FalconStor Network Storage Server (NSS)

Administrators Guide

FalconStor Software, Inc.

2 Huntington Quadrangle, Suite 2S01
Melville, NY 11747
Phone: 631-777-5188
Fax: 631-501-7633
Web site: www.falconstor.com

Copyright 2001-2010 FalconStor Software. All Rights Reserved.

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FalconStor Software reserves the right to make changes in the information contained in this publication without prior notice. The
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This product is protected by United States Patents Nos. 7,093,127 B2; 6,715,098; 7,058,788 B2; 7,330,960 B2; 7,165,145 B2
;7,155,585 B2; 7.231,502 B2; 7,469,337; 7,467,259; 7,418,416 B2; 7,406,575 B2 , and additional patents pending."

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NSS Administration Guide

Contents
Introduction
NSS concepts and components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Getting Started
Web Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
SAN Disk Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Using SAN Disk Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Setting up your SAN Client using SAN Disk Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Creating SAN Resources using SAN Disk Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Creating and provisioning a virtual disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Protecting your data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Recovering your data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Advanced Features
FalconStor Management Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
WebStart for Java console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Starting the console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Connecting your storage server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Creating SAN Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Creating a SAN Resource (virtual disk) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Creating Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
Protecting your Snapshot Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Using Snapshot to copy a SAN Resource . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Creating Storage Pools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Setting Storage Pool properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Index

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NSS Administration Guide

Introduction
FalconStor Network Storage Server (NSS) appliances deliver self-protecting, plug-
and-play iSCSI and Fibre Channel (FC) SAN primary storage for small/medium
businesses (SMB) and remote offices (ROBO). NSS appliances include
virtualization and provisioning for easy management and use. Thin provisioning and
capacity-on-demand capabilities help automate storage resource allocation and
capacity management while virtualization provides centralized management for
heterogeneous storage environments. All appliances include FalconStor TimeMark
snapshot capabilities for transactionally consistent, instant data recovery. Data
stored on NSS appliances may be replicated to another appliance via IP using the
FalconStor Replication option, maintaining a copy of itself either locally or at a
remote site, and synchronizing the two copies to ensure consistency between the
redundant resources.
Because it can be difficult to predict actual storage needs of an enterprise, the
administrators of many businesses tend to over allocate resources. This results in a
large amount of unused space. On average, storage administrators report using just
25-40% of total available storage capacity, leaving 60-75% of all available space
idle. Once storage is allocated to a particular application, it becomes unavailable for
other uses.
FalconStor NSS offers Thin Provisioning and Capacity-on-Demand (COD) to
provide a customizable, cost effective, and easy-to-manage way to address these
major resource management challenges.
Thin Provisioning allows storage space to be assigned to clients
dynamically, on a just-enough and just-in-time basis, based on need. This
avoids under-utilization of storage by applications while allowing for
unrestricted expansion in the long-term.

With Thin Provisioning, a single pool of storage can be provisioned to

multiple client hosts. Each client sees the full size of its provisioned disk
while the actual amount of storage used is much smaller. Because so little
space is actually being used, NSS Thin Provisioning allows resources to be
over-allocated, meaning that more storage can be provisioned to hosts than
actually exists. Because each client sees the full size of its provisioned disk,
Thin Provisioning is the ideal solution for users of legacy databases and
operating systems that cannot handle dynamic disk expansion.
For systems that can handle dynamic disk expansion and do not want to
deal with the memory, CPU, and storage overhead associated with the full
size of a provisioned disk, NSS Capacity-on-Demand provides the flexibility
to grow LUNs/resources non-disruptively on an as-needed basis and also
offers compression to reduce the amount of storage required.

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 Introduction

This Administration Guide highlights the key features of the FalconStor Network
Storage Server (NSS) solution. There are two different methods for managing NSS.
The first method is a simplified method for plug-and-play operation using FalconStor
SAN Disk Manager. This approach is ideal for small/medium business (SMB)
environments. The second method offers the ability to utilize many of the advanced
features available with NSS through the FalconStor management console. This
approach is ideal for larger and more complex enterprise environments.
This document provides step-by-step procedures to guide you through these key
features using both methods.

NSS concepts and components

The primary components of the NSS solution are the storage appliance, SAN
Clients, and the console. These components all sit on the same network segment,
the storage network. The terminology and concepts used in NSS are described
here. For additional information, refer to the NSS Reference Guide.

Appliance This is a dedicated storage server. The storage appliance is attached to the physical
SCSI and/or Fibre Channel storage device. The job of the appliance is to
communicate data requests between the clients and the SAN Resources via Fibre
Channel or iSCSI.

FalconStor The administration tool for the NSS storage network. It is a Java application that can
Management be used on a variety of platforms and allows administrators to create, configure,
Console manage, and monitor the storage resources and services on the storage network.

Logical These are all of the logical/virtual resources defined on the storage appliance,
Resource including SAN Resources (virtual drives, and service-enabled devices), and
Snapshot Groups.
Logical Resources consist of sets of storage blocks from one or more physical hard
disk drives. This allows the creation of Logical Resources that contain a portion of a
larger physical disk device or an aggregation of multiple physical disk devices. The
example below illustrates three logical resources being created from a single large
RAID device.
Understanding how to create and manage Logical Resources is critical to a
successful storage network.

NIC Port Allows you to use multiple network ports in parallel to increase the link speed
Bonding beyond the limit of a single port and improve redundancy for higher availability. The
appliance must have at least two NIC ports to create one bond group and at least
four NIC ports to create two bond groups.
If you choose 1 Bond Group, all ports as the bond type, all discovered NIC ports will
be combined into a single group. If you choose 2 Bond Groups, half of the ports in
each as the bond type, each group will contain half of the discovered NIC ports.

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 Introduction

Round-Robin mode (mode 0) is the default and is best for a simple switch
environment where all ports ae on a single switch. Round Robin mode transmits
data in a sequential, round-robin order and is good for general purpose load
balancing and fault tolerance. It uses standard switches and does not require
additional switch setup.
Link Aggregation mode (mode 4) is a more dedicated, tuned mode where the NIC
ports work together with switches using the 802.1AX standard to optimize traffic.
This mode requires IEEE 802.IX- capable switches and is best for multi-switch
environments with supported switches.

Physical These are the actual physical LUNs as seen by the RAID controller/storage HBA
Resource within the NSS appliance used to create Logical Resources. Clients do not gain
access to physical resources; they only have access to Logical Resources. This
means that an administrator must reserve Physical Resources for use as either
virtual devices or service-enabled devices before creating Logical Resources.
Storage Pools can be used to simplify Physical Resource allocation/management
before creating Logical SAN Resources.

Replication The FalconStor Replication feature provides comprehensive offsite replication and
recovery capabilities for FalconStor Network Storage Server (NSS). FalconStor
Replication was specifically engineered with disaster recovery (DR) in mind,
enabling automated delta-based replication over any existing network infrastructure,
independent of application servers. By only replicating changes to data, it eliminates
performance bottlenecks and minimizes bandwidth requirements to reduce
networking costs. Sophisticated software-based data encryption ensures end-to-end
security between primary and DR sites without additional overhead. Its re-
synchronize function helps transfer data back to the primary site after a disaster,
enabling you to quickly resume normal operations.

SAN Clients These are the actual file and application servers. FalconStor calls them SAN Clients
because they utilize the storage resources via the NSS appliance. SAN Clients
access their storage resources via iSCSI initiators. The storage resources appear as
locally attached devices to the SAN Clients' operating systems (Windows, Linux,
Solaris, etc.) even though the SCSI devices are actually located at the NSS
appliance.

SAN Disk The SAN Disk Manager (SDM) is a utility that is included with all IPStor enabled
Manager technology. SDM controls the Intelligent Management Agent (IMA) service, which
Console communicates with NSS.

SAN SAN Resources provide storage for file and application servers (called SAN Clients).
Resources When a SAN Resource is assigned to a SAN Client, a virtual adapter is defined for
that client. The SAN Resource is assigned a virtual SCSI ID on the virtual adapter.
This mimics the configuration of actual SCSI storage devices and adapters, allowing
the operating system and applications to treat them like any other SCSI device. A
SAN Resource can be a virtual device or a service-enabled device.

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 Introduction

Service Hard drives with existing data that can be accessed by NSS to make use of all key
enabled IPStor services (mirroring, snapshot, etc.), without any migration/copying, without
devices any modification of data, and with minimal downtime. Service-enabled devices are
used to migrate existing drives into the SAN.

Snapshot The concept of performing a snapshot is similar to taking a picture. When we take a
photograph, we are capturing a moment in time and transferring it to a photographic
medium. Similarly, a snapshot of an entire device allows us to capture data at any
given moment in time and move it to either tape or another storage medium, while
allowing data to be written to the device. The basic function of the snapshot engine
is to allow point-in-time, "frozen" images to be created of data volumes (virtual
drives) using minimal storage space. By combining the snapshot storage with the
source volume, the data can be recreated exactly at it appeared at the time the
snapshot was taken. For added protection, a snapshot resource can also be
mirrored through NSS. You can create a snapshot resource for a single SAN
Resource or you can use the batch feature to create snapshot resources for multiple
SAN Resources. Refer to the NSS Reference Guide for additional information.

Storage pools Groups of one or more physical devices. Creating a storage pool enables you to
provide all of the space needed by your clients in a very efficient manner. You can
create and manage storage pools in a variety of ways, including tiers, device
categories, and types.
For example, you can classify your storage by tier (low-cost, high-performance,
high-redundancy, etc.) and assign it based on these classifications. Using this
example, you may want to have your business critical applications use storage from
the high-redundancy or high-performance pools while having your less critical
applications use storage from other pools.

Thin This feature allows you to use your storage space more efficiently by allocating a
provisioning minimum amount of space for the virtual resource. Then, when usage thresholds are
met, additional storage is allocated as necessary. The maximum size of a disk with
thin provisioning is limited to 16,777,216 MB. The minimum permissible size of a
thin disk is 10GB

Virtual devices Sets of storage blocks from one or more physical hard disk drives. NSS has the
ability to aggregate multiple physical storage devices (such as JBODs and RAIDs)
of various interface protocols (such as SCSI or Fibre Channel) into logical storage
pools. From these storage pools, virtual devices can be created and provisioned to
application servers and end users. This is called storage virtualization.
Virtual devices offer the added capability of disk expansion. Additional storage
blocks can be appended to the end of existing virtual devices without erasing the
data on the disk.

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NSS Administration Guide

Getting Started
The storage appliance is the central component of the network. It is the storage
device that connects to hosts via industry standard iSCSI (or Fibre Channel)
protocols.
Before you undertake the activities described in this guide, make sure you have
already racked, connected, and completed initial power-on instructions for the
appliance according to the FalconStor Hardware QuickStart Guide that was
shipped with your appliance.
Also make sure you completed Web Setup according to the instructions in the
FalconStor NSS Software QuickStart Guide, which was also shipped with your
appliance.
The NSS Reference Guide includes detailed information and advanced procedures
for the NSS storage appliance. You can download this guide from the Clients page
of the Web Setup application.
To revisit Web Setup, refer to the instructions in the FalconStor NSSSoftware
QuickStart Guide or type in the IP address of the appliance. The default User ID is
fsadmin and the password is IPStor101.

Web Setup
Once you have physically connected the appliance, powered it on, and performed
the following steps via the Web Setup installation and server setup, you are ready to
begin using NSS.

1. Configure the Appliance

The first time you connect, you will be asked to:
Select a language.
(If the wrong language is selected, click your browser back button or go to: //
10.0.0.2/language.php to return to the language selection page.
Read and agree to the FalconStor End User License Agreement.
(Storage appliances only) Configure your RAID system.
Enter the network configuration for your appliance

2. Manage License Keys

Enter the server license keys.

3. Check for Software Updates

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 Getting Started

Click the Check for Updates button to check for updated agent software.
Click the Download Updates button to download the selected client software.

4. Install Management Software and Guides

You can install the following management consoles:
Server Management Console
Client Management Console
RecoverTrac

5. Install Client Software and Guides

You can install the following client software:
Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator
SAN Disk Manager (SDM)
Snapshot Agents
DynaPath
Recovery Agents
HyperTrac
IntegrityTrac
Multi-Site Cluster Adapter
At a minimum, you will need to install SAN Disk Manager (SDM). If you are using
the iSCSI protocol to connect to your storage server, you will also need to install
the Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator. The iSCSI initiator will need to be installed
before using SDM. This Administration Guide uses SDM on Windows. For other
operating systems, refer to your NSS Reference Guide.

6. Configure Advanced Features

Advanced features allow you to perform the following:
NIC Port Bonding - for use of multiple network ports in parallel to increase the
link speed beyond the limit of a single port and improve redundancy for higher
availability.
Add Storage Capacity - for extra storage capacity, you can connect additional
storage via Fibre Channel or iSCSI
Disable Web Services - for businesses with policies requiring web services to
be disabled.

If you encounter any problems while configuring your appliance, contact FalconStor
EZStart technical support via the web at: www.falconstor.com/supportrequest.
(Additional contact methods are available in each step by clicking the EZStart
Technical Support link.

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 Getting Started

SAN Disk Manager

SAN Disk Manager is a utility that is designed to automate and simplify typical tasks
related to iSCSI and Fibre Channel network connections. Using SDM replaces
manual procedures such as establishing CHAP secrets and gathering WWPN
information. These common tasks can be performed without the use of the
FalconStor Advanced Management Console. Using SAN Disk Manager, you can
perform a number of different tasks, including:
Automate iSCSI/Fibre Channel connections to NSS appliances
Change communication protocol settings
Create and delete virtual disks (SAN Resources) as well as view their
properties
View a list of FalconStor client applications, such as Snapshot Agents
View the SDM event log
Create, mount, dismount, and delete snapshots

Note: To automate connection to the NSS appliance using SAN Disk Manager,
SDM must be installed on each client machine to which storage is being
provisioned.

Using SAN Disk Manager

You can start SAN Disk Manager via the Start menu (Start --> Programs -->
FalconStor --> SAN Disk Manager) or via Computer Management (right-click My
Computer and click Manage, expand Storage, and click SAN Disk Manager).
Whether you run SAN Disk Manager from the Start menu or access it from
Computer Management, it operates the same.
Once you have completed EZStart installation and Web Setup, you can proceed as
follows:
Connect to your NSS appliance.
Allocate resources and provision disks (refer to Creating SAN Resources
using SAN Disk Manager).
Use Web Setup to define protection policies (TimeMarks and Replication).
Refer to Protecting your data.
Recover data as required (refer to Recovering your data).

Setting up your SAN Client using SAN Disk Manager

SAN Clients access their storage resources via iSCSI software initiators (for iSCSI)
and HBAs (for Fibre Channel or iSCSI). The storage resources appear as locally
attached storage devices to the SAN Clients operating systems (Windows, Linux,
etc.) even though the SCSI devices are physically located at the NSS appliance.

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 Getting Started

Creating SAN Resources using SAN Disk Manager

To add a storage server, follow the steps below:

1. In the navigation tree, expand SAN Disk Manager, right-click Storage Servers,
and click Add Server.

2. In the Server name text box, type the name or IP address of the storage server.
If the storage server is in a Windows domain, select the Windows Domain
Authentication check box and type the domain name in the Domain Name text
box. If the storage server is not in a Windows domain, clear the Windows
Domain Authentication check box.

3. In the User name text box, type a user name for accessing the server or domain.

4. In the Password text box, type the password for that user name.

5. Select the communication protocol(s) to use (iSCSI and/or Fibre Channel

If you are using the iSCSI protocol, by default the first detected Ethernet port/IP
address is utilized to communicate with the storage server. If the iSCSI check
box is not available, you have not installed the Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator.
You must install the iSCSI Initiator.

6. Click OK on the Add Server dialog box.

The server information appears in the right pane.

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 Getting Started

Creating and provisioning a virtual disk

When you select Disks in the navigation tree, the right pane displays a list of all the
SAN Resources currently assigned to your client machine.
To create a SAN Resource (virtual disk):

1. In the navigation tree, expand SAN Disk Manager, right-click Disks, and click
New Disk.

2. In the Servers list, select the storage server where you want to create the new
virtual disk.

3. In the Disk size text box, type the number of megabytes that you want to allocate
for the new virtual disk. The default is 100MB.
If you choose to enable thin provisioning for this disk, the minimum disk size is
10240MB (10GB). The maximum size of the virtual SAN resource with thin
provisioning enabled is 16,777,146 MB (16TB). Once a threshold is met, the thin
disk expands in 1GB increments.

4. If you want use thin provisioning or change the default size of the snapshot
resource, click the Options button to access the advanced properties.
The default snapshot resource size is 20%. The minimum is 10%.
To enable thin provision, select the Enable thin provisioning checkbox and enter
the initial size to allocate. The minimum is 1024MB (10% of the disk size).

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 Getting Started

For the example shown, the client will see 10GB but the server will only allocate
1GB.

5. Click OK to return to the Allocate Disk window.

6. Select the communication protocol to use (iSCSI or Fibre Channel).

7. Click OK.

Note: Prior to using the newly created SAN Resource, you must initialize and
format the drive for Windows. To do this:

Navigate to Computer Management (Right-click My computer ' Manage)

Then select Disk Management under Storage in the navigation tree.
The disk will be automatically be detected and the Initialization Wizard
launches to guide you through the initialization process.
Partition the disk by right clicking on the disk and selecting New Partition.
The New Partition Wizard will guide you through the process and assign a drive
letter and volume label enabling the disk to function as a local hard disk drive.
You can then access it using My Computer/Windows Explorer.

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 Getting Started

Protecting your data

You can set your protection policy through the Web Setup by scheduling TimeMarks
and/or enabling replication for each of your disks. To use Web Setup, open a
browser on a computer that is on the same network as your appliance and go to the
IP address you assigned to your NSS appliance during initial Web Setup. Select
step 6 - Advanced Features. Protection can also be set using the Advanced
Management Console. See the NSS Reference Guide for additional information on
using the FalconStor Management Console.

Recovering your data

Recovery can be done by mounting a snapshot using SAN Disk Manager or by
using the Advanced Management Console. Refer to the SAN Disk Manager User
Guide or the NSS Reference Guide for details.

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NSS Administration Guide

Advanced Features
FalconStor Management Console
This section is optional and used for advanced features only.
The FalconStor Management Console offers the same functionality as the scaled-
down disk management solution of SAN Disk Manager but is typically used by larger
enterprise organizations with complex storage environments.
The FalconStor Management Console is the central management system for all of
your storage devices. It is the administrative tool that allows you to create, configure,
manage, and monitor the storage resources on the SAN. It is a Java application that
can be run on many Windows, Linux, and Solaris platforms that support the Java 2
Runtime Environment (JRE) version and does not require a dedicated administrative
computer. In fact, the console does not need to be installed at all. You can connect
to the console via your web browser by typing in the IP address of the NSS
appliance into the address bar.
The console displays the configuration and status of the servers on your storage
network. The information is organized in a familiar Explorer-like tree view.
The tree allows you to navigate the various servers and their configuration objects.
The console remembers the servers to which the console has successfully
connected. If you close and restart the console, the servers will still be displayed in
the tree but you will not be connected to them.
You can expand or collapse the display to show only the information that you wish to
view. Double-clicking on the item will toggle the expanded/collapsed view of the
item. If you are connected to a server, you can expand it. When you highlight an
object in the tree, the right-hand pane contains detailed information about the object.
You can select one of the tabs for more information.
The General tab displays configuration information includes the version of the NSS
software and base operating system, the type and number of processors, amount of
physical and swappable memory, supported protocols, and network adapter
information.
The Event Log tab displays system events and errors.
The computer that runs the console needs connectivity to the Storage Network
segment. This is because it communicates directly with the server and clients to
administer and monitor their behavior. The console may be installed on any number
of machines, including the clients themselves, provided that they have a Graphical
User Interface.
The FalconStor Management Console is also available via download from your NSS
appliance. If you cannot install the console on every client, you can use the
WebStart feature.

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 Advanced Features

WebStart for Java console

The FalconStor Management console is optional and used for advanced features.
The FalconStor Management console is available to install via the installation CD or
can be accessed via your web browser.
In cases where you need to access the storage server from a machine that does not
have the FalconStor Management Console installed, you can download the
FalconStor Management Console as follows:
1. Open a web browser on the machine you wish to install the console.
2. Type in the IP address of the storage server you wish to access using port 81.
The user name is fsadmin
The password is IPStor101
If you do not have JRE 5.0 update 6 installed, you will be prompted to install it. Once
the appropriate version of JRE is found, the FalconStor Management Console
automatically installs.

Note: A security warning may display regarding the digital signature for the java
applet. Click run to accept the signature.

If you plan to reuse the console on this machine, repeat steps 1 and 2 above or
create a shortcut from Java when prompted.
To make sure you are prompted to create a shortcut to the java Webstart, follow the
steps below:

1. Start --> Control Panel --> Java

2. The Java control panel launches

3. Click on the Advanced tab and select the "prompt user" or "Always allow" radio
button under Shortcut Creation.

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 Advanced Features

Starting the console

On Windows, select Start --> Programs --> FalconStor IPStor --> IPStor Console.On
Linux and other UNIX environments, execute the following:

cd /usr/local/ipstorconsole
./ipstorconsole

Notes:

If your screen resolution is 640 x 480, the splash screen may be cut off while
the console loads.
The console might not launch on certain systems with display settings
configured to use 16 colors.
The console needs to be run from a directory with write access. Otherwise,
the host name information and message log file retrieved from the storage
server will not be able to be saved to the local directory. As a result, the
console will display event messages as numbers and console options will not
be able to be saved.

Connecting your storage server

1. Discover all storage servers on your storage subnet by selecting Tools -->
Discover IPStor Servers.

2. Connect to a server using one of the following methods:

You can connect to an existing server by right-clicking on it and selecting
Connect, then enter a valid user name and password (both are case
sensitive).
If you want to connect to a server that is not listed, right-click on the IPStor
Servers object and select Add, enter the name of the server, a valid user
name and password.
When you connect to a server for the first time, a configuration wizard is launched.
You may see a dialog box notifying you of new devices attached to the server. Here,
you will see all devices that are either unassigned or reserved devices. At this point
you can either prepare the device (reserve it for a virtual or service enabled device)
and/or create a logical resource. Once you are connected to a server, the server
icon will change to show that you are connected:
If you connect to a server that is part of a failover configuration, you will
automatically be connected to both servers.

Note: Multiple administrators can access a server at the same time. Changes to
the servers configuration are saved on a first-come, first-served basis.

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 Advanced Features

The FalconStor Management Console remembers the storage servers to which the
console has successfully connected. If you close and restart the console, the
servers will still be displayed in the tree but you will not be connected to them.

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 Advanced Features

Creating SAN Resources

Understanding how to create and manage Logical Resources is critical to a
successful storage network. Each server supports a maximum of 1024 SAN
Resources. Logical Resources are logically mapped devices on the appliance. They
are comprised of physical storage devices, known as Physical Resources in the
FalconStor Management Console. Physical resources are the actual devices (such
as hard disk drives) within the appliance.
Clients do not have direct access to physical resources; they have access only to
logical resources. This means that physical resources must be defined as logical
resources first, and then assigned to the clients so they can access them.
Refer to the NSS Reference Guide for details on virtualizing physical devices,
creating SAN Resources, creating clients and targets, assigning SAN Resources to
targets, logging on to targets and acquiring/formatting SAN Resources for use.

Creating a SAN Resource (virtual disk)

To create a new SAN Resource:

1. Right-click on SAN Resources and select New.

2. Select Virtual Device.

3. Select the storage pool or physical device(s) from which to create this SAN
Resource.
You can create a SAN Resource from any single storage pool. Once the
resource is created from a storage pool, additional space (automatic or manual
expansion) can only be allocated from the same storage pool. You can select
List All to see all storage pools, if needed.

4. Depending upon the resource type, you may have the option to select to Use
Thin Provisioning for more efficient space allocation. Select the Use Thin
Provisioning checkbox to allocate a minimum amount of space for a virtual
resource. When usage thresholds are met, additional storage is allocated as
necessary.

5. Specify the fully allocated size of the resource to be created. The default initial
allocation size with thin provisioning enabled is 1GB. If thin provisioning is not
enabled, it utilizes all available space in the selected storage pool. If thin
provisioning is enabled, it appears that the full disk size is available from the
client side.

6. Select how you want to create the virtual device.

Custom lets you select which physical device(s) to use and lets you
designate how much space to allocate from each.
Express lets you designate how much space to allocate and then
automatically creates a virtual device using an available device.

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Batch lets you create multiple SAN Resources at one time. These SAN
Resources will all be the same size.

7. Assign a name to the SAN Resource and complete the wizard.

For information on assigning SAN Resources to targets, logging on to targets
and acquiring/formatting SAN Resources for use, refer to the NSS Reference
Guide.

Creating Snapshots
You can create a snapshot resource for a single SAN Resource or you can use the
batch feature to create snapshot resources for multiple SAN Resources:

1. For a single SAN Resource, right-click on the resource and select Snapshot
Resource --> Create.
For multiple SAN Resources, right-click on the SAN Resources object and select
Snapshot Resource --> Create.

2. Select the storage pool or physical device that should be used to create this
Snapshot Resource.

3. Select how you want to create this Snapshot resource. It is recommended that
you choose Express for testing purposes. The Express method lets you
designate how much space to allocate and then automatically creates a
Snapshot resource using an available device.
Select different drive - NSS will look for space on another hard disk.
Select drives from different adapter/channel - NSS will look for space on
another hard disk only if it is on a separate adapter/channel.
Select any available drive NSS will look for space on any disk, including the
original. This option is useful if you have mapped a device (such as a RAID
device) that looks to NSS like a single physical device.

4. Verify the physical devices you have selected.

5. Indicate whether NSS should expand your Snapshot Resource if it runs low and
how it should be expanded.
If you want your snapshot resource to automatically expand when space is
running low, set the threshold level and make sure the option Automatically
allocate more space for the Snapshot Resource is selected.
Then, determine the amount of space to be allocated for each expansion.
You can set this to be a specific size (in MB) or a percentage of the size of
the Snapshot Resource. There is no limit to the number of times a Snapshot
Resource can be expanded.

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Once the low space threshold is triggered, the system will attempt to expand the
resource by allocating additional space. The time required to accomplish this
may be in milliseconds or even seconds, depending on how busy the system is.

Note: If expansion fails, old TimeMarks will be deleted until enough space is
reclaimed so that the Snapshot Resource does not run out of space. To prevent
this from happening, we recommend that you allow enough time for expansion
after the low space threshold is reached. We recommend that your safety margin
be at least five seconds. This means that from the time the low space threshold is
reached, while data is being written to the drive at maximum throughput, it will
take a minimum of five seconds to fill up the rest of the drive. Therefore, if the
maximum throughput is 50 MB/s, the threshold should be set for when the space
is below 250 MB. Of course if the throughput is lower, the allowance can be
lowered accordingly.

If you do not select automatic expansion, old TimeMarks will be deleted to

prevent the Snapshot Resource from running out of space.

6. Configure what you want to happen if your Snapshot Resource runs out of
space. (This will only occur if you have reached the maximum allowable size for
your Snapshot Resource or if you have chosen not to expand it.)
If you select Delete the earlier TimeMarks automatically, once the maximum is
reached, the earliest TimeMarks will be deleted depending upon priority. Low
priority TimeMarks are deleted first, followed by Medium, High, and then Critical.
If you select Stop writing data, the system will prevent any new writes from
getting to the disk once the Snapshot Resource runs out of space and it cannot
allocate any more. As a result, clients can experience write errors. If the client is
a production machine, this may not be desirable.

7. Indicate if you want to use Snapshot Notification. By installing the Snapshot

Agent on the client and selecting the Use Snapshot Notification option for this
TimeMark, you ensure 100% data integrity with transactional consistency.

8. Confirm that all information is correct and then click Finish.

A new Snapshot tab displays for this SAN Resource.

Protecting your Snapshot Resources

If the physical disk that contains a snapshot resource fails, you will still be able to
access your SAN Resource, but the snapshot data already in the snapshot resource
will become invalid. This means that you will not be able to roll back to a point-in-
time image of your data. However, you can protect your snapshot resources by
using the NSS Mirroring option. With Mirroring, each time data is written to the
snapshot resource, the same data is also written to another disk, which maintains an
exact copy of the snapshot resource. If the primary snapshot resource disk fails,
NSS seamlessly swaps to the mirrored copy.

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Using Snapshot to copy a SAN Resource

The Snapshot Copy option allows you to create a duplicate, independent point-in-
time copy of a SAN Resource without impacting application servers. The entire
resource is copied to another drive, overwriting any data on the target drive.
The source must have a Snapshot Resource in order to create a Snapshot Copy. If it
does not have one, you will be prompted to create one. Refer to the NSS Reference
Guide for more information.

Creating Storage Pools

A storage pool is a group of one or more physical devices.
Creating a storage pool enables you to provide all of the space needed by your
clients in a very efficient manner. You can create and manage storage pools in a
variety of ways, including:
Tiers - Performance levels, cost, or redundancy
Device categories - Virtual, service enabled
Types - Primary storage, Journal, CDR, Cache, HotZone, virtual headers,
Snapshot, and configuration.
Specific application use - FalconStor DiskSafe, etc.
For example, you can classify your storage by tier (low-cost, high-performance,
high-redundancy, etc.) and assign it based on these classifications. Using this
example, you may want to have your business critical applications use storage from
the high-redundancy or high-performance pools while having your less critical
applications use storage from other pools.
Storage pools work with all automatic allocation mechanisms in NSS. This capacity-
on-demand functionality automatically allocates storage space from a specific pool
when storage is needed for a specific use.
As your storage needs grow, you can easily extend your storage capacity by adding
more devices to a pool and then creating more logical resources or allocating more
space to your existing resources. The additional space is immediately and
seamlessly available.
Each storage pool can only contain the same type of physical devices. Therefore, a
storage pool can contain only virtualized drives or only service-enabled drives. A
storage pool cannot contain mixed types.
Physical devices that have been allocated for a logical resource can still be added to
a storage pool.
To create a storage pool:

1. Right-click on Storage Pools and select New.

2. Enter a name for the storage pool.

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3. Indicate which type of physical devices will be in this storage pool.

Each storage pool can only contain the same type of physical devices.

4. Select the devices that will be assigned to this storage pool.

Physical devices that have been allocated for any logical resource can still be
added to a storage pool.

5. Click OK to create the storage pool.

Setting Storage Pool properties

You can specify the purpose of each storage pool as well as assign it to specific
Users or Groups. The assigned users can create virtual devices and allocate space
from the storage pools assigned to them.
To set storage pool properties:

1. Right-click on a storage pool and select Properties

2. On the General tab you can change the name of the storage pool and add/delete
devices assigned to this storage pool.

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3. Select the purpose of the Storage Pool by selecting the Type tab and
designating how each storage pool should be allocated.

The type affects how each storage pool should be allocated. When you are in the
NSS creation wizard, the applicable storage pool(s) will be presented for selection.
However, you can still select from another storage pool type if needed. All Types can
be used for any type of resource.
Storage is the preferred storage pool to create SAN resources and their
corresponding replicas.
Snapshot is the preferred storage pool for snapshot resources.
Cache is the preferred storage pool for SafeCache resources.
HotZone is the preferred storage pool for HotZone resources.
Journal is the preferred storage pool for resources and CDP resource
mirrors.
CDR is the preferred storage pool for continuous data replicas.
VirtualHeader is the preferred storage pool for the virtual header that is
created for a service enabled device SAN Resource.
Configuration is the preferred storage pool to create the configuration
repository for failover.

4. Select the Tag tab to set a tag string that will limit client side applications to
specific storage pools. (Optional)
When application requests storage with a specific tag string, only the storage
pools with the same tag can be used.

5. Select the Security tab to designate which users and administrators can manage
this storage pool.

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Index
A managing 16
Architecture 2 LUNs 3

C N
capacity-on-demand 19 NIC Port Bonding 2
Capacity-on-Demand (COD) 1
Client P
Definition 3 Physical resources 3, 16
Console
Definition 2 R
Discover IPStor Servers 14 RAID 2, 4
Start 14
S
E SafeCache 21
Event Log tab 12 SAN Client
Definition 3
F SAN Disk Manager (SDM) 7
FalconStor Management Console 12 starting 7
SAN Resource 3
G creating 16
General tab 12 Security tab 21
Server
H Definition 2
HBA 3 Discover 14
HotZone 21 Service enabled devices 4
Snapshot 4
I Snapshot Agent 7
IPStor Snapshot Copy 19
Architecture 2 Snapshot Resource
Components 2 default size 9
Console 2 expanding 17
SAN Client 3 Storage pools 3, 4
Server 2 Administrators 19
IPStor Server Create 19
Connect in Console 14 Manage 19
Definition 2 storage virtualization 4
Discover 14
iSCSI initiators 7 T
Tag tab 21
J Thin Provisioning 1, 4, 9, 16
Java 2 Runtime Environment (JRE) 12 enable 9
JBOD 4 Type tab 21

L V
Logical Resources 2 Virtual device 4
creating 16

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