Private cloud datacenter functionality

In private cloud datacenters, the administrator manages storage devices, pools, and tiers, as described on this page
In public cloud, the platform automatically manages storage tiers and users create volumes directly in virtual datacenters. See Manage storage in public cloud

API Documentation

For the Abiquo API documentation of this feature, see Abiquo API Resources and the page for this resource StorageDevicesResource.

Create Persistent Storage Devices

The first step in working with persistent storage in a private cloud datacenter is to create a Storage Device. A storage device provides access to the storage technology so you can configure the Management and Service networks that the cloud nodes will use to access it. You can manage storage devices with the buttons located at the bottom of the storage devices list.

To create a storage device:

Go to Infrastructure → Private → select datacenter → Datacenter details view → Persistent storage → Devices
Click the + add button
Select Storage device
Complete the dialog

Field	Value
Name	The name of the storage pool
Storage technology	The target storage technology - choose from the supported managed storage types
Management IP	The IP used by the Abiquo platform to connect to the storage technology for management purposes
Management Port	The port used by the Abiquo platform to connect to the storage technology for management purposes
Service IP	The IP used by the cloud nodes to connect to the storage technology
Service Port	The port used by the cloud nodes to connect to the storage technology
User	For NFS devices only: the user for connecting to the storage technology
Password	For NFS devices only: the password for connecting to the storage technology

After you have created a storage device, you can check its details by selecting it in the list of storage devices.

Generic iSCSI Storage

Abiquo offers support for generic iSCSI storage without storage management capacity.

Create a Generic iSCSI Storage Device

To create a generic iSCSI storage device:

Go to Infrastructure → Private → select datacenter → Datacenter details view → Persistent storage → Devices
Click the + add button
Select Storage device
As you complete the dialog, select the GENERIC_iSCSI storage technology

Field	Value
Name	The name of the storage device
Storage technology	Select GENERIC_iSCSI
Management IP	The IP used by the Abiquo platform to connect to the storage
Management Port	The port used by the Abiquo platform to connect to the storage
iSCSI IP	The IP used by the cloud nodes to connect to the storage
iSCSI Port	The port used by the cloud nodes to connect to the storage

For details of how to add and delete volumes, see Manage Storage#Managing Generic iSCSI Volumes section below.

To refresh the storage device in the platform, click the round arrow synchronize button.

Storage Pools

Storage pools contain user storage volumes.

Managed Storage Pools

Abiquo automatically detects all the pools in the target storage and allows you to add them to the platform. After the managed storage pools have been added, users will be able to create volumes. The volumes will be automatically allocated to storage pools in the chosen tier, in accordance with the selected storage pool allocation method.

Generic iSCSI Storage Pools

Abiquo creates a single pool for an entire generic iSCSI storage device because it cannot communicate with the device's management interface to detect the pools already created on the storage. For generic iSCSI storage, volumes must be created outside Abiquo in the storage device and then manually entered into Abiquo in the Infrastructure view. See #Manage Generic iSCSI Volumes.

Add Storage Pools

Storage Pools can be added directly after creating the managed storage device or later.

To add Storage Pools to your infrastructure:

Go to Infrastructure → Private → select datacenter → Datacenter details view → Persistent storage → Devices
Click the + add button and select Storage pool
Select the storage device
Select a pool from the list of available storage pools.
If a pool is already registered in your Infrastructure, you cannot add it again. The platform will select and disable these pools.
Select a tier to add the storage pool to. This is the service level of the user volumes in this pool

When users select a tier (service level) for a volume, the platform creates the volume in a pool in the tier in accordance with the storage pool allocation method.

After you create the storage pool, you can check its details by selecting it in the list of devices.

Modify a Storage Pool

To modify a Storage Pool:

Select the storage pool
Click the edit button
1. You cannot modify the name of the Storage Pool after you create the pool
2. You can change
  1. the tier of all types of storage.
  2. the usable percentage of a pool
  3. the maximum number of volumes in the pool.

Field	Description
Name	The name of the storage pool
Tier	The tier the storage pool belongs to
Usable Percent	The percentage of the pool that can be used. The default value is 100%. This is applied after Abiquo calculates the /wiki/spaces/ABI54/pages/310740457 for NetApp devices.
Max. volumes	The maximum number of volumes that can be created in this pool. The default value is 0, which means there is no limit to the number of volumes that may be created.

Remove a Storage Pool

To remove a storage pool, first remove all of the volumes within it. Then select the pool in the list and click the trash delete button to remove it.

Manage Storage Service Levels with Tiers

The Tiers tab allows you to configure different service levels for external managed storage. Storage service levels are set with tiers that are configured to enable end users to choose the service level for the volumes they create under Storage as a Service.

To view a tier's contents listed in the format "pool (storage device)", click on the triangle beside a tier.

The Tiers tab contains the default tiers in Abiquo. You cannot add or remove Tiers.

To edit a tier:

Go to Infrastructure → Private → select datacenter → Datacenter details view → Persistent storage → Tiers
Select the tier
Click the pencil edit button and you can:
1. Change the tier Name
2. Enable/disable the tier
  1. After an enterprise has created volumes in a tier, you cannot restrict access to the tier for that enterprise
  2. You cannot disable a tier if it contains volumes.

In private cloud, you can edit storage tiers. In public cloud, the platform automatically imports all tiers and all enterprises can use them.

Field	Description
Name	Name of the storage tier
Description	A brief description of the storage tier
Storage Allocation Policy	Allocation method for assigning external storage volumes to pools. See Storage Pool Allocation. Overrides the abiquo.storagemanager.storageMethod property set for the whole Abiquo platform in Abiquo Configuration Properties
Allow access to this tier	The tier will be allowed for any enterprise that is created while this box is checked. When editing enterprises, you can allow or prohibit tiers for the datacenter. You can change the configuration on the Enterprise Access tab or by editing the Enterprise (under an Allowed Datacenter on the Tiers tab).
Enable	Enable or disable this tier. Disabled tiers are displayed in light gray in the datacenter Tiers tab. You cannot disable a tier if it contains volumes. Disabled tiers cannot be used.

Multiple Pools in Tiers

Abiquo uses all pools assigned to a tier. When you create a volume, Abiquo will automatically allocate it to a pool in the chosen tier in accordance with the Storage Pool Allocation.

Control Access to a Storage Service Level for all Enterprises

The Enterprise access tab has a list of all the enterprises with access to the storage tier.

To change access for all enterprises, click the buttons to "Allow all enterprises" or "Restrict all enterprises" from using the tier.

For all existing enterprises, this setting will override the checkbox on the General information tab
- But you cannot restrict the access of enterprises that have already created volumes in this tier
New enterprises will have the option specified with the checkbox on the General information tab
You can later change these settings for individual enterprises. See Controlling Access to Storage Tiers in the Manage Enterprises documentation

The Volume List

The Volume list contains all the volumes created in the pool with tiers, volume sizes and details of the virtual appliances and VMs the volumes are attached to.

In managed storage, volumes are created by users under Storage as a Service in Virtual Datacenters view. For more information see Manage Virtual Storage in Datacenters
In generic iSCSI storage, volumes must be created outside Abiquo in the storage device itself and manually added by an administrator in the Infrastructure view. For more information see Managing Generic iSCSI Storage Volumes.

Manage Generic iSCSI Volumes

You can add or delete from Abiquo individual volumes that were already created on generic iSCSI storage. You cannot modify them within Abiquo because there is no communication with the management interface of the generic iSCSI storage device.

Add a Generic iSCSI Volume

To add a pre-existing generic iSCSI volume:

Go to Infrastructure → Private → select datacenter → Datacenter details view → Persistent storage → Devices
Select the generic iSCSI storage device.
Click the + add button and complete the dialog.
Note that many storage systems will automatically generate a LUN of 0 by default.

For more details see GUI Create volume Generic iSCSI

Troubleshooting External Storage on VMware

If a volume has been removed or replaced in the storage device, Abiquo may try to attach a volume that does not exist or is completely different to one previously configured. This situation may occur with: managed storage volumes, generic iSCSI volumes and persistent VMs. It can be resolved by manually performing a full HBA rescan of all ESX or ESXi hosts that had raw device mappings for the devices involved. In general, Abiquo avoids performing a full HBA rescan of storage on ESX or ESXi for performance reasons. Instead it checks for a raw device mapping for a given IQN and LUN, which means that changes to volumes can lead to this situation.

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