Creating a IBM Storage Scale Client component with the IBM Storage Scale Client Policy

Use the Pattern Builder to create virtual application patterns or virtual system patterns with the IBM Storage Scale Client Policy for deploying a IBM Storage Scale Client component.

Before you begin

You must be granted access to patterns, access to create patterns, or have the Workload resources administration with full permissions to complete this task.

About this task

Use the Pattern Builder to create a virtual application pattern or virtual system pattern for deploying a IBM Storage Scale Client instance.

When you create aIBM Storage Scale Client virtual application or virtual system, you add the IBM Storage Scale Client Policy to an application component (for example a Web Application or an OS Node). You can also add the IBM Storage Scale Client Policy to the main canvas (at the pattern level), and not to a specific component. In this case, the IBM Storage Scale Client Policy is applied to all components in the pattern. This policy contains the required IBM Storage Scale installation process for connecting the deployed pattern instance to a IBM Storage Scale Server. The deployed pattern instance can then access and use the shared file system associated with the IBM Storage Scale Server.

For more information about creating and deploying virtual application patterns and virtual system patterns in Pattern Builder, see the Related links.

Procedure

  1. Create a virtual application pattern or virtual system pattern by using the Pattern Builder.
    Configure your pattern as needed by providing the necessary information in the pattern properties pane and save your changes.
  2. For each pattern component that is being configured as a IBM Storage Scale Client, select the IBM Storage Scale Client Policy from the Add Policies list to add it to the pattern component.
  3. Select each IBM Storage Scale Client pattern component in the Pattern Builder canvas, and configure the following settings in the properties pane:
    IBM Storage Scale Client configurations section
    You can select from one of the following options for the IBM Storage Scale Client deployment:
    • IBM Storage Scale Client install and configuration

      Select this option to install the IBM Storage Scale software on the deployed component instance virtual machine, and configure it for use with a IBM Storage Scale server that was previously deployed from one of the provided IBM Storage Scale Server patterns. If you select this option, you are prompted to provide additional configuration information for one or more file system mounts.

    • IBM Storage Scale Client install for off rack IBM Storage Scale Server

      This option installs only the IBM Storage Scale software on the deployed component instance virtual machine. It does not attempt to connect to a IBM Storage Scale server to set up the access to the shared file system.

      You can use this option if you want to connect to an external IBM Storage Scale server outside the Cloud Pak System Software environment or if you want to connect to a IBM Storage Scale server deployed on Cloud Pak System Software, but after the client instance is deployed. For more information, see the Related links.

    GPFS Manager IP and Client Key
    Specify the IBM Storage Scale Manager IP address and Client Key if you are not using the IBM Storage Scale shared service.
    Client Cluster options
    Client maxblocksize
    This field configures the client cluster maxblocksize configuration parameter. If the client cluster maxblocksize configuration parameter is smaller than the IBM Storage Scale shared file system block size, the client cannot mount the file system. Update this value only when the client fails to mount the file system because the client maxblocksize is smaller than the file system block size. In this case, set the client maxblocksize to the same value as file system block size.

    For more information about the maxblocksize property, see File System Planning and Block size.

    Enforce file set Quota On Root
    This field configures the client cluster enforceFilesetQuotaOnRoot configuration parameter. Select this property (set it to true) if you want to enforce the file set quota on the root user, for this client cluster only. Clear the property (set it to false) if you do not want to enforce this quota on the root user. The default value is false (check box cleared). This property applies only to the current client instance and affects only data that is written by the root user from this client cluster. If you want to enforce the file set quota on root for other client instances, you need to set this property on these clients.

    Use this option with caution. If the quota is enforced on the root user, any processes that are executed by the root user on this client fail if the hard quota is exceeded on a file set during the process execution. For more on IBM Storage Scale quotas, see Managing GPFS quotas.

    File system mount section(s)
    Four identical configuration sections are provided for you to specify up to four file sets for use during deployment. You can optionally specify additional file sets if needed by using the Additional file system mounts section.

    After deployment, you can also specify additional file sets by using the Allocate directories on shared file server operation (see the Manage > Operations > GPFS Clients operations view in the Instance Console.

    You can select any number of the File system mount sections and provide the required information. If you select multiple sections, ensure that you select them in order from top to bottom.

    You are prompted for the following file system mount properties:
    IBM Storage Scale File System Information
    The name of a file system that is defined on the IBM Storage Scale Server.

    The IBM Storage Scale Server Get Cluster Status operation provides a list of defined file systems and associated file sets. You can define a new file system by using the IBM Storage Scale Server Attach Storage Volumes operation.

    IBM Storage Scale Fileset directory
    The name of the IBM Storage Scale file set directory. A file set is created within the specified file system if the file set does not already exist.
    Note: Blank spaces are not allowed in the file set name, and avoid using the text string IBM Storage Scale in the name.
    Storage Maximum limit (K,M,G)
    The maximum amount of data that the file set can use. The storage maximum limit represents the IBM Storage Scale hard quota for the file set.

    Data will not be able to be written to the file set when the maximum limit (hard quota) threshold is met. For more information about IBM Storage Scale quotas, see Managing GPFS quotas.

    Specify the unit in kilobytes, megabytes, or gigabytes by adding K, M, or G as a suffix. For example, specify 100M for 100 megabytes. Specify the size as a positive integer with no preceding plus (+) character. Enter a 0 value for no maximum limit. Example of valid entries: 20M, 1024K, 1G, 0M.

    When a new file set is created and the storage limit is set, the following command is executed. This command sets no minimum limit (or soft quota) for the specified file set. It sets a maximum limit (hard quota) for the file set.
    su - gpfsprod -c 'sudo /usr/lpp/mmfs/bin/mmsetquota -j <Fileset  Name> -s 0M -h <Maximum Quota Size> <File System Name>
    For more information, see mmsetquota command.
    Note:
    • By default, the file set minimum and maximum limits (or soft and hard quota) are not enforced for the root user. If you want to have the root user follow the specified limits, you need to update the IBM Storage Scale cluster to allow that. Run this command on the IBM Storage Scale client cluster where you want to enforce the quota for the root user:
      su - gpfsprod -c '/usr/lpp/mmfs/bin/mmchconfig enforceFilesetQuotaOnRoot=yes -i’
      This property applies only to the IBM Storage Scale cluster where the command is executed and affects only data that is written by the root user from this cluster. Each IBM Storage Scale client instance configures a separate IBM Storage Scale client cluster for each virtual machine. If you want to enforce the file set quota on root for other IBM Storage Scale client instances, you need to run this command on each of the IBM Storage Scale client clusters. For more information, see mmchconfig command.
    • Before you change the IBM Storage Scale server cluster to enforce the file set quotas on the root user, make sure that this change does not affect any of the cluster scenarios. Keep in mind that if the quota is enforced for the root user, any process that is executed as a root user that would temporarily write data over the allowed threshold will now fail.

    You must manage the storage quota to ensure that the specified storage limit does not exceed the size of the file system.

    Directory to link on local system
    A symbolic link to the file set is created on the virtual machine file system at the location specified. The value specified must be a syntactically correct directory name, starting with a forward slash (/) character (Example: /myFileSetLink. Spaces are not allowed in the link name.
    Additional file system mounts section
    Use this section to define additional file sets to include in the deployment. You must provide a syntactically correct JSON array in the space provided.
    The following example defines two file systems, fsys_a1 and fsys_b1:
    • File system fsys_a1 contains two file sets, fset_a1 and fset_a2.
      • File set fset_a1 has a quota of 200 megabytes, and a symbolic link is created on the virtual machine at directory location /fset_a1Link.
      • File set fset_a21 has a quota of 201 megabytes, and a symbolic link is created on the virtual machine at directory location /fset_a2Link.
    • File system fsys_b1 contains one file set, fset_b1.
      • File set fset_b1 has a quota of 200 megabytes, and a symbolic link is created on the virtual machine at directory location /fset_b1Link.
    The corresponding JSON array is specified as follows (note that blank spaces are not allowed in the name, maxsize, or link fields):
    [{
      'fileSystem' : 'fsys_a1',
      'fileSet' : [
        {
          'name' : 'fset_a1',
          'maxSize' : '200M',
          'link' : '/fset_a1Link'
        },
        {
          'name' : 'fset_a2',
          'maxSize' : '201M,'
          'link' : '/fset_a2Link'
        }
       ]
      },
     {
      'fileSystem' : 'fsys_b1',
      'fileSet' : [
        {
          'name' : 'fset_b1',
          'maxSize' : '200M',
          'link' : '/fset_b1Link'
        }
       ]
      }]
  4. Click Save.

Results

Your new pattern is saved. You can find it in the appropriate pattern catalog in the console.

What to do next

You can continue to configure your IBM Storage Scale pattern deployment as needed, and you can deploy your IBM Storage Scale virtual application pattern or virtual system pattern to create IBM Storage Scale Client instances in your IBM® Cloud Pak System Software for Power® environment.

After deployment you can perform additional operations to manage the IBM Storage Scale configuration as needed.