Skip to main content

Manage the ONTAP mediator service

Contributors netapp-thomi netapp-ranuk netapp-mwallis netapp-dbagwell netapp-aherbin netapp-ahibbard thrisun
PDFs

Manage the ONTAP Mediator service, including changing user credentials, stopping and re-enabling the service, verifying its health, and installing or uninstalling SCST for host maintenance. You can also manage certificates, such as regenerating self-signed certificates, replacing them with trusted third-party certificates, and troubleshooting certificate-related issues.

Change the username

You can change the username using the following procedure.

About this task

Perform this task on the Linux host on which the ONTAP Mediator service is installed.

If you are unable to reach this command, you might need to run the command using the full path as shown in the following example:

/usr/local/bin/mediator_username

Steps

Change the username by choosing one of the following options:

  • Option (a): Run the command mediator_change_user and respond to the prompts as shown in the following example:

     [root@mediator-host ~]# mediator_change_user
 Modify the Mediator API username by entering the following values:
     Mediator API User Name: mediatoradmin
                   Password:
 New Mediator API User Name: mediator
 The account username has been modified successfully.
 [root@mediator-host ~]#

  • Option (b): Run the following command:

    MEDIATOR_USERNAME=mediator MEDIATOR_PASSWORD=mediator2 MEDIATOR_NEW_USERNAME=mediatoradmin mediator_change_user

     [root@mediator-host ~]# MEDIATOR_USERNAME=mediator MEDIATOR_PASSWORD='mediator2' MEDIATOR_NEW_USERNAME=mediatoradmin mediator_change_user
 The account username has been modified successfully.
 [root@mediator-host ~]#

Change the password

You can change the password using the following procedure.

About this task

Perform this task on the Linux host on which the ONTAP Mediator service is installed.

If you are unable to reach this command, you might need to run the command using the full path as shown in the following example:

/usr/local/bin/mediator_change_password

Steps

Change the password by choosing one of the following options:

  • Option (a): Run the mediator_change_password command and respond to the prompts as shown in the following example:

     [root@mediator-host ~]# mediator_change_password
 Change the Mediator API password by entering the following values:
    Mediator API User Name: mediatoradmin
              Old Password:
              New Password:
          Confirm Password:
 The password has been updated successfully.
 [root@mediator-host ~]#

  • Option (b): Run the following command:

    MEDIATOR_USERNAME=mediatoradmin MEDIATOR_PASSWORD=mediator1 MEDIATOR_NEW_PASSWORD=mediator2 mediator_change_password

    The example shows that the password is changed from "mediator1" to "mediator2".

     [root@mediator-host ~]# MEDIATOR_USERNAME=mediatoradmin MEDIATOR_PASSWORD=mediator1 MEDIATOR_NEW_PASSWORD=mediator2 mediator_change_password
 The password has been updated successfully.
 [root@mediator-host ~]#

Stop the ONTAP Mediator service

To stop the ONTAP Mediator service, perform the following steps:

Steps

  1. Stop the ONTAP Mediator:

    systemctl stop ontap_mediator

  2. Stop SCST:

    systemctl stop mediator-scst

  3. Disable the ONTAP Mediator and SCST:

    systemctl diable ontap_mediator mediator-scst

Re-enable the ONTAP Mediator service

To re-enable the ONTAP Mediator service, perform the following steps:

Steps

  1. Enable the ONTAP Mediator and SCST:

    systemctl enable ontap_mediator mediator-scst

  2. Start SCST:

    systemctl start mediator-scst

  3. Start ONTAP Mediator:

    systemctl start ontap_mediator

Verify the ONTAP Mediator is healthy

After the ONTAP Mediator has been installed, you should verify that the ONTAP Mediator services are running.

Steps

  1. View the status of the ONTAP Mediator services:

    1. systemctl status ontap_mediator

      [root@scspr1915530002 ~]# systemctl status ontap_mediator

 ontap_mediator.service - ONTAP Mediator
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/ontap_mediator.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
Active: active (running) since Mon 2022-04-18 10:41:49 EDT; 1 weeks 0 days ago
Process: 286710 ExecStop=/bin/kill -s INT $MAINPID (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 286712 (uwsgi)
Status: "uWSGI is ready"
Tasks: 3 (limit: 49473)
Memory: 139.2M
CGroup: /system.slice/ontap_mediator.service
      ├─286712 /opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/pyenv/bin/uwsgi --ini /opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/uwsgi/ontap_mediator.ini
      ├─286716 /opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/pyenv/bin/uwsgi --ini /opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/uwsgi/ontap_mediator.ini
      └─286717 /opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/pyenv/bin/uwsgi --ini /opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/uwsgi/ontap_mediator.ini

[root@scspr1915530002 ~]#

    2. systemctl status mediator-scst

      [root@scspr1915530002 ~]# systemctl status mediator-scst
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/mediator-scst.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: active (running) since Mon 2022-04-18 10:41:47 EDT; 1 weeks 0 days ago
  Process: 286595 ExecStart=/etc/init.d/scst start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 286662 (iscsi-scstd)
    Tasks: 1 (limit: 49473)
   Memory: 1.2M
   CGroup: /system.slice/mediator-scst.service
           └─286662 /usr/local/sbin/iscsi-scstd

[root@scspr1915530002 ~]#

  2. Confirm the ports that are used by the ONTAP Mediator service:

    netstat

    [root@scspr1905507001 ~]# netstat -anlt | grep -E '3260|31784'

         tcp   0   0 0.0.0.0:31784   0.0.0.0:*      LISTEN

         tcp   0   0 0.0.0.0:3260    0.0.0.0:*      LISTEN

         tcp6  0   0 :::3260         :::*           LISTEN

Manually uninstall SCST to perform host maintenance

To uninstall SCST, you need the SCST tar bundle that is used for the installed version of ONTAP Mediator.

Steps

  1. Download the appropriate SCST bundle (as shown in the following table) and untar it.

    For this version …​

    Use this tar bundle…​

    ONTAP Mediator 1.8

    scst-3.8.0.tar.bz2

    ONTAP Mediator 1.7

    scst-3.7.0.tar.bz2

    ONTAP Mediator 1.6

    scst-3.7.0.tar.bz2

    ONTAP Mediator 1.5

    scst-3.6.0.tar.bz2

    ONTAP Mediator 1.4

    scst-3.6.0.tar.bz2

    ONTAP Mediator 1.3

    scst-3.5.0.tar.bz2

    ONTAP Mediator 1.1

    scst-3.4.0.tar.bz2

    ONTAP Mediator 1.0

    scst-3.3.0.tar.bz2

  2. Issue the following commands in the "scst" directory:

    1. systemctl stop mediator-scst

    2. make scstadm_uninstall

    3. make iscsi_uninstall

    4. make usr_uninstall

    5. make scst_uninstall

    6. depmod

Manually install SCST to perform host maintenance

To manually install SCST, you need the SCST tar bundle that is used for the installed version of ONTAP Mediator (see the table above).

  1. Issue the following commands in the "scst" directory:

    1. make 2release

    2. make scst_install

    3. make usr_install

    4. make iscsi_install

    5. make scstadm_install

    6. depmod

    7. cp scst/src/certs/scst_module_key.der /opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/SCST_mod_keys/.

    8. cp scst/src/certs/scst_module_key.der /opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/SCST_mod_keys/.

    9. patch /etc/init.d/scst < /opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/systemd/scst.patch

  2. Optionally, if Secure Boot is enabled, before you reboot, perform the following steps:

    1. Determine each file name for "scst_vdisk", "scst", and "iscsi_scst" modules:

      [root@localhost ~]# modinfo -n scst_vdisk
[root@localhost ~]# modinfo -n scst
[root@localhost ~]# modinfo -n iscsi_scst

    2. Determine the kernel release:

      [root@localhost ~]# uname -r

    3. Sign each file with the kernel:

      [root@localhost ~]# /usr/src/kernels/<KERNEL-RELEASE>/scripts/sign-file \sha256 \
/opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/SCST_mod_keys/scst_module_key.priv \
/opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/SCST_mod_keys/scst_module_key.der \
_module-filename_

    4. Install the correct key with the UEFI firmware.

      Instructions for installing the UEFI key are located at:

      /opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/SCST_mod_keys/README.module-signing

      The generated UEFI key is located at:

      /opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/SCST_mod_keys/scst_module_key.der

  3. Perform a reboot:

    reboot

Uninstall the ONTAP Mediator service

If necessary, you can remove the ONTAP Mediator service.

Before you begin

The ONTAP Mediator must be disconnected from ONTAP before you remove the ONTAP Mediator service.

About this task

You need to perform this task on the Linux host on which the ONTAP Mediator service is installed.

If you are unable to reach this command, you might need to run the command using the full path as shown in the following example:

/usr/local/bin/uninstall_ontap_mediator

Step

  1. Uninstall the ONTAP Mediator service:

    uninstall_ontap_mediator

     [root@mediator-host ~]# uninstall_ontap_mediator

 ONTAP Mediator: Self Extracting Uninstaller

 + Removing ONTAP Mediator. (Log: /tmp/ontap_mediator.GmRGdA/uninstall_ontap_mediator/remove.log)
 + Remove successful.
 [root@mediator-host ~]#

Regenerate a temporary self-signed certificate

You can regenerate a temporary self-signed certificate using the following procedure.

About this task

  • You perform this task on the Linux host on which the ONTAP Mediator service is installed.

  • You can perform this task only if the generated self-signed certificates have become obsolete due to changes to the hostname or IP address of the host after installing the ONTAP Mediator.

  • After the temporary self-signed certificate has been replaced by a trusted third-party certificate, you do not use this task to regenerate a certificate. The absence of a self-signed certificate will cause this procedure to fail.

Step

To regenerate a new temporary self-signed certificate for the current host, perform the following step:

  1. Restart the ONTAP Mediator service:

    ./make_self_signed_certs.sh overwrite

    [root@xyz000123456 ~]# cd /opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/server_config
[root@xyz000123456 server_config]# ./make_self_signed_certs.sh overwrite

Adding Subject Alternative Names to the self-signed server certificate
#
# OpenSSL example configuration file.
Generating self-signed certificates
Generating RSA private key, 4096 bit long modulus (2 primes)
..................................................................................................................................................................++++
........................................................++++
e is 65537 (0x010001)
Generating a RSA private key
................................................++++
.............................................................................................................................................++++
writing new private key to 'ontap_mediator_server.key'
-----
Signature ok
subject=C = US, ST = California, L = San Jose, O = "NetApp, Inc.", OU = ONTAP Core Software, CN = ONTAP Mediator, emailAddress = support@netapp.com
Getting CA Private Key

Replace self-signed certificates with trusted third-party certificates

You can replace self-signed certificates with trusted third-party certificates.

About this task

  • You perform this task on the Linux host on which the ONTAP Mediator service is installed.

  • You can perform this task if the generated self-signed certificates need to be replaced by certificates obtained from a trusted subordinate certificate authority (CA). To accomplish this, you should have access to a trusted public-key infrastructure (PKI) authority.

Step 1: Obtain a certificate from a third party issuing a CA certificate

You can obtain a certificate from a PKI authority using the following procedure.

The following example demonstrates replacing the self-signed certificate actors, namely ca.key, ca.csr, ca.srl, and ca.crt located at /opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/server_config/ with the third-party certificate actors.

Note The example illustrates the criteria necessary for the certificates required for the ONTAP Mediator service. You can obtain the certificates from a PKI authority in a way that might be different to this procedure. Adjust the procedure as per your business need.
Steps

  1. Create a private key ca.key and a configuration file openssl_ca.cnf that will be consumed by the PKI authority to generate a certificate.

    1. Generate the private key ca.key:

      Example

      openssl genrsa -aes256 -out ca.key 4096

    2. The configuration file openssl_ca.cnf (located at /opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/server_config/openssl_ca.cnf) defines the properties that the generated certificate must have.

  2. Use the private key and configuration file to create a certificate signing request ca.csr`:

    Example:

    openssl req -key <private_key_name>.key -new -out <certificate_csr_name>.csr -config <config_file_name>.cnf

    [root@scs000216655 server_config]# openssl req -key ca.key -new -config openssl_ca.cnf -out ca.csr
Enter pass phrase for ca.key:
[root@scs000216655 server_config]# cat ca.csr
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----
MIIE6TCCAtECAQAwgaMxCzAJBgNVBAYTAlVTMRMwEQYDVQQIDApDYWxpZm9ybmlh
...
erARKhY9z0e8BHPl3g==
-----END CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----

  3. Send the certificate signing request ca.csr to a PKI authority for their signature.

    The PKI authority verifies the request and signs the .csr, generating the certificate ca.crt.

    Note For SnapMirror Business Continuity (SM-BC) clusters, you must add the certificate ca.crt to an ONTAP cluster. See Configure the ONTAP Mediator and clusters for SM-BC.

Step 2: Generate a server certificate by signing with a third-party CA certification

A server certificate must be signed by the private key ca.key and the third-party certificate ca.crt. Additionally, the configuration file /opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/server_config/openssl_server.cnf contains certain attributes that specify the properties required for server certificates issued by OpenSSL.

The following commands can generate a server certificate.

Step

To generate a server certificate, run the following commands from the folder /opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/server_config:

openssl req -config openssl_server.cnf -extensions v3_req -nodes -newkey rsa:4096 -sha512 -keyout ontap_mediator_server.key -out ontap_mediator_server.csr

openssl x509 -extfile openssl_server.cnf -extensions v3_req -CA ca.crt -CAkey ca.key -CAcreateserial -sha512 -days 1095 -req -in ontap_mediator_server.csr -out ontap_mediator_server.crt

-CAcreateserial option is used to generate the file ca.srl.

Step 3: Replace new third-party CA certificate and server certificate in ONTAP Mediator configuration

The certificate configuration is supplied to the ONTAP Mediator service in the configuration file located at /opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/server_config/ontap_mediator.config.yaml. The file includes the following attributes:

cert_path: '/opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/server_config/ontap_mediator_server.crt'
key_path: '/opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/server_config/ontap_mediator_server.key'
ca_cert_path: '/opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/server_config/ca.crt'
ca_key_path: '/opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/server_config/ca.key'
ca_serial_path: '/opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/server_config/ca.srl'

  • cert_path and key_path are server certificate variables.

  • ca_cert_path, ca_key_path, and ca_serial_path are CA certificate variables.

Steps

  1. Replace the ca.* files with the third-party certificates.

  2. Restart the ONTAP Mediator:

    systemctl restart ontap_mediator

Step 4: Optionally, use a different path or name for your third-party certificates

You can use third-party certificates with a different name other than ca.* or store the third-party certificates in a different location.

Steps

  1. Configure the file /opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/server_config/ontap_mediator.user_config.yaml to override the default variable values in the ontap_mediator.config.yaml file.

    For example, if you obtain intermediate.crt from the PKI authority and store its private key intermediate.key and certificate signing request intermediate.csr at a location /opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/server_config, then the user_config file should look like the following:

    [root@scs000216655 server_config]# cat  ontap_mediator.user_config.yaml

# This config file can be used to override the default settings in ontap_mediator.config.yaml
# To override a setting, copy the property key from ontap_mediator.config.yaml to this file and
# set the property to the desired value. e.g.,
#
# The default value for 'default_mailboxes_per_target' is 4 in ontap_mediator.config.yaml
#
# To override this value with 6 mailboxes per target, add the following key/value pair
# below this comment:
#
# 'default_mailboxes_per_target': 6
#
cert_path: '/opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/server_config/ontap_mediator_server.crt'
key_path: '/opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/server_config/ontap_mediator_server.key'
ca_cert_path: '/opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/server_config/intermediate.crt'
ca_key_path: '/opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/server_config/intermediate.key'
ca_serial_path: '/opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/server_config/intermediate.srl'

  2. Restart the ONTAP Mediator when the certificates are updated in the configuration file:

    systemctl restart ontap_mediator

You can check certain properties of the certificates.

Verify certificate expiration

Use the following command to identify the certificate validity range:

[root@scs000216982 server_config]# openssl x509 -in ca.crt -text -noout
Certificate:
    Data:
...
        Validity
            Not Before: Feb 22 19:57:25 2024 GMT
            Not After : Feb 15 19:57:25 2029 GMT

Verify X509v3 extensions in CA certification

Use the following command to verify the X509v3 extensions in the CA certification.

The properties defined within v3_ca in openssl_ca.cnf are displayed as X509v3 extensions in ca.crt.

[root@scs000216982 server_config]# pwd
/opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/server_config

[root@scs000216982 server_config]# cat openssl_ca.cnf
...
[ v3_ca ]
subjectKeyIdentifier = hash
authorityKeyIdentifier = keyid:always,issuer
basicConstraints = critical, CA:true
keyUsage = critical, cRLSign, digitalSignature, keyCertSign

[root@scs000216982 server_config]# openssl x509 -in ca.crt -text -noout
Certificate:
    Data:
...
        X509v3 extensions:
            X509v3 Subject Key Identifier:
                9F:06:FA:47:00:67:BA:B2:D4:82:70:38:B8:48:55:B5:24:DB:FC:27
            X509v3 Authority Key Identifier:
                keyid:9F:06:FA:47:00:67:BA:B2:D4:82:70:38:B8:48:55:B5:24:DB:FC:27

            X509v3 Basic Constraints: critical
                CA:TRUE
            X509v3 Key Usage: critical
                Digital Signature, Certificate Sign, CRL Sign

Verify X509v3 extensions in server certificate and subject Alt Names

The v3_req properties defined in the openssl_server.cnf configuration file are displayed as X509v3 extensions in the certificate.

In the following example, you can obtain the variables in the alt_names sections by running the commands hostname -A and hostname -I on the Linux VM on which the ONTAP Mediator is installed.

Check with your network administrator for the correct values of the variables.

[root@scs000216982 server_config]# pwd
/opt/netapp/lib/ontap_mediator/ontap_mediator/server_config

[root@scs000216982 server_config]# cat openssl_server.cnf
...
[ v3_req ]
basicConstraints       = CA:false
extendedKeyUsage       = serverAuth
keyUsage               = keyEncipherment, dataEncipherment
subjectAltName         = @alt_names

[ alt_names ]
DNS.1 = abc.company.com
DNS.2 = abc-v6.company.com
IP.1 = 1.2.3.4
IP.2 = abcd:abcd:abcd:abcd:abcd:abcd

[root@scs000216982 server_config]# openssl x509 -in ca.crt -text -noout
Certificate:
    Data:
...

        X509v3 extensions:
            X509v3 Basic Constraints:
                CA:FALSE
            X509v3 Extended Key Usage:
                TLS Web Server Authentication
            X509v3 Key Usage:
                Key Encipherment, Data Encipherment
            X509v3 Subject Alternative Name:
                DNS:abc.company.com, DNS:abc-v6.company.com, IP Address:1.2.3.4, IP Address:abcd:abcd:abcd:abcd:abcd:abcd

Verify that a private key matches with a certificate

You can verify whether a particular private key matches with a certificate.

Use the following OpenSSL commands on the key and certificate respectively:

[root@scs000216982 server_config]# openssl rsa -noout -modulus -in intermediate.key | openssl md5
Enter pass phrase for intermediate.key:
(stdin)= 14c6b98b0c7c59012b1de89eee4a9dbc
[root@scs000216982 server_config]# openssl x509 -noout -modulus -in intermediate.crt | openssl md5
(stdin)= 14c6b98b0c7c59012b1de89eee4a9dbc

If the -modulus attribute for both match, it indicates that the private key and certificate pair are compatible and can work with each other.

Verify that a server certificate is created from a particular CA certificate

You can use the following command to verify that the server certificate is created from a particular CA certificate.

[root@scs000216982 server_config]# openssl verify -CAfile ca.crt ontap_mediator_server.crt
ontap_mediator_server.crt: OK

If the Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) validation is being used, use the command openssl-verify.