Abiquo 5.1
Private cloud datacenter functionality
In private cloud datacenters, the administrator manages storage devices, pools, and tiers, as described on this page
In public cloud, the platform automatically manages storage tiers and users create volumes directly in virtual datacenters. See Manage storage in public cloud
API Documentation
For the Abiquo API documentation of this feature, see Abiquo API Resources and the page for this resource StorageDevicesResource.
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:
Field | Value |
---|---|
Name | The name of the storage pool |
Storage technology | The target storage technology - choose from the supported managed storage types |
Management IP | The IP used by the Abiquo platform to connect to the storage technology for management purposes |
Management Port | The port used by the Abiquo platform to connect to the storage technology for management purposes |
Service IP | The IP used by the cloud nodes to connect to the storage technology |
Service Port | The port used by the cloud nodes to connect to the storage technology |
User | For NetApp devices only: the user for connecting to the storage technology |
Password | For NetApp devices only: the password for connecting to the storage technology |
After you have created a storage device, you can check its details by selecting it in the list of storage devices.
Abiquo offers support for generic iSCSI storage without storage management capacity.
To create a generic iSCSI storage device:
Field | Value |
---|---|
Name | The name of the storage device |
Storage technology | Select GENERIC_iSCSI |
Management IP | The IP used by the Abiquo platform to connect to the storage |
Management Port | The port used by the Abiquo platform to connect to the storage |
iSCSI IP | The IP used by the cloud nodes to connect to the storage |
iSCSI Port | The port used by the cloud nodes to connect to the storage |
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 contain user storage volumes.
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.
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.
Storage Pools can be added directly after creating the managed storage device or later.
To add Storage Pools to your infrastructure:
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.
To modify a Storage Pool:
Field | Description |
---|---|
Name | The name of the storage pool |
Tier | The tier the storage pool belongs to |
Usable Percent | The percentage of the pool that can be used. The default value is 100%. This is applied after Abiquo calculates the usable storage for NetApp devices. |
Max. volumes | The maximum number of volumes that can be created in this pool. The default value is 0, which means there is no limit to the number of volumes that may be created. |
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.
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:
In private cloud, you can edit storage tiers. In public cloud, the platform automatically imports all tiers and all enterprises can use them.
Field | Description |
---|---|
Name | Name of the storage tier |
Description | A brief description of the storage tier |
Storage Allocation Policy | Allocation method for assigning external storage volumes to pools. See Storage Pool Allocation. Overrides the abiquo.storagemanager.storageMethod property set for the whole Abiquo platform in Abiquo Configuration Properties |
Allow access to this tier | The tier will be allowed for any enterprise that is created while this box is checked. When editing enterprises, you can allow or prohibit tiers for the datacenter. You can change the configuration on the Enterprise Access tab or by editing the Enterprise (under an Allowed Datacenter on the Tiers tab). |
Enable | Enable or disable this tier. Disabled tiers are displayed in light gray in the datacenter Tiers tab. You cannot disable a tier if it contains volumes. Disabled tiers cannot be used. |
Multiple Pools in Tiers
Abiquo uses all pools assigned to a tier. When you create a volume, Abiquo will automatically allocate it to a pool in the chosen tier in accordance with the Storage Pool Allocation.
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.
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.
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.
To add a pre-existing generic iSCSI volume:
Field | Value |
---|---|
Enterprise | The Enterprise that can use the generic iSCSI volume |
Virtual Datacenter | The name of the virtual datacenter |
Name | The volume name |
Real name | Internal ID of the volume on the storage device |
Description | A description of the volume |
Total size | In GB or MB |
Target IQN | The IQN of the storage device containing the volume |
LUN | The LUN of the volume |
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.