Deploying the IBM shared service for IBM Storage Scale

Deploy this shared service so that IBM Storage Scale Clients deployed in the same cloud group can communicate with a deployed IBM Storage Scale Server.

Before you begin

Before you deploy the IBM® shared service for IBM Storage Scale, you must deploy a IBM Storage Scale Server configuration by using the IBM Pattern for IBM Storage Scale.

About this task

The IBM shared service for IBM Storage Scale is used as the communication link between IBM Storage Scale Clients that are deployed in the same cloud group as the shared service, and IBM Storage Scale Servers that are configured in the shared service instance.
Note: Starting with IBM Pattern for IBM Storage Scale V1.2.15.0, the clients can directly provide the IBM Storage Scale server information at deployment time, eliminating the requirement to deploy the IBM Storage Scale shared service. The clients can also connect to a different IBM Storage Scale server, after deployment, by using the Connect to server operation.

You first must deploy the IBM Storage Scale Server that the IBM shared service for IBM Storage Scale will communicate with. After the IBM Storage Scale Server is deployed, you must obtain the IBM Storage Scale Manager IP and Client Key by using the Retrieve Key operation, and provide that value to the IBM shared service for IBM Storage Scale to make that server available to IBM Storage Scale Clients through this shared service instance.

When IBM Storage Scale Clients (application components that are configured with the IBM Storage Scale Client Policy or IBM Storage Scale script packages) are deployed into the same environment profile as the shared service instance, if the clients don't directly specify the IBM Storage Scale Server connection information, they retrieve the IBM Storage Scale Manager IP and Client Key information from the shared service and use that information to communicate with the IBM Storage Scale Server Manager virtual machine to access the shared storage volumes that are associated with that IBM Storage Scale cluster.

Procedure

  1. Ensure that your IBM Storage Scale Server configurations are deployed successfully.
  2. Run the Retrieve Key operation to obtain the GPFS Manager IP and Client Key information:
    1. Click Patterns > Virtual Application Instances.
      The Virtual Application Instances page is displayed.
    2. Locate your deployed IBM Storage Scale Server in the available list and click the name link to display the details of the IBM Storage Scale Server instance.
    3. Click Manage from the toolbar to open the Instance Console.
    4. Click Operations to open the Operations page.
    5. Click the GPFS_Manager link.
      The IBM Storage Scale Manager operations are displayed.
    6. Scroll down and expand the Manage Keys section.
    7. Expand the Retrieve Key node.
    8. In the Key Type field, select Client private key from the available list.
    9. Click Submit to run the operation.
    10. In the Return Value column of the Operation Execution Results table, click the client private key link.
      The output that is displayed contains the IP Address for the IBM Storage Scale Manager virtual machine, followed by the Client Private Key content.
    11. Select and copy this entire block of data into your copy/paste buffer.
  3. Click Patterns > Shared Services.
  4. Expand the IBM Shared Service for GPFS section.
  5. Click Deploy in the Actions column of the IBM Shared Service for GPFS (External) <version> shared service.
    Continue deploying the shared service. For detailed steps, see Deploying shared services.
  6. Configure the IBM shared service for IBM Storage Scale instance:
    1. Expand the sharedservice node if needed.
    2. In the GPFS Manager IP and Client Key field, paste the block of data you copied from the Retrieve Key operation results.
    3. Ensure that the Environment Profile field specifies the environment profile to be used when deploying IBM Storage Scale Client instances.
      All IBM Storage Scale Client instances deployed in an environment profile use the IBM Storage Scale Manager IP and Client Key information provided by the IBM shared service for IBM Storage Scale instance deployed in that environment profile.
    4. Continue deploying the shared service. For detailed steps, see Deploying shared services.

Results

Any IBM Storage Scale Client, deployed using the IBM Storage Scale Client Policy or IBM Storage Scale Client script packages, and running in the same cloud group as this IBM shared service for IBM Storage Scale instance will retrieve the IBM Storage Scale Manager IP and private key information from the shared service and will use that to communicate with the IBM Storage Scale Manager virtual machine when using the IBM Storage Scale cluster.

After you deploy the IBM shared service for IBM Storage Scale, the IBM Storage Scale Manager IP used during instance deployment is displayed in the Endpoint section of the instance details window. This information is useful after the IBM shared service for IBM Storage Scale deployment should you need to determine which IBM Storage Scale Manager IP is used by the IBM shared service for IBM Storage Scale instance.