Additional Network Settings

When setting up a new cluster, there are several network-related tasks that you might need to perform.

  • Configure Active Directory and username/group name downloads (if needed)

    If your network hosts use Active Directory or another kind of external directory service, you must modify the cluster’s directory services configuration to set up how the cluster downloads username and group information. Read Cluster > Directory Services in the Cluster Configuration Guide for details.

    Note that the Avere cluster requires an AD server to support SMB. Configure AD before starting to set up SMB.

  • Configure proxy servers (if needed)

    If your cluster is required to use a proxy server to access external addresses, define it in the Proxy Configuration settings page and apply it by using the Cluster > General Setup page or the Core Filer Details page. Read Cluster > Proxy Configuration in the Cluster Configuration Guide for details.

  • Upload encryption certificates (optional)

    Read Encryption Certificates for details about how to store security certificates for use by the cluster.

For additional information about network services used by the Avere cluster, read Configuring Network Services for an Avere Cluster in the Cluster Configuration Guide.

Configuring DNS for the Avere Cluster

This section explains the basics for setting up DNS for your Avere OS cluster.

If your system is accessed by NFS clients only, using DNS is recommended but not required; it is possible to specify all network addresses by using numeric IP addresses. If your system supports SMB (CIFS) access, DNS is required, because you must specify a DNS domain for the Active Directory server.

DNS also is required if you want to use Kerberos authentication.

Client Load Balancing

To distribute the overall load, configure your DNS domain to use round-robin load distribution for client-facing IP addresses. (This is called round-robin DNS, or RRDNS.)

When clients access the cluster, RRDNS automatically balances their requests among all available interfaces.

RRDNS Configuration Details

For optimal performance, configure your DNS server to handle client-facing cluster addresses as shown in the following diagram.

A cluster vserver is shown on the left, and IP addresses appear in the center and on the right. Configure each client access point with A records and pointers as illustrated.

Avere cluster DNS diagram

Each client-facing IP address must have a unique name for internal use by the cluster. (In this diagram, the client IPs are named vs1-client-IP-* for clarity, but in production you should probably use something more concise, like client*.)

Clients mount the cluster using the vserver name as the server argument.

Modify your DNS server’s named.conf file to set cyclic order for queries to your vserver. This option ensures that all of the available values are cycled through. Add a statement like the following:

options {
    rrset-order {
        class IN A name "vserver1.example.com" order cyclic;
    };
};

The following nsupdate commands provide an example of configuring DNS correctly:

update add vserver1.example.com. 86400 A 10.0.0.10
update add vserver1.example.com. 86400 A 10.0.0.11
update add vserver1.example.com. 86400 A 10.0.0.12
update add vs1-client-IP-10.example.com. 86400 A 10.0.0.10
update add vs1-client-IP-11.example.com. 86400 A 10.0.0.11
update add vs1-client-IP-12.example.com. 86400 A 10.0.0.12
update add 10.0.0.10.in-addr.arpa. 86400 PTR vs1-client-IP-10.example.com
update add 11.0.0.10.in-addr.arpa. 86400 PTR vs1-client-IP-11.example.com
update add 12.0.0.10.in-addr.arpa. 86400 PTR vs1-client-IP-12.example.com

Cluster DNS Settings

DNS parameters for the cluster are set in the Cluster > Administrative Network settings page. Settings on that page include:

  • DNS server address
  • DNS domain name
  • DNS search domains

Read DNS Settings in the Cluster Configuration Guide for more details about using this page.

Encryption Certificates

Avere OS uses X.509 certificates for these functions:

  • To encrypt cluster administration traffic
  • To authenticate on behalf of a client to third-party KMIP servers
  • For verifying cloud providers’ server certificates

If you need to upload certificates to the cluster, use the Cluster > Certificates settings page. Read Cluster > Certificates in the Cluster Configuration Guide for details.

To encrypt cluster management communication, use the Cluster > General Setup settings page to select which certificate to use for administrative SSL.

Note

Cloud service access keys are stored by using the Cloud Credentials configuration page. Read Cloud Credentials for an overview of that process.