Tag Archives: cdot

My response to an article about 451 Research SAN/Cloud

Honestly, I have a strong dislike for researcher analyst firms. (Gartner / Magic Quadrant especially) Most are so far removed from what they claim to rate and research that they don’t have a clue what they are talking about.

Metrics can be skewed any way you please, to favor income sources as you see fit.

This reply is not against Phil Wainewright or his comments on the 451 study, but the lack of vision and visibility the analyst firm put on Netapp’s positioning of their [poorly named] Data Fabric.

Pasting it here to save it.

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Convert Netapp body.7z to old style ASUP for ConfigAdvisor offline

I made a little script last year to help me with a customer issue, and I had forgotten about it until I ran into the same problem.

The script converts the extracted TXT and XML files from the autosupport mail body.7z into the old format for use with Config Advisor.

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Netapp 7m Exports to cDot Export Policy convert script

A coworker asked me is I could whip up a script to convert hundreds of lines large 7-mode /etc/exports files into Clustered Mode Export Policies and client rules.

No problem. Nothing is too hard for some ugly bash scripting.

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VMware NFS Datastore creation failure w/ OnTap 8.3 (aka NIS needs to die!)

You’ve created datastores in VMware a thousand times before. This time is different. This time it failed to make it. You had just upgraded or installed a fresh shiny new Netapp OnTap clustered mode 8.3 system!

It doesn’t matter if you did it manually, or did it with VSC (Netapp’s Virtual Storage Console). It still failed to create.
NIS domain services could be messing you up!

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My NS0-504 Study Notes – 2 SCALABLE SAN IMPLEMENTATION PLAN CREATION

Please click here to goto the main NS0-504 Study Notes blog post to see all sections and additional information

2. SCALABLE SAN IMPLEMENTATION PLAN CREATION

2.1 Verify and plan for dual power feeds for all components.

  • DUAL is the key word
    • Dual Feeds
    • Dual PDUs
    • Dual Power Supplies
  • Controllers and shelves all have dual power supplies. Power should be plugged into A and B circuits. Each leg of power should be able to handle the load of the entire environment (N+N)
  • Refer to Site Requirements Guide for more information, and power/temp specs.
  • Verify that Controllers/Shelves were ordered with the proper plug style for your nation/voltage/outlet.  (For example NEMA L5-20  vs IEC c13-c14. See common cable types here. )

2.2 Be able to create cabinet diagrams or be able to read and interpret a cabinet diagram. Diagrams should include the cabinet’s storage systems and switches with all connections shown.

  • Core info
    • Rack Location
    • Cabinet U positions of servers
    • Switch Placement
  • Utilize Visio or NetApp Synergy to mock of the layout and available space.
  • If they show exact ports to exact switches, keep an eye on what may be trunked, that FC isnt plugged into the wrong ports, etc.

 

2.3 Create a connectivity diagram. Be able to read and interpret a connectivity diagram.

  • Fibre Channel
    • Port names/Locations
      • Initiator vs Target port setting
      • FC vs UTA
    • FC Switch port connectivity
      • WWPN
      • Port Locations
      • Host name, Zone name, Aliases
  • IP
    • Switch name / port
    • VLANs
    • Trunks / LACP
    • VIF names
  • See section 3 for more detailed information

 

2.4 Plan storage controller configuration.

  •  Important details
    • Cluster naming, automatic node names vs manually “renamed”
    • SVMs youll need, protocols they will use
    • DNS Server, default domains

2.5 Plan host configuration.

  • Protocols needed?
  • Multipathing software installed?
  • Snapdrive and Host Utilities installed (FC or iSCSI)?
  • Verify paths
  • HBAnywhere (Emulex) or SANsurfer (Qlogic) for FC installed?

2.6 Create a Snapshot plan.

  • What’s the customers RPO (Recovery Point Objective)?
    • It is the maximum tolerable period in which data might be lost from an IT service due to a major incident. The RPO gives systems designers a limit to work to. (Wikipedia)
  • What’s the customers RTO (Recovery Time Objective)?
    • The targeted duration of time and a service level within which a business process must be restored after a disaster (or disruption) in order to avoid unacceptable consequences associated with a break in business continuity. (Wikipedia)
  • Expected Space Reservations needed?
    • What’s the expected rate of change?  Plan for the needed space withing the volumes for this X the number of snapshots

 

2.7 Plan Ethernet switch configuration.

  • Remember- at least 2 different types of switches
    • Management
      • Flat lights out management switch config. Single vlan. (See section 3 for example)
    • Cluster Interconnect
      • These have specific configurations based on the number of cluster nodes. (See section 3 for example)
    • Data (management may be on these normal switches)
      • VLANs needed?  Any routing?
        • iSCSI
        • NFS
        • Management / iLO?
        • User desktops
        • Servers (Web/App/DB tiers)
      • MTU?
        • Jumbo: 9000 MTU?  (needed for FCoE)
        • Normal: 1500 MTU?
      • QoS?

 

2.8 Plan zoning configuration.

2.9 Plan iSCSI configuration.

  •  Gather all IQNs, which iGroups will they belong to?
  • Add multiple IP addresses, one for each LIF to the discovery and static bindings
  • Enable MCS (Multiple Connections per Session)
  • iSCSI boot from SAN needed? (May influence dynamic vs static persistence in iSCSI discovery, and also host LUN IDs used)
  • Use VLANs to ISOLATE Traffic!
  • CHAP or IPSEC needed?

 

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My NS0-504 NCIE-SAN Cluster Mode Study Notes

I need to renew my NCIE-SAN Cluster Mode NS0-504 this year, so I figure NetApp Insight 2014 is the place to do it. Why? Because it’s free Yo!

Much of this I already know, but to error on the side of caution, and not be too overconfident, I will be stepping through as many of the Study Guide lists as possible. Doing some hands on examples.

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Quick Powershell: Creating cDot vServer templates in my lab.

I needed to create ALOT of vservers in my lab based off of engineer phone extensions.

Engineers have 3 digit extensions, 123 for example. All engineers have extensions between 192-254 so this works as a lazy mans tool.

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NetApp Cluster Mode TMP Volume type? Huh?

Late last night I was working on a very large CIFS and NFS migration for a customer. This was the culmination of a dual site FAS2050 7mode to FAS3220 cDot upgrade path.

I had originally planned on using the 7mTT (7-mode Transition Tool) to automate this migration. I went through the 7mTT install, core setup, and even planned a few volumes to be migrated by it.

Mid project, I decided against the 7mTT to do it manually. Though, many TMP type volumes were left around.

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Quick Tip: NetApp DataOnTap Powershell Toolkit + cDot Snapshots

Just had someone ask me how they can delete all snapshots on a volume in cdot without being prompted for each snapshot to authorize it.

I told them powershell. Here’s a quick illustration of how to do it.

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NDMPCOPY on NetApp 8.2.x Cluster Mode

So, I have a customer who I need to move 3 “boot from iscsi san” luns from a Netapp OnTap 8.2 Cluster Mode vServer shared with regular iscsi luns, to their own dedicated vserver. How do you easily move between vservers? NDMPCOPY!

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