How to Configure a Netapp Fas

Home / Knowledge Base / Articles /How to configure a Netapp FAS controller to use NDMP

How to

configure a

Netapp FAS controller to use

NDMP

Author: NetworkAdminKB.com

Created: 2011-03-34

Modified: 2011-07-22

Information:

This article will explain the basic

process used to configure a

Netapp FAS controller to use

NDMP to communicate with a

VTL or standalone tape device

over Fiber Channel. This is a

basic configuration used to show

the general steps involved in the

process.

There are many configuration

options available for using

NDMP in conjunction with third

party backup software. You

should review your backup

software documentation for

specific configurations that are

supported. In general NDMP

supports Virtual and Physical

Tape Libraries as well as stand

alone tape devices.

Assumptions and Perquisites

The version of Data Ontap

needed to support your

tape device is currently

installed.

•

ActionsShare

Click to rate

0 Rating(s)

Register

Free Registration

Knowledge Base

Browse KB

News

View latest news

items

Knowledge Base

Search KB

Articles

Recent Articles

Utilities

Downloads

Scripts

Script Library

Article Rating

0

0

0

0

0

Page 1 of 24How to configure a Netapp FAS controller to use NDMP

4/4/2012http://networkadminkb.com/KB/a16/how-to-configure-a-netapp-fas-controller-to-use-ndmp....

You have access to the

Netapp NOW site and

associated downloads for

your Netapp controllers.

•

You have a basic

understanding of NDMP

and its associated concepts.

•

You have administrative

rights to the Netapp

Controller(s) and know

how to access their

configuration files stored

in the etc folder (aka the

etc$ share).

•

You know how to run

various Data Ontap

commands by connecting

to the Netapp controller

using Telnet / SSH etc.

•

You know how to perform

a takeover and giveback of

the Netapp FAS cluster.

•

You have verified your

planned configuration is

supported by Netapp.

•

You have a FC tape device

that can be dedicated for

use by Netapp. The FC

tape device being used for

NDMP cannot be shared

with other devices.

•

You understand basic Fiber

Channel (FC) concepts and

terminology.

•

You know how to zone FC

ports using an FC switch,

or you are attaching the

tape device directly to one

of the Netapp FC ports.

•

Important: In order for the

Netapp controller to use NDMP

over fiber channel it must have

one FC port not currently zoned

to other devices, and this port

should not be used to present



LUNs to FC hosts. Usually all

Netapp FC ports connected to

the FC fabric are configured as

Target Ports so they can accept

incoming connections. This port

will be reconfigured as an

Initiator Port to support NDMP.

If you do not have an available

FC port you can purchase an FC

expansion card or you can

reconfigure an embedded FC

port as an Initiator port.

1) Verify the tape device is

on Netapp’s Data

Protection Supported

Devices list

a.

http://www.netapp.co

-z/data-protection

-devices.html

b. Download the

configuration file

for your device

from this web

site.

c. The

configuration file

should have a

TCF extension.

2) Verify / Install the Tape

Configuration file

a. Check the

Netapp

etc$\tape_config

folder to see if the

configuration file

already exists.



b. If the

configuration

already exists in

the

etc$\tape_config

folder do not

overwrite it,

Netapp may

restore the

original files in

the future.

c. Note: the

configuration file

is just a text file

that can be

opened in any

text editor.

3) Configure the

appropriate Netapp FC

port as an Initiator

a. Warning:

Changing the

selected Netapp

FC port from

Target to Initiator

will change the

WWN associated

with the port.

b. Typically only

the embedded

Netapp FC ports

can be configured

as either Target or

Initiator. Because

of this the

fcadmin

commands only

work on those

ports. Usually,



the expansion

HBA’s installed

into the Netapp

Controllers are

ordered

hardcoded as

Target or Initiator

ports and can not

be changed.

c. The embedded

Netapp FC ports

are usually

labeled as 0a, 0b,

0c, or 0d. Be sure

you know which

FC port is being

changed to the

Initiator port.

i. To

map

WWN to

Netapp

FC labels

use this

command.

fcp

show

adapter

d. Run the

following

command to view

the current FC

Port

configuration.

fcadmin

config



e. Disable the

selected port

fcadmin

config -d ##

f. Change the

selected port to an

Initiator

fcadmin

config -t

initiator ##

g. If this is a

Netapp FAS

Cluster you need

to perform the

same

configuration, on

the same port, on

the partner

Netapp

controller. Thus,

in the above

examples port 0c

would be

configured in the

same manner on

the partner

Netapp

Controller. This

is required to

support proper

takeover and

giveback during a

failure.



h. Reboot the

controller

i. If this

Netapp

FAS

Cluster

perform a

takeover,

reboot,

and

giveback

on each of

the

controllers

in the

Netapp

FAS

cluster.

ii. If this

is a single

controller

reboot the

controller

i. Enable / Verify

the selected

Netapp FC port

i. The

port

should

come back

online

after the

reboot.

Use this

command

to verify.

fcadmin

config



ii. If the

port is not

enabled

use the

following

command

to enable

it.

fcadmin

config

-e ##

j. Obtain the

current WWPN

of the selected

initiator port.

storage

show

adapter

i. The

WWPN

may be

needed to

do the FC

zoning or

provide

access to

the tape

device in

Enterprise

VTLs.



4) Connect the Tape

Device to the selected

Netapp FC Port

a. If using an FC

Switch

i. Zone

the

selected

Netapp

FC port to

the FC

tape

device.

b. If using a directly

connected FC

tape device

i.

Connect

the FC

tape

device

directly to

the

Netapp

FC port.

c. If using an

Enterprise VTL

i. Grant

the

Netapp

WWPN

access to

the VTL

as

required.

5) Bounce the selected

Netapp FC Port

a. You must bounce

the selected FC



port on the

Netapp Controller

(s) to force a scan

for new devices.

A scan for new

devices is only

done during a

reboot or fiber

state change.

i. A

fiber state

change

can be

initiated

using one

of the

following

methods.

1.

On

the

FC

Switc

disable

then

enable

the

Switc

port

the

selecte

Netap

FC

port

is

conne

to.

2.

Unplug

the



selecte

Netap

FC

port

from

the

switch

or

directly

conne

tape

device.

ii. Leave

the port

down for

at least 2

minutes so

the

Netapp

Controller

properly

detects the

fiber state

change

and

configures

the FC

port as

offline.

iii.

Review

the

Netapp

messages

log after

the

bounce is

completed

you

should see



messages

similar to

these.

6) List the currently

discovered devices.

a. List the tape

devices

sysconfig -t

b. List robotic Tape

Library devices

sysconfig -

m

c. If the tape

devices are not

listed review your

configuration

and/or perform

another bounce of

the selected

Netapp FC port.

If using a VTL

typically you

need to provide

access to the

Media Changer as

well as the Tape

Device.

7) Review and Enable

NDMP on the Netapp

Controller(s)

a. Check NDMP

current status

ndmpd

status



b. Enable NDMP

ndmpd on

Configuring Netapp to support

Third Party Backup Software for

use with NDMP

In general to support third party

backup software integration with

NDMP you will need to

configure most of the following

options on the Netapp controller

(s). Your specific needs may

vary. It’s recommended you use

dedicated tape devices (virtual or

physical) for each Netapp

controller, this will simplify your

configuration.

1) On the Netapp

Controller

a. Add a backup

user account for

use by the

software

useradmin

user add

backupuser

-g “Backup

Operators”

i.

Change

the

backupuser

name as

needed for

your

environment

ii. Enter

the user



password

when

prompted.

b. Specify the

NDMP password

length

i. Users

that do not

have root

access

must enter

a system

generated

NDMP

password

to run

NDMP

operations

on the

Netapp

controller.

This

password

will also

be used to

authenticate

the

backup

user when

used with

third party

backup

software.

options

ndmpd.p

{8 |

16}



ii. The

system

generated

password

can be

either 8 or

16

characters

in length.

c. Generate an

NDMP password

for the backup

user.

i. Use

the

following

command

to

generate

the

NDMP

password.

ndmpd

password

backupu

ii.

Record

the

generated

NDMP

password.

iii. This

password

is good

until the

regular

password

for this



account it

changed.

Once the

regular

password

is changes

you must

repeat this

command

to obtain a

new

system

generated

password.

iv. The

system

generated

password

will be

unique to

each

Netapp

Controller.

d. Grant NDMP

access to the host

name of the

server running the

third party

backup software.

options

ndmpd.access

host=server.dom

i. This

host name

must be

resolved

via DNS

or it



should be

manually

added to

the

etc$\hosts

file. You

may use

the IP

Address

instead of

the DNS

name.

ii.

Optionally,

you can

grant

NDMP

access to

all hosts

using the

following

command.

options

ndmpd.a

all

1. By

defau

all

hosts

should

be

granted

NDM

access.

It

is

recom

you

leave



this

setting

at

its

defau

value.

e. Specify the

NDMP

authentication

type

options

ndmpd.authty

{challenge |

plaintext |

plaintext,challe

i.

Challenge

(MD5) is

the

preferred

and more

secure

method.

ii. Refer

to your

third party

backup

software

to

determine

which

authentication

type you

should

configure.

f. Enable or disable

NDMP



connection

logging

i. This

will log

NDMP

connections

to the

etc$\message

file and

can be

useful for

troubleshootin

or

auditing

access.

options

ndmpd.c

{on |

off}

g. Configure the

type of Tape

Reservation to

use.

i.

Sharing

the Tape

Drive

and/or

Media

Changer

between

multiple

systems

requires

all the

systems to

use the

same Tape

Reservation



method.

This may

not be

required if

the Tape

Drive

and/or

Media

Changer is

dedicated

to a single

Netapp

Controller.

options

tape.rese

{scsi |

persisten

| off}

ii. The

two tape

reservation

methods

are SCSI-

Reserve

and SCSI-

Persistent.

SCSI-

Persistent

reservations

are not

affected

by error

recovery

mechanisms,

such as

loop reset,

but not all

devices

implement



SCSI-

Persistent

reservations

correctly.

h. Determine or set

NDMP version

i.

Determine

NDMP

version

ndmpd

version

ii. Set

NDMP

version

ndmpd

version

{1 | 2 |

3| 4}

1.

Use

this

comm

to

specify

an

NDM

versio

comp

with

your

third

party

backu

softw

The

highe



NDM

versio

is

4.

Configure your third party

backup software

You can now configure your

third party backup software as

needed to support NDMP.

Review the third party backup

software documentation for on

how to configure their

application to use NDMP.

You may want to verify your

software is compatible with

Netapp’s NDMP.

http://www.netapp.com/us/solutions

-z/backup-to-tape/backup-to-tape

-ndmp.html

Interesting limitations I

encountered with my Netapp and

third party backup software and

NDMP. Not sure if these are

common to all applications or

not, given the general

recommendations of dedicated

tape devices for NDMP I think

these apply universally.

Software issues: •

The backup

software was

unable to duplicate

an NDMP tape

from a VTL to the

ATL, thus making

the VTL useless.

◦

Monitoring and Managing

NDMP sessions



You can monitor and manage

NDMP sessions directly from

the Netapp system console using

the following commands

1) View NDMP Session

details

a. ndmpd probe

[session]

2) Terminating an NDMP

session

a. ndmpd kill

session

3) Enable NDMP debug

log messages

a. ndmpd debug

{10 | 30 | 50 | 70}

4) View current NDMP

debug log setting

a. ndmpd debug

Miscellaneous Netapp

commands

1) Display current aliases

a. storage alias

2) Remove all tape device

alias’s

a. storage unalias -t

3) Remove all media

changer alias’s

a. storage unalias -

m

4) Show tape devices

a. storage show

tape

5) Show storage adapters

a. storage show

adapter

Article ID: 16, Created On: 9/15/2011,

Modified: 9/15/2011



Show More (0 of 0)Add Comment

Comments (0)



Documents

How to Configure a Netapp Fas