Creating a FlexCache - FSx for ONTAP
Using the ONTAP CLI PrerequisitesRecord the source and destination inter-cluster LIFsEstablish cluster peering between the origin and cacheConfigure SVM peeringCreate the FlexCache volumeMount the FlexCache volume

Creating a FlexCache

Using the following procedures, you will create a FlexCache volume on an Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP file system, that is backed by an origin volume located in an on-premises NetApp ONTAP cluster.

Using the ONTAP CLI

You will use the ONTAP CLI to create and manage a FlexCache configuration on your FSx for ONTAP file system.

The commands in these procedures use the following aliases for the cluster, SVM, and volume :

  • Cache_ID – the cache cluster's ID (in the format FSxIdabcdef1234567890a)

  • Origin_ID – the origin cluster's ID

  • CacheSVM – the cache SVM name

  • OriginSVM – the origin SVM name

  • OriginVol – the origin volume name

  • CacheVol – the FlexCache volume name

The procedures in this section use the following NetApp ONTAP CLI commands.

Prerequisites

Before you begin using the procedures in the following sections, be sure that you have met the following prerequisites:

  • The source and destination file systems are connected in the same VPC, or are in networks that are peered using Amazon VPC, AWS Transit Gateway, AWS Direct Connect, or AWS VPN. For more information, see Accessing data from within the AWS Cloud and What is VPC peering? in the Amazon VPC Peering Guide.

  • The VPC security group for the FSx for ONTAP file system has inbound and outbound rules allowing ICMP as well as TCP on ports 11104 and 11105 for your inter-cluster endpoints (LIFs).

  • You have created a destination FSx for ONTAP file system with an SVM, but you have not created the volume that will be used as a FlexCache. For more information, see Creating file systems.

Record the source and destination inter-cluster LIFs

  1. For the FSx for ONTAP file system that is the destination cluster:

    1. Open the Amazon FSx console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/fsx/.

    2. Choose File systems, then choose the FSx for ONTAP file system that is the destination cluster to open the file system details page.

    3. In Administration, find the Inter-cluster endpoint - IP addresses, and record the value.

    Note

    For scale-out file systems, there are two inter-cluster endpoint IP addresses for each high-availability (HA) pair.

  2. For the on-premises source cluster, retrieve the inter-cluster LIF IP addresses using the following ONTAP CLI command:

    Origin::> network interface show -role intercluster
Logical                          Network  
Vserver     Interface  Status    Address/Mask
----------- ---------- -------   ------------
OriginSVM
            inter_1     up/up    10.0.0.36/24
            inter_2     up/up    10.0.1.69/24

  3. Save the inter_1 and inter_2 IP addresses. They are referenced in the OriginSVM alias as origin_inter_1 and origin_inter_2 and the CacheSVM alias as cache_inter_1 and cache_inter_2.

Establish cluster peering between the origin and cache

Establish a cluster peer relationship on the Cache and Source cluster using the cluster peer create ONTAP CLI command. You will provide the inter-cluster IP addresses that you saved previously in the Record the source and destination inter-cluster LIFs procedure. When prompted, you will be asked to create a cluster-peer-passphrase that you will need to enter in when you establish cluster peering on the Origin cluster.

  1. Set up cluster peering on the Cache cluster (your FSx for ONTAP file system).

    1. To access the ONTAP CLI, establish an SSH session on the management port of the Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP file system or SVM by running the following command. Replace management_endpoint_ip with the IP address of the file system's management port.

      [~]$ ssh fsxadmin@management_endpoint_ip

      For more information, see Managing file systems with the ONTAP CLI.

    2. Use the following command, and record the password that you create. For scale-out file systems, provide the inter_1 and inter_2 IP addresses for each HA pair.

      FSx-Cache::> cluster peer create -address-family ipv4 -peer-addrs origin_inter_1,origin_inter_2
 
Enter the passphrase: cluster-peer-passphrase
Confirm the passphrase: cluster-peer-passphrase
Notice: Now use the same passphrase in the "cluster peer create" command in the other cluster.

  2. Use the following command to set up cluster peering on the source (on-premises) cluster. You’ll need to enter the passphrase you created in the previous step to authenticate. For scale-out file systems, you'll need to provide the inter-cluster IP address for each HA pair.

    Origin::> cluster peer create -address-family ipv4 -peer-addrs cache_inter_1,cache_inter_2
 
Enter the passphrase: cluster-peer-passphrase
Confirm the passphrase: cluster-peer-passphrase

  3. On the source cluster, verify that cluster peering was set up successfully using the following command. In the output, Availability should be set to Available.

    Origin::> cluster peer show
 
Peer Cluster Name     Availability    Authentication
-------------------   -------------   --------------
Cache_ID              Available       ok

    If the output does not show Available, repeat the previous steps on the source and cache clusters.

Configure storage virtual machine (SVM) peering

After you have established cluster peering successfully, the next step is to create an SVM peering relationship on the cache cluster (Cache) using the vserver peer command. Additional aliases used in the following procedure are as follows:

  • CacheLocalName – the name used to identify the cache SVM when configuring SVM peering on the origin SVM.

  • OriginLocalName – the name used to identify the origin SVM when configuring SVM peering on the cache SVM.

  1. On the cache SVM, use the following command to create an SVM peering relationship.

    FSx-Cache::> vserver peer create -vserver CacheSVM -peer-vserver OriginSVM -peer-cluster Origin_ID -local-name OriginLocalName -application flexcache

  2. On the source cluster, use the following command to accept the SVM peering relationship.

    Origin::> vserver peer accept -vserver OriginSVM -peer-vserver CacheSVM -local-name CacheLocalName

  3. On the source cluster, accept the peering relationship.

    Origin::> vserver peer accept -vserver OriginSVM -peer-vserver CacheSVM -local-name CacheLocalName

  4. Verify that the SVM peering was successful using the following command; Peer State should be set to peered in the response.

    Origin::> vserver peer show
     
Vserver      Peer Vserver    Peer State    Peering Cluster    Remote Applications    
------------ --------------- ------------- ------------------ -----------------------
OriginSVM    CacheSVM        peered        FSx-Cache          flexcache

Create the FlexCache volume

After successfully creating the SVM peering relationship, the next step is to create the FlexCache volume on the cache SVM. The FlexCache volume must be a FlexGroup. You will also choose a mode of operation for your FlexCache volume. For more information, see FlexCache write modes.

  1. On the cache cluster, use the following ONTAP CLI command to create your FlexCache volume. The example creates a 2 TB FlexCache volume named CacheVol.

    • To create a write-around FlexCache volume, use the following command.

      FSx-Cache::> volume flexcache create -vserver CacheSVM -size 2t -volume CacheVol -origin-volume OriginVol -origin-vserver OriginSVM -junction-path /flexcache -aggr-list aggr1

    • To create a write-back FlexCache volume, use the following command.

      FSx-Cache::> volume flexcache create -vserver CacheSVM -size 2t -volume CacheVol -origin-volume OriginVol -origin-vserver OriginSVM -junction-path /flexcache -aggr-list aggr1 -is-writeback-enabled true
    Note

    You can use the volume flexcache config modify -is-writeback-enabled {true|false} command to modify the write mode. Before using this command, make sure you enter ONTAP CLI advanced mode by using the set -privilege advanced command.

  2. Verify the FlexCache relationship between the FlexCache volume and the origin volume.

    • For a FlexCache write-around volume, your output will look similar to the following example.

      FSx-Cache::> volume flexcache show
  
Vserver   Volume      Size     Origin-Vserver  Origin-Volume  Origin-Cluster
-------   ----------  -------  --------------  -------------  --------------
CacheSVM  CacheVol    2TB      OriginSVM       OriginVol      Origin

    • For a FlexCache write-back volume, your output will look similar to the following example.

      FSx-Cache::> volume flexcache show
  
Vserver   Volume      Size     Origin-Vserver  Origin-Volume  Origin-Cluster  Writeback
-------   ----------  -------  --------------  -------------  --------------  ---------
CacheSVM  CacheVol    2TB      OriginSVM       OriginVol      Origin          true

Mount the FlexCache volume

Once the FlexCache volume becomes AVAILABLE, NFSv3, NFSv4, and SMB clients can mount it. Once the FlexCache is mounted, clients have access to the entire dataset on the on-premise origin volume.

  • To create a mount point and mount the FlexCache, run the following commands on the client:

    $ sudo mkdir -p /fsx/CacheVol
$ sudo mount -t nfs management.fs-01d2f606463087f6d.fsx.us-east-1.amazonaws.com:/CacheVol /fsx/CacheVol