StorNext NAS

Note: Beginning with Appliance Controller and StorNext 7.0.1, NAS services are no longer enabled by default (see Enable NAS). After you enable the NAS services on your system, you can use the StorNext User Interface to perform additional NAS operations.

Keep in mind the myStorNext website (mystornext.quantum.com) is a separate interface from the StorNext UUI. See Overview of myStorNext for information about the myStorNext website.

The StorNext UUI provides access to StorNext applications. The StorNext UUI is browser-based and can be accessed by any machine with access to the management network.

  1. Open a Web browser.

  2. In the browser's address field, enter the IP address (or hostname) and the port number of the Quantum appliance that is hosting StorNext. On dual-node systems, this is the IP address (or hostname) of server Node 2. For example:

    https://<machine name>:<port number>

    Note: You can access the StorNext UUI on the default HTTPS port 8445.

    When you first use this address to launch the UUI, you might receive a notification in your browser about a missing local web site security certificate. The notification is benign and does not pose a security risk within your environment. Accept the notification and continue to the UUI.

    1. On this dialog, click Advanced.

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    2. Click Proceed to <IP address> (unsafe).

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    3. You see that the site is Not secure. Again, the local web server does not have a security certificate, and the UUI is safe to use.

    1. On this dialog, click Show Details.

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    2. Click visit this website.

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    Also, depending on your browser configuration, you might receive a warning message informing you to accept the SSL certificates at a link that is displayed. Contact your local System Administrator for assistance on how to accept the SSL certificates.

    (click image to enlarge)

  3. On the UUI Login page, enter your credentials.
  4. Click Login. The Dashboard appears.

StorNext NAS allows network users to access data through the standard protocols of SMB (CIFS) and NFS. Through these protocols, users can access the same files and directories as users attached to the SAN. This configuration allows a choice of connectivity throughout the shared-access workflow:

Key Features

StorNext NAS includes the following key features. For additional information about supported configurations and appliance compatibility, see the StorNext 7 Compatibility Guide.

Note: For a list of all the Appliance Controller commands, see the Command Index.

StorNext NAS supports both SMB and NFS file sharing.

  • SMB support is for SMB 1 (CIFS) through SMB 3.
  • NFS support is for NFSv3 and NFSv4.

For more information about StorNext NAS supported methods of user authentication, see the section User Directory Support in the StorNext 7 Compatibility Guide.

See also NAS User Authentication.

A scale-out NAS cluster provides clients direct access to both SMB and NFSv3 shares from any node within the NAS cluster. In addition, a scale-out NAS cluster manages both health monitoring and failover for the NAS cluster nodes. Of the supported StorNext NAS cluster configurations, scale-out NAS clusters offer the best possible performance and reliability.

In addition, scale-out NAS clusters support NAS failover for NFSv3 and SMB protocols. You also can take advantage of DNS load distribution to evenly distribute client connections to nodes within a NAS cluster, facilitating greater network bandwidth and better redistribution results after a NAS failover occurs.

See NAS Cluster Overview.

Licensing

There are two licensing models supported for StorNext appliances as of StorNext 7.0.2. Depending on the license model applied to your system, you may or may not have to license the StorNext NAS feature separately.

No. When subscription licenses (supported in StorNext 7.x and later) are applied to the system, there are no StorNext licenses to install. StorNext NAS is covered under the StorNext Data Services Node subscription license, which is managed on the License page on myStorNext (go to https://mystornext.quantum.com). If subscription licenses are used on the system, the About page in the StorNext GUI includes the product key, and there is no license page to manage licenses.

See the StorNext 7 Compatibility Guide on the StorNext 7 Doc Center for appliances supported in StorNext 7.0.2 and later.

Yes, depending on a few factors. For systems running StorNext NAS under the perpetual license model, StorNext NAS is a licensed feature. For these systems, if the StorNext NAS license was not pre-installed, a license must be purchased and the license file applied to the system in order to use StorNext NAS. Use the license page on the StorNext GUI to install the license.

 Additional notes about perpetual StorNext NAS licenses:

  • For Xcellis Foundation systems, StorNext NAS licenses are pre-installed.
  • For supported StorNext 7 appliances [Xcellis Workflow Director, Xcellis Workflow Extender Gen 2, Xcellis Workflow Extender (R630), Xcellis Foundation, and Artico (R630)] using perpetual licenses, which are not already running StorNext NAS, you must purchase and install StorNext NAS licenses for all systems running StorNext NAS:
  • If your system uses perpetual licenses, contact your Quantum Account Manager to ask about obtaining the StorNext NAS license.

Migration Assistance

If you need to migrate a StorNext NAS configuration from an Xcellis Workflow Director, Artico, M660, M440 Metadata Appliance to an Xcellis Workflow Extender or G300 Gateway system, contact Quantum Professional Services for assistance.