Isilon Foundations

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ISILON FOUNDATIONS

Support Contact: Education Services


Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:

Discuss the scale-out NAS solution offered by Isilon Describe Isilons features and software modules Describe Isilon hardware options Explain Isilons architecture List Isilons support features Provide examples of basic Isilon use cases

Isilon Foundations 2


Module 1: Isilon Introduction

Upon completion of this module, you should be able to:

Provide an overview of Isilon

Differentiate between scale-up and scale-out NAS solutions

Describe the differences between scale-up NAS solutions and an Isilon scale-out solution



What Is Isilon?

Network-attached storage (NAS) solution based on scale-out architecture

Enables aggregating multiple nodes together to construct a clustered NAS system Cluster performs NAS operation as a single entity and is managed

centrally

Meets both storage space and performance requirements of Big Data

Big Data is a term applied to data sets whose size is beyond the ability of commonly used software tools to capture, manage, and process the data within a tolerable elapsed time. Big Data sizes are a constantly moving target currently ranging from a few dozen terabytes to many petabytes of data in a single data set. *



Scale-up vs. Scale-out NAS


Scale-up Scale-out

Capacity scaling by adding storage to existing heads (filers) or installing another NAS system

Capacity and/or performance scaling by adding nodes to the cluster

Scalability is limited due to fixed capacity and performance ceilings

Provides theoretically unlimited scalability

NAS heads are managed centrally, but each has separate file system

Uses a single distributed clustered file system that spans across every node in a cluster


Module 1: Summary

Key points covered in this module:

Scale-up versus scale-out NAS Isilons scale-out solution Benefits of Isilons scale-out solution



Module 2: Isilons Features and Software Modules


Describe Isilons features

Describe Isilons software modules




During this lesson the following topics are covered:

OneFS

Isilon clustering

File access protocols

User interfaces, administrative access, and authentication

Lesson 1: Isilon Features



OneFS Operating System

9 Isilon Foundations

OneFS is the operating system for Isilons distributed cluster storage solutions

Combines the file system, volume manager, and RAID into one unified software layer that spans the storage system

Each node in the cluster is a peer


OneFS Architecture

Distributed clustered file system Spans across nodes

Grows dynamically

Supports N-way fault tolerance

Runs on all nodes in the cluster Intercommunication between nodes Optimizes processes and applications

Concurrency

Shared infrastructure

Improved utilization of resources

Compute

Storage

Memory

Networking



Isilon Nodes

Nodes Contain common server components

Independent enterprise appliances

May or may not have disks

HDD, SSD, or combination

Node features CPU

RAM

Disks

Networking

Each node adds its resources to the cluster



Intra-cluster Communications


InfiniBand provides low-latency high bandwidth back-end communication

10 Gb/s, 20 Gb/s, or 40 Gb/s Redundant switches for fault

tolerance

Isilon Storage Layer Intra-cluster

Communication InfiniBand Layer

Internal Network


Client Access Protocols

UNIX/Linux client access NFS

Windows client access SMB

IP-based block protocol for Windows, Linux, and VMware iSCSI

Web-based file access and administration HTTP

File Transfer Protocol FTP

Hadoop Distributed File System (File System and Name Node Layer) HDFS



Network File System (NFS)

Native to UNIX clients NFS v2, v3, v4 supported NFS v4 includes:

File locking

Support for both UNIX permissions and Windows ACLs

Stateful design (more like SMB)

Mount protocol

Kerberos authentication

Enhanced performance and scalability



Windows File Sharing Server Message Block (SMB)

Native to Windows clients Uses SMB protocol instead of CIFS protocol

Supports SMB v1 and v2 Utilizes SIDs for authorization



Isilon iSCSI

LUN Configuration

LUNs are constructed as files that reside within OneFS

Supports provisioning LUNs as thick or thin

LUNs may be resized to make them larger, but not smaller

Must start LUN numbering with zero (LUN0)



Isilon iSCSI (Cont)

Three types of LUNs supported

Normal

Snapshot

Shadow

Data Protection

All protection levels are available

2x mirroring recommended for performance



HTTP Services

Distributed Authoring and Versioning (DAV) services available 3 modes available

Enabled

Disabled

Disabled Entirely

Available HTTP authentication Off

Basic authentication only

Basic authentication with access controls



FTP Services

Disabled by default FTP root

Home directory of the user

Configurable CLI Command - isi ftp



Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS)

OneFS 6.5 natively integrates the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) access protocol

Enables customers to leverage end-to-end data protection including snapshots, replication, and backup

Eliminates single points of failure

Provides multi-protocol access to data

Facilitates efficient scale-out of Hadoop nodes

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Web Administration Interface (1)



Web Administration Interface (2)



Command Line Interface (CLI)



Authentication

Authentication services verify a users credentials OneFS supports multiple authentication methods:

Active Directory

LDAP

NIS

File Provider

Ensure that interactions between authentication types are understood before enabling multiple methods on the cluster




During this lesson the following topics are covered: SmartPools SmartConnect SmartQuotas InsightIQ SnapshotIQ SyncIQ SmartLock

Lesson 2: Isilon Software Modules



SmartPools

Sub-grouping nodes within a cluster

Aligns data with proper storage tier

Still a single cluster Two versions

Basic

Advanced (licensed)



SmartConnect

Client connection balancing Single virtual host name for client

connections

Client access isolation / aggregation Round-robin policy SmartConnect Advanced

Dynamic NFS failover

Policy driven connection and failover via metrics

Connection count

Throughput

CPU utilization



SmartQuotas

Administrative control over storage use

Notification and reporting options

Useful for policy enforcement and cost accounting

Thin provisioning Nested quotas Compatible with active

directory groups



InsightIQ

File system analytics for monitoring usage data at the file system level

Multi-cluster insight and management

Performance analytics allowing for drill-down into historical and near-time metrics



SnapshotIQ

Volume, directory, and subdirectory based data protection feature

Integrated with Windows ShadowCopy service

No theoretical limit on the number of snapshots

Out of order snapshot deletion Integration with SmartPools

Store old snap data on different storage tiers



SyncIQ

File-based replication With block level changes

Isilon cluster to Isilon cluster replication

One to many, many to one, and many to many asynchronous data replication Multi-threaded/multi-node

replication for exceptional WAN performance



SmartLock

Retention and protection policies Enterprise file-level retention No additional hardware required

Features

Stored at the directory level Sets default retention times once Tight integration with Isilon OneFS

martLock

SmartLock SmartLock



Module 2: Summary


Isilons features OneFS

Isilon clustering

File access protocols

User interfaces and administrative access

Isilons software modules SmartPools

SmartConnect

SmartQuotas

InsightIQ

SnapshotIQ

SyncIQ

SmartLock



Module 3: Isilon Hardware Overview


Describe the Isilon platform nodes

Describe the Isilon accelerator nodes and their uses



Isilon Node Types


ACCELERATORS

Accelerator

Backup Accelerators

Performance Accelerators

CAPACITY

NL-Series Nearline storage

NL400

PERFORMANCE

S-Series Transactional I/O

and random access

S200

BALANCE

X-Series High throughput and

concurrency

X400, X200


S-Series Node

Current product: S200

Configurable options:

Suitable for mission critical, high transactional, and random access based applications



X-Series Node

Current products: X400, X200


Suitable for high concurrent and sequential throughput applications



Rear View of X- and S-Series 2U Nodes


Internal a (int-a) & Internal b (int-b) InfiniBand Ports

USB Ports

Power Receptacles 1 & 2

External 1 & 2 (ext-1 ext-2) 1 GbE Ports

Battery Trays

1 or 10 GbE Ports

Power Switch Console Port

IPMI Service

Port

VGA Port


NL-Series Node

Current product: NL400


Suitable for applications that require near-primary accessibility with near-tape value



Rear View of X400 and NL400 Node


Power Receptacles 1 & 2

USB Ports

Battery Trays

Power Switch Console Port

Internal A & Internal B InfiniBand Ports

Hot Swappable Drives

External 1 & 2 1 GbE Ports

Cable Guide 1 Cable Guide 2

Optional 2X10 GbE Card


Accelerator Nodes

Adds CPU, memory, and network connections to the existing cluster

No added storage

Two types: Performance Accelerator

High-speed single stream

Adds more than 400 MB/s of single-stream throughput

Backup Accelerator

Enhanced tape backup

Delivers up to 480 MB/s throughput across four concurrent streams

Supports 3-way NDMP for backup



Module 3: Summary


Isilon platform nodes Performance and backup accelerator nodes



Module 4: Isilon Architecture and Availability


Describe the four layers of Isilon network architecture

Explain how inodes and metadata are used

Describe file striping in an Isilon cluster

Describe cache operations in an Isilon cluster

Describe the data protection mechanisms used by OneFS



Isilon Network Architecture


Isilon Storage Layer

Internal Network Layer

Servers

Client/Application Layer External Network

Layer

Servers

Servers


Network Topology


External Switch 1

Node 3 Node 1 Node 2

Internal (InfiniBand)

Switch 2

External Switch 2

Internal (InfiniBand)

Switch 1


Network Redundancy

Redundant external network Each node requires a different IP address from a different subnet

for each external network

Redundant internal network Each node requires three internal network connections (three IP

addresses)

Internal-A, internal-B, and virtual failover interfaces


Node 2

Node 1 Failover Network

(10.10.12.1)

Internal A (10.10.10.1)

Internal B (10.10.11.1)

Internal A (10.10.10.2)

Internal B (10.10.11.2)

Failover Network

(10.10.12.2)


Structure of Isilon File System (IFS) Metadata and Inodes File system provides a hierarchy of directories used to organize files

Includes file metadata and file data

Inode is a data structure that contains file metadata Each file is associated with an inode number

Inode number provides physical location for the contents of a file

No limit to the number of inodes available on a Isilon cluster LINs: A 64-bit number that uniquely identifies a file throughout its life

LINs store information about where the chunks of the file are located and its current protection level, etc.

The LIN is a unique number assigned to each file on the cluster

LINs are created to bypass the issue: over the life of a file, the inode address can change in a traditional file system

Cannot reuse LINs

All metadata in OneFS is mirrored



File System Journal

OneFS uses a file system journal Journal stores information about writes not yet committed to disk

Stores metadata and file data changes, including error correction data

Eliminates periodic consistency checks

Enables quick recovery

Journal is stored in NVRAM (non-volatile) Each platform node contains a dual battery-backed NVRAM card

Battery charge lasts up to 3 days without system power



Data Layout on Isilon Cluster

OneFS uses file striping along with mirroring and Forward Error Correction (FEC)

OneFS uses FEC across nodes for protection to provide N-way failure tolerance and improved performance

Striping: The act of writing across many nodes in a cluster rather than being isolated to a shelf of disks

Mirroring: The redundant recording of data in multiple locations used along with FEC to enhance fault tolerance

FEC: Forward Error Correction similar to how parity is used in traditional storage environments so complete copies of duplicate data are not needed for fault tolerance



Example: File Striping

1. Files are broken into stripe units, which are made up of an aggregation of 8K blocks. 2. Stripe units are aggregated into stripes where error correction stripe units are calculated. 3. Stripe units in a stripe are written across many nodes in the cluster.


File Write Isilon Cluster

Client

Stripe Unit

Stripe Unit

Stripe Unit

1 2 3

Stripe Unit

Stripe Unit

Stripe Unit

Stripe

Stripe


Cache Layout in Isilon Cluster

Each node in an Isilon cluster contains DRAM cache Isilon platform storage nodes use two different levels of cache:

Level 1 (L1)

Logical division of the DRAM cache that services client requests

File data is assembled in L1 cache from L2 cache

Local to a node and is not shared

L1 cache on storage nodes is flushed aggressively

Level 2 (L2)

Logical division of DRAM cache that stores recently used block data

Blocks stored in L2 are local to the node and are accessible by other nodes

L2 cache is flushed in a least recently used (LRU) fashion

Accelerator nodes only use Level 1 cache to service their clients



Write Cache Operation


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L2

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EMP

TY

FULL

L2

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EMP

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L1

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1. Client sends a write request. 2. Writes are cached until write coalescer is full, time limit reached, or protocol

requests confirmation of delivery. Write plan and parity calculated. 3. Data block(s) assigned to this node stay cached in L2 for future reads of that file. At

the same time, data blocks assigned to other nodes go through IB into their L2 cache.

4. Data is then copied into battery supplied NVRAM from L2 Cache. 5. Once all nodes have all the data and parity blocks in NVRAM, confirmation from all

nodes is sent to the node being written to, and a commit is returned to the client. 6. Data is then written onto the disks.

L1

Cac

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EMP

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L2

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EMP

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FULL

N

VR

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Read Cache Operation


EMP

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EMP

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FU

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L2 C

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EMP

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Failure Handling: FlexProtect

Detects and repairs files and directories Recovers from component failure Uses free storage space across the entire cluster to rebuild data Cluster stays online during rebuild Protection policy is applied at the file level


X FAILURE


Protection Level: Reed-Solomon Algorithm

Reed-Solomon algorithm enables N+M protection N = number of nodes

M = number of simultaneous failures of:

Nodes

Drives on different nodes

Combination of nodes and drives


Node Failure

Drive Failure 1 2 3 4

1 +1

2 +2

3 +3

4 +4


Protection Level: N+M:B

N+M:B N = number of nodes

M = number of drive failures

B = number of node failures

Default protection level: N+2:1


Node Failure

Drive Failure 1 2 3 4

1 +1

2 +2:1

3 +3:1

4


Addressing Drive Failure

Three primary drive states are: Healthy

SmartFail

Not in use

FlexProtect runs during a SmartFail operation Data on the failed drive is reprotected

Failed drive is logically removed from the cluster

FlexProtect automatically starts rebuilding the data to available free space on the cluster



Addressing Node Failure

FlexProtect does not automatically start reprotecting data when a node goes offline

Often node loss is a temporary issue

Node rejoins cluster without administrator action

File system does not need to be rebuilt

Permanent node failure requires administrative action to reprotect data using FlexProtect

Move all data from the affected node

Remove failed node logically from the cluster



Module 4: Summary


Network architecture

Inodes and metadata

File striping

Cache operations

Data protection mechanisms



Module 5: Isilon Support Features


Describe Isilons event and job management functions

Explain Isilons SupportIQ Module, data collection, and scripts

Describe Isilons upgrade functions





Event management

SNMP trap support

Available jobs

Job administration

Job priorities and impact

Lesson 1: Event and Job Management



Cluster Events



Event Notifications



Isilon SNMP Support

SNMP namespace Hierarchical tree

Isilon's namespace is 12124 For example 1.3.6.1.4.1.12124.3.2.0

This SNMP entity maps to 1.3.6.1.4.1.12124.3.2.0 .iso.org.dod.internet.private.enterprises.isilon.oneFSss.ssLocalNodeId.0

Isilon clusters have two separate MIBs: ISILON-MIB (supports queries)

ISILON-TRAP-MIB (generates traps)

Download from SNMP Monitoring page Isilon MIBs are located on any cluster node in the

/usr/local/share/snmp/mibs directory



What Are Jobs?

Jobs help maintain the cluster Most jobs start automatically All nodes participate in jobs, only one at time Commonly used defined jobs include:

AutoBalance

AVScan

Collect

FlexProtect

MediaScan

MultiScan

QuotaScan

SetProtectPlus

SmartPools

SnapshotDelete



Job Administration

Web administration interface Command Line

isi status

isi job

Job states Running, Paused, Waiting, Failed, or Succeeded

To administer jobs at the command line, use these commands: isi status

isi job

The isi job command changes the priority of the upgrade phase while the phase is running:

isi job update upgrade high





SupportIQ

SupportIQ collected data

SupportIQ scripts

Lesson 2: SupportIQ, Data Collection, and Scripts



What Is SupportIQ?

Tool used by Isilon Technical Support Gathers diagnostic information

Troubleshoots support issues

No license requirement Enabled by default Does not use RDC



Collected Data


Active Directory join status Cluster capacity and usage Cluster name and GUID Active Connection count CPU utilization percentage EX-node configuration status Firmware versions InfiniBand status InfiniBand subnet master status Installed Isilon patches LDAP join status Leak freed blocks syscontrol status Logical node number (LNN) Load average Node memory (installed RAM)

Node hardware family

Node model name

Node hardware part number

Node ID

Node serial number

Node status (health indicator)

Number of nodes in cluster

OneFS version

Partition capacity and usage

Software licenses

SupportIQ agent version

SupportIQ module status

SupportIQ remote-access status

Time zone

Time since last reboot

SupportIQ collects the following data:


SupportIQ Agent Scripts

SupportIQ runs scripts: Data gathering scripts

Action scripts

Scheduled scripts

Support asks permission for additional scripts

These scripts are based on the Isilon isi_gather_info log-gathering tool and are located in the /usr/local/SupportIQ/Scripts/ directory on each node

For more information, see the isi_gather_info man page





Upgrades

Firmware updates

Lesson 3: Upgrades



OneFS Upgrades

Minor OneFS release Optional rolling or simultaneous upgrades of minor OneFS releases

Rolling upgrade: Sequentially upgrades and restarts each node in the cluster. The cluster remains online and continues serving clients with no interruption in service.

Simultaneous upgrade: Installs the new operating system and restarts all nodes in the cluster at the same time. Requires a temporary interruption of service during the upgrade process.

Major OneFS release Simultaneous only



Firmware Updates

Separate from OneFS updates Support-directed Bundled as a package

Downloaded via FTP

Applied at the command line

Updates are rolling and non disruptive

If a firmware update is required, visit the Isilon FTP site to download the latest firmware package update.

For questions about Isilon firmware, contact Isilon Technical Support.



Check Firmware Version

Check current versions of firmware At the command line

isi firmware status

From the web administration interface

Versions and Licenses on Help menu



Module 5: Summary


Isilons event and job management functions Isilons SupportIQ module, data collection, and scripts Isilons upgrade functions



Module 6: Generalizations of Isilon Use Cases

Upon completion of this module, you should be able to suggest solutions for:

Tier 1 customers requiring maximum IOPS performance

High-concurrency and high-throughput applications and workflows

Backup, archiving, and data protection needs



Use Cases for Isilon S-Series Nodes

Digital media Broadcast and real-time streaming

Rendering and post-production

Design and simulation Simulation, verification, and analysis of electronic and mechanical

systems

Design for manufacturability

Quantitative analysis Analysis requiring fast scratch storage for high transitional and

random access file based applications


Tier 1 customers requiring maximum IOPS performance


Use Cases for Isilon X-Series Nodes

Life Sciences Pharmaceuticals, biotech, research Ideal for primary analysis of raw instrument data

Higher education IT, libraries, science, engineering, media, sports Ideal for home directories, server virtualization, and HPC

Business analytics Hadoop workflows

Healthcare Medical imaging

Digital media Broadcast, post production, and DI (digital intermediate)

Internet/Web 2.0 Online video, audio, and image serving Web analytics

Electronic design automation Design team collaboration, design libraries, tool scripts, and design implementation databases




Use Cases for Isilon NL-Series Nodes

Backup, archiving, and data protection

Nearline archiving Economical storage and rapid disk-based access to reference data to

meet business and legal requirements

Disaster recovery For organizations whose multi-site replication strategy requires an

economical, high-capacity storage device to be located remotely

Disk-to-disk backup Complements compression and de-duplication technologies to deliver a

scalable, reliable, easy-to-manage, and economical disk-based backup target



Module 6: Summary


Solutions for: Tier 1 customers requiring maximum IOPS performance


Backup, archiving, and data protection needs



Course Summary

Key points covered in this course:

Scale-out NAS solution offered by Isilon Features and software modules Hardware options, architecture, support features Solutions for various customer scenarios



VNX Application Protection Suite Foundations 83

VNX Application Protection Suite Foundations 84

Isilon Foundations

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