Granite Solution Guide - Granite With NetApp Storage Systems

Solution Guide

Granite Solution Guide Granite with NetApp Storage Systems Riverbed Technical Marketing July 2013

Granite – Deployment Guide for NetApp Storage Systems

© 2012 Riverbed Technology. All rights reserved. 1

© 2012 Riverbed Technology. All rights reserved. Riverbed®, Cloud Steelhead®, Granite™, Granite Core™, Granite Edge™, Interceptor®, RiOS®, Steelhead®, Think Fast®, Virtual Steelhead®, Whitewater®, Mazu®, Cascade®, Cascade Pilot™, Shark®, AirPcap®, SkipWare®, TurboCap®, WinPcap®, Wireshark®, and Stingray™ are trademarks or registered trademarks of Riverbed Technology, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Riverbed and any Riverbed product or service name or logo used herein are trademarks of Riverbed Technology. All other trademarks used herein belong to their respective owners. The trademarks and logos displayed herein cannot be used without the prior written consent of Riverbed Technology or their respective owners. Akamai® and the Akamai wave logo are registered trademarks of Akamai Technologies, Inc. SureRoute is a service mark of Akamai. Apple and Mac are registered trademarks of Apple, Incorporated in the United States and in other countries. Cisco is a registered trademark of Cisco Systems, Inc. and its affiliates in the United States and in other countries. EMC, Symmetrix, and SRDF are registered trademarks of EMC Corporation and its affiliates in the United States and in other countries. IBM, iSeries, and AS/400 are registered trademarks of IBM Corporation and its affiliates in the United States and in other countries. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States and in other countries. Microsoft, Windows, Vista, Outlook, and Internet Explorer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and in other countries. Oracle and JInitiator are trademarks or registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation in the United States and in other countries. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and in other countries, exclusively licensed through X/Open Company, Ltd. VMware, ESX, ESXi are trademarks or registered trademarks of VMware, Incorporated in the United States and in other countries.



Table of Contents

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 3 Audience ......................................................................................................................................................... 3 Additional Resources ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Granite Overview ............................................................................................................................................ 4 NetApp Storage Concepts Review ................................................................................................................ 5 Deployment Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................. 6 Overview .......................................................................................................................................................... 6 Deployment Steps .......................................................................................................................................... 7 Verify if iSCSI is enabled on the NetApp storage system ................................................................................................. 7 Enable iSCSI on the NetApp storage system ................................................................................................................... 7 Verify if the NetApp storage system is configured for jumbo frames ................................................................................ 9 Enable jumbo frames on Granite Core appliance ........................................................................................................... 10 Configure an initiator group for the Granite Core appliance on the NetApp storage system .......................................... 11 Map the Granite Core Initiator Group to the NetApp iSCSI LUN .................................................................................... 13 Import the iSCSI LUN to Granite Core and export the LUN to the Granite Edge ........................................................... 15 Configure an initiator group for Branch Servers on the Granite Core ............................................................................. 21 Enable Snapshot Support for VSS-based Backup Applications ............................................................. 25 NetApp storage system configuration ............................................................................................................................. 25 Granite Core appliance configuration ............................................................................................................................. 26 Windows 2008 Server Configuration .............................................................................................................................. 28 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................... 29 About Riverbed ............................................................................................................................................. 29



Introduction This paper details the steps to deploy Riverbed® Granite™ appliances with an existing NetApp storage system in order to expose one or more iSCSI LUNs to a Remote / Branch Office. After completing the steps in this guide, the iSCSI LUNs can then be attached to the desired systems through normal attach procedures in the operating system or device.

Audience This paper is written for storage and network administrators familiar with administering and managing distributed office environments using common network and storage protocols such as iSCSI, SCSI, TCP, CIFS, HTTP, FTP, and NFS. You must also be familiar with:

• NetApp Storage System management interface. • Riverbed Steelhead® management interface. • Riverbed Steelhead appliance installation and configuration process

Additional Resources For a complete list and the most current version of Riverbed documentation log in to the Riverbed support website: https://support.riverbed.com. The Riverbed Knowledge Base is a database of known issues, how-to documents, system requirements, and common error messages. You can browse titles or search for key words and strings. To access the Riverbed Knowledge Base, log in to the Riverbed support site located at https://support.riverbed.com.



Granite Overview Granite products enable users and applications in branch office locations to write to and access centrally managed storage while maintaining local disk performance. By accelerating branch access to data center deployed Storage Area Networks (SANs), IT organizations no longer need to provision and maintain dedicated storage resources in branch offices. The Granite solution is deployed in conjunction with Steelhead appliances and consists of two components:

• Granite Core – a physical or virtual appliance that resides in the data center alongside centralized storage

• Granite Edge – a module that runs on a Steelhead EX appliance in the branch office Granite Core mounts iSCSI LUNs provisioned in the data center and shares the storage resources with branch offices running the Granite Edge module. Granite Edge virtually presents one or more iSCSI targets in the branch which can be utilized by services and systems running both within the Riverbed Virtual Services Platform (VSP) as well as externally to the Steelhead EX appliance. Granite Core inspects mounted file systems and is able to proactively stream data to the branch locations utilizing innovative block-level prediction algorithms. This industry-first capability allows data from centralized storage to be available wherever and whenever it is needed. Through asynchronous block-based write acceleration, Granite Edge ensures that data created in branch office locations is securely stored in the data center.

Figure 1: Granite Core and Granite Edge high level network topology



NetApp Storage Concepts Review A NetApp storage system serves storage over the network using file-based protocols such as NFS and CIFS, and block-based protocols such as FCP and iSCSI. Block-based protocols are provided to support applications that can't write data to CIFS or NFS shares but instead need local block storage. Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server are two examples of these applications. How is it possible to make remote storage look like an internal hard drive? The answer is using block-based protocols like Fibre Channel and iSCSI. When the storage is served using block-based protocols NetApp presents it as logical unit numbers (LUNs). File systems and databases, like for local hard drives, can make normal SCSI commands against LUNs. The SCSI commands get encapsulated in iSCSI and are sent across the network to the NetApp storage system. In NetApp, LUNs are built within a volume, which in turn is built within an aggregate, which consists of one or more RAID groups, a shown in Figure 2na.

Figure 2: NetApp storage layers



Deployment Prerequisites • A NetApp storage system with a valid iSCSI license. • A NetApp storage system with a valid FlexClone license, if the user intends on taking application

consistent snapshots on the NetApp storage system via Granite appliances. (This prerequisite is required only if Granite Core is running software version 1.0.1 or later).

• An available LUN built on a FlexVol volume on the NetApp storage system. • Administrator access to the NetApp storage system and Granite appliances to make changes such as

enabling iSCSI, adding initiator groups, etc. • Granite Core and Granite Edge appliances installed and powered up.

Overview The steps that will be followed to add Granite appliances to an existing NetApp storage system are: 1. Verify if iSCSI is enabled on the NetApp storage system

a. Enable iSCSI on the NetApp storage system 2. Verify if the NetApp storage system is configured for jumbo frames

a. Enable jumbo frames on Granite Core 3. Configure an initiator group for Granite Core appliance on the NetApp storage system 4. Map the Granite Core initiator group to the NetApp iSCSI LUN 5. Import the NetApp iSCSI LUN to Granite Core and export it to the Granite Edge 6. Configure an initiator group for branch servers on the Granite Core



Deployment Steps Verify if iSCSI is enabled on the NetApp storage system Verify if iSCSI is enabled in the LUNs > Enable/Disable page of the NetApp storage web user interface. Choose LUNs > Enable/Disable to display the Enable/Disable page, as shown in Figure .

Figure 3: iSCSI Enable/Disable page

Enable iSCSI on the NetApp storage system If iSCSI is not enabled, enable it by clicking on the Enable checkbox, as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: How to enable iSCSI The iSCSI service can only be enabled if a valid iSCSI license installed on the storage system. If the enable step fails, verify that the license was applied through Manage Licenses in the left menu of the NetApp storage system web user interface. Choose Storage System > Manage Licenses to display the Licenses page, as shown in Figure .

Figure 5: Licenses page



Verify that iSCSI service is running in the LUNs > iSCSI > Report page of the NetApp storage system web user interface. Choose LUNs > iSCSI > Report to display the Report page, as shown in Figure . Note: Pay attention to the target nodename, and the TCP port used to carry iSCSI traffic.

Figure 6: Report page



Verify if the NetApp storage system is configured for jumbo frames A best practice for iSCSI is to use jumbo frames. This provides the best performance for larger transfer sizes. Note: All devices, including switches, between Granite Core appliance and the NetApp storage system

must be configured to the same jumbo frame size. To verify if NetApp has been configured for jumbo frames select Manage Interfaces under Network from the left menu of NetApp web user interface select Modify to view or change the parameters of the interface as shown in Figure .

Figure 7: Networking page Interface e0a shows that jumbo frames are enabled, as the value set is greater than the default of 1500 bytes, as shown in Figure .

Figure 8: Jumbo frames page Note: 9000 bytes is the recommended value for iSCSI traffic.



Enable jumbo frames on Granite Core appliance To enable jumbo frames on Granite Core select Configure > Networking > Manage Interfaces and enter the NetApp maximum transmission unit (MTU) size value (In this example: 9000) in the MTU field of the interface that is connected to the NetApp storage system as shown in Figure .

Figure 9: Granite jumbo frames page



Configure an initiator group for the Granite Core appliance on the NetApp storage system In a NetApp storage system for a LUN to be activated and made accessible to servers, it must be associated to an initiator group. Initiator groups are a way for storage administrators to group LUNs according to the parameters of the environments or servers they serve. When deploying the Granite solution with NetApp, the servers at the branch office will not access the LUN directly but instead will access it via Granite hence the Granite Core IQN node name (not the IQNs of the individual servers that will access the LUN at the branch office) must be entered in the Initiator Group properties. Note: At the iSCSI level, Granite Core is an iSCSI initiator and the NetApp storage system is an iSCSI

target. To create an initiator group, from the left menu in the NetApp storage web user interface select LUNs > Initiator Groups > Add to open the Add Initiator Group window as shown in Figure .

Figure 10: Initiator Group page Name the initiator group, choose iSCSI in the type field, choose the OS type of the operating system that eventually is going to use the LUN, and insert the Granite Core IQN node name. Click on the Add button to complete, as shown in Figure .

Figure 11: Initiator Group page with values



Verify the Granite Core IQN node name in the Configure > Storage > iSCSI Configuration page of the Granite Core appliance web user interface a shown in Figure .

Figure 12: Granite Core initiator name Note: The Granite Core default IQN node name is iqn.2003-10.com.riverbed:GraniteCore



Map the Granite Core Initiator Group to the NetApp iSCSI LUN Next, associate the Granite Core initiator group to the previously created and available iSCSI LUN. Choose LUNs > Manage to display the LUNs configuration page and click on No Maps next to the LUN that you wish to associate with Granite Core as shown in Figure .

Figure 13: Manage LUNs page The LUN Map window opens. Select [Add Groups to Map] as shown in Figure .

Figure 14: LUN Map page The LUN Map Add Groups window opens. Select the previously created Granite iSCSI initiator group and select Add as shown in Figure .

Figure 15: LUN Map Add Groups page



Create a LUN ID number. If left blank, the system will automatically create one. Select Apply as shown in Figure .

Figure 16: LUN ID page Verify the LUN creation in the LUNs > Manage LUNs window, as shown in Figure . A refresh may be necessary.

Figure 17: LUN Masking verification page Now that the LUN is created, move back to the Granite Core appliance web user interface and add the imported drive.



Import the iSCSI LUN to Granite Core and export the LUN to the Granite Edge Open the Configure menu from the top menu of the Granite Core web user interface and select Setup Wizard to open the wizard as shown in Figure 18:.

Figure 18: Granite setup wizard On the welcome page select LUN Mapping to open the LUN mapping wizard as shown in Figure .

Figure 19: Welcome page



Enter the IP address for the NetApp iSCSI interface and select Next as shown in Figure .

Figure 20: Portal configuration page The NetApp storage system iSCSI Target should now be present in the Manage Targets window. Select the node name and select Next as shown in Figure 21:.

Figure 21: Target configuration page



The discovered LUN serial numbers should now be present in the Mount LUNs window. Select the LUN you wish to export to the branch office and select Next as shown in Figure .

Figure 22: Mount LUNs page Note: Verify the NetApp LUN serial number in the Modify LUN page, as shown in Figure .

Figure 23: LUN serial number



Select the Granite Edge appliance you would like to export the LUN to and select Next, as shown in Figure .

Figure 24: Granite Edge mapping page Note: Determine the Granite Edge Identifier in the Configure > Branch Services > Branch Storage Configuration page of the Granite Edge appliance web user interface as shown in Figure .

Figure 25: Granite Edge Identifier



The NetApp storage system LUN serial number should now be present in the Map LUNs to Edge window. Select the LUN serial number and select Next to map this iSCSI LUN to the remote Granite Edge appliance as shown in Figure 26:.

Figure 26: Map LUNs page You have completed the LUN Mapping. Select Exit to finish as shown in Figure .

Figure 27: Exit page



Next, verify that the LUN has been exported to the Granite Edge appliance by navigating to the Configure > Branch Services > Branch Storage configuration page of the Granite Edge appliance web user interface as shown in Figure .

Figure 28: Granite Edge LUNs page



Configure an initiator group for Branch Servers on the Granite Core Similar to the NetApp storage system, Granite appliances also implement the concept of initiator groups. By default the exported LUNs are not associated to any initiator or initiator group, as shown in Figure 29:

Figure 29: Default initiator and initiator group configuration



Configure initiators and initiator groups in the Configure > Storage > Granite Edges configuration page of the Granite Core appliance web user interface. Select the Granite Edge appliance for which you would like to configure initiators groups, select Initiators, select Add an Initiator, enter the initiator IQN or EUI number and select New Group as shown in Figure . Note: Refer to documentation from the server vendor that will act as the iSCSI initiator for determining the

IQN or EUI number

Figure 30: Granite Initiator page Enter a new Group Name and select Add as shown in Figure .

Figure 31: Add Group dialog



Complete the procedure by selecting Add Initiator as shown in Figure .

Figure 32: Add Initiator page Select LUNs and select the NetApp LUN that you would like to configure with the initiator group created above. By default none of the groups and none of the initiators are allowed to access this LUN. Select Edit to remove the None initiator group from the Groups Granted Access section and add the newly created initiator group from above as shown in Figure .

Figure 33: Granite LUN masking page



Select the initiator group from the Not Granted box and select Add to add it to the Groups Granted Access box as shown in Figure .

Figure 34: Add initiator group Verify that the new initiator group is now under the Group Granted Access box and the default all initiator group is still under the Not Granted box as shown in Figure .

Figure 35: Verify initiator groups To instead allow all initiators at the branch office to access the LUN, add the default all initiator group to the Group Granted Access box, as shown in Figure .

Figure 36: Access to all initiators



Enable Snapshot Support for VSS-based Backup Applications To produce application consistent snapshots on a NetApp LUN exported at the branch office via the Granite solution, you need to configure the NetApp storage system, the Granite Core appliance and install the Riverbed Hardware Snapshot Provider (RHSP) on the Windows Server as described in the following section.

NetApp storage system configuration In the NetApp storage system create a user with the rights to take and expose snapshots. To add snapshot capabilities to a role enter: useradmin role add role_name -a api-system-get-version,cli-snap*,login-http-admin,api-lun-list-info,api-license-list-info,api-snapshot-create,api-snapshot-delete,api-volume-clone-create,api-lun-map,api-lun-online,api-volume-offline,api-volume-destroy. You also need to allow the Granite Core appliance to connect to the NetApp storage system by executing the command options httpd.admin.hostsequiv.enable yes and by adding the Granite Core Hostname or IP address to the hosts.equiv file. For more information consult the NetApp storage system user manual.

Note: Granite utilizes NetApp FlexClone technology to create point-in-time copies of the LUNs. FlexClone technology enables multiple, instant data set clones with no storage overhead, in other words without unnecessary duplication or waste of physical space.



Granite Core appliance configuration In the Granite Core appliance management console add a new snapshot configuration by selecting the Add new Snapshot Configuration in the Targets section of the Configure > Storage > iSCSI Configuration page, a shown in Figure .

Figure 37 Add new Snapshot Configuration Enter the Hostname or IP address of the NetApp storage system and the username and password of the user in the group for which you just enabled a role with snapshot capabilities. In the Type dropdown button select NetApp, as show in Figure .



Figure 38: Configuration credentials Map the LUN to a Granite Edge appliance and verify that Snapshot Status changes from Snapshots Disabled to Ready, as shown in Figure .

Figure 39: Snapshot Ready



Windows 2008 Server Configuration Install the Riverbed Hardware Snapshot Provider on the branch office Windows 2008 physical or virtual machine that is mounting the remote LUN, as shown in Figure .

Figure 40: Install Riverbed Hardware Provider Verify that the Riverbed Hardware Snapshot Provider is installed and registered by executing the list providers command from the diskshadow utility, as show in Figure .

Figure 41: Verify Riverbed Snapshot Hardware Provider install It is now possible to trigger application consistent snapshots at the branch office on the exported LUNs using the Microsoft Windows Diskshadow utility. For more information on how to perform backup and recovery please see the Granite Data Protection and Recovery Guide.



Conclusion Riverbed continues to help organizations gain better control over their IT infrastructures and consolidate more to lower costs and risks without impacting the performance required to ensure user productivity in branch offices. With Granite products, Riverbed enables a global storage infrastructure by intelligently accelerating storage protocols across the WAN, enabling new efficiency with data management, protection, and recovery while ensuring performance a the edge. With Granite solutions, organizations can: • Reduce costs by eliminating storage from branch offices • Improve management efficiency as maintenance and backup can take place at the data center • Recover faster and more effectively since the data is stored centrally, protected more frequently, and

can be streamed to the branch office as needed • Improve security of data assets via centralization and state-of-the-art encryption capabilities

About Riverbed Riverbed delivers performance for the globally connected enterprise. With Riverbed, enterprises can successfully and intelligently implement strategic initiatives such as virtualization, consolidation, cloud computing, and disaster recovery without fear of compromising performance. By giving enterprises the platform they need to understand, optimize and consolidate their IT, Riverbed helps enterprises to build a fast, fluid and dynamic IT architecture that aligns with the business needs of the organization. Additional information about Riverbed (NASDAQ: RVBD) is available at www.riverbed.com.

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Granite Solution Guide - Granite With NetApp Storage Systems

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