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November 30th, 2009 05:00

replication and home directory available within Windows and Unix

Hi There,

Hope you'll be able to help,

I'm looking to an EMC Celerra NAS Storage 50TB user capacity which will aslo support  CIFS and NFS (300 windows and 100 Unix users)

I'd like to know if it's possible to have the same home directory available when the users logs into windows or unix ?

I've a fiber link between 2 sites I was wondering if I could replicate the data as well ?  

Again thank you for your help,

Bolivier

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284 Posts

December 1st, 2009 11:00

What Ken is getting at is that while you can physically share the same folder to Windows and Unix at the same time, the permissions are separate.  Each file has "extended ACLs" which contain both the Windows permissions and the Unix permissions for each file.  By default, mixed-mode permissions are set to "NATIVE" which means that Windows controls Windows permissions and Unix controls Unix permissions, and ne'er the twain shall meet.  The Windows admin can set the permissions on Windows files, and the Unix admin can set permissions on the same files.

But this presents a problem because a Unix admin can grant permission to a file that a Windows admin may not want granted to that user.   This increases the complexity, for example, if you want the user's home directory, which would be the same in Windows as it is in Unix, to be able to access, and use, the same files on both sides without interrupting each other, or if you wanted one side (either Windows or Unix) to control the access to the files that both sides could see.  This is where the complexity comes in, because you have to get the Usermapper configuration to match the Unix UID/GID format.  NIS actually helps in this environment, as you can then manage both your Windows Celerra access permission and your Unix access permission in the NIS YP, and Celerra will use it.  If  you don't have NIS, you will have to do an export/import process by which you export your Windows user DB in a recognizeable format, and then merge it with your Unix passwd/group files, to make an import file for Usermapper, or to make a static passwd/group file for the Data Mover.  The migration tools (the extraction tool for AD and the merge tool) are available on your Applications and Tools CD, which came with your packaged NAS code software.  The instructions are contained in the manual called "Managing EMC Celerra for a Multiprotocol Environment" which is part of your Documentation CD.  If you don't have the documentation CD, you can download it from Powerlink.  Browse to it through this path:

Home > Support > Technical Documentation and Advisories > Hardware/Platforms Documentation > Celerra Network Server > General Reference

The doc set is roughly the third choice down, and it is called "Celerra Network Server Documentation CD."

As you can see, it gets fairly complex fairly quickly.  I would suggest getting in contact with your EMC field team or your Authorized Service Representative to help you with that configuration.  Some of that config can be done for free, and some of that config is a fee-based engagement.  Check with your field team for more information.

40 Posts

November 30th, 2009 05:00

Hi There,

Thanks for you reply ,

my main objectives are to have my home directory "Share" with my Windows and Unix environments when they login ,   would have more information on this ?

from a replucation point of view Id like to use my existing Fiber connection between my 2 sites

Thanks

59 Posts

November 30th, 2009 05:00

This simple answer is yes, and it can be replicated too.  Do you have specific requirements?  There are several security styles on the Celerra NAS that give multi-protocol access, but work differently.

Sagle

59 Posts

November 30th, 2009 06:00

That is a very complex question and there are many ways to accomplish this.  It will depend a lot of what you need and how your environment is setup.  Is your connection FC or IP that you want to leverage?  What is the backend on the NAS (CLARiiON or DMX)? What is the RPO, RTO?  AKA...What is the recovery time you need to accompish with DR, and how much data loss is acceptable in a DR?  Do you have a central user directory, if so which one(s). (LDAP, AD, NIS, etc...)

Sagle

40 Posts

November 30th, 2009 08:00

Hi Thanks for your reply,

Could you give more details on how to share the same user directory to windows and Unix ?

the EMC NAS storage is a clariion back end the connection between sites are over IP

thank you

59 Posts

November 30th, 2009 10:00

There is more than one way, but an easy was is to set your security style to native on the file system and then just create a CIFS share and NFS mount to the same location.  The permissions will be kept separately.  You will have to set the perms for unix and windows independently of each other.

Sagle

40 Posts

December 3rd, 2009 07:00

Thank you for your help this is very helpfull

1.5K Posts

December 3rd, 2009 08:00

I second Bill - please get in touch with your local EMC Team and run it by them depending on your environment, requirement and other considerations. As mentioned earlier - things can be accomplished in different ways and it will be best served by the local EMC experts with more understanding and discussions.

Thanks,
Sandip

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