Application Delivery Management
Application Modernization & Connectivity
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IT Operations Management
Table of Contents
Introduction
Background
Proposed Solution
Configuration Steps
Step 1: Configuring the Novell Cluster Service on OES 2 SP2
Step 2: Configuring Shared pool on Novell Storage Service
Step 3: Configuring CIFS User Context
Step 4: Configuring CIFS shares
Step 5: Universal Password assignment for CIFS users
Step 6: Setting Universal Password to the CIFS users
Step 7: Setting Trustee Rights for a CIFS Shares
Abbrevations used in this document
Conclusion
When a large number of authenticated users access the CIFS service on OES 2 SP2 server, it becomes important to optimize the usage of the CIFS service without any failure in accessing it. Traditionally, with Novell OES 2 SP2 cluster feature the end user can access the service seamlessly with out any interruptions even if a server is down.
This AppNote provides the guidelines for deploying CIFS cluster service on OES 2 SP2 Linux Server for seamless access to a number of users. This solution relies on using a multiple OES 2 SP2 Linux servers using a storage.
Intended Audience
This AppNote is intended for those who want the following:
Pre-requisites/Assumptions
OES 2 SP2 Cluster Service
Novell Cluster Services is a key component of Open Enterprise Server that helps you manage all the resources on your Storage Area Network (SAN). Novell Cluster Service is integrated with Open Enterprise Server and together, these products enable you to:
Novell Cluster Services greatly simplifies SAN management. For example, you can manage resources on ISCSI or Fibre Channel SANs from any location, using any Java*-enabled Web browser. In addition, Novell Cluster Services is instrumental in building high-availability solutions. These solutions—particularly when coupled with a SAN solution—provide users and services with secure, uninterrupted access to organization's critical data and applications.
OES 2 SP2 CIFS Service
OES2SP2 CIFS is a Linux implementation technology that allows eDirectory/Active Directory users to access Novell file services through Windows networking. Novell CIFS lets Windows users access a Novell Open Enterprise Server 2 server exactly as they would access a Windows file server without having to install any additional software, such as the Novell Client.
How Service Failover Works
Novell Cluster Services and Novell Storage Services (NSS), which are part of OES 2 SP2 Linux, combine with Novell CIFS to facilitate highly available CIFS access for users. The cluster-enabled CIFS share is automatically dismounted and gets mounted on the other server when the primary server is unreachable by any means. The CIFS sessions which are established by the users continue without interruption as the shared NSS pool is migrated or failed over to a different server in the cluster.
To provide high availability of CIFS service to the end user, a Cluster service is configured to access NSS shared pool where all the file resides. The CIFS service is configured to access the data in shared storage.
Figure 1 shows the sample setup used for the purpose of this AppNote.
Here's the process:
Network Diagram Information
Before starting the configuration all the cluster nodes are installed with CIFS, NCP, NSS components.
Install and configure Novell Cluster Service on all the servers to access the shared disk partitions (ISCSI or storage area network-SAN can be used). Novell Cluster Services must be loaded and running while creating and using the shared NSS pools and volumes.
For more information on Novell cluster service configuration refer to link
http://www.novell.com/documentation/oes2/clus_admin_lx/data/ncsinstall.html
and for the information on cluster Management refer to link
http://www.novell.com/documentation/oes2/clus_admin_lx/data/aj7bq8o.html
In order to use NSS pools and volumes, NSS must be installed and running on all server nodes of the cluster. You can use the Storage plug-in for Novell iManager or the server-based NSSMU (NSS Management Utility) tool to create and cluster-enable a shared NSS pool.
For now we will try to use NSSMU utility. Before starting the configuration remember the shared device which has been configured in Cluster.
Continue creating NSS Volumes and database on a Shared Pool which needs to be access through CIFS.
For more information on creation of shared NSS Pools & volumes in cluster setup refer to link
http://www.novell.com/documentation/oes2/clus_admin_lx/?page=/documentation/oes2/clus_admin_lx/data/ncsshvolnss.html
Once the CIFS protocol is enabled for the shared pool the load and unload script files will get automatically modified to handle the CIFS service.
After enabling the CIFS protocol in cluster pool, the load script will contain cifs add entry:
After enabling the CIFS protocol in cluster pool, the Unload script will contain the CIFS remove entry:
Install and configure CIFS service on all the servers on the cluster. Once the CIFS service is running perform the following steps on all the servers.
Perform the following steps by access the CIFS virtual server through iManager.
As the share points are added on the virtual server. This task need not be performed on all the nodes of the cluster.
Once the Share are configured, the CIFS share can be checked by using “novcifs -sl” command on the server console
For more information on how to configure CIFS service can be found at the following link
http://www.novell.com/documentation/oes2/file_cifs_lx/data/bdkfk5j.html
To login to the CIFS server users should be configured with Universal Password. Universal password for CIFS users can be done using Password Policies. For which
After assigning the users to the Password Policy, the universal password needs to be set to those users. For which perform the following steps
For more information on Universal Password, refer the following link http://www.novell.com/documentation/password_management32/pwm_administration/data/ampxjj0.html
To access and perform the file operations on the shared CIFS volumes, the authorized user should have trustee rights. To assign the required rights to the users perform the following steps:
For more details on as how to assign rights to the Trustees, refer to the following link
http://www.novell.com/documentation/oes2/stor_filesys_lx_nw/data/bs3oqnl.html
OES 2 SP2 – Open Enterprise Server 2 Support Pack 2
CIFS – Common Internet File system
NSS – Novell Storage Service
NCS – Novell Cluster service
SAN – Storage Area Network
NSSMU - Novell Storage Services Management Utility
CIFS service can be accessed seamlessly with out any interruptions by using Novell cluster service which provides high availability of a resource.