Veritas Flex Appliance Getting Started and Administration Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): Appliances (2.1.4, 2.1.3, 2.1.2, 2.1.1, 2.1)
Platform: Flex Appliance OS
  1. Product overview
    1.  
      Introduction to Veritas Flex Appliance
    2.  
      Flex Appliance terminology
    3.  
      About the Flex Appliance documentation
  2. Release notes
    1.  
      Flex Appliance 2.1 new features, enhancements, and changes
    2.  
      Flex Appliance 2.1.1 new features, enhancements, and changes
    3.  
      Flex Appliance 2.1.2 new features, enhancements, and changes
    4.  
      Flex Appliance 2.1.3 new features, enhancements, and changes
    5.  
      Flex Appliance 2.1.4 new features, enhancements, and changes
    6.  
      Supported upgrade paths to this release
    7.  
      Operational notes
    8.  
      Flex Appliance 2.1 release content
    9.  
      Flex Appliance 2.1.1 release content
    10.  
      Flex Appliance 2.1.2 release content
    11.  
      Flex Appliance 2.1.3 release content
    12.  
      Flex Appliance 2.1.4 release content
  3. Getting started
    1.  
      Initial configuration guidelines and checklist
    2.  
      Performing the initial configuration
    3.  
      Adding a node
    4.  
      Accessing and using the Flex Appliance Shell
    5.  
      Accessing and using the Flex Appliance Console
    6.  
      Managing the appliance from the Appliance Management Console
    7.  
      Setting the date and time for appliance nodes
    8.  
      Common tasks in Flex Appliance
  4. Managing network settings
    1.  
      Creating a network bond
    2.  
      Deleting a network bond
    3.  
      Configuring a network interface
    4. Managing the appliance Fibre Channel ports
      1.  
        Viewing the devices that are connected to the Fibre Channel ports
    5.  
      Changing DNS or Hosts file settings
  5. Managing users
    1.  
      Overview of the Flex Appliance default users
    2.  
      Changing the password policy
    3. Managing Flex Appliance Console users and tenants
      1.  
        Adding a tenant
      2.  
        Editing a tenant
      3.  
        Removing a tenant
      4.  
        Adding a local user to the Flex Appliance Console
      5.  
        Connecting a remote user domain to the Flex Appliance Console
      6.  
        Importing a remote user or user group to the Flex Appliance Console
      7.  
        Editing a remote user domain in the Flex Appliance Console
      8.  
        Changing a local user password in the Flex Appliance Console
      9.  
        Expiring local user passwords in the Flex Appliance Console
      10.  
        Removing users from the Flex Appliance Console
      11.  
        Managing user authentication with smart cards or digital certificates
    4.  
      Changing the hostadmin user password in the Flex Appliance Shell
    5.  
      Changing the sysadmin user password in the Veritas Remote Management Interface
  6. Using Flex Appliance
    1. Managing the repository
      1.  
        Adding files to the repository
      2.  
        Removing the current appliance upgrade or update package from the repository
    2.  
      Creating application instances
    3.  
      Managing application instances from Flex Appliance and NetBackup
    4. Managing application instances from Flex Appliance
      1.  
        Resizing instance storage
      2.  
        Editing instance network settings
      3.  
        Assigning Fibre Channel ports to an instance
      4.  
        Unassigning Fibre Channel ports from an instance
      5. Managing application add-ons on instances
        1.  
          Installing application add-ons
        2.  
          Uninstalling application add-ons
        3.  
          Changing the application add-on installation order
      6.  
        Viewing instance performance metrics
      7.  
        Clearing a configuration error status on an application instance
    5. Upgrading application instances
      1.  
        Warnings and considerations for instance rollbacks
    6.  
      Updating an application instance to a newer revision
    7. About Flex Appliance upgrades and updates
      1.  
        Upgrading Flex Appliance
      2.  
        Updating Flex Appliance
      3.  
        Updating the firmware
  7. Appliance security
    1.  
      Security overview
    2. About lockdown mode
      1.  
        Changing the lockdown mode
    3.  
      Using a sign-in banner
    4.  
      Using an external certificate
  8. Monitoring the appliance
    1.  
      Registering an appliance
    2. Configuring alerts
      1. About AutoSupport and Call Home
        1.  
          Configuring Call Home
      2.  
        Configuring email alerts
      3.  
        Configuring SNMP alerts
      4.  
        Setting the threshold values for disk usage alerts
    3. Viewing the hardware status
      1.  
        Viewing node information
      2.  
        Viewing Primary Storage Shelf information on a Veritas 53xx Appliance
      3.  
        Viewing Expansion Storage Shelf information on a Veritas 53xx Appliance
      4.  
        Viewing Storage Shelf information on a Veritas 5250 Appliance
    4.  
      Viewing hardware faults
    5.  
      Viewing system data
    6.  
      Forwarding logs
    7.  
      Providing access for external monitoring
    8.  
      Revoking access for external monitoring
  9. Reconfiguring the appliance
    1.  
      Performing a factory reset
    2.  
      Performing a reimage
    3.  
      Recovering storage data after a factory reset or a reimage
    4.  
      Performing a storage reset
    5.  
      Removing a node
    6.  
      Viewing or resetting the storage shelf order on a Veritas 5250 Appliance
  10. Troubleshooting guidelines
    1.  
      General troubleshooting steps
    2.  
      Generating a One-Time Password and unlocking access in lockdown mode
    3.  
      Gathering logs

Initial configuration guidelines and checklist

Review the following information before you perform the initial configuration on a new Veritas Flex appliance:

Table: Flex Appliance configuration guidelines and checklist

Parameter

Description

Network cabling for the Veritas 53xx Appliance

The following Veritas 53xx Appliance ports must be connected to the network for initial configuration:

  • The remote management (IPMI) port

    Used to connect to the Veritas Remote Management Interface.

    Note:

    The remote management port must be configured before you begin initial configuration. If it is not configured, do one of the following:

    For a 5350 appliance, refer to the Veritas 5350 Appliance Hardware Installation Guide for the procedure.

    For a 5340 appliance, contact Technical Support and ask your representative to reference article 100042482.

  • host1 or host0

    Used to connect to the Flex Appliance Console. Veritas recommends that you connect both host1 and host0 for maximum resiliency, but only one of them is required.

    Note:

    These ports are labeled ETH0 and ETH1 on the 53xx nodes.

  • privnic1 and privnic0 (multi-node appliances only)

    Used for communication between nodes.

    Note:

    These ports are labeled ETH2 and ETH3 on the 53xx nodes.

  • Two to eight 25-10Gb Ethernet ports per node on the 5350

    Two to ten 10Gb Ethernet ports per node on the 5340

    Used for the application instances.

See the Hardware Installation or the Product Description guides for more details.

Network cabling for the Veritas 5250 Appliance

The following Veritas 5250 Appliance ports must be connected to the network for initial configuration:

  • The remote management (IPMI) port

    Used to connect to the Veritas Remote Management Interface.

    Note:

    The remote management port must be configured before you begin initial configuration. If it is not configured, refer to the Veritas 5250 Appliance Hardware Installation Guide for the procedure.

  • host0

    Used to connect to the Flex Appliance Console.

  • Two to six 25-10Gb Ethernet ports

    Used for the application instances.

See the Veritas 5250 Appliance Hardware Installation Guide or the Veritas 5250 Appliance Product Description for more details.

Network cabling for the Veritas 5150 Appliance

The following Veritas 5150 Appliance ports must be connected to the network for initial configuration:

  • The remote management (IPMI) port

    Used to connect to the Veritas Remote Management Interface.

    Note:

    The remote management port must be configured before you begin initial configuration. If it is not configured, refer to the Veritas 5150 Appliance Hardware Installation Guide for the procedure.

  • host0

    Used to connect to the Flex Appliance Console.

  • Two 25-10Gb Ethernet ports, two 10GBASE-T Ethernet ports, or four 1GBASE-T Ethernet ports, depending on the purchase configuration

    Used for the application instances.

See the Veritas 5150 Appliance Hardware Installation Guide or the Veritas 5150 Appliance Product Description for more details.

Connectivity during initial configuration

When you perform the appliance initial configuration, you must take precautions to avoid loss of connectivity. Any loss of connectivity during initial configuration results in failure.

The computer that you use to configure the appliance should be set up to avoid the following events:

  • Conditions that cause the computer to go to sleep

  • Conditions that cause the computer to turn off or to lose power

  • Conditions that cause the computer to lose its network connection

Required names and addresses

Before the configuration, gather the following information:

  • (53xx appliance only) IP address for the Flex Appliance Console

  • (53xx appliance only) Hostname for the Flex Appliance Console

  • IP address for each node in the appliance

  • Hostname for each node in the appliance

  • Default gateway

  • Netmask

  • (Optional) DNS server IP address

  • DNS domain

  • (Optional) Search domain

If you plan to use DNS, make sure that forward and reverse DNS lookups are configured properly in your environment. If a forward or a reverse DNS lookup returns multiple records, the initial configuration may fail. You can check the DNS configuration with the following commands for each node. Each command should return only one entry.

Linux:

dig +short @<DNS server IP address> a <node FQDN>

dig +short @<DNS server IP address> -x <node IP address>

Windows:

nslookup <node IP address>

nslookup <node hostname>

Default username and password

New appliances are shipped with the following default login credentials:

  • Username: hostadmin

  • Password: P@ssw0rd

Firewall port usage

Make sure that the following ports are open if a firewall exists between the appliance and the network:

  • 22 (SSH) must be allowed to each node.

  • 443 (HTTPS) must be allowed to the Flex Appliance Console.