Dell DX6004S User Manual
Dell DX Object Storage
Platform
User’s Guide
Notes, Cautions, and Warnings
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Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2 DX Object Storage Platform Overview . . . . 9
Network Topologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Application Access to DX Object
Storage Platform
Local Cluster Configuration
Subcluster Configuration
Remote Cluster Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . 16
DX Cluster File Server Configuration
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Communicating Directly With a
Local Cluster
Communicating Directly With a
Remote Cluster
Communicating With a Cluster Through
the Cluster File Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
. . . . . . . . 18
3 Setting Up the DX Object
Storage Platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Installing the Initial Cluster or Redundant
Cluster Services Node
Configuring the DX Object Storage Platform
DX Content Router Rules Configurator
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
. . . . . . 21
. . . . . . . . . 22
Contents 3
Using the Dell DX Content Router
Rules Configurator
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Troubleshooting the Dell DX Content
Router Rules Configurator (CRRC)
. . . . . . . . . 25
Adding Additional DX Storage Nodes
Installing the System in a Rack
Cabling the Appliance
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
. . . . . . . . . . 26
. . . . . . . . . . . 26
Turning On the DX Storage Node . . . . . . . . . . 26
Enabling Capacity in DX Cluster
Services Console
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Adding Network Adapter to
DX Storage Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Adding Network Adapters to DX Cluster
Services Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Adding Cluster File Server Nodes
. . . . . . . . . 28
4 Updating the Dell DX Object
Storage Platform Software . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Checking Software Version Compatibility . . . . . . . 32
Using the DX Object Storage Platform
Compatibility Manager
Troubleshooting the Compatibility Manager
Updating the DX Cluster Services Node Software
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
. . . . 33
. . . 34
4 Contents
Updating the DX Storage Node Software . . . . . . . . 34
Receiving System Software
Update Notifications
Updating OpenManage Server Administrator
Updating the DX Cluster File Server Software
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
. . . 35
. . . . . 36
5 Disaster Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Recovery Solution Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Recovering From Disk Failures
Single Disk Failure
Two Disk Failure
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Detecting and Monitoring Disk Failures
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
. . . . . . . . 39
Reinstalling the Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Configuring and Managing RAID
Recovering the Operating System
. . . . . . . . . . . . 40
. . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Configuring the Partitions During
Operating System Recovery
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Reinstalling the DX Cluster Services
Node Software
Setting Up and Configuring the Network
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
. . . . . . 43
Connecting the DX Cluster Services Node to the
Private and Public Networks
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Connecting the DX Storage Nodes
to the Private Network
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Creating a Local YUM Repository on
the DX6000 System
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Installing Dell DX Compatibility Manager
. . . . . . . 46
Installing Dell DX Content Router
Rules Configurator
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Installing Dell OpenManage
Server Administrator
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Installing DX Cluster Services Node Software
. . . . . 47
Contents 5
Configuring the DX Cluster Services
Node Software
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Restoring the Cluster Configurations . . . . . . . . . . 48
Bringing Up the DX Storage Cluster
. . . . . . . . . . . 48
6 Additional References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Software Documents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Hardware Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Systems Management Documents
. . . . . . . . . . . . 52
6 Contents
1
Introduction
The Dell DX Object Storage Platform provides a simple and cost effective
pool of storage for less active or fixed content. The object storage platform
allows you to:
• Expand the capacity to meet rapidly changing needs without disrupting
services.
• Set policies for file retention and replication.
• Distribute information to multiple geographic locations.
• Integrate through an HTTP based interface.
• Integrate through a CIFS/NFS Gateway.
The DX Object Storage Platform includes the following hardware and
software:
•Dell DX6
generation).
• Two or more Dell DX6
that indicates generation, and the variables
drives. For example, 6012S indicates a 12-drive storage node).
•Dell DX6
indicates generation and "G" indicates a general support node).
• A preinstalled operating system and Dell OpenManage software on the DX
Cluster Services Node.
• Dell DX Object Storage Platform software.
• A pre-installed operating system on the DX Cluster File Server.
• Dell DX Cluster File Server software.
a00
Cluster Services Node (where a is a variable that indicates
axy
S Object Storage Nodes (where a is a variable
xy
indicate the number of
a
00G Cluster File Server (optional) (where a is a variable that
Introduction 7
Table 1-1 lists the terms used in this document to refer to various
components of the DX Object Storage Platform.
Table 1-1. Terms Used in the Document
Component Description
DX Object Storage Cluster DX6a00S system and two or more DX6axyS
systems
DX Cluster Services Node,
Cluster Services Node (CSN)
DX Object Storage Node, DX
Storage Node (SN)
DX Content Router Software component on the DX6a00 system
DX Object Storage Software Software component on the DX6axyS system
DX Storage Cluster File Server,
DX Cluster File Server (CFS)
DX Storage Compression Node
(SCN)
DX6
a00 system
DX6axyS system
DX6a00G system running DX Cluster File Server
Software
DX6a00G system running DX Storage
Compression Node Software
8 Introduction
2
DX Object Storage Platform Overview
Network Topologies
The Dell DX Object Storage Platform network consists of one or more DX
Storage Clusters connected by DX Content Router services. There are many
possible network topologies depending on the storage network goals. All
networks share the following features:
• One or two DX Cluster Services Nodes that provide services to the storage
cluster.
• Two or more DX Storage Nodes that provide data storage services.
• Ethernet switches to enable required services within a storage cluster
(private network) and access to the storage nodes from outside the cluster
(public network).
• Services such as Domain Name System (DNS) and Dynamic Host
Configuration Protocol (DHCP).
NOTE: DX Storage Cluster requires a dedicated internal network to ensure that the
storage cluster traffic is protected from unauthorized access. The dedicated
network also ensures that the external or corporate network is isolated from both
the PXE boot server and cluster multicast traffic.
All network services required by the cluster are present in the
Services Node
The DX Storage Cluster is automatically configured with defaults for all
network parameters that should be sufficient for most simple configurations.
All network parameters can be set manually to support more complex
configurations. For detailed information about setting network parameters,
see the DX Object Storage Getting Started Guide and the DX Object Storage
Advanced Administration Guide at support.dell.com/manuals.
software bundle and preinstalled on the
DX Cluster
Cluster Services Node
.
DX Object Storage Platform Overview 9
Network switch configuration depends on both the network topology and the
customer environment. To ensure proper functioning with default network
parameters and to maximize cluster performance, it is recommended that you
follow the best practices listed below, while configuring both the private and
public networks switches.
• Disable link aggregation configuration as the DX Object Storage Nodes
bond the system NIC ports in balanced-alb modes.
• Disable jumbo frames.
• Disable spanning tree protocol, if the switches are not being trunked.
• Disable Flow Control.
NOTE: If switches are trunked, enable spanning tree protocol and port fast on the
data intensive ports.
Contact Dell to customize the network configurations to meet the solution
needs. For more information about configuring the network for the Dell DX
Object Storage Platform, see "Network Topology" in the DX Object Storage
Advanced Administration Guide at support.dell.com/manuals.
Local Cluster Configuration
A basic Dell DX Storage Cluster consists of at least one
Node
and at least two
DX Storage Nodes
, along with the necessary Ethernet
infrastructure to connect them. See Figure 2-1.
Within a cluster,
DX Storage Nodes
communicate with each other through
User Datagram Protocol (UDP) and IP multicast. All nodes within a cluster
must be on the same IP subnet. The
DX Cluster Services Node
participates in UDP and multicast communication and must be located
within the same subnet.
The Layer 3 switch (IP router) used to create the storage cluster subnet must:
• Restrict UDP and multicast network to the cluster subnet
• Pass TCP (HTTP) traffic to and from the DX Cluster Services Node and
DX Storage Nodes
DX Cluster Services
also
NOTE: You do not require a load-balancer in front of the storage cluster. The
applications communicate directly with the DX Object Storage Platform through
HTTP.
10 DX Object Storage Platform Overview
It is recommended that you configure the network topology to enable
applications/DX6000G
public network
primary
NIC
teamed
interlink
private network
redundant connections
multi-cast
DX CSN
2 Port LOM
2 Port LOM
DX Storage
Node
DX Storage
Node
4 Port LOM
applications to communicate with the
DX Storage Nodes
on private and
secure networks. This is the primary method to store and retrieve data from a
local DX Storage Cluster.
NOTE: If applications write to a cluster through an unsecure network, then to
prevent malicious activity, it is recommended that you allow the application to
encrypt the data before writing the data to the cluster.
Figure 2-1. Local Cluster Configuration
DX Object Storage Platform Overview 11
Redundant DX Cluster Services Nodes
The Dell DX Storage Cluster supports redundant
In a redundant model, the active
the primary node and the redundant
node. See Figure 2-2.
The primary
active networking utilities, and active content router services. A manual
failover process is required to demote the primary
and promote the secondary
combined virtual IP address for the primary
failover to a redundant
applications. When a failover is transparent, an IP address change is not
required. However, the application services remain unavailable until the
manual failover of the
information, see the Cluster Services Installation and Configuration Guide at
support.dell.com/manuals.
Cluster Services Node
DX Cluster Services Node
Cluster Services Node
DX Cluster Services Node
node
is configured as the secondary
contains the cluster configuration files,
DX Cluster Services Node
DX Cluster Services Node
is configured as
DX Cluster Services Node
. Since there is a
DX Cluster Services Node
is transparent to all
is complete. For more
, a
s.
12 DX Object Storage Platform Overview
Figure 2-2. Redundant DX Cluster Services Nodes
public network
private network
redundant connections
primary
multi-cast
interlink
NIC
teamed
secondary
applications/DX6000G
DX CSN
DX CSN
2 Port LOM
DX Storage
Node
2 Port LOM
DX Storage
Node
4 Port LOM
4 Port LOM
DX Object Storage Platform Overview 13
Subcluster Configuration
A Dell DX Storage Cluster can be split into two or more subclusters. The
subclusters are physically part of the same cluster but are recognized as
logically separate entities by the DX Object Storage software that provides
local area replication.
A subcluster can be:
• A set of nodes within one physical group (such as building, floor, wing,
and so on)
• An environmental group (such as rack, network switch, and power
circuit)
• Any other defined groups
If the building or power circuit fails, other nodes have an optimal set of data
replicas. See Figure 2-3.
All
DX Storage Nodes
connectivity requirements. The DX Storage Nodes must be in the same IP
subnet, must be able to participate in multicast and UDP traffic, and so on.
Clients may address
redirected to the proper
of a subcluster configuration is not required.
For more information about subclusters, see "Local Area Replication" in the
DX Object Storage Advanced Administration Guide at
support.dell.com/manuals.
within the DX Storage Cluster have the same network
DX Storage Nodes
DX Storage Node
within any subcluster and are
. As a result, application awareness
14 DX Object Storage Platform Overview
Figure 2-3. Subcluster Configuration
public network
private network
redundant connections
primary
interlink
subcluster 1
subcluster 2
NIC
teamed
applications/DX6000G
multi-cast
DX CSN
2 Port LOM
DX Storage
Node
2 Port LOM
2 Port LOM
2 Port LOM
4 Port LOM
DX Storage
Node
DX Storage
Node
DX Storage
Node
DX Object Storage Platform Overview 15
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