The IBM ProtecTIER® offering is a high performance, high capacity, disk-based data storage system. It can use the ProtecTIER File System Interface, or FSI, to provide shared access to files using the Common Internet File System, or CIFS, as an application-layer network protocol, along with the Network File System, or NFS, to share data. A file system, CIFS share, and NFS export can be set up using several different types of authentication mechanisms. In a CIFS share, you can perform file operations such as read, write, create, delete, and rename, depending on the share permissions set by the system administrator. The files appear to be on the local computer but are actually stored on a remote ProtecTIER storage system. Working with NFS export sharing, you can perform such tasks as creating, modifying, and deleting NFS exports.
In this e-Learning module, you will learn how to use the IBM ProtecTIER Manager interface to perform several common file system administration tasks. For information about emulating a storage server using OpenStorage, see the OpenStorage Systems e-Learning module. For information about emulating tape libraries, see the Virtual Tape Library e-Learning module.
To start working with CIFS or NFS share files, you must first create a file system. Open the IBM ProtecTIER Manager interface, and select File System > Create file system. Enter the file system name, define the maximum size of the file system, and click OK. A new file system is added, and the details are displayed in the view pane. Note that by default, HyperFactor® and compression settings are enabled. Navigate to File System > Modify properties to change the default settings if necessary. In the Modify properties panel, you can also select to send an SNMP alert when the file system usage reaches a designated threshold. You can send both warning thresholds for increased usage and information thresholds for decreased usage.
Next, you must set the type of authentication to define users who will work with a common CIFS share in the file system. The ProtecTIER system uses two types of authentication: Workgroup and Active Directory. When you configure Workgroup authentication, you manually add users using the ProtecTIER Manager interface. When you configure Active Directory, the users are obtained from the server. To set up authentication, open the ProtecTIER Manager interface, and select CIFS > Authentication > Set authentication mode. The Authentication setup wizard is displayed.
In the Authentication setup wizard, select Workgroup, and click Next. Enter the Workgroup name, and click Next. Click Finish to create your workgroup. After the workgroup has been successfully created, you are prompted to assign users to the workgroup. You can either click Yes to assign users after you create the workgroup, or you can click Authentication > Users management. The Users Management wizard opens. Click Add to create a user. Enter the user name and the new password. Alternatively, you can select to manually configure a user ID for the user. If you do not manually configure a user ID, the system will automatically generate one for you using the next available number. Click OK.
You can repeat the above steps to create multiple users. After users are created, you can use the Users Management wizard to change a password, change a user ID, and deactivate a user. Click Close when you are finished adding users.
Alternatively, you can set up authentication using Active Directory. You must be an administrator with Active Directory server privileges to configure Active Directory authentication.
Open the ProtecTIER Manager interface, and select CIFS > Authentication > Set authentication mode. In the Authentication setup wizard, select Active Directory, and click Next. Click OK to exit the warning message.
Enter a name for the domain, a name for the realm, and the credentials of the Active Directory server. If you plan to set up your share using NetBIOS, use the WINS Servers window to map IP addresses to the NetBIOS names. This allows you to access resources by system name instead of by IP address. You can configure additional computers in your network using the WINS Server to keep track of the names and IP addresses.
Determine which mapping scheme you want to use. For RID configuration, enter the range mapping values and add the trusted domains. For schema extensions, enter the range mapping values and select whether to use RFC2307 or SFU as your desired schema. The Summary report is displayed. Click Finish to submit the Active Directory authentication settings to the server.
After you have created a file system and configured authentication, you can create a CIFS share. In the ProtecTIER Manager, navigate to your file system, select CIFS > Path Sharing > Create a CIFS share. The Create a CIFS share wizard is displayed. Specify a share name and share path, and click Next. Select the appropriate level of host access. If you select Allow all hosts, this grants all hosts access to the share and is the default option. Alternatively, you can choose to restrict host access. Select Allow selected hosts and click Add. When you are finished defining proper host access, click Next. Select the users and corresponding access levels for the share, and click Next. The summary report is displayed. Click Finish to create the share.
To create an NFS export, select Create an NFS export from the NFS menu. Next, provide the host name, access type, and anonymous user mapping properties of the NFS export. Note that you can only enable anonymous mapping if one of the hosts is set to root squash. The summary report displays the details of the NFS export, allowed hosts, and user permissions.
Select Modify NFS export from the NFS menu to modify the properties, access, or permissions of an NFS export. Then, activate the NFS export by selecting the NFS export Enabled check box. You can modify the name, path, security settings, and user settings for the NFS export. You can also view, add, modify, or remove allowed hosts.
From the NFS menu, click on the defined NFS export that you want to delete from the NFS Exports list. Next, select Delete NFS export from the NFS menu. Click Yes to confirm, and the NFS export is removed.
In this e-Learning module, you learned how to use the IBM ProtecTIER Manager interface to perform several common file system administration tasks.
For more information, see the other e-Learning modules and help topics in the information center.