This topic describes some of the more common tasks that you can
perform as a SAN File System administrator.
After SAN File System is installed, configured, and the metadata servers
are up and running, here are some of the tasks you can perform:
- Set up administrative security, including assigning user roles to
users who will administer SAN File System, to prevent unauthorized access
to administrative operations, and set up client security to prevent
unauthorized access to files in the global namespace.
- Create filesets, which are subsets of the entire global namespace.
A fileset serves as the unit of workload that can be assigned to a metadata
server. After filesets are created, clients can create regular directories
and files within those filesets.
- Optionally assign filesets to metadata servers to manually distribute
and balance the global namespace workload across all of the servers in your
cluster.
- Create storage pools that contain volumes that provide specific
quality-of-service levels and performance for specific needs, such as storing
data for specific applications or business divisions.
- Add volumes, which are LUNs labeled for use by SAN File System, to storage
pools so that clients can begin using them to store data.
- Define policies and rules that determine where newly-created
user files are stored.
- Set up alerts and SNMP traps to ensure timely notification
of significant events, such as those that occur in the metadata servers in
the cluster, or conditions, such as a fileset or storage pool running out
of space.
- Plan and set up a strategy for backup and recovery that includes
using standard backup tools already available in your environment and SAN
File System features, such as FlashCopy® images (which are point-in-time
copies of filesets that can be used for file-based backups) and disaster recovery
files (which can be used to recreate system metadata, if necessary).
- View logs to obtain additional information about events and conditions.
Note that when SAN File System is installed, the following items exist:
- The global fileset, which is the root of the global namespace.
All filesets, except nested filesets that are attached to other filesets,
are attached to the global fileset using a new directory name.
- A system storage pool that is used to store system metadata, which
includes information about filesets, storage pools, volumes, and file placement
policies.
- A default storage pool that can be used to store all files that
are not assigned to a specific user storage pool by a rule in the active policy.
You must add one or more volumes to this storage pool before you can use the
default storage pool. You may also disable the default storage pool.
- A null policy set that remains active until an administrator creates
and activates a new one. The null policy set assigns all files to the default
storage pool.