VMware Solutions Discussions

Multistore and VIFs

nsitps1976
16,955 Views

Is it possible to aggregate all Ethernet interfaces on a controller into a static multimode VIF and have this VIF be partitioned across multiple vFilers?

I thought I read somewhere that you could only assign physical interfaces to vFilers? – I want all vFilers to be able to utilise the entire aggregate bandwidth of a VIF which includes 4 Ethernet interfaces, I do not want to limit each vFiler to one Ethernet interface.

77 REPLIES 77

scottgelb
4,976 Views

Correct. With 7.x you will need a 4th vlan since you can't assign an ip to the base vif when you create vlans in that vif. When you upgrade to 8.x you probably would keep the same config (why have a more disruptive change)..but will then be able to assign an ip to the base vif.

Typos Sent on Blackberry Wireless

nsitps1976
4,976 Views

Thanks

nsitps1976
5,149 Views

Are there any guidelines on what the size of the vfiler /etc volume should be? - Can't find any info on this.

scottgelb
4,991 Views

It can be as small as 20MB.. The min vol size.. But I usually size at 10GB..

Most things long to vfiler0.. However if you mirror to/from a vfiler directly or enable cifs auditing, then /etc will grow in the vfiler.. So size monitor it.. If all mirror/vault is from vfiler0 it won't log to the vfiler.

10GB isn't a lot and works almost every time..

Typos Sent on Blackberry Wireless

nsitps1976
4,991 Views

Excellent, thanks.. Another question if you don't mind (this is going to be a long thread, hopefully it will help others though) - If I leave a vlan in the default-ipspace and then assign an ip to this vlan can I then access vfiler0 on this vlan? - I am sure this is correct but want to be sure.

scottgelb
4,991 Views

The vlan in the default ipspace can be used for vfiler0 as long as that ip is not bound/assigned to a vfiler. We can use ip aliases to assign additional ips so that vfilers in the default ipspace and and vfiler0 can share the vlan interface, but with different ip addresses.

Typos Sent on Blackberry Wireless

nsitps1976
4,824 Views

Hi Scott

I am having some issues adding an alias to an interface which is already assigned to a vfiler.

If I try:

ifconfig if-name alias 10.176.131.12 netmask 255.255.255.0

I get:

ifconfig: can't assign address to if-name, no vfiler in this interface's ipspace (ips-131) has this address

And if I try:

vfiler run vfilersp setup -e if-name:10.176.131.12:255.255.255.0

I get:

Can't bind IP address 10.176.131.12. Either this IP address belongs to other vfiler or it is not configured to vfiler: vfilersp

scottgelb
4,824 Views

Ifconfig and setup -e will do the same binding.. But I don't like setup since it whacks several etc files (saves to bak) but still needs fixing after.. Exports, resolv.conf nsswitch.conf, hosts.equiv, etc..

What I think has happened is you don't have the ip added to the vfiler yet. "vfiler add vfilername -i 10.176.131.12" then do the ifconfig.. It has to be added to thje vfiler first.. You will see the ip "unconfigured" in vfiler status -a then the ifconfig (or setup -e which isn't a good alternative) will bind it to the vfiler and it will show configured.

Typos Sent on Blackberry Wireless

nsitps1976
4,824 Views

Using your guides I have tried to avoid the setup command, this was my last resort prior to asking you.

I did assign the ip to the vlan interface during vfiler creation,, I can also see this using vfiler status -a

scottgelb
4,824 Views

Is it configured? Is the vfiler in the same ipspace as that interface? It has to be something simple..

Typos Sent on Blackberry Wireless

nsitps1976
4,824 Views

It is listed with the name of the interface at the end, it does not mention configured or unconfigured.

The interface is in the same ip space as the vfiler and the ip address was assigned to the interface during vfiler creation.

I can email you the exact output?

scottgelb
4,824 Views

Sure.. I can look later..

ifconfig -a

vfiler status -a vfilername

ipspace list

You can also try vfiler remove and vfiler add to try to reset.. If it doesn't show unconfigured it might be working.

Typos Sent on Blackberry Wireless

nsitps1976
4,824 Views

is "vfiler add vfilername -i x.x.x.x" the same as an alias? - if I use this command then the new IP is listed as unconfigured????

scottgelb
4,824 Views

Yes.. Vfiler add -i for any ip no matter what is bound to later.. Can be a vif, a vlan, an alias, or to an interface (e0a).. Then ifconfig after to configure and it binds automatically.

Typos Sent on Blackberry Wireless

nsitps1976
4,627 Views

Hi Scott

I have introduced a 2nd vlan / subnet into an ipspace - I have a default route for the ipspace which corresponds to the1st vlan, can I add a default route for the 2nd vlan??? If not what are my options??

Thanks

scottgelb
4,627 Views

There can only be 1 default route per ipspace/routing table..but add a network (or host..but more likely network) route.. Both manually and to vfiler0's /etc/rc with "vfiler run vfilername route add net x.x.x.x x.x.x.x 1"

Typos Sent on Blackberry Wireless

nsitps1976
3,869 Views

I wanted the 2nd subnet to be able to route out of the vlan, however thinking about it again I don't need this as I can snapmirror / mgmt access into the vfiler on the 1st vlan.

thanks for the quick response

nsitps1976
4,026 Views

Scott

Should I be able to create SAN datastores with VSC 2.1 connected to a vfiler?

Surely not as the volume has to be created within vfiler0 and then assigned to vfilerX?

Anyway, I gave it a go but receive the error "No datastore types are available".

Regards

scottgelb
4,026 Views

For iSCSI you should be able to directly provision to a vfiler with vsc.  NFS does require vfiler0 permissions to add nfs datastores to a vfiler with vsc.   Roger did a really nice preso on this with screen shots...I don't see a place to upload a file here but will try to find it...used to be here before the upgrade to communities.

nsitps1976
4,027 Views

Ok, thanks.

I did try the "vol create" command within the vvfiler context, howerver, the create command was not listed?? This is why I thought vsc would not be able to provision datastores. This is an iscsi environment.

scottgelb
4,027 Views

You can't create a volume in a vfiler...vfiler0 only task.. but VSC authenticates to both vfiler0 and the vfiler.

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