Verify the Linux configuration is supported
To ensure reliable operation, you create an implementation plan and then use the NetApp Interoperability Matrix Tool (IMT) to verify that the entire configuration is supported.
Configure IP addresses using DHCP
In this express method for configuring communications between the management station and the storage array, you use Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) to provide IP addresses. Each storage array has either one controller (simplex) or two controllers (duplex), and each controller has two storage management ports. Each management port will be assigned an IP address.
Configure subnet manager
Using an InfiniBand switch to run subnet manager might cause unexpected path loss during high loads. To avoid path loss, configure the subnet manager on one or more of your hosts using opensm.
Install and configure Host Utilities
Linux Unified Host Utilities 7.1 includes tools to manage NetApp storage, including failover policies and physical paths.
Install SANtricity Storage Manager for SMcli (SANtricity software version 11.53 or earlier)
When you install the SANtricity Storage Manager software on your management station, a graphical user interface (GUI) and a command line interface (CLI) are installed by default. These instructions assume that you will install the SANtricity Storage Manager GUI on a management station and not on the I/O host.
Configure the multipath software
Multipath software provides a redundant path to the storage array in case one of the physical paths is disrupted. The multipath software presents the operating system with a single virtual device that represents the active physical paths to the storage. The multipath software also manages the failover process that updates the virtual device. You use the device mapper multipath (DM-MP) tool for Linux installations.
Setting up the multipath.conf file
The multipath.conf file is the configuration file for the multipath daemon, multipathd. The multipath.conf file overrides the built-in configuration table for multipathd. Any line in the file whose first non-white-space character is # is considered a comment line. Empty lines are ignored.
Determining host port GUIDs and making the recommended settings—SRP over Infiniband
The InfiniBand-diags package includes commands to display the globally unique ID (GUID) of each InfiniBand (IB) port. Most Linux distributions with OFED/RDMA supported through the included packages also have the InfiniBand-diags package, which includes commands to display information about the HCA.
Create partitions and filesystems
A new LUN has no partition or file system when the Linux host first discovers it. You must format the LUN before it can be used. Optionally, you can create a file system on the LUN.