Prerequisites

There are several hardware and software prerequisites that must be confirmed before installing SAN File System.

Prerequisites

Before installing SAN File System, there are hardware and software prerequisites that must be provided. Lists of requirements and considerations follow:

  • Requirements
    • No software may be installed on the metadata servers or the master console that is not part of the preinstalled SAN File System software except for antivirus packages and Virtual Network Computing (VNC). (There is no antivirus requirement for Metadata servers.
    • The SAN configuration should not have a single point of failure. This means that connectivity should be planned to ensure that the loss of an HBA, switch, GBIC, fibre cable, or storage controller can not cause complete loss of connectivity of SAN File System with the storage subsystem.
    • SAN File System metadata servers must have access to all data and metadata LUNs.
    • Separate fabrics should be used for metadata server connectivity. By creating two distinct, non-overlapping paths from each metadata server to storage, more LUNs are possible. If the paths are connected using the same fabric, intra-fabric path overlap would cause four or more paths to be seen by the metadata server, cutting in half the number of useable LUNs.
    • The SAN File System clients must have access to all data LUNs and must be prevented from having access to metadata LUNs.
    • Data LUNs must be able to be shared among hosts that are based on different operating systems.
    • SAN File System metadata server traffic between the SAN network and the storage array must be segregated from the SAN File System client traffic traveling that same path.
    • HBAs for both clients and servers must be isolated from each other to avoid problems associated with them logging in as both hosts and targets.
    • SAN File System fabrics should be isolated from non-SAN File System fabrics on which administrative activities could occur. Administrative activities on switches can affect all users of a switch, even if proper hard zones are present.
  • Considerations
    • Client software requirements
    • Number of clients
    • Number of engines per file system
    • Number of file systems per client
    • Size and number of LUNs
    • LDAP server requirements
    • Network requirements, type and connectivity
    • SAN attachment requirements
    • NFS requirements
    • Supported disk subsystems
    • Supported client hardware
    • Application requirements
    • Maximum file size
    • Maximum number of files
  • Additional recommendations
    • Client-cluster and intra-cluster comunication traffic are expected to be on the customer LAN.
    • All nodes must be on the same physical network.
    • All hardware engines are expected to be on the same physical network.
    • If multiple subnets are configured on the physical network, it is recommended that all nodes be on the same subnet.
    • The Remote Supervisory Adapter (RSA II) card network port is expected to be on the same physical network.
    • It is recommended that routers and gateways not exist between the clients and the SAN File System server.

Parent topic: Reference

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