Copyright © 2002 Legato Systems, Inc.

AlphaStor 3.1 Support in NW 7.31.0

Dan Gajanovic

2005.08.05Legato Confidential

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Introduction

Prerequisites for attending this TOI session

Overview and Benefits of the new feature

Installation considerations

How to configure/enable the feature

Using the feature

Licensing considerations

Architecture and internal Design

Debugging techniques and tips

Questions and Answers

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Prerequisites

Prerequisites for attending this presentation

• Proprietary – nsrjb robustness TOI

• Rudimentary familiarity with AlphaStor

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Overview and Benefits

AlphaStor 3.1 introduced DMI as a replacement for CAPI

• CAPI is a loosely defined, grammar-oriented interface w/o support for async result reporting

• constant source of formatting/parsing issues

• too limited to support full NW integration

DMI (Data Mover Interface)

• RPC-style strictly defined interface

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Overview and Benefits (cont.)

AS 3.1 still supports CAPI

• support for NW <= 7.2

• non-NW clients NW 7.3 only supports DMI

• cannot interface with AS <= 3.0

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Overview and Benefits (cont.)

System requirements• NW server OS support:

• NT (x86, Itanium)

• UNIX (Solaris, HP-UX, AIX)

• Linux (x86, x86_64, Itanium)

• Caveat for Tru64, IRIX NW servers• 'remote library' config on a storage node

running a supported OS

• Every storage node must have AlphaStor LCP & DCP daemons

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Overview and Benefits

Where to learn more• NetWorker Admin Guide

• AlphaStor Admin Guide

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Installation Considerations

Changes to installation• Visible changes to installation prompts

• none

• New binaries installed• libpal and libdmi dynamic libraries

– installed in /usr/lib/nsr (on Solaris)

• directly used only by nsrlcpd

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Configuring the Feature

How to enable and/or configure this feature

• AS support can only be configured through jbconfig (command line)

• Sequence of prompts similar to old AS/SmartMedia configuration

• One additional prompt: AlphaStor library name

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Configuring the Feature (cont.)

Sample outputJbconfig is running on host munin (SunOS 5.9),

and is using munin as the NetWorker server.

1) Configure an AlphaStor Library.

What kind of Jukebox are you configuring? [1]

Installing an 'AlphaStor' jukebox.

What name do you want to assign to the AlphaStor library? qualstar

Name of AlphaStor server host machine? [munin] pankaj

Port number of AlphaStor server? [44475]

Library name managed by AlphaStor server? [qualstar]

How many devices are to be configured (1 to 256)? [4]

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Configuring the Feature (cont.)

NSR Jukebox attributes• control port format

• <AS_libname>@<AS_server>:<port#>

• automatically set by jbconfig

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Using the Feature

New commands• No new commands• use nsrjb, as usual

• mount-by-characteristics nsrjb options are no longer supported

GUI• no AlphaStor/DMI specific GUI

enhancements

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Licensing Considerations

This feature is licensed• Licensing model for AlphaStor/DMI has

not changed

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Questions and Answers

Any questions that have not been answered yet?

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Architecture and Internal Design

Architectural diagram

nsrd

nsrmmgd

nsrjbnsrlcpd

nsrlcpd

Lib1

Lib2

dmi_server

AS server

AlphaStor land

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Architecture and Internal Design (cont.)

Notes on internal design• 1:1 mapping between NW and AS

jukebox• One nsrlcpd daemon per NW jukebox

(even if multiple storage nodes use the same library)

• dmi_server is the only direct point of contact with AlphaStor

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Architecture and Internal Design (cont.)

nsrlcpd maintains a persistent TCP/IP connection with dmi_server

• receives asynchronous notifications• media import/export

• library up/down

• etc

dmi_server listens on port 44475

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Architecture and Internal Design (cont.)

nsrlcpd can run either on NW server or NW storage node

• depends on where jbconfig is invoked

• the host running nsrlcpd need not be physically attached to the library

• the associated nsrmmd daemons may run on completely different storage nodes

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Debugging Techniques and Tips

How to obtain debugging or tracking information

• set “debug level” attribute for NW jukebox using nsradmin (show hidden attributes)

• most output shows up at level 4• level 5 enables extra detail

• output is logged in daemon.log• debug messages come from nsrlcpd

• can be changed at runtime

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Debugging Techniques and Tips (cont.)

Common pitfalls• If nsrlcpd cannot connect to dmi_server,

the jukebox will not become ready• examine daemon.log for the cause of the

problem

• jbconfig's 'application ID' must match an entry in the AlphaStor's configured application list

• use AS GUI or asapplist/asappupdate command line tools

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Debugging Techniques and Tips (cont.)

Error messages customers might see• Most fatal error messages are

propagated to nsrjb and/or the GUI• exception is errors during jukebox

initialisation: only in daemon.log

• Debug output (if enabled) only shows up in daemon.log

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Known Issues and Limitations

Limitations• Virtual libraries are not supported

• (multiple AS libraries showing up as a single NW jukebox)

• Needed by customers who wish to move media between libraries

• old workaround for a limitation of the NW/CAPI implementation

• NW/DMI supports this use case without resorting to virtual libraries

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Questions and Answers

Any questions that have not been answered yet?

Thank you for attending

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AlphaStor 3.1 Support in

NetWorker 7.3