Purpose:

This document describes detailed NAS configuration information.

Definitions:

CIFS –Common Internet File System. Used by Windows Systems for network filesystems.

DR – Disaster Recovery. In this document it implies an asynchronous copy (snap mirror) of data between sites/datacenters. This is the highest level (most current data copy) of data replication available with our NAS. In order of lower to higher precedence: snapshots, then backups, then vaulting, then DR (replication). You still need these other techniques as well; DR fills the need for a quick recovery at a remote site using the most current data.

FS – File System, the area that is created on NAS to hold the user/application data.

NAS – Network Attached Storage. Storage that is presented on the network independent of a host computer, but is accessed by host(s) on the network. The NAS filesystem may also be restricted to serving by a host so it looks as if the particular host owns the disks and then presents them to others (as in a local CIFS or NFS on a server, but instead of local storage, it is using NAS for its disk/FS).

NFS – Network File System. Used primarily by Unix systems for accessing network filesystems.

Snapshots – Snapshots are an online backup method used by the NAS (Network Appliance is our current vendor, also known as Netapp), in which a directory named ~snapshot (which exists in the main/top level directory for a filesystem) makes a backup of all the current changes for that filesystem and keeps them in the ~snapshot directory. This backup is done on a predetermined interval (hourly, weekly, monthly) and will be listed by such directory names in the ~snapshot directory. A user can go to this directory and recover a previous version (if changes existed) of a file and copy this version back to a working area or overwrite the original file.

Vaulting – Vaulting is the process of taking a copy of the backup tapes offsite in case of a disaster at the datacenter that the backups were created at. At this point, the tapes could be used at an alternate site to do the recovery of the tape data.

WORM – Write Once, Read Many. This is what traditionally has been the arena of magneto-optical, but can now be done on NAS. This provides a place to write data that cannot be EVER be deleted, unless you set an expiration date on the file which would allow deletion of this file ONLY after the expiration date has passed. It is treated as permanent storage.

Possible Types of Requests:


NAS Specifications

  • Datacenter for data location: [HQ, Tower, OLC, …]


  • Does this Filesystem (FS) already exist [y/n]? If yes, list the current filer/server and pathname.


  • Filesystem(s) size in MB, if multiple filesystems, list each separately. Also list separately by use: [prod, devel, stage]


  • Owner/Contact name for this FS


  • Cost center to pay for this data area [3 or 6 digit number]


  • Name of business group that owns this data


  • Longevity of this FS: short-term (list # of months) or long-term. [default is long-term]


  • Expected growth each year in MB


  • File and/or data type [pdf, documents, source code, executables, etc.]


  • Availability of filesystem [high (i.e. production), medium (i.e. archive, non-prod home (nearstore))]


  • What is this area to be used for [archive, normal filestore, or file transfer. default: normal filestore]


  • What host(s) need to mount this FS (group shares are seen by all Windows hosts, thus no need to fill in. Also list either: prod, devel, stage with the server name(s).)


  • Does data need to be backed up [y/n: default: y]


  • Snapshots needed [y/n, default:y]


  • Tape vaulting needed [y/n, default:y]


  • WORM needed? (extra cost) [y/n, default:n]


  • DR needed (extra cost) [y/n: default: n]


  • What access does this filesystem need

  • NFS (Unix) [y/n]

  • CIFS (Windows) [y/n]

  • BOTH [y/n]

If CIFS/Windows goto 19, if NFS/Unix goto 20

NFS:

CIFS:

BOTH:

  • If CIFS

  • Permissions [ms numbers or sso id’s]

    • Read/Write

    • Read

  • Preferred Share Name, if desired [Choice 1, Choice 2]

Done – no further questions for CIFS/Windows

Read/Write Group:

Read Group:

Share Name:

  • If Unix.

    • Username [NIS or local]

    • Groupname [NIS or local]

    • Permissions [755]

Goto question 21

Username:

Group name:

Permissions:

  • Mount Point

  • NFS (Unix)

These mount points can be the same across the different types, but, if so, then it is up to you to manage the access/usage of this common mount point.

Done – no further questions for NFS/Unix
PROD  (list servers) :

NFS mount:

DEVEL (list servers) :

NFS mount:

STAGE (list servers) :

NFS mount:

  • Filer name (to be filled out by NAS architect)

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  • Volume (to be filled out by NAS architect) – case insensitive – use lowercase when creating

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  • Qtree (to be filled out by NAS architect) – case insensitive – use lowercase when creating

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