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OpenStack InfiniBox Volume Driver

The INFINIDAT Block Storage volume driver provides iSCSI and Fibre Channel support for INFINIDAT InfiniBox storage systems.

This section explains how to configure the INFINIDAT driver.

External package installation

The driver requires the  infinisdk  package for communicating with InfiniBox systems. Install the package from PyPI using the following command:

pip install infinisdk

Setting up the storage array

Create a storage pool object on the InfiniBox array in advance. The storage pool will contain volumes managed by OpenStack. Refer to the InfiniBox manuals for details on pool management.

Driver configuration

Edit the  cinder.conf file, which is usually located under the following path  /etc/cinder/cinder.conf .

• Add a section for the INFINIDAT driver back end.
• Under the  [DEFAULT]  section, set the  enabled_backends  parameter with the name of the new back-end section.

Configure the driver back-end section with the parameters below.

• Configure the driver name by setting the following parameter:

  
  

  volume_driver = cinder.volume.drivers.infinidat.InfiniboxVolumeDriver

• Configure the management IP of the InfiniBox array by adding the following parameter:

  san_ip = InfiniBox management IP

• Configure user credentials.

  The driver requires an InfiniBox user with administrative privileges. We recommend creating a dedicated OpenStack user account that holds a pool admin user role. Refer to the InfiniBox manuals for details on user account management. Configure the user credentials by adding the following parameters:

  san_login = infinibox_username
  san_password = infinibox_password

• Configure the name of the InfiniBox pool by adding the following parameter:

  infinidat_pool_name = Pool defined in InfiniBox

• The back-end name is an identifier for the back end. We recommend using the same name as the name of the section. Configure the back-end name by adding the following parameter:

  volume_backend_name = back-end name

• Thin provisioning.

  The INFINIDAT driver supports creating thin or thick provisioned volumes. Configure thin or thick provisioning by adding the following parameter:

  san_thin_provision = true/false

  This parameter defaults to  true .

• Configure the connectivity protocol.

  The InfiniBox driver supports connection to the InfiniBox system in both the fibre channel and iSCSI protocols. Configure the desired protocol by adding the following parameter:

  infinidat_storage_protocol = iscsi/fc

  This parameter defaults to  fc .

• Configure iSCSI netspaces.

  When using the iSCSI protocol to connect to InfiniBox systems, you must configure one or more iSCSI network spaces in the InfiniBox storage array. Refer to the InfiniBox manuals for details on network space management. Configure the names of the iSCSI network spaces to connect to by adding the following parameter:

  infinidat_iscsi_netspaces = iscsi_netspace

  Multiple network spaces can be specified by a comma separated string.

  This parameter is ignored when using the FC protocol.

• Configure CHAP

  InfiniBox supports CHAP authentication when using the iSCSI protocol. To enable CHAP authentication, add the following parameter:

  use_chap_auth = true

  To manually define the username and password, add the following parameters:

  chap_username = username
  chap_password = password

  If the CHAP username or password are not defined, they will be auto-generated by the driver.

  The CHAP parameters are ignored when using the FC protocol.

Configuration example

[DEFAULT]
enabled_backends = infinidat-pool-a

[infinidat-pool-a]
volume_driver = cinder.volume.drivers.infinidat.InfiniboxVolumeDriver
volume_backend_name = infinidat-pool-a
san_ip = 10.1.2.3
san_login = openstackuser
san_password = openstackpass
san_thin_provision = true
infinidat_pool_name = pool-a
infinidat_storage_protocol = iscsi
infinidat_iscsi_netspaces = default_iscsi_space