Managing multi-cluster protocol environments

In multi-cluster protocol environments, each cluster is managed independently, and there is no central management for all clusters that are included in IBM Storage Scale. You can centrally manage multiple IBM Storage Scale clusters by using Spectrum Control.

Consider the following aspects while you manage a multi-cluster protocol environment:

Each cluster requires its own GUI. The GUI might be installed onto the CES nodes but performance must be taken into consideration.
Each cluster has its own Rest API.
Each cluster has its own health monitoring. This means that error events that are raised in the storage cluster are not visible in the protocol cluster and vice versa.
Availability of certain performance metrics depends on the role of the cluster. That is, NFS metrics are available on protocol clusters only.
Each cluster is installed and upgraded independently.

Due to the separation of duties (storage clusters own the file systems and protocol clusters own the NFS/SMB exports and S3 accounts and buckets) certain management tasks must be done in the corresponding cluster:

File system-related operations like creating file systems, filesets, or snapshots must be done in the storage cluster.
Export-related operations like creating exports, managing CES IP addresses, and managing authentication must be done in the protocol cluster.

Since the resource cluster is unaware of the authentication setup and UID mapping, all actions that require a user or a group name must be done in the corresponding protocol cluster (for example, generate quota reports and manage ACLs).