datera vcenter plug-in user s guide · 2020. 8. 7. · 2 vcenter server 6.5 u3+(html-client only),...

USER'S GUIDE DATERA VCP PLUGIN

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©2020 Datera, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Datera is a trademark of Datera, Inc. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners. Date: July 2020

Datera vCenter Plug-In User's Guide

Contents

1.0 About this Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.1 Intended Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.2 Document Convention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2.0 Getting Started. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42.1 Features supported by Datera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42.2 Multitenancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.3 Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

3.0 Installing the Datera VCP Plugin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63.1 Installing the Datera VCP Plugin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

3.1.1 General Installation notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63.1.2 Installing the Plugin for Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63.1.3 Installing the Plugin for Linux (vCenter Server Appliance) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

3.2 Upgrading the Datera VCP Plugin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73.3 Removing the Datera VCP Plugin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

3.3.1 Removing the Plugin for Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73.3.2 Removing the Plugin for Linux (vCenter Server Appliance) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

4.0 Accessing the Datera VCP Plugin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

5.0 Using the Datera VCP Plugin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95.1 Adding a Datera Storage System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

5.1.1 Determine the Datera system credentials to use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95.1.2 Add a Datera System from the dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

5.2 Modifying the Datera Storage System Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105.3 Removing a Datera Storage System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115.4 Updating vCenter Credentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115.5 Viewing the System Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

JULY 2020

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6.0 Creating Datastore and Mapping Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146.1 Initiators for ESX Hosts and vCenter Clusters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

6.1.1 Initiator for a Datastore Connected to an ESX Host . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146.1.2 Initiators for a Datastore Connected to a vCenter Cluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

6.2 Synchronize Initiator Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146.3 Creating a Datastore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166.4 Removing a Datastore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236.5 Volume Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

7.0 Working with Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267.1 Creating Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267.2 Listing Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277.3 Cloning Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287.4 Restoring Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297.5 Deleting Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

8.0 Log Upload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318.1 Scheduled Log upload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318.2 On-demand Log upload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

9.0 Datera Health Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

9.1 Datera Health Check Alerts and Events generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379.2 Alarm Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379.3 Understanding Alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

10.0 Log configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4010.1 Changing log level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4010.2 Steps to collect logs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

11.0 VMware Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4111.2 Setting up the Software iSCSI Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

11.2.1 Network Configuration for iSCSI using standard switch (vSwitch ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4111.3 Mapping between Datera cluster and ESXi host . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

12.0 Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4412.1 ESX specific configuration parameters managed by Health Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4412.2 esxcli command examples for setting parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

13.0 Notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46







1.0 About this DocumentThis guide describes the installation process required for Datera’s VMware™ vCenter Plugin (henceforth referred to as Datera VCP Plugin or plugin). It also describes the Datera VCP Plugin features.

1.1 Intended AudienceThe reader of the Datera VCP Plugin guide must be familiar with:

• IP networking practices.• Planning and deploying networks and systems.• Using VMware™ vSphere™ Web Client to manage vCenter Server systems or standalone ESXi hosts.• Datera Data Services Platform and basic operational concepts associated with Datera.

1.2 Document ConventionDatera is deployed in a scale-out configuration of industry standard x86 servers containing a heterogeneous mix of standard servers utilizing a variety of storage media types including persistent memory, NVMe flash, SATA flash and/or conventional HDDs.

The Datera VCP Plugin is a user-friendly browser based tool that integrates with the VMware™ vSphere™ Web Client, providing an alternative interface that allows you to monitor and manage the Datera Storage System.

Convention Description

BoldIndicates text on a window, other than the window title, including menus, menu options, buttons, fields, and labels.

Example: Click OK.

ItalicIndicates a variable, which is a placeholder for actual text provided by the user or system. Example: copy source-file target-file

Note: Angled brackets (< >) are also used to indicate variables.

Notes, which offer an additional explanation or a hint on how to overcome a common problem







2.0 Getting StartedDatera® is a 100% software-driven data services platform that powers today’s high-performance application environments at global scale with game-changing data orchestration and automation, in partnership with the leaders in server-based infrastructure. The platform is designed for traditional enterprises and leading-edge digital businesses, from online applications to cloud service providers, to establish a new and dynamic enterprise storage infrastructure.

Designed for containers, virtual machines and bare metal deployments, Datera supports data storage at scale for any application within traditional datacenter and software defined data center environments. The Datera platform provides continuously available and tunable quality of service for traditional, virtualized and cloud-native applications.

Datera is deployed in a scale-out configuration of industry standard x86 servers containing a heterogeneous mix of standard servers utilizing a variety of storage media types including persistent memory, NVMe flash, SATA flash, 3D XPoint memory and/or conventional HDDs.

The Datera VCP Plugin is a user-friendly browser based tool that integrates with the VMware™ vSphere™ Web Client, providing an alternative interface that allows you to monitor and manage the Datera Storage System.

2.1 Features supported by Datera The Datera VCP plugin is used to discover the Datera Storage System, manage the volumes in a storage system environment, view the status and monitor the Datera Storage System. The user can monitor user activity, system activity and alert messages and make sure the system is configured according to Datera’s Best Practices for a VMWare™ Environment, all without leaving the familiar vCenter User Interface.

Supported features in Datera VCP Plugin:

• Discovery and Inventory ȍ Discovery and adding storage system ȍ Modifying storage system details ȍ Listing storage system details ȍ Removing storage system ȍ Uploading vCenter support bundle

• Storage Provisioning ȍ Listing storage system and volumes ȍ Creating datastore ȍ Removing datastore

• Snapshots ȍ Creating snapshot ȍ Listing snapshots ȍ Deleting snapshots







ȍ Restoring snapshot ȍ Cloning snapshot

• Health Monitoring and Alerts ȍ Alerts ȍ ESX and iSCSI parameters required for Datera products to perform optimally.

2.2 Multitenancy Datera VCP supports multi tenancy with the following user groups with their relevant specific privileges:

AdminAdmin user can perform create, delete datastore and snapshot operations created by all other privilege users.

System AdministratorSystem administrator privilege role will act as an admin user role. User with such privilege can perform create, delete datastore and snapshot operations created by all other privilege users.

Tenant AdministratorTenant Administrator privilege can perform create, delete datastore and snapshot operations. But it cannot perform delete datastore and snapshot operations on the datastore created by all other users.

Tenant MemberTenant member privilege user can perform create, delete datastore and snapshot operations. But it cannot perform delete datastore and snapshot operations on the datastore created by all other users.

2.3 Prerequisites The following table lists the software and hardware prerequisites for installing the Plugin.

# Software/Hardware Version Provider

1 ESXi 6.0, 6.5,6.7,7.0 VMware

2 vCenter Server6.5 U3+(html-client only), 6.7 (all

versions, html-client only) 7.0VMware

3 Management VM SupportWindows Server 2008 R2, 2012

R2 and 2016Microsoft

4 Internet Explorer 11.0.32 or later Microsoft

5 Mozilla Firefox 47.0 or later Mozilla

6 Google Chrome 51.0 or later Google

7 Datera Product Version 3.2.8+, 3.3.3+ Datera

Notes:

• To install vCenter Plugin it is recommended that vCenter Server Resource configuration should haveminimum deployment size “small”.







3.0 Installing the Datera VCP PluginThis chapter details the installation of the plugin on Windows and Linux (vCenter Server Appliance) platforms. It also describes the details to remove the plugin in the following section.

3.1 Installing the Datera VCP PluginThis section outlines the steps required to install the Plugin and register the system with the VMware™ vSphere™ Web Client using a Windows and Linux (vCenter Server Appliance) installer.

Make sure you are installing the plugin in the vCenter Server. The plugin cannot be installed remotely from another host.

To install the plugin, you must have the following vCenter Server details:

• vCenter Server IP/Hostname• Username (vCenter Admin privileges required)• Password

3.1.1 General Installation notes• it is recommended that you install powershell for full functionality of the health check feature.• The vCenter IP/name must be the vCenter on which the VCP is being installed.• You must re-login to the vCenter HTML UI to activate the new VCP (both for fresh install and upgrade).

3.1.2 Installing the Plugin for WindowsTo install the Plugin:

1. Double-click Datera-VCP-<version>.exe to launch the installation wizard.

2. Follow the prompts as desired.

3.1.3 Installing the Plugin for Linux (vCenter Server Appliance)To install the Plugin:

1. To install the plugin, copy the Datera_VCP_<version>.sh file to the local folder.

Make sure that the shell script file has full (read, write, and execute) permissions.

2. Execute the ”./Datera_VCP_<version>.sh” command. The installation starts and prompts for inputs.







3.2 Upgrading the Datera VCP PluginUpgrade follows the same steps as fresh install, but has the option to change the install directory.

3.3 Removing the Datera VCP Plugin This section explains the steps required to remove the Datera VCP Plugin and unregister the system with the VMware™ vSphere™ Web Client.

3.3.1 Removing the Plugin for Windows1. Use Add/remove program from the Microsoft Windows Control Panel.

2. To reflect the changes on the vSphere web client, you may be asked to restart the vSphere web client; service, which is necessary for removal to complete.

3.3.2 Removing the Plugin for Linux (vCenter Server Appliance)1. Navigate to the location where you have installed the plugin, default is /opt/Datera_VCP, and run the

uninstall script: ./uninstall

2. To reflect the changes on the vSphere web client, you may be asked to restart the vSphere web client; service, which is necessary for removal to complete.







4.0 Accessing the Datera VCP Plugin1. Login to vCenter, a fresh login is required to activate the plugin after installation.

2. The Datera Dashboard (and Health Check) are accessible from the Home page (and links pages) in vCenter as shown:







5.0 Using the Datera VCP PluginThe VMware vSphere Web Client integration with Datera system components enables direct access to Datera storage system that have been configured in the VMware vSphere Web Client.

The Plugin interface allows you to view the storage systems, create datastore and volumes and view the system alerts. If your storage systems are connected to the Datera GUI, then you can also view and manage them using the Plugin interface instead of managing them through Datera GUI.

This chapter describes the following:

• Adding a Datera System• Viewing the System Information

5.1 Adding a Datera Storage SystemThe first step to using the Datera VCP plugin is to add the Datera system to the VCP.

5.1.1 Determine the Datera system credentials to useTo add a Datera system, you need to know the Datera management VIP (or for a single Datera node you can use the node IP), and admin credentials for the system.

Datera Tenant admins can be used, but the tenant admin should be used for all objects managed by that vCenter, meaning objects created natively in the Datera system with a different user or tenant may not be accessible to the tenant user.

5.1.2 Add a Datera System from the dashboard 1. Log on to the VMware™ vSphere™ Web Client. Go to the home page as shown earlier.

2. Click the Datera icon on the Home page to access the Datera dashboard as shown:

5.0 Using the Datera VCP Plugin







3. Click the New icon. The Add Datera System dialog box displays.

4. Enter the System DNS Name/IP, Username and Password. For LDAP users, enter the LDAP username and password.

5. For LDAP user, enter the LDAP Server name, whereas for non LDAP user, this field can be left blank.

6. Click Add.

You can modify the Datera storage system credentials and remove any storage system using the Edit and Delete features.

5.2 Modifying the Datera Storage System Details To modify the storage system details:

1. Log on to the VMware™ vSphere™ Web Client. The VMWare vSphere home page displays.

2. Click the Datera icon on the web client Home page. The Datera home page displays.

3. Click the Edit icon. The Edit Datera System dialog box displays.







4. Modify the required credentials.

5. Optionally, you can select the Log upload interval as 4 hours, 1 day or 1 week to upload the vCenter support bundle. By default, the interval is None.

6. Click OK.

5.3 Removing a Datera Storage System You can remove the Datera system as follows:

1. Go to the dashboard as shown earlier.

2. Select the required storage system you want to remove.

3. Click the delete icon.

5.4 Updating vCenter CredentialsIf the vCenter password changes or expires, you may be prompted to update the vCenter credentials. It is also possible to update the credentials manually.

From the Datera VCP dashboard, click “Update vCenter Credentials” to change the username and password VCP uses to perform operations in vCenter.

5.5 Viewing the System InformationThe Datera GUI displays the Datera Systems List. Each system name, when clicked displays its relevant information such as its health, capacity, management IP and so on.

To view the system information:

1. Access the Datera VCP dashboard as shown earlier.







2. Click the system name in the System Name column for which you want to view the system information.

Field/Icon Description

System Name Indicates the Datera Storage System name. Clicking on the System Name redirects you to the Datera GUI.

Status Indicates the health status of the storage system.

Management IP Indicates the management IP of the storage system.

Total Node(s) Indicates the total number of nodes present in the system.

Log Upload Interval Indicates the configured log upload interval of the storage system.

Upload Logs Indicates log upload now button to upload the logs for the past 2 hours.

System Details

Indicates the name of the domain to which the storage system is connected, system UUID, software version of storage system, total active initiators, model of the connected system, total volumes on the system, total number of volumes mapped to the datastore, and call home interval.

Node Details Indicates name and model of the selected system, time stamp of when the node was last rebooted, node type, and health status.

System Metrics You can also view the graphical representation of used, available and provisioned system capacity for the selected Datera system.

System Activity Indicates a short description, timestamp, object information for the selected system.

User Activity Indicates details of each user's storage object activities.

Node Details Indicates the name of the node, model number, last reboot time, and health of the node.

New Click to add a storage system.

Delete Click to delete a storage system.

Edit Click to edit a storage system.

RefreshClick to refresh the page. You can refresh the page using the global refresh located on the right top of the page as well.







3. To view the system data, click the System Activity tab.

4. To navigate to the next or previous page, click the pagination controls.

5. Click the User Activity tab to view the details. You can sort and resize columns as well as filter the data by entering the details in the filter box.

6. To navigate to the next or previous page, click the pagination controls.







6.0 Creating Datastore and Mapping Volume The Datera VCP Plugin enables you to manage datastore that are created on the Datera system volumes. Datastore management is available on Host and Cluster views.

In the Plugin interface, you must discover and select a cluster to view its datastore related information.

This chapter describes the following:

• How to synchronize an Initiator Group• Creating a Datastore using New Volume• Removing a Datastore• Volume Mapping

6.1 Initiators for ESX Hosts and vCenter ClustersThe Datera VCP treats hosts and clusters slightly differently.

Every ESX host has an initiator id that is added to the Datera System automatically by the VCP.

6.1.1 Initiator for a Datastore Connected to an ESX HostWhen creating a datastore on an individual ESX host the host’s initiator id is added to the ACL for the datastore on the Datera System.

6.1.2 Initiators for a Datastore Connected to a vCenter ClusterThe Datera VCP supports a feature where an initiator group can be automatically created on the Datera System and used in the ACL for any Datastores created for the cluster.

Creating an initiator group for a cluster is accomplished via the synchronize initiator group function found on the cluster node in vCenter (see below).

6.2 Synchronize Initiator GroupThis section describes the steps to synchronize the initiator group with the Datera Cluster. The synchronize function will create a new group and add/remove ESX hosts from the group as needed. It will need to be done initially for each cluster, and again if the list of ESX hosts has changed.

To synchronize the initiator group:

1. Click Hosts and Clusters in the left navigation pane in the VMware™ vSphere Web Client UI. You can view the list of created datastore by clicking the Datacenter in the left navigation pane.

2. In the Action menu, right-click the required cluster and click Datera Plugin Action.







3. Click Synchronize Initiator Group.

4. Enter the initiator group name in the New Group Name field.

5. Select the Datera system from the drop-down.

6. Click FINISH.







7. Click OK in the success message box.

6.3 Creating a DatastoreThis section describes the steps to create a new Datera storage-based datastore using the Datera VCP.

To create a Datastore:


2. In the Action menu, right-click the required cluster and click Datera Plugin Action.

Note: You can additionally create a datastore by selecting a host.







3. Click Create Datastore. The Create Datastore window displays.

4. Enter the following details:

Field Description

Datastore Name

Enter the datastore name. The datastore name must be a combination of alphabets, numbers, underscore, and dashes and supports 3 to 64 characters. It must either start with an alphabet or underscore.

• Note: vCenter allows for many more characters (international) than the datera node does. Datera storage object names (below) are pre-populated with a reduced version of the datastore name. Characters supported by VMware but not supported by Datera are coerced to underbar ‘_’ in the pre-populated fields.

Select Datera Cluster Select the Datera cluster on which you need to create the datastore from the listed Datera clusters.







5. Click NEXT. The Datastore Information wizard displays.

6. Enter the following details:

Field Description

Datastore Size Enter the datastore size.

Units Select the datastore size in either TB or GB.

VMFS Version Select the required VMFS version from the list.

Replication Factor Select the replica count of the new volume. By default, the value is 3. You can select any value from 1 to 5.

Placement Mode

Select the required volume placement mode. For Datera Storage version 3.2.5, the available options are hybrid, allflash, and single flash modes. For Datera Storage version 3.3 and above, this field is displayed as Volume Placement Policy. The available options are all flash, Default, flash-write-optimized, hybrid, hybrid-read-optimized, hybrid-write-optimized, and one-flash.

IP Pool Select the required IP pool from the list.







7. Click NEXT. The Performance Options wizard displays.

8. Click the accordion next to Performance (QoS) to expand and view the options to set performance limits

9. Select the Enable QoS Performance Limit checkbox and enter the following details:

• Max Total IOPS• Max Read IOPS• Max Write IOPS

• Max Total Bandwidth• Max Read Bandwidth• Max Write Bandwidth

10. Click NEXT. The Protection wizard displays.







11. Click the ADD SNAPSHOT SCHEDULE button to add snapshot schedules.

12. Enter the following in the Snapshot Schedule section:

Field Description

IntervalIndicates the interval to create a snapshot after the specified interval. In the above example, a snapshot is created after the “scheduled” time interval starting from the specified start time.

Retention Count Indicates the retention count of the snapshot. After the limit specified is reached, the oldest snapshot (based on timestamp) is deleted and a new snapshot is created.

Start Date Indicates the start date of the snapshot schedule.

Start Time Indicates the start time of the snapshot schedule.

13. Optionally, add another snapshot schedule as needed (using the “ADD SNAPSHOT SCHEDULE” ) button.

14. Click NEXT. The Advanced Options wizard displays.

15. Click the accordion next to Datera Storage Object Names to expand and enter the following details:

• Storage Volume Name• Storage Instance Name• Application Instance Name







16. Click the arrow next to Initiators to expand and enter the following details:

• Existing Initiator Name• Select the Use Initiator Group checkbox to create new initiator group

• Select the Create New Initiator Group checkbox to provide the new initiator group details• Enter the New Initiator Group Name

Notes: All ESX hosts have an initiator associated with them in the datera node. They can optionally be a member of one or more initiator groups. This section allows manual control over whether the initiator or an initiator group is added to the ACL of the volume on the datera node, and will automatically add the host to the specified group if a group ACL is specified.

The use group checkbox specifies to use a group instead of the individual initiator. The use new group checkbox specifies whether to use an existing group or create a new one. Selecting use existing group causes a dropdown box to appear containing all existing groups.







17. Click NEXT. The Ready to Complete wizard displays.

18. Review the details and click FINISH.

We can verify the steps in Recent tasks section.

Refresh the VMware™ vCenter Web Client view. You can view the datastore as follows.







6.4 Removing a Datastore This section describes the details to remove an existing datastore. When you remove a datastore, along with the datastore, the background volume is also removed.

To remove a Datastore:

1. Click the Storage view in the left navigation pane in the VMware™ vSphere Web Client UI. You can view the list of created datastore by clicking the Datacenter in the left navigation pane.

2. Right-click the required host and click Datera Plugin Action.

3. Click Remove Datastore. The Remove Datastore wizard displays.

4. Click Confirm to remove the datastore. If VMs are present on the datastore, a Confirmation screen displays.

5. If VMs are present on the datastore a warning message informing VMs are present on the data store is populated. COntinuing will automatically delete the VM’s on the datastore as part of the delete datastore operation.







6. Click Continue to remove the datastore. You can view the tasks details in the right-lower pane as follows.

6.5 Volume MappingThis section describes the details to view the volume mapping of the selected system.

To view the volume mapping details:


2. Click the required host and click the Monitor > Datera tab on the right pane. All systems added to the host display as follows.







3. Select the required System Name to view the Volume Mapping. Following details are listed:

Field Description

System Name Indicates the Datera system name.

Status Indicates the health status of the Datera system.

Management IP Indicates the management IP of the system.

Capacity Indicates the total and available capacity of the system.

Total Node(s) Indicates the number of total nodes connected to the Datera system.

Application Instance Indicates the App Instance that encapsulates the storage and associated entities, simplifying storage provisioning.

Volume UUID Indicates the volume identification number.

Volume Placement Mode Indicates the volume placement mode.

Host(s) Indicates the name of the host on the selected Datera system. This column is listed if you do not select a host on the left pane; else, all the systems on the selected host are listed.

Datastore Name Indicates the datastore name.

Device Identifier Indicates preferred method of identifying LUNs and the storage device generates the number.

Capacity Usage Indicates the total and available capacity of the volume.

Filtering You can filter the information by entering the required details in the provided text boxes.







7.0 Working with SnapshotsThe Datera VCP Plugin enables you to create, list, delete, restore and clone snapshots. This chapter describes the following:

• Creating Snapshots• Listing Snapshots• Cloning Snapshots• Restoring Snapshots• Deleting Snapshots

7.1 Creating SnapshotsYou can create snapshot for the following scenarios:

• Only datastore exists and no VMs• If VM is present, VMware tools are present and in power ON state • If more than one VM is present

To create a snapshot:

1. Click the Storage view in the left navigation pane in the VMware™ vSphere Web Client UI. You can view the list of created datastore by clicking the Datacenter in the left navigation pane.

2. In the Action menu, select a datacenter, right-click and click Datera Plugin Action.







3. Click Create Snapshot. The Create Snapshot window displays.

4. Click Confirm in the Create Snapshot confirmation dialog

If you do not have VMware tools installed on the VM or if there are more than one VM present on the datacenter, the application will not be quiesced and the following Confirmation message displays. Click Continue.

5. Click Continue in the Confirmation dialog which informs “VMWare tools not installed on the VM hence application not be quiesced”.

6. Click Continue in the confirmation dialog which informs “More than 1 VM exist,hence application would not be quiesced”.

7. “Snapshot created successfully” message is displayed. Click Ok.For details to list the snapshots, see Listing Snapshots.

7.2 Listing SnapshotsYou can view a list of snapshots created on a datacenter.

To list a snapshot:

1. Click the Storage icon.2. Select a Datastore.3. Click the Configure tab and then click Datera. Following is a sample snapshot listing.

Field Description

Snapshot UUID Indicates the system generated snapshot unique identification number at the storage side.

State Indicates the state of the snapshot.

Time Stamp Indicates the timestamp of the snapshot.

You can select the snapshot and perform operations such as restore, clone and delete snapshot.

Click the Refresh button to refresh the snapshot listing.







7.3 Cloning SnapshotsTo clone a snapshot:

1. Click the Storage view in the left navigation pane in the VMware™ vSphere Web Client UI. Select a server and click the Datacenter in the left navigation pane.

2. Select a datacenter.

3. Click Manage > Datera on the right pane. A list of existing snapshots is listed as follows.

4. In the Snapshot List table, select the checkbox of the snapshot you want to clone.

5. To clone the snapshot, click . The Clone Snapshot window displays.

6. Enter the Datastore Name. The datastore name must be a combination of alphabets, numbers, underscore, and dashes and supports 3 to 64 characters. It must either start with an alphabet or underscore.

7. Click Create. The Clone Snapshot operation may take some time.

8. On completing the operation, the success information message displays.

9. Click Ok. You can view the cloned snapshot on the left navigation pane as follows.

Note: Cloned datastores are connected to the same set of ESX hosts as the original datastore.







After you perform the clone operation, register the VMs.

7.4 Restoring SnapshotsYou can restore snapshots to the same entity.

To restore a snapshot:




4. In the Snapshot List table, select the checkbox of the snapshot you want to restore.

5. To restore the selected snapshot, click Restore. The Restore Snapshot confirmation message displays.

6. Click Yes. The restore operation may take some time.

7. On completing the restore operation, the Restore Snapshot success message displays.

8. Click Ok.







7.5 Deleting SnapshotsYou can delete one or multiple snapshots on a datacenter.

To delete a snapshot:




4. In the Snapshot List table, select the checkbox of the snapshot you want to delete. You can select multiple snapshots for deletion.

5. To delete snapshot(s), click Delete. A confirmation message displays.

6. Click Delete to delete the selected snapshot(s). A success information message displays.

7. Click OK. The selected snapshot(s) is deleted from the datacenter.







8.0 Log UploadThe Datera VCP Plugin enables user to upload scheduled and on-demand upload of VCP logs to Datera clusters. This chapter describes the following:

• Scheduled Log upload• On-demand Log upload

Log location on Datera cluster - /var/log/datera/vcp

8.1 Scheduled Log uploadUser can schedule the logs to be uploaded on the Datera cluster for below time interval –

• 4 hours• 1 day• 1 week

Default value for log upload is None. Once the scheduled log upload is configured, VCP collects all the plugin logs for the configured time interval and uploads them to the Datera cluster. For example – If the log upload is configured for 4 hours at 4.30PM, logs will be uploaded every 4 hours i.e, 4.30PM, 8.30PM, 12.30AM and so on.

If the user wants to stop the log upload scheduler, the upload schedule should be configured to None.

Steps to configure scheduled log upload –

1. Log on to the VMware™ vSphere™ Web Client. The VMWare vSphere home page displays.

2. Click the Datera icon on the web client Home page. The Datera home page displays.

3. Click the icon. The Edit Datera System dialog box displays.







4. Select the Log upload interval as 4 hours, 1 day or 1 week to upload the VCP support bundle. By default, the interval is None.

5. Click OK.

8.2 On-demand Log uploadUsers can upload the VCP logs as required. In this feature, logs for the last 2 hours get uploaded.

For example – If a user clicks on the log upload button now at 3.35PM, all the VCP logs from 1.35PM to 3.35PM are bundled and uploaded onto the Datera cluster.

Please see the screenshot below –







9.0 Datera Health ChecksDatera Health Check retrieves and manages ESX configuration settings that are needed by Datera datastores.

You can view and manage “Datera Health” from the following four vCenter node types (or contexts):

• vCenter• Datacenter• Cluster• ESX Host

Each context will limit what is viewed and reconfigured to the selected context. Some elements are global however such as enabling alerts, and the PowerShell section.

For example if you want to troubleshoot a single host, view the health check status for that single host so see only it’s health check status.

The vCenter (or global) status is not available in the tree view and is found here in the main menu:

Health check runs once per hour in the background, and can be run on demand. On demand runs can be restricted in scope, they can be run from any of the four scopes.

• Items can fall into one of two severities:

1. Items that affect performance, which generate a yellow alert.

2. Items that can cause errors, which generate a red alert.

• Alerts are generated on a per ESX host basis, if both yellow and red conditions exist, a red alert is generated.

• Items also vary in scope, most are per ESX, but some are per iSCSI LUN.• Some items require an ESX reboot, and some do not.• We also document how to manually examine and configure each item, only a few can be done through the

vSphere UI, some are vSphere API only, and some are esxcli only.• The esxcli ones require powershell to be installed for health check to examine and set them.







• All of them will be set automatically by the Datera plugin when creating a datastore for the first time on an ESX host. So creating a datastore for the first time can create a condition where the ESX host should be rebooted for all of the configuration items to take effect.

Datera Health check performs the following tests:

1. ESX Host Configuration: Checks ESX Host configuration parameters and optionally corrects them.

2. ESX Host Connectivity: Monitors iSCSI connectivity between ESX and Datera nodes via ping. The ping check only pings connections that have existing Datera-backed datastores. The ping check is optionally performed when creating a new datastore as well.

3. PowerShell Availability: Checks if PowerShell is installed and functional. If powershell is missing, most of the other options cannot be checked, so the ‘green’ status ca be misleading as it will report only the values it is able to check.

Note: Issues related to the ESX Host Configuration, Connectivity, and PowerShell availability are getting listed under the Items column.

Example of a misconfigured parameter:

4. Silence Alert: Datera Health Check supports global suppression of event generation. This keeps these events out of the event log.







5. Reconfigure: The Reconfigure feature attempts to perform the required fixes by initiating the reconfigure task within the scope selected. Click YES to reconfigure the ESX hosts.

6. The ESX Host Configuration Information is displayed under the Info column as follows:

Please refer to ESX specific configuration parameters managed by Health Check for “ESX specific configuration parameters managed by Health check”.







7. Retest: The Retest feature allows to run the health check task on demand, and within the scope selected, to facilitate troubleshooting of a single host or cluster. The health check task also runs once per hour and generates events according to the state of the system.







9.1 Datera Health Check Alerts and Events generationEvents are generated for non-compliant actions, and Datera Health Check creates alarm definitions to respond to the alerts.

Datera Health Check generates the following event types:

• DateraHealthCheckConfStatusWarning• DateraHealthCheckConfStatusError• DateraHealthCheckPingStatusWarning• DateraHealthCheckPingStatusError

9.2 Alarm DefinitionsTo view definitions:

1. Click the Home Menu and select the vCenter Name.

2. Click the Configuration option and select Alarm Definitions.

Following are the Datera specific alarm definitions created for health check.

• Red error for ESX config, misconfiguration(s) exists that can cause errors.• Yellow warning for ESX config, misconfiguration(s) exist that can affect performance.• Red error ping check (all adapters) failed ping test.• Yellow for ping check partially failed (one of two adapters failed ping check), the connection is

compromised, but still operational.







9.3 Understanding AlertsThis section describes the scenarios during which alarms trigger, and how the administrators can understand them.

Icon Icon Type Description

WarningThis alarm is triggered when an issue occurs, but the problem has no impact on the main system functionalities. Investigate the issue and take corrective measures. All information and warning messages are displayed under warning messages.

Critical This alarm is triggered when there are connection issues or errors with the Datera systems. Immediate action required to correct the issue.

The Alarms are listed at the bottom frame. You can view New and Acknowledged alarms in the respective tabs.







To view the alarm details, click the alarm whose details you want to list. The Alarms Details screen displays listing the severity of the alarm, status whether it is new or acknowledged, triggered time; definition indicates the server IP, and description of the alarm.

To acknowledge an alarm:

1. Select the alarm from the right pane.

2. In the Alarm Details screen, click Acknowledge.

3. The alarm is now listed under the Acknowledged column.







10.0 Log configuration10.1 Changing log levelThis section describes the details to configure the logging feature.

1. Go to folder location <installation directory/vcp/log4j.properties>.

2. The snippet of the log4j.properties file is shown below.

3. Change the entry (first line) log4j.rootLogger=INFO/ERROR/TRACE/DEBUG

10.2 Steps to collect logs1. Run the logcollect script “vcp_logs.sh” from Datera_VCP Installation directory.

2. This will generate a zip file of logs “log_files.zip” in the current directory

3. Provide “log_files.zip” to the Support Engineering Team as required.

Note: The log_files.zip file contains the following list of log files.

• build.json• Datera_Plugin_Installation.log• eventlog.log• Install4j_Installation.log• logs• vsphere_client_virgo.log







11.0 VMware Best Practices11.1 vSphere Networking Best Practices for Datera Deployment

• Have a dedicated VLAN for storage traffic representing the Datera storage access network in the vSphere infrastructure.

• Dedicate one or more physical adapters for storage traffic.• Leverage vSphere network and storage multipathing capabilities.

Please be sure to follow the vSphere Networking Guide to configure networking per best practices.

11.2 Setting up the Software iSCSI Adapter

11.2.1 Network Configuration for iSCSI using standard switch (vSwitch ) For software iSCSI multipathing with standard switch configure the following:

• Create two dedicated vSwitches for iSCSI and two dedicated VMkernel port groups on both of them (each VMkernel port group on each vSwitch for ISCSI).

• These are typically setup in two dedicated storage VLANs for traffic isolation. • Make sure that there is only one uplink that is bound to the dedicated vSwitch with the dedicated port

group on each ESXi host per ISCSI requirements.

ISCSI VMkernel Configuration on two vSwitches







Configuration of Virtual switch: vSwitch1

Configuration of Virtual switch: vSwitch2







Please find below detailed steps for configuration.

11.3 Mapping between Datera cluster and ESXi hostThis section describes the details to create Datera cluster mapping with ESXi host.

Required configuration settings:

1. Login to Datera system and navigate to system settings page, get the access VIP and VLAN ID details.

2. Go to vCenter (vSphere web client) and select the ESXi host (In case of a cluster, it is required to apply these settings for all the ESXi hosts in the cluster).

3. Select the Virtual switches and select the “vSwitch1” and go to Edit settings and provide respective VLAN ID details.

4. Repeat the above step 3 for “vSwithch2”.

5. Select the “VMkernel adapters” and select the “VMkernel network adapter1” then edit the settings to provide the access VIP1 details.

6. Repeat the above step 5 for “VMkernel network adapter2” with access VIP2 details.

Please refer to VMware Best Practices guide for Datera specific advanced configurations.







12.0 Appendix12.1 ESX specific configuration parameters managed by Health CheckESX advanced options (found in advanced options in vSphere UI for each ESX host) :

• DataMover.HardwareAcceleratedMove=1• DataMover.HardwareAcceleratedInit=1• VMFS3.HardwareAcceleratedLocking=1• VMFS3.UseATSForHBOnVMFS5=0

iSCSI adapter configuration parameters:

• DelayedAck = false

SATP rule definitions:

• Referred to as Q depth (defaults to 100): MaxCommands=16 *.• A SATP rule is created for Datera which sets round robin IO, and round robin threshold

(IOPS) is set to 1 *.

Per Datera Lun:

• queuefullsamplesize = 32 (tunable) *.• queuefullthreshold = 4 (tunable) *.

* - requires PowerShell to be interrogated and set.







12.2 esxcli command examples for setting parameters# Round Robin and IOPS=1 are contained in a SATP rule

# see if rule is present: esxcli storage nmp satp rule list | grep DATERA # add the rule: storage nmp satp rule add --satp=VMW_SATP_ALUA --vendor=DATERA --psp=VMW_PSP_RR --psp-option=iops=1 “--description=DATERA custom SATP Rule”

# query Lun Q Depth esxcli system module parameters list --module=iscsi_vmk | grep iscsivmk_LunQDepth # set Lun Q Depth

esxcli system module parameters set --module=iscsi_vmk --parameter-string=iscsivmk_LunQDepth=16 # adaptive Q params, set per DATERA storage device # list devices esxcli storage core device list # only care about ones that have a name like this: DATERA iSCSI Disk (naa.6001405 # the naa.6001405 prefix identifies DATERA devices.

# per device example (you must obtain the device ids from the previous list, they are the basenames of the device paths): esxcli storage core device set --device=naa.6001405a9a64cd9ff6c40788834d6fec --queue-full-sample-size=32 --queue-full-threshold=4







13.0 NoticesCopyright© 2020 Datera, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written consent of Datera, Inc.

Trademarks

Datera®, LIO™ and the Datera logo are trademarks of Datera, Inc., which are registered in some jurisdictions. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Kubernetes is a registered trademark of the Linux foundation. OpenStack is a registered trademark of the OpenStack Foundation. Docker is a registered trademark of Docker, Inc. Mesos is a registered trademark of the Apache Software Foundation. AWS is a registered trademark of Amazon.com, Inc. VMware and vSphere are trademarks of VMware, Inc. Microsoft and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corp. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Changes

The material in this document is for information only and is subject to change without notice. While reasonable efforts have been made in the preparation of this document to assure its accuracy, Datera, Inc. assumes no liability resulting from errors or omissions in this document, or from the use of the information contained herein. Datera, Inc. reserves the right to make changes in the product design without reservation and without notification to its users.

Disclaimer

If this product directs you to copy materials, you must have permissions from the copyright owner of the materials to avoid violating the law, which could results in serious damages and/or remedies.

Customer Support

• Visit our website at www.datera.io• Email: [email protected]• U.S. Toll Free: +1-844-432-8372• International +1-408-404-8736




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