SpinFS 2.5 Administration Reference
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Chapter 2. Introduction

Table of Contents
2.1. Navigating the Management Interface
2.2. IP Addresses
2.3. Naming Conventions

The SpinServer 4100 server and SpinFS 2.5 software provide the many advantages of distributed file systems and the benefits of virtualization to NAS storage, including the following:

High-performance delivery of content and data for NFS and CIFS clients
High capacity for storage
A global file system architecture that enables end users to view a cluster of SpinServers as a single file system
Storage capacity that can be expanded without system downtime or disruptions
Simple management and maintenance

2.1. Navigating the Management Interface

This section discusses the SpinManager™ software, which provides a management interface to the SpinServer for system administration tasks. SpinManager is built by using the Common Information Model (CIM), an object-oriented model that provides a conceptual framework for describing management data.

SpinManager provides two ways of interacting with SpinServers. The SpinManager Command Line Interface (CLI) provides a command-based mechanism for interacting with the SpinServer that is similar to the tcsh shell in UNIX. The SpinManager Graphical User Interface (GUI) enables you to interact with SpinServer objects by using a web browser. These two interfaces are discussed in the following sections.

Regardless of the interface used (CLI or GUI), a set of similar objects is displayed as rows in a table. Each object/row is identified or located by a set of keys, which occupy the first n fields. The rest of the rows are occupied by parameters.

SpinManager commands are organized hierarchically into command sets, or nodes. Command nodes can contain other command nodes, which are referred to as subnodes. Subnodes, in turn, can contain leaf nodes. The commands contained within the command nodes enable you to manage the components of a SpinServer system.

2.1.1. Command Line Interface

The command line interface provides a command-based view of the management interface. SpinManager commands are entered at the prompt, and command results are displayed in text.

The command line interface can be accessed from a terminal that is connected directly to a SpinServer on the COM1 serial port, or you can use secure shell (SSH) to access a SpinServer and use the command line interface to interact with the management interface remotely.

The CLI's command prompt is represented as spinserver::> in the documentation. On a running SpinServer, this prompt reflects the machine name. For instance, on a SpinServer named DataServer, the CLI prompt is DataServer::>.

2.1.1.1. Command Node Navigation

When using the command line interface, you can access a command node by typing the command-node name at the prompt and then pressing the Enter key. The command-node name is then included in the prompt text to indicate that you are interacting with this command node. To move deeper into the command-node hierarchy, type the name of a command subnode followed by the Enter key; the subnode name is now included in the prompt text and the context shifts to that subnode.

Within a command node, you can enter only commands that are available in that command-node context, which includes all the subnodes beneath that command node. To see the list of commands that are available, enter ? (question mark). To view the parameters for a command, enter the command name and press Tab.

You can navigate several levels of commands if the entire command string is entered. For example, you can display a list of disk drives with information about disk ID, capacity, status, the RAID subsystem using it, channel, and target by entering raid diskdrives show at the prompt. The same information is obtained by navigating through one command node at a time as shown in the following example:

spinserver::> raid
spinserver:: raid> diskdrives
spinserver:: raid diskdrives> show

Also, you need to enter only the minimum number of letters in a command that makes the command unique to that level. For the previous example, enter r d sh to display disk drive information. For automatic completion of the command, press Tab.

Use the following actions to navigate from one command node to another:

Type . and press Enter to display the command node at the current level.
Type .. and press Enter to go up one level in the command node hierarchy.
Type top and press Enter to go to the top level of the command node hierarchy.

2.1.1.2. Command Line Editing

The command at the current shell prompt is the current active command. You can edit any part of the command. In the table below, ^ indicates that you must press the Ctrl key.

Table 2-1. Command Line Editing in the CLI

Edit Command	Action
^b	Move the cursor back one character.
^f	Move the cursor forward one character.
^a	Move the cursor to the beginning of the line.
^e	Move the cursor to the end of the line.
^k	Remove the contents of the edit buffer, from the cursor to the end of the line, and save it in the cut buffer.
^y	Yank the contents of the cut buffer, pushing it into the edit buffer at the cursor.
ESC b	Move the cursor back one word.
ESC f	Move the cursor forward one word.
ESC d	Cut the contents of the edit buffer, beginning at the cursor and continuing to the end of the following word.
ESC Backspace	Delete the word before the cursor.
^h	Delete the character before the cursor.
Backspace	Delete the character before the cursor.
^d	Delete the character after the cursor.
^p	Replace the current contents of the edit buffer with the previous entry on the history list. For each successive ^p action, the history cursor moves to the previous entry.
^n	Replace the current contents of the edit buffer with the next entry on the history buffer.
↓	Down history.
↑	Up history.
←	Go backward one character.
→	Go forward one character.
^q	TTY start output.
^s	TTY stop output.
^u	Clear the current edit buffer.
^v	Escapes a special mapping for the following character. For instance, to enter a question mark into a command's arguments, press ^v, then press ?.
?	Display context-sensitive help.

2.1.2. Graphical User Interface

The GUI provides the end user with an interactive management interface. SpinManager commands are selected from a menu of options, and command results are displayed in tables.

The GUI can be accessed by pointing a supported web browser to a SpinServer (for example, http://server, where server is the IP address or host name of the SpinServer). You must enter a valid administrative user name and password when connecting to a SpinServer.

Note: If a SpinManager GUI session remains idle for 60 minutes, the session times out. If you attempt to use a timed-out session, the GUI prompts you again for the administrative user name and password.

When you have provided a valid user name and password, the browser view resembles the following figure.

Figure 2-1. Initial view of the SpinManager GUI after login

2.1.2.1. GUI Command Node Navigation

The left-hand pane, or navigation pane, of the browser lists the available command nodes. Some command nodes expand into subnodes; these nodes are indicated by a folder icon and can be expanded by clicking the icon. Similarly, some subnodes expand into leaf nodes. If a high-level command node is expanded, a minus sign (-) is displayed in the box to the left of the folder icon; if a high-level command node is not expanded, a plus sign (+) is displayed in the box. Leaf nodes are indicated by a page icon. Clicking a leaf node displays a list, in table format, of that node's objects in the right-hand pane, or action pane, of the browser.

The following figure shows the GUI with the high-level Virtual Servers command node expanded and the Servers command node selected in the navigation pane. A table that lists the SpinServer's virtual servers is displayed in the action pane.

Figure 2-2. The Virtual Servers → Servers command node selected in the GUI

When the command node is displayed in the action pane, commands that affect the entire node (that is, all objects that are displayed in the table) are displayed in the bar that runs across the top of the pane, and commands that affect specific objects within the node (that is, specific rows of the table) are available from the drop-down menu. You can perform the following actions:

To reorder the table according to specific attributes, click the headings at the top of each column. For instance, if a table has columns labeled Name and Network Interface, clicking Name once orders objects by name, and clicking it again reorders them in the opposite order (ascending or descending). Similarly, clicking Network Interface orders objects by their network interfaces, and clicking it again reorders them in the opposite order.
To redisplay the default table at any time, click Show in the top bar.
To create a new object (an operation that does not involve any objects currently listed in the table), click New in the top bar. The GUI then displays a dialog box into which you can enter the attributes of the new object. When you have entered the new object's attributes, click Create to create the object.
To run a command on an object, select the object by clicking its corresponding button in the Select column, select the appropriate command from the drop-down menu, and click Submit. If additional information is needed or if confirmation is required before the command is run, the GUI prompts you for the required information.
To show the attributes of an object that is listed in the table, select the object by clicking its corresponding button in the Select column, select Show from the drop-down menu, and click Submit. A sample result that shows the attributes of a virtual server is shown in the following figure.

Figure 2-3. The results of the Show command for a virtual server

From this view, you can modify the attributes of the selected object by changing the values in editable attribute fields, selecting Modify from the drop-down menu, and clicking Submit. You can also run other commands on the object by selecting them from the drop-down menu and clicking Submit. With the exception of Modify, which replaces Show, the commands available from the drop-down menu in this view are the same that are available from the drop-down menu in the previous view.

2.1.2.2. GUI Documentation Conventions

The following conventions are used in the documentation to describe the use of the GUI:

A right-pointing arrow (→) indicates selections that must be made in the navigation pane. For instance, “Navigate to the Storage Pools → Storage Pools node” indicates that you click the top-level Storage Pools node in the navigation pane, then click the Storage Pools subnode. Similarly, “Navigate to the SpinAccess → CIFS → Shares node” indicates that you click the SpinAccess node in the navigation pane, click the CIFS subnode, and then click the Shares leaf node.
In the context of the GUI, the word run indicates that you need to select a command from the drop-down menu in the action pane, then click the Submit button to run the command. For example, “Select vs1 from the table and run Delete” indicates that in the action pane you select the vs1 entry from the table, select the Delete command from the drop-down menu below the table, and then click Submit.
The GUI features two variants of the Show command. The Show link in the top bar of the action pane refreshes the table listing of all objects in the command node. The Show command that is available in the drop-down menu displays information for a selected item from the table; select the command from the drop-down menu and then click Submit. These two variants are distinguished in the documentation by phrasing such as “Click Show in the top bar of the action pane” and “Select an entry from the table and run Show,” respectively.

Note: The Query command that is available from the top bar of the action pane for some command nodes is not currently supported. Do not use this command unless you are specifically instructed to do so by a Technical Support representative.

2.2. IP Addresses

You need the following IP addresses before you begin the installation and configuration of a SpinServer system. Each of the ports must be on a separate IP subnet. Obtain these IP addresses from your system administrator:

An IP address is needed for each of the SpinServer's two network ports.
An IP address is needed for the management software port. For remote access to the management interface, the port can be configured on a separate management LAN.
For clustering, an IP address is needed for each of the SpinServer's two cluster ports. For security reasons, cluster ports must be attached to a secure network.

2.3. Naming Conventions

For ease of management of a SpinServer system and the data stored on it, you need to give some thought to the names you choose for SpinServer system entities, including the SpinServers, network virtual interfaces, storage pools, virtual servers, and virtual file systems.

To prevent confusion and potential loss or misplacement of data, the names you choose must be orderly and easily recognizable by all system administrators who maintain a SpinServer system. Any naming system can be chosen for the system, but there are some rules that you must follow, including the following:

IDs for the SpinServers in the system are determined by the name of the host, which you specify when you initially install the SpinFS software onto a SpinServer. They must be unique within a cluster.
After the ID for a SpinServer has been set, you cannot modify the server name or host name. To do so invalidates the failover port designation for the SpinServer and can result in the loss of data.
Storage pools and virtual file system names can be up to 32 alphanumeric characters long. They cannot have spaces in them, but underscores and periods are accepted.
Virtual file system names must be unique within a cluster. You cannot use the same virtual file system name on multiple, different virtual servers.
Virtual server names can be 15 or fewer alphanumeric characters and are case sensitive, for example, vs0, vS0, and Vs0 are all acceptable and different names for virtual server names.

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