IBM Spectrum Scale Version 5.1.0 Concepts, Planning, and Installation Guide IBM SC28-3161-02 Note Before using this information and the product it supports, read the information in “Notices” on page 551. This edition applies to version 5 release 1 modification 0 of the following products, and to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in new editions: • IBM Spectrum Scale Data Management Edition ordered through Passport Advantage® (product number 5737-F34) • IBM Spectrum Scale Data Access Edition ordered through Passport Advantage (product number 5737-I39) • IBM Spectrum Scale Erasure Code Edition ordered through Passport Advantage (product number 5737-J34) • IBM Spectrum Scale Data Management Edition ordered through AAS (product numbers 5641-DM1, DM3, DM5) • IBM Spectrum Scale Data Access Edition ordered through AAS (product numbers 5641-DA1, DA3, DA5) • IBM Spectrum Scale Data Management Edition for IBM® ESS (product number 5765-DME) • IBM Spectrum Scale Data Access Edition for IBM ESS (product number 5765-DAE) Significant changes or additions to the text and illustrations are indicated by a vertical line (|) to the left of the change. IBM welcomes your comments; see the topic “How to send your comments” on page xxxii. When you send information to IBM, you grant IBM a nonexclusive right to use or distribute the information in any way it believes appropriate without incurring any obligation to you. © Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 2015, 2021. US Government Users Restricted Rights – Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp. Contents Figures................................................................................................................. ix Tables.................................................................................................................. xi About this information......................................................................................... xv Prerequisite and related information...................................................................................................... xxxi Conventions used in this information......................................................................................................xxxi How to send your comments..................................................................................................................xxxii Summary of changes....................................................................................... xxxiii Chapter 1. Introducing IBM Spectrum Scale........................................................... 1 Overview of IBM Spectrum Scale................................................................................................................ 1 Strengths of IBM Spectrum Scale..........................................................................................................1 Basic structure of IBM Spectrum Scale................................................................................................. 5 IBM Spectrum Scale cluster configurations.......................................................................................... 6 GPFS architecture........................................................................................................................................ 9 Special management functions..............................................................................................................9 Use of disk storage and file structure within a GPFS file system........................................................12 GPFS and memory................................................................................................................................14 GPFS and network communication..................................................................................................... 16 Application and user interaction with GPFS........................................................................................18 NSD disk discovery...............................................................................................................................23 Failure recovery processing................................................................................................................. 24 Cluster configuration data files............................................................................................................24 GPFS backup data................................................................................................................................ 25 Clustered configuration repository...................................................................................................... 26 Protocols support overview: Integration of protocol access methods with GPFS.................................. 26 Cluster Export Services overview........................................................................................................ 28 NFS support overview.......................................................................................................................... 30 SMB support overview......................................................................................................................... 31 Object storage support overview.........................................................................................................32 Active File Management............................................................................................................................ 38 Introduction to Active File Management (AFM).................................................................................. 38 Overview and concepts........................................................................................................................ 39 Active File Management (AFM) features..............................................................................................52 AFM limitations.....................................................................................................................................86 AFM-based Asynchronous Disaster Recovery (AFM DR) .........................................................................88 Introduction..........................................................................................................................................89 Recovery time objective (RTO).............................................................................................................90 Modes and concepts............................................................................................................................ 91 AFM-based Asynchronous Disaster Recovery features...................................................................... 91 AFM DR limitations...............................................................................................................................97 AFM DR deployment considerations and best practices.................................................................... 99 AFM to cloud object storage....................................................................................................................107 AFM to cloud object storage operation modes................................................................................. 108 Connectivity to cloud object storage................................................................................................. 110 Eviction in AFM to cloud object storage............................................................................................ 111 AFM to cloud object storage limitations............................................................................................111 iii Audit messages support for the AFM to cloud object storage..........................................................112 Data protection and disaster recovery in IBM Spectrum Scale............................................................. 112 Data backup options in IBM Spectrum Scale....................................................................................113 Data restore options in IBM Spectrum Scale.................................................................................... 113 Data mirroring in IBM Spectrum Scale.............................................................................................. 113 Protecting file data using snapshots .................................................................................................114 Introduction to Scale Out Backup and Restore (SOBAR)..................................................................114 Commands for data protection and recovery in IBM Spectrum Scale............................................. 114 IBM Spectrum Scale GUI.........................................................................................................................115 IBM Spectrum Scale management API.................................................................................................. 118 Functional overview........................................................................................................................... 119 API requests.......................................................................................................................................120 API responses.................................................................................................................................... 125 Asynchronous jobs............................................................................................................................