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Use ONTAP tools 10 to configure NFS datastores for vSphere 8

Contributors jpowellgit kevin-hoke
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ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere 10 features a next-generation architecture that enables native high availability and scalability for the VASA Provider (supporting iSCSI and NFS vVols). This simplifies the management of multiple VMware vCenter servers and ONTAP clusters.

In this scenario we will demonstrate how to deploy and use ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere 10 and configure an NFS datastore for vSphere 8.

Solution Overview

This scenario covers the following high level steps:

  • Create a storage virtual machine (SVM) with logical interfaces (LIFs) for NFS traffic.

  • Create a distributed port group for the NFS network on the vSphere 8 cluster.

  • Create a vmkernel adapter for NFS on the ESXi hosts in the vSphere 8 cluster.

  • Deploy ONTAP tools 10 and register with the vSphere 8 cluster.

  • Create a new NFS datastore on the vSphere 8 cluster.

Architecture

The following diagram shows the architectural components of an ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere 10 implementation.

otv10 architecture

Prerequisites

This solution requires the following components and configurations:

  • An ONTAP AFF storage system with physical data ports on ethernet switches dedicated to storage traffic.

  • vSphere 8 cluster deployment is complete and the vSphere client is accessible.

  • ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere 10 OVA template has been downloaded from the NetApp support site.

NetApp recommends a redundant network designs for NFS, providing fault tolerance for storage systems, switches, networks adapters and host systems. It is common to deploy NFS with a single subnet or multiple subnets depending on the architectural requirements.

Refer to Best Practices For Running NFS with VMware vSphere for detailed information specific to VMware vSphere.

For network guidance on using ONTAP with VMware vSphere refer to the Network configuration - NFS section of the NetApp enterprise applications documentation.

Comprehensive ONTAP tools 10 resources can be found ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere Documentation Resources.

Deployment Steps

To deploy ONTAP tools 10 and use it to create an NFS datastore on the VCF management domain, complete the following steps:

Create SVM and LIFs on ONTAP storage system

The following step is performed in ONTAP System Manager.

Create the storage VM and LIFs

Complete the following steps to create an SVM together with multiple LIFs for NFS traffic.

  1. From ONTAP System Manager navigate to Storage VMs in the left-hand menu and click on + Add to start.

    Click +Add to start creating SVM

     

  2. In the Add Storage VM wizard provide a Name for the SVM, select the IP Space and then, under Access Protocol, click on the SMB/CIFS, NFS, S3 tab and check the box to Enable NFS.

    Add storage VM wizard - enable NFS

    Tip It is not necessary to check the Allow NFS client access button here as Ontap tools for VMware vSphere will be used to automate the datastore deployment process. This includes providing client access for the ESXi hosts.
     

  3. In the Network Interface section fill in the IP address, Subnet Mask, and Broadcast Domain and Port for the first LIF. For subsequent LIFs the checkbox may be enabled to use common settings across all remaining LIFs or use separate settings.

    Fill out network info for LIFs

     

  4. Choose whether to enable the Storage VM Administration account (for multi-tenancy environments) and click on Save to create the SVM.

    Enable SVM account and Finish

Set up networking for NFS on ESXi hosts

The following steps are performed on the VI Workload Domain cluster using the vSphere client. In this case vCenter Single Sign-On is being used so the vSphere client is common across the management and workload domains.

Create a Distributed Port Group for NFS traffic

Complete the following to create a new distributed port group for the network to carry NFS traffic:

  1. From the vSphere client , navigate to Inventory > Networking for the workload domain. Navigate to the existing Distributed Switch and choose the action to create New Distributed Port Group…​.

    Choose to create new port group

     

  2. In the New Distributed Port Group wizard fill in a name for the new port group and click on Next to continue.

  3. On the Configure settings page fill out all settings. If VLANs are being used be sure to provide the correct VLAN ID. Click on Next to continue.

    Fill out VLAN ID

     

  4. On the Ready to complete page, review the changes and click on Finish to create the new distributed port group.

  5. Once the port group has been created, navigate to the port group and select the action to Edit settings…​.

    DPG - edit settings

     

  6. On the Distributed Port Group - Edit Settings page, navigate to Teaming and failover in the left-hand menu. Enable teaming for the Uplinks to be used for NFS traffic by ensuring they are together in the Active uplinks area. Move any unused uplinks down to Unused uplinks.

    DPG - team uplinks

     

  7. Repeat this process for each ESXi host in the cluster.

Create a VMkernel adapter on each ESXi host

Repeat this process on each ESXi host in the workload domain.

  1. From the vSphere client navigate to one of the ESXi hosts in the workload domain inventory. From the Configure tab select VMkernel adapters and click on Add Networking…​ to start.

    Start add networking wizard

     

  2. On the Select connection type window choose VMkernel Network Adapter and click on Next to continue.

    Choose VMkernel Network Adapter

     

  3. On the Select target device page, choose one of the distributed port groups for NFS that was created previously.

    Choose target port group

     

  4. On the Port properties page keep the defaults (no enabled services) and click on Next to continue.

  5. On the IPv4 settings page fill in the IP address, Subnet mask, and provide a new Gateway IP address (only if required). Click on Next to continue.

    VMkernel IPv4 settings

     

  6. Review the your selections on the Ready to complete page and click on Finish to create the VMkernel adapter.

    Review VMkernel selections

Deploy and use ONTAP tools 10 to configure storage

The following steps are performed on vSphere 8 cluster using the vSphere client and involve deploying OTV, configuring ONTAP tools Manager, and creating a vVols NFS datastore.

For the full documentation on deploying and using ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere 10 refer to Prepare to deploy ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere.

Deploy ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere 10

ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere 10 is deployed as a VM appliance and provides an integrated vCenter UI for managing ONTAP storage. ONTAP tools 10 features a new global management portal for managing connections to multiple vCenter servers and ONTAP storage backends.

Note In a non-HA deployment scenario, three available IP addresses are required. One IP address is allocated for the load balancer, another for the Kubernetes control plane, and the remaining one for the node. In an HA deployment, two additional IP addresses are necessary for the second and third nodes, in addition to the initial three. Prior to assignment, the host names should be associated to the IP addresses in DNS. It is important that all five IP addresses are on the same VLAN, which is chosen for the deployment.

Complete the following to Deploy ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere:

  1. Obtain the ONTAP tools OVA image from the NetApp Support site and download to a local folder.

  2. Log into the vCenter appliance for the vSphere 8 cluster.

  3. From the vCenter appliance interface right-click on the management cluster and select Deploy OVF Template…

    Deploy OVF Template…​

     

  4. In the Deploy OVF Template wizard click the Local file radio button and select the ONTAP tools OVA file downloaded in the previous step.

    Select OVA file

     

  5. For steps 2 through 5 of the wizard select a name and folder for the VM, select the compute resource, review the details, and accept the license agreement.

  6. For the storage location of the configuration and disk files, select a local datastore or vSAN datastore.

    Select OVA file

     

  7. On the Select network page select the network used for management traffic.

    Select network

     

  8. On the Configuration page select the deployment configuration to be used. In this scenario the easy deployment method is used.

    Note ONTAP Tools 10 features multiple deployment configurations including high-availability deployments using multiple nodes. For documentation on all deployment configurations, refer to Prepare to deploy ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere.

    Select network

     

  9. On the Customize template page fill out all required information:

    • Application username to be used to register the VASA provider and SRA in the vCenter Server.

    • Enable ASUP for automated support.

    • ASUP Proxy URL if required.

    • Administrator username and password.

    • NTP servers.

    • Maintenance user password to access management functions from the console.

    • Load Balancer IP.

    • Virtual IP for K8s control plane.

    • Primary VM to select the current VM as the primary (for HA configurations).

    • Hostname for the VM

    • Provide the required network properties fields.

      Click on Next to continue.

      Customize OTV template 1

      Customize OTV template 2

       

  10. Review all information on the Ready to complete page and the click Finish to begin deploying the ONTAP tools appliance.

Connect Storage Backend and vCenter Server to ONTAP tools 10.

ONTAP tools manager is used to configure global settings for ONTAP Tools 10.

  1. Access ONTAP tools Manager by navigating to https://loadBalanceIP:8443/virtualization/ui/ in a web browser and logging in with the administrative credentials provided during deployment.

    ONTAP tools manager

     

  2. On the Getting Started page click on Go to Storage Backends.

    Getting started

     

  3. On the Storage Backends page, click on ADD to fill in the credentials of an ONTAP storage system to be registered with ONTAP tools 10.

    Add storage backend

     

  4. On the Add Storage Backend box, fill out the credentials for the ONTAP storage system.

    Add storage backend

     

  5. In the left hand menu click on vCenters, and then on on ADD to fill in the credentials of a vCenter server to be registered with ONTAP tools 10.

    Add vCenter server

     

  6. On the Add vCenter box, fill out the credentials for the ONTAP storage system.

    Add storage storage credentials

     

  7. From the vertical three-dot menu for the newly discovered vCenter server, select Associate Storage Backend.

    Associate storage backend

     

  8. On the Associate Storage Backend box, select the ONTAP storage system to associated with the vCenter server and click on Associate to complete the action.

    Select storage system to associate

     

  9. To verify the installation, log into the vSphere client and select NetApp ONTAP tools from the left hand menu.

    Access ONTAP tools plugin

     

  10. From the ONTAP tools dashboard you should see that a Storage Backend was associated with the vCenter Server.

    ONTAP tools dashboard

     

Create an NFS datastore using ONTAP tools 10

Complete the following steps to deploy an ONTAP datastore, running on NFS, using ONTAP tools 10.

  1. In the vSphere client, navigate to the storage inventory. From the ACTIONS menu, select NetApp ONTAP tools > Create datastore.

    ONTAP tools - Create datastore

     

  2. On the Type page of the Create Datastore wizard, click on the NFS radio button and then on Next to continue.

    Select datastore type

     

  3. On the Name and Protocol page, fill out the name, size and protocol for the datastore. Click on Next to continue.

    Select datastore type

     

  4. On the Storage page select a Platform (filters storage system by type) and a storage VM for the volume. Optionally, select a custom export policy. Click on Next to continue.

    Storage page

     

  5. On the Storage attributes page select the storage aggregate to use, and optionally, advanced options such as space reservation and quality of service. Click on Next to continue.

    Storage attributes page

     

  6. Finally, review the Summary and click on Finish to begin creating the NFS datastore.

    Review summary and finish

Resize an NFS datastore using ONTAP tools 10

Complete the following steps to resize an existing NFS datastore using ONTAP tools 10.

  1. In the vSphere client, navigate to the storage inventory. From the ACTIONS menu, select NetApp ONTAP tools > Resize datastore.

    Select resize datastore

     

  2. On the Resize Datastore wizard, fill in the new size of the datastore in GB and click on Resize to continue.

    Resize datastore wizard

     

  3. Monitor the progress of the resize job in the Recent Tasks pane.

    Recent tasks pane

     

Additional information

For a complete listing of ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere 10 resources refer to ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere Documentation Resources.

For more information on configuring ONTAP storage systems refer to the ONTAP 10 Documentation center.