Acronis Storage QUICK START GUIDE Revision: 6/17/2016
Table of contents 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................3 2 Acronis Storage basics ......................................................................................................3 3 Acronis Storage redundancy modes ..................................................................................3 4 Server roles ...........................................................................................
1 Introduction Acronis Storage is a cost-efficient software storage solution with cluster-level erasure coding that allows optimal use of raw storage capacity at the highest level of resilience. Acronis Storage is designed to run on commodity hardware, thus eliminating the dependence on expensive, special-purpose hardware. Simplified deployment allows linear growth of system capacity by adding extra drives to the existing nodes; or by adding new nodes via PXE or a special, pre-configured ISO.
The storage can be based on commodity hardware that does not have built-in data redundancy. For hardware that has built-in data redundancy, this mode provides an additional software redundancy layer. At least eight nodes are required. The system can survive a failure of two nodes without data loss. The data redundancy overhead is 40 percent, which means that 1.4 GB of disk space is required to store 1 GB of data.
4 Server roles Acronis Storage is deployed on bare metal. It does not require a general-purpose operating system to run on any of its nodes. The Acronis Storage server roles are assigned to hard disk drives rather than to a node. A drive can be assigned only one role. If a node has more than one disk drive, it can run more than one server role. When a role is assigned to a disk drive, this disk is initialized and all of its data is deleted. 4.
5 Requirements 5.1 Hardware requirements Advanced mode Three nodes for the MDS+STS roles: RAM: 64 GB DDR3 ECC HBA controller for disks (for example LSI 2308 HBA with IT Mode/Pass-through). Use of a RAID controller is not recommended. One network interface with 2-4 bonded (LACP IEEE 802.3ad) 1 Gbps adapters or a 10 Gbps adapter.
The following diagram shows the recommended hardware configuration and role assignment for Acronis Storage in the advanced mode. The software RAID1 array will be automatically created for the MDS roles. Express and Evaluation modes We recommend the following configuration: VMware vSphere 5.1 Six virtual machines in a high-availability setup For each of the virtual machines: 7 CPU: minimum two cores. RAM: minimum 16 GB. Virtual disks: 30GB+ for the MDS and FES roles, 1TB+ for the STS roles.
When creating a virtual machine, set "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (64-bit)" as the operating system. (Installation of the operating system is not required.) The recommended VM configuration and role assignment for the express and evaluation modes are shown in the diagram above (nodes 1-6). 5.2 Network requirements A dedicated private network (VLAN or physical) for the Acronis Storage nodes. One additional IP address for the MGMT component (a unique IP address, not that of an MDS).
The following diagram illustrates the typical network configuration for Acronis Storage. 5.3 Software requirements For the smooth operation of the web console, use one of the following web browsers: 9 Google Chrome 27 or later Mozilla Firefox 20 or later Windows Internet Explorer 10.0 or later Safari 5.
6 Deployment This section describes how to deploy the recommended Acronis Storage configurations presented in "Hardware requirements" (p. 6). The deployment procedures vary for the initial node and the remaining nodes. The first node that you deploy will run the MDS and STS roles. Each role will be installed on a dedicated disk drive. A management component (MGMT) will be installed on the same disk drive with the MDS role.
5. Enter three IP addresses, separated by a space, for the three nodes that will run the MDS role. These must be the addresses within the same subnet of the Acronis Storage private network. 6. Enter an IP address that will be used for the web console access. This must be an address within the Acronis Storage private network. 7. Select the Acronis Storage redundancy mode.
Note We recommend changing the web console access credentials immediately after the first login, in Settings > Access control. 3. Go to the Settings tab. 4. Click Deployment and Expansion. The Acronis Storage nodes can be deployed by using either a PXE server or a special Expansion ISO, which is downloadable from the web interface. 6.2.1 Booting from Expansion ISO To prepare the Expansion ISO: 1. On the Deployment and Expansion tab, click Download Expansion ISO.
1. On the Deployment and Expansion tab, click the Enable button under PXE. Note Acronis Storage PXE does not support failover. If the node with the PXE server goes down, repeat step 1 of this procedure. PXE will be re-initiated on one of the remaining nodes. 2. Reboot the nodes prepared for adding to the Acronis Storage system, and ensure that they have booted from the network. The boot process does not require a user interaction. No data is deleted from the machines during the boot process.
3. Click Activate to complete the setup. To assign the roles to the fourth, the fifth and the sixth nodes The nodes must have an external network interface. 1. Click a node to open its properties. 2. Click Activate Node. The system offers the default role assignment scheme. This scheme has the STS role enabled for every disk. 3. Enable the FES role by clicking FES in the roles section. 4. Specify a network interface and a static IP address in the external network for the FES role. 5.
d. The Acronis Backup Cloud administrator password 4. Click Connect. 5. This instance of Acronis Storage is now connected to Acronis Backup Cloud. To view its status and settings in the Acronis Backup Cloud account management console, select your root group and click the Storage tab. You can create an End-user Company (EUC) and during its creation select the storage as a destination for backups. 8 Updating Acronis Storage 1. Download the latest Acronis Storage ISO file.
9 Changing the redundancy mode It is possible to change the Acronis Storage redundancy mode from Evaluation to Express, and from Express to Advanced. Before changing the redundancy mode, consider the following: Changing the mode causes no storage system downtime. Changing the mode increases the redundancy overhead for the data that is already present in the storage. As a result, the total occupied space will increase. 9.1 1. 2. 3. 4.
On each of the three servers intended for MDS, leave two blank disks. On each of the three servers intended for FES, leave one blank disk. You should now have 14 nodes in your Acronis Storage private network. The following diagram shows the role assignment at this stage. 9.2.2 Migrating the MDS nodes The MDS nodes must be migrated in the following order: 1. Subordinate MDS nodes without the MGMT component. 2. Subordinate MDS node with the MGMT component, if such a node exists.
3. Master MDS node (shown in bold in the Acronis Storage web console). Use the following procedure to migrate the MDS nodes in the order specified above. To migrate an MDS node 1. Ensure that the system is in the System is stable state. If the state is Under risk, wait while the system resolves the redundancy issues. 2. Deactivate one of the virtual MDS nodes: a. Select the node to deactivate. b. Click Deactivate node. 3. Assign the MDS role to the first and the second disks of a physical server.
9.2.4 Selecting the Advanced mode After all nodes are migrated from virtual to physical machines, change the redundancy mode to Advanced. The steps are similar to the ones described in "Evaluation mode to Express mode" (p. 16).
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