Manage Storage

Create Persistent Storage Devices

The first step in working with persistent storage in a private cloud datacenter is to create a Storage Device. A storage device provides access to the storage technology so you can configure the Management and Service networks that the cloud nodes will use to access it. You can manage storage devices with the buttons located at the bottom of the storage devices list.

To create a storage device:

1. Go to Infrastructure → Private → select datacenter → Datacenter details view → Persistent storage → Devices
2. Click the + add button
3. Select Storage device
4. Complete the dialog

After you have created a storage device, you can check its details by selecting it in the list of storage devices.

Generic iSCSI Storage

Abiquo offers support for generic iSCSI storage without storage management capacity. 

Create a Generic iSCSI Storage Device

To create a generic iSCSI storage device:

1. Go to Infrastructure → Private → select datacenter → Datacenter details view → Persistent storage → Devices
2. Click the + add button
3. Select Storage device
4. As you complete the dialog, select the GENERIC_iSCSI storage technology

For details of how to add and delete volumes, see Managing Generic iSCSI Volumes section below.

To refresh the storage device in the platform, click the round arrow synchronize button.

Storage Pools

Storage pools contain user storage volumes.

Managed Storage Pools

Abiquo automatically detects all the pools in the target storage and allows you to add them to the platform. After the managed storage pools have been added, users will be able to create volumes. The volumes will be automatically allocated to storage pools in the chosen tier, in accordance with the selected storage pool allocation method.

Generic iSCSI Storage Pools

Abiquo creates a single pool for an entire generic iSCSI storage device because it cannot communicate with the device's management interface to detect the pools already created on the storage. For generic iSCSI storage, volumes must be created outside Abiquo in the storage device and then manually entered into Abiquo in the Infrastructure view. See #Manage Generic iSCSI Volumes. 

Add Storage Pools

Storage Pools can be added directly after creating the managed storage device or later.

To add Storage Pools to your infrastructure:

1. Go to Infrastructure → Private → select datacenter → Datacenter details view → Persistent storage → Devices
2. Click the + add button and select Storage pool
3. Select the storage device
4. Select a pool from the list of available storage pools. 
   If a pool is already registered in your Infrastructure, you cannot add it again. The platform will select and disable these pools.
5. Select a tier to add the storage pool to. This is the service level of the user volumes in this pool 

When users select a tier (service level) for a volume, the platform creates the volume in a pool in the tier in accordance with the storage pool allocation method.

After you create the storage pool, you can check its details by selecting it in the list of devices.

Modify a Storage Pool

To modify a Storage Pool:

1. Select the storage pool
2. Click the edit button
   1. You cannot modify the name of the Storage Pool after you create the pool 
   2. You can change 
      1. the tier of all types of storage. 
      2. the usable percentage of a pool
      3. the maximum number of volumes in the pool.

Remove a Storage Pool

To remove a storage pool, first remove all of the volumes within it. Then select the pool in the list and click the trash delete button to remove it.

Manage Storage Service Levels with Tiers

The Tiers tab allows you to configure different service levels for external managed storage. Storage service levels are set with tiers that are configured to enable end users to choose the service level for the volumes they create under Storage as a Service.

To view a tier's contents listed in the format "pool (storage device)", click on the triangle beside a tier.

The Tiers tab contains the default tiers in Abiquo. You cannot add or remove Tiers.

To edit a tier:

1. Go to Infrastructure → Private → select datacenter → Datacenter details view → Persistent storage → Tiers
2. Select the tier
3. Click the pencil edit button and you can:
   1. Change the tier Name
   2. Enable/disable the tier
      1. After an enterprise has created volumes in a tier, you cannot restrict access to the tier for that enterprise
      2. You cannot disable a tier if it contains volumes.
         
         

Control Access to a Storage Service Level for all Enterprises

The Enterprise access tab has a list of all the enterprises with access to the storage tier.

To change access for all enterprises, click the buttons to "Allow all enterprises" or "Restrict all enterprises" from using the tier.

• For all existing enterprises, this setting will override the checkbox on the General information tab
  • But you cannot restrict the access of enterprises that have already created volumes in this tier
• New enterprises will have the option specified with the checkbox on the General information tab
• You can later change these settings for individual enterprises. See Controlling Access to Storage Tiers in the Manage Enterprises documentation

The Volume List

The Volume list contains all the volumes created in the pool with tiers, volume sizes and details of the virtual appliances and VMs the volumes are attached to.

• In managed storage, volumes are created by users under Storage as a Service in Virtual Datacenters view. For more information see Manage Virtual Storage in Datacenters
• In generic iSCSI storage, volumes must be created outside Abiquo in the storage device itself and manually added by an administrator in the Infrastructure view. For more information see Managing Generic iSCSI Storage Volumes.

Manage Generic iSCSI Volumes

You can add or delete from Abiquo individual volumes that were already created on generic iSCSI storage. You cannot modify them within Abiquo because there is no communication with the management interface of the generic iSCSI storage device.

Add a Generic iSCSI Volume

To add a pre-existing generic iSCSI volume:

1. Go to Infrastructure → Private → select datacenter → Datacenter details view → Persistent storage → Devices
2. Select the generic iSCSI storage device. 
3. Click the + add button and complete the dialog. 
   Note that many storage systems will automatically generate a LUN of 0 by default.

Troubleshooting External Storage on VMware

If a volume has been removed or replaced in the storage device, Abiquo may try to attach a volume that does not exist or is completely different to one previously configured. This situation may occur with: managed storage volumes, generic iSCSI volumes and persistent VMs. It can be resolved by manually performing a full HBA rescan of all ESX or ESXi hosts that had raw device mappings for the devices involved. In general, Abiquo avoids performing a full HBA rescan of storage on ESX or ESXi for performance reasons. Instead it checks for a raw device mapping for a given IQN and LUN, which means that changes to volumes can lead to this situation.