isilon-vsphere5-deployment_2.pdf

Deployment and Configuration Guide

Abstract

This Guide provides procedures and processes for preparing, deploying, and managing a VMware vSphere 5 virtual data center on a foundation of EMC Isilon Scale-out storage. Installation and configuration steps for leveraging integration features between vSphere and the Isilon OneFS operating system are included. This Guide will assist users in optimizing performance and availability on an EMC Isilon-based vSphere virtual data center. January 2013

EMC ISILON SCALE-OUT STORAGE WITH VMWARE VSPHERE 5 Configuring and managing VMware vSphere integration with EMC Isilon storage

2 EMC Isilon Scale-Out Storage and VMware vSphere 5 Deployment and Configuration Guide

Copyright © 2013 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. The information is subject to change without notice. The information in this publication is provided “as is.” EMC Corporation makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the information in this publication, and specifically disclaims implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in this publication requires an applicable software license. For the most up-to-date listing of EMC product names, see EMC Corporation Trademarks on EMC.com. VMware and ESXi, vCenter, VMDK, VMFS, vMotion, and vSphere are the registered trademarks of VMware, Inc., in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. Part Number h10554.4


Table of Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................... 4 About this guide ............................................................................................ 4 Scope ........................................................................................................... 4 Intended audience ......................................................................................... 5 Assumptions ................................................................................................. 5 Prerequisites ................................................................................................. 5 Revision summary ......................................................................................... 6

Isilon cluster configuration for NFS datastores .............................................. 7 Creating and editing NFS exports ..................................................................... 7 Optimizing VM performance in OneFS using SmartPools ...................................... 8

Configuring VAAI NAS integration ................................................................ 11 Installing the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin .................................................. 11 Creating a vCenter Update Manager baseline .................................................. 13 Creating a baseline group in VUM .................................................................. 16 Using the baseline group to install the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin on ESXi .... 18 Enabling host-to-storage-cluster authentication ............................................... 24

Configuring Isilon VASA integration with vSphere ....................................... 25 Enabling the VASA Provider daemon on an EMC Isilon storage cluster ................ 25 Downloading a digital certificate from the EMC Isilon storage cluster .................. 26 Registering the EMC Isilon VASA Provider in vCenter ........................................ 28 Managing storage capabilities in vCenter ........................................................ 31

Deploying the EMC Isilon vCenter Plugin ...................................................... 35 Installing the EMC Isilon virtual appliance ....................................................... 35 Configuring the EMC Isilon virtual appliance .................................................... 36 Add the vCenter server to the EMC Isilon for vCenter plugin .............................. 37 Enable and add EMC Isilon storage clusters to the vCenter plugin ...................... 38

To enable the EMC Isilon plugin in the vSphere client .................................... 38 Add an Isilon storage cluster to vCenter using the plugin ............................... 38

Using SyncIQ................................................................................................ 39 Restoring virtual machines from SyncIQ replication sets ................................... 39 Performance tuning for SyncIQ replication jobs ............................................... 40

Conclusion .................................................................................................... 41 References ................................................................................................... 41

Additional resources ..................................................................................... 41 VMware vSphere documentation: ............................................................... 41 EMC Isilon storage configuration and other supporting documentation: ........... 42 EMC Isilon vSphere 5 documentation .......................................................... 42

About EMC .................................................................................................... 42


Introduction This Guide provides specific information, including processes and procedures, for configuring an EMC® Isilon® storage cluster with version 7.0 or higher of the EMC Isilon OneFS® operating system to support a VMware vSphere v5 environment. It is intended to serve as a companion document to the EMC Isilon Scale-Out Storage with VMware vSphere 5.0 Best Practices Guide.

Although this Guide is intended to build on, and be consistent with, VMware’s Best Practices Guide for vSphere 5.0, it is not intended to replace or supersede the information contained in that document. Additionally, while the Guide attempts to follow general best practices as recommended by EMC and VMware, different conditions with different considerations may apply in different environments.

About this guide

This Guide provides technical processes, procedures and steps for certain tasks associated with deploying a VMware vSphere infrastructure on a foundation of Isilon storage with OneFS 7.0. The creation of an NFS export from the WebUI, the installation and enablement of VAAI-NAS functionality on the EMC Isilon storage cluster are included in this Guide, as are the enablement of VASA integration with vCenter and the restoration of VM data replicated via Isilon SyncIQTM software.

Scope

This Guide is intended to assist in the configuration and deployment of a vSphere infrastructure on an EMC Isilon storage cluster. As such, it provides information on the processes and procedures necessary for that configuration. It is not intended to serve as a reference for all OneFS 7.0 configuration options. Instructions for these procedures are available through other sources, either in the OneFS 7.0 administration guide, the OneFS 7.0 online Help files, or supplemental Isilon documentation from EMC.

As such, configuration of the following OneFS components is not included in this Guide:

• Creating directories within the OneFS 7.0 file system

• Configuring ownership and permissions settings on files and directories within the OneFS 7.0 file system

• EMC Isilon SmartPoolsTM data management software, including creating or modifying policies for data protection or performance optimization.

• Creating subnets and Isilon SmartConnectTM network pools, adjusting IP address ranges, and changing connection and failover policies

• Isilon storage cluster management and operations, including authentication and user-account management, adding and/or removing nodes, upgrading firmware, or hardware maintenance

• Configuring VM snapshots using Isilon SnapshotIQTM

• Configuring data replication between clusters using Isilon SyncIQ software

• Configuring backup operations, using either the NDMP module or 3rd-party backup software.


• Command-line management and syntax of either the EMC Isilon storage cluster or the vSphere cluster, with the exception of the necessary steps to enable VAAI and VASA connectivity and functionality

More information about planning and performing these tasks is provided in the References section at the end of this Guide, which links to additional best-practices and configuration documentation from EMC.

Intended audience

The Guide is written for experienced system administrators who are familiar with virtual machine technology and network storage administration.

Assumptions

This Deployment Guide assumes the reader has a working knowledge of the following:

• iSCSI and/or NFS storage system protocols, as appropriate

• Isilon scale-out storage and the OneFS™ operating system

• VMware vSphere 5 virtual infrastructure components, including ESXi, Virtual Center, Update Manager, and command-line administration using the vSphere Management Appliance

• VMware vSphere 5 network and storage integration

• IP-based Ethernet design, implementation, and management

Information is provided in this document about VASA and VAAI, but only as applicable to enable, deploy and manage these procedures on an EMC Isilon storage cluster with OneFS 7.0. For more comprehensive information on these subjects, please consult VMware’s documentation.

Additional information about these concepts is provided in the References section at the end of this Guide.

Prerequisites

Installation and configuration of the base Isilon cluster and the accompanying vSphere infrastructure, including vCenter Server(s) and ESXi host(s), is assumed to have been completed prior to performing the procedures outlined in this document. This Guide does not provide information for either building a new Isilon storage cluster, or for upgrading the OneFS operating system on an existing cluster from a previous version. The installation and configuration of the vSphere infrastructure, including vCenter, vCenter Update Manager (VUM) and ESXi hosts, is also beyond the scope of this document.

A number of the vSphere features described and recommended in this Guide require vSphere 5.0 Enterprise or Enterprise Plus licensing. Certain EMC Isilon features and capabilities detailed in this document also require additional licensing to enable and use.


Revision summary

Table I below lists the revisions of this Guide since its initial release.

Table I: Deployment and Configuration Guide revision history

Date Version Author Change Summary

February 2012

1.0 James Walkenhorst

Initial Document

April 2012 1.0.1 James Walkenhorst

Added hyperlinks for relevant documentation

Clarified language in some sections of the document.

August 2012


Updated content to support vSphere integration features offered by OneFS 7.0 features and user interface.

December 2012


Revised technical errors in document.

Updated hyperlinks to relevant documentation

Added deployment content for EMC Isilon vCenter Plugin v1.3


Isilon cluster configuration for NFS datastores This section provides instruction for creating and managing NFS exports for the purpose of mounting them for use as vSphere datastores.

Note: This Guide assumes familiarity with the OneFS File Explorer interface, and as such does not provide guidance on creating directories within OneFS 7.0, or managing ownership and permissions settings for file system objects on an EMC Isilon storage cluster.

A single NFS export can support any number of vSphere datastores, since each datastore can access the OneFS file system across different network paths, as long as each datastore is configured to access the NFS export via a different network path. If IP addresses are used to mount NFS datastores, then one NFS mount per IP address is supported. If SmartConnect zone names (FQDNs) are used for datastore mounts, then each mount to the same NFS export point in the file system must use a different SmartConnect pool.

Creating and editing NFS exports

Before creating a vSphere NFS datastore in OneFS, the directory to which the datastore will be mounted must already exist. Additionally, ownership of the exported directory should be changed to ‘nobody’ in order to avoid write-permissions issues prior to mounting the NFS export as a vSphere datastore.

To create a new NFS export (see Figure 1 below).

1. From the OneFS WebUI menu bar, click ‘Protocols’, then click ‘Unix Sharing (NFS)’. The Unix Sharing (NFS) webpage appears.

2. Click the ‘Add an export’ link. The NFS Export page appears.

3. Add a useful description in the ‘Description’ field.

4. For the ‘Directory Paths’ field, enter the path manually or use the ‘Browse’ link to navigate the file system to the directory that will be shared.

5. If subdirectories of the top-level export will also be mounted as separate NFS datastores, click the ‘Enable mount access to subdirectories’ box. Do not check the box to restrict access to read only. This will cause datastore mount failures on the ESXi hosts.

6. Leave the default setting to map the root user to ‘nobody’.

7. Click Submit to exit and save.

8. Repeat Steps 1-8 for all additional folders to be exported via NFS as vSphere datastores.


Figure 1: Configuring an NFS export

Optimizing VM performance in OneFS using SmartPools

For Isilon storage clusters with EMC Isilon SmartPoolsTM enabled, OneFS includes a template file policy for optimizing vSphere data performance. If enabled, the default setting for this policy applies to all VMDK files in a cluster.

To enable the vSphere SmartPools file policy:

1. From the OneFS WebUI menu bar, hover the mouse pointer over ‘File System Management’, and then click ‘SmartPools’. The SmartPools Summary page appears.


2. From the SmartPools Summary page, click the ‘File Pool Policies’ tab. The File Pool Policies page appears.

3. In the Template Policies section, click the VMware Files policy’s ‘Use’ link in the right column, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Enabling the ‘VMware Files’ SmartPools file policy


4. The Policy Settings page appears. If no further alterations to the policy are necessary, click the ‘Submit’ button to apply the policy, and then arrange it within the sequence of existing file policies to ensure the appropriate level of prioritization and enforcement. Otherwise, modify the default VMware Files file policy as appropriate before clicking ‘Submit’, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Configuring the ‘VMware Files’ SmartPools file policy

Note: If the Protection Settings are left blank in this policy, the VMs will inherit their disk-pool, snapshot, and protection-level settings from their parent directory.

The default setting of ‘Stop processing further rules’ disables the processing of further SmartPools file policies against all VMDK files on the cluster. Unless all vSphere data on an EMC Isilon storage cluster is to be stored in the same disk pool, leaving the ‘Stop processing further rules’ setting enabled may block any subsequent file-pool policies that would move VM data to a different disk pool. There are multiple ways to structure file-pool enforcement to ensure that VM data is moved to the appropriate disk pool.

EMC recommends engaging with a technical consultant or with EMC Isilon support prior to applying SmartPools policies to vSphere data in order to ensure that the effective policy enforcement complies with organizational requirements.


Configuring VAAI NAS integration OneFS uses vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) to support offloading specific virtual-machine storage and management operations from VMware ESXi hypervisors to an EMC Isilon cluster. This section describes the installation and configuration of the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin. The Plugin enables VAAI integration for NAS/NFS datastores.

VAAI functionality for VMFS/iSCSI-based datastores is automatically enabled in OneFS 7.0 and vCenter. No additional software installation or configuration is necessary.

Note: The EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin is available from EMC Powerlink. Login credentials are available to EMC customers with active EMC support agreements. To obtain a Powerlink login account, contact an EMC representative.

VAAI for NAS functionality is enabled through a two-part process. The Plugin is installed at the ESXi hypervisor level using VMware vCenter Update Manager (VUM). Integration between the ESXi host and the EMC Isilon storage cluster is enabled via command-line utility on all ESXi hosts in the vSphere cluster.

The following procedures must be completed in sequence in order to successfully install and enable the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin on the ESXi host(s) in the vSphere cluster, and to enable VAAI task delegation and communication between the EMC Isilon storage array and the vSphere cluster.

• Install the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin

• Create a vCenter Update Manager baseline

• Create a vCenter Update Manager baseline group

• Use vCenter Update Manager to apply the baseline group to the ESXi host cluster

• Enable authentication between the ESXi host cluster and the EMC Isilon storage cluster

The installation, configuration, and management of VUM are outside the scope of this Guide.

Installing the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin

This section describes the processes and procedures for installing the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin using vCenter Update Manager. Instructions for installing the plugin directly on ESXi via command line are available in the readme file that accompanies the plugin download package.

To install the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin using vCenter Update Manager:

1. Contact EMC Isilon Support and request the VAAI for NAS Plugin. Save the resulting .zip file to a location accessible from the vSphere client machine that will be used for this procedure.

2. Ensure the Update Manager plugin is also enabled on the vSphere client machine that will be used for this procedure, and launch the vSphere client application.

3. From the vCenter Home page, under ‘Solutions and Applications’, click the ‘Update Manager’ icon, as shown in Figure 4.


Figure 4: Accessing the vCenter Update Manager management console

4. From the VUM management console, click the ‘Patch Repository’ tab. When the Patch Repository page appears, click the ‘Import Patches link at the upper right. The Import Patches wizard launches, as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Using the Patch Import Wizard to add the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin to VUM


5. From within the wizard, click the ‘Browse’ button and navigate to the target folder containing the VAAI NAS plugin .zip file downloaded from EMC Powerlink in Step 1 above. Click the ‘Next’ button.

6. After the import is complete, and the plugin has been successfully uploaded to the VUM Patch Repository, click ‘Finish’.

7. When the import process is complete, the EMC Isilon NAS VAAI Plugin will appear as an available extension in the VUM Patch Repository tab, as shown in Figure 6 below.

Figure 6: Isilon VAAI Plugin in vCenter Update Manager Patch Repository

The VAAI NAS Plugin can now be pushed to the vSphere 5.0 cluster, using a host baseline and applying it to the ESXi 5.0 hosts. These processes are described in subsequent sections of this Guide.

Creating a vCenter Update Manager baseline

Once the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin has been successfully imported to the VUM patch repository, as described above, installing it on the ESXi hosts in the vSphere cluster is a three-process exercise. This section describes the first of those processes: creating a Host Extension Baseline in vCenter Update Manager.

To create a Host Extension Baseline:

1. From the Baselines and Groups tab in VUM, click the ‘Create…’ hyperlink above the Baselines column, as shown in Figure 7. This launches the New Baseline Wizard.


Figure 7: Creating new baseline in VUM

2. In the New Baseline Wizard, provide a name and description for the new baseline. Under Baseline Type, select ‘Host Extension’, as shown in Figure 8. Click the ‘Next’ button. The Extensions page appears.

Figure 8: New Baseline Wizard in VUM

3. From the Extensions page of the New Baseline Wizard, highlight the ‘Isilon_nas_vaai_plugin: NAS VAAI’ extension installed in the previous section, and click the down arrow beneath the list to add it to the new baseline, as shown in Figure 9. Click the ‘Next’ button.


Figure 9: Adding the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS plugin to the new host baseline

4. If this baseline is to contain only the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin, click ‘Next’ again to advance to the Ready to Complete page. If additional patches and extensions are to be added as well, configure those using the same process, and click the ‘Next’ button. Confirm the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin is included in the Ready to Complete page, and click ‘Finish’, as shown in Figure 10, to return to the VUM Baselines and Groups tab of the VUM management console.

Figure 10: Confirm the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS extension added to the VUM baseline


5. Verify the new baseline appears in the Baselines and Groups tab of the VUM management console, as shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11: Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin baseline added to VUM

The final sequence of procedures for pushing the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin to the ESXi hosts in a vSphere cluster is provided in the next section of this Guide.

Creating a baseline group in VUM

This section describes the process of creating a new baseline group in vCenter Update Manager. This baseline group is then applied to the host cluster, the procedure for which is described in the next section of this document.

To create a baseline group in VUM:

1. From the Baselines and Groups tab of the VUM management interface, click the ‘Create…’ link above the Baseline Groups column, as shown in Figure 12. The New Baseline Group Wizard launches.

Figure 12: Creating a baseline group in VUM


2. Leave the default Host Baseline Group setting. Give the group a name and click ‘Next’, as shown in Figure 13. Click ‘Next’ three times to advance to the Extensions page.

Figure 13: New Baseline Group Wizard

3. On the Extensions page, select the baseline containing the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin created in the previous section, as shown in Figure 14. Click ‘Finish’ to return to the Baselines and Groups tab of the VUM management console.

Figure 14: Adding the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS baseline to a new baseline group

This completes the import of the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin to the vCenter Update Manager patch repository, and creating the necessary baseline in VUM.


Using the baseline group to install the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin on ESXi

This section describes the process of using the baseline group created in the previous section—which includes the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin—to the ESXi hosts in the vSphere cluster.

Note: The installation of the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS plugin on ESXi may require that the target host enter maintenance mode. Please plan accordingly to minimize the potential impact on any virtualized workloads that may be running on the target vSphere cluster prior to performing the procedures described in this section.

To apply the baseline group to a vSphere cluster using vCenter Update Manager:

1. From the Baselines and Groups tab of the VUM management console, click the ‘Compliance View’ link at the top right of the page, as shown in Figure 15 below. The vSphere client will advance to the Update Manager tab of the Hosts and Clusters view.

Figure 15: Launching Compliance View from VUM Baselines and Groups page


2. From the Update Manager tab of the Hosts and Clusters management console in the vSphere client, click the ‘Attach…’ link, as shown in Figure 16. The Attach Baseline or Group sheet is displayed.

Figure 16: Hosts and Clusters Compliance View

3. Select the EMC Isilon VAAI Plugin patch baseline group that was created in the previous section, as shown in Figure 17, and click the ‘Attach’ button to return to the Update Manager tab of the Hosts and Clusters page.

Figure 17: Attaching the EMC Isilon VAAI Plugin baseline group to a vSphere host cluster


4. From the Update Manager tab of the Hosts and Clusters management console in the vSphere client, ensure the target vSphere host cluster is selected in the left pane, as shown in Figure 18, and click the ‘Remediate…’ button in the right pane to apply the EMC Isilon VAAI Plugin baseline and install the patch to all hosts in the cluster. The Remediation Wizard launches.

Figure 18: Launching the VAAI installation process against a vSphere host cluster

5. In the Host Remediation Wizard, under the Baseline Groups and Types column, click the ‘Isilon VAAI Plugin’ radio button. Ensure that all ESXi hosts in the vSphere cluster that are targeted to receive patch are selected in the bottom pane of the wizard, as shown in Figure 19. Click the ‘Next’ button. The Patches and Extensions page appears.

Figure 19: Host Remediation Wizard


6. In the Patches and Extensions page, ensure the isilon_nas_vaai_plugin: NASVAAI path is selected for installation on the target vSphere cluster, as shown in Figure 20. Click the ‘Next button. The Remediate Schedule page appears.

Figure 20: Confirming the installation of the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin

7. In the Remediate Schedule page, provide a name and description of the patch installation task. Set a remediation time for the task to run, either immediately or at a time to be specified, as shown in Figure 21. Click the ‘Next’ button. The Host Remediation Options page appears.

Figure 21: Remediate Schedule page, showing remediation task name, description, and schedule


8. In the Host Remediation Options page, select the appropriate maintenance mode options for the target vSphere host cluster, as shown in Figure 22. Click the ‘Next’ button to advance to the Cluster Remediation Options page.

Figure 22: Host Remediation Options page, showing maintenance mode and patch settings


9. In the Cluster Remediation Options page, configure the applicable and appropriate cluster-level settings for power management, high availability, fault-tolerance, and parallel (simultaneous multi-host) remediation, as shown in Figure 23. Click the ‘Next’ button to advance to the Ready-to-Complete page. Review and confirm all settings configured during the Remediation Wizard process, and click the ‘Finish’ button.

Figure 23: Cluster Remediation Options page


10. Ensure the baseline group and the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS plugin are correctly applied to all hosts in the cluster, as shown in Figure 24.

Figure 24: Completing installation of the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin using VUM.

This completes the installation of the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin to the vSphere host cluster, using vCenter Update Manager. The final remaining process is to enable authentication between the ESXi hosts and the EMC Isilon storage cluster. This process is described in the next section.

Enabling host-to-storage-cluster authentication

This final process configures authentication between the ESXi hosts in the vSphere cluster and the EMC Isilon storage cluster.

Note: This procedure must be performed via command-line session directly to the ESXi host. It cannot be completed using the VMware vSphere Management Appliance (vMA). As such, this procedure assumes that SSH has been enabled on each host on which this procedure is to be performed.

To enable host-level authentication into the EMC Isilon storage cluster:

1. Log on to the target ESXi host via secure session command-line connection.

2. After the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin has been successfully installed on the host, run the following command:

/usr/lib/vmware/nas_plugins/isi_plugin_credential/auth_gen

3. At the resulting prompt, enter ‘root’ for the username, and enter the password for the root user.


4. Repeat Step 1 through Step 3 for all ESXi hosts on which the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin has been installed.

Note: The root username and password are required in this step. If the target Isilon cluster’s root user password is changed after completing this procedure, the new password must be provided to the ESXi host in order to re-enable VAAI functionality on the ESXi host.

This completes the installation and configuration of the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS Plugin to enable greater integration between vSphere and the EMC Isilon storage cluster.

Configuring Isilon VASA integration with vSphere OneFS uses vStorage APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA) to allow the EMC Isilon storage cluster to pass specific storage configuration and capabilities to vCenter.

The EMC Isilon VASA Provider communicates storage-pool capabilities to vCenter about its datastores. This information, which is visible on each datastore’s detail page, can be integrated with VM Storage Profiles for increased storage-management automation.

Enabling and configuring the EMC Isilon VASA Provider in vCenter requires the following sequential procedures:

• Enable the VASA Provider daemon on the EMC Isilon storage cluster

• Download the EMC Isilon storage cluster’s digital certificate

• Register the EMC Isilon VASA Provider in vCenter

• Verifying and managing storage capabilities in vCenter

Note: While the EMC Isilon VASA Provider does not require additional licensing on the EMC Isilon storage cluster, a compatible VMware vSphere license is necessary on the host cluster to enable and use VM Storage Profiles.

The following sections describe the installation and configuration of the EMC Isilon VASA Provider on the EMC Isilon storage cluster and in vCenter.

Enabling the VASA Provider daemon on an EMC Isilon storage cluster

To enable the VASA Provider daemon on the EMC Isilon storage cluster:

1. Log on to the EMC Isilon storage cluster with administrative credentials, using a command-line session client.

2. From a command prompt on the EMC Isilon storage cluster, execute the following command:

isi services isi_vasa_d enable

3. Exit the command-line session.


Downloading a digital certificate from the EMC Isilon storage cluster

The vCenter server uses a secure SSL connection. The SSL authentication mechanism requires that both parties, the vCenter Server and the vendor provider, exchange SSL certificates and add them to their trust stores. The vCenter Server can add the vendor provider certificate to its trust store as part of the vendor provider installation.

This section describes the process for downloading the EMC Isilon storage cluster’s digital certificate to a local file to prepare for the EMC Isilon VASA Provider process described in the next section.

To import a digital certificate from the EMC Isilon storage cluster:

1. From the vSphere client machine, open a supported web browser and enter the following in the address line:

https://<isilon_cluster>:8080

…where <isilon_cluster> corresponds to either the management address or management FQDN of the EMC Isilon storage cluster.

2. Log into the cluster using the appropriate credentials.

3. Retrieve the vendor certificate according to the instructions appropriate to the supported browser procedure, as outlined in Table II below.

Note: Browser-specific interfaces and procedures may change. The processes outlined in Table II below are based on specific browser versions listed in the table.

Table II: Browser-specific certificate-retrieval procedures

Browser Procedures

Retrieve the vendor-provider certificate using Mozilla Firefox 16:

a. Click the ‘Site Exception’ padlock icon to the left of the address bar, then click the ‘More Information’ button in the resulting popup box. The Page Info dialog box will appear.

b. From the Security tab of the Page Info dialog box, click the ‘View Certificate’ button. The Certificate Viewer dialog box will appear.

c. From the Certificate Viewer dialog box, click the ‘Details’ tab, then click the ‘Export’ button.

d. Save the certificate as a *.crt file.

e. Note the filename and path for retrieval and installation in the next section of this Guide.


Browser Procedures

Retrieve the vendor-provider certificate using Microsoft Internet Explorer 9:

a. Click the ‘Certificate error’ icon on the right side of the address bar. A security report popup box will appear.

b. Click the ‘View certificates’ hyperlink at the bottom of the security report popup box. The Certificate properties sheet will appear.

c. From the Certificate properties sheet, click the ‘Details’ tab, then click the ‘Copy to File…’ button.

d. The Certificate Export Wizard will launch. Click ‘Next’.

e. Ensure the default ‘DER encoded binary X.509 (.CER) setting is selected and click ‘Next’.

f. Name the file and select the appropriate location to save the exported certificate, and click ‘Next’.

g. Confirm the details, and click ‘Finish’.

h. Note the filename and path for retrieval and installation in the next section of this Guide.

Retrieve the vendor-provider certificate using Google Chrome:

a. Click the ‘Site information’ icon (a red ‘X’ displayed over a padlock) to the left of the address bar.

b. From the ‘Connection’ tab of the resulting popup box, click the ‘Certificate information’ hyperlink. The Certificate properties sheet will appear.

c. From the Certificate properties sheet, click the ‘Details’ tab, then click the ‘Copy to File…’ button.

d. The Certificate Export Wizard will launch. Click ‘Next’.

e. Ensure the default ‘DER encoded binary X.509 (.CER) setting is selected and click ‘Next’.

f. Name the file and select the appropriate location to save the exported certificate, and click ‘Next’.

g. Confirm the details, and click ‘Finish’.

h. Note the filename and path for retrieval and installation in the next section of this Guide.


Browser Procedures

Retrieve the vendor-provider certificate using Apple Safari:

a. Click the padlock icon on the right side of the address bar. The Certificate properties sheet will appear.

b. From the Certificate properties sheet, click the ‘Details’ tab, then click the ‘Copy to File…’ button.

c. The Certificate Export Wizard will launch. Click ‘Next’.

d. Ensure the default ‘DER encoded binary X.509 (.CER) setting is selected and click ‘Next’.

e. Name the file and select the appropriate location to save the exported certificate, and click ‘Next’.

f. Confirm the details, and click ‘Finish’.

g. Note the filename and path for retrieval and installation in the next section of this Guide.

This completes the download of the digital certificate from the EMC Isilon storage cluster. The next section defines the process for registering the EMC Isilon VASA Provider in vCenter.

Registering the EMC Isilon VASA Provider in vCenter

This section describes the necessary steps for registering the EMC Isilon VASA Provider in vCenter. Prior to completing this process, ensure that the VASA Provider daemon has been enabled on the EMC Isilon storage cluster, and that a digital certificate has been downloaded from the EMC Isilon storage cluster and is accessible from the vSphere client machine on which this process will be performed.


To register the EMC Isilon VASA Provider in vCenter:

1. From the vSphere client’s Home page, click the ‘Storage Providers’ button, as shown in Figure 25.

Figure 25: Launching the Storage Providers console from the vCenter home page


2. In the Vendor Providers page of the vCenter management console, click the ‘Add…’ hyperlink to add a new Vendor Provider, as shown in Figure 26. The Add Vendor Provider dialog box appears.

Figure 26: Adding a new Vendor Provider in vCenter

3. In the Add Vendor Provider dialog box, choose a name for the EMC Isilon Vendor Provider, then provide the EMC Isilon storage cluster’s URL and authentication credentials. Check the ‘Use Vendor Provider Certificate’ box, and then browse to the path of the digital certificate downloaded from the EMC Isilon storage cluster in the previous section, as shown in Figure 27. When finished, click the ‘OK’ button.

Figure 27: Add Vendor Provider dialog box


4. After vCenter has successfully connected and authenticated to the EMC Isilon VASA Provider as configured in Step 3 above, the EMC Isilon VASA Provider will appear in the Storage Providers management console with the configured settings, as shown in Figure 28.

Figure 28: Completed Isilon VASA Provider configuration

Once the EMC Isilon VASA Provider has synchronized with vCenter, the Vendor Provider Details pane at the bottom of the Storage Providers console should display the correct storage settings. This completes the process of registering the EMC Isilon VASA Provider in vCenter.

Managing storage capabilities in vCenter

Once the EMC Isilon VASA Provider has been successfully registered and a synchronization transaction has occurred from the VASA Provider and vCenter, the full capabilities of the EMC Isilon storage cluster should be communication to vCenter. This section provides procedures for verifying and managing storage capabilities as reported by the EMC Isilon VASA Provider, as well as adding user-defined storage capabilities to assist in VM storage profile management.


To verify system-defined storage capabilities:

1. From the Home page of the vSphere client, click the ‘VM Storage Profiles’ button, as shown in Figure 29. The VM Storage Profiles management console appears.

Figure 29: Launching the VM Storage Profile management console from the vSphere client


2. From the VM Storage Profiles management page, click the ‘Manage Storage Capabilities’ button to open the Manage Storage Capabilities dialog box, as shown in Figure 30.

Figure 30: VM Storage Profiles management page

3. The default list of storage capabilities reported by the EMC Isilon VASA Provider is shown in Figure 31.

Figure 31: Storage capabilities reported by Isilon VASA Provider


Note: More information about these capabilities is provided in the EMC Isilon Scale-Out Storage with vSphere 5: Best-Practices Guide.

To add user-defined capabilities in vCenter:

1. From the Manage Storage Capabilities dialog box opened in Step 2 above, click the ‘Add’ button. The Add Storage Capability dialog box opens.

2. Complete the Name and Description fields, as shown in Figure 32, corresponding to the organizational requirement for additional storage attributes, and click the ‘Ok’ button. The newly-added feature will be listed in the storage capabilities list along with the system-defined attributes from the EMC Isilon VASA Provider.

Figure 32: Adding a user-defined storage capability

Note: The storage capability shown in this step is provided as an example only. The specific user-defined storage capabilities and attributes will vary by organization.

3. Repeat Step 5 above for each additional storage capability or attribute desired. When finished, click the ‘Close’ button to return to the VM Storage Profiles management page of the vSphere client.

vCenter allows one system-defined storage capability and one user-defined capability to be assigned to each datastore. Once the combination of system-provided and user-defined storage attributes and capabilities have been created as defined in this section, they can be used as selection criteria within individual VM storage profiles for increased storage-management automation and simplified overall storage management.

Any OneFS 7.0-based datastores that are already mapped and in use when the EMC Isilon VASA Provider is registered in vCenter will be automatically updated with the appropriate system-defined storage capability during the first synchronization


operation after the registration is successfully completed. OneFS 7.0-based datastores added after the EMC Isilon VASA Provider registration will have the applicable system-defined storage capability automatically added during the next synchronization operation between the VASA Provider and vCenter.

To enable storage profiles in vCenter, as well as creating and managing VM storage profiles, consult with VMware’s existing documentation, a link to which is included in the References section at the end of this Guide.

Deploying the EMC Isilon vCenter Plugin The EMC Isilon for vCenter plug-in installs as an add-on module in the vSphere client, and provides an interface to an Isilon-provided virtual appliance for management of Isilon storage in a vSphere context, and the VMs that run on that storage. The procedures in this guide require a working knowledge of the vSphere client.

To set up the EMC Isilon for vCenter plug-in, the EMC Isilon for vCenter license must first be enabled on the target Isilon storage cluster(s). Deploying the EMC Isilon vCenter Plugin is done by installing the EMC Isilon virtual appliance onto a VMware ESXi host, and then adding a VMware vCenter Server and at least one Isilon cluster to manage.

Note: This section assumes a new installation of the EMC Isilon vCenter Plugin. To upgrade an existing installation of the EMC Isilon vCenter plugin, refer to the Isilon for vCenter Installation Guide for more information.

Installing the EMC Isilon virtual appliance

The EMC Isilon virtual appliance is installed using an Open Virtualization Format (OVF) template file, which can be obtained from an EMC Isilon account representative.

1. From the vSphere client, from the File menu, click ‘File’, then ‘Deploy OVF Template’. The Deploy OVF Template wizard appears.

2. On the Source page, type or browse to the location of the OVF file, and then click ‘Next’.

3. Confirm the details and click ‘Next’.

4. In the Name and Location page, select a name and an inventory location for the virtual appliance, and click ‘Next’.

5. On the Host/Cluster page, select the target host or cluster for the virtual appliance. Click ‘Next’.

6. On the Select a Datastore page, specify the target datastore for the virtual appliance. For optimal availability, and to avoid inadvertent outages, the EMC Isilon vCenter appliance should not be installed on a datastore that will be managed by the vCenter plugin.

7. Click ‘Next’.

8. On the Ready to Complete page, confirm the configured settings for the virtual appliance, and click ‘Finish’. The EMC Isilon virtual appliance will be added to the vCenter inventory.


Configuring the EMC Isilon virtual appliance

The EMC Isilon virtual appliance needs to be configured with the appropriate network settings in order to communicate with the vCenter server and EMC Isilon storage cluster(s) in the target environment.

1. From the vSphere client, right-click the EMC Isilon virtual appliance, and select ‘Open Console’.

2. From within the console window, click the green ‘Power On’ button. The virtual appliance will boot, and the login prompt will appear in the console window.

3. At the login prompt, type ‘administrator’ and press <Enter>.

4. At the password prompt, type ‘default’ and press <Enter>.

5. The prompt will require the default password to be changed at this point. At the ‘(current) UNIX password’ prompt, type ‘default’ (the current password) and press <Enter>.

6. At the ‘Enter new UNIX password’ prompt, type a new password for the administrator account.

Note: This new password will be used in the next section to log into the web-based application and the VM console. The password must be at least one character in length.

7. At the ‘Retype new UNIX password’ prompt, type the new password for the administrator account that was entered in Step 6 above, and press <Enter>.

8. At the ‘password for administrator’ prompt, enter the new password that was set in Steps 6 and 7 above, and press <Enter>.

Note: The EMC Isilon virtual appliance requires exactly one network interface to be configured and connected in vSphere. If the virtual appliance cannot detect a network interface, it cannot be configured, and will instead return an error message stating that no interfaces are available. If this error message appears, then exit the configuration wizard, reconfigure the network interface, and then restart the appliance.

9. Follow the prompts to Configure networking, and then select either of the following options:

a. To configure the EMC Isilon virtual appliance to run in DHCP networking mode (this is the default configuration method), select ‘Exit’ from the menu and proceed to step 10 below.

Note: If the EMC Isilon vCenter appliance will use DHCP for IP address configuration, EMC recommends configuring a reservation on the DHCP server to ensure that the appliance always receives the same IP address.

b. To configure a static IP address, select ‘Configure networking manually’ and then perform the following steps:

i. Follow the prompts to configure a subnet mask for the EMC Isilon virtual appliance.


ii. Follow the prompts to configure the IP address for the EMC Isilon virtual appliance. This is the IP address that will be used to access the appliance directly via web browser.

iii. Follow the prompts to configure a default gateway for the EMC Isilon virtual appliance.

iv. Follow the prompts to configure one or more DNS servers for the EMC Isilon virtual appliance.

v. Follow the prompts to configure one or more search domains for the EMC Isilon virtual appliance.

10. Commit the network settings, exit the wizard, and log out of the virtual appliance .

Add the vCenter server to the EMC Isilon for vCenter plugin

VMware vCenter Server enables the EMC Isilon for vCenter plugin to centralize certain VM and storage management tasks to an Isilon-aware management interface within vCenter. This section describes the process for connecting the EMC Isilon vCenter plugin to an instance of VMware vCenter Server.

Note: While the EMC Isilon vCenter Plugin can simultaneously manage more than one Isilon storage cluster, only one vCenter server can be managed at a time by the EMC Isilon virtual appliance.

To configure the connection between vCenter and the EMC Isilon vCenter plugin:

1. From a supported web browser, connect to the EMC Isilon for vCenter application at ‘http://<IP_address_or_hostname>’, corresponding to either the virtual appliance’s IP address or hostname if a DNS record for the appliance has been created. The Isilon for vCenter application login page appears.

2. Log in to the EMC Isilon for vCenter application as ‘administrator’, using the password configured in Steps 6 and 7 in the preceding section. The one-time Isilon for vCenter End User License Agreement (EULA) appears.

3. Review the EULA, click the check box to affirm agreement with the EULA terms and conditions, and then click ‘Submit’. The ‘Welcome to Isilon for vCenter’ page appears.

4. Enter the appropriate information for the target vCenter server:

a. Server name or alias

b. IP address

c. Username

d. Password

If the above information was entered correctly, the vCenter server will appear in the vCenter management webpage, as shown below in Figure 33.


Figure 33: EMC Isilon vCenter plugin webpage with vCenter server added

Enable and add EMC Isilon storage clusters to the vCenter plugin

After performing the procedures described in this section, virtual machines on both NFS and iSCSI datastores that are hosted on a managed EMC Isilon storage cluster can be backed up and restored using the EMC Isilon for vCenter plugin.

To enable the EMC Isilon plugin in the vSphere client

Follow these steps to enable the vSphere client plugin:

1. From the vSphere client, on the ‘Plug-ins’ menu, click ‘Manage Plug-ins’. The Plug-in Manager dialog box appears.

2. In the list of installed plugins, right-click ‘Isilon’ and then click ‘Enable’.

3. Click ‘Close’.

Add an Isilon storage cluster to vCenter using the plugin

Follow these steps to enable vCenter plugin management of an EMC Isilon storage cluster:

1. Log in to the target vCenter server using the vSphere client.

2. Within the vSphere client, highlight the target datacenter containing the EMC Isilon storage cluster(s) that are to be managed by the EMC Isilon for vCenter plugin.

3. Click the ‘Isilon’ tab. The ‘Isilon for vCenter’ page appears.

4. Click the Clusters menu. The Cluster Management page appears.

5. Click ‘Add Cluster’. The Add Isilon Cluster page appears.

6. Configure the following settings:

a. Cluster: Type the hostname or service IP address of the Isilon cluster.

b. Username: Type ‘root’.

c. Password: Type the password of the Isilon storage cluster’s root user.


7. Click ‘Submit’. The cluster is now managed by the EMC Isilon for vCenter plugin, as shown in Figure 34 below.

Figure 34: Isilon storage clusters managed by the vCenter plugin

8. Enable the isi_vc_d service on the EMC Isilon storage cluster by connecting to the cluster via SSH and running the following command:

isi services isi_vc_d enable

9. Repeat Steps 1 through 8 as applicable to manage additional EMC Isilon storage clusters in the target vSphere datacenter.

The EMC Isilon plugin for vCenter is now installed and ready to use. For more information on using the plugin for NFS datastore provisioning and virtual machine backup and recovery operations, please refer to the Isilon for vCenter User Guide document, available from EMC.

Using SyncIQ Using Isilon SyncIQ, virtual machines can be replicated to a secondary Isilon cluster and vSphere host for disaster recovery, testing or other uses.

Note: Isilon SyncIQ does not provide file-level restores within VMs. It only provides restores at the VMDK level. Additional options and solutions are available to recover individual files from within VMDK files, but those are beyond the scope of this Guide.

Restoring virtual machines from SyncIQ replication sets

Once replicated, VM data on the remote cluster can be restored and accessed from the same vSphere host or a secondary vSphere host. Restoring virtual machines from the target replication target can be done in several ways:

1. Stopping all replications to the target cluster and mounting the target cluster nodes as datastores. Once datastores are mounted VMs stored on those datastores can be registered and powered on by the same or remote vSphere hosts.


2. Copying VMs or LUNs from the target cluster to another location locally. In this way the target cluster can continue to operate as a SyncIQ replication target while also servicing vSphere host datastore storage.

3. Copying VMs from or LUNs from the target cluster back to the primary cluster and re-register those VMs by the original vSphere host. The target cluster continues to operation only as a SyncIQ replication target (or serving a separate vSphere set of hosts).

Note: Before breaking a SyncIQ replication relationship between the source Isilon storage cluster and the target, ensure that the replication job is not currently running and that the most recent scheduled job has completed successfully to avoid data loss or corruption.

To restore a VM from a SyncIQ replication set after one of the above options has been completed:

1. From the vSphere client, open the Datastores and Datastore Clusters view.

2. From the left pane of the Datastores and Datastore Clusters view, right-click on the replicated datastore residing on the secondary cluster. Select ‘Browse Datastore…’. The Datastore Browser window appears.

3. Navigate to the replicated VM's directory on the target datastore.

4. Right-click on the VM’s configuration (.vmx) file, and select ‘Add to Inventory’. The Add to Inventory wizard appears. Complete the wizard, selecting the host/cluster and VM settings as appropriate, and then click the ‘Finish’ button.

5. When the VM has been added to the secondary vSphere cluster’s inventory, the VM can be powered on normally.

Note: The first time the VM is powered on after adding it to the vSphere inventory, a dialog box may appear indicating that a duplicate uuid (universal unique identifier) was found. The uuid is a unique machine identifier that gets copied with the VM configuration. If the original VM will continue to be used on the primary vSphere cluster, then the new VM on the target vSphere cluster will need a new uuid created.

Performance tuning for SyncIQ replication jobs

The following options can improve SyncIQ replication jobs.

• Filtering out .vswp files from the replication set when the replication job is created.

• Disabling block-hash comparisons during replication jobs.

To disable block-hash comparisons during replication:

1. Log on to any of the nodes in the cluster via SSH connection.

2. From the command prompt, issue the following command:

isi sync policy modify --policy=<policy name> --skip_bb_hash=on


Note: For more information on SyncIQ for Isilon replication, please refer to the document Best Practices for Data Replication with EMC Isilon SyncIQ.

Conclusion This Deployment and Configuration Guide from EMC Isilon documents the necessary procedures and steps for creating an NFS export within the OneFS 7.0 WebUI, for installing and enabling the EMC Isilon VAAI for NAS integration module, for enabling and connecting the EMC Isilon VASA Provider to vCenter, and for the recovery of SyncIQ-replicated VM data.

The Guide is not intended to be a definitive implementation or solutions reference. Its purpose is to outline and walk through the procedures specific to connecting a vSphere infrastructure to EMC Isilon storage, as well as standard maintenance and support tasks that are not documented in other white papers and solutions guides from EMC Isilon.

Additional expertise and support may be required in certain circumstances. EMC recommends engaging the services of a technical consultant or EMC Isilon Support for specific guidance to address specific business and technical challenges not covered in this Guide.

For more information about installing and configuring VMware vSphere components, including vCenter, ESXi, and vCenter Update Manager, consult the online documentation from VMware, links to which are provided in the References section at the end of this Guide. Documentation from EMC Isilon is also linked, including the EMC Isilon Scale-Out Storage and VMware vSphere 5: Best Practices Guide and more comprehensive information concerning SmartConnect, SmartPools, and SyncIQ.

References This section provides links to supplemental resources from both EMC and VMware. The content provided in this Guide was intended to minimize overlap with other OneFS 7.0 configuration documentation from EMC, as well as with vSphere-related configuration documentation from VMware.

Please see these additional resources for further deployment, configuration, and management information for running vSphere 5.0 on an EMC Isilon storage cluster.

Additional resources

VMware vSphere documentation:

VMware Compatibility Guide

VMware Performance Best Practices for VMware vSphere 5.0

VMware vSphere Installation and Setup Guide

VMware vSphere 5 Storage Guide

VMware vSphere Networking Guide

Virtual Machine Storage Profiles

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/Perf_Best_Practices_vSphere5.0.pdf

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-50-installation-setup-guide.pdf

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/topic/com.vmware.vsphere.storage.doc_50/GUID-8AE88758-20C1-4873-99C7-181EF9ACFA70.html

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-50-networking-guide.pdf

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/topic/com.vmware.vsphere.storage.doc_50/GUID-A8BA9141-31F1-4555-A554-4B5B04D75E54.html


EMC Isilon storage configuration and other supporting documentation:

SmartConnect: Optimize Scale-out Storage Performance and Availability

Next-Generation Storage Tiering with EMC Isilon SmartPools

Best Practices for Data Replication with EMC Isilon SyncIQ

EMC Isilon vSphere 5 documentation

EMC Isilon Scale-Out Storage and VMware vSphere 5: Best Practices Guide

EMC Isilon Scale-Out Storage and VMware vSphere: Sizing Guide

EMC Isilon Scale-Out Storage and VMware vSphere 5.0 Reference Architecture

About EMC EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) is the world’s leading developer and provider of information infrastructure technology and solutions that enable organizations of all sizes to transform the way they compete and create value from their information. Information about EMC’s products and services can be found at www.EMC.com.

About EMC Isilon

EMC Isilon is the global leader in scale-out NAS. We provide powerful yet simple solutions for enterprises that want to manage their data, not their storage. Isilon products are simple to install, manage and scale, at any size and, unlike traditional enterprise storage, Isilon stays simple no matter how much storage is added, how much performance is required, or how business needs change in the future. We're challenging enterprises to think differently about their storage, because when they do, they'll recognize there’s a better, simpler way. Learn what we mean at http://www.emc.com/isilon.

Contact EMC Isilon

505 1st Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98104

Toll-free: 877-2-ISILON | Phone: +1-206-315-7602

Fax +1-206-315-7501 | Email: [email protected]

http://www.isilon.com/library?keys=SmartConnect%3A+Optimize+Scale-out+Storage+Performance+and+Availability&type=&language=&date1%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=&date2%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=

http://www.isilon.com/library?keys=Next+Generation+Storage+Tiering+with+EMC+Isilon+SmartPools&type=&language=&date1%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=&date2%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=

http://www.isilon.com/library?keys=Best+Practices+for+Data+Replication+with+EMC+Isilon+SyncIQ&type=&language=&date1%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=&date2%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=

http://www.emc.com/

http://www.emc.com/isilon

mailto:[email protected]

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