BY JOHN E. JOHNSTON NewNew FeaturesFeatures etWare 5's brand new Ndata storage system, Storage Services, already offers several advantages over ofof NetWareNetWare 5:5: its predecessor, the 32-bit NetWare (NWFS), while also laying the ground- NovellNovell StorageStorage work for a dramatic conceptual leap in the way network data ServicesServices is stored.

While NWFS could support 64 simultaneously mounted volumes with a maximum volume size of 1TB, NSS can support up to 253 visible volumes with a maximum volume size of 8TB for a 32-bit system. If you are using a 64-bit system, however, NSS will permit a gigantic volume of up to a whopping 8 exabytes. Less RAM is required to support volumes. Faster volume mounting. DOS partitions can be accessed on the file server. Capability of defining new name spaces (in addition Storage Services (NSS) is a new 64-bit data to DOS, Mac and Long). NOVELL storage system that comes bundled with CD-ROMs can be mounted as NSS volumes, making the NetWare 5 product. Because it features 64-bit operation, the CDs easier and faster to mount. NSS provides the ability to store larger files (up to 8 terabytes), and can mount larger volumes and a greater number of volumes While all of these advantages are certainly practical, what than its predecessor, the 32-bit NetWare File System (NWFS). really makes NSS so revolutionary is its new conceptual design. The NSS architecture also provides significant enhancements By introducing the idea of logical storage to NetWare data over NWFS in both conceptual design and system performance. storage structures, NSS continues to lead network technology This article will explore the benefits you can expect from away from limitations based on physical location and the an NSS implementation, the limitations of NSS in its current characteristics of individual devices. For example, up until now configuration, and what new doors NSS may open for network the size of a NetWare partition was limited by how large a design down the road. single hard drive on that server was. If a server had more than one hard drive, the size of its partition could still be no greater NSS BENEFITS than the size of its largest hard drive; multiple partitions had to be created in order to exploit the storage space provided by the The range of immediate benefits provided by NSS will additional hard drives. This sometimes led to a design that was likely prove useful to both large and small NetWare shops. cumbersome to work with and even more difficult to manage. Some of these benefits are a direct result of the 64-bit design, NSS eliminates this inefficiency by creating logical partitions, while others stem from alterations made to individual com- partitions not restricted by the physical limitations of a single ponents in the NetWare data storage structure. The advantages device. The logical NSS partitions are created from storage of NSS deployment are as follows: pools, which are comprised of all the unallocated free space available on all of the devices attached to a particular server. This NSS can store large (up to 8TB) files and can also store way, it is possible to have a single NSS partition that utilizes a large number of files on a single NSS volume (up to space from more than one hard drive on a server, maximizing 8 trillion files). all available storage space while also maintaining ease of use A single server can have up to a million files open and the highest level of manageability by centralizing the at the same time. administration of storage devices.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT • AUGUST 1999 ©1999 Technical Enterprises, Inc. Reproduction of this document without permission is prohibited. Unfortunately, the current release of NSS is only capable of locating NSS Partitions available space on server hard drives. However, the full potential of Just as with the standard NetWare file system, NSS uses disk logical storage promises to be realized with future releases of NSS, partitions to hold volumes. The difference is that, as a logical partition for which support of other storage devices is planned. rather than a disk partition, the NSS partition can span multiple hard drives and, in future releases of NSS, several other types of NSS LIMITATIONS storage devices as well. For example, when you set up a standard NetWare file server, you first create a small DOS partition on the file NSS brings with it some liabilities and incompatibilities which server's hard drive with the remaining space on the server's hard drive are common with any new technology. Novell is working on often being allocated as a NetWare partition. One or more NetWare addressing some of these deficiencies, but for the moment NSS volumes are placed in this NetWare partition. NSS works in a similar does not support any of the following functions: manner, though the terminology and mechanisms are different. The process of establishing an NSS partition begins with programs SYS: volume - The SYS: volume cannot reside on an NSS volume. called providers, which search your server's devices to find free This means that you must still have a standard NWFS partition on storage space. There are currently two providers to choose from in your server in order to hold the SYS: volume. NSS, the NSS Media Manager for IBM partitions (MMPRV) and the NSS File Provider for NetWare (NWPRV). The MMPRV FTP - Currently, you cannot place the File Transfer Protocol on an provider will search the storage devices attached to a server looking NSS volume. Novell has stated, however, that future versions of NSS for all of the unallocated free space available in standard IBM- should be modified to support the Novell File Transfer Protocol service. compatible partitions; the NWPRV provider is used for finding free space available in existing NetWare volumes. When ini- File compression - This space-saving feature of tiating the NSS partition creation process, you will standard NetWare volumes is not currently sup- have to select which of the providers you will ported on NSS volumes. While all of use for locating your free space. All of the free space a provider finds is Block sub-allocation - The block size for these advantages are collected into a single storage pool. The NSS volumes is fixed at 4K, making block certainly practical, administrator must then indicate how sub-allocation impossible. much of this storage pool is to be utilized what really makes NSS as an NSS partition. Once this is done, Transaction Tracking System (TSS) - NSS components called consumers take TSS is not supported on NSS volumes. so revolutionary control of the indicated storage space, preparing it for use by NSS. In NSS termi- Disk mirroring and duplexing - You cannot is its new conceptual nology, this process is known as claiming mirror or duplex NSS volumes, which can be design. ownership of the storage space. Once NSS a real problem when trying to build a fail-safe, claims ownership of a chunk of unallocated fault tolerant environment for your organization. disk space, an NSS Managed Object is created to represent that chunk of space. Disk striping - NSS does not support disk striping as of yet, As indicated, the NWPRV provider will create your NSS although Novell has announced that future NSS versions might be partition from unused disk space within an existing NetWare modified to provide disk striping support. volume. For example, if the VOL1: NetWare volume on your server contains 4GB of unused space, you can allocate this space Auditing - You cannot use the NetWare auditing facility on NSS to an NSS partition. If you choose this option, a file named volumes, although Novell has also indicated that the auditing function $$NSS$$.PRV will be created on the NetWare volume by NSS may be supported in upcoming versions of NSS. to reserve the space. NetWare will then recognize that the remaining space in the volume is being taken up by an NSS Obviously, with its inability to host a SYS: volume, NSS is currently partition. You must take a couple of precautions if you elect to designed to exist alongside a functioning NWFS partition. This utilize this facility: means that your server will require at least three partitions if you wish to utilize NSS: the DOS disk partition, the NWFS disk partition Although technically feasible, you should try to avoid for the SYS: volume, and the NSS logical partition. One can only creating an NSS partition using free space from both a hope that future versions of NSS and NetWare will work toward NetWare volume and a disk partition. This will create consolidation. But for now, this somewhat clumsy structure must be unpredictable results and can even result in lost data. tolerated in order to enjoy the advantages of NSS. Perhaps this instability when mixing the two sources will be corrected in future versions of NSS. But for now, you NSS COMPONENTS should try to restrict the source of your storage space to either one or the other whenever possible. NSS utilizes three components — NSS partitions, storage groups and NSS volumes — to define and manage NSS functionality. Let’s Should the NetWare volume on which an NSS partition is created take a closer look at the functions of each component. be deleted, the NSS partition will be deleted also.

©1999 Technical Enterprises, Inc. Reproduction of this document without permission is prohibited. TECHNICAL SUPPORT • AUGUST 1999 Storage Groups FIGURE 1: THE NETWARE CONFIGURATION MAIN MENU Once one or more NSS Managed Objects have been created, these Managed Objects are used in the construction of NSS storage groups. Storage groups are basically little more than higher-level container objects for NSS volumes. Ultimately, the primary purpose of a storage group will be to provide somewhat of a hierarchical structure by allowing you to group multiple NSS volumes in a single storage group for organizational purposes. In this sense, storage groups are very similar to OUs in NDS, collecting NSS volumes rather than User objects. However, this first release of NSS only supports one NSS volume per storage group, rendering storage groups useless in the current configuration. Future versions of NSS will FIGURE 2: UPDATING THE NSS PROVIDER INFORMATION be able to exploit the storage group construct by enabling more than one NSS volume to be gathered under a single storage group.

NSS Volumes NSS volumes look and feel just like standard NetWare volumes, except NSS volumes have certain limitations, as listed previously. Once you understand the concepts and terminology of NSS, the process of cre- ating an NSS volume is actually very simple. The best way to demonstrate how NSS works is to step through a real-world example. Let's say you are installing a new NetWare 5 file server. This server has two hard drives — a 12GB hard drive that came FIGURE 3: THE MMPRV PROVIDER FOUND with the machine and a 4GB drive that was pulled from an older legacy machine. You first create a 50MB DOS partition on the larger drive and use this DOS partition during the NetWare 5 installation. You also create a 2GB standard NetWare file system partition on the drive. Within this 2GB partition, you create a SYS: volume that is 2GB (consuming the entire standard NetWare partition). You then want NSS to claim ownership of all of the remaining storage space on this server, making it into an NSS partition. By utilizing the MMPRV provider, NSS locates all of the remaining free space, including both the 9.95GB left on the larger drive and the full 4GB from the smaller drive. As a result, you are able to create an NSS partition that is 13.95GB. and you decide you need more room. You NSS releases promise even more flexibility. You assign the Managed Objects from this add a new 18GB drive. The NSS provider For instance, the NSS providers will be partition to a storage group, then create will recognize the additional space, thus able to scan other non-hard drive-based a single 13.95GB NSS volume in this giving you several options: You could either storage devices when looking for free storage storage group. create a new storage group and partition that space, enabling you to simply connect an Let's say, then, that a few months later utilizes the new found space or you could additional storage device to the server the NSS volume begins to fill up with data simply expand the old NSS volume. Future without having to install a new hard drive.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT • AUGUST 1999 ©1999 Technical Enterprises, Inc. Reproduction of this document without permission is prohibited. FIGURE 4: CHOOSING THE SIZE OF THE NSS PARTITION NSS DOS FAT volumes reside in a DOS partition on your file server. NSS CD-ROM volumes are read-only volumes that are under the control of NSS. Future versions of NSS will be able to work with a variety of other volume formats, including Windows NT, , jukeboxes, and DVD.

In the following sections, I will discuss the procedures required to create and utilize each type of NSS volume.

Creating an NSS Volume on a Standard Disk Partition The following procedure illustrates how to create an NSS partition, a storage group FIGURE 5: PREPARING TO CREATE AN NSS STORAGE GROUP and an NSS volume. The file server used in this example contained a Pentium 200MHz processor, 128MB of RAM and a 3GB hard drive. During the NetWare 5 installation, a 100MB DOS partition and a 1GB NetWare partition were created. A 1GB SYS: volume was then created in the NetWare partition, utilizing the entire partition. The remaining space was left unallocated. The following steps were taken to create a 1GB NSS partition and a 500MB NSS volume within this NSS partition:

1. From the NetWare 5 system console, enter: load NWCONFIG.NLM. The NetWare Configuration panel shown in Figure 1 will be displayed. FIGURE 6: AVAILABLE NSS VOLUME OPTIONS 2. Select “NSS Disk Options”.

3. Select “Storage” from the next menu and then select “Update Provider Information”. The screen shown in Figure 2 will appear, listing all storage providers installed in your NetWare 5 server.

4. Highlight each provider entry and press “ENTER”. You should receive a message stating that the scan performed by the selected provider was successful for each storage device.

Also, if you should decide to create a second come in three different formats: disk volumes, 5. When you are finished with the NSS volume for the server, you will be able DOS FAT volumes and CD-ROM volumes. provider detections, return to the to place both of the server's NSS volumes NSS disk volumes are created in NSS NetWare Configuration menu and into the same storage group, organizing partitions, just as standard NetWare volumes select “NSS Disk Options” > “Storage” your network storage objects into a more are created in NetWare partitions. Multiple > “Assign Ownership”. You should comprehensible, hierarchical structure. NSS volumes and storage groups can reside see a screen similar to the one shown The NSS volumes themselves basically in a single NSS partition. in Figure 3 reporting the free space

©1999 Technical Enterprises, Inc. Reproduction of this document without permission is prohibited. TECHNICAL SUPPORT • AUGUST 1999 FIGURE 7: CREATING AN NSS STORAGE GROUP 7. Press “ESC” to return to the Available NSS Options screen shown in Figure 5 and then select “NSS Volume Options”. You will be prompted to log into NDS. You must enter the full context of an Admin level account. When you have logged into NDS, the screen depicted in Figure 6 will appear.

8. Select “Create” and the screen shown in Figure 7 will appear.

9. Select “Storage Group” and press “ENTER”.

10. Next, select the “Managed Object” (NSS partition) and press “ENTER”. FIGURE 8: SPECIFYING THE SIZE OF THE NSS VOLUME The storage group will be created.

11. Once again, back at the NSS Options menu, select “NSS Volume” to create a volume.

12. Next, select the “Managed Object” option and the screen shown in Figure 8 will be displayed. From this screen, you can indicate the size of the new volume. In this example, the size was set to 500MB.

13. You will then be prompted to enter a name for the new NSS volume. In this example, the name NSSVOL1 was chosen. You should then receive FIGURE 9: ADDING A CD-ROM NSS VOLUME TO NDS a message stating that the volume was successfully created and added to NDS.

14. To mount the newly created NSS volume, enter the following command from the system console: mount VOLNAME:

You should now be able to see the NSS volume from Windows Explorer. You can also use the Novell “MAP” command to make the volume available to DOS utility programs.

CREATING AN NSS VOLUME FROM AN EXISTING NETWARE VOLUME available on your storage device(s). displayed. From this screen, you In this example, there is 1063MB free can either choose to assign the entire In addition to creating an NSS volume on one of the hard drives connected amount of free space to the NSS from unallocated disk space, you can also to the NetWare 5 server. partition or you can indicate how create an NSS volume using the free space much of the free space to allocate. that exists in one of your standard NetWare 6. Highlight the entry with the free When you are finished with this volumes. For example, if you set up your space and press “ENTER”. The screen, an NSS partition will be NetWare server with a 4GB SYS: volume screen shown in Figure 4 will be created on your NetWare 5 server. and only 1GB of space is used in the volume,

TECHNICAL SUPPORT • AUGUST 1999 ©1999 Technical Enterprises, Inc. Reproduction of this document without permission is prohibited. you could create an NSS volume out of the remaining 3GB of DOSFAT.NSS will dynamically make the DOS partition available space. You can use the free space in a NetWare partition only if as an NSS volume. The name of the volume will be “DOSFAT_x” it is in a NetWare volume; the space in empty NetWare partitions where “x” is the drive letter of your DOS partition. In most cases, cannot be used. the volume name will be DOSFAT_C. You can then manipulate If you plan to establish an NSS volume using the free space in an the files on the DOS partition using Windows Explorer or other existing NetWare volume, you must make sure the NWPRV disk management utilities. This volume can only be accessed by provider is installed (NWPRV is not installed by default). To load an administrator with Supervisor rights. DOSFAT.NSS supports NWPRV, you must take the following actions: the following:

1. If NSS is already configured and loaded, you must type “REM” standard DOS commands in front of the following line in your AUTOEXEC.NCF file in long file name support order to "comment out" the command and keep it from executing: NetWare utilities Load NSS.NLM. the “MAP” command DOS for Java 2. Once you have commented out this line, restart your server. CREATING AN NSS VOLUME FROM A CD-ROM Tip: This must be done because NWPRV cannot be loaded while NSS is active. If you attempt to load NWPRV while NSS You can create read-only NSS volumes from CD-ROMs connected is already running, you will receive the following message: to your NetWare server. This method of creating and managing CD-ROMs is much simpler than the old method used with Option "nwprv" not available at this time or may previous NetWare versions. To create an NSS volume require other NSS modules to be loaded. from a CD-ROM, perform the following: Looking at it After the server restarts, enter the following 1. From the system console, enter: load command from the system console: from a perspective CDROM.NLM. of immediate impact, NSS nwprv allLSS 2. Insert a CD into the CD-ROM drive. the primary reason CDROM.NLM will recognize that a CD You should then once again modify your to implement NSS has been inserted and will automatically AUTOEXEC.NCF file and replace the create and mount a read-only NSS vol- commented “LOAD NSS.NLM” state- now is to expand ume. However, the volume created will ment with: the capacity of the not be automatically added to NDS. The following steps address this issue. load NSS.NLM nwprv allLSS NetWare file system. 3. From the system console, enter: load To configure the storage group and NSS volume, NWCONFIG. follow the procedure outlined in the previous section, "Creating an NSS Volume on a Standard Disk Partition." When you 4. Select “NSS Disk Options” > “NSS Volume Options”. perform the Assign Ownership step, select the NWPRV provider. 5. Select “Create” > “NSS Volume”. You should see a Fixed media Tip: While using NSS volumes created on existing NetWare volumes type displayed, as shown in Figure 9. is fine as a short-term solution or as a testing mechanism, it is not recommended for long-term use. The preferred method is to use 6. Highlight the CD-ROM entry and press “ENTER”. unallocated disk space from the MMPRV provider. 7. Press “ENTER” at the size selection screen. USING NSS TO MAKE THE DOS PARTITION ACCESSIBLE 8. Finally, you will be prompted to name the volume. Supply an How many times have you needed to look at and/or modify files that appropriate name and press “ENTER”. The new volume will then reside in the DOS partition of your NetWare server? Unfortunately, be added to your NDS. You can then assign access rights to the prior to NSS, doing this was not as convenient as one would like; volume so that your users can access the data on the CD-ROM. you had to down your server to access the DOS partition. Now, however, NSS allows you to create an NSS volume from your file CONCLUSION server's DOS partition. You can then view and modify the files on your DOS partition using standard Windows and DOS utilities. Looking at it from a perspective of immediate impact, the primary To create an NSS volume to access the DOS partition on your reason to implement NSS now is to expand the capacity of the NetWare server, type the following from the system console: file system. Because NSS supports huge file and volume sizes as well as a vast number of files and simultaneously mounted volumes, it load DOSFAT.NSS. already provides ample incentive for larger organizations to make the

©1999 Technical Enterprises, Inc. Reproduction of this document without permission is prohibited. TECHNICAL SUPPORT • AUGUST 1999 switch, especially those that have found themselves reaching the room to improve and grow. However, when NSS can recognize limits of existing NWFS capabilities. Smaller organizations will also storage devices other than server hard drives and combine their find benefits, such as the faster volume mounting, more efficient storage capacity into a single, logical storage pool, the door to more memory utilization, the ability to conveniently access the DOS partition practical and manageable network designs will be wide open. of the file server, and the use of NSS for mounting CD-ROM volumes. A final word of caution: Because NSS is so new, make sure that the However, the logical design of NSS paves the way for more product you use to back up your NetWare servers supports NSS volumes fundamental changes. It can be seen as another step toward that if you plan to implement NSS in your environment. You should networking ideal — a network featuring the centralized, effortless thoroughly test the backup and restore features of your backup software manageability of a mainframe environment, but with each network prior to placing any production files on NSS volumes. node able to contribute its own computing power and resources. By freeing storage capacity from the restrictions of device limitations and location, more manageable network designs are made possible. NaSPA member John Johnston is the owner of For example, the concept of the Storage Area Network — a network a web development company that specializes design featuring a mammoth central storage device that is shared by in e-commerce. John also performs contract all network resources — is now a more practical possibility. In work on Novell, NT and networks. John such a design, all storage space is collected into a single pool and can be contacted at [email protected]. allocated to each network component as necessary. When the storage begins to fill up, adding space is as simple as plugging a new module into the central device. Data storage management © 1999 Technical Enterprises, Inc. For reprints of this document couldn't be any easier. contact [email protected]. As a brand new technology, the current release of NSS is not up to providing this level of flexibility just yet; NSS still has a lot of

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