Nutanix Files

Overview¶

Traditionally, file storage has been yet another silo within IT, introducing unnecessary complexity and suffering from the same issues of scale and lack of continuous innovation seen in SAN storage. Nutanix believes there is no room for silos in the Enterprise Cloud. By approaching file storage as an app, running in software on top of a proven HCI core, Nutanix Files delivers high performance, scalability, and rapid innovation through One Click management.

In this lab you will step through a Files deployment, manage SMB shares and NFS exports, scale out the environment, and explore upcoming Files features. The lab will provide key considerations around deployment, configuration, and use cases.

Lab Setup¶

This lab requires applications provisioned as part of the Windows Tools VM.

If you have not yet deployed this VM, see the linked steps before proceeding with the lab.

Deploying Files¶

In Prism > File Server, click + File Server to open the New File Server Pre-Check dialogue.

For the purpose of saving time, the Files 3.2.0.1 package has already been uploaded to your cluster. Files binaries can be downloaded directly through Prism or uploaded manually.

Additionally, the cluster’s Data Services IP Address has already been configured (10.XX.YY.38). In a Files cluster, storage is presented to the Files VMs as a Volume Group via iSCSI, hence the dependency on the Data Services IP.

Note

If staging your own environment, the Data Services IP can be easily configured by selecting > Cluster Details, specifying the iSCSI Data Services IP, and clicking Save. Currently, the Data Services IP must be in the same subnet as your CVMs.

Lastly Files will ensure that at least 1 network has been configured on the cluster. A minimum of 2 networks are recommended to have segmentation between the client side and storage side networks.
Click Continue.
Fill out the following fields:
- Name - Intials-Files (e.g. XYZ-Files)
- Domain - ntnxlab.local
- File Server Size - 1 TiB
Note

Clicking Custom Configuration will allow you to alter the scale up and scale out sizing of the Files VMs based on User and Throughput targets. It also allows for manual sizing of the Files cluster.
Click Next.
Select the Secondary - Managed VLAN for the Client Network.

Each Files VM will consume a single IP on the client network.

Note

In the HPOC environment it is critical to use the secondary VLAN for the client network if using separate client and storage networks.

It is typically desirable in production environments to deploy Files with dedicated virtual networks for client and storage traffic. When using two networks, Files will, by design, disallow client traffic the storage network, meaning VMs assigned to the primary network will be unable to access shares.

Note

As this is an AHV managed network, configuration of individual IPs is not necessary. In an ESXi environment, or using an unmanaged AHV network, you would specify the network details and available IPs as shown below.
Specify your cluster’s Domain Controller VM IP 10.42.XYZ.40 (XYZ according to Cluster Access) as the DNS Resolver IP (e.g. 10.42.7.40). Leave the default (cluster) NTP Server.
In order for the Files cluster to successfully find and join the NTNXLAB.local domain it is critical that the DNS Resolver IP is set to the Domain Controller VM IP FOR YOUR CLUSTER. By default, this field is set to the primary Name Server IP configured for the Nutanix cluster, this value is incorrect and will not work.
Click Next.
Select the Primary - Managed VLAN for the Storage Network.

Each Files VM will consume a single IP on the storage network, plus 1 additional IP for the cluster.
Click Next.
Fill out the following fields:
- Select Use SMB Protocol
- Username - Administrator@ntnxlab.local
- Password - nutanix/4u
- Select Make this user a File Server admin
- Select Use NFS Protocol
- User Management and Authentication - Unmanaged
Note

Similar to NFSv3, in Unmanaged mode, users are only identified by UID/GID. In Files 3.2, NFS connections will still require an NFSv4 capable client.
Click Next.

By default, Files will automatically create a Protection Domain to take daily snapshots of the Files cluster and retain the previous 2 snapshots. After deployment, the snapshot schedule can be modified and remote replication sites can be defined.
Click Create to begin the Files deployment.
Monitor deployment progress in Prism > Tasks.

Deployment should take approximately 10 minutes.

Note

If you receive a warning regarding DNS record validation failure, this can be safely ignored. The shared cluster does not use the same DNS servers as your Files cluster, and as a result is unable to resolve the DNS entries created when deploying Files.
Upon completion, return to Prism > File Server and select the Initials-Files server and click Protect.
Observe the default Self Service Restore schedules, this feature controls the snapshot schedule for Windows’ Previous Versions functionality. Supporting Previous Versions allows end users to roll back changes to files without engaging storage or backup administrators. Note these local snapshots do not protect the file server cluster from local failures and that replication of the entire file server cluster can be performed to remote Nutanix clusters. Click Close.

Using SMB Shares¶

In this exercise you will create and test a SMB share, used to support home directories, user profiles, and other unstructured file data such as departmental shares commonly accessed by Windows clients.

Using NFS Exports¶

In this exercise you will create and test a NFSv4 export, used to support clustered applications, store application data such as logging, or storing other unstructured file data commonly accessed by Linux clients.

Creating the Export¶

In Prism > File Server, click + Share/Export.
Fill out the following fields:
- Name - logs
- Description (Optional) - File share for system logs
- File Server - Initials-Files
- Share Path (Optional) - Leave blank
- Max Size (Optional) - Leave blank
- Select Protocol - NFS
Click Next.
Fill out the following fields:
- Select Use “Distributed” share/export type instead of “Standard”
- Authentication - System
- Default Access (For All Clients) - No Access
- Select + Add exceptions
- Clients with Read-Write Access - The first 3 octets of your cluster network.* (e.g. 10.42.78.*)
A Distributed share type is more appropriate in this scenario if you have a dedicated top level directory for each host saving their logs on this share, allowing for effective load balancing across the Files cluster.

By default an NFS export will allow read/write access to any host that mounts the export, but this can be restricted to specific IPs or IP ranges.
Review the Summary and click Create.

Testing the Export¶

You will first provision a CentOS VM to use as a client for your Files export.

Note

If you have already deployed the Linux Tools VM as part of another lab, you may use this VM as your NFS client instead.

In Prism > VM > Table, click + Create VM.
Fill out the following fields:
- Name - Initials-NFS-Client
- Description - CentOS VM for testing Files NFS export
- vCPU(s) - 2
- Number of Cores per vCPU - 1
- Memory - 2 GiB
- Select + Add New Disk
  - Operation - Clone from Image Service
  - Image - CentOS
  - Select Add
- Select Add New NIC
  - VLAN Name - Secondary
  - Select Add
Click Save.
Select the Initials-NFS-Client VM and click Power on.
Note the IP address of the VM in Prism, and connect via SSH using the following credentials:
- Username - root
- Password - nutanix/4u

Execute the following:

[root@CentOS ~]# yum install -y nfs-utils #This installs the NFSv4 client
[root@CentOS ~]# mkdir /filesmnt
[root@CentOS ~]# mount.nfs4 <Intials>-Files.ntnxlab.local:/ /filesmnt/
[root@CentOS ~]# df -kh
Filesystem                      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/centos_centos-root  8.5G  1.7G  6.8G  20% /
devtmpfs                        1.9G     0  1.9G   0% /dev
tmpfs                           1.9G     0  1.9G   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs                           1.9G   17M  1.9G   1% /run
tmpfs                           1.9G     0  1.9G   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/sda1                       494M  141M  353M  29% /boot
tmpfs                           377M     0  377M   0% /run/user/0
*intials*-Files.ntnxlab.local:/             1.0T  7.0M  1.0T   1% /afsmnt
[root@CentOS ~]# ls -l /filesmnt/
total 1
drwxrwxrwx. 2 root root 2 Mar  9 18:53 logs

Observe that the logs directory is mounted in /filesmnt/logs.
Reboot the VM and observe the export is no longer mounted. To persist the mount, add it to /etc/fstab by executing the following:
echo 'Intials-Files.ntnxlab.local:/ /filesmnt nfs4' >> /etc/fstab

The following command will add 100 2MB files filled with random data to /filesmnt/logs:

mkdir /filesmnt/logs/host1
for i in {1..100}; do dd if=/dev/urandom bs=8k count=256 of=/filesmnt/logs/host1/file$i; done

Return to Prism > File Server > Share > logs to monitor performance and usage.

Note that the utilization data is updated every 10 minutes.

(Optional) Expanding a Files Cluster¶

Files offers the ability to scale up and scale out a deployment. Scaling up the CPU and memory of Files VMs allows an environment to support higher storage throughput and number of concurrent sessions. Currently, Files VMs can be scaled up to a maximum of 12 vCPU and 96GB of RAM each.

The true power of Files scalability is the ability to simply add more Files VMs, scaling out much like the underlying Nutanix distributed storage fabric. An individual Files cluster can scale out up to the number of physical nodes in the Nutanix cluster, ensuring that no more than 1 Files VM runs on a single node during normal operation.

Return to Prism > File Server and select Initials-Files.
Click Update > Number of File Server VMs.
Increment the number of Files VMs from 3 to 4 and click Next.

Note that an additional IP will be consumed for both the client and storage networks to support the added Files VM.
Click Next > Save.

The cluster will now deploy and power on a 4th Files VM. Status can be monitored in Prism > Tasks.

Note

Files cluster expansion should take approximately 10 minutes to complete.

Following the expansion, verify client connections can now be load balanced to the new VM.
Connect to your Initials-ToolsVM via RDP or console.
Open Control Panel > Administrative Tools > DNS.
Fill out the following fields and click OK:
- Select The following computer
- Specify dc.ntnxlab.local
- Select Connect to the specified computer now
Open DC.ntnxlab.local > Forward Lookup Zones > ntnxlab.local and verify there are now four entries for Initials-files. Files leverages round robin DNS to load balance connections across Files VMs.

Note

If only three entries are present, you can automatically update DNS entries from Prism > File Server by selecting your Files cluster and clicking DNS.

Version 3.5.x¶

Check out the video below for a look at the upcoming Files enhancements!

Takeaways¶

What are the key things you should know about Nutanix Files?

Files can be rapidly deployed on top of existing Nutanix clusters, providing SMB and NFS storage for user shares, home directories, departmental shares, applications, and any other general purpose file storage needs.
Files is not a point solution. VM, File, Block, and Object storage can all be delivered by the same platform using the same management tools, reducing complexity and management silos.
Files can scale up and scale out with One Click performance optimization.

Cleanup¶

Once you completed the lab, PLEASE do your part to remove any unneeded VMs to ensure resources are available on your shared cluster.

Nutanix Files¶

Overview¶

Lab Setup¶

Deploying Files¶

Using SMB Shares¶

Using NFS Exports¶

Creating the Export¶

Testing the Export¶

(Optional) Expanding a Files Cluster¶

Version 3.5.x¶

Takeaways¶

Cleanup¶

Additional Resources¶

Nutanix Files¶

Overview¶

Lab Setup¶

Deploying Files¶

Using SMB Shares¶

Creating the Share¶

Testing the Share¶

Using NFS Exports¶

Creating the Export¶

Testing the Export¶

(Optional) Expanding a Files Cluster¶

Version 3.5.x¶

Takeaways¶

Cleanup¶

Additional Resources¶