Instruction Manual
Table Of Contents
- Dell FluidFS V3 NAS Solutions For PowerVault NX3500, NX3600, And NX3610 Administrator's Guide
- Introduction
- How PowerVault FluidFS NAS Works
- FluidFS Terminology
- Key Features Of PowerVault FluidFS Systems
- Overview Of PowerVault FluidFS Systems
- PowerVault FluidFS Architecture
- Data Caching And Redundancy
- File Metadata Protection
- High Availability And Load Balancing
- Ports Used by the FluidFS System
- Other Information You May Need
- Upgrading to FluidFS Version 3
- FluidFS Manager User Interface Overview
- FluidFS 3.0 System Management
- Connecting to the FluidFS Cluster
- Managing Secured Management
- Adding a Secured Management Subnet
- Changing the Netmask for the Secured Management Subnet
- Changing the VLAN ID for the Secured Management Subnet
- Changing the VIP for the Secured Management Subnet
- Changing the NAS Controller IP Addresses for the Secured Management Subnet
- Deleting the Secured Management Subnet
- Enabling Secured Management
- Disabling Secured Management
- Managing the FluidFS Cluster Name
- Managing Licensing
- Managing the System Time
- Managing the FTP Server
- Managing SNMP
- Managing the Health Scan Throttling Mode
- Managing the Operation Mode
- Managing Client Connections
- Displaying the Distribution of Clients between NAS Controllers
- Viewing Clients Assigned to a NAS Controller
- Assigning a Client to a NAS Controller
- Unassigning a Client from a NAS Controller
- Manually Migrating Clients to another NAS Controller
- Failing Back Clients to Their Assigned NAS Controller
- Rebalancing Client Connections across NAS Controllers
- Shutting Down and Restarting NAS Controllers
- Managing NAS Appliance and NAS Controller
- FluidFS 3.0 Networking
- Managing the Default Gateway
- Managing DNS Servers and Suffixes
- Managing Static Routes
- Managing the Internal Network
- Managing the Client Networks
- Viewing the Client Networks
- Creating a Client Network
- Changing the Netmask for a Client Network
- Changing the VLAN Tag for a Client Network
- Changing the Client VIPs for a Client Network
- Changing the NAS Controller IP Addresses for a Client Network
- Deleting a Client Network
- Viewing the Client Network MTU
- Changing the Client Network MTU
- Viewing the Client Network Bonding Mode
- Changing the Client Network Bonding Mode
- Managing SAN Fabrics
- FluidFS 3.0 Account Management And Authentication
- Account Management and Authentication
- Default Administrative Accounts
- Default Local User and Local Group Accounts
- Managing Administrator Accounts
- Managing Local Users
- Managing Password Age and Expiration
- Managing Local Groups
- Managing Active Directory
- Managing LDAP
- Managing NIS
- Managing User Mappings between Windows and UNIX/Linux Users
- FluidFS 3.0 NAS Volumes, Shares, and Exports
- Managing the NAS Pool
- Managing NAS Volumes
- File Security Styles
- Thin and Thick Provisioning for NAS Volumes
- Choosing a Strategy for NAS Volume Creation
- Example NAS Volume Creation Scenarios
- NAS Volumes Storage Space Terminology
- Configuring NAS Volumes
- Cloning a NAS Volume
- NAS Volume Clone Defaults
- NAS Volume Clone Restrictions
- Managing NAS Volume Clones
- Managing CIFS Shares
- Managing NFS Exports
- Managing Quota Rules
- Viewing Quota Rules for a NAS Volume
- Setting the Default Quota per User
- Setting the Default Quota per Group
- Adding a Quota Rule for a Specific User
- Adding a Quota Rule for Each User in a Specific Group
- Adding a Quota Rule for an Entire Group
- Changing the Soft Quota or Hard Quota for a User or Group
- Enabling or Disabling the Soft Quota or Hard Quota for a User or Group
- Deleting a User or Group Quota Rule
- Managing Data Reduction
- FluidFS 3.0 Data Protection
- FluidFS 3.0 Monitoring
- FluidFS 3.0 Maintenance
- Troubleshooting
- Getting Help
MD System
The PowerVault MD array provides the storage capacity for NAS; the NX36x0 cannot be used as a stand‐
alone NAS appliance. The MD array eliminates the need for separate storage capacity for block and file
storage.
SAN Network
The NX36x0 shares a back‐end infrastructure with the MD array. The SAN network connects the NX36x0
to the MD system and carries the block level traffic. The NX36x0 communicates with the MD system
using the iSCSI protocol.
Internal Network
The internal network is used for communication between NAS controllers. Each of the NAS controllers in
the FluidFS system must have access to all other NAS controllers in the FluidFS system to achieve the
following goals:
• Provide connectivity for FluidFS system creation
• Act as a heartbeat mechanism to maintain high availability
• Enable internal data transfer between NAS controller
• Enable cache mirroring between NAS controllers
• Enable balanced client distribution between NAS controllers
Data Caching And Redundancy
New or modified file blocks are first written to a local cache, and then immediately mirrored to the peer
NAS controller (mirroring mode). Data caching provides high performance, while cache mirroring
between peer NAS controllers ensures data redundancy. Cache data is ultimately (and asynchronously)
transferred to permanent storage using optimized data‐placement schemes.
When cache mirroring is not possible, such as during a single NAS controller failure or when the BPS
battery status is low, NAS controllers write directly to storage (journaling mode).
File Metadata Protection
File metadata includes information such as name, owner, permissions, date created, date modified, and a
soft link to the file’s storage location.
The FluidFS system has several built‐in measures to store and protect file metadata:
• Metadata is managed through a separate caching scheme and replicated on two separate volumes.
• Metadata is check-summed to protect file and directory structure.
• All metadata updates are journaled to storage to avoid potential corruption or data loss in the event of
a power failure.
• There is a background process that continuously checks and fixes incorrect checksums.
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