Dell Cloud Solution for Web Applications User Manual

Dell Cloud Solution
for Web Applications

User Guide

Notes

NOTE:

A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better

use of your computer.

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Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
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December 2010 Rev. A00

Contents

INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 5

Cloud Definition ................................................................................................ 5

Joyent SmartMachine ....................................................................................... 5

Cloud Management ........................................................................................... 6

Solution Components ....................................................................................... 6

Hardware Components ................................................................................................. 7

Software Components .................................................................................................. 7

Measuring Consumption ............................................................................................. 11

Cloud Provisioning ...................................................................................................... 12

SMARTMACHINES ............................................................................... 13

Accessing a New SmartMachine ................................................................... 13

Starting and Stopping SmartMachines ......................................................... 15

Running Services ............................................................................................ 15

Managing Users .............................................................................................. 16

Creating Groups ......................................................................................................... 16

Creating Users ........................................................................................................... 16

Adding Users to Groups ............................................................................................. 16

CLOUD CONTROL ............................................................................... 17

Cloud Control Interface .................................................................................. 18

Login .......................................................................................................................... 18

Side Menu .................................................................................................................. 19

General ...................................................................................................................... 19

Contents | 3

Locations .................................................................................................................... 32

Rackables .................................................................................................................. 46

Network ...................................................................................................................... 78

OpenSolaris................................................................................................................ 91

Common Tasks ............................................................................................. 118

Setting up a SmartMachine (Zone) ........................................................................... 118

Deleting a SmartMachine (Zone) .............................................................................. 123

Monitoring a SmartMachine ...................................................................................... 128

USER PORTAL ................................................................................... 130

Accessing the User Portal ............................................................................ 130

User Portal Interface ..................................................................................... 130

Login ........................................................................................................................ 130

Creating SmartMachines .......................................................................................... 131

Customizing the Appearance of the User Portal ........................................ 133

Changing the Title of the User Portal Window ........................................................... 133

Providing Customized Online Help ........................................................................... 134

Using a Custom Logo ............................................................................................... 134

Task Summary ......................................................................................................... 134

GLOSSARY ......................................................................................... 137

GETTING HELP .................................................................................. 141

Contacting Dell .............................................................................................. 141

INDEX .................................................................................................. 142

Contents | 4

1

Introduction

The Dell Cloud Solution for Web Applicat i ons (DCSWA) is an optimized
private cloud solution for running virtual i z e d we b a ppl i c ations, databases, and
other compute nodes efficiently. The s ol uti on i nc ludes hardware, software, and
services and is highly scalable from the lab t o massive data centers.

The solution is offered as a turnkey package containing software, hardware, and
core services (i.e., installation and support).

Cloud Defini ti o n

In DCSWA, a cloud is define d as a collection of interconnected pods, racks, and
nodes. A pod is a collection of up to 12 racks, with ea c h ra c k conta i ni ng up to
15 compute nodes to handle a variety of web applications.

Each pod has an administration/provisioning server (PS) that manages the
compute nodes. In DCSWA, the Joyent Cloud Control (CC) softwa re
component is housed in the PS of one of the pods in the c loud. Performance and
redundancy are handled by scaling out the a ppl i c ation to multiple nodes in the
cloud.

Joyent SmartMachine

A SmartMachine, formerly called Accelerator, is a zone running on Joyent’s
SmartOS. It is a UNIX para-virtualized virtual machine (VM) that uses
dedicated server virtualizati on to mana ge fluctuating loads by bursting onto
additional CPUs that have available resources.

In addition to SmartMachines, the sol ut i on provide s the virtual Zeus Load
Balancer to enable scaling of the web application across multiple
SmartMachines. With a traditional multi-tiered web application, load balancers
can be inserted between all three tiers (web, applications, and database layers) to
provide performance and redundancy. An addi t i ona l MySQL optimized
SmartMachine is provided to facili t a te ra pi d de pl oyme nt of da tabase
components for applications. This set of Sm a rtMa chines represents the basis of
the platform as a service (PaaS) environment.

Introduction | 5

Cloud Management

The cloud is managed, maintained, se c ured, and backed up through software
components. The management components provide re porting, monitoring,
operating, and diagnostic functions a t bot h the cloud administrator and cloud
user levels. The solution defines a maintenance and backup/disaster recovery
methodology for both the SmartMachines a nd the infrastructure components.

Wrapped around all of these features are securit y fe a t ure s a nd m e t hodol ogies
that allow for secure multi-tenant operations.

Solution Com po nen ts

The solution comprises hardware a nd s oftware c om pone nt s , outlined below.

Figure 1. High-Level Solution Architecture

Introduction | 6

Hardware Compone nts

The hardware components include:

•

Administration/Provisioning Server

•

Compute Nodes

•

Network Infrastructure.

Administration/Provisioning Server

The administration/provisioning server provides the mult i pl e c l oud control, user
portal, and provisioning functions for the solut i on.

Compute Nodes

The compute nodes are a collection of client services that run on each physical
server except the infrastructure server. The services implement the components
of the stack that provision and monitor SmartMachi nes running on the nodes.

Network Infrastructure

The network infrastructure consist s of the c ol l e ction of top-of-rack (ToR)
switches and core switches that facilitate the connectivity between the
administration/provisioning s e rve r and re spective compute nodes, and the
networking infrastructure.

Software Components

The software components include:

•

Cloud Control

•

Cloud Management API

•

User Portal

•

Telemeter

Introduction | 7

Figure 2. Software Components

Cloud Control

In DCSWA, the administration portal is referred to as Cl oud Control. Cloud
Control manages cloud operations , including locations (datacenters), pods, racks,
rack-mountable devices (load balancers, servers, console servers, storage
devices, switches, appliances and routers), the network (IPs, subnets, and virtual
IPs), SmartMachines (zones), and customers.

Cloud Control also includes reporting for various objects in the cloud
infrastructure. Most Cloud Control functions focus on inventory management,
IP assignment, and assoc iati ons t o ot he r obj e c t s in t he dat ac ente r, that is,
managing servers and zones.

Introduction | 8

Figure 3. Cloud Control

Cloud Management API

This programmatic interface enables system integrators to access Cloud
Control’s functionality via a RESTful API.

Figure 4. Main Cloud Control Screen

Introduction | 9

User Portal

With the self-service user portal, you can perform certain tasks:

•

Create SmartMachines (up to your quota).

•

Reboot a SmartMachine.

•

Shutdown a SmartMachine.

•

Delete a SmartMachine.

NOTE:

Capacity can be added to an existing SmartMachine by an administrator using

Cloud Control, provided that there is available quota.

Figure 5. Sample Use r Portal Screen

Introduction | 10

Telemeter

The telemeter measures consumption. All te l emeter information is provided in
graphical form for each zone in Cloud Control.

Figure 6. Sample Telemeter Graphs

Measuring Consum ption

Measuring consumption is important i n both private and public clouds. In
private clouds, consumption measure ment supports departmental charge-backs.
In public clouds, consumption mea sure ment supports both the pay in advance
(subscriptions) and pay afterwards (invoic i ng) models.

Because consumption requirement s c an change over time, initially allocated
resources may no longer match needs. The re fore , it is critical to meter resource
allocations on an ongoing basis so that invoices and reports reflect actual use.

Consumption measurement is also val ua bl e for tra c ki ng t he amount of resourc e s
actually consumed (subset) versus the a mount a l l oc ated. Comparing the subset
to the full allocation can enable greater efficiencies. This is especially important
for service providers in capacity pla nning. The system provides measures of
consumption for both customers and service providers.

Introduction | 11

Cloud Provisionin g

Clouds must be created. This process, called cloud provisioning, requires several
steps.

1

Install the software.

2

Provision the network.

3

Execute the JumpStart.

4

Configure the head node.

5

Set up the global zone.

6

Set up compute node(s).

Cloud Control uses the Ubuntu Linux operating syst e m be c ause it is fast and
secure. Ubuntu is integrated into the software and is installed automatically.

Introduction | 12

2

SmartMachines

Accessing a New SmartMachine

When you provision a SmartMachine, Cloud Control creates several accounts
your client can use to access it. The client can choose to receive this login
information in a welcome email or access it t hrough the user portal.

Both the user portal and Cloud Control display the us e rna me , but not t he
password. If the client changes the passwords, the passwords di spl ayed in the
user portal or in Cloud Control will no longer be valid.

Figure 7. Credentials Display i n Departmental Operations Portal

SmartMachi nes | 13

account, and use su to log in as root:

Figure 8. Credentials Display in Cloud Control

System/Username Descriptions

System Username Description

root Root The system root user. You cannot log in as root through

SSH. Instead, access the SmartMachine through another

shell admin The system administrator. Use this account to access the

SmartMachine through SSH:

ssh admin@<smart-machine-name>

mysql root The root MySQL user. This is not the same as the

vs jill The user that controls the default virtual server (the

SmartMachi nes | 14

system root user.

server you reach when you access http://<smart-

machine-name>).

To do this…

Use this command…

List running services

svcs –a

List services that should

svcs -vx

Start a service

svcadm enable

<service>

Stop a service

svcadm disable <service

Restart a service

svcadm restart

<service>

Starting a nd S topp i ng S ma rtM achines

Use the user portal to start or stop SmartMachines.
The

Reboot

the machine. This button displays as the
successful.

Figure 9. Available Actions

button reboots a SmartMachine. The

Startup

Shutdown

button when shutdown is

button shuts down

Running Services

SmartMachines use Solaris Service Management Facility (SMF) to run services
such as the Apache web server and the MySQL server.

Common SMF commands:

be running but are not

>

SmartMachi nes | 15

Managing Users

Every SmartMachine user needs a unique name and must belong to at least one

sudo

group. To use the
To manage users and groups, log into your SmartMachi ne as admin or use su to

become the root user. If you log in as admin, run the comm a nds desc ribed in this
section with

sudo

Creating Groups

Solaris users are always members of one or more groups . Cre a t e groups so t hat a
set of users can share the same permissions across different files. For example,
create a web group for all files relating to a website.

To create a new group:

sudo groupadd <groupname>

You are asked for the password to the admin account. Once the password is
accepted, the group is created and there is no output to the console.

Verify that the group has been created by l ooki ng a t

grep <groupname> /etc/group

where

<groupname>

Creating Users

To add new users:

sudo useradd -d /home/<username> -m -g <group> -s
/usr/bin/bash <username>

Set the password for the new user with the following command:

sudo passwd <username>

command, the user must be a member of the staff group.

.

/etc/group

is the name you used in the initial

groupadd

:

command.

Adding Users to Groups

To change a user’s primary group:

sudo usermod -g <

To add a user to a supplemental group:

sudo usermod -G <groupname> <username>

SmartMachi nes | 16

groupname

> <

username

>

Cloud Control

Cloud Control manages all resources relat i ng t o a cloud. These i nc l ude :

•

Data centers (locations)

•

Pods (sets of racks)

•

Racks

•

Rack-mountable devices (load balancers, servers, console servers, storage
devices, switches, appliances and routers)

•

Network (IPs, subnets, and virtual IPs)

•

SmartMachines (ZFS dataset s and zone configurations)

•

Customers (users).

Select Cloud Control Function s

Feature Description

3

User Access Control Define user access

Account Administration Manage user access

Resource Management Manage disk and system allocation

Virtual Appliance
Management

Automated Resource
Deployment and
Reclamation

Reporting Capacity, utilization and health monitoring

SmartMachines

Capability to allocate system resources to mission-critical
workloads

Cloud Control | 17

their associated zones.

containers are created.

for Web Applications Administrator Guide.

Feature Description

RESTful API Joyent Cloud Control includes a RESTful private

API that connects private clouds with third party
services.

The private API provides access to the following:

Customers:

Containers: Zones
Templates: Predefined templates used to

Servers:

All API calls must use HTTP basic authentication
over SSL. All requests must include a shared
username and password. For information a bout
Cloud Control API, refer to the Dell Cloud Solution

Telemeter Telemeter provides static graphs at the server level.

For information about granular data at the zone
level, refer to the Collector Agent information in the

Dell Cloud Solution for Web Applications
Administrators Guide.

Company or department and

create a new container .
Physical servers where the

Cloud Contro l Interface

Login

To access Cloud Control, navigate to

http://

<ipaddressofadminnode>:

Field Description Format

Username The login name assigned to a

customer.

Cloud Control | 18

8080/admin/customers>

Text

.

Field Description Format

Password The login password associated

with the username.

Text
Minimum length=6 characters

NOTE:

The administrator username is admin, and the default password is joyadmin. The

ports are assigned as follows:
Port 8080 = Clou d C ontrol
Port 8081 = Clou d C ontrol AP I
Port 8082 = Customer 's API
Port 8083 = User Portal.

Side Menu

Use the Side Menu to access the different ele me nt s of Cl oud C ontrol .
Menu options are discussed in t he foll owing pa ges.

General

Cloud Control | 19

string.

Excel or save the file to disk.

customer

the customer

SmartMachines

Customers

The

Listing Custome rs

NOTE:

Customers will likely have multiple entries — one for each department within their
company. Using a common company name enables Cloud Control to logically group
information on repor ts.

Buttons

Button Action

Search Enter a customer or company name in the field and

page provides a list of all cus tom e rs.

click to display a subset of names matching the searc h

New Customer Open the

Download as CSV

Fields

Field Description Link Delivers

Customer Name Customer’s name Detailed information about the

Email Customer’s email address An email client addressed to

Zone
Count/Active

Cloud Control | 20

New Customer

page.

Initiate a file download of the customers listed. Open
the file by browsing to an application s uc h a s Microsoft

Total and active counts
of customer’s

Detailed information about the
customer’s SmartMachines

Field Description Link Delivers

Action

Edit customer data

Delete the customer

Customer details page in edit
mode

Delete confirmation dialogue
box

Cloud Control | 21

CustomersNew Customer

Use the
required input.

Fields

New Customer

NOTE:

You cannot create a customer with the same e-mail address or username as

an existing or deleted customer.

page to create customers.

Bold

field labels indicate

Field Description Format

First Name Customer’s first name Text

Last Name Customer’s last name Text

Email Address Customer’s email address Text

Alt. Email
Address

Cloud Control | 22

Customer’s alternate email
address

Text

Control do not observe quotas.

Name

second line

City

Customer’s city

Text

State

Customer’s state

Text

Field Description Format

Automatic
Provisioning

RAM Quota
in MB

Company

Street 1 Customer’s street address—

Street 2

Enables automatic provisioning
of the new customer

Quota of RAM allocated for all
of a customer’s provisioned
SmartMachines

The customer can portion the
quota as needed, e.g., a 512MB
quota can be allocated to one
512MB SmartMachine or two
256MB SmartMachines.

A quota of zero indicates
unlimited quota.

Quotas apply only to zones
created through the User Portal.
Zones created through Cloud

Customer’s company name Text

first line
Customer’s street address—

Checkbox
(recommended)

Number

Text

Text

Postal Code Customer’s postal code Text
Country Customer’s country Text
Phone Number Customer’s phone number Text
Comments Notes about the customer Text
Login Customer’s login use rna me Text

Cloud Control | 23

characters.

field entry.

can configure.

Field Description Format

Password Customer’s password Text

Minimum length is 6

Password
Confirmation

Customer’s password
confirmation

Text
Minimum length is 6
characters, and must
match the

Password

Role Customer’s role on the system Drop-down list

Only Admin account

NOTE:

When there is a problem with customer data, a red box displays at the top of the page.

When a customer is successfully created, a green box displays at the top of the
page.

Buttons

Button Action

Create Create a customer record.

Cancel Cancel the creation of a customer record.

Cloud Control | 24

zones for the customer.

field.

be made.

If the update fails, a red message displays.

CustomersNew Customer: Cloud Control Record

After a customer is successfully created, the

Buttons

Button Action

Search Enter a customer or company name in the field and

click to display a subset of names matching the searc h
string.

Customer

page displays.

Active Zones as CSV Download a comma -separated value file of all active

Extended Active
Zones as CSV

Map Address

Edit Display the customer details page so that changes can

Update Commit the updates. If the update is succe ssful , a

Download a comma-separated value file of all
extended active zones for the customer.

Display a Google map of the customer’s physica l
location based on the input derived from the address

green success message displays.

Cloud Control | 25

Customer

Customer name

Customer details page.

assigned, etc.)

False

= Zone is not reserved

Button Action

Cancel Cancel the changes to the customer record.

CustomersNew CustomerZone Information

The

Zone Information

detailed zone information.

Columns

Column Description Link Delivers

Name Zone name Zone details page

section of the

New Customer

page provides

IP Zone IP address NA

Configuration Template associated with the

Status

Reserved

Setup At Date stamp when zone was

Size Size in MB NA
Server Hostname Hostname

Cloud Control | 26

zone
Zone status (deactivated,

True

= Zone is reserved

set up

NA

NA

NA

NA

details page.

Name

box.

Column Description Link Delivers

Comments Comments relating to the

NA

zone

Action

Edit zone information

Send Welcome email

to zone owner

Delete zone

Zone details page in edit
mode

Confirmation message

Removes zone from display
without prompting for
confirmation

Buttons

Button Action

Assign Zone Remove the zone from the current customer and

transfer it to the customer listed in the

Assign Zone by

Create Create a new zone for the customer using the template

selected in the
list.

Create New Zone by Type

drop-down

CustomersNew Customer: Zone Usage

The

Zone Usage

section of the

New Customer

page provides detailed

information about zone usage.

Columns

Cloud Control | 27

Public IP

Public IP address

NA

created.

Column Description Link Delivers

Period Usage time period NA

Average Active
Zones

Average
Inactive Zones

Average Active
RAM in MB

Average
Inactive RAM

Average number of active zones
during the time period

Average number of inactive zones
during the time period

Average amount of active RAM (in
MB) during the time period

Average amount of inactive RAM (in
MB) during the time period

NA

NA

NA

NA

in MB

CustomersNew Customer: Virtual IP’s

Columns

Column Description Link Delivers

Created At Date and time the virtual IP was

Updated At Date and time the virtual IP was last

Setup At Date and time the virtual IP wa s set up. NA

Buttons

Cloud Control | 28

NA

NA

updated.

IP

address field.

Button Action

Create Create a virtual IP with the address entered in the

Public

Cloud Control | 29

to display a subset of names matching the s earc h st ring.

page

Company

Customer’s company name

NA

customer

Total RAM

Total RAM for the customer

NA

CustomersSold

Click

Sold

in the side menu to display the

page.

Buttons

Button Action

Search Enter a customer or company name in the field and click

Columns

Column Description Link Delivers

Customer Customer’s first and la st na me Customer details

Sales Report for Al l Customers

Active Zones Number o f active zones for the

Small
Protemplate

Cloud Control | 30

Number of this type of template in
use by the customer

NA

NA