Month: September 2017

ONTAP 9 – How to review logs

In Clustered Data ONTAP 8.x and ONTAP 9 there are multiple log files. If you plan to review logs, the good place to start is EMS log file. The Event Management System (EMS) collects events that are noticed by ONTAP. It also provides filtering mechanism for easy review. EMS events can be viewed from the clustershell – You can review node’s log by executing command

cluster1::> event log show 

This command will print all events from the newest ones to the oldest from the current period (last 4000 events). You can also specify a date range or time for the events, for example to print all events from last 10 minutes:

cluster1::> event log show -time >10m

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ONTAP 9 – Introduction to OnCommand System Manager (GUI)

In my last screencast I make a quick introduction to ONTAP 9’s Graphical User Interface – OnCommand System Manager. System Manager is developed and updated for a long time, since ONTAP 8.3 it is already included in standard ONTAP build as a webservice that can be accessed via most modern internet browsers via cluster management IP address. However, with ONTAP 9 NetApp has re-design the GUI, completely modifying the Navigation Pane. Watch the screencast (7:30 mins) to see the GUI in a nutshell.

To access a Graphical User Interface for Your ONTAP cluster, You can either access:

https://[node_mgmt_IP_address]

or

https://[cluster_mgmt_IP_address]

In this screencast I’m going through available menus and options and also briefly show You how easy it is to create a brand new volume, check or edit the namespace and share it via CIFS. To validate the work, I also accessed the share via Windows Explorer and created a test-file to provide I have a read-write access to that particular share. Of course, there are quite a few things to consider in Your every-day production environment when it comes to creating new shares. For one I do not mention anything about share permissions, or even a security style of my volume. However, this was just a brief introduction of how easy it is to start. You can also check my post about NetApp cDOT – Namespace, junction path if you are not sure what namespace is.

In Your everyday activities, operations such as aggregate creation, or SVM creation will most likely not be Your everyday tasks. In most cases, You will probably focus more on SVM management, or event/incident monitoring and troubleshooting. That’s why I have focused a little bit more on the Storage Virtual Machine management. In case of any questions please feel free to leave a comment here or on Youtube, I will try to answer as soon as possible.

ONTAP 9 – clustershell, nodeshell and systemshell (screencast)

In my last screencast I have briefly (just over 6 minutes) explain what are and how to access clustershell, nodeshell, and systemshell.

If you rather read an article about those, some time ago I have also published an entry NetApp cDOT – Clustered Data ONTAP Command Line

What you have to remember about those 3 shells are:

    • default shell is a clustershell – that’s the one you access when you log in via ssh to Your cluster (via cluster management IP address, or one of the nodes). This shell is used to work with Your cluster, this CLI is used to create and manage SVM (Storage Virtual Machines), this shell is intended for everyday operations.
    • a nodeshell gives you a separate CLI to manage and monitor a single node within a cluster. If you want to access a nodeshell, you have to specify to which node you wish to connect to. There are different commands to work with a nodeshell, those are very similar to old-type Data ONTAP, called 7-mode. You would use a nodeshell to monitor Your node performance and utilization, to verify the connectivity of shelves and drives. But all provisioning tasks should be done from the clustershell.  To access a nodeshell, you have to first access a clustershell.
    • a systemshell is a low-level shell, which you shouldn’t access unless you have to. You can only access it from clustershell, and you have to unlock (and know the password) of build-in user diag, you access a systemshell only from the diagnostic privilege level. In my video I gave you example, that nodeshell can be used to review the audit logs which is true, however there are more secure ways to review the audit logs, which does not require you to enter a systemshell. I will go through this topic in a separate entry, but long story short You can access it via https protocol (provided that you have web logs enabled) :
https://cluster-mgmt-ip/spi/node-name/etc/log/

As always, please let me know if You have any comments or questions regarding the video.