Configure LAN Clients and Gateway Servers

Linux or Windows StorNext clients can be configured as LAN (local area network) clients or gateway servers (including the StorNext G300 Gateway Appliance and the M660 Metadata Appliance). The StorNext G300 is a dedicated gateway server. The M660 is a meta-data controller (MDC) that can be configured as a gateway server (in non-Lattus systems only).

Traditional StorNext SAN clients access data storage (hard disk drives) in the SAN using a high throughput, low-latency fibre channel connection. In addition to this fibre channel connection, StorNext also provides access for LAN clients through a StorNext G300 or M660, or SAN client configured as a gateway for those LAN clients. In this environment, StorNext LAN clients access data disks over a network instead of directly accessing disks on the SAN.

A StorNext client running on Linux or Windows can be configured as a LAN client or a gateway. This is a licensed feature.

Note: A macOS X MDC is not supported as a proxy server for an FX LAN client.

Gateway: A gateway is a StorNext client which has direct access to data disks (using fibre channel) on the SAN and makes the shared storage pool available to LAN clients over a LAN connected to that gateway.
LAN Client: A LAN client cannot have direct access to data disks and instead accesses the shared storage pool by connecting to a gateway over a network (LAN clients have full StorNext client functionality).

Note: If the diskproxy option is set to client, then the mount may use a Proxy Server to do its data I/O. If the host has SAN connectivity to some or all of the disks in the file system, then those disks will be accessed via the SAN connection, not the network. This client is then referred to as a disk proxy hybrid client. When SAN connectivity is used, the server license on the MDC will be charged for this mount. If it is desired that this client use the network for the mount, then the disks should be made unavailable to this host or the cvpaths file should be configured to prevent StorNext from using the directly attached disks. The who subcommand of cvadmin shows the type of proxy mount.

Note: A StorNext client configured as a gateway requires a dedicated system. Do not run other applications or services on a system configured as a gateway.

Note: You can enable and configure gateway functionality for an MDC connected to a Lattus system. StorNext only supports a single DLC network for each file system. A Lattus system and an MDC are normally divided into two separate segments which makes it a challenge to enable a gateway; a challenge for a single network segment. Additionally, you can experience slower than normal throughput if you share both the 10G Lattus and gateway network segments. You must evaluate your scenario depending on the S3 configuration relating to the object segment size and your environment workload.

Review the sections below for additional information.