IBM Storage Scale: Cloudkit now supports CES and protocols configuration on AWS as a technology preview feature in 5.2.1.0

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Description:

IBM Storage Scale provides robust multi-protocol access. Cluster Export Services (CES) offer highly available file (NFS, SMB) and object services. CES configuration requires virtual IP addresses called CES IP addresses, which are used to export data through protocol services.

Through Cloudkit, IBM Storage Scale on AWS now provides a simplified way to provision protocol or CES instances with virtual or alias IP addresses by using AWS secondary private IP address and a callback within IBM Storage Scale clusters to efficiently handle the CES address failover in case of protocol or CES node failures.

Requirements:

Refer to Planning for IBM Storage Scale on public clouds, which has the requirements for planning and getting started with the Cloudkit CLI on AWS.

Getting started:

1.  Create an IBM Storage Scale “Storage-only“ cluster on the AWS, using the following command:

./cloudkit create cluster --deployment-mode "Storage-only"

2.  (Optional) Create a secondary/CES-specific filesystem to the IBM Storage Scale cluster on the AWS, using the following command:

./cloudkit create filesystem

During its initial cluster creation (`cloudkit create cluster`), Cloudkit configures a file system; it can also be used for `cesSharedRoot`, or the newly created file system can be used.

3.  Edit the cluster to add protocol nodes, using the following command:

./cloudkit edit cluster --role "Protocol-only"

The edit operation provisions the desired number of protocol nodes along with the secondary private or alias IP addresses that can be further used as CES IP addresses. The number of secondary private IP addresses is auto-calculated from the free pool of the subnet and will be equal to the number of protocol nodes.

4.  Perform the protocol services configuration using the following command:

./cloudkit setup protocol

This operation will seek input regarding the file system for CES shared root configuration and the list of protocol services (NFS, SMB, Object) to configure. This command only helps in configuration, starting the service, and authentication, fileset configuration needs to be done manually as per your requirement.

Note: Before performing this operation, it is required to modify the security group (the storage cluster security group will contain the prefix `storage-sec-group-` or can be identified using `cloudkit describe cluster`) rules to allow ports required by the respective protocol to be configured. Refer to Firewall recommendations for protocol access for required port details.

5.  When you are ready to delete the storage cluster, use the following command:

./cloudkit delete cluster

Limitations:

1. In a few node failure scenarios, the CES or alias IP address is preserved by the network manager that blocks the intercluster network traffic. As a result of this, the protocol node can be expelled from the cluster due to unreachable state. In this case, a manual intervention is required, and the stale alias IP address must be deleted using the `ip a del` command.

2. The CES IP addresses are auto-calculated and provisioned based on the protocol node count. Manual configuration is required if a specific IP address needs to be used for the CES IP address.

3. The simplified protocol configuration is supported only with "Throughput-Performance-Persistent-Storage", "Throughput-Performance-Scratch-Storage" and "Throughput-Advance-Persistent-Storage". In the case of the "Balanced" mode cluster, manual configuration needs to be performed to group the CES IP addresses per availability zone.

Note:

We welcome your feedback. If you have any comments, suggestions, or questions regarding any of the information provided here, send us an email to scale@us.ibm.com.