Configuration Guide. Achieve Unified Management and Scale-Out of Multi-Site File-Serving Deployments Using Windows Server 2012 R2 and Sanbolic

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1 Configuration Guide Achieve Unified Management and Scale-Out of Multi-Site File-Serving Deployments Using Windows Server 2012 R2 and Sanbolic

2 Introduction One of the most popular workloads found in today s global enterprise environments is file-serving. Knowledge and task workers alike require constant access to business-critical files 24/7 and often need to update files repeatedly throughout the workday to ensure the most recent information is available to colleagues and co-workers. What was once an application confined within the four walls of a company that required minimal time and effort to operate and maintain is now deployed globally across multiple datacenters to ensure all users, including branch office, home office, and mobile workers, continuous access to the files they need to perform their jobs. While many organizations deploy file services using Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 to meet their less-extensive file-serving needs, they often end up implementing hardware-based fileserving appliances when their requirements expand beyond the capabilities of a single server. Unfortunately, file-serving appliances themselves introduce multiple issues, including limitations in scale and availability as well as the additional cost and complexity associated with managing proprietary island systems. Not only are these problems exacerbated when file-services are deployed across multiple datacenters, building multi-site environments based on traditional (active/passive) storage architectures actually presents a whole new set of issues around data synchronization and file-locking that further adds to the cost and complexity of managing both the infrastructure and the workload itself. With its industry-leading scale-out platform, Sanbolic has helped companies worldwide deploy multi-site file-serving solutions that overcome the challenges associated with proprietary fileserving appliances and conventional (single site) storage architectures to cost-effectively meet their global file-serving needs. Leveraging the platform s software-defined storage (SDS) capabilities, customers were able to create highly scalable and highly available storage systems comprised of off-the-shelf server hardware and storage devices (i.e., SSD, flash, HDD) that include advanced storage management features delivered through a comprehensive software stack. Though these systems can be built using external (SAN) storage and/or internal (serverside) storage, the latter has helped organizations realize improved economics through converged infrastructure (compute and storage resources within the same enclosure) while significantly reducing management cost and complexity for maximum ROI. Enterprise customers who combine Windows Server 2012 R2 with the Sanbolic Platform are able to deploy feature-rich file services across multiple datacenters to ensure their global workforces have access to business-critical files 24/7 while simultaneously minimizing management efforts. The distributed storage technology at the solution s core allows file servers in both (all) datacenters to share concurrent read-and-write access to the block-storage where files reside, enabling a high-performing and dynamically scalable file-serving solution (comprised of block and file storage) that can easily support current and future file-serving requirements.

3 Building a multi-site file-serving solution The following instructions explain how to build a highly scalable and highly available file-serving solution capable of spanning multiple datacenters using Windows Server 2012 R2 and the Sanbolic Platform. Prerequisites Operating Systems Windows Server 2012 R2 Enterprise or Datacenter edition Roles and Features File and Storage Services, DFS Namespaces (required if a hardwarebased load-balancer is not used) Software Sanbolic Platform v5.5 Networking A minimum of two network adapters, each with TCP/IP connectivity to the LAN. Sanbolic recommends an additional (third) network adapter connected to a standalone (private) network to be used by Sanbolic for cluster administration (i.e., exchanging heartbeat and locking information between/amongst nodes) Storage All nodes participating in the file-serving cluster must have access to block storage (i.e., Fibre Channel or iscsi SAN, JBOD, JBOF, server-side storage, etc.) Hardware A minimum of two Windows Server 2012 R2 servers with the File and Storage Services role installed. Once all of the prerequisites have been met, download the following tech note to create highly scalable and highly available shared storage that can be accessed by file servers in multiple datacenters using the Sanbolic Platform:

4 The following illustration depicts a highly scalable and highly available file-serving solution spanning two datacenters. Note that all servers in both datacenters (Site 1 and Site 2) share concurrent read-and-write access to the Sanbolic volume (drive X:) where file shares reside. While the diagram shows Microsoft DFS being used as the mechanism for distributing incoming file requests across all the servers, a hardware-based load-balancer may be used in place of DFS. Note: Although four file servers are shown in the diagram below, the number of servers deployed will depend on end-user file-serving requirements. About drive X: LUN1 (L1) and LUN2 (L2) provisioned from the storage array at site 1 are mapped to the servers at site 1 and site 2 LUN3 (L3) and LUN4 (L4) provisioned from the storage array at site 2) are mapped to the servers at site 2 and site 1 LUN1 and LUN2 are striped (RAID0) LUN3 and LUN4 are striped (RAID0) Both pairs of LUNs are mirrored (RAID1) over the WAN (iscsi or Fibre Channel) using the Sanbolic Platform Servers at both sites mount drive X: (comprised of mirrored LUN pairs) for read-and-write access

5 1. Install the File and Storage Services role on each Windows Server 2012 R2 server. Note: Check the box to install the DFS Namespaces role if DFS is going to provide users a single Namespace upon which to access shared folders that reside on multiple servers. DFS can also be used to load-balance file requests across all the servers in the file-serving cluster. 2. Install the Sanbolic Platform on each server. 3. Provision and present LUNs from the storage array at each datacenter to the servers in both datacenters via isci or Fibre Channel. 4. Launch the Sanbolic Dashboard and follow the instructions provided in the quick start tech brief to create a RAID10 volume accessible by all the servers. Note: For file-serving environments comprised of more than two sites, a RAID50 or RAID60 volume may be required.

6 5. Once the shared volume has been created, create one or more folders on the shared volume. 6. Right-click on a folder and select Properties. 7. Under Properties, select Sharing. 8. Under Sharing, select Advanced Sharing.

7 9. Under Advanced Sharing, check the box Share this folder and enter a name for the shared folder. 10. Click Permissions.

8 11. In the Permissions window, click Add and browse through Active Directory to find and select the user that will be given permission to access this folder. 12. Click OK to return to the Permissions window. 13. Configure folder access permissions for the specified user and click Apply to apply the change. 14. Repeat steps to add and configure folder access permissions for other users. 15. Click OK to close the Permissions window. 16. In the Advanced Sharing window, click OK to close the window.

9 17. In the file share Properties window, note the Network Path to access the shared folder. 18. Clock Close to close the file share Properties window. 19. Open Server Manager. 20. Select File and Storage Services on the left-hand side of the console.

10 21. In the File and Storage Services panel, select the local server. 22. Click Shares on the left-hand side of the panel.

11 Note the file share created in steps 6-18 appears in the panel under Shares. 23. Right-click on the file share and select Properties to view general information, permissions and settings for the file share. 24. Click OK to close the file share Properties window.

12 Configuring DFS Namespaces: 1. Click Servers in the Server Manager window and then right-click on the local server and select DFS Management. 2. In the DFS Management panel, use the scroll bar to scroll down the page and see a visual representation of a Namespace.

13 3. Enter the name of the local server that will be hosting the Namespace. 4. Enter a name for the Namespace.

14 5. Click Edit Settings to specify the shared folder that will be accessed through this Namespace. 6. In the Edit Settings window, click Browse to find and select the shared folder created on the Sanbolic volume. 7. Permissions for users to access the shared folder can also be configured in the Edit Settings window. 8. Click OK to save the changes and close the Edit Settings window. 9. Click Next to configure the Namespace Type. 10. Leave the default setting to create the new Namespace as a Domain-based namespace.

15 11. Click Next to review the settings for the new Namespace. 12. Click Create to create the new Namespace. 13. A message will appear stating that the new Namespace has been successfully created.

16 14. Click Close to exit the New Namespace Wizard. 15. Note the new Namespace in the DFS Management console. 16. To make the new Namespace highly available, click Add Namespace Servers on the righthand side of the panel to add one or more servers to host the new Namespace.

17 17. Click Browse to find and select another server in the file-serving cluster to host the Namespace. Note: Any additional servers configured to host the Namespace must have File and Storage Services and the DFS Namespaces roles installed. Before configuring another server in the cluster to host the Namespace, confirm that the appropriate roles have been installed. 18. Click Edit Settings to specify the shared folder that will be accessed through this Namespace. 19. Permissions for users to access the shared folder can also be configured in the Edit Settings window. Note: Make sure permissions to access the shared folder are identical across all servers hosting the Namespace.

18 20. Click OK to save the changes and close the Edit Settings window. Note the new server has been added to the list of Namespace Servers hosting the Namespace. 21. Click Close to exit the DFS Management console.

19 Congratulations you now have a highly scalable and highly available multi-site file-serving solution built using off-the-shelf hardware, Windows Server 2012 R2, and the Sanbolic Platform. File-serving solutions based on Windows Server 2012 R2 and the Sanbolic Platform offer organizations the flexibility to combine CIFS (SMB v3) and NFS file-sharing protocols with iscsi or Fibre Channel storage to enable continuous access to files on block storage for a variety of network clients. These same benefits can be achieved through converged infrastructure comprised of industry-standard x86 server hardware and local (server-side) storage such as Flash, SSD, HDD, thereby avoiding the high cost of procuring, operating, and maintaining external (SAN) storage. Enterprise customers deploying file-services across multiple datacenters can take advantage of the newest features and enhancements introduced in the latest release of the Sanbolic Platform to dramatically reduce infrastructure management cost and complexity and improve operational efficiency. Using version 5.5 of the Sanbolic Platform, customers achieve the following: Unified infrastructure and workload management and scale-out Centralized management across heterogeneous storage environments Enhanced infrastructure agility Data and workload availability and elasticity Cost-effective disaster recovery Improved storage utilization through flash optimizations Automated data and storage administration Hyper-scale company economics

20 Conclusion Offering an extensive list of new features and enhancements, including the ability to scale to 2,000 nodes per cluster and 65,000 storage devices per volume, the Sanbolic Platform enables organizations to create converged infrastructure of compute and storage using off the-shelf server and storage hardware and/or augment their existing infrastructure to achieve unified management and scale-out of Windows Server 2012 R2-based file-serving deployments. Delivering enterprise-class storage management capabilities through a comprehensive software stack and active/active access to block storage across multiple nodes, the resulting architecture enables centralized provisioning, management and orchestration of storage resources at the host level for administrative ease and improved operational efficiency. More importantly, these benefits continue to be realized as a file-serving solution is extended to encompass multiple datacenters. Enterprise customers deploying multi-site file-serving solutions using Windows Server 2012 R2 and the Sanbolic Platform achieve the flexibility, scalability and availability necessary to support current and future file-serving demands. In addition, organizations are now able to seamlessly extend their file service offerings across multiple datacenters to provide their global workforces with access to business-critical files 24/7 while dramatically reducing the cost and complexity of managing infrastructure and workloads.

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