Veritas Flex Appliance Getting Started and Administration Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): Appliances (3.3, 3.2, 3.1, 3.0)
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 3.0 new features, enhancements, and changes
    2.  
      Flex Appliance 3.1 new features, enhancements, and changes
    3.  
      Flex Appliance 3.2 new features, enhancements, and changes
    4.  
      Flex Appliance 3.3 new features, enhancements, and changes
    5.  
      Supported upgrade and update paths to this release
    6.  
      Operational notes
    7.  
      Flex Appliance 3.0 release content
    8.  
      Flex Appliance 3.1 release content
    9.  
      Flex Appliance 3.2 release content
    10.  
      Flex Appliance 3.3 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.  
      Editing a network bond
    3.  
      Deleting a network bond
    4.  
      Configuring or editing a network interface
    5. Managing the appliance Fibre Channel ports
      1.  
        Viewing the devices that are connected to the Fibre Channel ports
    6.  
      Changing DNS or Hosts file settings
  5. Managing users
    1.  
      Overview of the Flex Appliance default users
    2. 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.  
        Editing a remote user domain in the Flex Appliance Console
      7.  
        Importing a remote user or user group to the Flex Appliance Console
      8.  
        Managing single sign-on (SSO)
      9.  
        Managing identity providers (IDPs)
      10.  
        Importing a single sign-on user or user group to the Flex Appliance Console
      11.  
        Managing user authentication with smart cards or digital certificates
      12.  
        Changing a local user password in the Flex Appliance Console
      13.  
        Expiring local user passwords in the Flex Appliance Console
      14.  
        Unlocking a local user account in the Flex Appliance Console
      15.  
        Removing users from the Flex Appliance Console
    3.  
      Changing the password policy
    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 files 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 updates
      1.  
        Updating Flex Appliance
      2.  
        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
    5. Using network access control
      1.  
        Changing the SSH port
  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.  
      Monitoring the appliance from the System Health Insights portal
    4. Viewing the hardware status
      1.  
        Viewing node information
      2.  
        Viewing storage shelf information on a Veritas 53xx Appliance
      3.  
        Viewing storage shelf information on a Veritas 52xx Appliance
    5.  
      Viewing hardware faults
    6.  
      Viewing system data
    7.  
      Clearing the hardware status
    8.  
      Forwarding logs
    9.  
      Providing access for external monitoring
    10.  
      Revoking access for external monitoring
  9. Reconfiguring the appliance
    1.  
      Shutting down the appliance
    2.  
      Performing a factory reset
    3.  
      Performing a reimage
    4.  
      Recovering storage data after a factory reset or a reimage
    5.  
      Performing a storage reset
    6.  
      Removing a node
    7.  
      Viewing or resetting the storage shelf order on a Veritas 52xx Appliance
  10. Troubleshooting guidelines
    1.  
      General troubleshooting steps
    2.  
      Generating a One-Time Password and unlocking access in lockdown mode
    3.  
      Gathering logs

Flex Appliance 3.0 new features, enhancements, and changes

The following list describes the new features, enhancements, and changes in the Flex Appliance 3.0 release:

  • You can now remove applications and application add-ons from the repository.

    See Removing files from the repository.

  • This release introduces the Network Access Control feature. You can use Network Access Control to control which IP addresses are allowed to access the appliance. Use HTTPS access control to control which IP addresses can access the Flex Appliance Console or the APIs through HTTPS. Use SSH access control to control which IP addresses can access the Flex Appliance Shell through SSH.

    See Using network access control.

    You can customize the SSH port with the NetworkAccessControl API. For more information, see the API documentation on Veritas SORT.

  • IPv6 is now supported on the appliance. It is also supported on NetBackup primary and media server application instances version 9.1.0.1 and later, and NetBackup WORM storage server versions 15.0.2 and later. You can edit your existing network interfaces to add IPv6 addresses, but the interfaces must not be in use by any instances when you make the change. See Configuring or editing a network interface.

    Note that IPv6 is not supported on the Appliance Management Console.

  • The Flex Appliance Console now supports single sign-on (SSO). You must have a SAML 2.0 compliant identity provider configured in your environment.

    See Managing single sign-on (SSO).

  • Local Flex Appliance Console user accounts are now protected with an account lock if the appliance detects 3 failed sign-in attempts within 15 minutes.

    See Unlocking a local user account in the Flex Appliance Console.

  • You can now edit network bonds to change the bonded interfaces.

    See Editing a network bond.

  • The diagnostic logs now mask user information such as hostnames, IP addresses, usernames, etc. If needed, you can disable the masking option from the Flex Appliance Shell.

    See Gathering logs.

  • On the Veritas 5150 and 5250 appliances, upgrades to this release remove all unused applications and add-ons from the repository.

  • Call Home is now enabled by default unless you choose to disable it during the setup configure-console step of initial configuration. You can also disable it from the Settings > Call Home page.

    See Configuring Call Home.

  • The following widgets have been added to the Home page on the Flex Appliance Console:

    • Call Home

      This widget shows whether Call Home is enabled or disabled and the connection status.

    • Security meter

      This widget shows the security status of the appliance and offers recommendations.

    • Performance

      This widget shows the CPU, memory, and network throughput metrics for the appliance.

  • The bond modes balance-alb and balance-tlb are no longer supported for applications.

  • The metrics API no longer collects metrics about application instances except for the storage utilization. For more information on the metrics API, see the API documentation on Veritas SORT.

  • The appliance alerts have been enhanced to add visibility into the status of the appliance. If an application instance or an appliance service encounters an error, the monitoring service sends an SNMP alert and an event to the Veritas NetInsights Console. The monitoring service also sends an email alert if an application instance or one of the following services goes offline or fails over to another node: management server, the authorization service, the registry service, or the Flex Appliance Console.