HP StorageWorks HP PolyServe Software for Windows File Serving administration guide HP PolyServe Software for Windows File Serving 4.0.
Legal and notice information © Copyright 1999, 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Confidential computer software. Valid license from HP required for possession, use or copying. Consistent with FAR 12.211 and 12.212, Commercial Computer Software, Computer Software Documentation, and Technical Data for Commercial Items are licensed to the U.S. Government under vendor's standard commercial license. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice.
Contents 1 Introduction ...................................................................... 5 Virtual CIFS Servers ............................................................................................. Matrix File Shares ................................................................................................ HP PolyServe Software and legacy client operating systems ...................................... Windows clients .......................................................................
DNS requirement for Virtual CIFS Servers ....................................................... Create a Virtual CIFS Server ............................................................................... Add a Virtual File Share ..................................................................................... Virtual File Share advanced configuration ............................................................. Policy ....................................................................................
1 Introduction The HP PolyServe Software for Windows File Serving (HP PolyServe Software) and HP PolyServe Matrix Server provide scalability and high availability for the Common Internet FileSystem (CIFS). CIFS is a variation of the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. It runs over TCP/IP and is commonly used on Windows systems to share files remotely.
Virtual CIFS Server to one of the backup servers, where it will continue to provide access to the same PSFS filesystem data under the same name/IP-address pair. This deployment method works well with clients running modern Windows operating systems such as Windows XP and Windows 2003. To take advantage of the transparent failover feature, clients must connect to the Virtual CIFS Server using either the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) or the IP address.
PolyServe Software should be deployed with Matrix File Shares, plus DFS for connection load balancing and failover. Many of these clients support the DFS interface; however, some of the operating systems (namely Windows 95/98/ME/NT4, Mac SMB clients, and Linux) require a software update to interoperate with DFS. Windows clients The following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles contain information about the Windows clients. • Windows 95/NT. The Windows 2000 AD/DFS client is recommended.
Mac SMB clients A software update for Mac SMB clients is available at this Web site: www.admitmac.com. Name resolution Virtual CIFS Server deployments work with FQDN (DNS resolution) or IP address, but do not work with NetBIOS name resolution of non-qualified NetBIOS names (including WINS and NetBT broadcasts). If clients will be using non-qualified NetBIOS names, you must use Matrix File Shares and DFS load balancing for high availability, instead of the Virtual CIFS Server deployment method.
2 Configure Matrix File Shares Configuration overview Matrix File Shares are Windows CIFS shares associated with a HP PolyServe Software filesystem health monitor. Clients connect to Matrix File Shares using the network name or IP address of any physical server in the cluster. Each node in the cluster provides access to the same PSFS filesystems through its Matrix File Shares.
Add a Matrix File Share Matrix File Shares should be added via the PolyServe Management Console instead of using a Windows application to create them. When you add a file share with the PolyServe Management Console, a monitor that periodically checks the health of the Matrix File Share is also created. To add a Matrix File Share, select Matrix > Add > Add Matrix File Share on the PolyServe Management Console.
NOTE: You can use the same name for a Matrix File Share and a Virtual File Share. However, if the Matrix File Share and the Virtual CIFS Servers associated with the Virtual File Share are configured on any of the same nodes, the Matrix File Share and the Virtual File Share must be configured identically. If a Matrix File Share and a Virtual File Share have the same name but are configured differently (for example, they point to different paths), share name collisions can occur in failover situations.
the interval of time, in seconds, at which the monitor probes the file share. The default setting is 10 seconds. Servers: Select the servers on which the Matrix File Share should be configured. Using the arrows, move the appropriate servers from the Available Servers column to the Selected Servers column. When you click OK, the Matrix File Share appears on the Servers and Applications tabs on the PolyServe Management Console.
To add a Matrix File Share from the command line, use this command: mx mfs add --path --servers ALL_SERVERS|,,... [arguments] See the HP PolyServe Matrix Server command reference guide for more information about this command. Configure DFS The Microsoft Distributed File System (DFS) can be used in conjunction with HP PolyServe Software to provide high availability failover and load balancing across the nodes in the matrix.
Setup scenario The DFS setup procedure uses this scenario: • A three-node matrix clust[1-3] in the domain data. The two domain controllers are dc[1-2]. These domain controllers are running Windows 2000 (or higher) with Active Directory. • Matrix Server and HP PolyServe Software are installed on nodes clust[1-3] running Windows 2008 SP2 (64-bit) and Matrix Server is started.
1. Open the DFS MMC snap-in under “Administrative Tools.” Create a “domain-based” DFS root, dfsroot, in Active Directory. A DFS root target can be on a PSFS filesystem; however, it must be a different path/share than the link. (When creating the root, you will need to use drive letters; attempts to use mount points will fail.) Then create “root targets” pointing to a CIFS share (for example, Y:\dfsroot shared as \\clust1-3\dfsroot).
Delete a Matrix File Share To remove a Matrix File Share, select it on the Servers or Applications tab, right-click, and select Delete. You can also enter the following at the Command Prompt: mx mfs delete ... Display status The following command displays the status of a Matrix File Share. mx mfs status [arguments] ...
3 Configure Virtual CIFS Servers Configuration overview When CIFS is configured with Matrix Server and HP PolyServe Software, the data to be shared is stored on PSFS clustered filesystems. A set of Virtual File Shares, one per node in the matrix, is typically created for each filesystem. HP PolyServe Software uses “Virtual CIFS Servers” to provide CIFS access to the Virtual File Shares.
If HP PolyServe Software detects that a Virtual File Share can no longer be accessed on the primary node, by default Matrix Server will fail over the associated Virtual CIFS Server to one of the designated backup nodes. Clients then access the Virtual CIFS Server’s Virtual File Shares from that node. Because the files associated with the Virtual File Shares are located on a PSFS cluster filesystem, the backup node can immediately access the data.
Load balancing for a Virtual File Share A Virtual File Share can also be associated with more than one Virtual CIFS Server, enabling load balancing to be used. In the following example, the Virtual File Share sh1 is assigned to the Virtual CIFS Servers VFS1, VFS2, and VFS3. The Virtual File Share is configured identically on each Virtual CIFS Server. Node 1 is primary for Virtual CIFS Server VFS1, node 2 is primary for VFS2, and node 3 is primary for VFS3.
Configuration steps Perform the configuration in this order: • Create PSFS cluster filesystems to store the files that will be shared via CIFS. For each filesystem, you will need to assign a drive letter or path that will be used to access the filesystem. See the HP PolyServe Matrix Server administration guide for details about creating and configuring filesystems. • Create a Virtual CIFS Server, specifying a primary node.
When you plan your configuration, keep in mind that all Virtual File Shares added to a particular Virtual CIFS Server are active on the node where the Virtual CIFS Server is active. Similarly, when the Virtual CIFS Server fails over, those Virtual File Shares become active on the backup node and will be accessed from there. You may want to create multiple Virtual CIFS Servers to spread the CIFS activity across the matrix, taking advantage of the scalability of the PolyServe solution.
Address: Specify either the IP address or the DNS name that will be associated with this Virtual CIFS Server. The DNS name must already be configured in the DNS service. DNS/NetBIOS name: Use this field to specify a DNS/NetBIOS name. The NetBios name is calculated from the DNS name that you enter here. If Dynamic DNS is enabled on the DNS server, HP PolyServe Software will add the DNS name to the DNS service.
• AUTOFAILBACK. This policy is intended to return the Virtual CIFS Server to its original configuration, or as close to it as possible. After the Virtual CIFS Server fails over to a backup node, the ClusterPulse process watches the health of the nodes that are higher in the list of servers configured for that Virtual CIFS Server.
Add a Virtual File Share When you add a Virtual File Share to a Virtual CIFS Server, be sure to use the PolyServe Management Console instead of a Windows application. (If Windows utilities are used to create the Virtual File Shares, they will not fail over.) HP PolyServe Software also creates a service monitor that periodically checks whether the Virtual File Share can be accessed externally.
NOTE: You can use the same share name for Virtual File Shares assigned to different Virtual CIFS Servers. However, if the Virtual CIFS Servers are configured on any of the same nodes, the Virtual File Shares must be configured identically. (In effect, you are assigning the same Virtual File Share to multiple CIFS File Servers, as described in the configuration scenario Load balancing for a Virtual File Share, page 19.
Probe Configuration: The Virtual File Share monitor periodically probes the health of the Virtual File Share on the node where the Virtual CIFS Server is active. The timeout is the maximum amount of time that will be waited for the probe to complete. The default value is five seconds. The frequency is the interval of time, in seconds, at which the monitor probes the Virtual File Share. The default setting is 10 seconds.
The next example shows the Applications tab with two Virtual CIFS Servers and the associated Virtual Files Shares configured across the four servers in the matrix. The Virtual CIFS Servers are assigned to the application Vcifs. To add a Virtual File Share from the command line, use this command: mx vfs_share add --path [arguments] \\\ See the HP PolyServe Matrix Server command reference guide for more information about using this command.
Virtual File Share advanced configuration You can customize the operation of the Virtual File Share monitor by using the Advanced options provided on the Add Virtual File Share window. When you click Advanced, you will see two tabs: Policy and Scripts. Policy The Policy tab lets you specify the failover policy and service priority that will apply to the Virtual File Share monitor.
behavior. There are three settings: NOFAILOVER, AUTORECOVER, and NOAUTORECOVER. NOFAILOVER. When the monitor probe fails, the Virtual CIFS Server does not fail over to a backup node. This option is useful when the monitored resource is not critical, but is important enough that you want to keep a record of its health. To use this option, you must also specify IGNORE as the Event Severity on the Scripts tab. AUTORECOVER.
Script Pathnames: The Virtual File Share monitor can optionally be configured with the following types of scripts: Recovery script. Runs after a monitor probe failure is detected, in an attempt to restore access to the Virtual File Share. Start script. Runs as the Virtual File Share is becoming active on a server. Stop script. Runs as the Virtual File Share is becoming inactive on a server. When a monitor is instantiated, the ClusterPulse process chooses the best node to make the service active.
For example, if the system encounters a problem, the script will fail and exit non-zero. The service could then become active on another node, causing the Stop script to run on the original node even though the Start script did not complete successfully. Use custom scripts to modify start/stop activities The Virtual File Share monitor performs certain starting or stopping activities.
Script ordering Script ordering determines the order in which the Start and Stop scripts are run when a Virtual CIFS Server moves from one node to another. If you do not configure the Virtual File Share monitor with Start and Stop scripts, the script ordering configuration has no effect. There are two settings: SERIAL and PARALLEL. SERIAL. This is the default setting.
Modify the configuration To modify the configuration of a Virtual CIFS Server, select that Virtual CIFS Server on the PolyServe Management Console, right-click, and select either Properties or Rehost. You can add or remove interfaces from the Virtual CIFS Server configuration and can reorder the interfaces. If you designate a new primary interface, the service will automatically be moved to that interface.
mx vfs enable | mx vfs disable | Display status for a Virtual CIFS Server Use the following command to see the status for a Virtual CIFS Server: mx vfs status [arguments] | The arguments are: [--up|--down] [--enabled|--disabled] [--primary|--backup] [--active|--inactive] Virtual File Shares Modify the configuration To change the configuration of a Virtual File Share, select that Virtual File Share on the Servers, Virtual Hosts, or Applications tab, right-click, and sel
You can also enter the following at the Command Prompt: mx vfs_share enable \\\ ... mx vfs_share disable \\\ ...
Configure Virtual CIFS Servers
A Support and other resources HP technical support For worldwide technical support information, see the HP support website: http://www.hp.
Support and other resources
Index M A Applications tab Matrix File Share, 12 Virtual CIFS Server, 27 C clients DNS name resolution, 8 NetBIOS name resolution, 8 operating systems, 6 D DFS, configure, 13 DNS requirement for Virtual CIFS Server, 21 H HP Subscriber's Choice for Business website, 37 HP technical support, 37 HP websites, 37 Matrix File Share add, 10 delete, 16 modify configuration, 15 monitor disable, 16 enable, 16 probe configuration, 11 on Applications tab, 12 overview, 6 user limit, 11 N NetBIOS name resolution, 8
Stop script, 30 T technical support HP, 37 service locator website, 37 V Virtual CIFS Server client requirements, 6 configuration create, 21 delete, 33 modify, 33 planning, 20 disable or enable, 33 DNS requirement, 21 DNS/NetBIOS name, 22 on Applications tab, 27 overview, 5, 17 primary and backup interfaces, 23 status of, 34 Virtual File Share add, 24 client s, 32 configuration modify, 34 delete, 35 failover policy, 28 monitor custom starting/stopping actions, 31 disable, 34 enable, 34 monitor scripts, 29
