PowerScale: OneFS: How to specify domain controller affinity

Summary: OneFS allows administrators to specify which DC a node communicates with. This can be useful for troubleshooting and testing, and provide temporary relief when certain DCs are problematic. ...

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.
Check out other resources

Instructions

Introduction

OneFS 7.0 and later

OneFS has a robust domain controller Process that allows it to detect the Active Directory Site the Cluster is a member of. Versions after 7.1.0.5 also became Active Directory Site-aware to further enable faster authentication.

Running the commands in the procedure adjusts the affinity for the domain controller on the node that it is applied to. By default, the DC affinity time period is 30 minutes. Caution should be used when performing this on clusters with many nodes. To avoid directing all nodes to the same DC, it is recommended that the admin distributes nodes to DCs as evenly as possible. Directing all nodes to one domain controller produces performance issues on the DC during heavy authentication times.

 

Procedure

NOTE
This setting is a per node change. Run the command on each node where you want to specify a preferred domain controller.

OneFS 7.0 - 7.1:

  1. Open an SSH connection to the node and log in using the "root" account.
  2. Run the following command, where <provider name> is the name of the domain that the cluster is joined to and <fqdn> is the fully qualified domain name of the preferred domain controller: 
    isi auth ads modify <provider name> --domain-controller=<fqdn>

OneFS 7.2 and above:

  • Open an SSH connection to the node and log in using the "root" account.
  • Run the following command, where <provider name> is the name of the domain that the cluster is joined to and <fqdn> is the fully qualified domain name of the preferred domain controller:
     
    The below command sets a specific DC for up to 30 minutes. 
    isi auth ads modify <provider name> --domain-controller=<fqdn>
     
    The below command sets the DC that the node communicates with for a specific period of time by the time-out value  
    isi auth ads modify <provider name> --node-dc-affinity=<fqdn> --node-dc-affinity-timeout=<YYYY>-<MM>-<DD>

    The below command resets the DC affinity back to default. 
    isi auth ads modify <provider name> --node-dc-affinity-timeout=0

 

Setting DC affinity should only be used as a temporary troubleshooting measure, and not as a resolution to a legitimate DC issue. There may be occasions where an auth refresh or forced LSASS restart may be required to get the affinity to take effect in a quicker manner. It is recommended that Support be engaged to assist with troubleshooting.

Affected Products

PowerScale OneFS
Article Properties
Article Number: 000013332
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 26 Aug 2025
Version:  6
Find answers to your questions from other Dell users
Support Services
Check if your device is covered by Support Services.