Dell EMC Unity: Deployment KB: How to enable CEPA on NFS only NAS Server

Summary: Dell EMC Unity: Deployment KB: How to enable CEPA on NFS only NAS Server

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Symptoms

CEPA Definition:   
The CEE CEPA ecosystem consists of dozens of applications that are designed to process SMB and NFS file and directory event notifications. Starting with Dell EMC Unity OE version 4.1, CEE CEPA also works on Dell EMC Unity. Some of the common uses for CEE CEPA include file auditing, centralized quota management, search/indexing, and as an enabler for other use cases such as RabbitMQ. An example of file auditing is logging an event any time a file or directory is created, renamed, or deleted. To configure CEE CEPA, CEE and a third-party file event software must be installed and configured in the environment.

Procedure to Enable CEPA:   

  1. Under Storage, select File > NAS Servers.
  2. Select the relevant NAS Server, and then select the Edit icon.
  3. On the Protection & Events tab, select the Events Publishing sub-tab.
  4. Select the Enable Common Event Publishing checkbox.
  5. On the New Event Pool window, specify the required items. You must configure at least one event from one of the available categories (pre-event, post-event, or post-error event).
  6. Click Configure.
  7. Optionally, select Show policy settings to configure pre-events and post-events failure policies.
  8. Optionally, select Show advanced settings to configure CEPA server options.
  9. Click Apply after you finish configuring events.


It is not possible to enable CEPA on a NAS Server configured for NFS only.

Cause

It is not possible to enable CEPA on NFS Only NAS Server.

Resolution

You must enable SMB on the NAS Server in order to be able to configure CEPA, even though CEPA works for both NFS and SMB.

How to Enable SMB Standlone NAS Server:   

Under Storage, select File > NAS Servers.

  1. Select the Add icon.
  2. On the General and Interface pages, specify the relevant settings. Note the following:    
    • On the General page, the Server name identifies the NAS server. It is not a network name.
    • On the Interface page, optionally select a VLAN. If you selected a tenant on the General page, you must select a VLAN. The list of VLANs represent the VLANs associated with the selected tenant.
  3. On the Sharing Protocols page:   
    • Select Windows Shares (SMB, CIFS) then select Standalone to create a standalone SMB server, or select Join to the Active Directory domain to create a domain member SMB server.
user interface


That is the workaround if you have NFS only NAS Server and you would like to enable CEPA on NFS, is to enable SMB as standalone. You do not have to create shares or a file system. Just enabling SMB will give you the option to enable CEPA and hence you will be able to audit all NFS activity on the NFS exports.

Affected Products

Dell EMC Unity Family

Products

Dell EMC Unity 300F, Dell EMC Unity 350F, Dell EMC Unity XT 380, Dell EMC Unity XT 380F, Dell EMC Unity 400, Dell EMC Unity 400F, Dell EMC Unity 450F, Dell EMC Unity XT 480, Dell EMC Unity XT 480F, Dell EMC Unity 500, Dell EMC Unity 500F , Dell EMC Unity 550F, Dell EMC Unity 600, Dell EMC Unity 600F, Dell EMC Unity 650F, Dell EMC Unity XT 680, Dell EMC Unity XT 680F, Dell EMC Unity XT 880, Dell EMC Unity XT 880F, Dell EMC Unity Family |Dell EMC Unity All Flash, Dell EMC Unity Family ...
Article Properties
Article Number: 000060271
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 20 Oct 2025
Version:  4
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