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Use FabricPool setup wizard: Considerations and requirements

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You can use the FabricPool setup wizard to configure StorageGRID as the object storage system for a FabricPool cloud tier. After you complete the setup wizard, you can enter the required details into ONTAP System Manager.

When to use the FabricPool setup wizard

The FabricPool setup wizard guides you through each step of configuring StorageGRID for use with FabricPool and automatically configures certain entities for you, such as the ILM and traffic classification policies. As part of completing the wizard, you download a file that you can use to enter values into ONTAP System Manager. Use the wizard to configure your system more quickly and to make sure your settings conform to StorageGRID and FabricPool best practices.

Assuming you have Root access permission, you can complete the FabricPool setup wizard when you start using the StorageGRID Grid Manager, or you can access and complete the wizard at any later time. Depending on your requirements, you can also configure some or all of the required items manually and then use the wizard to assemble the values that ONTAP needs into a single file.

Tip Use the FabricPool setup wizard unless you know you have special requirements or your implementation will require significant customization.

Before using the wizard

Confirm you have completed these prerequisite steps.

Review best practices

Obtain IP addresses and set up VLAN interfaces

If you will configure an HA group, you know which nodes ONTAP will connect to and which StorageGRID network will be used. You also know which values to enter for the subnet CIDR, gateway IP address, and virtual IP (VIP) addresses.

If you plan to use a virtual LAN to segregate FabricPool traffic, you have already configured the VLAN interface. See Configure VLAN interfaces.

Configure identity federation and SSO

If you plan to use identity federation or single sign-on (SSO) for your StorageGRID system, you have enabled these features. You also know which federated group should have root access for the tenant account that ONTAP will use. See Use identity federation and Configure single sign-on.

Obtain and configure domain names

  • You know which fully qualified domain name (FQDN) to use for StorageGRID. Domain name server (DNS) entries will map this FQDN to the virtual IP (VIP) addresses of the HA group that you create using the wizard. See Configure DNS server.

  • If you plan to use S3 virtual hosted-style requests, you have configured S3 endpoint domain names. ONTAP uses path-style URLs by default, but using virtual hosted-style requests is recommended.

Review load balancer and security certificate requirements

If you plan to use the StorageGRID load balancer, you have reviewed the general considerations for load balancing. You have the certificates you will upload or the values you need to generate a certificate.

If you plan to use an external (third-party) load balancer endpoint, you have the fully qualified domain name (FQDN), port, and certificate for that load balancer.

Confirm ILM storage pool configuration

if you initially installed StorageGRID 11.6 or earlier, you have configured the storage pool you will use. In general, you should create a storage pool for each StorageGRID site you will use to store ONTAP data.

Note This prerequisite does not apply if you initially installed StorageGRID 11.7 or 11.8. When you initially install either of these versions, storage pools are automatically created for each site.

Relationship between ONTAP and the StorageGRID cloud tier

The FabricPool wizard guides you through the process of creating a single StorageGRID cloud tier that includes one StorageGRID tenant, one set of access keys, and one StorageGRID bucket. You can attach this StorageGRID cloud tier to one or more ONTAP local tiers.

Attaching a single cloud tier to multiple local tiers in a cluster is the general best practice. However, depending on your requirements, you might want to use more than one bucket or even more than one StorageGRID tenant for the local tiers in a single cluster. Using different buckets and tenants allows you to isolate data and data access between ONTAP local tiers, but is somewhat more complex to configure and manage.

NetApp does not recommend attaching a single cloud tier to local tiers in multiple clusters.

Note For the best practices for using StorageGRID with NetApp MetroCluster™ and FabricPool Mirror, see TR-4598: FabricPool Best Practices in ONTAP.

Optional: Use a different bucket for each local tier

To use more than one bucket for the local tiers in an ONTAP cluster, add more than one StorageGRID cloud tier in ONTAP. Each cloud tier shares the same HA group, load balancer endpoint, tenant, and access keys, but uses a different container (StorageGRID bucket). Follow these general steps:

  1. From StorageGRID Grid Manager, complete the FabricPool setup wizard for the first cloud tier.

  2. From ONTAP System Manager, add a cloud tier and use the file you downloaded from StorageGRID to provide the required values.

  3. From StorageGRID Tenant Manager, sign in to the tenant that was created by the wizard, and create a second bucket.

  4. Complete the FabricPool wizard again. Select the existing HA group, load balancer endpoint, and tenant. Then, select the new bucket you created manually. Create a new ILM rule for the new bucket and activate an ILM policy to include that rule.

  5. From ONTAP, add a second cloud tier but provide the new bucket name.

Optional: Use a different tenant and bucket for each local tier

To use more than one tenant and different sets of access keys for the local tiers in an ONTAP cluster, add more than one StorageGRID cloud tier in ONTAP. Each cloud tier shares the same HA group, load balancer endpoint, but uses a different tenant, access keys, and container (StorageGRID bucket). Follow these general steps:

  1. From StorageGRID Grid Manager, complete the FabricPool setup wizard for the first cloud tier.

  2. From ONTAP System Manager, add a cloud tier and use the file you downloaded from StorageGRID to provide the required values.

  3. Complete the FabricPool wizard again. Select the existing HA group and load balancer endpoint. Create a new tenant and bucket. Create a new ILM rule for the new bucket and activate an ILM policy to include that rule.

  4. From ONTAP, add a second cloud tier but provide the new access key, secret key, and bucket name.