The administrative server processes all requests that are initiated from an administrative interface. Three major components of the administrative infrastructure include IBM® Director Agent, a Web server, and the administrative agent.
IBM Director Agent enables remote administration and control of the storage engines.
The Web server is the part of the administrative infrastructure that interacts with the administrative agent and renders the Web pages that make up the SAN File System console. The console is a Web-based user interface, which can be accessed using a Web browser, that has network access to the engines that host the master metadata server in the cluster.
An administrative server interacts with a metadata server through an intermediary service, called the administrative agent. The administrative agent is based on the Common Information Model (CIM) standard to process all management requests from the SAN File System console and administrative command-line interface. When you issue a request, the administrative agent checks with the lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) server to authenticate the user ID and password and to verify whether the user has the authority (is assigned the appropriate role) to issue a particular request. After authenticating the user, the administrative agent interacts with the metadata server on behalf of that user to process the request. It also communicates with the operating system, the Remote Supervisory Adapter II (RSA) card, and administrative agents on other engines when processing requests. This same system of authentication and interaction is also available to third-party CIM clients to manage SAN File System.
To ensure high availability, the administrative server resides on each storage engine. All requests that come from the SAN File System console are always processed by the administrative server that runs on the same engine as the master metadata server. This server is known as the primary administrative server. However, requests that are initiated by the administrative command-line interface is processed by the administrative server that is running on the engine that you are logged in to. This can be the primary administrative server or a secondary administrative server, which is an administrative server that runs on an engine hosting a subordinate metadata server. All requests are redirected to a secondary administrative server if the primary administrative server is not available.
Parent topic: Concepts