Category: NetApp 7-Mode

All about NetApp 7-Mode, tricks and tips, advanced configuration and technical notes.

7-Mode Data ONTAP Simulator 8.2.3 – building lab

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This article enhance a little more idea of lab presented here Data ONTAP Simulator 7.3.6. The main difference is that now we try reflect (at least reach a concept) production environment, where we have Active Directory domain and data served to hosts through CIFS, NFS, iSCSI protocols.

Goal
– 2x 7-Mode 8.2.3
– Linux CentOS 7.0 (at least one)
– Windows Server 2008 R2

Prerequisites for NetApp Simulator Lab

NetApp 7-Mode Data ONTAP 8.2.3 Simulator

  • Dual core 64-bit Intel® architecture laptop or desktop
  • Simulate ONTAP 8.2.x or lower: 2 GB RAM for one instance, 3 GB for two instances.
  • 40 GB free disk space per instance of simulator
  • Hosts running a 32-bit OS require VT support for Intel® based systems or AMD-V (SVM) for AMD® based systems. The feature must also be enabled in the BIOS if not enabled by default.
  • VT support for Intel® based systems

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7-Mode Snapshot directory and nosnapdir

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It happens, especially in case of failover\giveback, that CIFS shares dedicated for NetApp snapshot directory are not any more accessible while underlying volume has nosnapdir option turn on.

A nosnapdir option is dedicated for those ones appreciating strong security on their snapshots (due to company security/audit policies). After all, this option restricting access to NetApp snapshot directory not only to clients, but also to filer itself. Our snapshots are really safe, but in case we would like to retrieve some files that names we are not aware of, we can’t use snap restore from CLI.
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[MetroCluster] How to troubleshoot interconnect link down and FC-VI

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Recently I faced interconnect failure at one of customer environment. Everything run smoothly until Monday morning I received notification event about interconnect link down.

Cluster Interconnect link is DOWN

In environment that I have pleasure to work with, we have fabric-attached MetroCluster configuration. Between filers there are double HA interconnect cable (attached to the FC switch) and the Heartbeat communication is served via MetroCluster FC-VI card. In case this single two ported card goes down, then we can talk about a little disaster, because without heartbeat messages between nodes we have guaranteed takeover.
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7-Mode Data ONTAP upgrade single node

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This topic treats about disruptive Data ONTAP 7-Mode upgrade on single node instance.

Check another post with information What should we do before upgrade?

Data ONTAP 7-Mode disruptive upgrading on standalone system – upgrade step by step

Just before you start with below plan ensure that everything on filer are online (disks, volumes, aggregates, interfaces) and there are no maintenance jobs running like RAID scrubbing, reconstructions or disk wiping.
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Data ONTAP Simulator 7.3.6 – simple lab

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First steps are always the most painful so today I discuss initial configuration for Data ONTAP 7-Mode in 7.3.6 version. Why so old, someone can ask. I hasten to reply, because reason is very simple. This is the last version of Data ONTAP simulator, which does not require any abstract hardware. It is sufficient for simple lab especially when you want to show some stuff about storage to not so storage audience. This simulator is still powerful in terms of connection between theory and practice. For everyone it’s a lot easier to understand fundamental concepts when they can be seen in practice.

Goal
– two instances of 7-Mode,
– 2x CentOS, one management server for simulator and the second as typical host.

Prerequisites for NetApp Simulator Lab

NetApp 7-Mode Data ONTAP 7.3.6 Simulator:
Intel® processor-based PC, network card, 128 MB main memory minimum (256 MB recommended), 250MB free hard disk space (minimum)
Data ONTAP Simulator download
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NCDA NS0-155 NetApp – Introduction

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Few words about NS0-155 NetApp Certified 7-Mode Data Administrator

Recently I passed NS0-155 exam and I can be recognized as NetApp Certified 7-Mode Data Administrator. I would like to share with some fundamentals that could help you with decision whether is worth to do this exam or not.

I have chosen 7-Mode exam because I am learning this technology for more than 6 months and I was engaged in a quite big transition so NetApp in 7-Mode has become my main interest. Willy-nilly I am receiving big amount of experience and knowledge thanks to nice environment that I have pleasure to manage, so it became natural for me to prove my expertise with some piece of paper.

Next thing from carieer perspective is that the 7-Mode is still on the page and it will be like that for at least few years. Official support will finish at 2019. And the last thing that should convince you to take a try with this exam is just a pure knowledge. For many people certification is a great opportunity for opening a book and start learning. And I don’t believe that even a great admin has knowledge about everything in a subject, therefore taking a certification is a great way to refresh memory and keep our brain in a good condition.

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NetApp 7-Mode – CIFS overview

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CIFS – acronym comes from Common Internet File System. It’s described as Microsoft network file sharing protocol, allows access and manipulate files and folders on remote servers as if they are on local machines.

Functions:

  • Network browsing to locate machines within domains/workgroups and available shares.
  • User authentication.
  • Authorization at the share, folder and file level.
  • Basic file attributes: Read-only, Archive, System, Hidden.
  • Extended NTFS file attributes for indexing, compression and encryption.
  • Unicode support.
  • Opportunistic locks.
  • Dialect negotiation – each protocol version is defined as dialect.

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NetApp 7-mode – NFS overview

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NFS is a stateless protocol which means that each request from client to server must contain all of necessary information to understand the request.

NFS is implemented using RPC (remote procedure call) protocol which have multiple procedures that define type of request. For example client send request to server for mount:
mount server:/vol/vol0 /mnt/vol0
This request is coming to PORT 111 of the server where portmapper is listening for RPC calls.Then daemon mountd returned port for registred mount service and allows to do a mount.
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How to generate and upload SSH keys to NetApp 7-Mode

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NetApp with its Data ONTAP in compare to other storage vendors solutions offers very managable CLI and in combain with UNIX it makes powerful solution, where administrator is able to extend ONTAP interface using utilities like grep or bash scripts. But before you start doing any significant improvements, first you need connect your management server with NetApp filer. Please let me introduce steps to achieve it.
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