StarWind SAN & NAS: Technical Paper

Configuring Networks on VMware ESXi Server(s)

Configure network interfaces on each node to ensure that Management and iSCSI/StarWind data interfaces are in different subnets and connected physically according to the network diagram above. All actions below should be applied to each ESXi server for running StarWind SAN & NAS.

NOTE: Virtual Machine Port Group should be created for iSCSI/StarWind Data vSwitch. VMKernel port should be created only for iSCSI traffic. Static IP addresses should be assigned to VMKernel ports.

NOTE: It is recommended to set jumbo frames to 9000 on vSwitches and VMKernel ports for iSCSI traffic. Additionally, vMotion can be enabled on VMKernel ports.

1. Using VMware ESXi web console, create an additional vSwitch for the iSCSI/StarWind Data channel.

2. Create a VMKernel port for the iSCSI/StarWind Data channel.

3. Add a Virtual Machine Port Group to the vSwitch for iSCSI/StarWind Data traffic.

4. Repeat steps 1-3 for any other links intended for iSCSI/StarWind Data on ESXi hosts.

Deploying StarWind SAN & NAS on the ESXi server

1. Download zip archive that contains StarWind SAN & NAS: https://www.starwindsoftware.com/san-and-nas#download

2. Extract the virtual machine files.

3. Deploy the virtual machine on the ESXi server. Right-click on the Host or Virtual Machine menu and select “Create/Register VM” from a drop-down menu.

4. In the first step of the wizard, select the “Deploy a virtual machine from OVF or OVA file” and click Next.

5. In the second step of the wizard, specify the virtual machine name and point to the OVF template location. Select the VM files and click Next.

6. Specify the direct-attached storage for the StarWind SAN & NAS VM system drive location.

7. Select network and storage deployment options for the VM.

8. Specify the hostname, static IPv4 address, gateway, DNS, and additional network settings for Management and iSCSI/Data network interfaces:

NOTE: In order to manage the SAN & NAS appliance via StarWind vCenter plugin, the static IPv4 address must be assigned. As an example, all additional properties of the storage appliance specified:

NOTE: If a DHCP server is available on the given network, you can skip setting the additional parameters for that interface.

9. Review the information about the VM.

10. Click “Finish” to start the deployment process.

Creating Datacenter in VMware vSphere

1. Connect to the vSphere Client, right-click on the “vCenter Site” menu, and select the “Create Datacenter” option.

2. Specify the Datacenter Name and click “OK“.

3. Right-click on the Datacenter icon and select the “New Cluster…” action.

4. Specify the cluster name and enable the required services.

5. Right-click on “Cluster” and select the “Add Hosts” action.

6. In the “Add Hosts” wizard, specify the IPv4 or FQDN, login, and password of each ESXi server intended to be added to the cluster and managed using VMware vSphere.

NOTE: For the converged deployment with StarWind SAN & NAS CVM running on VMware ESXi servers, it is recommended to add the VMware ESXi servers that host the CVMs.

NOTE: For the converged deployment with StarWind SAN & NAS installed bare metal, make install of StarWind vCenter plugin to manage the SAN & NAS nodes from the vSphere web interface.

7. Manually verify the ESXi servers’ certificates and accept the thumbprints. Click “OK” to proceed.

8. Review settings and finish adding servers to the cluster.

Configuring Networks on vSphere Servers

Configure network interfaces on each node to ensure that Management and Data/iSCSI interfaces are in different subnets and connected physically according to the network diagram above. All actions below should be applied to each ESXi server for running StarWind SAN & NAS.

NOTE: Virtual Machine Port Group should be created for the Data/iSCSI and Replication vSwitches. VMKernel port should be created only for Data/iSCSI traffic. Static IP addresses should be assigned to VMKernel ports.

NOTE: It is recommended to set jumbo frames to 9000 on vSwitches and VMKernel ports for Data/iSCSI and Replication traffic. Additionally, vMotion can be enabled on VMKernel ports.

1. Using the VMware vSphere Client console, start the “Add Networking” wizard. Add a new VMKernel network adapter for the Data/iSCSI channel.

2. Create a new standard switch for the Data/iSCSI channel. Set MTU accordingly.

3. Assign the second network adapter to the virtual switch. Click Next.

4. Specify port properties such as Network Label, MTU, and enable required services. Click Next.

5. Assign static IPv4 address settings to the virtual switch. Click Next.

NOTE: In this document, the 172.16.10.x subnet is used for Data traffic and 172.16.20.x subnet is used for Replication traffic.

6. Review the summary of your settings and click “Finish” to add networking.

7. Start the “Add Networking” wizard again to create a “Virtual Machine Port Group for a Standard Switch“.

8. Specify the previously created vSwitch. Click Next.

9. Set the Network label and click Next. Optionally, set VLAN ID if used.

10. Review the port group setting and click Finish to apply.

10. Repeat steps 7-9 to configure the network for Replication traffic on each vSphere server.

11. Repeat steps 1-9 for any other links intended for the Data/iSCSI and Replication connections on each vSphere server.

Deploying StarWind SAN & NAS CVM on vSphere servers

1. Download the zip archive that contains StarWind SAN & NAS CVM
https://www.starwindsoftware.com/san-and-nas#download

2. Extract the virtual machine files.

3. Deploy the control virtual machine to the VMware vSphere. Right-click on the Datacenter, cluster, or node menu and select the “Deploy OVF Template…” option from a drop-down menu.

4. In the first step of the wizard, point to the location of the OVF template. Select the VM files and click Next.

5. Specify the VM name and target location.

6. Select a compute resource intended to run the StarWind SAN & NAS CVM

7. Review the template details. Click Next.

8. In the second step of the wizard, specify the virtual machine provisioning type, VM Storage Policy, and select the direct-attached storage for the appliance system drive. Click Next.

9. Select the destination network for each network adapter assigned to the VM.

The default naming for virtual switches:

• the Management virtual switch is “Management vSwitch”,
• the iSCSI virtual switch is “Data/iSCSI vSwitch”,
• the Synchronization virtual switch is “Replication/Sync vSwitch “.

Specify corresponding network connections according to your virtual network naming. Click Next.

10. Specify the hostname, static IPv4 address, gateway, DNS, and additional network settings for Management and iSCSI/Data network interfaces:

NOTE: To manage the SAN & NAS appliance via StarWind vCenter plugin, the static IPv4 address must be assigned.

NOTE: if a DHCP server is available on the given network, you can skip setting the additional parameters for that interface.

11. Review the deployment summary information and click to start the VM creation.

12. Repeat the VM deployment on each partner server which is used for configuring 2-node or 3-node highly available storage according to your licensing.

Installing StarWind vCenter Plugin

NOTE: This step is optional. StarWind vCenter plugin integrates the Controller Virtual Machines management into VMware vSphere user interface allowing managing compute and storage resources from a single web console.

1. To install the StarWind Plugin ensure that the version of your VMware vCenter Server Appliance  7.o or newer, then click Next.

2. Specify the vCenter Server FQDN or IP Address and administrator credentials and click Next.

3. Confirm the connection to your vCenter Server Appliance.

4. Review Summary and click the Install button.

5. Wait until the plugin is installed.

6. Click the Open Plugin page to start using StarWind SAN & NAS via the vCenter Plugin interface.

7. Repeat the plugin installation on each StarWind Controller Virtual Machine that will be managed using the StarWind Plugin in the VMware vSphere web interface.

Configuring Networks on Microsoft Hyper-V Server

Configure external virtual switches on a hypervisor server, at least one for Management, one for Data, and one for Replication. Ensure the interfaces are in different subnets and connected physically according to the network diagram above. All actions below should be applied to each Hyper-V server for running StarWind SAN & NAS. In this document, the 172.16.10.x subnet is used for Data traffic and 172.16.20.x subnet is used for Replication traffic.

NOTE: It is recommended to set jumbo frames to 9000 on the virtual switch and network interfaces used for Data/iSCSI traffic.

1. Using Virtual Switch Manager create a new external virtual switch for the Management network.

2. Create a second external virtual switch for the Data network.

3. Repeat the procedure, create a third external virtual switch for the Replication (Synchronization) network.

Deploying StarWind SAN & NAS CVM on Hyper-V Servers

1. Download the zip archive that contains StarWind SAN & NAS CVM
https://www.starwindsoftware.com/san-and-nas#download

2. Extract the virtual machine files.

3. Deploy the control virtual machine to the Microsoft Hyper-V Server using the “Import Virtual Machine” wizard in Hyper-V Manager.

4. On the second page of the wizard, point to the location of the VM template. Select the VM folder and click Next.

5. Click Next on the “Select Virtual Machine” step.

6. Select the “Copy the virtual machine” import type and click Next.

7. Specify new or existing folders to store virtual machine files, such as configuration, snapshots, smart paging, and virtual disk. Click Next.

8. In the second step of the wizard, the “VM import” wizard will validate the network.

The default naming for virtual switches:

• the Management virtual switch is “Management vSwitch”,
• the iSCSI virtual switch is “Data/iSCSI vSwitch”,
• the Synchronization virtual switch is “Replication/Sync vSwitch “.

If existing virtual switches have different names, specify corresponding network connections. Click Next.

9. Review the import configuration and click Finish to complete the import.

10. Repeat the VM deployment on each partner server which is used for configuring 2-node or 3-node highly available storage according to your licensing.

Disks

The Disks page delivers the ability to rescan the storage attached to the StarWind SAN & NAS and check the drive state.

Two control buttons are provided for disk management:

• Rescan Storage button executes storage identification tasks, seeks physical controllers, virtual and physical disks. Devices appear in the table once identified.
• Maintenance button lists Check State maintenance operation. The Check State button launches a disk state check task and fixes the disk state if the drive is not in use by any storage pool.

Pools

The Pools page delivers the ability to create, list, edit and delete storage pools. Hardware RAID, Linux Software RAID and ZFS storage pools are supported and integrated into StarWind SAN & NAS web interface.

Volumes

The Volumes page allows creating, listing, editing, and deleting volumes (partitions) on a storage pool. Standard and Backup repository volume types are provided in StarWind SAN & NAS web interface.

Note: Prior to creating a volume, create a storage pool.

Create Volume wizard

1. To create a volume on a storage pool, click the “Add” button.

2. Select the storage pool on which to create the volume and click the “Next” button.

3. Specify volume name and capacity.

4. Specify volume type.
Note: use Standard volume for most cases, and Backup repository volume for Veeam Hardened Repository.

5. Review “Summary” and click the “Create” button to create the pool.

Edit Volume wizard

1. To edit a volume, select on in a table of volumes and click the “Edit” button.

2. Only extending volume is allowed. Specify the new size for the selected volume and click the “Save” button.

Manage VHR user

This wizard allows configuring SAN & NAS as Hardened Repository for Veeam by creating and assigning a user account to a Backup repository volume. Once the user is set to a backup repository, the appliance can be connected as a Hardened Repository in Veeam Backup and Repository management.

1. To create a VHR user, select any Backup repository type volume and click the “Manage VHR user” button.

2. Click the “Add” button.
Note: A user account also can be created on the Users page.

3. Type the username and password. Click Save.

4. Wait for user creation as see the account appears in the wizard. Click Save.

5. SAN & NAS is set and ready to be connected as a Hardened Repository in Veeam Backup and Repository management.

Note: by creating a user account for Veeam Hardened Repository, SSH is enabled for the user by default. Once the Hardened Repository is configured in Veeam Backup & Replication, it is recommended to disable SSH access for the account.

LUNs

The LUNs page allows creating, listing, extending, and removing StarWind virtual disks using the corresponding controls.

The LUN availability is limited by your license and can be:

• Standalone – a non-replicated LUN hosted on a single appliance. It becomes inaccessible if the storage server goes down.
• High availability – a synchronously replicated LUN hosted on two or three identical appliances. LUN remains accessible if one of the replication partners becomes unavailable.

Edit Network Adapter settings

1. To edit network settings, select a network adapter and click the Edit button.

2. Specify target network settings:

• Set the Management role to the network adapter connected to the management network switch.
• Set Data role to the network adapter connected to the storage network and used for Data (iSCSI) traffic.
• Set the Replication role to the network adapter connected to the isolated storage network and used for Replication traffic between SAN & NAS appliances.
• Select Static or DHCP mode. For Static mode selected, specify IPv4, Netmask, Gateway, and DNS server(s). Static IP address assignment is recommended.
• Set MTU according to your network configuration. For Data and  Replication traffic, MTU set to 9000 is recommended.

Configure HA networking

1. Launch the “Configure HA Networking” wizard.

2. Select appliances for network configuration.
NOTE: the number of appliances to select is limited by your license, so can be either two or three appliances at a time.

3. Configure the “Data” network. Select interfaces to carry storage traffic, configure them with static IP addresses in unique networks, and specify subnet masks:

• assign and configure at least one interface on each node
• for redundant configuration, select two interfaces on each node
• ensure interfaces are connected to client hosts directly or through redundant switches

4. Assign MTU value to all selected network adapters, e.g. 1500 or 9000. Ensure the switches have the same MTU value set.

5. Click Next to validate Data network settings.

6. Configure the “Replication” network. Select interfaces to carry storage traffic, configure them with static IP addresses in unique networks, and specify subnet masks:

• assign and configure at least one interface on each node
• for redundant configuration, select two interfaces on each node
• ensure interfaces are connected to client hosts directly or through redundant switches

7. Assign MTU value to all selected network adapters, e.g. 1500 or 9000. Ensure the switches have the same MTU value set.

8. Click Next to validate the Replication network settings completion.

9. Review the summary and click Configure.

Add Appliance

To create 2-way or 3-way synchronously replicated highly available storage, add partner appliances that use the same license key.

1. Add StarWind appliance(s) in the web console, on the Appliances page.
NOTE: The newly added appliance will be linked to already connected partners.

2. Provide credentials of partner appliance.

3. Wait for connection and validation of settings.

4. Review the summary and click “Add appliance”.

Tasks

The Tasks tab provides information on tasks performed in StarWind SAN & NAS. The Tasks tab displays the task name, the appliance entity type where this task has been performed, entity name, owner of the task, its status, and timestamp.

Events

The Events tab contains information on the events that occurred in StarWind SAN & NAS. The Events tab displays the event severity level, event source, time of the event, description, entity type where the event has occurred, entity name, number of occurrences, and the current event status.

1. To check the events in the StarWind SAN & NAS, navigate to the Events tab.

2. To mark the recent event as Acknowledged or Resolved, select the event and select the required option.

Controls

Power

To perform shut down and restart operations with the appliance, click Power, then Power Off or Restart buttons in the appliance block.

License

To check the appliance license, included features, upgrade the appliance by activating the new license, click the License control.

Support bundle.

To provide the StarWind Support Team with information on the appliance’s issues, click Support bundle to download the support bundle.

Modifying General Settings

To modify the general StarWind SAN & NAS settings such as the appliance hostname, change password, time zone, click Edit in the General tab.

Services

The Services page lists services that are running on the StarWind SAN & NAS appliance and provides controls to change their state.

StarWind vCenter Plugin

On this page, you can find information about installed vCenter plugins, their installation status, version, and IP address of the vCenter Server Appliance for installed plugins.

Two control actions are available Open vCenter Plugin or Open Plugin Installer by pressing the corresponding controls.

Open vCenter Plugin

The control opens the vCenter Plugin page which connects to the corresponding SAN & NAS appliance.

The StarWind Plugin also can be launched from the vSphere Client Menu:

Open Plugin Installer

This control allows you to deploy, update, or uninstall the StarWind Plugin in your VMware environment.

Configure Management Network

In order to use the SAN & NAS appliance, the management network should have an IPv4 address assigned.

Possible configurations:

• static IP obtained from VMware vApp/OVF template import
• dynamic IP obtained from a DHCP server

NOTE: If no IP address was assigned after VMware vApp/OVF template import or was not obtained from the DHCP server, Text Console will show only the hostname on the 1/3 configuration step:

Press Enter to Modify settings, set the static IP configuration on 2/3 step.

NOTE: IP address and subnet mask are required fields. Gateway and DNS servers are optional.

Press Enter to apply the new network settings.

Step 3/3 will show the applied network settings. Press Enter or Esc to go back to the main menu.

NOTE: You can now use the web console to manage the appliance. The Welcome screen of the text console now shows the network information.

Configure SMB Share

Configure NFS Share

Troubleshoot