files in SmartLock directories.............................................................. 321

File retention with SmartLock

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File retention with SmartLock

SmartLock overview
You can prevent users from modifying and deleting files on an EMC Isilon cluster with the
SmartLock software module. You must activate a SmartLock license on a cluster to
protect data with SmartLock.
With the SmartLock software module, you can create SmartLock directories and commit
files within those directories to a write once read many (WORM) state. You cannot erase
or re-write a file committed to a WORM state. After a file is removed from a WORM state,
you can delete the file. However, you can never modify a file that has been committed to
a WORM state, even after it is removed from a WORM state.

Compliance mode
SmartLock compliance mode enables you to protect your data in compliance with the
regulations defined by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule 17a-4. You can
upgrade a cluster to compliance mode during the initial cluster configuration process,
before you activate the SmartLock license. To upgrade a cluster to SmartLock compliance
mode after the initial cluster configuration process, contact Isilon Technical Support.
If you upgrade a cluster to compliance mode, you will not be able to log in to that cluster
through the root user account. Instead, you can log in to the cluster through the
compliance administrator account that is configured either during initial cluster
configuration or when the cluster is upgraded to compliance mode. If you are logged in
through the compliance administrator account, you can perform administrative tasks
through the sudo command.

SmartLock directories
In a SmartLock directory, you can commit a file to a WORM state manually or you can
configure SmartLock to automatically commit the file. You can create two types of
SmartLock directories: enterprise and compliance. However, you can create compliance
directories only if the cluster has been upgraded to SmartLock compliance mode. Before
you can create SmartLock directories, you must activate a SmartLock license on the
cluster.
If you commit a file to a WORM state in an enterprise directory, the file can never be
modified and cannot be deleted until the retention period passes. However, if you are
logged in through the root user account, you can delete the file before the retention
period passes through the privileged delete feature. The privileged delete feature is not
available for compliance directories. Enterprise directories reference the system clock to
facilitate time-dependent operations, including file retention.
Compliance directories enable you to protect your data in compliance with the
regulations defined by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule 17a-4. If you
commit a file to a WORM state in a compliance directory, the file cannot be modified or
deleted before the specified retention period has expired. You cannot delete committed
files, even if you are logged in to the compliance administrator account. Compliance
directories reference the compliance clock to facilitate time-dependent operations,
including file retention.
You must set the compliance clock before you can create compliance directories. You can
set the compliance clock only once. After you set the compliance clock, you cannot
modify the compliance clock time. The compliance clock is controlled by the compliance
clock daemon. Because a user can disable the compliance clock daemon, it is possible
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for a user to increase the retention period of WORM committed files in compliance mode.
However, it is not possible to decrease the retention period of a WORM committed file.

Replication and backup with SmartLock

You must ensure that SmartLock directories remain protected during replication and
backup operations.
If you are replicating SmartLock directories with SyncIQ, it is recommended that you
configure all nodes on the source and target clusters into Network Time Protocol (NTP)
peer mode to ensure that the node clocks are synchronized. For compliance clusters, it is
recommended that you configure all nodes on the source and target clusters into NTP
peer mode before you set the compliance clock to ensure that the compliance clocks are
initially set to the same time.
Note

Do not configure SmartLock settings for a target SmartLock directory unless you are no
longer replicating data to the directory. Configuring an autocommit time period for a
target SmartLock directory can cause replication jobs to fail. If the target SmartLock
directory commits a file to a WORM state, and the file is modified on the source cluster,
the next replication job will fail because it cannot update the file.

SmartLock replication and backup limitations

Be aware of the limitations of replicating and backing up SmartLock directories with
SyncIQ and NDMP.
If the source or target directory of a SyncIQ policy is a SmartLock directory, replication
might not be allowed. For more information, see the following table:
Source directory type

Target directory type

Allowed

Non-SmartLock

Non-SmartLock

Yes

Non-SmartLock

SmartLock enterprise

Yes

Non-SmartLock

SmartLock compliance

No

SmartLock enterprise

Non-SmartLock

Yes; however, retention

dates and commit status
of files will be lost.

SmartLock enterprise

SmartLock enterprise

Yes

SmartLock enterprise

SmartLock compliance

No

SmartLock compliance

Non-SmartLock

No

SmartLock compliance

SmartLock enterprise

No

SmartLock compliance

SmartLock compliance

Yes

If you replicate SmartLock directories to another cluster with SyncIQ, the WORM state of
files is replicated. However, SmartLock directory configuration settings are not transferred
to the target directory.
For example, if you replicate a directory that contains a committed file that is set to expire
on March 4th, the file is still set to expire on March 4th on the target cluster. However, if

Replication and backup with SmartLock

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File retention with SmartLock

the directory on the source cluster is set to prevent files from being committed for more
than a year, the target directory is not automatically set to the same restriction.
If you back up data to an NDMP device, all SmartLock metadata relating to the retention
date and commit status is transferred to the NDMP device. If you restore data to a
SmartLock directory on the cluster, the metadata persists on the cluster. However, if the
directory that you restore to is not a SmartLock directory, the metadata is lost. You can
restore to a SmartLock directory only if the directory is empty.

SmartLock license functionality

You must activate a SmartLock license on a cluster before you can create SmartLock
directories and commit files to a WORM state.
If a SmartLock license becomes inactive, you will not be able to create new SmartLock
directories on the cluster, modify SmartLock directory configuration settings, or delete
files committed to a WORM state in enterprise directories before their expiration dates.
However, you can still commit files within existing SmartLock directories to a WORM
state.
If a SmartLock license becomes inactive on a cluster that is running in SmartLock
compliance mode, root access to the cluster is not restored.

SmartLock considerations

314

If a file is owned exclusively by the root user, and the file exists on a cluster that is in
SmartLock compliance mode, the file will be inaccessible, because the root user
account is disabled in compliance mode. For example, this can happen if a file is
assigned root ownership on a cluster that has not been upgraded to compliance
mode, and then the file is replicated to a cluster in compliance mode. This can also
occur if a file is assigned root ownership before a cluster is upgraded to SmartLock
compliance mode or if a root-owned file is restored on a compliance cluster after
being backed up.

It is recommended that you create files outside of SmartLock directories and then
transfer them into a SmartLock directory after you are finished working with the files.
If you are uploading files to a cluster, it is recommended that you upload the files to a
non-SmartLock directory, and then later transfer the files to a SmartLock directory. If a
file is committed to a WORM state while the file is being uploaded, the file will
become trapped in an inconsistent state.
Files can be committed to a WORM state while they are still open. If you specify an
autocommit time period for a directory, the autocommit time period is calculated
according to the length of time since the file was last modified, not when the file was
closed. If you delay writing to an open file for more than the autocommit time period,
the file will be automatically committed to a WORM state, and you will not be able to
write to the file.

In a Microsoft Windows environment, if you commit a file to a WORM state, you can
no longer modify the hidden or archive attributes of the file. Any attempt to modify
the hidden or archive attributes of a WORM committed file will generate an error. This
can prevent third-party applications from modifying the hidden or archive attributes.

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File retention with SmartLock

Set the compliance clock

Before you can create SmartLock compliance directories, you must set the compliance
clock. This procedure is available only through the command-line interface (CLI).
Setting the compliance clock configures the clock to the same time as the cluster system
clock. Before you set the compliance clock, ensure that the system clock is set to the
correct time. If the compliance clock later becomes unsynchronized with the system
clock, the compliance clock will slowly correct itself to match the system clock. The
compliance clock corrects itself at a rate of approximately one week per year.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in through the
compliance administrator account.
2. Set the compliance clock by running the following command.
isi worm cdate set

View the compliance clock

You can view the current time of the compliance clock. This procedure is available only
through the command-line interface (CLI).
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in through the
compliance administrator account.
2. View the compliance clock by running the following command:
isi worm cdate view

Creating a SmartLock directory

You can create a SmartLock directory and configure settings that control how long files
are retained in a WORM state and when files are automatically committed to a WORM
state. You cannot move or rename a directory that contains a SmartLock directory.
It is recommended that you set SmartLock configuration settings only once and do not
modify the settings after files have been added to the SmartLock directory.

Retention periods
A retention period is the length of time that a file remains in a WORM state before being
released from a WORM state. You can configure SmartLock directory settings that enforce
default, maximum, and minimum retention periods for the directory.
If you manually commit a file, you can optionally specify the date that the file is released
from a WORM state. You can configure a minimum and a maximum retention period for a
SmartLock directory to prevent files from being retained for too long or too short a time
period. It is recommended that you specify a minimum retention period for all SmartLock
directories.
For example, assume that you have a SmartLock directory with a minimum retention
period of two days. At 1:00 PM on Monday, you commit a file to a WORM state, and
specify the file to be released from a WORM state on Tuesday at 3:00 PM. The file will be
Set the compliance clock

315

File retention with SmartLock

released from a WORM state two days later on Wednesday at 1:00 PM, because releasing
the file earlier would violate the minimum retention period.
You can also configure a default retention period that is assigned when you commit a file
without specifying a date to release the file from a WORM state.

Autocommit time periods

You can configure an autocommit time period for SmartLock directories. An autocommit
time period causes files that have been in a SmartLock directory for a period of time
without being modified to be automatically committed to a WORM state.
If you modify the autocommit time period of a SmartLock directory that contains
uncommitted files, the new autocommit time period is immediately applied to the files
that existed before the modification. For example, consider a SmartLock directory with an
autocommit time period of 2 hours. If you modify a file in the SmartLock directory at 1:00
PM, and you decrease the autocommit time period to 1 hour at 2:15 PM, the file is
instantly committed to a WORM state.
If a file is manually committed to a WORM state, the read-write permissions of the file are
modified. However, if a file is automatically committed to a WORM state, the read-write
permissions of the file are not modified.

Create a SmartLock directory

You can create a SmartLock directory and commit files in that directory to a WORM state.
This procedure is available only through the command-line interface (CLI).
Before creating a SmartLock directory, be aware of the following conditions and
requirements:
l

You cannot create a SmartLock directory as a subdirectory of an existing SmartLock

directory.

Hard links cannot cross SmartLock directory boundaries.

Creating a SmartLock directory causes a corresponding SmartLock domain to be

created for that directory.

Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Run the isi worm domains create command.
If you specify the path of an existing directory, the directory must be empty.
The following command creates a compliance directory with a default retention period
of four years, a minimum retention period of three years, and an maximum retention
period of five years:
sudo isi worm domains create /ifs/data/SmartLock/directory1 \
--compliance --default-retention 4Y --min-retention 3Y \
--max-retention 5Y --mkdir

The following command creates an enterprise directory with an autocommit time

period of thirty minutes and a minimum retention period of three months:
isi worm domains create /ifs/data/SmartLock/directory2 \
--autocommit-offset 30m --min-retention 3M --mkdir

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Managing SmartLock directories

You can modify SmartLock directory settings only 32 times per directory. SmartLock
directory settings include the default, minimum, and maximum retention period and the
autocommit time period.
A SmartLock directory can be renamed only if the directory is empty.

Modify a SmartLock directory

You can modify the SmartLock configuration settings for a SmartLock directory. This
procedure is available only through the command-line interface (CLI).
Note

You can modify SmartLock directory settings only 32 times per directory. It is
recommended that you set SmartLock configuration settings only once and do not modify
the settings after files are added to the SmartLock directory.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Modify SmartLock configuration settings by running the isi worm modify
command.
The following command sets the default retention period to one year:
isi worm domains modify /ifs/data/SmartLock/directory1 \
--default-retention 1Y

View SmartLock directory settings

You can view the SmartLock directory settings for SmartLock directories. This procedure
is available only through the command-line interface (CLI).
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. View all SmartLock domains by running the following command:
isi worm domains list

The system displays output similar to the following example:

ID
Path
Type
----------------------------------------------65536 /ifs/data/SmartLock/directory1 enterprise
65537 /ifs/data/SmartLock/directory2 enterprise
65538 /ifs/data/SmartLock/directory3 enterprise
-----------------------------------------------

3. Optional: To view detailed information about a specific SmartLock directory, run the
isi worm domains view command.
The following command displays detailed information about /ifs/data/
SmartLock/directory2:
isi worm domains view /ifs/data/SmartLock/directory2

Managing SmartLock directories

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File retention with SmartLock

The system displays output similar to the following example:

ID:
Path:
Type:
LIN:
Autocommit Offset:
Override Date:
Privileged Delete:
Default Retention:
Min Retention:
Max Retention:
Total Modifies:

65537
/ifs/data/SmartLock/directory2
enterprise
4295426060
30m
off
1Y
3M
3/32 Max

SmartLock directory configuration settings

You can configure SmartLock directory settings that determine when files are committed
to and how long files are retained in a WORM state.
ID
The numerical ID of the corresponding SmartLock domain.
Path
The path of the directory.
Type
The type of SmartLock directory.
LIN
The inode number of the directory.
Autocommit offset
The autocommit time period for the directory. After a file exists in this SmartLock
directory without being modified for the specified time period, the file is
automatically committed to a WORM state.
Times are expressed in the format "<integer> <time>", where <time> is one of the
following values:
Y
Specifies years
M
Specifies months
W
Specifies weeks
D
Specifies days
H
Specifies hours
m
Specifies minutes
s
Specifies seconds

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Override date
The override retention date for the directory. Files committed to a WORM state are
not released from a WORM state until after the specified date, regardless of the
maximum retention period for the directory or whether a user specifies an earlier
date to release a file from a WORM state.
Privileged delete
Indicates whether files in the directory can be deleted through the privileged delete
functionality.
on
The root user can delete files committed to a WORM state by running the isi
worm files delete command.
off
WORM committed files cannot be deleted, even through the isi worm files
delete command.
disabled
WORM committed files cannot be deleted, even through the isi worm files
delete command. After this setting is applied, it cannot be modified.
Default retention period
The default retention period for the directory. If a user does not specify a date to
release a file from a WORM state, the default retention period is assigned.
Times are expressed in the format "<integer> <time>", where <time> is one of the
following values:
Y
Specifies years
M
Specifies months
W
Specifies weeks
D
Specifies days
H
Specifies hours
m
Specifies minutes
s
Specifies seconds
Forever indicates that WORM committed files are retained permanently by default.
Use Min indicates that the default retention period is equal to the minimum
retention date. Use Max indicates that the default retention period is equal to the
maximum retention date.

SmartLock directory configuration settings

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File retention with SmartLock

Minimum retention period

The minimum retention period for the directory. Files are retained in a WORM state
for at least the specified amount of time, even if a user specifies an expiration date
that results in a shorter retention period.
Times are expressed in the format "<integer> <time>", where <time> is one of the
following values:
Y
Specifies years
M
Specifies months
W
Specifies weeks
D
Specifies days
H
Specifies hours
m
Specifies minutes
s
Specifies seconds
Forever indicates that all WORM committed files are retained permanently.
Maximum retention period
The maximum retention period for the directory. Files cannot be retained in a WORM
state for more than the specified amount of time, even if a user specifies an
expiration date that results in a longer retention period.
Times are expressed in the format "<integer> <time>", where <time> is one of the
following values:
Y
Specifies years
M
Specifies months
W
Specifies weeks
D
Specifies days
H
Specifies hours
m
Specifies minutes
s
Specifies seconds
Forever indicates that there is no maximum retention period.

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Total modifies
The total number of times that SmartLock settings have been modified for the
directory. You can modify SmartLock settings only 32 times per directory.

Managing files in SmartLock directories

You can commit files in SmartLock directories to a WORM state by removing the readwrite privileges of the file. You can also set a specific date at which the retention period
of the file expires. Once a file is committed to a WORM state, you can increase the
retention period of the file, but you cannot decrease the retention period of the file. You
cannot move a file that has been committed to a WORM state, even after the retention
period for the file has expired.
The retention period expiration date is set by modifying the access time of a file. In a
UNIX command line, the access time can be modified through the touch command.
Although there is no method of modifying the access time through Windows Explorer, you
can modify the access time through Windows Powershell. Accessing a file does not set
the retention period expiration date.
If you run the touch command on a file in a SmartLock directory without specifying a
date on which to release the file from a SmartLock state, and you commit the file, the
retention period is automatically set to the minimum retention period specified for the
SmartLock directory. If you have not specified a minimum retention period for the
SmartLock directory, the file is assigned a retention period of zero seconds. It is
recommended that you specify a minimum retention period for all SmartLock directories.

Set a retention period through a UNIX command line

You can specify when a file will be released from a WORM state through a UNIX command
line.
Procedure
1. Open a connection to any node in the cluster through a UNIX command line and log in.
2. Set the retention period by modifying the access time of the file through the touch
command.
The following command sets an expiration date of June 1, 2015 for /ifs/data/
test.txt:
touch -at 201506010000 /ifs/data/test.txt

Set a retention period through Windows Powershell

You can specify when a file will be released from a WORM state through Microsoft
Windows Powershell.
Procedure
1. Open the Windows PowerShell command prompt.
2. Optional: Establish a connection to the cluster by running the net use command.
The following command establishes a connection to the /ifs directory on
cluster.ip.address.com:
net use "\\cluster.ip.address.com\ifs" /user:root password

3. Specify the name of the file you want to set a retention period for by creating an
object.
Managing files in SmartLock directories

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File retention with SmartLock

The file must exist in a SmartLock directory.

The following command creates an object for /smartlock/file.txt:
$file = Get-Item "\\cluster.ip.address.com\ifs\smartlock\file.txt"

4. Specify the retention period by setting the last access time for the file.
The following command sets an expiration date of July 1, 2015 at 1:00 PM:
$file.LastAccessTime = Get-Date "2015/7/1 1:00 pm"

Commit a file to a WORM state through a UNIX command line

You can commit a file to a WORM state through a UNIX command line.
To commit a file to a WORM state, you must remove all write privileges from the file. If a
file is already set to a read-only state, you must first add write privileges to the file, and
then return the file to a read-only state.
Procedure
1. Open a connection to the cluster through a UNIX command line and log in.
2. Remove write privileges from a file by running the chmod command.
The following command removes write privileges of /ifs/data/smartlock/
file.txt:
chmod ugo-w /ifs/data/smartlock/file.txt

Commit a file to a WORM state through Windows Explorer

You can commit a file to a WORM state through Microsoft Windows Explorer. This
procedure describes how to commit a file through Windows 7.
To commit a file to a WORM state, you must apply the read-only setting. If a file is already
set to a read-only state, you must first remove the file from a read-only state and then
return it to a read-only state.
Procedure
1. In Windows Explorer, navigate to the file you want to commit to a WORM state.
2. Right-click the folder and then click Properties.
3. In the Properties window, click the General tab.
4. Select the Read-only check box, and then click OK.

Override the retention period for all files in a SmartLock directory

You can override the retention period for files in a SmartLock directory. All files
committed to a WORM state within the directory will remain in a WORM state until after
the specified day. This procedure is available only through the command-line interface
(CLI).
If files are committed to a WORM state after the retention period is overridden, the
override date functions as a minimum retention date. All files committed to a WORM state
do not expire until at least the given day, regardless of user specifications.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.

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2. Override the retention period expiration date for all WORM committed files in a
SmartLock directory by running the isi worm modify command.
For example, the following command overrides the retention period expiration date
of /ifs/data/SmartLock/directory1 to June 1, 2014:
isi worm domains modify /ifs/data/SmartLock/directory1 \
--override-date 2014-06-01

Delete a file committed to a WORM state

You can delete a WORM committed file before the expiration date only if you are logged in
as the root user or compliance administrator. This procedure is available only through the
command-line interface (CLI).
Before you begin
Privileged delete functionality must not be permanently disabled for the SmartLock
directory that contains the file.
Procedure
1. Open a connection to the cluster through a UNIX command line and log in through
either the root user or compliance administrator account.
2. If privileged delete functionality was disabled for the SmartLock directory, modify the
directory by running the isi worm domains modify command with the -privileged-delete option.
The following command enables privileged delete for /ifs/data/SmartLock/
directory1:
isi worm domains modify /ifs/data/SmartLock/directory1 \
--privileged-delete true

3. Delete the WORM committed file by running the isi worm filedelete command.
The following command deletes /ifs/data/SmartLock/directory1/file:
isi worm files delete /ifs/data/SmartLock/directory1/file

The system displays output similar to the following:

Are you sure? (yes, [no]):

4. Type yes and then press ENTER.

View WORM status of a file

You can view the WORM status of an individual file. This procedure is available only
through the command-line interface (CLI).
Procedure
1. Open a connection to the cluster through a UNIX command line.
2. View the WORM status of a file by running the isi worm files view command.
For example, the following command displays the WORM status of a file:
isi worm files view /ifs/data/SmartLock/directory1/file

The system displays output similar to the following:

WORM Domains
ID
Root Path
Delete a file committed to a WORM state

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File retention with SmartLock

-----------------------------------65539 /ifs/data/SmartLock/directory1
WORM State: COMMITTED
Expires: 2015-06-01T00:00:00

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CHAPTER 16
Protection domains

This section contains the following topics:

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Protection domains overview.............................................................................. 326

Protection domain considerations.......................................................................326
Create a protection domain................................................................................. 327
Delete a protection domain................................................................................. 327

Protection domains

325

Protection domains

Protection domains overview

Protection domains are markers that prevent modifications to files and directories. If a
domain is applied to a directory, the domain is also applied to all of the files and
subdirectories under the directory. You can specify domains manually; however, OneFS
usually creats domains automatically.
There are three types of domains: SyncIQ, SmartLock, and SnapRevert. SyncIQ domains
can be assigned to source and target directories of replication policies. OneFS
automatically creates a SyncIQ domain for the target directory of a replication policy the
first time that the policy is run. OneFS also automatically creates a SyncIQ domain for the
source directory of a replication policy during the failback process. You can manually
create a SyncIQ domain for a source directory before you initiate the failback process, but
you cannot delete a SyncIQ domain that mark the target directory of a replication policy.
SmartLock domains are assigned to SmartLock directories to prevent committed files
from being modified or deleted. OneFS automatically creates a SmartLock domain when a
SmartLock directory is created. You cannot delete a SmartLock domain. However, if you
delete a SmartLock directory, OneFS automatically deletes the SmartLock domain
associated with the directory.
SnapRevert domains are assigned to directories that are contained in snapshots to
prevent files and directories from being modified while a snapshot is being reverted.
OneFS does not automatically create SnapRevert domains. You cannot revert a snapshot
until you create a SnapRevert domain for the directory that the snapshot contains. You
can create SnapRevert domains for subdirectories of directories that already have
SnapRevert domains. For example, you could create SnapRevert domains for both /ifs/
data and /ifs/data/archive. You can delete a SnapRevert domain if you no longer
want to revert snapshots of a directory.

Protection domain considerations

You can manually create protection domains before they are required by OneFS to
perform certain actions. However, manually creating protection domains can limit your
ability to interact with the data marked by the domain.

326

Copying a large number of files into a protection domain might take a very long time
because each file must be marked individually as belonging to the protection
domain.

You cannot move directories in or out of protection domains. However, you can move
a directory contained in a protection domain to another location within the same
protection domain.

Creating a protection domain for a directory that contains a large number of files will
take more time than creating a protection domain for a directory with fewer files.
Because of this, it is recommended that you create protection domains for directories
while the directories are empty, and then add files to the directory.

If a domain is currently preventing the modification or deletion of a file, you cannot

create a protection domain for a directory that contains that file. For example,
if /ifs/data/smartlock/file.txt is set to a WORM state by a SmartLock
domain, you cannot create a SnapRevert domain for /ifs/data/.

OneFS 7.2 Web Administration Guide

Protection domains

Create a protection domain

You can create replication or snapshot revert domains to facilitate snapshot revert and
failover operations. You cannot create a SmartLock domain. OneFS automatically creates
a SmartLock domain when you create a SmartLock directory.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Job Types.
2. In the Job Types area, in the DomainMark row, from the Actions column, select Start
Job.
3. In the Domain Root Path field, type the path of the directory you want to create a
protection domain for.
4. From the Type of domain list, specify the type of domain you want to create.
5. Ensure that the Delete this domain check box is cleared.
6. Click Start Job.

Delete a protection domain

You can delete a replication or snapshot revert domain if you want to move directories
out of the domain. You cannot delete a SmartLock domain. OneFS automatically deletes a
SmartLock domain when you delete a SmartLock directory.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Job Types.
2. In the Job Types area, in the DomainMark row, from the Actions column, select Start
Job.
3. In the Domain Root Path field, type the path of the directory you want to delete a
protection domain for.
4. From the Type of domain list, specify the type of domain you want to delete.
5. Select Delete this domain.
6. Click Start Job.

Create a protection domain

327

Protection domains

328

OneFS 7.2 Web Administration Guide

CHAPTER 17
Data-at-rest-encryption

This section contains the following topics:

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Data-at-rest encryption overview......................................................................... 330

Self-encrypting drives..........................................................................................330
Data security on self-encrypted drives................................................................. 330
Data migration to a self-encrypted-drives cluster................................................. 331
Chassis and drive states..................................................................................... 331
Smartfailed drive ERASE and REPLACE state examples........................................ 334

Data-at-rest-encryption

329

Data-at-rest-encryption

Data-at-rest encryption overview

You can enhance data security with a EMC Isilon cluster that contains only selfencrypting-drive nodes, providing data-at-rest protection.
The OneFS system is available as a cluster that is composed of Isilon OneFS nodes that
contain only self-encrypting drives (SEDs). The system requirements and management of
data at rest on self-encrypting nodes are identical to that of nodes that do not contain
self-encrypting drives. Clusters of mixed node types are not supported.

Self-encrypting drives
Self-encrypting drives store data on a EMC Isilon cluster that is specially designed for
data-at-rest encryption.
Data-at-rest- encryption on self-encrypted drives occurs when data that is stored on a
device is encrypted to prevent unauthorized data access. All data written to the storage
device is encrypted when it is stored, and all data read from the storage device is
decrypted when it is read. The stored data is encrypted with a 256-bit data AES
encryption key and decrypted in the same manner. OneFS controls data access by
combining the drive authentication key with on-disk data-encryption keys.
Note

All nodes in a cluster must be of the self-encrypting drive type. Mixed nodes are not
supported.

Data security on self-encrypted drives

Smartfailing self-encrypted drives guarantees data security after removal.
Data on self-encrypted drives is protected from unauthorized access by authenticating
encryption keys. Encryption keys never leave the drive. When a drive is locked, successful
authentication unlocks the drive for data access.
The data on self-encrypted drives is rendered inaccessible in the following conditions:
l

When a self-encrypting drive is smartfailed, drive authentication keys are deleted

from the node. The data on the drive cannot be decrypted and is therefore
unreadable, which secures the drive.

When a drive is smartfailed and removed from a node, the encryption key on the drive
is removed. Because the encryption key for reading data from the drive must be the
same key that was used when the data was written, it is impossible to decrypt data
that was previously written to the drive. When you smartfail and then remove a drive,
it is cryptographically erased.
Note

Smartfailing a drive is the preferred method for removing a self-encrypted drive.

Removing a node that has been smartfailed guarantees that data is inaccessible.
l

330

When a self-encrypting drive loses power, the drive locks to prevent unauthorized
access. When power is restored, data is again accessible when the appropriate drive
authentication key is provided.

OneFS 7.2 Web Administration Guide

Data-at-rest-encryption

Data migration to a self-encrypted-drives cluster

You can migrate data from your existing cluster to a cluster of self-encrypted-drive nodes.
The Isilon cluster does not support the coexistence of regular and self-encrypted nodes.
However, if you have data on an existing Isilon cluster that you want to migrate to a
cluster of self-encrypted nodes, you can add self-encrypted nodes to your existing cluster
one time only to migrate your data.
Note

Before you begin the data-migration process, both clusters must be upgraded to the
same OneFS version.
During data migration, an error is generated that indicates you are running in mixed
mode, which is not supported and is not secure. The data migrated to the self-encrypted
drives is not secure until the smartfail process is completed for the non-encrypted drives.
CAUTION

Data migration to a cluster of self-encrypted-drive nodes must be performed by Isilon

Professional Services. For more information, contact your EMC Isilon representative.

Chassis and drive states

You can view chassis and drive state details.
In a cluster, the combination of nodes in different degraded states determines whether
read requests, write requests, or both work. A cluster can lose write quorum but keep
read quorum. OneFS provides details about the status of chassis and drives in your
cluster. The following table describes all the possible states that you may encounter in
your cluster.
State

Description

Interface

HEALTHY

All drives in the node are functioning

correctly.

Command-line
interface, web
administration
interface

SMARTFAIL or
Smartfail or
restripe in
progress

The drive is in the process of being

removed safely from the file system,
either because of an I/O error or by
user request. Nodes or drives in a
smartfail or read-only state affect only
write quorum.

Command-line
interface, web
administration
interface

NOT AVAILABLE

A drive is unavailable for a variety of

reasons. You can click the bay to view
detailed information about this
condition.

Command-line
interface, web
administration
interface

Data migration to a self-encrypted-drives cluster

Error
state

331

Data-at-rest-encryption

State

Description

Interface

Note

In the web administration interface,

this state includes the ERASE and

SED_ERROR command-line
interface states.

332

SUSPENDED

This state indicates that drive activity

is temporarily suspended and the
drive is not in use. The state is
manually initiated and does not occur
during normal cluster activity.

Command-line
interface, web
administration
interface

NOT IN USE

A node in an offline state affects both

read and write quorum.

Command-line
interface, web
administration
interface

REPLACE

The drive was smartfailed successfully Command-line

and is ready to be replaced.
interface only

STALLED

The drive is stalled and undergoing

Command-line
stall evaluation. Stall evaluation is the interface only
process of checking drives that are
slow or having other issues.
Depending on the outcome of the
evaluation, the drive may return to
service or be smartfailed. This is a
transient state.

NEW

The drive is new and blank. This is the Command-line

state that a drive is in when you run
interface only
the isi dev command with the -a
add option.

USED

The drive was added and contained

Command-line
an Isilon GUID but the drive is not
interface only
from this node. This drive likely will be
formatted into the cluster.

PREPARING

The drive is undergoing a format

operation. The drive state changes to
HEALTHY when the format is
successful.

Command-line
interface only

EMPTY

No drive is in this bay.

Command-line
interface only

WRONG_TYPE

The drive type is wrong for this node. Command-line

For example, a non-SED drive in a SED interface only
node, SAS instead of the expected
SATA drive type.

BOOT_DRIVE

Unique to the A100 drive, which has

boot drives in its bays.

OneFS 7.2 Web Administration Guide

Command-line
interface only

Error
state

Data-at-rest-encryption

State

Description

Interface

Error
state

SED_ERROR

The drive cannot be acknowledged by

the OneFS system.

Command-line
interface, web
administration
interface

Note

In the web administration interface,

this state is included in Not

available.
ERASE

The drive is ready for removal but

needs your attention because the
data has not been erased. You can
erase the drive manually to guarantee
that data is removed.

Command-line
interface only

Note

In the web administration interface,

this state is included in Not

available.
INSECURE

Data on the self-encrypted drive is

accessible by unauthorized
personnel. Self-encrypting drives
should never be used for nonencrypted data purposes.

Command-line
interface only

Web
administration
interface only

Note

In the web administration interface,

this state is labeled Unencrypted

SED.
UNENCRYPTED SED

Data on the self-encrypted drive is

accessible by unauthorized
personnel. Self-encrypting drives
should never be used for nonencrypted data purposes.
Note

In the command-line interface, this

state is labeled INSECURE.

Chassis and drive states

333

Data-at-rest-encryption

Smartfailed drive ERASE and REPLACE state examples

You can see different drive states during the smartfail process.
If you run the isi dev command while the drive in bay 1 is being smartfailed, the
system displays output similar to the following example:
Node 1, [ATTN]
Bay 1
000093172YE04
Bay 2
00009330EYE03
Bay 3
00009330EYE03
Bay 4
00009327BYE03
Bay 5
00009330KYE03
Bay 6
000093172YE03
Bay 7
00009330KYE03
Bay 8
00009330EYE03
Bay 9
00009330EYE03
Bay 10
00009330EYE03
Bay 11
00009330EYE04
Bay 12
00009330JYE03

Lnum 11
/dev/da1
Lnum 10
/dev/da2
Lnum 9
/dev/da3
Lnum 8
/dev/da4
Lnum 7
/dev/da5
Lnum 6
/dev/da6
Lnum 5
/dev/da7
Lnum 4
/dev/da8
Lnum 3
/dev/da9
Lnum 2
/dev/da10
Lnum 1
/dev/da11
Lnum 0
/dev/da12

[SMARTFAIL]

SN:Z296M8HK

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8N5

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296LBP4

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296LCJW

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8XB

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z295LXT7

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8ZF

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8SD

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8QA

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8Q7

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8SP

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8QZ

If you run the isi dev command after the smartfail completes successfully, the system
displays output similar to the following example, showing the drive state as REPLACE:
Node 1, [ATTN]
Bay 1
000093172YE04
Bay 2
00009330EYE03
Bay 3
00009330EYE03
Bay 4
00009327BYE03
Bay 5
00009330KYE03
Bay 6
000093172YE03
Bay 7
00009330KYE03
Bay 8
00009330EYE03
Bay 9
00009330EYE03
Bay 10
00009330EYE03
Bay 11
00009330EYE04
Bay 12
00009330JYE03

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OneFS 7.2 Web Administration Guide

Lnum 11
/dev/da1
Lnum 10
/dev/da2
Lnum 9
/dev/da3
Lnum 8
/dev/da4
Lnum 7
/dev/da5
Lnum 6
/dev/da6
Lnum 5
/dev/da7
Lnum 4
/dev/da8
Lnum 3
/dev/da9
Lnum 2
/dev/da10
Lnum 1
/dev/da11
Lnum 0
/dev/da12

[REPLACE]

SN:Z296M8HK

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8N5

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296LBP4

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296LCJW

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8XB

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z295LXT7

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8ZF

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8SD

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8QA

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8Q7

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8SP

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8QZ

Data-at-rest-encryption

If you run the isi dev command while the drive in bay 3 is being smartfailed, the
system displays output similar to the following example:
Node 1, [ATTN]
Bay 1
000093172YE04
Bay 2
00009330EYE03
Bay 3
00009330EYE03
Bay 4
00009327BYE03
Bay 5
00009330KYE03
Bay 6
000093172YE03
Bay 7
00009330KYE03
Bay 8
00009330EYE03
Bay 9
00009330EYE03
Bay 10
00009330EYE03
Bay 11
00009330EYE04
Bay 12
00009330JYE03

Lnum 11
/dev/da1
Lnum 10
/dev/da2
Lnum 9
N/A
Lnum 8
/dev/da4
Lnum 7
/dev/da5
Lnum 6
/dev/da6
Lnum 5
/dev/da7
Lnum 4
/dev/da8
Lnum 3
/dev/da9
Lnum 2
/dev/da10
Lnum 1
/dev/da11
Lnum 0
/dev/da12

[REPLACE]

SN:Z296M8HK

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8N5

[SMARTFAIL]

SN:Z296LBP4

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296LCJW

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8XB

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z295LXT7

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8ZF

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8SD

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8QA

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8Q7

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8SP

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8QZ

If the smartfail is unsuccessful, OneFS attempts to delete the drive password, because
the drive could not be crypto-erased. If you run the isi dev command after the
smartfail is unsuccessful, the system displays output similar to the following example,
showing the drive state as ERASE:
Node 1, [ATTN]
Bay 1
000093172YE04
Bay 2
00009330EYE03
Bay 3
00009330EYE03
Bay 4
00009327BYE03
Bay 5
00009330KYE03
Bay 6
000093172YE03
Bay 7
00009330KYE03
Bay 8
00009330EYE03
Bay 9
00009330EYE03
Bay 10
00009330EYE03
Bay 11
00009330EYE04
Bay 12
00009330JYE03

Lnum 11
/dev/da1
Lnum 10
/dev/da2
Lnum 9
/dev/da3
Lnum 8
/dev/da4
Lnum 7
/dev/da5
Lnum 6
/dev/da6
Lnum 5
/dev/da7
Lnum 4
/dev/da8
Lnum 3
/dev/da9
Lnum 2
/dev/da10
Lnum 1
/dev/da11
Lnum 0
/dev/da12

[REPLACE]

SN:Z296M8HK

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8N5

[ERASE]

SN:Z296LBP4

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296LCJW

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8XB

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z295LXT7

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8ZF

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8SD

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8QA

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8Q7

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8SP

[HEALTHY]

SN:Z296M8QZ

Smartfailed drive ERASE and REPLACE state examples

335

Data-at-rest-encryption

336

OneFS 7.2 Web Administration Guide

CHAPTER 18
SmartQuotas

This section contains the following topics:

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SmartQuotas overview........................................................................................ 338

Quota types........................................................................................................ 338
Default quota type...............................................................................................339
Usage accounting and limits............................................................................... 341
Disk-usage calculations...................................................................................... 342
Quota notifications............................................................................................. 343
Quota notification rules.......................................................................................343
Quota reports......................................................................................................344
Creating quotas...................................................................................................344
Managing quotas................................................................................................ 346
Managing quota notifications..............................................................................349
Managing quota reports...................................................................................... 352
Basic quota settings............................................................................................353
Advisory limit quota notification rules settings.................................................... 354
Soft limit quota notification rules settings........................................................... 355
Hard limit quota notification rules settings.......................................................... 355
Limit notification settings....................................................................................356
Quota report settings.......................................................................................... 356
Custom email notification template variable descriptions................................... 357

SmartQuotas

337

SmartQuotas

SmartQuotas overview
The SmartQuotas module is an optional quota-management tool that monitors and
enforces administrator-defined storage limits. Using accounting and enforcement quota
limits, reporting capabilities, and automated notifications, SmartQuotas manages
storage use, monitors disk storage, and issues alerts when disk-storage limits are
exceeded.
Quotas help you manage storage usage according to criteria that you define. Quotas are
used as a method of trackingand sometimes limitingthe amount of storage that a
user, group, or project consumes. Quotas are a useful way of ensuring that a user or
department does not infringe on the storage that is allocated to other users or
departments. In some quota implementations, writes beyond the defined space are
denied, and in other cases, a simple notification is sent.
The SmartQuotas module requires a separate license. For additional information about
the SmartQuotas module or to activate the module, contact your EMC Isilon sales
representative.

Quota types
OneFS uses the concept of quota types as the fundamental organizational unit of storage
quotas. Storage quotas comprise a set of resources and an accounting of each resource
type for that set. Storage quotas are also called storage domains.
Storage quotas creation requires three identifiers:
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The directory to monitor.

Whether snapshots are to be tracked against the quota limit.

The quota type (directory, user, or group).

You can choose a quota type from the following entities:

Directory
A specific directory and its subdirectories.
User
Either a specific user or default user (every user). Specific-user quotas that you
configure take precedence over a default user quota.
Group
All members of a specific group or all members of a default group (every group). Any
specific-group quotas that you configure take precedence over a default group
quota. Associating a group quota with a default group quota creates a linked quota.
You can create multiple quota types on the same directory, but they must be of a different
type or have a different snapshot option. You can specify quota types for any directory in
OneFS and nest them within each other to create a hierarchy of complex storage-use
policies.
Nested storage quotas can overlap. For example, the following quota settings ensure that
the finance directory never exceeds 5 TB, while limiting the users in the finance
department to 1 TB each:

338

Set a 5 TB hard quota on /ifs/data/finance.

Set 1 TB soft quotas on each user in the finance department.

OneFS 7.2 Web Administration Guide

SmartQuotas

Note

You should not create quotas of any type on the OneFS root (/ifs). A root-level quota
may significantly degrade performance.

Default quota type

Default quotas automatically create other quotas for users or groups in a specified
directory.
A default quota specifies a policy for new entities that match a trigger. The defaultuser@/ifs/cs becomes specific-user@/ifs/cs for each specific-user that is not otherwise
defined.
For example, you can create a default-user quota on the /ifs/dir-1 directory, where
that directory is owned by the root user. The default-user type automatically creates a
new domain on that directory for root and adds the usage there:
my-OneFS-1# mkdir /ifs/dir-1
my-OneFS-1# isi quota quotas create /ifs/dir-1 default-user
my-OneFS-1# isi quota quotas ls --path=/ifs/dir-1
Type
AppliesTo Path
Snap Hard Soft Adv Used
--------------------------------------------------------------default-user DEFAULT
/ifs/dir-1 No
0b
user
root
/ifs/dir-1 No
0b
---------------------------------------------------------------

Now add a file that is owned by a different user (admin).

my-OneFS-1# touch /ifs/dir-1/somefile
my-OneFS-1# chown admin /ifs/dir-1/somefile
my-OneFS-1# isi quota quotas ls --path=/ifs/dir-1
Type
AppliesTo Path
Snap Hard Soft Adv Used
--------------------------------------------------------------default-user DEFAULT
/ifs/dir-1 No
0b
user
root
/ifs/dir-1 No
26b
user
admin
/ifs/dir-1 No
0b
--------------------------------------------------------------Total: 3

In this example, the default-user type created a new specific-user type automatically
(user:admin) and added the new usage to it. Default-user does not have any usage
because it is used only to generate new quotas automatically. Default-user enforcement
is copied to a specific-user (user:admin), and the inherited quota is called a linked quota.
In this way, each user account gets its own usage accounting.
Defaults can overlap. For example, default-user@/ifs/dir-1 and default-user@/ifs/cs
both may be defined. If the default enforcement changes, OneFS storage quotas
propagate the changes to the linked quotas asynchronously. Because the update is
asynchronous, there is some delay before updates are in effect. If a default type, such as
every user or every group, is deleted, OneFS deletes all children that are marked as
inherited. As an option, you can delete the default without deleting the children, but it is
important to note that this action breaks inheritance on all inherited children.
Continuing with the example, add another file that is owned by the root user. Because the
root type exists, the new usage is added to it.
my-OneFS-1# touch /ifs/dir-1/anotherfile
my-OneFS-1# isi quota ls -v --path=/ifs/dir-1 --format=list
Type: default-user

Default quota type

339

SmartQuotas

AppliesTo: DEFAULT
Path: /ifs/dir-1
Snap: No
Thresholds
Hard : Soft : Adv : Grace : Usage
Files : 0
With Overhead : 0.00b
W/O Overhead : 0.00b
Over: Enforced: No
Container: No
Linked: ---------------------------------------------------------------------Type: user
AppliesTo: root
Path: /ifs/dir-1
Snap: No
Thresholds
Hard : Soft : Adv : Grace : Usage
Files : 2
With Overhead : 3.50K
W/O Overhead : 55.00b
Over: Enforced: No
Container: No
Linked: Yes
---------------------------------------------------------------------Type: user
AppliesTo: admin
Path: /ifs/dir-1
Snap: No
Thresholds
Hard : Soft : Adv : Grace : Usage
Files : 1
With Overhead : 1.50K
W/O Overhead : 0.00b
Over: Enforced: No
Container: No
Linked: Yes

The enforcement on default-user is copied to the specific-user when the specific-user

allocates within the type, and the new inherited quota type is also a linked quota.
Note

Configuration changes for linked quotas must be made on the parent quota that the
linked quota is inheriting from. Changes to the parent quota are propagated to all
children. To override configuration from the parent quota, you must unlink the quota first.

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SmartQuotas

Usage accounting and limits

Storage quotas support two usage types that you can create to manage storage space.
The usage types are accounting and enforcement limits.
You can configure OneFS quotas by usage type to track or limit storage use. The
accounting option, which monitors disk-storage use, is useful for auditing, planning, and
billing. Enforcement limits set storage limits for users, groups, or directories.
Accounting
The accounting option tracks but does not limit disk-storage use. Using the
accounting option for a quota, you can monitor inode count and physical and logical
space resources. Physical space refers to all of the space used to store files and
directories, including data and metadata in the domain. Logical space refers to the
sum of all files sizes, excluding file metadata and sparse regions. User data storage
is tracked using logical-space calculations, which do not include protection
overhead. As an example, by using the accounting option, you can do the following:
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Track the amount of disk space used by various users or groups to bill each user,
group, or directory for only the disk space used.
Review and analyze reports that help you identify storage usage patterns and
define storage policies.
Plan for capacity and other storage needs.

Enforcement limits
Enforcement limits include all of the functionality of the accounting option, plus the
ability to limit disk storage and send notifications. Using enforcement limits, you can
logically partition a cluster to control or restrict how much storage that a user, group,
or directory can use. For example, you can set hard- or soft-capacity limits to ensure
that adequate space is always available for key projects and critical applications and
to ensure that users of the cluster do not exceed their allotted storage capacity.
Optionally, you can deliver real-time email quota notifications to users, group
managers, or administrators when they are approaching or have exceeded a quota
limit.

Note

If a quota type uses the accounting-only option, enforcement limits cannot be used for
that quota.
The actions of an administrator logged in as root may push a domain over a quota
threshold. For example, changing the protection level or taking a snapshot has the
potential to exceed quota parameters. System actions such as repairs also may push a
quota domain over the limit.
The system provides three types of administrator-defined enforcement thresholds.
Threshold
type

Description

Hard

Limits disk usage to a size that cannot be exceeded. If an operation, such as a file
write, causes a quota target to exceed a hard quota, the following events occur:
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the operation fails

an alert is logged to the cluster

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Threshold
type

Description

a notification is issued to specified recipients.

Writes resume when the usage falls below the threshold.

Soft

Allows a limit with a grace period that can be exceeded until the grace period
expires. When a soft quota is exceeded, an alert is logged to the cluster and a
notification is issued to specified recipients; however, data writes are permitted
during the grace period.
If the soft threshold is still exceeded when the grace period expires, data writes
fail, and a hard-limit notification is issued to the recipients you have specified.
Writes resume when the usage falls below the threshold.

Advisory

An informational limit that can be exceeded. When an advisory quota threshold is

exceeded, an alert is logged to the cluster and a notification is issued to specified
recipients. Advisory thresholds do not prevent data writes.

Disk-usage calculations
For each quota that you configure, you can specify whether data-protection overhead is
included in future disk-usage calculations.
Most quota configurations do not need to include overhead calculations. If you do not
include data-protection overhead in usage calculations for a quota, future disk-usage
calculations for the quota include only the space that is required to store files and
directories. Space that is required for the data-protection setting of the cluster is not
included.
Consider the same example user, who is now restricted by a 40 GB quota that does not
include data-protection overhead in its disk-usage calculations. If your cluster is
configured with a 2x data-protection level and the user writes a 10 GB file to the cluster,
that file consumes 20 GB of space but the 10GB for the data-protection overhead is not
counted in the quota calculation. In this example, the user has reached 25 percent of the
40 GB quota by writing a 10 GB file to the cluster. This method of disk-usage calculation
is recommended for most quota configurations.
If you include data-protection overhead in usage calculations for a quota, future diskusage calculations for the quota include the total amount of space that is required to
store files and directories, in addition to any space that is required to accommodate your
data-protection settings, such as parity or mirroring. For example, consider a user who is
restricted by a 40 GB quota that includes data-protection overhead in its disk-usage
calculations. If your cluster is configured with a 2x data-protection level (mirrored) and
the user writes a 10 GB file to the cluster, that file actually consumes 20 GB of space: 10
GB for the file and 10 GB for the data-protection overhead. In this example, the user has
reached 50 percent of the 40 GB quota by writing a 10 GB file to the cluster.
Note

Cloned and deduplicated files are treated as ordinary files by quotas. If the quota
includes data protection overhead, the data protection overhead for shared data is not
included in the usage calculation.
You can configure quotas to include the space that is consumed by snapshots. A single
path can have two quotas applied to it: one without snapshot usage, which is the default,
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and one with snapshot usage. If you include snapshots in the quota, more files are
included in the calculation than are in the current directory. The actual disk usage is the
sum of the current directory and any snapshots of that directory. You can see which
snapshots are included in the calculation by examining the .snapshot directory for the
quota path.
Note

Only snapshots created after the QuotaScan job finishes are included in the calculation.

Quota notifications
Quota notifications are generated for enforcement quotas, providing users with
information when a quota violation occurs. Reminders are sent periodically while the
condition persists.
Each notification rule defines the condition that is to be enforced and the action that is to
be executed when the condition is true. An enforcement quota can define multiple
notification rules. When thresholds are exceeded, automatic email notifications can be
sent to specified users, or you can monitor notifications as system alerts or receive
emails for these events.
Notifications can be configured globally, to apply to all quota domains, or be configured
for specific quota domains.
Enforcement quotas support the following notification settings. A given quota can use
only one of these settings.
Limit notification settings

Description

Turn Off Notifications for this

Quota

Disables all notifications for the quota.

Use Default Notification Rules

Uses the global default notification for the specified type of

quota.

Use Custom Notification Rules

Enables the creation of advanced, custom notifications that

apply to the specific quota. Custom notifications can be
configured for any or all of the threshold types (hard, soft, or
advisory) for the specified quota.

Quota notification rules

You can write quota notification rules to generate alerts that are triggered by event
thresholds.
When an event occurs, a notification is triggered according to your notification rule. For
example, you can create a notification rule that sends an email when a disk-space
allocation threshold is exceeded by a group.
You can configure notification rules to trigger an action according to event thresholds (a
notification condition). A rule can specify a schedule, such as "every day at 1:00 AM," for
executing an action or immediate notification of certain state transitions. When an event
occurs, a notification trigger may execute one or more actions, such as sending an email
or sending a cluster alert to the interface. The following examples demonstrate the types
of criteria that you can use to configure notification rules.
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Notify when a threshold is exceeded; at most, once every 5 minutes

Notify when allocation is denied; at most, once an hour

Notify while over threshold, daily at 2 AM

Notify while grace period expired weekly, on Sundays at 2 AM

Notifications are triggered for events grouped by the following categories:

Instant notifications
Includes the write-denied notification, triggered when a hard threshold denies a
write, and the threshold-exceeded notification, triggered at the moment a hard, soft,
or advisory threshold is exceeded. These are one-time notifications because they
represent a discrete event in time.
Ongoing notifications
Generated on a scheduled basis to indicate a persisting condition, such as a hard,
soft, or advisory threshold being over a limit or a soft threshold's grace period being
expired for a prolonged period.

Quota reports
The OneFS SmartQuotas module provides reporting options that enable administrators to
manage cluster resources and analyze usage statistics.
Storage quota reports provide a summarized view of the past or present state of the
quota domains. After raw reporting data is collected by OneFS, you can produce data
summaries by using a set of filtering parameters and sort types. Storage-quota reports
include information about violators, grouped by threshold types. You can generate
reports from a historical data sample or from current data. In either case, the reports are
views of usage data at a given time. OneFS does not provide reports on data aggregated
over time, such as trending reports, but you can use raw data to analyze trends. There is
no configuration limit on the number of reports other than the space needed to store
them.
OneFS provides the following data-collection and reporting methods:
l

Scheduled reports are generated and saved on a regular interval.

Ad hoc reports are generated and saved at the request of the user.

Live reports are generated for immediate and temporary viewing.

Scheduled reports are placed by default in the /ifs/.isilon/smartquotas/

reports directory, but the location is configurable to any directory under /ifs. Each
generated report includes quota domain definition, state, usage, and global
configuration settings. By default, ten reports are kept at a time, and older reports are
purged. You can create ad hoc reports at any time to view the current state of the storage
quotas system. These live reports can be saved manually. Ad hoc reports are saved to a
location that is separate from scheduled reports to avoid skewing the timed-report sets.

Creating quotas
You can create two types of storage quotas to monitor data: accounting quotas and
enforcement quotas. Storage quota limits and restrictions can apply to specific users,
groups, or directories.
The type of quota that you create depends on your goal.
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Enforcement quotas monitor and limit disk usage. You can create enforcement
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Note

Enforcement quotas are not recommended for snapshot-tracking quota domains.

l

Accounting quotas monitor, but do not limit, disk usage.

Note

After you create a new quota, it begins to report data almost immediately, but the data is
not valid until the QuotaScan job completes. Before using quota data for analysis or other
purposes, verify that the QuotaScan job has finished.

Create an accounting quota

You can create an accounting quota to monitor but not limit disk usage.
Optionally, you can include snapshot data, data-protection overhead, or both in the
accounting quota.
Procedure
1. Click File System Management > SmartQuotas > Quotas & Usage.
2. On the Storage Quotas & Usage page, click Create a storage quota.
3. From the Quota Type list, select the target for this quota: a directory, user, or group.
4. Depending on the target that you selected, select the entity that you want to apply the
quota to. For example, if you selected User from the Quota Type list, you can target
either all users or a specific user.
5. In the Directory path field, type the path and directory for the quota, or click Browse,
and then select a directory.
6. Optional: In the Usage Accounting area, select the options that you want.
l

To include snapshot data in the accounting quota, select the Include Snapshot
Data check box.

To include the data-protection overhead in the accounting quota, select the

Include Data-Protection Overhead check box.

To include snapshot data in the accounting quota, select the Include Snapshot
Data check box.

7. In the Usage Limits area, click No Usage Limit (Accounting Only).

8. Click Create Quota.
After you finish
After you create a quota, it begins to report data almost immediately, but the data is not
valid until the QuotaScan job completes. Before using quota data for analysis or other
purposes, verify that the QuotaScan job has finished.

Create an enforcement quota

You can create an enforcement quota to monitor and limit disk usage.
You can create enforcement quotas that set hard, soft, and advisory limits.
Procedure
1. Click File System Management > SmartQuotas > Quotas & Usage.
2. On the Storage Quotas & Usage page, click Create a storage quota.
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3. From the Quota Type list, select the target for this quota: a directory, user, or group.
4. Depending on the target that you selected, select the entity that you want to apply the
quota to. For example, if you selected User from the Quota Type list, you can target all
users or a specific user.
5. In the Directory path field, type the path and directory for the quota, or click Browse,
and then select a directory.
6. Optional: In the Usage Accounting area, click the Include Snapshot Data check box,
the Include Data-Protection Overhead check box, or both to include them in the
quota.
7. In the Usage Limits area, click Specify Usage Limits.
8. Click the check box next to the option for each type of limit that you want to enforce.
9. Type numerals in the fields and select from the lists the values that you want to use
for the quota.
10.In the Limit Notations area, click the notification option that you want to apply to the
quota.
11.To generate an event notification, select the Create cluster event check box.
12.Optional: If you selected the option to use custom notification rules, click the link to
expand the custom notification type that applies to the usage-limit selections.
13.Click Create Quota.
After you finish
After you create a quota, it begins to report data almost immediately but the data is not
valid until the QuotaScan job completes. Before using quota data for analysis or other
purposes, verify that the QuotaScan job has finished.

Managing quotas
You can modify the configured values of a storage quota, and you can enable or disable a
quota. You can also create quota limits and restrictions that apply to specific users,
groups, or directories.
Quota management in OneFS is simplified by the quota search feature, which helps you
to locate a quota or quotas by using filters. You can unlink quotas that are associated
with a parent quota, and configure custom notifications for quotas. You can also disable
a quota temporarily and then enable it when needed.
Note

Moving quota directories across quota domains is not supported.

Search for quotas

You can search for a quota using a variety of search criteria.
By default, all storage quotas and display options are listed on this page before you
apply report or search filters. If the Quotas & Storage section is collapsed, click Define
quota display.
Procedure
1. Click File System Management > SmartQuotas > Quotas & Usage.
2. In the Quotas & Usage area, for Report Filters, select Search for specific quotas within
this report.
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3. In the Quota Type list, select the quota type that you want to find.
4. If you selected User Quota or Group quota for a quota type, type a full or partial user
or group name in the User or Group field.
You can use the wildcard character (*) in the User or Group field.
l

To search for only default users, select the Only show default users checkbox.

To search for only default groups, select the Only show default groups check box.

5. In the Directory Path field, type a full or partial path.

You can use the wildcard character (*) in the Directory Path field.
l

To search subdirectories, select the Include subdirectories check box.

To search for only quotas that are in violations, select the Only show quotas for
which usage limits are currently in violation check box.

6. Optional: Click Update Display.

Quotas that match the search criteria appear in the sections where quotas are listed.
Results
An accounting or enforcement quota with a threshold value of zero is indicated by a dash
(). You can click the column headings to sort the result set.
Note

To clear the result set and display all storage quotas, in the Quotas & Usage area, select
Show all quotas and usage for this report for Report Filters, and then click Update
Display.

Manage quotas
Quotas help you monitor and analyze the current or historical use of disk storage. You
can search for quotas, and you can view, modify, delete, and unlink a quota.
An initial QuotaScan job must run for the default or scheduled quotas, or the data
displayed may be incomplete.
Before you modify a quota, consider how the changes will affect the file system and end
users.
Note
l

The options to edit or delete a quota appear only when the quota is not linked to a
default quota.

The option to unlink a quota is available only when the quota is linked to a default
quota.

Procedure
1. Click File System Management > SmartQuotas > Quotas & Usage.
2. From the Quota Report options, select the type of quota report that you want to view
or manage.
l

To monitor and analyze current disk storage use, click Show current quotas and
usage (Live Report).

To monitor and analyze historical disk storage use, click Show archived quota
report to select from the list of archived scheduled and manually generated quota
reports.
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3. For Report Filters, select the filters to be used for this quota report.
l

To view all information in the quota report, click Show all quotas and usage for
this report.

To filter the quota report, click Search for specific quotas within this report, and
then select the filters that you want to apply.

4. Click Update Display.

5. Optional: Select a quota to view its settings or to perform the following management
actions.
l

To review or edit this quota, click View details.

To delete this quota, click Delete.

To unlink a linked quota, click Unlink.

Note

Configuration changes for linked quotas must be made on the parent (default)
quota that the linked quota is inheriting from. Changes to the parent quota are
propagated to all children. If you want to override configuration from the parent
quota, you must first unlink the quota.

Export a quota configuration file

You can export quota settings as a configuration file, which can then be imported for
reuse to another Isilon cluster. You can also store the exported quota configurations in a
location outside of the cluster.
You can pipe the XML report to a file or directory. The file can then be imported to another
cluster.
Procedure
1. Establish an SSH connection to any node in the cluster.
2. At the command prompt, run the following command:
isi_classic quota list --export
The quota configuration file displays as raw XML.

Import a quota configuration file

You can import quota settings in the form of a configuration file that has been exported
from another Isilon cluster.
Procedure
1. Establish an SSH connection to any node in the cluster.
2. Navigate to the location of the exported quota configuration file.
3. At the command prompt, run the following command, where <filename> is the name of
an exported configuration file:
isi_classic quota import --from-file=<filename>
The system parses the file and imports the quota settings from the configuration file.
Quota settings that you configured before importing the quota configuration file are
retained, and the imported quota settings are effective immediately.

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Managing quota notifications

Quota notifications can be enabled or disabled, modified, and deleted.
By default, a global quota notification is already configured and applied to all quotas.
You can continue to use the global quota notification settings, modify the global
notification settings, or disable or set a custom notification for a quota.
Enforcement quotas support four types of notifications and reminders:
l

Threshold exceeded

Over-quota reminder

Grace period expired

Write access denied

If a directory service is used to authenticate users, you can configure notification

mappings that control how email addresses are resolved when the cluster sends a quota
notification. If necessary, you can remap the domain that is used for quota email
notifications and you can remap Active Directory domains, local UNIX domains, or both.

Configure default quota notification settings

You can configure default global quota notification settings that apply to all quotas of a
specified threshold type.
The custom notification settings that you configure for a quota take precedence over the
default global notification settings.
Procedure
1. Click File System Management > SmartQuotas > Settings.
2. Optional: On the Quota Settings page, for Scheduled Reporting, select On.
3. Click Change Schedule, and then select a report frequency from the list.
4. Select the reporting schedule options that you want, and then click Select.
5. In the Scheduled Report Archiving area, you can configure the following size and
directory options:
l

To configure the number of live reports that you want to archive, type the number
of reports in the Limit archive size field.

To specify an archive directory that is different from the default, in the Archive
Directory field, type the path or click Browse to select the path.

6. In the Manual Report Archiving area, you can configure the following size and
directory options:
l

To configure the number of live reports that you want to archive, type the number
of reports in the Limit archive size field.

To specify an archive directory that is different from the default, in the Archive
Directory field, type the path or click Browse to select the path.

7. In the Email Mapping Rules area, choose each mapping rule that you want to use by
selecting the check box in the Provider Type column.
8. In the Notification Rules area, define default notification rules for each rule type.
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To expand the list of limit notifications rules types, click Default Notifications
Settings.
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To display default settings options for advisory-limit notification rules, click

Advisory Limit Notification Rules.

To set the advisory-limit options that you want, click Event: Advisory Limit Value
Exceeded and Event: While Advisory Limit Remains Exceeded.

To display default settings for soft-limit notifications, click Soft Limit Notification
Rules.

To set the soft-limit options that you want, click Event: Soft Limit Value Exceeded,
Event: While Soft Limit Remains Exceeded, Event: Soft Limit Grace Period Expired,
and Event: Soft Limit Write Access Denied.

To display the options for a hard-limit notification rule, click Hard Limit
Notification Rules .

To set the hard-limit options that you want, click Event: Hard Limit Write Access
Denied and Event: While Hard Limit Remains Exceeded.

9. Click Save.
After you finish
After you create a new quota, it begins to report data almost immediately, but the data is
not valid until the QuotaScan job completes. Before using quota data for analysis or other
purposes, verify that the QuotaScan job has finished.

Configure custom quota notification rules

You can configure custom quota notification rules that apply only to a specified quota.
Before you begin
To configure a custom notification rule, an enforcement quota must exist or be in the
process of being created. To configure notifications for an existing enforcement quota,
follow the procedure to modify a quota and then use these steps from the Quota Details
pane of the specific quota.
Quota-specific custom notification rules must be configured for that quota. If notification
rules are not configured for a quota, the default event notification configuration is used.
For more information about configuring default notification rules, see Create an event
notification rule.
Procedure
1. In the Limit Notifications area, click Use Custom Notification Rules.
The links display for the rules options that are available for the type of notification
that you have selected for this quota.
2. Click the View details, and then click Edit limit notifications.
3. Click the link for the limit notification type that you want to configure for this quota.
From the list, select the target for this quota: a directory, user, or group.
The Limit Notification Rules options display for the selection type.
4. Select or type the values to configure the custom notification rule for this quota.
5. Click Create quota when you have completed configuring the settings for this
notification rule.
Results
The quota appears in the Quotas & Usage list.

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After you finish

After you create a new quota, it begins to report data almost immediately, but the data is
not valid until the QuotaScan job completes. Before using quota data for analysis or other
purposes, verify that the QuotaScan job has finished.

Map an email notification rule for a quota

Email notification mapping rules control how email addresses are resolved when the
cluster sends a quota notification.
If necessary, you can remap the domain used for SmartQuotas email notifications. You
can remap Active Directory Windows domains, local UNIX domains, or NIS domains.
Note

You must be logged in to the web administration interface to perform this task.
Procedure
1. Click File System Management > SmartQuotas > Settings.
2. Optional: In the Email Mapping area, click Create an email mapping rule.
3. From the Provider Type list, select the provider type for this notification rule.
4. From the Current Domain list, select the domain that you want to use for the mapping
rule.
5. In the Map-to-Domain field, type the name of the domain that you want to map email
notifications to.
Repeat this step if you want to map more than one domain.
6. Click Save Rule.

Configure a custom email quota notification template

If email notifications are enabled, you can configure custom templates for email
notifications.
If the default email notification templates do not meet your needs, you can configure your
own custom email notification templates using a combination of text and SmartQuotas
variables.
Procedure
1. Open a text editor and create a .txt file that includes any combination of text and
OneFS email notification variables.
2. Save the template file as ASCII text or in ISO-8859-1 format.
3. Upload the file to an appropriate directory on the Isilon cluster.
For example, /ifs/templates.
Example 1 Example of a custom quota email notification text file

The following example illustrates a custom email template to notify recipients about an
exceeded quota.
Text-file contents with variables
The disk quota on directory <ISI_QUOTA_PATH> owned by

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Example 1 Example of a custom quota email notification text file (continued)

<ISI_QUOTA_OWNER> was exceeded.
The <ISI_QUOTA_TYPE> quota limit is <ISI_QUOTA_THRESHOLD>, and
<ISI_QUOTA_USAGE> is in use. Please free some disk space
by deleting unnecessary files.
For more information, contact Jane Anderson in IT.
Email contents with resolved variables
The disk quota on directory
/ifs/data/sales_tools/collateral owned by jsmith was exceeded.
The hard quota limit is 10 GB, and 11 GB is in use. Please
free some disk space by deleting unnecessary files.
For more information, contact Jane Anderson in IT.

After you finish

To use the custom template, click Cluster Managements > General Settings > Email
Settings, and select the custom template in the Event Notification Settings area.

Managing quota reports

You can configure and schedule reports to help you monitor, track, and analyze storage
use on an Isilon cluster.
You can view and schedule reports and customize report settings to track, monitor, and
analyze disk storage use. Quota reports are managed by configuring settings that give
you control over when reports are scheduled, how they are generated, where and how
many are stored, and how they are viewed. The maximum number of scheduled reports
that are available for viewing in the web-administration interface can be configured for
each report type. When the maximum number of reports are stored, the system deletes
the oldest reports to make space for new reports as they are generated.

Create a quota report schedule

You can configure quota report settings to generate the quota report on a specified
schedule.
These settings determine whether and when scheduled reports are generated, and where
and how the reports are stored. If you disable a scheduled report, you can still run
unscheduled reports at any time.
Procedure
1. Click File System Management > SmartQuotas > Settings.
2. Optional: On the Quota settings page, for Scheduled Reporting, click On.
The Report Frequency option appears.
3. Click Change schedule, and select the report frequency that you want to set from the
list.
4. Select the reporting schedule options that you want.
5. Click Save.
Results
Reports are generated according to your criteria and can be viewed in the Generated
Reports Archive.
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Generate a quota report

In addition to scheduled quota reports, you can generate a report to capture usage
statistics at a point in time.
Before you begin
Quotas must exist and the initial QuotaScan job must run before you can generate a
quota report.
Procedure
1. Click File System Management > SmartQuotas > Generated Reports Archive.
2. In the Generated Quota Reports Archive area, click Generate a quota report.
3. Click Generate Report.
Results
The new report appears in the Quota Reports list.

Locate a quota report

You can locate quota reports, which are stored as XML files, and use your own tools and
transforms to view them.
Procedure
1. Establish an SSH connection to any node in the cluster.
2. Navigate to the directory where quota reports are stored. The following path is the
default quota report location:
/ifs/.isilon/smartquotas/reports
If quota reports are not in the default directory, you can run the isi quota
settings command to find the directory where they are stored.
3. At the command prompt, run one of the following commands:
Option

Description

To view a list of all quota reports in the specified

directory

Run the following command:

To view a specific quota report in the specified

directory

Run the following command:

ls -a *.xml

ls <filename>.xml

Basic quota settings

When you create a storage quota, the following attributes must be defined, at a
minimum. When you specify usage limits, additional options are available for defining
your quota.
Option

Description

Directory Path

The directory that the quota is on.

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Option

Description

User Quota

Select to automatically create a quota for

every current or future user that stores data in
the specified directory.

Group Quota

Select to automatically create a quota for

every current or future group that stores data
in the specified directory.

Include Snapshot Data

Select to count all snapshot data in usage

limits; cannot be changed after the quota is
created.

Include Data-Protection Overhead

Select to count protection overhead in usage

limits.

No Usage Limit

Select to account for usage only.

Specify Usage Limits

Select to enforce advisory, soft, or absolute

limits.

Advisory limit quota notification rules settings

You can configure custom quota notification rules for advisory limits for a quota. These
settings are available when you select the option to use custom notification rules.
Option

Description

Exceeded Remains
exceeded

Send email

Specify the type of email to use.

Yes

Yes

Notify owner

Select to send an email notification to the owner of the entity.

Yes

Yes

Notify another

Select to send an email notification to another recipient and type the

recipient's email address.

Yes

Yes

Message template

Select from the following template types for use in formatting email
notifications:

Yes

Yes

Create cluster event Select to generate an event notification for the quota when exceeded.

Yes

Yes

Delay

Specify the length of time (hours, days, weeks) to delay before generating a
notification.

Yes

No

Frequency

Specify the notification and alert frequency: daily, weekly, monthly, yearly;
depending on selection, specify intervals, day to send, time of day, multiple
emails per rule.

No

Yes

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Soft limit quota notification rules settings

You can configure custom soft limit notification rules for a quota. These settings are
available when you select the option to use custom notification rules.
Option

Description

Exceeded Remains
exceeded

Grace
period
expired

Write
access
denied

Send email

Specify the recipient of the email notification.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Notify owner

Select to send an email notification to the owner of

the entity.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Notify another

Select to send an email notification to another

recipient and type the recipient's email address.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Message
template

Select from the following template types for use in

formatting email notifications:

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Default (leave Message Template field blank

to use default)

Custom

Create cluster
event

Select to generate an event notification for the

quota.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Delay

Specify the length of time (hours, days, weeks) to

delay before generating a notification.

Yes

No

No

Yes

Frequency

Specify the notification and alert frequency: daily,

weekly, monthly, yearly; depending on selection,
specify intervals, day to send, time of day, multiple
emails per rule.

No

Yes

Yes

No

Hard limit quota notification rules settings

You can configure custom quota notification rules for hard limits for a quota. These
settings are available when you select the option to use custom notification rules.
Option

Description

Write access
denied

Exceeded

Send email

Specify the recipient of the email notification.

Yes

Yes

Notify owner

Select to send an email notification to the owner of the entity.

Yes

Yes

Notify another

Select to send an email notification to another recipient and type the

recipient's email address.

Yes

Yes

Message template

Select from the following template types for use in formatting email
notifications:

Yes

Yes

Default (leave Message Template field blank to use default)

Custom
Soft limit quota notification rules settings

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Option

Description

Write access
denied

Exceeded

Create cluster event Select to generate an event notification for the quota when exceeded.

Yes

Yes

Delay

Specify the length of time (hours, days, weeks) to delay before generating a
notification.

Yes

No

Frequency

Specify the notification and alert frequency: daily, weekly, monthly, yearly;
depending on selection, specify intervals, day to send, time of day, multiple
emails per rule.

No

Yes

Limit notification settings

You have three notification options when you create an enforcement quota: use default
notification rules, turn off notifications, or use custom notification rules. Enforcement
quotas support the following notification settings for each threshold type. A quota can
use only one of these settings.
Notification setting

Description

Use Default Notification Rules

Uses the default notification rules that you configured for

the specified threshold type.

Turn Off Notifications for this Quota Disables all notifications for the quota.
Use Custom Notification Rules

Provides settings to create basic custom notifications that

apply to only this quota.

Quota report settings

You can configure quota report settings that track disk usage. These settings determine
whether and when scheduled reports are generated, and where and how reports are
stored. When the maximum number of reports are stored, the system deletes the oldest
reports to make space for new reports as they are generated.
Setting

Description

Scheduled
reporting

Enables or disables the scheduled reporting feature.

Report
frequency

Off. Manually generated on-demand reports can be run at any time.

On. Reports run automatically according to the schedule that you specify.

Specifies the interval for this report to run: daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly. You can use the following options to
further refine the report schedule.

Generate report every. Specify the numeric value for the selected report frequency; for example, every 2
months.

Generate reports on. Select the day or multiple days to generate reports.
Select report day by. Specify date or day of the week to generate the report.
Generate one report per specified by. Set the time of day to generate this report.

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Setting

Description
Generate multiple reports per specified day. Set the intervals and times of day to generate the report for
that day.

Scheduled
Determines the maximum number of scheduled reports that are available for viewing on the SmartQuotas
report archiving Reports page.

Limit archive size for scheduled reports to a specified number of reports. Type the integer to specify the
maximum number of reports to keep.
Archive Directory. Browse to the directory where you want to store quota reports for archiving.
Manual report
archiving

Determines the maximum number of manually generated (on-demand) reports that are available for viewing on
the SmartQuotas Reports page.

Limit archive size for live reports to a specified number of reports. Type the integer to specify the maximum
number of reports to keep.
Archive Directory. Browse to the directory where you want to store quota reports for archiving.

Custom email notification template variable descriptions

If the default OneFS email notification templates do not meet your needs, you can
configure and upload your own custom email templates for SmartQuotas notifications.
An email template can contain text and, optionally, variables that represent values. You
can use any of the SmartQuotas variables in your templates. Template files must be
saved as a .txt file.
Variable

Description

Example

ISI_QUOTA_PATH

Path of quota domain

/ifs/data

ISI_QUOTA_THRESHOLD Threshold value

20 GB

ISI_QUOTA_USAGE

Disk space in use

10.5 GB

ISI_QUOTA_OWNER

Name of quota domain owner

jsmith

ISI_QUOTA_TYPE

Threshold type

Advisory

ISI_QUOTA_GRACE

Grace period, in days

5 days

ISI_QUOTA_EXPIRATION Expiration date of grace period

Fri Feb 23 14:23:19 PST

2007

ISI_QUOTA_NODE

someHost-prod-wf-1

Hostname of the node on which the

quota event occurred

Custom email notification template variable descriptions

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CHAPTER 19
Storage Pools

This section contains the following topics:

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Storage pools overview....................................................................................... 360

Storage pool functions........................................................................................ 360
Autoprovisioning.................................................................................................362
Virtual hot spare..................................................................................................362
Spillover..............................................................................................................363
Node pools......................................................................................................... 363
Suggested protection.......................................................................................... 365
Protection policies.............................................................................................. 365
SSD strategies.....................................................................................................366
Global namespace acceleration.......................................................................... 366
L3 cache overview............................................................................................... 367
Tiers....................................................................................................................369
File pools............................................................................................................ 369
File pool policies................................................................................................. 369
Managing node pools in the web administration interface...................................370
Managing L3 cache from the web administration interface.................................. 373
Managing tiers.................................................................................................... 374
Creating file pool policies.................................................................................... 376
Managing file pool policies................................................................................. 381
Monitoring storage pools.................................................................................... 386

Storage Pools

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Storage pools overview

OneFS organizes different node types into separate node pools, and you can further
organize these node pools into logical tiers of storage. By activating a SmartPools
license, you can create file pool policies that store files in these tiers automatically,
based on file matching criteria that you specify.
Without an active SmartPools license, OneFS manages all node pools as a single pool of
storage and stores file data and metadata across the entire cluster, ensuring that data is
protected, secure, and readily accessible. All files belong to the default file pool and are
governed by the default file pool policy. In this mode, OneFS provides a number of
functions that you can deploy, such as autoprovisioning, compatibilities, virtual hot
spare, SSD strategies, global namespace acceleration (GNA), L3 cache, and storage tiers.
When you activate a SmartPools license, you can take further control of your data set to
optimize the performance of your cluster. Additional functions become available,
including custom file pool policies that take precedence over the default policy, and
spillover management.
The following table summarizes storage pool functions based on whether a SmartPools
license is inactive or active.
Function

Without active
SmartPools license

With active SmartPools

license

Automatic storage pool provisioning Yes

Yes

Compatibilities (node equivalence)

Yes

Yes

Virtual hot spare

Yes

Yes

SSD strategies

Yes

Yes

L3 cache

Yes

Yes

Tiers

Yes

Yes

GNA

Yes

Yes

File pool policies

No

Yes

Spillover management

No

Yes

Storage pool functions

OneFS automatically groups equivalence-class nodes into node pools when the system is
installed and whenever nodes are added to the cluster. This autoprovisioning of nodes
into node pools enables OneFS to optimize reliability and data protection on the cluster.
Without an active SmartPools license, OneFS uses a default file pool policy to organize all
data into a single file pool. In this mode, OneFS distributes data across the entire cluster
so that data is protected and readily accessible.
OneFS includes the following functions with or without an active SmartPools license:
Autoprovisioning of node pools
OneFS automatically groups equivalence-class nodes into node pools for optimal
storage efficiency and protection.

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Compatibilities (node equivalence)

Enable certain nodes that are not equivalence-class to join existing node pools.
OneFS supports compatibilities between Isilon S200 and S210 nodes, and between
Isilon X400 and X410 nodes.
Tiers
Group node pools into logical tiers of storage. It is recommended that you activate a
SmartPools license for this feature. An active SmartPools license enables you to
create custom file pool policies and direct different file pools to appropriate storage
tiers.
Default file pool policy
Governs all file types and can store files anywhere on the cluster. Custom file pool
policies, which require an SmartPools license, take precedence over the default file
pool policy.
Requested protection
Specify a requested protection setting for the default file pool, per node pool, or
even on individual files. You can leave the default setting in place, or choose the
suggested protection calculated by OneFS to ensure optimal data protection.
Virtual hot spare
Reserve a percentage of available storage for data repair in the event of a disk
failure.
SSD strategies
Define the type of data that is stored on SSDs in the cluster, for example, storing
metadata for read/write acceleration.
L3 cache
Specify that SSDs in nodes exclusively cache data and metadata, thus enabling
faster access to the most frequently requested files.
Global namespace acceleration
Activate global namespace acceleration (GNA), which allows data stored on node
pools without SSDs to access SSDs elsewhere in the cluster to store extra metadata
mirrors. Extra metadata mirrors accelerate metadata read operations.
When you activate a SmartPools license, OneFS provides access to the following
additional functions:
Custom file pool policies
Create custom file pool policies to identify different classes of files, and store these
file pools in logical storage tiers. For example, you could define a high-performance
tier of Isilon S-series node pools, and an archival tier of high-capacity Isilon NL400
and HD400 node pools. Then, with custom file pool policies, you could identify file
pools based on matching criteria, and define actions to perform on these pools. For
example, one file pool policy could identify all JPEG files older than a year and store
them in an archival tier. Another policy could move all files that have been created or
modified within the last three months to a performance tier.
Storage pool spillover
Enable automated capacity overflow management for storage pools. Spillover
defines how to handle write operations when a storage pool is not writable for some
reason. If spillover is enabled, data is redirected to a specified storage pool. If
spillover is disabled, new data writes fail and an error message is sent to the client
attempting the write operation.
Storage pool functions

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Autoprovisioning
When you add a node to your cluster, OneFS automatically assigns the node to a node
pool. With node pools, OneFS can ensure optimal performance, load balancing, and
reliability of the file system. Autoprovisioning reduces the time required for the manual
management tasks associated with resource planning and configuration.
Nodes are not provisioned, meaning they are not associated with each other and are not
writable, until at least three nodes of an equivalence class are added to the cluster. If you
have added only two nodes of an equivalence class to your cluster, no data is stored on
those nodes until you add a third node of the same equivalence class.
Similarly, if a node goes down or is removed from the cluster so that fewer than three
equivalence-class nodes remain, the node pool becomes under-provisioned. However,
the two remaining nodes are still writable. If only one node remains, that node is not
writable, but remains readable.
OneFS offers a compatibility function, also referred to as node equivalency, that enables
certain node types to be provisioned to existing node pools, even when there are fewer
than three equivalence-class nodes. For example, an S210 node could be provisioned
and added to a node pool of S200 nodes. Similarly, an X410 node could be added to a
node pool of X400 nodes. The compatibility function ensures that you can add nodes one
at a time to your cluster and still have them be fully functional peers within a node pool.

Virtual hot spare

Virtual hot spare allocation settings allow you to allocate space to use to repair data in
the event a drive fails.
Virtual hot spare reserves the free space needed to rebuild the data if a disk fails. For
example, if you specify two virtual drives and 15 percent, each node pool reserves virtual
drive space that is equivalent to two drives or 15 percent of their total capacity (which
ever is larger) to rebuild a failed drive.
You can reserve space in node pools across the cluster for this purpose, up to the
equivalent of a maximum of four full drives. You define virtual hot spare allocation using
these options:
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A minimum number of virtual drives in the node pool (1-4).

A minimum percentage of total disk space (0-20 percent) .

A combination of minimum virtual drives and total disk space.

Note

The larger number of the two factors (minimum number of virtual drives or percentage
of total disk space), rather than their sum, determines the space allocated for virtual
hot spare.
It is important to understand the following information when configuring VHS settings:

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If you configure both settings, the enforced minimum value satisfies both
requirements.

If you select the option to reduce the amount of available space, free-space
calculations do not include the space reserved for the virtual hot spare. The reserved
virtual hot spare free space is used for write operations unless you select the option
to deny new data writes. If Reduce amount of available space is enabled while Deny

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new data writes is disabled, it is possible for the file system to report utilization as
more than 100 percent.
Note

Virtual hot spare reservations affect spillover. If the virtual hot spare option Deny writes
is enabled but Reduce amount of available space is disabled, spillover occurs before the
file system reports 100% utilization.

Spillover
If you activate a SmartPools license, you can designate a storage pool to receive spill
data when the hardware specified by a file pool policy is not writable. If you do not want
data to spill over from a different location because the specified node pool or tier is full or
not writable, you can disable this feature.
Spillover management is available after you activate a SmartPools license. You can direct
write operations to a specified storage pool in the cluster when there is not enough space
to write a file according to the storage pool policy.
Note

Virtual hot spare reservations affect spillover. If the setting Deny writes is enabled but
Deduce amount of available space is disabled, spillover occurs before the file system
reports 100% utilization.

Node pools
A node pool is a collection of three or more nodes. As you add nodes to an Isilon cluster,
OneFS automatically provisions them into node pools based on characteristics such as
series, drive size, RAM, and SSD-per-node ratio. Nodes with identical characteristics are
called equivalence-class nodes.
If you add fewer than three nodes of a node type, OneFS cannot autoprovision the nodes
to your cluster. In these cases, you can create compatibilities. Compatibilities enable
OneFS to provision nodes that are not equivalence-class to a compatible node pool.
After provisioning, each node in the OneFS cluster is a peer, and any node can handle a
data request. Each provisioned node increases the aggregate disk, cache, CPU, and
network capacity on the cluster.
You can move nodes from an automatically managed node pool into one that you define
manually. This capability is available only through the OneFS command-line interface. If
you attempt to remove nodes from a node pool such that the removal would leave fewer
than three nodes in the pool, the removal fails. When you remove a node from a manually
defined node pool, OneFS attempts to move the node into a node pool of the same
equivalence class, or into a compatible node pool.

Node compatibilities
OneFS requires that a node pool contain at least three nodes so that the operating
system can write data and perform the necessary load balancing and data protection

Spillover

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operations. You can enable certain nodes to be provisioned to an existing node pool by
defining a compatibility.
Note

The compatibility function is also referred to as node equivalency.

If you add fewer than three Isilon S210 or X410 nodes to your cluster, and you have
existing S200 or X400 node pools, you can create compatibilities to provision the new
nodes and make them functional within the cluster. Only S210 and X410 nodes are
eligible for compatibility.
To be provisioned, the S210 or X410 nodes must have the same drive configurations as
their S200 and X400 counterparts, and must have compatible RAM amounts, as shown in
the following table:
S200/S210 Compatibility X400/X410 Compatibility
S200 RAM

S210 RAM

X400 RAM

X410 RAM

24 GB

32 GB

24 GB

32 GB

48 GB

64 GB

48 GB

64 GB

96 GB

128 GB

96 GB

128 GB

256 GB

192 GB

256 GB

Note

After you have added three or more S210 or X410 nodes to your cluster, you should
consider removing the compatibilities that you have created. This step enables OneFS to
autoprovision new S210 or X410 node pools and take advantage of the performance
specifications of the newer node types.

Manual node pools

If the node pools automatically provisioned by OneFS do not meet your needs, you can
configure node pools manually. You do this by moving nodes from an existing node pool
into the manual node pool.
This capability enables you to store data on specific nodes according to your purposes,
and is available only through the OneFS command-line interface.
CAUTION

It is recommended that you enable OneFS to provision nodes automatically. Manually

created node pools might not provide the same performance and efficiency as
automatically managed node pools, particularly if your changes result in fewer than 20
nodes in the manual node pool.

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Suggested protection
Based on the configuration of your Isilon cluster, OneFS automatically calculates the
amount of protection that is recommended to maintain EMC Isilon's stringent data
protection requirements.
OneFS includes a function to calculate the suggested protection for data to maintain a
theoretical mean-time to data loss (MTTDL) of 5000 years. Suggested protection provides
the optimal balance between data protection and storage efficiency on your cluster.
By configuring file pool policies, you can specify one of multiple requested protection
settings for a single file, for subsets of files called file pools, or for all files on the cluster.
It is recommended that you do not specify a setting below suggested protection. OneFS
periodically checks the protection level on the cluster, and alerts you if data falls below
the recommended protection.

Protection policies
OneFS provides a number of protection policies to choose from when protecting a file or
specifying a file pool policy.
The more nodes you have in your cluster, up to 20 nodes, the more efficiently OneFS can
store and protect data, and the higher levels of requested protection the operating
system can achieve. Depending on the configuration of your cluster and how much data
is stored, OneFS might not be able to achieve the level of protection that you request. For
example, if you have a three-node cluster that is approaching capacity, and you request
+2n protection, OneFS might not be able to deliver the requested protection.
The following table describes the available protection policies in OneFS.
Protection policy

Summary

+1n

Tolerate the failure of 1 drive or the failure of 1 node

+2d:1n

Tolerate the failure of 2 drives or the failure of 1 node

+2n

Tolerate the failure of 2 drives or the failure of 2 nodes

+3d:1n

Tolerate the failure of 3 drives or the failure of 1 node

+3d:1n1d

Tolerate the failure of 3 drives or the failure of 1 node and 1 drive

+3n

Tolerate the failure of 3 drives or the failure of 3 nodes

+4d:1n

Tolerate the failure of 4 drives or the failure of 1 node

+4d:2n

Tolerate the failure of 4 drives or the failure of 2 nodes

+4n

Tolerate the failure of 4 drives or the failure of 4 nodes

Mirrors:
2x

Duplicates, or mirrors, data over the specified number of nodes. For

example, 2x results in two copies of each data block.

3x

Note

4x
5x
6x

Mirrors can use more data than the other protection policies, but
might be an effective way to protect files that are written nonsequentially or to provide faster access to important files.

7x
Suggested protection

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Protection policy

Summary

8x

SSD strategies
OneFS clusters can contain nodes that include solid-state drives (SSD). OneFS
autoprovisions equivalence-class nodes with SSDs into one or more node pools. The SSD
strategy defined in the default file pool policy determines how SSDs are used within the
cluster, and can be set to increase performance across a wide range of workflows.
You can configure file pool policies to apply specific SSD strategies as needed. When you
select SSD options during the creation of a file pool policy, you can identify the files in
the OneFS cluster that require faster or slower performance. When the SmartPools job
runs, OneFS uses file pool policies to move this data to the appropriate storage pool and
drive type.
The following SSD strategy options that you can set in a file pool policy are listed in order
of slowest to fastest choices:
Avoid SSDs
Writes all associated file data and metadata to HDDs only.
CAUTION

Use this option to free SSD space only after consulting with Isilon Technical Support
personnel. Using this strategy can negatively affect performance.
Metadata read acceleration
Writes both file data and metadata to HDDs. This is the default setting. An extra
mirror of the file metadata is written to SSDs, if available. The SSD mirror is in
addition to the number of mirrors, if any, required to satisfy the requested
protection.
Metadata read/write acceleration
Writes file data to HDDs and metadata to SSDs, when available. This strategy
accelerates metadata writes in addition to reads but requires about four to five times
more SSD storage than the Metadata read acceleration setting. Enabling GNA does
not affect read/write acceleration.
Data on SSDs
Uses SSD node pools for both data and metadata, regardless of whether global
namespace acceleration is enabled. This SSD strategy does not result in the creation
of additional mirrors beyond the normal requested protection but requires
significantly increased storage requirements compared with the other SSD strategy
options.

Global namespace acceleration

Global namespace acceleration (GNA) allows data stored on node pools without SSDs to
use SSDs elsewhere in the cluster to store extra metadata mirrors. Extra metadata mirrors
can improve file system performance by accelerating metadata read operations.
You can only enable GNA if 20% or more of the nodes in the cluster contain at least one
SSD and 1.5% or more of the total cluster storage is SSD-based. For best results, ensure

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that at least 2.0% of the total cluster storage is SSD-based before enabling global
namespace acceleration.
You can enable GNA only if 20% or more of the nodes in the cluster contain at least one
SSD and 1.5% or more of the total cluster storage is SSD-based. For best results, ensure
that at least 2.0% of the total cluster storage is SSD-based before enabling global
namespace acceleration. If the ratio of SSDs to non-SSDs on the cluster falls below the
1.5% threshold, GNA becomes inactive even if enabled. GNA is reactivated when the ratio
is corrected. When GNA is inactive, existing SSD mirrors are readable but newly written
metadata does not include the extra SSD mirror.
Note

If GNA is enabled for the cluster, file pool policies that direct data to node pools with L3
cache enabled should also set the SSD strategy to Avoid SSDs. Otherwise, additional
SSD mirrors would be created for data that is already accelerated by L3 cache. This is an
inefficient use of SSD storage space and is not recommended.

L3 cache overview
You can configure nodes with solid-state drives (SSDs) to increase cache memory and
speed up file system performance across larger working file sets.
OneFS caches file data and metadata at multiple levels. The following table describes the
types of file system cache available on an Isilon cluster.
Name

Type

Profile

Scope

Description

L1 cache

RAM

Volatile

Local
node

Also known as front-end cache, holds copies

of file system metadata and data requested by
the front-end network through NFS, SMB,
HTTP, and so on.

L2 cache

RAM

Volatile

Global

Also known as back-end cache, holds copies

of file system metadata and data on the node
that owns the data.

SmartCache

Variable

Nonvolatile

Local
node

Holds any pending changes to front-end files

waiting to be written to storage. This type of
cache protects write-back data through a
combination of RAM and stable storage.

L3 cache

SSD

Nonvolatile

Global

Holds file data and metadata released from L2

cache, effectively increasing L2 cache
capacity.

OneFS caches frequently accessed file and metadata in available random access memory
(RAM). Caching enables OneFS to optimize data protection and file system performance.
When RAM cache reaches capacity, OneFS normally discards the oldest cached data and
processes new data requests by accessing the storage drives. This cycle is repeated each
time RAM cache fills up.
You can deploy SSDs as L3 cache to reduce the cache cycling issue and further improve
file system performance. L3 cache adds significantly to the available cache memory and
provides faster access to data than hard disk drives (HDD).
As L2 cache reaches capacity, OneFS evaluates data to be released and, depending on
your workflow, moves the data to L3 cache. In this way, much more of the most frequently
accessed data is held in cache, and overall file system performance is improved.
L3 cache overview

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For example, consider a cluster with 128GB of RAM. Typically the amount of RAM
available for cache fluctuates, depending on other active processes. If 50 percent of RAM
is available for cache, the cache size would be approximately 64GB. If this same cluster
had three nodes, each with two 200GB SSDs, the amount of L3 cache would be 1.2TB,
approximately 18 times the amount of available L2 cache.
L3 cache is enabled by default for new node pools. A node pool is a collection of nodes
that are all of the same equivalence class, or for which compatibilities have been created.
L3 cache applies only to the nodes where the SSDs reside. For the HD400 node, which is
primarily for archival purposes, L3 cache is on by default and cannot be turned off. On the
HD400, L3 cache is used only for metadata.
If you enable L3 cache on a node pool, OneFS manages all cache levels to provide
optimal data protection, availability, and performance. In addition, in case of a power
failure, the data on L3 cache is retained and still available after power is restored.
Note

Although some benefit from L3 cache is found in workflows with streaming and
concurrent file access, L3 cache provides the most benefit in workflows that involve
random file access.

Migration to L3 cache
L3 cache is enabled by default on new nodes. If you are upgrading your cluster from an
older release (pre-OneFS 7.1.1), you must enable L3 cache manually on node pools that
have SSDs. When you enable L3 cache, OneFS activates a process that migrates SSDs
from storage disks to cache. File data currently on SSDs is moved elsewhere in the
cluster.
You can enable L3 cache as the default for all new node pools or manually for a specific
node pool, either through the command line or from the web administration interface.
You can enable L3 cache only on node pools whose nodes have SSDs.
Depending on the amount of data stored in your SSDs, the migration process can take
some time. OneFS displays a message informing you that the migration is about to begin:
WARNING: Changes to L3 cache configuration can have a long completion
time. If this is a concern, please contact EMC Isilon Support for
more information.

You must confirm whether OneFS should proceed with the migration. After you do, OneFS
handles the migration intelligently as a background process. You can continue to
administer your cluster during the migration.
If you choose to disable L3 cache on a node pool, the migration process is very fast.

L3 cache on HD400 node pools

The HD400 is a high-capacity node designed primarily for archival workflows. L3 cache is
turned on by default on HD400 node pools and cannot be turned off.
Archival workflows feature a higher percentage of data writes compared to data reads.
Consequently, L3 cache on HD400 node pools holds only metadata, which improves the
speed of file system traversal activities such as directory lookup. L3 cache on HD400
nodes does not contain file data.

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Required privileges
You need to have the SmartPools administrative privilege (or higher) to enable or disable
L3 cache.
You can enable or disable L3 cache from the command line or web administration
interface.

Tiers
A tier is a user-defined collection of node pools that you can specify as a storage pool for
files. A node pool can belong to only one tier.
You can create tiers to assign your data to any of the node pools in the tier. For example,
you can assign a collection of node pools to a tier specifically created to store data that
requires high availability and fast access. In a three-tier system, this classification may
be Tier 1. You can classify data that is used less frequently or that is accessed by fewer
users as Tier-2 data. Tier 3 usually comprises data that is seldom used and can be
archived for historical or regulatory purposes.

File pools
File pools are sets of files that you define to apply policy-based control of the storage
characteristics of your data.
The initial installation of OneFS places all files in the cluster into a single file pool, which
is subject to the default file pool policy. SmartPools enables you to define additional file
pools, and create policies that move files in these pools to specific node pools and tiers.
File pool policies match specific file characteristics (such as file size, type, date of last
access or a combination of these and other factors), and define specific storage
operations for files that match them. The following examples demonstrate a few ways you
can configure file pool policies:
l

You can create a file pool policy for a specific file extension that requires high
availability.

You can configure a file pool policy to store that type of data in a storage pool that
provides the fastest reads or read/writes.

You can create another file pool policy to evaluate last accessed date, allowing you to
store older files in storage pool best suited for archiving for historical or regulatory
purposes.

File pool policies

File pool policies define file storage among storage pools, optimization for file access
patterns, and requested file protection settings. SmartPools augments the basic OneFS
storage pool features to give you the ability to create multiple file pools, so you can store
files in specific node pools or tiers based on criteria you define.
You configure file pool policies with filtering rules and operations that are both systemand user-defined. You can then set requested protection settings and I/O optimization
settings for files types that you specify. You can include multiple criteria in a file pool
policy, including time-based filters for the date that a file was last accessed, modified, or
created. You can also define a relative elapsed time instead of a date, such as three days
before the current date.
Required privileges

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The unlicensed OneFS SmartPools technology allows you to configure the default file pool
policy for managing the node pools that are created when the cluster is autoprovisioned.
The default file pool contains all files and is stored in any node pool. Default file pool
operations are defined by settings of the default file pool policy.
You cannot reorder or remove the default file pool policy. The settings in the default file
pool policy apply to all files that are not covered by another file pool policy. For example,
data that is not covered by a file pool policy can be moved to a tier that you identify as a
default for this purpose.
All file pool policy operations are executed when the SmartPools job runs. When new files
are created, OneFS temporarily chooses a storage pool policy, using a mechanism based
on file pool policies used when the last SmartPools job ran. The system may apply new
storage settings and move these files again when the next SmartPools job runs, based on
a matching file pool policy.

Managing node pools in the web administration interface

You can manage node pools through the OneFS web administration interface. You must
have the ISI_PRIV_SMARTPOOLS or higher administrative privilege.

Add node pools to a tier

You can group available node pools into tiers.
A node pool can only be added to one tier. If no node pools are listed as available, they
already belong to another tier.
Procedure
1. Click File System Management > Storage Pools > SmartPools.
The SmartPools page displays two groups: Tiers & Node Pools and Compatibilities
2. In the Tiers & Node Pools area, click View/Edit next to the tier.
3. In the View Tier Details page, click Edit Tier.
The Edit Tier Details page is displayed.
4. In the Available Node Pools area, select a node pool and click Add.
The node pool moves to the Selected Node Pools for this Tier area.
5. Repeat step 4 for each node pool you intend to add. When all node pools have been
added, click Save Changes.
A message informs you that the operation was successful. The View Tier Details page
remains open.
6. Click Close.
The Tiers & Node Pools group now shows that the node pools are part of the tier.

Change the name or requested protection of a node pool

You can change the name or the requested protection of a node pool.
Procedure
1. Click File System Management > Storage Pools > SmartPools.
2. In the Tiers & Node Pools group, in the row of the node pool that you want to modify,
click View/Edit.
The View Node Pools Details page appears.
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3. Click Edit.
The Edit Node Pools Details page appears.
4. Enter a new name for the node pool, or specify a new requested protection level from
the list, or do both.
A node pool name can contain alphanumeric characters and underscores but cannot
begin with a number.
5. Click Save Changes in the Edit Node Pools Details page.
6. Click Close in the View Node Pools Details page.

Add a compatible node to a node pool

OneFS automatically adds a new equivalence-class node to an existing node pool. For a
new node that is not equivalence-class, you can create a compatibility to add the node to
an existing node pool.
Compatibilities work only between S200 and S210 nodes, and X400 and X410 nodes. For
example, if you have a node pool made up of three or more S200 nodes, you can create a
compatibility so that new S210 nodes are automatically added to the S200 node pool.
Similarly, if you have a node pool made up of three or more X400 nodes, you can create a
compatibility so that new X410 nodes are automatically added to the X400 node pool.
Note

The S210 and X410 nodes must have compatible RAM and the same drive configurations
as their S200 and X400 counterparts to be provisioned into those node pools.
Procedure
1. Click File System > Storage Pools > SmartPools.
The SmartPools tab displays two lists: Tiers & Node Pools and Compatibilities.
2. Click Create a Compatibility.
The Create a Compatibility dialog box displays drop-down lists of compatibility
options.
3. In the Make list, select either S200 or X400, as appropriate.
4. In the compatible with list, select either S210 or X410, as appropriate.
5. Click Create a Compatibility.
A Confirm Changes to this Cluster dialog box appears with two check boxes that you
must select before proceeding. The check boxes describe the result of the operation.
6. Select all check boxes, then click Confirm.
Results
The compatibility is created and described in the Compatibilities list. The result of the
compatibility appears in the Tiers & Node Pools list.

Merge compatible node pools

You can merge multiple compatible node pools to optimize efficiency across the cluster.
For example, if you had six S200 nodes in one node pool and three S210 nodes in a
second node pool, you could create a compatibility to merge the two node pools into one
nine-node pool. Larger node pools, up to 20 nodes, enable OneFS to protect data more
efficiently, thus preserving more storage space for new data.
Add a compatible node to a node pool

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Note

Newer node types typically have better performance specifications than older node types,
so merging them with older node types could reduce performance. Also, when two node
pools are merged, OneFS restripes the data to take advantage of the larger node pool,
which could take considerable time, depending on the size of your data set.
Procedure
1. Click File System > Storage Pools > SmartPools.
The SmartPools tab displays two lists: Tiers & Node Pools and Compatibilities.
2. Click Create a Compatibility.
The Create a Compatibility dialog box displays drop-down lists of compatibility
options.
3. In the Make list, select either S200 or X400, as appropriate.
4. In the compatible with list, select either S210 or X410, as appropriate.
5. Click Create a Compatibility.
A Confirm Changes to this Cluster dialog box appears with a two check boxes that you
have to select before proceeding. The check boxes describe the result of the
operation.
6. Click Confirm.
If the two node pools being merged have different settings, for example L3 cache,
OneFS prompts you to resolve the differences before merging the node pools.
Results
The compatibility appears in the Compatibilities list. In the Tiers & Node Pools list, the
two former node pools are joined as one.

Delete a compatibility
You can delete a compatibility, and any nodes that are part of a node pool because of
this compatibility are removed from the node pool.
CAUTION

Deleting a compatibility could result in unintended consequences. For example, if you

delete a compatibility, and fewer than three compatible nodes are removed from the
node pool, those nodes would be removed from your cluster's available pool of storage.
The next time the SmartPools job runs, data on those nodes would be restriped
elsewhere on the cluster, which could be a lengthy process. If three or more compatible
nodes are removed from the node pool, these nodes would form their own node pool,
but data could still be restriped. Any file pool policy pointing to the original node pool
would now point to the node pool's tier if one existed, or otherwise to a new tier created
by OneFS.
Procedure
1. Click File System > Storage Pools > SmartPools.
The SmartPools tab displays two groups: Tiers & Node Pools and Compatibilities.
2. In the Compatibilities list, next to the compatibility that you want to delete, click
Delete.
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The Delete a Compatibility dialog box appears, describing the compatibility and what
will happen when you delete it.
3. Click Delete Compatibility.
A Confirm Changes to this Cluster dialog box appears with a list of four check boxes
that you must select before proceeding.
4. Select all check boxes, and click Confirm.
Results
The compatibility is deleted, and the new state of the affected nodes appears in the Tiers
& Node Pools list.

Managing L3 cache from the web administration interface

You can manage L3 cache globally or on specific node pools from the web administration
interface. On HD400 nodes, L3 cache is turned on by default and cannot be turned off.

Set L3 cache as the default for node pools

You can set L3 cache as the default, so that when new node pools are created, L3 cache
is enabled automatically.
Before you begin
L3 cache is only effective on nodes that include SSDs. If none of your clusters have SSD
storage, there is no need to enable L3 cache as the default.
Procedure
1. Click File System > Storage Pools > SmartPools Settings.
The Edit SmartPools Settings page appears.
2. Under Local Storage Settings, click Use SSDs as L3 Cache by default for new node
pools.
3. Click Save Changes.
Results
As you add new nodes with SSDs to your cluster, and OneFS designates new node pools,
these node pools automatically have L3 cache enabled. New node pools without SSDs do
not have L3 cache enabled by default.

Set L3 cache on a specific node pool

You can turn on L3 cache for a specific node pool.
Procedure
1. Click File System > Storage Pools > SmartPools.
The SmartPools page, showing a list of tiers and node pools, appears.
2. In the Tiers & Node Pools list, click View/Edit next to the target node pool.
The View Node Pool Details dialog box appears, showing the current settings of the
node pool.
3. Click Edit.
The Edit Node Pool Details dialog box appears.
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4. Click the Enable L3 cache check box.

The check box is grayed out for node pools that do not have SSDs, or for which the
setting cannot be changed.
5. Click Save Changes.
The Confirm Change to L3 Cache Setting message box appears.
6. Click the Continue button.
The migration process to L3 cache begins and can take awhile, depending on the
number and size of the SSDs in the node pool. When the migration process is
complete, the View Node Pool Details dialog box appears.
7. Click Close.

Restore SSDs to storage drives for a node pool

You can disable L3 cache for SSDs on a node pool and restore those SSDs to storage
drives.
Note

On HD400 node pools, SSDs are only used for L3 cache, which is turned on by default
and cannot be turned off. All other node pools with SSDs for L3 cache can have their
SSDs migrated back to storage drives.
Procedure
1. Click File System > Storage Pools > SmartPools.
2. In the Tiers & Node Pools area of the SmartPools tab, select View/Edit next to the
target node pool.
The View Node Pool Details dialog box appears, showing the current settings of the
node pool.
3. Click Edit.
The Edit Node Pool Details dialog box appears.
4. Clear the Enable L3 cache check box.
The setting is grayed out for node pools without SSDs, or for which the setting cannot
be changed.
5. Click Save Changes.
The Confirm Change to L3 Cache Setting message box appears.
6. Click Continue.
The migration process to disable L3 cache begins and can take awhile, depending on
the number and size of the SSDs in the node pool. When the migration process is
complete, the View Node Pool Details dialog box appears.
7. Click Close.

Managing tiers
You can move node pools into tiers to optimize file and storage management.
Managing tiers requires ISI_PRIV_SMARTPOOLS or higher administrative privileges.

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Create a tier
You can group create a tier that contains one or more node pools. You can use the tier to
store specific categories of files.
Procedure
1. Click File System > Storage Pools > SmartPools.
The SmartPools tab appears with two sections: Tiers & Node Pools and
Compatibilities.
2. In the Tiers & Node Pools section, click Create a Tier.
3. In the Create a Tier page that appears, enter a name for the tier.
4. For each node pool that you want to add to the tier, select a node pool from the
Available Node Pools list, and click Add.
The node pool is moved into the Selected Node Pools for this Tier list.
5. Click Create Tier.
The Create a Tier page closes, and the new tier is added to the Tiers & Node Pools
area. The node pools that you added are shown below the tier name.

Edit a tier
You can modify the name and change the node pools that are assigned to a tier.
A tier name can contain alphanumeric characters and underscores but cannot begin with
a number.
Procedure
1. Click File System > Storage Pools > SmartPools.
The SmartPools tab displays two groups: Tiers & Node Pools and Compatibilities.
2. In the Tiers & Node Pools area, next to the tier you want to edit, click View/Edit.
3. In the View Tier Details dialog box, click Edit Tier.
4. In the Edit Tier Details dialog box, modify the following settings as needed:
Option

Description

Tier Name

To change the name of the tier, select and type over the
existing name.

Node Pool
Selection

To change the node pool selection, select a node pool, and

click either Add or Remove.

5. When you have finished editing tier settings, click Save Changes.
6. In the View Tier Details dialog box, click Close.

Delete a tier
You can delete a tier that has no assigned node pools.
Before you begin
If you want to delete a tier that does have assigned node pools, you must first remove the
node pools from the tier.
Create a tier

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Procedure
1. Click File System > Storage Pools > SmartPools.
The SmartPools tab displays two lists: Tiers & Node Pools and Compatibilities.
2. In the Tiers & Node Pools list, next to the tier that you want to delete, click More >
Delete Tier.
A message box asks you to confirm or cancel the operation.
3. Click Delete Tier to confirm the operation.
Results
The tier is removed from the Tiers & Node Pools list.

Creating file pool policies

You can configure file pool policies to identify logical groups of files called file pools, and
you can specify storage operations for these files.
You must activate a SmartPools license before you can create file pool policies, and the
administrator must have ISI_PRIV_SMARTPOOLS or higher administrative privileges to
create file pool policies.
File pool policies have two parts: file-matching criteria that define a file pool, and the
actions to be applied to the file pool. You can define file pools based on characteristics,
such as file type, size, path, birth, change, and access timestamps, and combine these
criteria with Boolean operators (AND, OR).
In addition to file-matching criteria, you can identify a variety of actions to apply to the
file pool. These actions include:
l

Setting requested protection and data-access optimization parameters

Identifying data and snapshot storage targets

Defining data and snapshot SSD strategies

Enabling or disabling SmartCache

For example, to free up disk space on your performance tier (S-series node pools), you
could create a file pool policy to match all files greater than 25 MB in size, which have not
been accessed or modified for more than a month, and move them to your archive tier
(NL-series node pools).
You can configure and prioritize multiple file pool policies to optimize file storage for your
particular work flows and cluster configuration. When the SmartPools job runs, by default
once a day, it applies file pool policies in priority order. When a file pool matches the
criteria defined in a policy, the actions in that policy are applied, and lower-priority
custom policies are ignored for the file pool.
After the list of custom file pool policies is traversed, if any of the actions are not applied
to a file, the actions in the default file pool policy are applied. In this way, the default file
pool policy ensures that all actions apply to every file.
Note

You can reorder the file pool policy list at any time, but the default file pool policy is
always last in the list of file pool policies.
OneFS also provides customizable template policies that you can copy to make your own
policies. These templates, however, are only available from the OneFS web
administration interface.
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Create a file pool policy

You can create a file pool policy to define a specific file set and specify SmartPools
actions to be applied to the matched files. These SmartPools actions include moving files
to certain tiers or node pools, changing the requested protection levels, and optimizing
write performance and data access.
CAUTION

If existing file pool policies direct data to a specific storage pool, do not configure other
file pool policies with anywhere for the Data storage target option. Because the
specified storage pool is included when you use anywhere, target specific storage
pools to avoid unexpected results.
Procedure
1. Click File System > Storage Pools > File Pool Policies.
2. Click Create a File Pool Policy.
3. In the Create a File Pool Policy dialog box, enter a policy name and, optionally, a
description.
4. Specify the files to be managed by the file pool policy.
To define the file pool, you can specify file matching criteria by combining IF, AND, and
OR conditions. You can define these conditions with a number of file attributes, such
as name, path, type, size, and timestamp information.
5. Specify SmartPools actions to be applied to the selected file pool.
You can specify storage and I/O optimization settings to be applied.
6. Click Create Policy.
Results
The file pool policy is created and applied when the next scheduled SmartPools system
job runs. By default, this job runs once a day, but you also have the option to start the job
immediately.

File-matching options for file pool policies

You can configure a file pool policy for files that match specific criteria.
The following file-matching options can be specified when you create or edit a file pool
policy.
Note

OneFS supports UNIX shell-style (glob) pattern matching for file name attributes and
paths.
The following table lists the file attributes that you can use to define a file pool policy.
File attribute

Specifies

Name

Includes or excludes files based on the file name.

You can specify whether to include or exclude full or partial
names that contain specific text. Wildcard characters are
allowed.
Create a file pool policy

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File attribute

Specifies

Path

Includes or excludes files based on the file path.

You can specify whether to include or exclude full or partial
paths that contain specified text. You can also include the
wildcard characters *, ?, and [ ].

File type

Size

Includes or excludes files based on one of the following filesystem object types:
l

File

Directory

Other

Includes or excludes files based on their size.

Note

File sizes are represented in multiples of 1024, not 1000.

Modified

Includes or excludes files based on when the file was last

modified.
In the web administration interface, you can specify a relative
date and time, such as "older than 2 weeks," or a specific
date and time, such as "before January 1, 2012." Time
settings are based on a 24-hour clock.

Created

Includes or excludes files based on when the file was created.

In the web administration interface, you can specify a relative
date and time, such as "older than 2 weeks," or a specific
date and time, such as "before January 1, 2012." Time
settings are based on a 24-hour clock.

Metadata changed

Includes or excludes files based on when the file metadata

was last modified. This option is available only if the global
access-time-tracking option of the cluster is enabled.
In the web administration interface, you can specify a relative
date and time, such as "older than 2 weeks," or a specific
date and time, such as "before January 1, 2012." Time
settings are based on a 24-hour clock.

Accessed

Includes or excludes files based on when the file was last

accessed based on the following units of time:
In the web administration interface, you can specify a relative
date and time, such as "older than 2 weeks," or a specific
date and time, such as "before January 1, 2012." Time
settings are based on a 24-hour clock.
Note

Because it affects performance, access time tracking as a file

pool policy criterion is disabled by default.

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File attribute

Specifies

File attribute

Includes or excludes files based on a custom user-defined

attribute.

Valid wildcard characters

You can combine wildcard characters with file-matching options to define a file pool
policy.
OneFS supports UNIX shell-style (glob) pattern matching for file name attributes and
paths.
The following table lists the valid wildcard characters that you can combine with filematching options to define a file pool policy.
Wildcard

Description

Matches any string in place of the asterisk.

For example, m* matches movies and m123.

[a-z]

Matches any characters contained in the brackets, or a range of

characters separated by a hyphen. For example, b[aei]t matches

bat, bet, and bit, and 1[4-7]2 matches 142, 152, 162, and
172.
You can exclude characters within brackets by following the first
bracket with an exclamation mark. For example, b[!ie] matches

bat but not bit or bet.

You can match a bracket within a bracket if it is either the first or last
character. For example, [[c]at matches cat and [at.
You can match a hyphen within a bracket if it is either the first or last
character. For example, car[-s] matches cars and car-.
?

Matches any character in place of the question mark. For example, t?p
matches tap, tip, and top.

SmartPools settings
SmartPools settings include directory protection, global namespace acceleration, L3
cache, virtual hot spare, spillover, requested protection management, and I/O
optimization management.
Setting

Description

Notes

Increase
directory
protection to a
higher level than
its contents

Increases the amount of protection for directories at a

higher level than the directories and files that they
contain, so that data that is not lost can still be
accessed.
When device failures result in data loss (for example,
three drives or two nodes in a +2:1 policy), enabling
this setting ensures that intact data is still accessible.

This setting should be enabled.

When this setting is disabled, the directory that
contains a file pool is protected according to your
protection-level settings, but the devices used to
store the directory and the file may not be the same.
There is potential to lose nodes with file data intact
but not be able to access the data because those
nodes contained the directory.

Valid wildcard characters

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Setting

Description

Notes
As an example, consider a cluster that has a +2
default file pool protection setting and no additional
file pool policies. OneFS directories are always
mirrored, so they are stored at 3x, which is the
mirrored equivalent of the +2 default.
This configuration can sustain a failure of two nodes
before data loss or inaccessibility. If this setting is
enabled, all directories are protected at 4x. If the
cluster experiences three node failures, although
individual files may be inaccessible, the directory
tree is available and provides access to files that are
still accessible.
In addition, if another file pool policy protects some
files at a higher level, these too are accessible in the
event of a three-node failure.

Enable global
namespace
acceleration

Specifies whether to allow per-file metadata to use

SSDs in the node pool.
l

Use SSDs as L3
Cache by default
for new node
pools

This setting is available only if 20 percent or more of

the nodes in the cluster contain SSDs and at least
1.5 percent of the total cluster storage is SSD-based.
When disabled, restricts per-file metadata to the
Note that if nodes are added to or removed from a
storage pool policy of the file, except in the case of
cluster, and the SSD thresholds are no longer
spillover. This is the default setting.
satisfied, GNA becomes inactive. GNA remains
When enabled, allows per-file metadata to use the enabled, so that if the SSD thresholds are met again,
SSDs in any node pool.
GNA is reactivated.

For node pools that include solid-state drives, deploy

the SSDs as L3 cache. L3 cache extends L2 cache and
speeds up file system performance across larger
working file sets.

L3 cache is enabled by default on new node pools.

When you enable L3 cache on an existing node pool,
OneFS performs a migration, moving any existing
data on the SSDs to other locations on the cluster.
OneFS manages all cache levels to provide optimal
data protection, availability, and performance. In
case of a power failure, the data on L3 cache is
retained and still available after power is restored.

Virtual Hot Spare Reserves a minimum amount of space in the node pool If you configure both the minimum number of virtual
that can be used for data repair in the event of a drive
failure.
To reserve disk space for use as a virtual hot spare,
select from the following options:
l

If this setting is enabled and Deny new data

Account for reserved disk space when
writes is disabled, it is possible for the file system
calculating available free space. Subtracts the
space reserved for the virtual hot spare when
calculating available free space.

Deny new data writes to reserved disk space.

Prevents write operations from using reserved disk
space.

VHS Space Reserved. You can reserve a

minimum number of virtual drives (1-4), as well as
a minimum percentage of total disk space
(0-20%).

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Setting

Description

Enable global
spillover

Specifies how to handle write operations to a node

pool that is not writable.

Spillover Data
Target

Notes

When enabled, redirects write operations from a

node pool that is not writable to another node
pool.

When disabled, returns a disk space error for write

operations to a node pool that is not writable.

Specifies which storage pool to target when a storage

pool is not writable.

When spillover is enabled but it is important that

data writes do not fail, select anywhere for the
Spillover Data Target setting, even if file pool
policies send data to specific pools.

When enabled, uses SmartPools technology to

Manage
manage requested protection levels.
requested
protection levels When Apply to files with manually-managed
requested protection levels is enabled, overwrites
any protection settings that were configured through
File System Explorer or the command-line interface.

Manage I/O
optimization
settings

When enabled, uses SmartPools technology to

manage I/O optimization.
When Apply to files with manually-managed I/O
optimization settings is enabled, overwrites any I/O
optimization settings that were configured through File
System Explorer or the command-line interface

Managing file pool policies

You can modify, reorder, copy, and remove custom file pool policies. You can modify the
default file pool policy, but you cannot reorder or remove it.
You can perform the following file pool policy management tasks:
l

Modify file pool policies

Modify the default file pool policy

Copy file pool policies

Use a file pool policy template

Reorder file pool policies

Delete file pool policies

Managing file pool policies

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Configure default file pool protection settings

You can configure default file pool protection settings. The default settings are applied to
any file that is not covered by another file pool policy.
CAUTION

If existing file pool policies direct data to a specific storage pool, do not add or modify a
file pool policy to the anywhere option for the Data storage target option. Target a
specific file pool instead.
Procedure
1. Click File System > Storage Pools > File Pool Policies.
2. In the File Pool Policies tab, next to Default Policy in the list, click View/Edit.
The View Default Policy Details dialog box is displayed.
3. Click Edit Policy.
The Edit Default Policy Details dialog box is displayed.
4. In the Apply SmartPools Actions to Selected Files section, choose the storage settings
that you want to apply as the default for Storage Target, Snapshot Storage Target,
and Requested Protection Level.
5. Click Save Changes, and then click Close.
Results
The next time the SmartPools job runs, the settings that you selected are applied to any
file that is not covered by another file pool policy.

Default file pool requested protection settings

Default protection settings include specifying the data storage target, snapshot storage
target, requested protection, and SSD strategy for files that are filtered by the default file
pool policy.
Setting

Description

Notes

Data storage target

Specifies the storage pool that you want to target with

this file pool policy.

Note

CAUTION

If existing file pool policies direct data to a specific

storage pool, do not configure other file pool policies
with anywhere for the Data storage target option.
Because the specified storage pool is included when you
use anywhere, target specific storage pools to avoid
unintentional file storage locations.
Select one of the following options to define your SSD
strategy:

If GNA is not enabled and the storage pool

that you choose to target does not contain
SSDs, you cannot define a strategy.

Metadata read acceleration writes

both file data and metadata to HDD
storage pools but adds an additional SSD
mirror if possible to accelerate read
performance. Uses HDDs to provide
reliability and an extra metadata mirror to
SSDs, if available, to improve read
performance. Recommended for most
uses.
When you select Metadata read/write
acceleration, the strategy uses SSDs, if

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Setting

Description

Notes

Metadata read acceleration

available in the storage target, for

performance and reliability. The extra
mirror may be from a different storage
pool using GNA enabled or from the same
node pool.

Default. Write both file data and metadata to HDDs

and metadata to SSDs. Accelerates metadata reads
only. Uses less SSD space than the Metadata
read/write acceleration setting.

Metadata read/write acceleration

Write metadata to SSD pools. Uses significantly
more SSD space than Metadata read
acceleration, but accelerates metadata reads and
writes.

Avoid SSDs
Write all associated file data and metadata to HDDs
only.

Neither the Data on SSDs strategy nor

the Metadata read/write acceleration
strategy result in the creation of additional
mirrors beyond the normal requested
protection. Both file data and metadata
are stored on SSDs if available within the
file pool policy. This option requires a
significant amount of SSD storage.

CAUTION

Use this to free SSD space only after consulting with

Isilon Technical Support personnel; may negatively
affect performance.

Data on SSDs
Use SSDs for both data and metadata. Regardless of
whether global namespace acceleration is enabled,
any SSD blocks reside on the storage target if there
is room.
Snapshot storage target

Specifies the storage pool that you want to target for

Notes for Data storage target apply to
snapshot storage with this file pool policy. The settings
snapshot storage target
are the same as those for Data storage target, but apply to
snapshot data.

Requested protection

Default of storage pool. Assign the default requested

protection of the storage pool to the filtered files.

To change the requested protection ,

select a new value from the list.

Specific level. Assign a specified requested protection

to the filtered files.

Configure default I/O optimization settings

You can configure default I/O optimization settings.
Procedure
1. Click File System > Storage Pools > File Pool Policies.
2. In the File Pool Policies tab, next to Default Policy in the list, click View/Edit.
The View Default Policy Details dialog box is displayed.
3. Click Edit Policy.
The Edit Default Policy Details dialog box is displayed.

Configure default I/O optimization settings

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4. In the Apply SmartPools Actions to Selected Files section, under I/O Optimization
Settings,choose the settings that you want to apply as the default for Write
Performance and Data Access Pattern.
5. Click Save Changes, and then click Close.
Results
The next time the SmartPools job runs, the settings that you selected are applied to any
file that is not covered by another file pool policy.

Default file pool I/O optimization settings

You can manage the I/O optimization settings that are used in the default file pool policy,
including files with manually managed attributes.
To allow SmartPools to overwrite optimization settings that were configured using File
System Explorer or the isi set command, select the Including files with manuallymanaged I/O optimization settings option in the Default Protection Settings group.
Setting

Description

Notes

SmartCache

Enables or disables
SmartCache.

SmartCache enabled is the recommended setting for optimal write performance.

With asynchronous writes, the Isilon server buffers writes in memory. However, if
you want to disable this buffering, please configure your applications to use
synchronous writes. If that is not possible, disable SmartCache.

Data access
pattern

Defines the optimization

settings for accessing
data: Concurrency,
Streaming, or Random.

Files and directories use a concurrent access pattern by default. To optimize

performance, select the pattern dictated by your workflow. For example, a
workflow heavy in video editing would suffer if the data access pattern is set to
Random.

Modify a file pool policy

You can modify a file pool policy.
CAUTION

If existing file pool policies direct data to a specific storage pool, do not configure other
file pool policies with anywhere for the Data storage target option. Because the
specified storage pool is included when you use anywhere, target specific storage
pools to avoid unintentional file storage locations.
Procedure
1. Click File System > Storage Pools > File Pool Policies.
2. In the File Pool Policies list, next to the policy you want to modify, click View/Edit.
The View File Pool Policy Details dialog box is displayed.
3. Click Edit Policy.
The Edit File Pool Policy Details dialog box is displayed.
4. Modify the policy settings, and then click Save Changes.
5. Click Close in the View File Pool Policy Details dialog box.

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Results
Changes to the file pool policy are applied when the next SmartPools job runs. You can
also start the SmartPools job manually to execute the policy immediately.

Prioritize a file pool policy

You can change the priority of custom file pool policies. File pool policies are evaluated in
descending order according to their position in the file pool policies list.
By default, new policies are inserted immediately above the default file pool policy,
which is always last in the list and therefore lowest in priority. You can give a custom
policy higher or lower priority by moving it up or down in the list.
Procedure
1. Click File System > Storage Pools > File Pool Policies.
The File Pool Policies tab displays two lists: File Pool Policies and Policy Templates.
2. In the File Pool Policies list, in the Order column, click an arrow icon next to a policy to
move it up or down in the priority order.
3. Repeat the above step for each policy whose priority you want to change.
Results
When the SmartPools system job runs, it processes the file pool policies in priority order.
The default file pool policy is applied to all files that are not matched by any other file
pool policy.

Create a file pool policy from a template

You can create a new file pool policy from a policy template. The templates are preconfigured for typical work flows, such as archiving older files or managing virtual
machines (.vmdk files).
Procedure
1. Click File System > Storage Pools > File Pool Policies.
The File Pool Policies tab provides two lists: File Pool Policies and Policy Templates.
2. In the Policy Templates list, next to the template name that you want to use, click
View/Use Template.
The View File Pool Policy Template Details dialog box opens.
3. Click Use Template.
The Create a File Pool Policy dialog box opens.
4. Specify a policy name and description, and modify any of the policy settings.
5. Click Create Policy.
Results
The new custom policy is added to the File Pool Policies list directly above the default
policy.

Delete a file pool policy

You can delete any file pool policy except the default policy.
When you delete a file pool policy, the operations for the next matching file pool policy
apply and may store matched files in a different storage pool. Files are not moved to
another storage pool until the SmartPools job runs.
Prioritize a file pool policy

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Procedure
1. Click File System > Storage Pools > File Pool Policies.
The File Pool Policies tab displays two lists: File Pool Policies and Policy Templates.
2. In the File Pool Policies list, next to the policy that you want to delete, click More >
Delete Policy.
3. In the Confirm Delete dialog box, click Delete.
Results
The file pool policy is removed from the File Pool Policies list.

Monitoring storage pools

You can access information on storage pool health and usage.
The following information is available:
l

File pool policy health

SmartPools health, including tiers, node pools, and subpools

Cluster size and usage

SmartPools job status

Monitor storage pools

You can view the status of file pool policies, SmartPools, and settings.
Procedure
1. Click File System > Storage Pools > Summary.
The Summary tab displays two areas: the Status list and the Local Storage Usage
graph.
2. In the Status list, check the status of policies, SmartPools, and SmartPools settings.
3. Optional: If the status of an item is other than Good, you can click View Details to
view and fix any issues.
4. In the Local Storage Usage area, view the statistics associated with each node pool.
If node pool usage is unbalanced, for example, you might want to consider whether to
modify your file pool policies.

View subpools health

OneFS exposes unhealthy subpools in a list so that you can correct any issues.
A subpool is otherwise known as a disk pool, a collection of disks that is part of a node
pool.
Procedure
1. Click File System > Storage Pools > SmartPools.
The SmartPools tab displays three groupings: Tiers & Node Pools, Compatibilities,
and Subpools Health.
2. In the Subpools Health area, review details of, and mitigate, any unhealthy subpools.

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View the results of a SmartPools job

You can review detailed results from the last time the SmartPools job ran.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Job Reports.
The Jobs Reports tab displays a list of job reports.
2. In the Job Reports list, find the latest SmartPools job, and click View Details.
The View Job Report Details dialog box opens, displaying the file policy job report.
3. Scroll through the report to see the results of each file pool policy.
4. Click Close in the View Job Report Details dialog box when you are finished.

View the results of a SmartPools job

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CHAPTER 20
System jobs

This section contains the following topics:

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System jobs overview..........................................................................................390

System jobs library..............................................................................................390
Job operation...................................................................................................... 393
Job performance impact...................................................................................... 394
Job priorities....................................................................................................... 395
Managing system jobs........................................................................................ 395
Managing impact policies................................................................................... 398
Viewing job reports and statistics........................................................................400

System jobs

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System jobs overview

The most critical function of OneFS is maintaining the integrity of data on your Isilon
cluster. Other important system maintenance functions include monitoring and
optimizing performance, detecting and mitigating drive and node failures, and freeing up
available space.
Because maintenance functions use system resources and can take hours to run, OneFS
performs them as jobs that run in the background through a service called Job Engine.
The time it takes for a job to run can vary significantly depending on a number of factors.
These include other system jobs that are running at the same time; other processes that
are taking up CPU and I/O cycles while the job is running; the configuration of your
cluster; the size of your data set; and how long since the last iteration of the job was run.
Up to three jobs can run simultaneously. To ensure that maintenance jobs do not hinder
your productivity or conflict with each other, Job Engine categorizes them, runs them at
different priority and impact levels, and can temporarily suspend them (with no loss of
progress) to enable higher priority jobs and administrator tasks to proceed.
In the case of a power failure, Job Engine uses a checkpoint system to resume jobs as
close as possible to the point at which they were interrupted. The checkpoint system
helps Job Engine keep track of job phases and tasks that have already been completed.
When the cluster is back up and running, Job Engine restarts the job at the beginning of
the phase or task that was in process when the power failure occurred.
As system administrator, through the Job Engine service, you can monitor, schedule, run,
terminate, and apply other controls to system maintenance jobs. The Job Engine provides
statistics and reporting tools that you can use to determine how long different system
jobs take to run in your OneFS environment.
Note

To initiate any Job Engine tasks, you must have the role of SystemAdmin in the OneFS
system.

System jobs library

OneFS contains a library of jobs that runs in the background to maintain your Isilon
cluster. Some jobs are automatically started by OneFS when particular conditions arise,
and some jobs have a default schedule. However, you can run all jobs manually or
schedule them according to your workflow.

390

Job name

Description

Exclusion Impact
Set
Policy

Priority Operation

AutoBalance

Balances free space in

a cluster, and is most
efficient in clusters
that contain only hard
disk drives (HDDs).
Run as part of
MultiScan, or
automatically by the
system if MultiScan is
disabled.

Restripe

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Low

Auto

System jobs

Job name

Description

Exclusion Impact
Set
Policy

Priority Operation

AutoBalanceLin

Balances free space in

a cluster, and is most
efficient in clusters
when file system
metadata is stored on
solid state drives
(SSDs). Run as part of
MultiScan, or
automatically by the
system if MultiScan is
disabled.

Restripe

Low

Auto

AVScan

Performs an antivirus
scan on all files.

None

Low

Manual

Collect

Reclaims free space

that previously could
not be freed because
the node or drive was
unavailable. Run as
part of MultiScan, or
automatically by the
system if MultiScan is
disabled.

Mark

Low

Auto

Dedupe*

Scans a directory for

redundant data blocks
and deduplicates all
redundant data stored
in the directory.
Available only if you
activate a
SmartDedupe license.

None

Low

Manual

DedupeAssessment Scans a directory for

redundant data blocks
and reports an
estimate of the
amount of space that
could be saved by
deduplicating the
directory.

None

Low

Manual

DomainMark

Associates a path, and None

the contents of that
path, with a domain.

Low

Manual

FlexProtect

Scans the file system

Restripe
after a device failure to
ensure that all files
remain protected.
FlexProtect is most
efficient in clusters
that contain only
HDDs.

Medium

Auto

System jobs library

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System jobs

Job name

Description

Exclusion Impact
Set
Policy

Priority Operation

Note

Unlike HDDs and SSDs

that are used for
storage, when an SSD
used for L3 cache fails,
the drive state should
immediately change to
REPLACE without a
FlexProtect job
running. An SSD drive
used for L3 cache
contains only cache
data that does not
have to be protected
by FlexProtect. After
the drive state
changes to REPLACE,
you can pull and
replace the failed SSD.

392

FlexProtectLin

Scans the file system

Restripe
after a node failure to
ensure that all files
remain protected.
Most efficient when
file system metadata is
stored on SSDs.

Medium

Auto

FSAnalyze

Gathers information
about the file system.

None

Low

Scheduled

IntegrityScan

Verifies file system

integrity.

Mark

Medium

Manual

MediaScan

Locates and clears

Restripe
media-level errors from
disks.

Low

Scheduled

MultiScan

Performs the work of

the AutoBalance and
Collect jobs
simultaneously.

Restripe
Mark

Low

Auto

PermissionRepair

Corrects file and

directory permissions
in the /ifs directory.

None

Low

Manual

QuotaScan*

Updates quota
None
accounting for
domains created on an
existing file tree.
Available only if you
activate a
SmartQuotas license.

Low

Auto

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System jobs

Job name

Description

Exclusion Impact
Set
Policy

Priority Operation

SetProtectPlus

Applies a default file

policy across the
cluster. Runs only if a
SmartPools license is
not active.

Restripe

Low

Manual

ShadowStoreDelete Frees space that is

associated with a
shadow store.

None

Low

Scheduled

SmartPools*

Enforces SmartPools
file policies. Available
only if you activate a
SmartPools license.

Restripe

Low

Scheduled

SnapRevert

Reverts an entire
snapshot back to
head.

None

Low

Manual

SnapshotDelete

Creates free space

associated with
deleted snapshots.

None

Medium

Auto

TreeDelete

Deletes a specified file None

path in the /ifs
directory.

Medium

Manual

* Available only if you activate an additional license

Job operation
OneFS includes system maintenance jobs that run to ensure that your Isilon cluster
performs at peak health. Through the Job Engine, OneFS runs a subset of these jobs
automatically, as needed, to ensure file and data integrity, check for and mitigate drive
and node failures, and optimize free space. For other jobs, for example, Dedupe, you can
use Job Engine to start them manually or schedule them to run automatically at regular
intervals.
The Job Engine runs system maintenance jobs in the background and prevents jobs
within the same classification (exclusion set) from running simultaneously. Two exclusion
sets are enforced: restripe and mark.
Restripe job types are:
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AutoBalance

AutoBalanceLin

FlexProtect

FlexProtectLin

MediaScan

MultiScan

SetProtectPlus

SmartPools

Mark job types are:

Job operation

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System jobs

Collect

IntegrityScan

MultiScan

Note that MultiScan is a member of both the restripe and mark exclusion sets. You
cannot change the exclusion set parameter for a job type.
The Job Engine is also sensitive to job priority, and can run up to three jobs, of any
priority, simultaneously. Job priority is denoted as 110, with 1 being the highest and 10
being the lowest. The system uses job priority when a conflict among running or queued
jobs arises. For example, if you manually start a job that has a higher priority than three
other jobs that are already running, Job Engine pauses the lowest-priority active job, runs
the new job, then restarts the older job at the point at which it was paused. Similarly, if
you start a job within the restripe exclusion set, and another restripe job is already
running, the system uses priority to determine which job should run (or remain running)
and which job should be paused (or remain paused).
Other job parameters determine whether jobs are enabled, their performance impact, and
schedule. As system administrator, you can accept the job defaults or adjust these
parameters (except for exclusion set) based on your requirements.
When a job starts, the Job Engine distributes job segmentsphases and tasksacross
the nodes of your cluster. One node acts as job coordinator and continually works with
the other nodes to load-balance the work. In this way, no one node is overburdened, and
system resources remain available for other administrator and system I/O activities not
originated from the Job Engine.
After completing a task, each node reports task status to the job coordinator. The node
acting as job coordinator saves this task status information to a checkpoint file.
Consequently, in the case of a power outage, or when paused, a job can always be
restarted from the point at which it was interrupted. This is important because some jobs
can take hours to run and can use considerable system resources.

Job performance impact

The Job Engine service monitors system performance to ensure that maintenance jobs do
not significantly interfere with regular cluster I/O activity and other system administration
tasks. Job Engine uses impact policies that you can manage to control when a job can run
and the system resources that it consumes.
Job Engine has four default impact policies that you can use but not modify. The default
impact policies are:

394

Impact policy

Allowed to run

Resource consumption

LOW

Any time of day.

Low

MEDIUM

Any time of day.

Medium

HIGH

Any time of day.

High

OFF_HOURS

Outside of business
hours. Business hours are
defined as 9AM to 5pm,
Monday through Friday.
OFF_HOURS is paused
during business hours.

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If you want to specify other than a default impact policy for a job, you can create a custom
policy with new settings.
Jobs with a low impact policy have the least impact on available CPU and disk I/O
resources. Jobs with a high impact policy have a significantly higher impact. In all cases,
however, the Job Engine uses CPU and disk throttling algorithms to ensure that tasks that
you initiate manually, and other I/O tasks not related to the Job Engine, receive a higher
priority.

Job priorities
Job priorities determine which job takes precedence when more than three jobs of
different exclusion sets attempt to run simultaneously. The Job Engine assigns a priority
value between 1 and 10 to every job, with 1 being the most important and 10 being the
least important.
The maximum number of jobs that can run simultaneously is three. If a fourth job with a
higher priority is started, either manually or through a system event, the Job Engine
pauses one of the lower-priority jobs that is currently running. The Job Engine places the
paused job into a priority queue, and automatically resumes the paused job when one of
the other jobs is completed.
If two jobs of the same priority level are scheduled to run simultaneously, and two other
higher priority jobs are already running, the job that is placed into the queue first is run
first.

Managing system jobs

The Job Engine enables you to control periodic system maintenance tasks that ensure
OneFS file system stability and integrity. As maintenance jobs run, the Job Engine
constantly monitors and mitigates their impact on the overall performance of the cluster.
As system administrator, you can tailor these jobs to the specific workflow of your Isilon
cluster. You can view active jobs and job history, modify job settings, and start, pause,
resume, cancel, and update job instances.

View active jobs

If you are noticing slower system response while performing administrative tasks, you
can view jobs that are currently running on your Isilon cluster.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Job Summary.
2. In the Active Jobs table, view status information about all currently running jobs, job
settings, and progress details.
a. You can perform bulk actions on the active jobs by selecting the Status check box,
then selecting an action from the Select a bulk action drop-down list.

View job history

If you want to check the last time a critical job ran, you can view recent activity for a
specific job, or for all jobs.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Job Reports.
Job priorities

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System jobs

The Job Reports table displays a chronological list of the last ten job events that have
occurred on the cluster. Event information includes the time the event occurred, the
job responsible for the event, and event results.
2. Filter reports by job type by selecting the job from the Filter by Job Type drop-down list
and clicking Reset.
3. Click on View Details next to a job name to view recent events for only that job.
Recent events for the job appear in the View Job Report Details window, and include
information such as start time, duration, and whether or not the job was successful.

Start a job
By default, only some system maintenance jobs are scheduled to run automatically.
However, you can start any of the jobs manually at any time.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Job Summary.
2. In the Active Jobs window, select the job you want to start and click More.
3. Click Start Running Job.

Pause a job
You can pause a job temporarily to free up system resources.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Job Summary.
2. In the Active Jobs table, click More for the job that you want to pause.
3. Click Pause Running Job in the menu that appears.
The job remains paused until you resume it.

Resume a job
You can resume a paused job.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Job Summary.
2. In the Active Jobs table, click More for the job that you want to pause.
3. Click Resume Running Job in the menu that appears.
Results
The job continues from the phase or task at which it was paused.

Cancel a job
If you want to free up system resources, or for any reason, you can permanently
discontinue a running, paused, or waiting job.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Job Summary.
2. In the Active Jobs table, click More for the job that you want to cancel.
3. Click Cancel Running Job in the menu that appears.

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Update a job
You can change the priority and impact policy of a running, waiting, or paused job.
When you update a job, only the current instance of the job runs with the updated
settings. The next instance of the job returns to the default settings for that job.
Note

To change job settings permanently, see "Modify job type settings."

Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Job Summary.
2. In the Active Jobs table, click View/Edit for the job that you want to update.
3. In the View Active Job Details window, click Edit Job.
a. Select a new priority level from the Priority drop-down list.
b. Select an impact policy level from the Impact Policy drop-down list.
4. Click Save Changes.
When you update a running job, the job automatically resumes. When you update a
paused or idle job, the job remains in that state until you restart it.

Modify job type settings

You can customize system maintenance jobs for your administrative workflow by
modifying the default priority level, impact level, and schedule for a job type.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Job Types.
2. In the Job Types table, locate the row for the policy you want to modify and click
View / Edit.
The View Job Type Details window appears, displaying current default settings,
schedule, current state, and recent activity.
3. Click Edit Job Type. The Edit Job Type Details window appears.
4. Modify the details you want to change. You can modify the default priority, the default
impact policy, whether the job is enabled, and whether the job runs manually or on a
schedule.
5. Click Scheduled to modify a job schedule, then select the schedule option from the
drop-down list.
6. Click Save Changes.
The modifications are saved and applied to all instances of that job type. The results
are shown in the View Job Type Details window.
7. Click Close.

Update a job

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Managing impact policies

For system maintenance jobs that run through the Job Engine service, you can create and
assign policies that help control how jobs affect system performance.
As system administrator, you can create, copy, modify, and delete impact policies, and
view their settings.

Create an impact policy

The Job Engine includes four impact policies, which you cannot modify or delete.
However, you can create and configure new impact policies.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Impact Policies.
2. Click Add an Impact Policy.
The Create Impact Policy window appears.
3. In the Name text field, type a name for the policy. This field is required.
4. In the Description text field, type a comment about the impact policy.
Include information specific to the impact policy such as unique schedule parameters
or logistical requirements that make the impact policy necessary.
5. Click Add an Impact Policy Interval.
a. In the Add an Impact Policy Interval window, select the impact level and start and
end times from the drop-down lists.
b. Click Add Impact Policy Interval.
The Add an Impact Policy Interval window disappears, and the settings you selected
appear in the Impact Schedule table.
6. Click Create Impact Policy.
Your copy of the impact policy is saved and is listed in alphabetical order in the
Impact Policies table.

Copy an impact policy

You can use a default impact policy as the template for a new policy by making and
modifying a copy.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Impact Policies.
2. In the Impact Policies table, locate the row for the policy you want to copy and click
More. The Copy Impact Policy window appears.
3. In the Name field, type a name for the new policy.
4. In the Description text field, enter a description for the new policy.
Include information specific to the impact policy such as unique schedule parameters
or logistical requirements that make the impact policy necessary.
5. Click Add an Impact Policy Interval.
a. In the Add an Impact Policy Interval window, select the impact level and start and
end times from the drop-down lists.
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b. Click Add Impact Policy Interval.

The Add an Impact Policy Interval window closes, and the settings you selected
appear in the Impact Schedule table.
6. Click Copy Impact Policy.
Your copy of the impact policy is saved and is listed in alphabetical order in the
Impact Policies table.

Modify an impact policy

You can change the name, description, and impact intervals of a custom impact policy.
Before you begin
You cannot modify the default impact policies, HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW, and OFF_HOURS. If
you want to modify a policy, create and modify a copy of a default policy.
Procedure
1. Navigate to Cluster Management > Job Operations > Impact Policies.
2. In the Impact Policies table, click View / Edit for the policy you want to modify.
The Edit Impact Policy window appears.
3. Click Edit Impact Policy, and modify one or all of the following:
Option

Description

Policy description a. In the Description field, type a new overview for the impact
policy.
b. Click Submit.
Impact schedule

a. In the Impact Schedule area, modify the schedule of the

impact policy by adding, editing, or deleting impact intervals.
b. Click Save Changes.

The modified impact policy is saved and listed in alphabetical order in the Impact
Policies table.

Delete an impact policy

You can delete impact policies that you have created.
You cannot delete default impact policies, HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW, and OFF_HOURS.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Impact Policies.
2. In the Impact Policies table, click More next to the custom impact policy that you want
to delete.
3. Click Delete.
A confirmation dialog box appears.
4. In the confirmation dialog box, click Delete.

Modify an impact policy

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System jobs

View impact policy settings

You can view the impact policy settings for any job.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Job Types.
The Job Types table is displayed.
2. If necessary, scroll through the Job Types table to find a specific job.
The impact policy settings for the job are shown in the Job Types table.

Viewing job reports and statistics

You can generate reports for system jobs and view statistics to better determine the
amounts of system resources being used.
Most system jobs controlled by the Job Engine run at a low priority and with a low impact
policy, and generally do not have a noticeable impact on cluster performance.
A few jobs, because of the critical functions they perform, run at a higher priority and with
a medium impact policy. These jobs include FlexProtect and FlexProtect Lin, FSAnalyze,
SnapshotDelete, and TreeDelete.
As a system administrator, if you are concerned about the impact a system job might
have on cluster performance, you can view job statistics and reports. These tools enable
you to view detailed information about job load, including CPU and memory usage and
I/O operations.

View statistics for a job in progress

You can view statistics for a job in progress.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Job Summary.
You can view jobs that are running in the Active Jobs area.
2. Click the View/Edit option to the right of the job entry.
Results
The View Active Jobs Details screen opens, where you can view statistics such as
processed data, elapsed time, phase, and progress, including an estimate of the time
remaining for the job to complete.

View a report for a completed job

After a job finishes, you can view a report about the job.
Before you begin
A report for a job is not available until after the job is completed.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Job Operations > Job Reports.
The Job Reports screen appears with a list of the last 10 completed jobs.
2. Locate the job whose report you want to view.
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If the job is not on the first page of the Job Reports screen, click the right-arrow icon to
page through the list until you locate your job.
3. Click View Details.
The View Job Report Details screen appears, listing job statistics such as elapsed
time, CPU and memory usage, and total I/O operations.
4. When you are finished viewing the report, click Close.

View a report for a completed job

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CHAPTER 21
Networking

This section contains the following topics:

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Networking overview........................................................................................... 404

Internal network overview................................................................................... 404
External client network overview......................................................................... 405
Configuring the internal network......................................................................... 413
Configuring an external network.......................................................................... 415
Managing external client connections with SmartConnect................................... 430
Managing network interface provisioning rules....................................................431
Managing routing options................................................................................... 433

Networking

403

Networking

Networking overview
After you determine the topology of your network, you can set up and manage your
internal and external networks.
There are two types of networks associated with an EMC Isilon cluster:
Internal
Nodes communicate with each other using a high speed low latency InfiniBand
network. You can optionally configure a second InfiniBand network as a failover for
redundancy.
External
Clients connect to the cluster through the external network with Ethernet. The Isilon
cluster supports standard network communication protocols, including NFS, SMB,
HTTP, and FTP. The cluster includes various external Ethernet connections, providing
flexibility for a wide variety of network configurations. External network speeds vary
by product.

Internal network overview

The EMC Isilon cluster must connect to at least one high-speed, low-latency InfiniBand
switch for internal communications and data transfer. The connection to the InfiniBand
switch is also referred to as an internal network. The internal network is separate from the
external network (Ethernet) by which users access the cluster.
Upon initial configuration of your cluster, OneFS creates a default internal network for the
InfiniBand switch. The interface to the default internal network is int-a. An internal
network for a second InfiniBand switch can be added for redundancy and failover.
Failover allows continuous connectivity during path failures. The interface to the default
internal network is int-b, which is referred to as int-b/failover in the web administration
interface.

Internal IP address ranges

The number of IP addresses assigned to the internal network determines how many
nodes can be joined to the EMC Isilon cluster.
When you initially configure the cluster, you specify one or more IP address ranges for the
internal InfiniBand network. This range of addresses is used by the nodes to
communicate with each other. It is recommended that you create a range of addresses
large enough to accommodate adding additional nodes to your cluster. If the IP address
range defined during the initial configuration is too restrictive for the size of the internal
network, you can add ranges to the int-a network and int-b network. For certain
configuration changes, such as deleting an IP address assigned to a node, the cluster
must be restarted.
While all clusters will have, at minimum, one internal InfiniBand network (int-a), to
enable a second internal network (int-b) you must assign another IP address range to it.
To enable internal network failover, assign an IP address range to the failover network.
This range is used to refer to the actual IP addresses in use to provide seamless internal
IP address failover.

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Internal network failover

You can configure an internal switch as a failover network to provide redundancy for intracluster communications.
Enable an internal failover network by connecting the int-a interfaces of each node in the
cluster to one switch, connecting the int-b ports on each node to another switch, and
then restarting the EMC Isilon cluster.
In addition to the IP address range assigned to the int-a internal network, if you enable
failover on a second InfiniBand switch, you must assign an IP address range that points
to actual IP addresses used by the cluster. These addresses enable seamless failover in
the event that either the int-a or int-b switches fail.

External client network overview

You connect a client computer to the EMC Isilon cluster through the external network.
OneFS supports network subnets, IP address pools, and features network provisioning
rules to simplify configuration.
Subnets simplify external (front-end) network management and provide flexibility in
implementing and maintaining the cluster network. You can create IP address pools
within subnets to partition your network interfaces according to workflow or node type.
You can configure external network settings through provisioning rules and then those
rules are applied to nodes that are added to the cluster.
You must initially configure the default external IP subnet in IPv4 format. After
configuration is complete, you can configure additional subnets using IPv4 or IPv6.
IP address pools can be associated with a node or a group of nodes as well as with the
NIC ports on the nodes. For example, based on the network traffic that you expect, you
might decide to establish one subnet for storage nodes and another subnet for
accelerator nodes.
How you set up your external network subnets depends on your network topology. In a
basic network topology where all client-node communication occurs through a single
gateway, only a single external subnet is required. If clients connect through multiple
subnets or internal connections, you must configure multiple external network subnets.

External network settings

A default external network subnet is created during the initial set up of your EMC Isilon
cluster. You can make modifications to this subnet, create new subnets, and make
additional configuration changes to the external network.
During initial cluster setup, OneFS performs the following actions:
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Creates a default external network subnet called subnet0, with the specified
netmask, gateway, and SmartConnect service address.

Creates a default IP address pool called pool0 with the specified IP address range,
the SmartConnect zone name, and the external interface of the first node in the
cluster as the only member.

Creates a default network provisioning rule called rule0, which automatically assigns
the first external interface for all newly added nodes to pool0.

Adds pool0 to subnet0 and configures pool0 to use the virtual IP of subnet0 as its
SmartConnect service address.

Sets the global, outbound DNS settings to the domain name server list and DNS
search list, if provided.
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Once the initial external network has been established, you can configure the following
information about your external network:
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Netmask

IP address range

Gateway

Domain name server list (optional)

DNS search list (optional)

SmartConnect zone name (optional)

SmartConnect service address (optional)

You can make modifications to the external network through the web administration
interface and the command-line interface.

IP address pools
You can partition EMC Isilon cluster nodes and external network interfaces into logical IP
address pools. IP address pools are also utilized when configuring SmartConnect zones
and IP failover support for protocols such as NFS. Multiple pools for a single subnet are
available only if you activate a SmartConnect Advanced license.
IP address pools:
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Map available addresses to configured interfaces.

Belong to external network subnets.

Partition network interfaces on your cluster into pools.

Can be to assigned to groups in your organization.

The IP address pool of a subnet consists of one or more IP address ranges and a set of
cluster interfaces. All IP address ranges in a pool must be unique.
A default IP address pool is configured during the initial cluster setup through the
command-line configuration wizard. You can modify the default IP address pool at any
time. You can also add, remove, or modify additional IP address pools.
If you add external network subnets to your cluster through the subnet wizard, you must
specify the IP address pools that belong to the subnet.
IP address pools are allocated to external network interfaces either dynamically or
statically. The static allocation method assigns one IP address per pool interface. The IP
addresses remain assigned, regardless of that interface's status, but the method does
not guarantee that all IP addresses are assigned. The dynamic allocation method
distributes all pool IP addresses, and the IP address can be moved depending on the
interface's status and connection policy settings.

IPv6 support
You can configure dual stack support for IPv6.
With dual-stack support in OneFS, you can configure both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.
However, configuring an EMC Isilon cluster to use IPv6 exclusively is not supported. When
you set up the cluster, the initial subnet must consist of IPv4 addresses.
The following table describes important distinctions between IPv4 and IPv6.

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IPv4

IPv6

Subnet mask

Prefix length

Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP)

SmartConnect module
SmartConnect is a module that specifies how the DNS server on the EMC Isilon cluster
handles connection requests from clients and the methods used to assign IP addresses
to network interfaces.
Settings and policies configured for SmartConnect are applied per IP address pool. You
can configure basic and advanced SmartConnect settings.

SmartConnect Basic
SmartConnect Basic is included with OneFS as a standard feature and does not require a
license.
SmartConnect Basic supports the following settings:
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Specification of the DNS zone

Round robin connection balancing method

Service subnet to answer DNS requests

SmartConnect Basic has the following limitations to IP address pool configuration:

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You may only specify a static IP address allocation policy.

You cannot specify an IP address failover policy.

You cannot specify an IP address rebalance policy.

You may only assign one IP address pool per external network subnet.

SmartConnect Advanced
SmartConnect Advanced extends the settings available from SmartConnect Basic. It
requires an active license.
SmartConnect Advanced supports the following settings:
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Round robin, CPU utilization, connection counting, and throughput balancing

methods.

Static and dynamic IP address allocation.

SmartConnect Advanced allows you to specify the following IP address pool configuration
options:
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You can define an IP address failover policy for the IP address pool.

You can define an IP address rebalance policy for the IP address pool.

SmartConnect Advanced supports multiple IP address pools per external subnet to

allow multiple DNS zones within a single subnet.

Connection balancing
The connection balancing policy determines how the DNS server handles client
connections to the EMC Isilon cluster.
You can specify one of the following balancing methods:
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Round robin
Selects the next available node on a rotating basis. This is the default method.
Without a SmartConnect license for advanced settings, this is the only method
available for load balancing.
Connection count
Determines the number of open TCP connections on each available node and selects
the node with the fewest client connections.
Network throughput
Determines the average throughput on each available node and selects the node
with the lowest network interface load.
CPU usage
Determines the average CPU utilization on each available node and selects the node
with lightest processor usage.

IP address allocation
The IP address allocation policy ensures that all of the IP addresses in the pool are
assigned to an available network interface.
You can specify whether to use static or dynamic allocation.
Static
Assigns one IP address to each network interface added to the IP address pool, but
does not guarantee that all IP addresses are assigned.
Once assigned, the network interface keeps the IP address indefinitely, even if the
network interface becomes unavailable. To release the IP address, remove the
network interface from the pool or remove it from the cluster.
Without a license for SmartConnect Advanced, static is the only method available for
IP address allocation.
Dynamic
Assigns IP addresses to each network interface added to the IP address pool until all
IP addresses are assigned. This guarantees a response when clients connect to any
IP address in the pool.
If a network interface becomes unavailable, its IP addresses are automatically
moved to other available network interfaces in the pool as determined by the IP
address failover policy.
This method is only available with a license for SmartConnect Advanced.

Allocation recommendations based on file sharing protocols

It is recommended that you select a static allocation method if your clients connect
through stateful protocols and a dynamic allocation method with stateless protocols.
The following table displays several common protocols and the recommended allocation
method:
File sharing protocol Recommended allocation method

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File sharing protocol Recommended allocation method

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sFTP

FTPS

HDFS

SyncIQ

NFSv2

NFSv3

Dynamic

IP address failover
The IP address failover policy specifies how to handle the IP addresses of network
interfaces that become unavailable
To define an IP address failover policy, you must have a license for SmartConnect
Advanced, and the IP address allocation policy must be set to dynamic. Dynamic IP
allocation to ensures that all of the IP addresses in the pool are assigned to available
network interfaces.
When a network interface becomes unavailable, the IP addresses that were assigned to it
are redistributed to available network interfaces according to the IP address failover
policy. Subsequent client connections are directed to the new network interfaces.
You can select one of the following the connection balancing methods to determine how
the IP address failover policy selects which network interface receives a redistributed IP
address:
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Round robin

Connection count

Network throughput

CPU usage

IP address rebalancing
The IP address rebalance policy specifies when to redistribute IP addresses if one or more
previously unavailable network interfaces becomes available again.
To define an IP address rebalance policy, you must have a license for SmartConnect
Advanced, and the IP address allocation policy must be set to dynamic. Dynamic IP
addresses allocation ensures that all of the IP addresses in the pool are assigned to
available network interfaces.
You can set rebalancing to occur manually or automatically:
Manual
Does not redistribute IP addresses until you manually issue a rebalance command
through the command-line interface.
Upon rebalancing, IP addresses will be redistributed according to the connection
balancing method specified by the IP address failover policy defined for the IP
address pool.

IP address failover

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Automatic
Automatically redistributes IP addresses according to the connection balancing
method specified by the IP address failover policy defined for the IP address pool.
Automatic rebalance may also be triggered by changes to cluster nodes, network
interfaces, or the configuration of the external network.
Note

Rebalancing can disrupt client connections. Ensure the client workflow on the IP
address pool is appropriate for automatic rebalancing.

SmartConnect DNS service

The SmartConnect service IP address handles client DNS requests and is configured as a
subnet setting.
You must have at least one subnet configured with a SmartConnect service IP address in
order to handle client DNS requests.
Do not designate an IP address from a pool as the SmartConnect service IP. The
SmartConnect service IP should only answer DNS requests; client connections through
the SmartConnect service IP result in unexpected behavior or disconnection.
When configuring IP address pool settings, you can designate any subnet with a service
IP address to act as the SmartConnect DNS service for the pool. You can assign a
SmartConnect DNS service to multiple pools.
The SmartConnect DNS service handles all incoming DNS requests on behalf of each
associated pool's SmartConnect zone and it distributes the requests according to each
pool's connection balancing policy.
Any pool that does not specify a SmartConnect DNS service is excluded when answering
incoming DNS requests.
Note

SmartConnect requires that you add a new name server (NS) record to the existing
authoritative DNS zone that contains the cluster, and you must provide the fully qualified
domain name (FQDN) of the SmartConnect zone.

DNS name resolution

You can designate up to three DNS servers and up to six search domains for your external
network.
You can configure the DNS server settings during initial cluster configuration with the
command-line Configuration wizard. After the initial configuration, you can modify the
DNS server settings through the web administration interface or through the isi
networks command.

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NIC aggregation
Network interface card (NIC) aggregation, also known as link aggregation, is optional, and
enables you to combine the bandwidth of a node's physical network interface cards into
a single logical connection. NIC aggregation provides improved network throughput.
Note

Configuring link aggregation is an advanced function of network switches. Consult your

network switch documentation before configuring your EMC Isilon cluster for link
aggregation.
NIC aggregation can be configured during the creation of a new external network subnet.
Alternatively, you can configure NIC aggregation on the existing IP address pool of a
subnet.
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OneFS provides support for the following link aggregation methods:

Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)
Supports the IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP). This
method is recommended for switches that support LACP and is the default mode
for new pools.
Legacy Fast EtherChannel (FEC) mode
This method is compatible with aggregated configurations in earlier versions of
OneFS.
Etherchannel (FEC)
This method is a newer implementation of the Legacy FEC mode.
Active / Passive Failover
This method transmits all data through the master port, which is the first port in
the aggregated link. The next active port in an aggregated link takes over if the
master port is unavailable.
Round-Robin
This method balances outbound traffic across all active ports in the aggregated
link and accepts inbound traffic on any port.

Some NICs may allow aggregation of ports only on the same network card.

For LACP and FEC aggregation modes, the switch must support IEEE 802.3ad link
aggregation. Since the trunks on the network switch must also be configured, the
node must be connected with the correct ports on the switch.

Routing options
By default, outgoing client traffic on the EMC Isilon cluster is destination-based; traffic is
routed to a particular gateway based on where the traffic is going. OnefS supports sourcebased routing and static routes; these options allow for more granular control of the
direction of outgoing client traffic.

Source-based routing
Source-based routing selects which gateway to direct outgoing client traffic through
based on the source IP address in each packet header.
In the following example, you enable source-based routing on an Isilon cluster that is
connected to SubnetA and SubnetB. Each subnet is configured with a SmartConnect zone
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and a gateway, also labeled A and B. When a client on SubnetA makes a request to
SmartConnect ZoneB, the response originates from ZoneB. This results in a ZoneB
address as the source IP in the packet header, and the response is routed through
GatewayB. Without source-based routing, the default route is destination-based, so the
response is routed through GatewayA.
In another example, a client on SubnetC, which is not connected to the Isilon cluster,
makes a request to SmartConnect ZoneA and ZoneB. The response from ZoneA is routed
through GatewayA, and the response from ZoneB is routed through GatewayB. In other
words, the traffic is split between gateways. Without source-based routing, both
responses are routed through the same gateway.
When enabled, source-based routing automatically scans your network configuration to
create client traffic rules. If you make modifications to your network configuration, such
as changing the IP address of a gateway server, source-based routing adjusts the rules.
Source-based routing is applied across the entire cluster and only supports the IPv4
protocol.
Enabling or disabling source-based routing goes into effect immediately. Packets in
transit continue on their original courses, and subsequent traffic is routed based on the
status change. Transactions composed of multiple packets might be disrupted or delayed
if the status of source-based routing changes during transmission.
Source-based routing can conflict with static routes. If a routing conflict occurs, sourcebased routing rules are prioritized over the static route.
You might enable source-based routing if you have a large network with a complex
topology. For example, if your network is a multi-tenant environment with several
gateways, traffic is more efficiently distributed with source-based routing.

Static routing
A static route directs outgoing client traffic to a specified gateway based on the IP
address the client is connected through.
You configure static routes by IP address pool, and each route applies to all network
interfaces that are members of the IP address pool. Static routes only support the IPv4
protocol.
You might configure static routing in order to connect to networks that are unavailable
through the default routes or if you have a small network that only requires one or two
routes.
Note

If you have upgraded from a version earlier than OneFS 7.0, existing static routes that
were added through rc scripts will no longer work and must be re-created by running the
isi networks modify pool command with the --add-static-routes option.

VLANs
Virtual LAN (VLAN) tagging is an optional setting that enables an EMC Isilon cluster to
participate in multiple virtual networks.
You can partition a physical network into multiple broadcast domains, or virtual local
area networks (VLANs). You can enable a cluster to participate in a VLAN which allows
multiple cluster subnet support without multiple network switches; one physical switch
enables multiple virtual subnets.

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VLAN tagging inserts an ID into packet headers. The switch refers to the ID to identify from
which VLAN the packet originated and to which network interface a packet should be
sent.

Configuring the internal network

You can modify the internal network settings of your EMC Isilon cluster.
The following actions are available:
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Modify the IP address ranges of the internal network and the int-b/failover network

Modify the internal network netmask

Configure and enable an internal failover network

Disable internal network failover

You can configure the int-b/failover network to provide backup in the event of an int-a
network failure. Configuration involves specifying a valid netmask and IP address range
for the failover network.

Modify the internal IP address range

Each internal InfiniBand network requires an IP address range. The ranges should have a
sufficient number of IP addresses for present operating conditions as well as future
expansion and addition of nodes. You can add, remove, or migrate IP addresses for both
the internal (int-a) and failback (int-b) networks.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Network Configuration.
2. In the Internal Networks Settings area, select the network that you want to add IP
addresses for.
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To select the int-a network, click int-a.

To select the int-b/failover network, click int-b/Failover.

3. In the IP Ranges area, you can add, delete, or migrate your IP address ranges.
Ideally, the new range is contiguous with the previous one. For example, if your
current IP address range is 192.168.160.60 - 192.168.160.162, the new range should
start with 192.168.160.163.
4. Click Submit.
5. Restart the cluster, if needed.
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If the IP address changes are within the internal network netmask, you do not need
to restart the cluster.

If the IP address changes reduce the current range, you must restart the cluster.

If you migrate the IP address ranges, you must restart the cluster.

Modify the internal network netmask

You can modify the netmask value for the internal network.
If the netmask is too restrictive for the size of the internal network, you must modify the
netmask settings. It is recommended that you specify a class C netmask, such as
255.255.255.0, for the internal netmask. This netmask is large enough to accommodate
future nodes.
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Note

For the changes in netmask value to take effect, you must reboot the cluster.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Configuration > Network Configuration.
2. In the Internal Network Settings area, select the network that you want to configure
the netmask for.
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To select the int-a network, click int-a.

To select the int-b/Failover network, click int-b/Failover.

It is recommended that the netmask values you specify for int-a and int-b/failover are
the same. If you modify the netmask value of one, modify the other.
3. In the Netmask field, type a netmask value.
You cannot modify the netmask value if the change invalidates any node addresses.
4. Click Submit.
A dialog box prompts you to reboot the cluster.
5. Specify when you want to reboot the cluster.
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To immediately reboot the cluster, click Yes. When the cluster finishes rebooting,
the login page appears.

Click No to return to the Edit Internal Network page without changing the settings
or rebooting the cluster.

Configure and enable internal failover

You can enable an internal failover on your EMC Isilon cluster.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Network Configuration.
2. In the Internal Network Settings area, click int-b/Failover.
3. In the IP Ranges area, for the int-b network, click Add range.
4. On the Add IP Range dialog box, enter the IP address at the low end of the range in the
first IP range field.
5. In the second IP range field, type the IP address at the high end of the range.
Ensure that there is no overlap of IP addresses between the int-a and int-b/failover
network ranges. For example, if the IP address range for the int-a network is
192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.100, specify a range of 192.168.2.1 - 192.168.2.100 for the
int-b network.
6. Click Submit.
7. In the IP Ranges area for the Failover network, click Add range.
Add an IP address range for the failover network, ensuring there is no overlap with the
int-a network or the int-b network.
The Edit Internal Network page appears, and the new IP address range appears in the
IP Ranges list.
8. In the Settings area, specify a valid netmask. Ensure that there is no overlap between
the IP address range for the int-b network or for the failover network.

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It is recommended that the netmask values you specify for int-a and int-b/failover are
the same.
9. In the Settings area, for State, click Enable to enable the int-b and failover networks.
10.Click Submit.
The Confirm Cluster Reboot dialog box appears.
11.Restart the cluster by clicking Yes.

Disable internal network failover

You can disable the int-b and failover internal networks.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Network Configuration.
2. In the State area, click Disable.
3. Click Submit.
The Confirm Cluster Reboot dialog box appears.
4. Restart the cluster by clicking Yes.

Configuring an external network

You can configure all external network connections between the EMC Isilon cluster and
client computers.

Adding a subnet
You can add and configure an external subnet.
Adding a subnet to the external network encompasses these tasks:
Procedure
1. Configuring subnet settings.
2. Adding an IP address to a new subnet.
3. Optional: Configuring SmartConnect settings for a new subnet.
4. Selecting interface members for a new subnet.

Configure subnet settings

You can add a subnet to the external network of a cluster using the web administration
interface or the Isilon command line. This procedure describes using the web
administration interface to add a subnet.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Network Configuration.
2. In the External Network Settings area, click Add subnet.
3. In the Basic section, in the Name field, type a unique name for the subnet.
The name can be up to 32 alphanumeric characters long and can include underscores
or hyphens, but not spaces or other punctuation.
4. Optional: In the Description field, type a descriptive comment about the subnet.
The comment can be no more than 128 characters.
Disable internal network failover

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5. Specify the IP address format for the subnet and configure an associated netmask or
prefix length setting:
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For an IPv4 subnet, click IPv4 in the IP Family list. In the Netmask field, type a
dotted decimal octet (x.x.x.x) that represents the subnet mask.

For an IPv6 subnet, click IPv6 in the IP family list. In the Prefix length field, type an
integer (ranging from 1 to 128) that represents the network prefix length.

6. In the MTU list, type or select the size of the maximum transmission units the cluster
uses in network communication. Any numerical value is allowed, but must be
compatible with your network and the configuration of all devices in the network path.
Common settings are 1500 (standard frames) and 9000 (jumbo frames).
Although OneFS supports both 1500 MTU and 9000 MTU, using a larger frame size for
network traffic permits more efficient communication on the external network
between clients and cluster nodes. For example, if a subnet is connected through a 10
GbE interface and NIC aggregation is configured for IP address pools in the subnet, it
is recommended you set the MTU to 9000. To benefit from using jumbo frames, all
devices in the network path must be configured to use jumbo frames.
7. In the Gateway address field, type the IP address of the gateway server device through
which the cluster communicates with systems outside of the subnet.
8. In the Gateway priority field, type an integer for the priority of the subnet gateway for
nodes assigned to more than one subnet.
You can configure only one default gateway per node, but each subnet can be
assigned a gateway. When a node belongs to more than one subnet, this option
enables you to define the preferred default gateway. A value of 1 represents the
highest priority, and 10 represents the lowest priority.
9. If you plan to use SmartConnect for connection balancing, in the SmartConnect
service IP field, type the IP address that will receive all incoming DNS requests for
each IP address pool according to the client connection policy. You must have at least
one subnet configured with a SmartConnect service IP in order to use connection
balancing.
10.Optional: In the Advanced section, you can enable VLAN tagging if you want to enable
the cluster to participate in virtual networks.
Note

Configuring a VLAN requires advanced knowledge of network switches. Consult your

network switch documentation before configuring your cluster for a VLAN.
11.If you enable VLAN tagging, you must also type a VLAN ID that corresponds to the ID
number for the VLAN set on the switch, with a value from 2 to 4094.
12.Optional: In the Hardware load balancing field, type the IP address for a hardware
load balancing switch using Direct Server Return (DSR). This routes all client traffic to
the cluster through the switch. The switch determines which node handles the traffic
for the client, and passes the traffic to that node.
13.Click Next.
The Step 2 of 4 -- IP Address Pool Settings dialog box appears.
After you finish
The next step in the process of adding a new subnet is adding an IP address pool.

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Add an IP address pool to a new subnet

You can partition the external network interface of your cluster into groups, or pools, of
unique IP address ranges in a subnet.
Before you begin
You must specify basic subnet settings by completing the previous subnet wizard page.
Note

If your cluster is running SmartConnect Basic for connection balancing, you can configure
only one IP address pool per subnet. If you activate a SmartConnect Advanced license,
you can configure unlimited IP address pools per subnet.
Procedure
1. In the Step 2 of 4 IP Address Pool Settings dialog box, type a unique Name for the
IP address pool. The name can be up to 32 alphanumeric characters long and can
include underscores or hyphens, but no spaces or other punctuation.
2. Type a Description for the IP address pool. The description can contain up to 128
characters.
3. In the Access zone list, click to select an access zone for the pool. OneFS includes a
default system access zone.
4. In the IP range (low-high) area, click New.
OneFS adds an IP address range with default Low IP and High IP values.
5. Click to select the default Low IP value. Replace the default value with the starting IP
address of the subnet's IP address pool.
6. Click to select the default High IP value. Replace the default value with the ending IP
address of the subnet's IP address pool.
7. Optional: Add IP address ranges to the IP address pool by repeating steps 3 through 6
as needed.
8. Click Next.
The Step 3 of 4 SmartConnect Settings dialog box appears.
After you finish
The next step in the process of adding a new subnet is configuring SmartConnect
settings, which is optional. If you do not wish to configure SmartConnect settings, the
next step is adding network interface members to the new subnet.

Configure SmartConnect settings for a new subnet

You can configure subnet connection balancing for a cluster's external network with the
default SmartConnect Basic feature of OneFS. You can configure advanced settings if you
activate a SmartConnect Advanced license.
Before you begin
You must specify basic subnet settings and add at least one IP address pool range to the
new subnet by completing the previous subnet wizard pages.
You can configure SmartConnect as an optional module to balance client connections on
the external network of your cluster. A SmartConnect Advanced license must be active for
certain options. An active SmartConnect Advanced license adds additional advanced
balancing policies to evenly distribute CPU usage, client connections, or throughput. An
active license also lets you define IP address pools to support multiple DNS zones in a
Adding a subnet

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subnet. In addition, SmartConnect supports IP failover, also known as NFS failover. In

contrast, with SmartConnect Basic you can only set a round robin balancing policy.
Note

SmartConnect requires that you add a new name server (NS) record to the existing
authoritative DNS zone that contains the cluster and that you delegate the SmartConnect
zone as a fully qualified domain name (FQDN).
Procedure
1. In the Step 3 of 4 SmartConnect Settings dialog box, type a Zone name for the
SmartConnect zone that this IP address pool represents. The zone name must be
unique among the pools served by the SmartConnect service subnet specified in Step
3 below.
2. In the Connection policy list, select the type of connection balancing policy set by the
IP address pool of this subnet. The connection balancing policy determines how
SmartConnect distributes incoming DNS requests across the members of an IP
address pool.
Option

Description

Round Robin

Selects the next available node on a rotating basis, and is the

default policy if no other policy is selected.

Connection Count

Determines the number of open TCP connections on each

available node to optimize the cluster usage.

Network Throughput Sets the overall average throughput volume on each available
node to optimize the cluster usage.
CPU Usage

Examines average CPU utilization on each available node to

optimize the cluster usage.

3. In the SmartConnect service subnet list, select the name of the external network
subnet whose SmartConnect service will answer DNS requests on behalf of the IP
address pool. A pool can have only one SmartConnect service answering DNS
requests. If this option is left blank, the IP address pool the subnet belongs to is
excluded when SmartConnect answers incoming DNS requests for the cluster.
Note

If you have activated a SmartConnect Advanced license, complete the following steps
for the options in the SmartConnect Advanced section of this wizard page.
4. In the IP allocation method list, select the method by which IP addresses are assigned
to the member interfaces for this IP address pool:

418

Option

Description

Static

Select this IP allocation method to assign IP addresses when member

interfaces are added to the IP pool. As members are added to the pool,
this method allocates the next unused IP address from the pool to each
new member. After an IP address is allocated, the pool member keeps the
address indefinitely unless one of the following items is true:

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The member interface is removed from the network pool.

The member node is removed from the cluster.

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Option

Description
l

The member interface is moved to another IP address pool.

Dynamic Select this IP allocation method to ensure that all IP addresses in the IP
address pool are assigned to member interfaces, which allows clients to
connect to any IP addresses in the pool and be guaranteed a response. If
a node or an interface becomes unavailable, their IP addresses are
automatically moved to other available member interfaces in the pool.
If you select the dynamic IP allocation method, you can specify the SmartConnect
Rebalance policy and the IP failover policy in the next two steps.
5. Select the type of SmartConnect Rebalance policy to redistribute IP addresses. IP
address redistribution occurs when node interface members in an IP address pool
become available. These options can only be selected if the IP allocation method is
set to Dynamic.
Option

Description

Automatic
Automatically redistributes IP addresses. The automatic
Failback (default) rebalance is triggered by a change to one of the following items.

Manual Failback

Cluster membership.

Cluster external network configuration.

A member network interface.

Does not redistribute IP addresses until you manually issue a

rebalance command through the command-line interface.

6. The IP failover policyalso known as NFS failoverdetermines how to redistribute the

IP addresses among remaining members of an IP address pool when one or more
members are unavailable. In order to enable IP failover, set the IP allocation method
to Dynamic, and then select an IP failover policy:
Option

Description

Round Robin

Selects the next available node on a rotating basis, and is the

default policy if no other policy is selected.

Connection Count

Determines the number of open TCP connections on each

available node to optimize the cluster usage.

Network Throughput Sets the overall average throughput volume on each available
node to optimize the cluster usage.
CPU Usage

Examines average CPU utilization on each available node to

optimize the cluster usage.

7. Click Next to store the changes that you made to this wizard page.
The Step 4 of 4 IP Address Pool members dialog box appears.
After you finish
The next step in the process of adding a new subnet is adding network interface
members.

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Select interface members for a new subnet

You can select which network interfaces are in the IP address pool that belongs to the
external network subnet.
Before you begin
You must specify basic subnet settings and add at least one IP address pool range to the
new subnet by completing previous subnet wizard pages.
Procedure
1. In the Step 4 of 4 IP Address Pool Members dialog box, select which Available
interfaces on which nodes you want to assign to the current IP address pool, and then
click the right arrow button to move them to the Interfaces in current pool.
Alternatively, drag and drop the selected interfaces between the Available interfaces
table and the Interfaces in current pool table.
Selecting an available interface for a node that has a Type designated Aggregation
bonds together the external interfaces for the selected node.
In the case of aggregated links, choose the aggregation mode that corresponds to the
switch settings from the Aggregation mode drop-down.
Note

Configuring link aggregation requires advanced knowledge of how to configure

network switches. Consult your network switch documentation before configuring
your cluster for link aggregation.
2. When you have finished assigning external network interfaces to the IP address pool,
click Submit.
The external subnet settings you configured by using the Subnet wizard appear on the
Edit Subnet page.

Managing external network subnets

You can configure subnets on an external network to manage connections between the
EMC Isilon cluster and client computers.

Modify external subnet settings

You can modify the subnet for the external network.
Note

Modifying an external network subnet that is in use can disable access to the cluster and
the web administration interface. OneFS displays a warning if deleting a subnet will
terminate communication between the cluster and the web administration interface.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Network Configuration.
2. In the External Network Settings area, click the name of the subnet you want to
modify.
3. In the Settings area, click Edit.
4. Modify the Basic subnet settings as needed.

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Option

Description

Description

A descriptive comment that can be up to 128 characters.

Netmask

The subnet mask for the network interface. This field appears
only for IPv4 subnets.

MTU

The maximum size of the transmission units the cluster uses in

network communication. Any numerical value is allowed, but
might not be compatible with your network. Common settings
are 1500 (standard frames) and 9000 (jumbo frames).

Gateway address The IP address of the gateway server through which the cluster
communicates with systems outside of the subnet.
Gateway priority

The priority of the subnet's gateway for nodes that are assigned
to more than one subnet. Only one default gateway can be
configured on each Isilon node, but each subnet can have its
own gateway. If a node belongs to more than one subnet, this
option enables you to define the preferred default gateway. A
value of 1 is the highest priority, with 10 being the lowest
priority.

SmartConnect
service IP

The IP address that receives incoming DNS requests from

outside the cluster. SmartConnect responds to these DNS
requests for each IP address pool according to the pool's clientconnection policy. To use connection balance, at least one
subnet must be configured with a SmartConnect service IP
address.

5. Optional: Modify the Advanced settings as needed.

Note

Configuring a virtual LAN requires advanced knowledge of network switches. Consult

your network switch documentation before configuring your cluster for a VLAN. If you
are not using a virtual LAN, leave the VLAN options disabled.
Option

Description

VLAN tagging

You can enable VLAN tagging. VLAN tagging allows a cluster to

participate in multiple virtual networks. VLAN support provides
security across subnets that is otherwise available only by
purchasing additional network switches.

VLAN ID

If you enabled VLAN tagging, type a VLAN ID that corresponds to

the ID number for the VLAN that is set on the switch, with a value
from 1 to 4094.

Hardware load
balancing IPs

You can enter the IP address for a hardware load balancing switch
that uses Direct Server Return (DSR).

6. Click Submit.

Remove an external subnet

You can delete an external network subnet that you no longer need.
Deleting an external network subnet that is in use can prevent access to the cluster and
the web administration interface. OneFS displays a warning if deleting a subnet will
terminate communication between the cluster and the web administration interface.
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Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Network Configuration.
2. In the External Network Settings area, click the name of the subnet you want to
delete.
The Edit Subnet page appears for the subnet you specified.
3. Click Delete subnet.
A confirmation dialogue box appears.
4. Click Yes to delete the subnet.
If the subnet you are deleting is used to communicate with the web administration
interface, the confirmation message will contain an additional warning.

Create a static route

You can create a static route to connect to networks that are unavailable through the
default routes.
You configure a static route on a per-pool basis. A static route can be configured only with
the command-line interface and only with the IPv4 protocol.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Create a static route by running the following command: isi networks modify
pool --name <subnetname>:<poolname> --add-static-routes <subnet>/
<netmask>-<gateway>
The system displays output similar to the following example:
Modifying pool 'subnet0:pool0': Saving:
OK
OK

3. To verify that the static route was created, run the following command: isi networks
ls pools -v.

Remove a static route

You can remove static routes.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Remove a static route by running the following command: isi networks modify
pool --name <subnetname>:<poolname> --remove-static-routes <subnet>/
<netmask>-<gateway>
The system displays output similar to the following example:
Modifying pool 'subnet0:pool0':
Saving:

OK

3. To ensure that the static route was created, run the following command: isi
networks ls pools -v.

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Enable or disable VLAN tagging

You can configure a cluster to participate in multiple virtual private networks, also known
as virtual LANs or VLANs. You can also configure a VLAN when creating a subnet using the
Subnet wizard.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Network Configuration.
2. In the External Network Settings area, click the name of the subnet that contains the
IP address pool that you want to add interface members to.
3. In the Settings area for the subnet, click Edit.
4. In the VLAN tagging list, select Enabled or Disabled.
If you select Enabled, proceed to the next step. If you select Disabled, proceed to Step
6.
5. In the VLAN ID field, type a number between 2 and 4094 that corresponds to the VLAN
ID number set on the switch.
6. Click Submit.

Managing IP address pools

IP address pools allow you to manage the IP addresses clients use to connect to an EMC
Isilon cluster. You can also add network interfaces to IP address pools. Each IP address
pool is associated with a subnet.

Add an IP address pool

You can add an IP address pool to a external network subnet.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Network Configuration.
2. Click the name of the subnet to which you are adding an IP address pool.
3. In the IP Address Pools area, click Add pool.
4. Specify basic settings for the new IP address pool and click Next.
5. Optional: Specify SmartConnect settings and click Next.
6. Optional: Add network interface members and click Submit.

Modify an IP address pool

You can use the web interface to modify IP address pool settings.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Network Configuration.
2. Click the name of the subnet containing the pool you want to modify.
3. In the Basic Settings area, click Edit for the IP address pool you want to modify.
4. Modify the address pool settings and click Submit.

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Delete an IP address pool

You can use the web interface to delete IP address pool settings.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Network Configuration.
2. Click the name of the subnet containing the pool you want to delete.
3. Click Delete pool by the pool you want to delete.

Modify a SmartConnect zone

You can modify the settings of a SmartConnect zone that you created for an external
network subnet using the Subnet wizard.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Network Configuration.
2. Click the name of the external network subnet that contains the SmartConnect zone
you want to modify.
3. In the SmartConnect settings area of the pool containing the SmartConnect settings
you want to modify, click Edit.
4. Modify the Zone name, and then click Submit.
The SmartConnect zone should be a fully-qualified domain name (FQDN).

Disable a SmartConnect zone

You can remove a SmartConnect zone from an external network subnet.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Network Configuration.
2. Click the name of the external network subnet that contains the SmartConnect zone
you want to disable.
3. In the SmartConnect settings area for the pool containing the SmartConnect zone you
want to delete, click Edit.
4. To disable the SmartConnect zone, delete the name of the SmartConnect zone from
the Zone name field and leave the field blank.
5. Click Submit to disable the SmartConnect zone.

Configure IP failover
You can configure IP failover to reassign an IP address from an unavailable node to a
functional node, which enables clients to continue communicating with the cluster, even
after a node becomes unavailable.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Network Configuration
2. In the External Network Settings area, click the name of the subnet for which you
want to set up IP failover.
3. Expand the area of the pool you want to modify and click Edit in the SmartConnect
Settings area.
4. Optional: In the Zone name field, enter a name for the zone, using no more than 128
characters.
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5. In the Connection Policy list, select a balancing policy:

Option

Description

Round Robin

Selects the next available node on a rotating basis, and is the

default state if no other policy is selected.

Connection Count

Determines the number of open TCP connections on each

available node to optimize the cluster usage.

Network Throughput Uses the overall average throughput volume on each available
node to optimize the cluster usage.
CPU Usage

Examines average CPU utilization on each available node to

optimize the cluster usage.

6. If you purchased a license for SmartConnect Advanced, you will also have access to
the following lists:
IP allocation method
This setting determines how IP addresses are assigned to clients. Select either
Dynamic or Static.
Rebalance Policy
This setting defines the client redirection policy for when a node becomes
unavailable. The IP allocation list must be set to Dynamic in order for rebalance
policy options to be selected.
IP failover policy
This setting defines the client redirection policy when an IP address becomes
unavailable.

Allocate IP addresses to accommodate new nodes

You can expand capacity by adding new nodes to your Isilon cluster.
After the hardware installation is complete, you can allocate IP addresses for a new node
on one of the cluster's existing external network subnets, and then add the node's
external interfaces to the subnet's IP address pool.
You can also use network provisioning rules to automate the process of configuring the
external network interfaces for new nodes when they are added to a cluster, although you
may still need to allocate more IP addresses for the new nodes, depending on how many
are already configured.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Network Configuration.
2. In the External Network Settings area, click the name of the subnet that contains the
IP address pool that you want to allocate more IP addresses to in order to
accommodate the new nodes.
3. In the Basic settings area, click Edit.
4. Click New to add a new IP address range using the Low IP and High IP fields. or click
the respective value in either the Low IP or High IP columns and type a new beginning
or ending IP address.
5. Click Submit.

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6. In the Pool members area, click Edit.

7. In the Available Interfaces table, select one or more interfaces for the newly added
node, and then click the right arrow button to move the interfaces into the Interfaces
in current pool table.
8. Click Submit to assign the new node interfaces to the IP address pool.

Managing network interface members

You can assign nodes and network interfaces to specific IP address pools.
You can also aggregate network interfaces and specify the aggregation method.

Modify the interface members of a subnet

You can use the web interface to modify interface member settings.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Network Configuration.
2. In the External Network Settings area, click the subnet containing the interface
members you want to modify.
3. Click Edit next to the Pool members area.

Remove interface members from an IP address pool

You can use the web interface to remove interface members from an IP address pool.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Network Configuration.
2. In the External Network Settings area, click the name of the subnet containing the IP
address pool that you want to remove the interface member(s) for.
3. In the Pool members area, click Edit.
4. Remove a node's interface from the IP address pool by clicking the node's name in the
Interfaces in current pool column, and then click the left arrow button. You can also
drag and drop node interfaces between the Available Interfaces list and the Interfaces
in current poolcolumn.
5. When you have finished removing node interfaces from the IP address pool, click
Submit.

Configure NIC aggregation

You can configure cluster IP address pools to use NIC aggregation.
Before you begin
You must enable NIC aggregation on the cluster before you can enable NIC aggregation
on the switch. If the cluster is configured but the switch is not configured, then the cluster
can continue to communicate. If the switch is configured, but the cluster is not
configured, the cluster cannot communicate, and you are unable to configure the cluster
for NIC aggregation.
This procedure describes how to configure network interface card (NIC) aggregation for an
IP address pool belonging to an existing subnet. You can also configure NIC aggregation
while configuring an external network subnet using the Subnet wizard.
Configuring NIC aggregation means that multiple, physical external network interfaces on
a node are combined into a single logical interface. If a node has two external Gigabit
Ethernet interfaces, both will be aggregated. On a node with both Gigabit and 10 Gigabit
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Ethernet interfaces, both types of interfaces can be aggregated, but only with interfaces
of the same type. NIC aggregation cannot be used with mixed interface types.
An external interface for a node cannot be used by an IP address pool in both an
aggregated configuration and an individual interface. You must remove the individual
interface for a node from the Interfaces in current pool table before configuring an
aggregated NIC. Otherwise, the web administration interface displays an error message
when you click Submit.
Note

Configuring link aggregation requires advanced knowledge of network switches. Consult

your network switch documentation before configuring your cluster for NIC aggregation.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Network Configuration.
2. In the External Network Settings area, click the name of the subnet that contains the
IP address pool that you want to add aggregated interface members to.
3. In the Pool members area, click Edit.
In the case of multiple IP address pools, expand the pool that you want to add the
aggregated interfaces to, and then click Edit in the Pool members area.
4. In the Available interfaces table, click the aggregated interface for the node, which is
indicated by a listing of AGGREGATION in the Type column.
For example, if you want to aggregate the network interface card for Node 2 of the
cluster, click the interface named ext-agg, Node 2 under Available interfaces, and
then click the right-arrow button to move the aggregated interface to the Interfaces in
current pool table.
5. From the Aggregation mode drop-down, select the appropriate aggregation mode that
corresponds to the network switch settings.
Note

Consult your network switch documentation for supported NIC aggregation modes.
OneFS supports the following NIC aggregation modes:
Option

Description

Link Aggregation
Control Protocol
(LACP)

Supports the IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation Control

Protocol (LACP). This method is recommended for switches
that support LACP and is the default mode for new pools.

Legacy Fast
EtherChannel (FEC)
mode

This method is compatible with aggregated configurations

in earlier versions of OneFS.

Etherchannel (FEC)

This method is the newer implementation of the Legacy FEC

mode.

Active / Passive
Failover

This method transmits all data transmits through the master

port, which is the first port in the aggregated link. The next
active port in an aggregated link takes over if the master
port is unavailable.

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Option

Description

Round-Robin Tx

This method balances outbound traffic across all active

ports in the aggregated link and accepts inbound traffic on
any port.

6. Click Submit.

NIC and LNI aggregation options

Network interface card (NIC) and logical network interface (LNI) mapping options can be
configured for aggregation.
The following list provides guidelines for interpreting the aggregation options.
l

Nodes support multiple network card configurations.

LNI numbering corresponds to the physical positioning of the NIC ports as found on
the back of the node. LNI mappings are numbered from left to right.

Aggregated LNIs are listed in the order in which they are aggregated at the time they
are created.

NIC names correspond to the network interface name as shown in command-line

interface tools such as ifconfig and netstat.

LNI

NIC

Aggregated LNI

Aggregated NIC Aggregated NIC

(Legacy FEC mode

ext-1

em0

ext-agg = ext-1 + ext-2

lagg0

fec0

ext-2

em1

ext-1

em2

ext-agg = ext-1 + ext-2

lagg0

fec0

ext-2

em3

ext-agg-2 = ext-3 + ext-4

lagg1

fec1

ext-3

em0

lagg2

fec2

ext-4

em1

ext-agg-3 = ext-3 + ext-4 + ext-1 +

ext-2

ext-1

em0

ext-agg = ext-1 + ext-2

lagg0

fec0

ext-2

em1

10gige-agg-1 = 10gige-1 + 10gige-2

lagg1

fec1

10gige-1 cxgb0
10gige-1 cxgb1

Remove an aggregated NIC from an IP address pool

You can remove an aggregated NIC configuration from an IP address pool if your network
environment has changed. However, you must first replace the aggregated setting with
single-NIC settings in order for the node to continue supporting network traffic.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Network Configuration.
2. In the External Network Settings area, click the name of the subnet that contains the
IP address pol with the NIC aggregation settings you want to remove.
3. In the Pool members area, click Edit.

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4. Select the name of the aggregated NIC for the node that you want to remove in the
Interfaces in current pool table, and then click the left arrow button to move the name
into the Available interfaces table.
5. Select one or more individual interfaces for the node in the Available interfaces table,
and then click the right arrow button to move the interfaces into the Interfaces in
current pool table.
6. When you have completed modifying the node interface settings, click Submit.

Move nodes between IP address pools

You can move nodes between IP address pools in the event of a network reconfiguration
or installation of a new network switch.
The process of moving nodes between IP address pools involves creating a new IP
address pool and then assigning it to the nodes so that they are temporarily servicing
multiple subnets. After testing that the new IP address pool is working correctly, the old
IP address pool can safely be deleted.
Procedure
1. Create a new IP address pool with the interfaces belonging to the nodes you want to
move.
2. Verify that the new IP address pool functions properly by connecting to the nodes you
want to move with IP addresses from the new pool.
3. Delete the old IP address pool.

Reassign a node to another external subnet

You can move a node interface to a different subnet.
Nodes can be reassigned to other subnets.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Network Configuration.
2. In the External Settings area, click the subnet containing the node that you want to
modify.
3. In the IP Address Pools area, click Edit next to the Pool members area.
4. Reassign the interface members that you want to move by dragging and dropping
them from one column to other, or by clicking on an interface member and using the
left arrow and right arrow buttons.

Configure DNS settings

You can configure the domain name servers (DNS) and DNS search list to resolve host
names for the EMC Isilon cluster.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Networking Configuration.
2. In the DNS Settingsarea, click Edit.
3. In the Domain name server(s) field, enter up to three domain name server IP
addresses. You can specify domain name server addresses in IPv4 or IPv6 format.
4. In the DNS search list field, enter up to six DNS search suffixes. DNS search suffixes
are appended to unqualified host names .
5. Optional: In the DNS resolver options field, enter advanced DNS configuration
options.
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Note

DNS resolver options are described in the /etc/resolv.conf file. Setting DNS
resolver options is not recommended. Most clusters do not need DNS resolver options
and setting them may change how OneFS performs DNS lookups.
6. Click Submit.

Managing external client connections with SmartConnect

You can manage settings that determine how IP addresses are allocated to client
connection requests.
With the Basic SmartConnect module, you can specify connection balancing and IP
allocation policies. If you have activated a Advanced SmartConnect license, you can also
specify settings that manage IP failover and rebalancing.

Configure client connection balancing

You can configure connection balancing for your cluster's external network connections
with SmartConnect.
Before you begin
You must first enable SmartConnect by setting up a SmartConnect service address on the
external network subnet that answers incoming DNS requests.
You might have already configured SmartConnect while setting up an external network
subnet using the Subnet wizard. However, you can configure or modify connection
balancing settings at any time as your networking requirements change.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Network Configuration.
2. In the External Network Settings area, click the link for the subnet that you want to
configure for connection balancing.
3. In the Settings area, verify that the SmartConnect service IP was configured.
If the SmartConnect service IP field reads Not set, click Edit, and then specify the IP
address that DNS requests are directed to.
4. In the SmartConnect settings area , click Edit.
5. In the Zone name field, type a name for the SmartConnect zone that this IP address
pool represents. The zone name must be unique among the pools served by the
SmartConnect service subnet that is specified in Step 7 below.
6. In the Connection policy drop-down list, select the type of connection balancing
policy that is configured for the IP address pool for this zone. The policy determines
how SmartConnect distributes incoming DNS requests across the members of an IP
address pool.
Note

Round robin is the only connection policy available if you have not activated a
SmartConnect Advanced license.

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Option

Description

Round Robin

Selects the next available node on a rotating basis, and is the

default policy if no other policy is selected.

Connection Count

Determines the number of open TCP connections on each

available node to optimize the cluster usage.

Network Throughput Sets the overall average throughput volume on each available
node to optimize the cluster usage.
CPU Usage

Examines average CPU utilization on each available node to

optimize the cluster usage.

7. In the SmartConnect service subnet list, select the name of the external network
subnet whose SmartConnect service answers DNS requests on behalf of the IP
address pool. A pool can have only one SmartConnect service answering DNS
requests. If this option is left blank, the IP address pool that the SmartConnect service
belongs to is excluded when SmartConnect answers incoming DNS requests for the
cluster.
If you have activated a SmartConnect Advanced license, complete the following steps
in the SmartConnect Advanced area.
8. In the IP allocation method list, select the method by which IP addresses are assigned
to the member interfaces for this IP address pool.

Managing network interface provisioning rules

You can configure provisioning rules to automate the configuration of external network
interfaces.
Provisioning rules specify how new nodes are configured when they are added to an EMC
Isilon cluster
If the new node type matches the type defined in a rule, the new node's interface name is
added to the subnet and the IP address pool specified in the rule.
For example, you can create a provisioning rule that configures new Isilon storage nodes,
and another rule that configures new accelerator nodes.
OneFS automatically checks for multiple provisioning rules when new rules are added to
ensure there are no conflicts.

Create a node provisioning rule

Configure one or more provisioning rules to automate the process of adding new nodes to
your Isilon cluster. All Isilon nodes support provisioning rules.
Before you begin
External network subnets and IP address pools must be configured before creating node
provisioning rules. You must also verify that the IP address pool included in the
provisioning rule has sufficient IP addresses to accommodate the new node's client
connections.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Network Configuration.
2. In the Provisioning Rules area, click Add rule.
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3. In the Name field, type a unique name for the provisioning rule. The rule name can be
a maximum of 32 characters and can include spaces or other punctuation.
4. Optional: In the Description field, type a descriptive comment about the provisioning
rule.
5. In the If node type is list, select the type of node to which you want to apply the rule:
Option

Description

Any

Apply the provisioning rule to all types of Isilon nodes that join
the cluster.

Storage-i

Apply the provisioning rule only to Isilon i-Series storage nodes

that join the cluster.

Accelerator-i

Apply the provisioning rule only to Isilon i-Series performance

accelerator nodes that join the cluster.

Storage

Apply the provisioning rule only to Isilon storage nodes that

join the cluster.

Accelerator

Apply the provisioning rule only to performance-accelerator

nodes that join the cluster.

Backup-Accelerator Apply the provisioning rule only to Isilon backup-accelerator

nodes that join the cluster.
6. In the then assign interface list, assign one of the following interfaces to the external
network subnet and IP address pool for the node specified in the rule:
Option

Description

ext-1

The first external Gigabit Ethernet interface on the cluster.

ext-2

The second external Gigabit Ethernet interface on the cluster.

ext-3

The third external Gigabit Ethernet interface on the cluster.

ext-4

The fourth external Gigabit Ethernet interface on the cluster.

ext-agg

The first and second external Gigabit Ethernet interfaces aggregated

together.

ext-agg-2

The third and fourth external Gigabit Ethernet interfaces aggregated

together.

ext-agg-3

The first four external Gigabit Ethernet interfaces aggregated

together.

ext-agg-4

All six Gigabit Ethernet interfaces aggregated together.

10gige-1

The first external 10 Gigabit Ethernet interface on the cluster.

10gige-2

The second external 10 Gigabit Ethernet interface on the cluster.

10gige-agg-1 The first and second external 10 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces

aggregated together.
7. In the Subnet list, select the external subnet that the new node will join.

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8. In the Pool list, select the IP address pool of the subnet that should be used by the
new node.
9. Click Submit.

Modify a node provisioning rule

You can modify node provisioning rules.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Configuration > Network Configuration.
2. In the Provisioning Rules area, click the name of the rule you want to modify.
3. Modify the provisioning rule settings as needed.
4. Click Submit.

Delete a node provisioning rule

You can delete a provisioning rule that is no longer necessary.
Procedure
1. Click Cluster Management > Network Configuration.
2. In the Provisioning Rules area, click Delete next to the rule you want to delete.
A confirmation dialog box appears.
3. Click Yes to delete the rule, or click No to keep the rule.

Managing routing options

You can control the direction of outgoing client traffic through source-based routing or
static route configuration.

Enable or disable source-based routing

You can enable source-based routing to ensure that outgoing client traffic is routed to the
gateway of the source IP address in the packet header. If you disable source-based
routing, outgoing traffic is destination-based or it follows static routes.
Before you begin
Source-based routing rules are prioritized over static routes. You can check if there are
static routes configured in any IP address pools by running the following command:
isi networks list pools -v

Source-based routing is enabled or disabled on the entire EMC Isilon cluster and
supports only the IPv4 protocol.
Enabling and disabling source-based routing is only supported through the commandline interface.
Procedure
1. Enable source-based routing by running the following command:
isi networks sbr enable

Modify a node provisioning rule

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2. Disable source-based routing by running the following command:

isi networks sbr disable

Add or remove a static route

You can configure static routes to direct outgoing client traffic through a specific gateway.
Before you begin
Source-based routing rules are prioritized over static routes. You can check if sourcebased routing is enabled on the cluster by running the following command:
isi networks

Configure a static route on a per-pool basis. Static routes support only the IPv4 protocol.
You can only add or remove a static route through the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Optional: Identify the name of the IP address pool you want to modify for static routes
by running the following command:
isi networks list pools

2. Configure static routes on a pool by running the isi networks modify pool
command.
Specify the route in classless inter-domain routing (CIDR) notation format.
The following command adds a static route to pool5 and assigns the route to all
network interfaces that are members of the pool:
isi networks modify pool subnet10:pool5 --add-staticroutes=192.168.205.128/24-192.168.205.2

The following command removes a static route from pool5:

isi networks modify pool subnet10:pool5 --remove-staticroutes=192.168.205.128/24-192.168.205.2

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Hadoop

This section contains the following topics:

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Hadoop overview................................................................................................ 436

Hadoop architecture............................................................................................436
How Hadoop is implemented on OneFS...............................................................437
Hadoop distributions supported by OneFS.......................................................... 437
WebHDFS............................................................................................................ 438
Secure impersonation......................................................................................... 438
Ambari agent.......................................................................................................439
Virtual HDFS racks...............................................................................................439
HDFS implementation considerations..................................................................440
Managing the HDFS service................................................................................. 441
Managing HDFS access zone settings.................................................................. 444
Configuring secure impersonation.......................................................................447
Managing virtual HDFS racks............................................................................... 449

Hadoop

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Hadoop overview
Hadoop is an open-source platform that runs analytics on large sets of data across a
distributed file system.
In a Hadoop implementation on an EMC Isilon cluster, OneFS acts as the distributed file
system and HDFS is supported as a native protocol. Clients from a Hadoop cluster
connect to the Isilon cluster through the HDFS protocol to manage and process data.
Hadoop support on the cluster requires you to activate an HDFS license. To obtain a
license, contact your EMC Isilon sales representative.

Hadoop architecture
Hadoop consists of a compute layer and a storage layer.
In a typical Hadoop implementation, both layers exist on the same cluster.

Hadoop compute layer

MapReduce 2.0 (YARN) is the task processing engine of the Hadoop compute layer.
MapReduce runs a variety of jobs (also known as applications), or queries, on large sets
of data and pulls information out. MapReduce relies on the following key components:
ResourceManager
Global authority that allocates resources (such as CPU, memory, disk, network) to
NodeManagers, and schedules jobs based on their resource requirements.
ApplicationMaster
Per-job component that negotiates job resources from the ResourceManager and
tracks job status.
NodeManager
Per-node component that launches jobs and monitors job resource consumption.

HDFS storage layer

The storage layer is known as the Hadoop distributed file system (HDFS).
The storage layer contains the data accessed and processed by the compute layer. HDFS
relies on two key components:
DataNode
Node that stores data and serves read and write requests as directed by the
NameNode component.
NameNode
Node that stores in-memory maps of every file, including information about which
DataNode the file resides on and the location of the file on the DataNode.
A typical Hadoop implementation contains one NameNode that acts as a master and
routes requests for data access to the proper DataNode.

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How Hadoop is implemented on OneFS

In a Hadoop implementation on the EMC Isilon cluster, data is stored on OneFS. HDFS is
supported as a protocol, which is used by Hadoop compute clients to access data.
A Hadoop implementation with OneFS differs from a typical Hadoop implementation in
the following ways:
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The compute and storage layers are on separate clusters instead of the same cluster.

Instead of storing data within a Hadoop distributed file system, the storage layer
functionality is fulfilled by OneFS on an EMC Isilon cluster. Nodes on the Isilon cluster
function as both a NameNode and a DataNode.

The compute layer is established on a Hadoop compute cluster that is separate from
the Isilon cluster. MapReduce and its components are installed on the Hadoop
compute cluster only.

Rather than a storage layer, HDFS is implemented on OneFS as a native, lightweight

protocol layer between the Isilon cluster and the Hadoop compute cluster. Clients
from the Hadoop compute cluster authenticate over HDFS to access data on the Isilon
cluster.

In addition to HDFS, clients from the Hadoop compute cluster can connect to the
Isilon cluster over any protocol that OneFS supports such as NFS, SMB, FTP, and
HTTP.

Hadoop compute clients can connect to any node on the Isilon cluster that functions
as a NameNode instead of being routed by a single NameNode.

Hadoop distributions supported by OneFS

You can run most of the common Hadoop distributions with the EMC Isilon cluster.
OneFS supports the following Hadoop distributions:
Hadoop
distribution
Cloudera CDH

Cloudera
Manager
Greenplum GPHD

HAWQ
Hortonworks Data
Platform
Pivotal HD

Versions supported

3 (Updates 25)

4.2

5.0

5.1

4.0

5.2

1.1

1.2

1.1.0.1

1.1.11.3.3 (non-GUI)

2.1

1.0.1
How Hadoop is implemented on OneFS

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Hadoop
distribution

Apache Hadoop

Versions supported

2.0

0.20.203

0.20.205

1.0.01.0.3

1.2.1

2.0.x

2.22.4

WebHDFS
OneFS supports access to HDFS data through WebHDFS client applications.
WebHDFS is a RESTful programming interface based on HTTP operations such as GET,
PUT, POST, and DELETE that is available for creating client applications. WebHDFS client
applications allow you to access HDFS data and perform HDFS operations through HTTP
and HTTPS.
WebHDFS is supported by OneFS on a per-access zone basis and is enabled by default.
WebHDFS supports simple authentication and Kerberos authentication. If the HDFS
authentication method for an access zone is set to All, OneFS uses simple
authentication by default.
Note

To prevent unauthorized client access through simple authentication, disable WebHDFS

in each access zone that should not support it.

Secure impersonation
Secure impersonation enables you to create proxy users that can impersonate other
users to run Hadoop jobs.
You might configure secure impersonation if you use applications, such as Apache Oozie,
to automatically schedule, manage, and run Hadoop jobs. For example, you can create an
Oozie proxy user that securely impersonates a user called HadoopAdmin, which allows
the Oozie user to request that Hadoop jobs be performed by the HadoopAdmin user.
You configure proxy users for secure impersonation on a perzone basis, and users or
groups of users that you assign as members to the proxy user must be from the same
access zone. A member can be one or more of the following identity types:
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User specified by user name or UID

Group of users specified by group name or GID

User, group, machine, or account specified by SID

Well-known user specified by name

If the proxy user does not present valid credentials or if a proxy user member does not
exist on the cluster, access is denied. The proxy user can only access files and subdirectories located in the HDFS root directory of the access zone. It is recommended that
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you limit the members that the proxy user can impersonate to users that have access only
to the data the proxy user needs.

Ambari agent
The Ambari client/server framework is a third-party tool that enables you to configure,
manage, and monitor a Hadoop cluster through a browser-based interface. The OneFS
Ambari agent allows you to monitor the status of HDFS services on the EMC Isilon cluster
through the Ambari interface.
The Ambari agent is configured per access zone; you can configure the OneFS Ambari
agent in any access zone that contains HDFS data. To start an Ambari agent in an access
zone, you must specify the address of the external Ambari server and the address of a
NameNode that acts as the point of contact for the access zone.
The external Ambari server receives communications from the OneFS Ambari agent. Once
the Ambari agent assigned to the access zone registers with the Ambari server, the agent
provides a heartbeat status at regular intervals. The OneFS Ambari agent does not
provide metrics or alerts to the Ambari server. The external Ambari server must be
specified by a resolvable hostname, FQDN, or IP address and must be assigned to an
access zone.
The NameNode is the designated point of contact in an access zone that Hadoop services
managed through the Ambari interface should connect through. For example, if you
manage services such as YARN or Oozie through the Ambari interface, the services will
connect to the access zone through the specified NameNode. The Ambari agent
communicates the location of the designated NameNode to the Ambari server, and to the
Ambari interface, the NameNode represents the access zone. If you change the
designated NameNode address, the Ambari agent will inform the Ambari server. The
NameNode must be a resolvable SmartConnect zone name or an IP address from the IP
address pool associated with the access zone.
Note

The specified NameNode value maps to the NameNode, secondary NameNode, and
DataNode components on the Ambari interface.
The OneFS Ambari agent is based on the Apache Ambari framework and is compatible
with Ambari server versions 1.5.1.110 and 1.6.0.

Virtual HDFS racks

You can create a virtual HDFS rack of nodes on the EMC Isilon cluster to optimize
performance and reduce latency when accessing HDFS data.
A virtual HDFS rack enables you to specify a pool of preferred HDFS nodes on the EMC
Isilon cluster and specify an associated pool of Hadoop compute clients.
When a Hadoop compute client from the defined pool connects to the cluster, OneFS
returns at least two IP addresses from the pool of preferred HDFS nodes.
Virtual HDFS racks allow you to fine-tune client connectivity by directing Hadoop compute
clients to go through quicker, less-busy switches or to faster nodes, depending on your
network topology.

Ambari agent

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HDFS implementation considerations

Implementing HDFS requires you to take other areas of OneFS into consideration to
ensure successful connections and access to HDFS data.

HDFS directories and Hadoop user accounts

Before implementing Hadoop, ensure that the directories and user accounts that you will
need for Hadoop are configured on the EMC Isilon cluster.
When you set up directories, files, accounts, and permissions, ensure that they have the
correct permissions so that Hadoop clients and applications can access the directories
and files. Directories and permissions will vary by Hadoop distribution, environment,
requirements, and security policies.
You must also ensure that the user accounts that your Hadoop distribution requires are
configured on the Isilon cluster on a per-zone basis. The user accounts that you need and
the associated owner and group settings vary by distribution, requirements, and security
policies. The profiles of the accounts, including UIDs and GIDS, on the Isilon cluster
should match those of the accounts on your Hadoop compute clients.
OneFS must be able to look up a local Hadoop user by name. If there are no directory
services, such as Active Directory or LDAP, that can perform a user lookup, you must
create a local Hadoop user. If directory services are available, a local user account is not
required.

HDFS settings in access zones

Some HDFS attributes must be configured for each access zone on the EMC Isilon cluster.
You configure one HDFS root directory for each access zone. When a Hadoop compute
client connects to the cluster, the user can access all files and sub-directories in the
specified root directory. Unlike NFS mounts or SMB shares, clients connecting to the
cluster through HDFS cannot be given access to individual folders within the root
directory. The default HDFS directory is /ifs.
If you have multiple Hadoop workflows that require separate sets of data, you can create
multiple access zones and configure a unique HDFS root directory for each zone.
You configure the authentication method for each access zone. HDFS supports simple
authentication, Kerberos authentication, or both. When a Hadoop compute client
connects to an access zone on the Isilon cluster, the client must authenticate with the
method specified for that access zone. By default, HDFS accepts both simple and
Kerberos authentication.
Proxy users are configured on a per-zone basis. Members assigned to the proxy user must
belong to the same access zone.
When HDFS is licensed, the HDFS service is enabled on the entire cluster. You cannot
disable HDFS on a per-access zone basis. If you create multiple access zones, you must
configure HDFS settings for each zone that you want Hadoop compute clients to access
through HDFS.

HDFS and SmartConnect

You can set up a SmartConnect zone for connections from Hadoop compute clients.
SmartConnect is a module that specifies how the DNS server on the EMC Isilon cluster
handles connection requests from clients.
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Each SmartConnect zone represents a specific pool of IP addresses. When you associate
a SmartConnect zone with an access zone, OneFS only allows Hadoop clients connecting
through the IP addresses in the SmartConnect zone to reach the HDFS data in the access
zone. A root HDFS directory is specified for each access zone. This configuration isolates
data within access zones and allows you to restrict client access to the data.
A SmartConnect zone evenly distributes NameNode requests from Hadoop compute
clients across the access zone. When a Hadoop compute client makes an initial DNS
request to connect to the SmartConnect zone, the Hadoop client is routed to an Isilon
node that serves as a NameNode. Subsequent requests from the Hadoop compute client
go the same node. When a second Hadoop client makes a DNS request for the
SmartConnect zone, SmartConnect balances the traffic and routes the client connection
to a different node than that used by the previous Hadoop compute client.
If you create a SmartConnect zone, you must add a new name server (NS) record as a
delegated domain to the authoritative DNS zone that contains the Isilon cluster. On the
Hadoop compute cluster, you must add the name of the DNS entry of the SmartConnect
zone to the core-site.xml file so that your Hadoop compute clients connect to a
NameNode with the DNS name of the zone.
SmartConnect is discussed in further detail in the Networking section of this guide.

Implementing Hadoop with OneFS

To support Hadoop on the EMC Isilon cluster, you must configure HDFS on the Isilon
cluster to communicate with a Hadoop cluster.
The process for configuring HDFS on the Isilon cluster is summarized in the following list:
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Activate a license for HDFS. When a license is activated, the HDFS service is enabled
by default.

Create directories on the cluster that will be set as HDFS root directories.

Create a SmartConnect zone for balancing connections from Hadoop compute clients.

Create local Hadoop users in access zones that do not have directory services such
as Active Directory or LDAP.

Set the HDFS root directory in each access zone that supports HDFS connections.

Enable or disable WebHDFS in each access zone.

Set an authentication method in each access zone that supports HDFS connections.

Configure HDFS service settings on the cluster.

Configure proxy users for secure impersonation.

Configure virtual HDFS racks.

Managing the HDFS service

You can configure HDFS service settings on the EMC Isilon cluster to improve performance
for HDFS workflows.

Configure HDFS service settings

You can configure HDFS service settings to improve performance for HDFS workflows.
HDFS service settings can be configured only through the command-line interface.

Implementing Hadoop with OneFS

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Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and then log in.
2. Run the isi hdfs settings modify command.
The following example command sets the block size to 1 GB:
isi hdfs settings modify --default-block-size=1G

You must specify the block size in bytes. Suffixes K, M, and G are allowed.
The following example command sets the checksum type to crc32:
isi hdfs settings modify --default-checksum-type=crc32

The following example command sets the log level to CRIT:

isi hdfs settings modify --server-log-level=CRIT

The following example command sets the number of server threads to 32:
isi hdfs settings modify --server-threads=32

HDFS service settings

HDFS service settings affect the performance of HDFS workflows.
You can configure the following HDFS service settings:
Setting

Description

Block size

The HDFS block size setting on the EMC cluster determines how the HDFS
service returns data upon read requests from Hadoop compute client.
You can modify the HDFS block size on the cluster to increase the block size
from the default of 64 MB up to 128 MB. Increasing the block size enables the
Isilon cluster nodes to read and write HDFS data in larger blocks and optimize
performance for most use cases.
The Hadoop cluster maintains a different block size that determines how a
Hadoop compute client writes a block of file data to the Isilon cluster. The
optimal block size depends on your data, how you process your data, and other
factors. You can configure the block size on the Hadoop cluster in the hdfssite.xml configuration file in the dfs.block.size property.

Checksum type

The HDFS service sends the checksum type to Hadoop compute clients, but it
does not send any checksum data, regardless of the checksum type. The
default checksum type is set to None. If you Hadoop distribution requires a
checksum type other than None to the client, you can set the checksum type to
CRC32 or CRC32C.

Service threads The HDFS service generates multiple threads to handle HDFS traffic from EMC
Isilon nodes.
By default, the service thread value is set to auto, which calculates the thread
count by multiplying the number of cores on a node by eight and adding a
minimum threshold of thirteen. It generates a maximum of 96 threads on a
node.
To support a large system of Hadoop compute clients, you might need to
increase the number of threads. If you are distributing HDFS traffic across all of
the nodes in an Isilon cluster through a SmartConnect zone, the total number of
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Setting

Description
HDFS service threads should equal at least half of the total number of maps and
reduces on the Hadoop compute cluster. The maximum thread count is 256 per
node.

Logging level

The HDFS service supports the following logging levels:

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Emergencypanic conditions broadcast to all users

Alertconditions that must be corrected immediately, such as a corrupt

system database

Criticalcritical conditions, such as a hard device error

Errorgeneral errors

Noticeconditions that are not errors, but might require special handling

Informationinformation messages that do not require action

Debuginformation typically useful only when debugging a program

View HDFS service settings

You can view configuration details for the HDFS service.
HDFS service settings can be viewed only through the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and then log in.
2. Run the isi hdfs settings view command.
The system displays output similar to the following example:
Default Block Size:
Default Checksum Type:
Server Log Level:
Server Threads:

64M
none
crit
auto

Enable or disable the HDFS service

The HDFS service, which is enabled by default after you activate an HDFS license, can be
enabled or disabled by running the isi services command.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in by using
the root user account.
2. At the command prompt, run the isi service command to enable or disable the
HDFS service, isi_hdfs_d.
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To enable the HDFS service, run the following command:

isi services isi_hdfs_d enable

To disable the HDFS service, run the following command:

isi services isi_hdfs_d disable

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Managing HDFS access zone settings

Some HDFS attributes must be configured for each access zone on the EMC Isilon cluster.
You can specify values for the following HDFS attributes within each access zone:
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HDFS root directory

Authentication method

WebHDFS support

Ambari agent settings

Supported HDFS authentication methods

The authentication method determines what credentials are required by OneFS to
establish a Hadoop compute client connection.
An HDFS authentication method is specified for each access zone. OneFS supports the
following authentication methods for HDFS:
Authentication Description
method
Simple only

Requires only a user name to establish client connections.

Kerberos only

Requires Kerberos credentials to establish client connections.

Note

You must configure Kerberos as an authentication provider on the EMC Isilon

cluster, and you must modify the core-site.xml file on clients running
Hadoop 2.2 and later.
All (default
value)

Accepts both simple authentication and Kerberos credentials. If Kerberos

settings and file modifications are not completed, client connections default to
simple authentication.
CAUTION

To prevent unintended access through simple authentication, set the

authentication method to Kerberos only to enforce client access through
Kerberos.

Set the HDFS authentication method in an access zone

You can configure the HDFS authentication method within each access zone on the EMC
Isilon cluster.
Before you begin
If you want to Hadoop clients to connect to an access zone through Kerberos, a Kerberos
authentication provider must be configured on the cluster.
HDFS access zone settings can only be configured through the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
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2. Optional: To identify the name of the access zone that you want to modify for HDFS,
run the following command:
isi zone zones list

3. Set the HDFS authentication method for the access zone by running the isi zone
zones modify <zone> command, where <zone> is the name of the zone.
The following command specifies that Hadoop compute clients connecting to zone3
must be identified through the simple authentication method:
isi zone zones modify zone3 --hdfs-authentication=simple_only

The following example command specifies that Hadoop compute clients connecting to
zone3 must be identified through the Kerberos authentication method:
isi zone zones modify zone3 --hdfs-authentication=kerberos_only

After you finish

To ensure that users can authenticate through Kerberos, you must modify the coresite.xml file on clients running Hadoop 2.2 and later.

Configure HDFS authentication properties on the Hadoop client

If you want clients running Hadoop 2.2 and later to connect to an access zone through
Kerberos, you must make some modifications to the core-site.xml and hdfssite.xml files on the Hadoop clients.
Before you begin
Kerberos must be set as the HDFS authentication method and a Kerberos authentication
provider must be configured on the cluster.
Procedure
1. Go to the $HADOOP_CONF directory on your Hadoop client.
2. Open the core-site.xml file in a text editor.
3. Set the value of the hadoop.security.token.service.use_ip property to false as shown
in the following example:
<property>
<name>hadoop.security.token.service.use_ip</name>
<value>false</value>
</property>

4. Save and close the core-site.xml file.

5. Open the hdfs-site.xml file in a text editor.
6. Set the value of the dfs.namenode.kerberos.principal.pattern property to the Kerberos
realm as shown in the following example:
<property>
<name>dfs.namenode.kerberos.principal.pattern</name>
<value>hdfs/*@storage.company.com</value>
</property>

7. Save and close the hdfs-site.xml file.

Create a local Hadoop user

OneFS must be able to look up a local Hadoop user by name. If there are no directory
services in an access zone that can perform a user lookup, you must create a local
Configure HDFS authentication properties on the Hadoop client

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Hadoop user that maps to a user on a Hadoop compute client for that access zone. If
directory services are available, a local user account is not required.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster.
2. Run the isi auth users create command.
The following example command creates a user named hadoop-user1 assigned to a
local authentication provider within the zone3 access zone:
isi auth users create --name=hadoop-user1 --provider=local -zone=zone3

Set the HDFS root directory in an access zone

You configure one HDFS root directory for each access zone.
Before you begin
The directory structure you want to set as the root path should already exist on the OneFS
file system.
HDFS access zone settings can only be configured through the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the EMC Isilon cluster and log in.
2. Optional: To identify the name of the zone you want to modify for HDFS, run the
following command:
isi zone zones list

3. Configure the HDFS root directory for this access zone by running the isi zone
zones modify <zone> command, where <zone> is the name of the zone.
The following command specifies that Hadoop compute clients connecting to zone3
are given access to the /ifs/hadoop/ directory:
isi zone zones modify zone3 --hdfs-root-directory=/ifs/hadoop

Enable or disable WebHDFS within an access zone

You can specify whether WebHDFS is supported per access zone.
HDFS access-zone settings can only be configured through the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the EMC Isilon cluster and log in.
2. Optional: To identify the name of the zone you want to modify for HDFS, run the
following command:
isi zone zones list

3. Enable or disable WebHDFS in the access zone by running the isi zone zones
modify command.
The following command enables WebHDFS in zone3:
isi zone zones modify zone3 --webhdfs-enabled=yes

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The following command disables WebHDFS in zone3:

isi zone zones modify zone3 --webhdfs-enabled=no

Configure Ambari agent settings

You can configure Ambari agent support in each access zone that contains HDFS data.
Ambari agent settings can only be configured through the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Optional: To identify the name of the access zone that you want to configure for
Ambari agent settings, run the following command:
isi zone zones list

3. Run the isi zone zones modify command.

The following example specifies company.ambari.server.com as the external Ambari
server that receives communication from the Ambari agent running in the zone3
access zone:
isi zone zones modify zone3 \
--hdfs-ambari-server=company.ambari.server.com

The following example designates the IP address 192.168.205.5 as the point of

contact in the zone3 access zone for Hadoop services managed through the Ambari
interface:
isi zone zones modify zone3 --hdfs-ambari-namenode=192.168.205.5

Configuring secure impersonation

Configure and manage proxy users that can securely impersonate other users and
groups.

Create a proxy user

You can create a proxy user that securely impersonates another user.
This procedure is available only through the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Run the isi hdfs proxyusers create command.
The following command designates hadoop-user23 in zone1 as a new proxy user:
isi hdfs proxyusers create hadoop-user23 --zone=zone1

The following command designates hadoop-user23 in zone1 as a new proxy user and
adds the group hadoop-users to the list of members that the proxy user can
impersonate:
isi hdfs proxyusers create hadoop-user23 --zone=zone1 --addgroup=hadoop-users

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The following command designates hadoop-user23 in zone1 as a new proxy user and
adds UID 2155 to the list of members that the proxy user can impersonate:
isi hdfs proxyusers create hadoop-user23 --zone=zone1 --addUID=2155

Modify a proxy user

You can modify a proxy user that securely impersonates another user.
This procedure is available only through the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Run the isi hdfs proxyusers modify command.
The following command adds the well-known user local to, and removes the user
whose UID is 2155 from, the list of members for proxy user hadoop-user23 in zone1:
isi hdfs proxyusers modify hadoop-user23 --zone=zone1 --addwellknown=local --remove-uid=2155

Delete a proxy user

You can delete a proxy user that securely impersonates another user.
This procedure is available only through the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Run the isi hdfs proxyusers delete command.
The following command deletes hadoop-user23 in zone1 from the list of proxy users:
isi hdfs proxyusers delete hadoop-user23 --zone=zone1

List the members of a proxy user

You can display all groups of users and individual users, known as members, that can be
impersonated by a specific proxy user.
This procedure is available only through the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Run the isi hdfs proxyusers members list command.
The following command displays a detailed list of the users and groups of users that
are members of proxy user hadoop-user23 in zone1:
isi hdfs proxyusers members list hadoop-user23 --zone=zone1 -v

The system displays output similar to the following example:

Type: user
Name: krb_user_005
ID: UID:1004
----------------------Type: group
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Name: krb_users
ID: SID:S-1-22-2-1003
----------------------Type: wellknown
Name: LOCAL
ID: SID:S-1-2-0

View proxy users

You can view all proxy users in a specific zone or you can view information for a specific
proxy user.
This procedure is available only through the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. To view a list of all proxy users configure in a specific access zone, run the isi hdfs
proxyusers list command.
The following command displays a list of all proxy users configured in zone1:
isi hdfs proxyusers list --zone=zone1

The system displays output similar to the following example:

Name
------------hadoop-user23
hadoop-user25
hadoop-user28
------------Total: 3

3. To view the configuration details for a specific proxy user, run the isi hdfs
proxyusers viewcommand.
The following command displays the configuration details for the hadoop-user23
proxy user in zone1:
isi hdfs proxyusers view hadoop-user23 --zone=zone1

The system displays output similar to the following example:

Name: hadoop-user23
Members: krb_users
LOCAL
krb_user_004

Managing virtual HDFS racks

You can manage virtual HDFS racks of nodes on the EMC Isilon cluster.
A virtual HDFS rack is a pool of nodes on the Isilon cluster associated with a pool of
Hadoop compute clients. You can create, modify, and delete virtual racks.

Create a virtual HDFS rack

You can create a virtual HDFS rack on the EMC Isilon cluster.
Virtual HDFS racks can only be created through the command-line interface.

View proxy users

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Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Create a virtual HDFS rack by running the isi hdfs racks create command.
A rack name begins with a forward slashfor example, /hdfs-rack2.
The following command creates a rack named /hdfs-rack2:
isi hdfs racks create /hdfs-rack2

The following command creates a rack named hdfs-rack2, specifies

120.135.26.10-120.135.26.20 as the IP address range of Hadoop compute client
associated with the rack, and specifies subnet0:pool0 as the pool of Isilon nodes
assigned to the rack:
isi hdfs racks create /hdfs-rack2 --client-ipranges=120.135.26.10-120.135.26.20 --ip-pools=subnet0:pool0

Modify a virtual HDFS rack

You can modify the settings of a virtual HDFS rack.
Virtual HDFS racks can only be modified through the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Optional: To identify the name of the virtual HDFS rack you want to modify, run the
following command:
isi hdfs racks list

3. Modify the virtual HDFS rack by running the isi hdfs racks modify command.
A rack name begins with a forward slashfor example, /hdfs-rack2.
The following example command renames a rack named /hdfs-rack2 to /hdfs-rack5:
isi hdfs racks modify /hdfs-rack2 --new-name=/hdfs-rack5

The following example command adds 120.135.26.30-120.135.26.40 to the list of

existing Hadoop compute client IP addresses on the rack named /hdfs-rack2:
isi hdfs racks modify /hdfs-rack2 --add-client-ipranges=120.135.26.30-120.135.26.40

In addition to adding a new range to the list of existing ranges, you can modify the
client IP address ranges by replacing the current ranges, deleting a specific range or
deleting all ranges.
The following example command replaces any existing IP pools with subnet1:pool1
and subnet2:pool2 on the rack named /hdfs-rack2:
isi hdfs racks modify /hdfs-rack2 --ippools=subnet1:pool1,subnet2:pool2

In addition to replacing the list of existing pools with new pools, you can modify the IP
pools by adding pools to list of current pools, deleting a specific pool or deleting all
pools.

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Delete a virtual HDFS rack

You can delete a virtual HDFS rack from an EMC Isilon cluster.
Virtual HDFS racks can only be deleted through the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Optional: To identify the name of the virtual HDFS rack you want to delete, run the
following command:
isi hdfs racks list

3. Delete a virtual HDFS rack by running the isi hdfs racks delete command.
A rack name begins with a forward slashfor example, /hdfs-rack2.
The following command deletes the virtual HDFS rack named /hdfs-rack2:
isi hdfs racks delete /hdfs-rack2

4. At the prompt, type yes.

View virtual HDFS racks

You can view information for all virtual HDFS racks or for a specific rack.
Virtual HDFS rack settings can only be viewed through the command-line interface.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. To view a list of all virtual HDFS racks configured on the cluster, run the isi hdfs
racks list command.
The system displays output similar to the following example:
Name
Client IP Ranges
IP Pools
----------------------------------------------/hdfs-rack1 10.20.30.40-10.20.30.50 subnet0:pool0
/hdfs-rack2 20.10.30.10-20.10.30.20 subnet1:pool1
----------------------------------------------Total: 2

The following example command displays setting details for all virtual HDFS racks
configured on the cluster:
isi hdfs racks list -v

The system displays output similar to the following example:

Name: /hdfs-rack1
Client IP Ranges: 10.20.30.40-10.20.30.50
IP Pools: subnet0:pool0
----------------------------------------Name: /hdfs-rack2
Client IP Ranges: 20.10.30.10-20.10.30.20
IP Pools: subnet1:pool1

3. To view the setting details for a specific virtual HDFS rack, run the isi hdfs racks
view command:
Each rack name begins with a forward slashfor example /hdfs-rack2.
Delete a virtual HDFS rack

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The following example command displays setting details for the virtual HDFS rack
named /hdfs-rack2:
isi hdfs racks view /hdfs-rack2

The system displays output similar to the following example:

Name: /hdfs-rack2
Client IP Ranges: 20.10.30.10-20.10.30.20
IP Pools: subnet1:pool1

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Antivirus

This section contains the following topics:

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Antivirus overview............................................................................................... 454

On-access scanning............................................................................................ 454
Antivirus policy scanning.....................................................................................455
Individual file scanning....................................................................................... 455
Antivirus scan reports......................................................................................... 455
ICAP servers........................................................................................................ 456
Supported ICAP servers....................................................................................... 456
Anitvirus threat responses...................................................................................456
Configuring global antivirus settings................................................................... 457
Managing ICAP servers........................................................................................ 459
Create an antivirus policy.................................................................................... 461
Managing antivirus policies.................................................................................461
Managing antivirus scans....................................................................................462
Managing antivirus threats..................................................................................463
Managing antivirus reports..................................................................................465

Antivirus

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Antivirus overview
You can scan the files you store on an Isilon cluster for computer viruses and other
security threats by integrating with third-party scanning services through the Internet
Content Adaptation Protocol (ICAP). OneFS sends files through ICAP to a server running
third-party antivirus scanning software. These servers are referred to as ICAP servers.
ICAP servers scan files for viruses.
After an ICAP server scans a file, it informs OneFS of whether the file is a threat. If a threat
is detected, OneFS informs system administrators by creating an event, displaying near
real-time summary information, and documenting the threat in an antivirus scan report.
You can configure OneFS to request that ICAP servers attempt to repair infected files. You
can also configure OneFS to protect users against potentially dangerous files by
truncating or quarantining infected files.
Before OneFS sends a file to be scanned, it ensures that the scan is not redundant. If a
file has already been scanned and has not been modified, OneFS will not send the file to
be scanned unless the virus database on the ICAP server has been updated since the last
scan.
Note

Antivirus scanning is available only if all nodes in the cluster are connected to the
external network.

On-access scanning
You can configure OneFS to send files to be scanned before they are opened, after they
are closed, or both. Sending files to be scanned after they are closed is faster but less
secure. Sending files to be scanned before they are opened is slower but more secure.
If OneFS is configured to ensure that files are scanned after they are closed, when a user
creates or modifies a file on the cluster, OneFS queues the file to be scanned. OneFS then
sends the file to an ICAP server to be scanned when convenient. In this configuration,
users can always access files without any delay. However, it is possible that after a user
modifies or creates a file, a second user might access the file before the file is scanned. If
a virus was introduced to the file from the first user, the second user will be able to
access the infected file. Also, if an ICAP server is unable to scan a file, the file will still be
accessible to users.
If OneFS ensures that files are scanned before they are opened, when a user attempts to
download a file from the cluster, OneFS first sends the file to an ICAP server to be
scanned. The file is not sent to the user until the scan is complete. Scanning files before
they are opened is more secure than scanning files after they are closed, because users
can access only scanned files. However, scanning files before they are opened requires
users to wait for files to be scanned. You can also configure OneFS to deny access to files
that cannot be scanned by an ICAP server, which can increase the delay. For example, if
no ICAP servers are available, users will not be able to access any files until the ICAP
servers become available again.
If you configure OneFS to ensure that files are scanned before they are opened, it is
recommended that you also configure OneFS to ensure that files are scanned after they
are closed. Scanning files as they are both opened and closed will not necessarily
improve security, but it will usually improve data availability when compared to scanning
files only when they are opened. If a user wants to access a file, the file may have already

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been scanned after the file was last modified, and will not need to be scanned again if
the ICAP server database has not been updated since the last scan.

Antivirus policy scanning

You can create antivirus scanning policies that send files from a specified directory to be
scanned. Antivirus policies can be run manually at any time, or configured to run
according to a schedule.
Antivirus policies target a specific directory on the cluster. You can prevent an antivirus
policy from sending certain files within the specified root directory based on the size,
name, or extension of the file. Antivirus policies do not target snapshots. Only on-access
scans include snapshots. Antivirus scans are handled by the OneFS job engine, and
function the same as any system job.

Individual file scanning

You can send a specific file to an ICAP server to be scanned at any time.
If a virus is detected in a file but the ICAP server is unable to repair it, you can send the
file to the ICAP server after the virus database had been updated, and the ICAP server
might be able to repair the file. You can also scan individual files to test the connection
between the cluster and ICAP servers.

Antivirus scan reports

OneFS generates reports about antivirus scans. Each time that an antivirus policy is run,
OneFS generates a report for that policy. OneFS also generates a report every 24 hours
that includes all on-access scans that occurred during the day.
Antivirus scan reports contain the following information:
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The time that the scan started.

The time that the scan ended.

The total number of files scanned.

The total size of the files scanned.

The total network traffic sent.

The network throughput that was consumed by virus scanning.

Whether the scan succeeded.

The total number of infected files detected.

The names of infected files.

The threats associated with infected files.

How OneFS responded to detected threats.

The name and IP address of the user that triggered the scan.
This information is not included in reports triggered by antivirus scan policies.

Antivirus policy scanning

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ICAP servers
The number of ICAP servers that are required to support an Isilon cluster depends on how
virus scanning is configured, the amount of data a cluster processes, and the processing
power of the ICAP servers.
If you intend to scan files exclusively through antivirus scan policies, it is recommended
that you have a minimum of two ICAP servers per cluster. If you intend to scan files on
access, it is recommended that you have at least one ICAP server for each node in the
cluster.
If you configure more than one ICAP server for a cluster, it is important to ensure that the
processing power of each ICAP server is relatively equal. OneFS distributes files to the
ICAP servers on a rotating basis, regardless of the processing power of the ICAP servers. If
one server is significantly more powerful than another, OneFS does not send more files to
the more powerful server.

Supported ICAP servers

OneFS supports ICAP servers running the following antivirus scanning software:
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Symantec Scan Engine 5.2 and later.

Trend Micro Interscan Web Security Suite 3.1 and later.

Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Proxy Server 5.5 and later.

McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.7 and later with VirusScan Enterprise for Storage 1.0
and later.

Anitvirus threat responses

You can configure the system to repair, quarantine, or truncate any files that the ICAP
server detects viruses in.
OneFS and ICAP servers react in one or more of the following ways when threats are
detected:
Alert
All threats that are detected cause an event to be generated in OneFS at the warning
level, regardless of the threat response configuration.
Repair
The ICAP server attempts to repair the infected file before returning the file to OneFS.
Quarantine
OneFS quarantines the infected file. A quarantined file cannot be accessed by any
user. However, a quarantined file can be removed from quarantine by the root user if
the root user is connected to the cluster through secure shell (SSH).
If you backup your cluster through NDMP backup, quarantined files will remain
quarantined when the files are restored. If you replicate quarantined files to another
Isilon cluster, the quarantined files will continue to be quarantined on the target
cluster. Quarantines operate independently of access control lists (ACLs).
Truncate
OneFS truncates the infected file. When a file is truncated, OneFS reduces the size of
the file to zero bytes to render the file harmless.
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You can configure OneFS and ICAP servers to react in one of the following ways when
threats are detected:
Repair or quarantine
Attempts to repair infected files. If an ICAP server fails to repair a file, OneFS
quarantines the file. If the ICAP server repairs the file successfully, OneFS sends the
file to the user. Repair or quarantine can be useful if you want to protect users from
accessing infected files while retaining all data on a cluster.
Repair or truncate
Attempts to repair infected files. If an ICAP server fails to repair a file, OneFS
truncates the file. If the ICAP server repairs the file successfully, OneFS sends the file
to the user. Repair or truncate can be useful if you do not care about retaining all
data on your cluster, and you want to free storage space. However, data in infected
files will be lost.
Alert only
Only generates an event for each infected file. It is recommended that you do not
apply this setting.
Repair only
Attempts to repair infected files. Afterwards, OneFS sends the files to the user,
whether or not the ICAP server repaired the files successfully. It is recommended that
you do not apply this setting. If you only attempt to repair files, users will still be
able to access infected files that cannot be repaired.
Quarantine
Quarantines all infected files. It is recommended that you do not apply this setting. If
you quarantine files without attempting to repair them, you might deny access to
infected files that could have been repaired.
Truncate
Truncates all infected files. It is recommended that you do not apply this setting. If
you truncate files without attempting to repair them, you might delete data
unnecessarily.

Configuring global antivirus settings

You can configure global antivirus settings that are applied to all antivirus scans by
default.

Exclude files from antivirus scans

You can prevent files from being scanned by antivirus policies.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Settings.
2. In the File size restriction area, specify whether to exclude files from being scanned
based on size.
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Click Scan all files regardless of size.

Click Only scan files smaller than the maximum file size and specify a maximum
file size.

3. In the Filename restrictions area, specify whether to exclude files from being scanned
based on file names and extensions.
Configuring global antivirus settings

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Click Scan all files.

Click Only scan files with the following extensions or filenames.

Click Scan all files except those with the following extensions or filenames.

4. Optional: If you chose to exclude files based on file names and extensions, specify
which files will be selected.
a. In the Extensions area, click Edit list, and specify extensions.
b. In the Filenames area, click Edit list, and specify filenames.
You can specify the following wild cards:
Wildcard Description
*

Matches any string in place of the asterisk.

For example, specifying m* would match movies and m123.

[ ]

Matches any characters contained in the brackets, or a range of characters separated

by a dash.
For example, specifying b[aei]t would match bat, bet, and bit.
For example, specifying 1[4-7]2 would match 142, 152, 162, and 172.
You can exclude characters within brackets by following the first bracket with an
exclamation mark.
For example, specifying b[!ie] would match bat but not bit or bet.
You can match a bracket within a bracket if it is either the first or last character.
For example, specifying [[c]at would match cat, and [at.
You can match a dash within a bracket if it is either the first or last character.
For example, specifying car[-s] would match cars, and car-.

Matches any character in place of the question mark.

For example, specifying t?p would match tap, tip, and top.

5. Click Submit.

Configure on-access scanning settings

You can configure OneFS to automatically scan files as they are accessed by users. Onaccess scans operate independently of antivirus policies.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Settings.
2. In the On Access Scans area, specify whether you want files to be scanned as they are
accessed.
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To require that all files be scanned before they are opened by a user, select Scan
files when they are opened, and then specify whether you want to allow access to
files that cannot be scanned.

To scan files after they are closed, select Scan files when they are closed.

3. In the Directories to be scanned area, specify the directories that you want to apply
on-access settings to.
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If no directories are specified, on-access scanning settings are applied to all files. If
you specify a directory, only files from the specified directories will be scanned as
they are accessed.
4. Click Submit.

Configure antivirus threat response settings

You can configure how OneFS responds to detected threats.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Settings.
2. In the Action on detection area, specify how you want OneFS to react to potentially
infected files.

Configure antivirus report retention settings

You can configure how long OneFS retains antivirus reports before automatically deleting
them.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Settings.
2. In the Reports area, specify how long you want OneFS to keep reports for.

Enable or disable antivirus scanning

You can enable or disable all antivirus scanning. This procedure is available only through
the web administration interface.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Summary.
2. In the Service area, click Enable or Disable.

Managing ICAP servers

Before you can send files to be scanned on an ICAP server, you must configure OneFS to
connect to the server. You can test, modify, and remove an ICAP server connection. You
can also temporarily disconnect and reconnect to an ICAP server.

Add and connect to an ICAP server

You can add and connect to an ICAP server. After a server is added, OneFS can send files
to the server to be scanned for viruses.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Summary.
2. In the ICAP Servers area, click Add server.
3. In the Add ICAP Server dialog box, in the ICAP URL field, type the IP address of an ICAP
server.
4. Optional: In the Description field, type a description of this ICAP server.
5. Click Submit.
The ICAP server is displayed in the ICAP Servers table.
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Test an ICAP server connection

You can test the connection between the cluster and an ICAP server. This procedure is
available only through the web administration interface.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Summary.
2. In the ICAP Servers table, in the row for the ICAP server, click Test connection.
If the connection test succeeds, the Status column displays a green icon. If the
connection test fails, the Status column displays a red icon.

Modify ICAP connection settings

You can modify the IP address and optional description of ICAP server connections.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Summary.
2. In the ICAP Servers table, in the row for an ICAP server, click Edit.
3. Modify settings, and then click Submit.

Temporarily disconnect from an ICAP server

If you want to prevent OneFS from sending files to an ICAP server, but want to retain the
ICAP server connection settings, you can temporarily disconnect from the ICAP server.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Summary.
2. In the ICAP Servers table, in the row for an ICAP server, click Disable.

Reconnect to an ICAP server

You can reconnect to an ICAP server that you have temporarily disconnected from.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Summary.
2. In the ICAP Servers table, in the row for an ICAP server, click Enable.

Remove an ICAP server

You can permanently disconnect from the ICAP server.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Summary.
2. In the ICAP Servers table, in the row for an ICAP server, click Delete.

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Create an antivirus policy

You can create an antivirus policy that causes specific files to be scanned for viruses
each time the policy is run.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Policies.
2. Click Add policy.
3. In the Name field, type a name for the antivirus policy.
4. Click Add directory and select a directory that you want to scan.
Optionally, repeat this step to specify multiple directories.
5. In the Restrictions area, specify whether you want to enforce the file size and name
restrictions specified by the global antivirus settings.
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Click Enforce file size and filename restrictions.

Click Scan all files within the root directories.

6. In the Run policy area, specify whether you want to run the policy according to a
schedule or manually.
Scheduled policies can also be run manually at any time.
Option

Description

Run the policy only

manually.

Click Manually

Run the policy according

to a schedule.

a. Click Scheduled.
b. In the Interval area, specify on what days you want
the policy to run.
c. In the Frequency area, specify how often you want
the policy to run on the specified days.

7. Click Submit.

Managing antivirus policies

You can modify and delete antivirus policies. You can also temporarily disable antivirus
policies if you want to retain the policy but do not want to scan files.

Modify an antivirus policy

You can modify an antivirus policy.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Policy.
2. In the Policies table, click the name of the antivirus policy that you want to modify.
3. Modify settings, and then click Submit.

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Delete an antivirus policy

You can delete an antivirus policy.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Policies.
2. In the Policies table, in the row for an antivirus policy, click Delete.

Enable or disable an antivirus policy

You can temporarily disable antivirus policies if you want to retain the policy but do not
want to scan files.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Policies.
2. In the Policies table, in the row for an antivirus policy, click Enable or Disable.

View antivirus policies

You can view antivirus policies.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Policies.
2. In the Policies table, view antivirus policies.

Managing antivirus scans

You can scan multiple files for viruses by manually running an antivirus policy, or scan an
individual file without an antivirus policy. You can also stop antivirus scans.

Scan a file
You can manually scan an individual file for viruses. This procedure is available only
through the command-line interface (CLI).
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Run the isi avscan manual command.
For example, the following command scans /ifs/data/virus_file:
isi avscan manual /ifs/data/virus_file

Manually run an antivirus policy

You can manually run an antivirus policy at any time. This procedure is available only
through the web administration interface.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Policies.
2. In the Policies table, in the row for a policy, click Start.

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Stop a running antivirus scan

You can stop a running antivirus scan. This procedure is available only through the web
administration interface.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Summary.
2. In the Currently Running table, in the row for an antivirus scan, click Cancel.

Managing antivirus threats

You can repair, quarantine, or truncate files in which threats are detected. If you think
that a quarantined file is no longer a threat, you can rescan the file or remove the file from
quarantine.

Manually quarantine a file

You can quarantine a file to prevent the file from being accessed by users.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Detected Threats.
2. In the Detected Threats table, in the row of a file, click Quarantine.

Rescan a file
You can rescan the file for viruses if, for example, you believe that a file is no longer a
threat.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Detected Threats.
2. In the Detected Threats table, in the row of a file, click Rescan.

Remove a file from quarantine

You can remove a file from quarantine if, for example, you believe that the file is no
longer a threat.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Detected Threats.
2. In the Detected Threats table, in the row of a file, click Restore.

Manually truncate a file

If a threat is detected in a file, and the file is irreparable and no longer needed, you can
truncate the file.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Detected Threats.
2. In the Detected Threats table, in the row for a file, click Truncate.
The Confirm dialog box appears.
3. Click Yes.
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View threats
You can view files that have been identified as threats by an ICAP server.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Detected Threats.
2. In the Detected Threats table, view potentially infected files.

Antivirus threat information

You can view information about the antivirus threats that are reported by an ICAP server.
Status
The color of the icon indicates the status of the potentially infected file.
Red
OneFS did not take any action on the file.
Orange
OneFS truncated the file.
Yellow
OneFS quarantined the file.
Threat
Displays the name of the detected threat as it is recognized by the ICAP server.
Filename
Displays the name of the potentially infected file.
Directory
Displays the directory in which the file is located.
Remediation
Indicates how OneFS responded to the file when the threat was detected. If OneFS
did not quarantine or truncate the file, Infected appears.
Detected
Displays the time that the file was detected.
Policy
Displays the name of the antivirus policy that caused the threat to be detected. If the
threat was detected as a result of a manual antivirus scan of an individual file,
Manual scan appears.
Currently
Displays the current state of the file.
File size
Displays the size of the file in bytes. Truncated files display a size of zero bytes.

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Managing antivirus reports

In addition to viewing antivirus reports through the web administration interface, you can
export reports to a comma-separated values (CSV) file. You can also view events that are
related to antivirus activity.

Export an antivirus report

You can export an antivirus report to a comma separated values (CSV) file.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Reports.
2. In the Reports table, in the row for a report, click Export.
3. Save the CSV file.

View antivirus reports

You can view antivirus reports.
Procedure
1. Click Data Protection > Antivirus > Reports.
2. In the Reports table, in the row for a report, click View Details.

View antivirus events

You can view events that relate to antivirus activity.
Procedure
1. Click Dashboard > Events > Event History.
2. In the Event History table, view all events.
All events related to antivirus scans are classified as warnings. The following events
are related to antivirus activities:
Anti-Virus scan found threats
A threat was detected by an antivirus scan. These events refer to specific reports
on the Antivirus Reports page but do not provide threat details.
No ICAP Servers available
OneFS is unable to communicate with any ICAP servers.
ICAP Server Unresponsive or Invalid
OneFS is unable to communicate with an ICAP server.

Managing antivirus reports

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CHAPTER 24
VMware integration

This section contains the following topics:

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VMware integration overview...............................................................................468

VAAI.................................................................................................................... 468
VASA...................................................................................................................468
Configuring VASA support................................................................................... 469
Disable or re-enable VASA...................................................................................471

VMware integration

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VMware integration overview

OneFS integrates with VMware infrastructures, including vSphere, vCenter, and ESXi.
VMware integration enables you to view information about and interact with Isilon
clusters through VMware applications.
OneFS interacts with VMware infrastructures through VMware vSphere API for Storage
Awareness (VASA) and VMware vSphere API for Array Integration (VAAI).
OneFS integrates with VMware vCenter through the Isilon for vCenter plug-in. The Isilon
for vCenter plug-in enables you to locally backup and restore virtual machines on an
Isilon cluster. For more information about Isilon for vCenter, see the following documents:
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Isilon for vCenter Release Notes

Isilon for vCenter Installation Guide

Isilon for vCenter User Guide

VAAI
OneFS uses VMware vSphere API for Array Integration (VAAI) to support offloading
specific virtual machine storage and management operations from VMware ESXi
hypervisors to an Isilon cluster.
VAAI support enables you to accelerate the process of creating virtual machines and
virtual disks. For OneFS to interact with your vSphere environment through VAAI, your
VMware environment must include ESXi 5.0 or later hypervisors.
If you enable VAAI capabilities for an Isilon cluster, when you clone a virtual machine
residing on the cluster through VMware, OneFS clones the files related to that virtual
machine.
To enable OneFS to use VMware vSphere API for Array Integration (VAAI), you must install
the VAAI NAS plug-in for Isilon on the ESXi server. For more information on the VAAI NAS
plug-in for Isilon, see the VAAI NAS plug-in for Isilon Release Notes.

VASA
OneFS communicates with VMware vSphere through VMware vSphere API for Storage
Awareness (VASA).
VASA support enables you to view information about Isilon clusters through vSphere,
including Isilon-specific alarms in vCenter. VASA support also enables you to integrate
with VMware profile driven storage by providing storage capabilities for Isilon clusters in
vCenter. For OneFS to communicate with vSphere through VASA, your VMware
environment must include ESXi 5.0 or later hypervisors.

Isilon VASA alarms

If the VASA service is enabled on an Isilon cluster and the cluster is added as a VMware
vSphere API for Storage Awareness (VASA) vendor provider in vCenter, OneFS is
generates alarms in vSphere.
The following table describes the alarm that OneFS generates:

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Alarm name

Description

Thin-provisioned LUN There is not enough available space on the cluster to allocate space for
capacity exceeded
writing data to thinly provisioned LUNs. If this condition persists, you will
not be able to write to the virtual machine on this cluster. To resolve this
issue, you must free storage space on the cluster.

VASA storage capabilities

OneFS integrates with VMware vCenter through VMware vSphere API for Storage
Awareness (VASA) to display storage capabilities of Isilon clusters in vCenter.
The following storage capabilities are displayed through vCenter:
Archive
The Isilon cluster is composed of Isilon NL-Series nodes. The cluster is configured for
maximum capacity.
Performance
The Isilon cluster is composed of Isilon i-Series, Isilon X-Series, or Isilon S-Series
nodes. The cluster is configured for maximum performance.
Note

If the cluster is composed of i-Series, X-Series , or S-Series nodes, but the cluster
does not contain SSDs, the cluster is recognized as a capacity cluster.
Capacity
The Isilon cluster is composed of Isilon X-Series nodes that do not contain SSDs. The
cluster is configured for a balance between performance and capacity.
Hybrid
The Isilon cluster is composed of nodes associated with two or more storage
capabilities. For example, if the cluster contained both Isilon S-Series and NL-Series
nodes, the storage capability of the cluster is displayed as Hybrid.

Configuring VASA support

To enable VMware vSphere API for Storage Awareness (VASA) support for a cluster, you
must enable the VASA daemon on the cluster, download the Isilon vendor provider
certificate and add the Isilon vendor provider in vCenter.

Enable VASA
You must enable an Isilon cluster to communicate with VMware vSphere API for Storage
Awareness (VASA) by enabling the VASA daemon.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Enable VASA by running the following command:
isi services isi_vasa_d enable

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Download the Isilon vendor provider certificate

To add an Isilon cluster VASA vendor provider in VMware vCenter, you must use a vendor
provider certificate. You can download a vendor provider certificate from an Isilon cluster.
Procedure
1. In a supported web browser, connect to an Isilon cluster at https://
<IPAddress>, where <IPAddress> is the IP address of the Isilon cluster.
2. Retrieve the security certificate and save the certificate to a location on your machine.
For more information about exporting a security certificate, see the documentation of
your browser.
Note

Record the location of where you saved the certificate. You will need this file path
when adding the vendor provider in vCenter.

Add the Isilon vendor provider

You must add an Isilon cluster as a vendor provider in VMware vCenter before you can
view information about the storage capabilities of the cluster through vCenter.
Before you begin
Download a vendor provider certificate.
Procedure
1. In vCenter, navigate to the Add Vendor Provider window.
2. Fill out the following fields in the Add Vendor Provider window:
Name
Type a name for this VASA provider. Specify as any string. For example, type EMC
Isilon Systems.
URL
Type https://<IPAddress>:8081/vasaprovider, where <IPAddress> is the IP
address of a node in the Isilon cluster.
Login
Type root.
Password
Type the password of the root user.
Certificate location
Type the file path of the vendor provider certificate for this cluster.
3. Select the Use Vendor Provider Certificate box.
4. Click OK.

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Disable or re-enable VASA

You can disable or re-enable an Isilon cluster to communicate with VMware vSphere
through VMware vSphere API for Storage Awareness (VASA).
To disable support for VASA, you must disable both the VASA daemon and the Isilon web
administration interface. You will not be able to administer the cluster through an
internet browser while the web interface is disabled. To re-enable support for VASA, you
must enable both the VASA daemon and the web interface.
Procedure
1. Open a secure shell (SSH) connection to any node in the cluster and log in.
2. Disable or enable the web interface by running one of the following commands:
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isi services apache2 disable

isi services apache2 enable

3. Disable or enable the VASA daemon by running one of the following commands:
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isi services isi_vasa_d disable

isi services isi_vasa_d enable

Disable or re-enable VASA

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CHAPTER 25
File System Explorer

This section contains the following topics:

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File System Explorer overview..............................................................................474

Browse the file system........................................................................................ 474
Create a directory................................................................................................ 475
Modify file and directory properties..................................................................... 475
View file and directory properties........................................................................ 475
File and directory properties................................................................................ 476

File System Explorer

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File System Explorer overview

The File System Explorer is a web-based interface that enables you to manage the content
stored on the cluster. You can use the File System Explorer to navigate the Isilon file
system (/ifs), add directories, and manage file and directory properties including data
protection, I/O optimization, and UNIX permissions. The File System Explorer is available
only if you are logged in through the root user account.
Isilon file system directory permissions are initially set to allow full access for all users.
Any user can delete any file, regardless of the permissions on the individual file.
Depending on your environment, you want to establish permission restrictions through
the File System Explorer.
You can view and configure file and directory properties from within Windows clients that
are connected to the cluster. However, because Windows and UNIX permissions differ
from one another, you must be careful not to make any unwanted changes that affect file
and directory access.
Note

The File System Explorer displays up to 1000 files in a directory. If more than 1000 files
exist within a directory, the files are displayed without additional information, such as file
size and last modified date.

Browse the file system

You can browse the Isilon file system (/ifs) through the File System Explorer.
Procedure
1. Navigate to File System Management > File System Explorer.
2. View files and directories.
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You can expand and collapse directories in the Directories pane.

The contents of the selected directory are displayed in the right pane. You can view
the contents of another directory by clicking the directory in the Directories pane.

File System Explorer icons

The following icons appear in the File System Explorer:
Folder
Represents a directory.
Folder with a red lock
Represents a directory that contains a SmartLock directory.
Red lock
Represents a SmartLock directory.
Yellow lock
Represents a directory that is contained within a SmartLock directory.
Sheet of paper
Represents a file

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Sheet of paper with a red lock

Represents a file that has been committed to a WORM state.

Create a directory
You can create a directory under /ifs through the File System Explorer.
Procedure
1. Navigate to File System Management > File System Explorer.
2. In the Directories pane, specify where you want to create the directory.
3. Click Add Directory.
4. In the New Directory Properties dialog box, in the Directory name field, type a name
for the directory.
5. From the User list, select the owner of the directory.
6. From the Group list, select the group for the directory.
7. From the Permissions table, specify the basic permissions for the directory.
8. Click Submit.

Modify file and directory properties

You can modify the data protection, I/O optimization, and UNIX permission properties of
files and directories through the File System Explorer.
Procedure
1. Navigate to File System Management > File System Explorer.
2. In the Directories pane, click the directory that contains the file or directory that you
want to modify permissions for.
3. In the right pane, in the row of the file or directory you want to modify permissions for,
click Properties.
4. In the Properties dialog box, specify the properties of the file or directory.
5. Click Submit.

View file and directory properties

You can view the data protection, I/O optimization, and UNIX permission properties of
files and directories through the File System Explorer.
Procedure
1. Navigate to File System Management > File System Explorer.
2. In the Directories pane, click the directory that contains the file or directory that you
want to view permissions for.
3. In the right pane, in the row of the file or directory you want to view permissions for,
click Properties.
4. In the Properties dialog box, view the properties of the file or directory.

Create a directory

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File and directory properties

Each file and directory is assigned specific data protection, I/O optimization, and UNIX
permission properties that you can view through the File System Explorer.
The following properties are displayed in the Properties dialog box of the File System
Explorer:
Protection Settings
Settings management
Specifies whether protection settings are managed manually or by SmartPools. If you
modify either or both protection settings, this property automatically refreshes to
Manually managed. If you specify Managed by SmartPools, the protection
settings will automatically refresh to match the SmartPools specifications the next
time the SmartPools job is run.
Disk pool
The disk pool whose requested protection is applied if SmartPools is configured to
manage protection settings. This property is available only if SmartPools is licensed
and enabled on the cluster.
SSD
The SSD strategy that will be used for user data and metadata if solid-state drives
(SSDs) are available. The following SSD strategies are available:
Metadata acceleration
OneFS creates a mirror backup of file metadata on an SSD and writes the rest of
the metadata plus all user data to hard disk drives (HDDs). Depending on the
global namespace acceleration setting, the SSD mirror might be an extra mirror
in addition to the number required to satisfy the protection level.
Avoid SSDs
OneFS does not write data or metadata to SSDs. OneFS writes all data and
metadata to HDDs only.
Data on SSDs
Similar to metadata acceleration, OneFS creates a mirror backup of file
metadata on an SSD and writes the rest of the metadata plus all user data to
hard disk drives. However, OneFS also writes one copy of the file user data (if
mirrored) or all of the data (if not mirrored) to SSDs. All SSD blocks reside on the
file target pool if there is adequate space available, regardless of whether
global namespace acceleration is enabled. OneFS does not create additional
mirrors beyond the normal protection level.
Actual protection
The FlexProtect or data-mirroring requested protection for this file or directory. If
SmartPools is licensed and enabled on the cluster, the default requested protection
for files and directories is inherited from the specified disk pool.

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I/O Optimization Settings

Settings Management
Specifies whether I/O Optimization Settings are managed manually or by
SmartPools. If you modify either or both I/O optimization settings, this property
automatically refreshes to Manually managed. If you specify Managed by
SmartPools, the I/O optimization settings values will automatically refresh to match
the SmartPools specifications the next time the SmartPools job is run.
SmartCache
Specifies whether write caching with SmartCache is enabled for this file or directory.
Data access pattern
The optimization settings for accessing data. The following data access patterns are
available:
Concurrency
File or directory is optimized to support many clients simultaneously.
Streaming
File or directory is optimized for high-speed streaming of a single file. For
example, this pattern can be useful if a single client needs to read very quickly
from a single file.
Random
File or directory is optimized for unpredictable access.
The default data access pattern of iSCSI LUNs is the random access pattern. The
default data access pattern of other files and directories is the concurrent access
pattern.
UNIX Permissions
User
The owner of the file or directory.
Group
The group of the file or directory.
Permissions
The basic permissions for the file or directory.

File and directory properties

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