Students and professionals pursue powerful IT certifications, including NetApp training to elevate their skill set and experience in the industry. Among a plethora of topics and hands-on lab experience, students also learn how to install data ONTAP storage systems in Microsoft environments. Additionally, there are numerous other topics and field-specific subjects that you can get acquainted with, and understand what it takes to acquire organizational and management excellence through efficient, powerful IT infrastructures. As for this article, we are going to discuss the steps of installing data ONTAP storage systems in Microsoft environments.
Adding clustered Data ONTAP storage systems and credentials
The user can add a clustered Data ONTAP storage system in order to monitor the clustered storage in System Center Operations Manager (SCOM). When the storage system is incorporated, the corresponding credentials will also be entered.
Adding clustered Data ONTAP domain account credentials for a “Run As” action account
In order to monitor the NetApp storage systems in OnCommand Plug-in for a Microsoft environment, the users must enter the Windows domain account credentials under which monitoring workflows and discoveries operate. In case the user is unable to connect to the controller incorporated into using the Manage Storage System option (for clustered Data ONTAP), he should configure the Run As action account. This will also be required if the workflows aren’t operating in SCOM as intended. The OnCommand Plug-in for Microsoft discovery and monitoring scripts are employed through Windows PowerShell and operate under the context of an active account in SCOM. The account is required to have a Windows profile created for operating the PowerShell script. In case the account is not availed to log into the SCOM server prior to operating the OnCommand Plug-in for Microsoft SCOM management pack, the discovery and monitoring tasks won’t operate the PowerShell script.
Discovering storage in SCOM
For monitoring the storage, the foremost step for the user is to run the discovery process in SCOM. The clustered Data ONTAP storage discovery and clustered Data ONTAP virtualization discovery are part of the clustered Data ONTAP SCOM management pack and are facilitated by default. For the clustered Data ONTAP SCOM management pack, the discovery rules are directed at the resource pool.
Discovering virtualized storage in SCOM
For monitoring the virtualized storage, the foremost step for the user is to run the virtualization discovery process in SCOM.
Initiating storage discovery in SCOM
For monitoring the storage activity, the first step is to start the discovery process in SCOM.
Overriding clustered Data ONTAP management pack rules
The user can alter the default settings of rules including the discovery rule that initiates the discovery process, the ones created during the installation. Besides the overriding of fundamental management pack defaults concluded earlier during the installation phase, the clustered Data ONTAP management pack defaults must be overridden. The changes, also called overrides, to the rules can be saved in a new management pack.
Overriding available space monitors
The user must change the built-in settings of rules, created during the OnCommand Plug-in for Microsoft installation for managing the available space associated with volumes and aggregates. Such alterations impact the limits for triggering space alerts. These changes, also called overrides, to the rules can be saved in a new management pack. However, it is important to remember that when a system’s root aggregates are equal or cross the 95% utilization, available default space monitor activates the alerts on FlexPod and other configurations. In order to avoid such alerts, the user has the choice of either disabling the monitor or incorporate a higher threshold value within the aggregate space utilization monitor. For instance, the user might want to override the thresholds of aggregate space utilization monitors to a lower threshold value of 96 and a higher threshold parameter of 98.
Discovering clustered Data ONTAP storage systems manually
In order to employ SCOM for monitoring clustered Data ONTAP storage systems, the user is first required to run the discovery process for retrieving the storage system information. It is essential for the OnCommand Plug-in for Microsoft along its management packs to be installed, while the discovery process should be enabled. Unlike the Data ONTAP operating in 7-Mode environments, the discovery is turned on by default.
Adding a management server to a plug-in resources pool
The user can incorporate the SCOM management servers to the resource pool in the clustered Data ONTAP management pack through the SCOM console. This step might become essential to handle the load balancing among the servers in the resource pool. The clustered Data ONTAP management pack and SCOM allow the user to handle the resource pools. A resource pool is a set of management servers with the purpose of balancing the workload among the servers in the pool and continue the operation from an unsuccessful server in the pool. In case one of the management servers are unavailable, the resource pools will regulate the monitoring of continuity. Furthermore, all SCOM servers in a resource pool direct to the same SCOM database. Consider the example of four nodes available in a resource pool. In such a situation, the user will run the discovery tasks from the node. The user will operate all other tasks including alerting and monitoring through other nodes in the resource pool.
Monitoring Storage Virtual Machines (SVMs)
The user can monitor the Storage Virtual Machines (SVMs) in the clustered Data ONTAP management pack through the SCOM console. An SVM, previously termed as a Vserver, is a logical storage unit. Clusters are acknowledged and administered by an entire cluster instead of on a per-node basis, while the data is used from one or more SVMs. As it stands, the configuration of each SVM is done as per its own storage in terms of volumes provided through logical interfaces (LIFs) and physical aggregate.
Installing cmdlets
If the user hasn’t installed the PowerShell cmdlets as a component of the OnCommand Plug-in for Microsoft installation, the installation can be done later. The user might need to acquire cmdlets to enter the controllers’ credentials and establish LUNs and VMs.
Conclusion
Working with clustered data ONTAP is something that students can learn from various NetApp certifications. As it stands, NetApp® clustered Data ONTAP® operating system is a keystone of the NetApp Data Fabric vision for a hybrid cloud system. And students understand how clustered Data ONTAP provides non-disruptive operations and regulates the storage environment by connecting differing, large amounts of data.
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