Dell FluidFS Version 6.0 FS8600 Appliance Deployment Guide

Use the Configure NAS Pool page to specify the amount of block storage available for NAS volumes.

About this task

Use this page of the Add FluidFS Cluster wizard to configure the size of the NAS pool.

Figure 1. Add FluidFS Cluster Wizard — Configure NAS Pool

1. In the NAS Pool Size field, type the amount of block storage to provide for NAS volumes in gigabytes (GB) or terabytes (TB). The minimum NAS pool size is 1 TB. For information about maximum NAS pool sizes, see the Dell Fluid File System Version 6.0 Support Matrix .
   • NOTE:
     • The usable FluidFS NAS pool is smaller due to FluidFS overhead. For example, if a single appliance cluster with a 2-TB pool is created, the actual NAS pool size is about 1.6 TB (roughly 400-GB overhead).
     • While the Storage Center supports thin provisioning, Dell strongly recommends avoiding over-provisioning of the NAS pool. Size the NAS pool to be smaller than the available physical capacity of the Storage Center while keeping in mind the RAID overhead. This way, if the NAS pool becomes full, the Storage Center will not run into emergency mode and impact service availability. The NAS pool can be expanded later when more physical capacity is added to the Storage Center.

       Also, given that FluidFS itself supports thin-provisioning with the NAS cluster, you can size the NAS volumes so that the total allocated NAS volume capacity is larger than the size of the NAS pool. This method of over-provisioning is much safer than over-provisioning the NAS Pool itself.

     • The Compellent volumes behind the FluidFS NAS Pool use the same page size as the selected page pool. Dell strongly recommends using the 2MB page size for the NAS pool. If a page pool with 512KB page size is selected, you will not be able to change it to 2MB after the NAS pool is created.
2. Select a storage type from the drop-down menu.
3. Enable or disable metadata tiering. Metadata tiering provides the ability to store data and metadata in different storage tiers. Enable the radio button to optimize the setting for metadata-intensive I/O patterns, which allocates a larger portion of the NAS pool for metadata than the non-optimized setting.
   • NOTE:
     • To use Metadata tiering, you must have an even number of Storage Centers.

     • The default number of file system domains is suitable for the vast majority of situations, and cannot be reverted if it is changed. Do not change the Number of System Instances Per Appliance field without consulting Dell-EMC support.

4. Click Next to provision and format the cluster.
   • If multiple storage types are configured on a Storage Center, the Select storage type dialog box opens. Select a storage type to provide storage for the NAS pool from the Storage Type drop-down menu, then click OK.
     Figure 2. Select Storage Type Dialog Box
   • Dell Storage Manager starts provisioning storage. Pages open to indicate the provisioning and formatting process. When the process is complete, the NAS Pool dialog box opens.
     Figure 3. NAS Pool Dialog Box
5. Click OK.
   • If you did not close the Add FluidFS Cluster wizard while adding the FluidFS cluster, the Join Active Directory Domain page opens. See Join the Active Directory Domain .
   • If you closed and reopened the Add FluidFS Cluster wizard while adding the FluidFS cluster, the Change Administrator Password page opens. See Change the Administrator Password . The Active Directory and NIS/LDAP pages of the wizard are not displayed. The Active Directory and NIS/LDAP settings must be configured as a post-setup task.