snapdrive, windows 2008 X64, pass through authentication

[ianaforbes]

I have a filer which is not part of a Active Directory domain. It's running 7.2.5.1. There is no CIFS license installed on the filer (and none forthcoming). Snapdrive 6.0.1 is installed on a Windows 2008X64 server. I'm attempting to configure pass-through authentication as described in the docs.

I've created a local snapdrive user and add it to the Windows local administrators group. I've created a local user on the filer called snapdrive and added it to the BUILTIN\Administrators group on the filer. The passwords I've created for the Windows snapdrive user is identical to the filer snapdrive user.

I've installed snapdrive as the local snapdrive user. Everything looks fine when I open up the Snapdrive MMC. When I attempt to create a disk via snapdrive I get the following error:

SnapDrive Error

Access is denied

I've configured pass through authentication successfully in the past on Windows 2000/2003. Not sure if this is a Windows 2008 problem. Firewall has been completely turned off the Windows server.

Any suggestions?

[ianaforbes]

Hi Asif

You've just provided me new information. You mention that Snapdrive 5 and above you don't require a CIFS license in order to run CIFS setup and join filer to a workgroup. Could you clarify? Does that mean that if I do not have CIFS licensed (but I have FCP and Snapdrive 6) I can go to the command line of the filer and launnch CIFS setup - in order to join filer to a workgroup? Also, is it ok to have Snapdrive licensed on the host side and NOT a filer based license?

Could you please clarify your steps in joining the filer to a workgroup, please?

Thanks

[arqureshi]

Hi Ian,

Yes you can go to command line and run CIFS setup as long as you have FCP licensed. I do not have SnapDrive licensed on the controller side just the host side. When you run CIFS setup go through the steps and choose the protocol (you have a choice of multiprotocol or CIFS only) you'll see the choices to join the controller to AD domain, NT4 domain or a workgroup, choose workgroup.

Asif

[ianaforbes]

I think that may be the key. I'll give it a try.

Thanks!

[arqureshi]

OK. Please post the results here. If this does not work for you I can try to simulate the problem in my Lab

[jjakowski]

Our controllers are in a cifs workgroup.  We are running the snapdrive service with a domain account in the local administrtors group on the windows servers and a matching account in the administrators group on the controllers.  The passwords are the same.

If I'm reading it correctly, the interop matrix says Windows Server 2008 only supports SnapDrive 6.01. and 6.0.2 with OnTap 7.3 and above.  I was unaware that you could run the 5.0 version on 2008 supported.  I'm guessing that is the biggest difference and how you are able to get passthrough working.  SnapDrive 6 has only been out since November, right?

We were trying to avoid joining the controllers to active directory because of some replication issues we were having.  Fortunatly, those have been corrected now so that will no longer be a problem.  We don't have a cifs license either and will just be using the 'cifs lite' for admistrative purposes.

[arqureshi]

Hi Justin,

SnapDrive 5 comment was for reference only to illustrate the purpose of CIFS lite. I'm running the same setup as you are using SnapDrive version 6 (can't remember the build level) and have no issues

Asif

[ianaforbes]

Hey guys. This is an unrelated question, but hopefully you can answer. Is there a way to get a true reading of how much space has been used within a lun - from the filer's perspective? Because of the differences in file system accounting between NTFS and WAFL I know I cannot get a true reading from taking a look at the free space from the Windows side.

Since WAFL looks at a lun as just a file, a df will only reveal the size that has been reserved for the lun (I'm assuming space reserved luns - not thin). How can I 'peer' into that lun from WAFL's perspective to get a true indication of how full that lun is?

I have a volume (guarantee=volume) of 400GB. My fractional_reserve is set to 10%. If I do a df -r I see that 6GB have been reserved so far. Snapshot space accounts for 104GB. I have a lun in the volume of 93GB. A df reports that I have 195GB available. (400 - 104 - 6 - 93) and 204GB used.

When I run an aggr show_space I see allocated for that volume at 411GB (why is this more than the df showing 400GB) and used at 178GB (why is this less then the df showing 204GB)?

Both of those commands don't reveal to me how much space that 93GB lun is actually using on the WAFL side.

[donaldmann]

As of 7.3.x I believe a bit of excess space is used in the aggregate for volumes now.

Beyond that - df -r / calculating your fractional reserve is the best bet you have with finding out how much space is used in the LUN

you are showing 6GB reserved - which means an estimate of 60GB LUN size.

volume reports - 204 (104=snap, 6=reserve, 93=LUN)

aggr show_space shows true usage:

178GB in use

178-6-104=68GB which is pretty close to what you should expect for your LUN

just be aware that df -r isn't really accurate.  If a LUN usage gets smaller, reserve will never free up.  There is no other way I am aware of on the filer to determine actual LUN space usage.

-don

[ianaforbes]

The interoperability matrix for Windows 2008 is a little confusing. I looked at the Interoperability database. One report says that Windows 2008 supports snapdrive 6.0 and above and ONTAP 7.3. The other report says Windows 2008 supports snapdrive 6.0 and above and ONTAP 7.1 --> 7.3. Both reports state the support date as of 02/13/2009. So, I'm not certain if ONTAP 7.3 is actually needed.

[stephend75]

I agree with you on the support. My idea of support is people who have actually done the certification on the subject and not (in my case) reading from the same forums and google as me telling me what I already know! Glad to hear you got it working as I had exactly the same issue.