The Quantum Xcellis Storage Array is an 80TB storage area network (SAN) capable of operating at 16Gbps. Incorrectly startup and shutdown procedures causes the system to become unstable or corrupt to please proceed with caution.
Network Summary
TRUNK
VLAN 2 – Management Network for Switches
VLAN 13 – Quantum LAN with DHCP from 10.2.13.200 and above for NAS access.
VLAN 14 – Quantum Metadata LAN
It’s worth noting that when the nodes are not in HA, you access the Quantum side of the nodes via HTTPS, and the StornNext side via HTTP. There are different logins for both. If in HA, the Quantum control webpage will be at the virtual NAS IP address, whilst StorNext will remain at the hardware IP address.
Start-up Procedure
Before starting the rack, ensure that all network patch is in place and seated, and that the Cisco 4500 is running the Quantum config. Failure to do this is likely to result in the system becoming corrupt. If in doubt, boot the switch independently and upload a known working configuration.
Upon applying 16A power to the PDU at the back of the rack, all the hardware will automatically boot up as all components are dual power supply and split between UPS and straight-through power. The UPS does not automatically boot, so ensure this too is live.
All the hardware has a considerable boot time, especially the Cisco switch, so don’t expect a full start up in less than 10 minutes. Do not be tempted to press power buttons on devices that don’t seem to be powering up. Some of the devices have a deliberate boot delay on them to allow things to start in the correct order.
Once all the hardware has booted up, from the control PC you should be able to web to the storage controllers to verify they have mounted correctly. https://10.2.13.22/v3/index.html.
Figure 1 – Storage Controller. In this instance, there has been a disk failure in one of the two storage controllers, so an alarm is showing.
Next you can log into the Quantum Node to confirm its status.
Figure 2 – Quantum node control GIU showing a standalone node with working storage manager and file system.
All being well, on the status bar the File System, Storage Manager and Hardware status should all have a green tick next to them. If High Availability is correctly functioning, Primary and Secondary will also have a green tick.
If the file system or storage manager have not started, you can start these by going to Tools > System Control, and clicking on Start in the Controller menu. This will start the file system as well.
Figure 3 – System Control menu within Quantum Node Control.
If all is well then Quantum should now be ready to use. On the control PC, open then open the Quantum Client program from the desktop. If Quantum has successfully started, it will automatically find SNFS, and mount it.
Figure 4 – Quantum Client program (Windows)
Connecting Windows Users
To mount the SNFS share on a Windows machine, connect the machine to a VLAN13 port. If you have the Quantum Client installed, continue to the next step. If not, browse to one of the Nodes, log in and Tools -> Client Download.
Once installed, open the Client and add two new nameservers to the configuration. These should be 10.2.13.20 and 10.2.13.21. Once these have been added the SNFS share should be discovered and appear in the Clients lis.
Click on the SNFS share to open its properties window and select a drive letter for it to be mapped as on the Windows machine.
Also, ensure that the Enable LAN Client option is selected in the LAN Client/Gateway tab, otherwise the drive will not mount.
Shutdown Procedure
- Remove the front cover from the secondary node and press the power button one. Wait for this node to entirely shut down and the small status screen to go off.
- Repeat this for the primary node.
- Log into Quantum via the virtual NAS IP. Go to Tools > System Control and stop the storage manager and file system.
- One stopped, log into the storage controller and select Restart System by selecting the down arrow underneath the system identity and version information.
- Select to Shut Down the Storage on Controller A and Controller B as shown below.
- Shutdown the Rack PC in the usual way.
- You can now power down the UPS and remove mains from the system safely.
Hardware IP addresses
10.2.13.1 / 10.1.2.30 – Cisco Catalystic 4500 – VLAN 13 Gateway Address
10.2.13.19 – Nas Virtual IP
10.2.13.20 – Node 1
10.2.13.21 – Node 2
10.2.13.22 – Storage 1
10.2.13.23 – Storage 2
10.2.13.24 – Node 1 iDRAC
10.2.13.25 – Node 2 iDRAC
10.2.13.26 – Control PC
10.2.13.27 – Control iDRAC
Credentials
Management GUI for Quantum (HTTPS): admin/ctSt0rage!
Management GUI for StorNext (HTTP): admin@ctlondon.com/ctSt0rage!
Management GUI and SSH for Storage Controllers: manage/ctSt0rage!
Switches admin/createch
Control PC Administrator/createch
SSH login for Quantum Nodes (Non-linux) sysadmin/ctSt0rage!
SSH login for Quantum Nodes (linux) stornext/ctSt0rage!
Useful SSH Commands
sudo rootsh – Get root privs
snhamgr – HA Status
systemctl status/start/stop cvfs – Check status/start/stop local service
ls /stornext/snfs – Show contents of SNFS root filesystem
df -h – Disk Space Utilization
su – sysadmin – Switch to NAS commandline from Stornext commandline
/opt/DXi/scripts/service.sh – secret service menu (DANGER WILL ROBINSON)
Connecting Windows/Linux via StorNext Client:
Download client from clients dropdown in Management UI. Install on machine, use 10.2.13.20, 10.2.13.21 as nameservers. Select ‘LAN Client’ mode.
Connecting MAC via StorNext Client:
Use attached profile. It will mount automatically when the profile has been imported
Documentation
NAS: https://www.quantum.com/accdocs
StorNext: http://qsupport.quantum.com/kb/flare/Content/stornext/SN6_DocSite/Center_StorNext_6/Topics/SN6_TopNav_Home.htm
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