INFINIDAT InfiniBox Block Storage 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.

Supported operations

  • Create, delete, attach, and detach volumes.

  • Create, list, and delete volume snapshots.

  • Create a volume from a snapshot.

  • Copy a volume to an image.

  • Copy an image to a volume.

  • Clone a volume.

  • Extend a volume.

  • Get volume statistics.

  • Create, modify, delete, and list consistency groups.

  • Create, modify, delete, and list snapshots of consistency groups.

  • Create consistency group from consistency group or consistency group snapshot.

  • Revert a volume to a snapshot.

  • Manage and unmanage volumes and snapshots.

  • List manageable volumes and snapshots.

  • Attach a volume to multiple instances at once (multi-attach).

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
    
  • Verify that the InfiniBox array can be managed via an HTTPS connection. And the driver_use_ssl parameter should be set to true to enable use of the HTTPS protocol. HTTP can also be used if driver_use_ssl is set to (or defaults to) false. To suppress requests library SSL certificate warnings, set the suppress_requests_ssl_warnings parameter to true.

    driver_use_ssl = true/false
    suppress_requests_ssl_warnings = true/false
    

    These parameters defaults to false.

  • Configure user credentials.

    The driver requires an InfiniBox user with administrative privileges. We recommend creating a dedicated OpenStack user account that holds an administrative 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.

  • Volume compression

    Volume compression is disabled by default. To enable volume compression, add the following parameter:

    infinidat_use_compression = true
    

    Volume compression is available on InfiniBox 3.0 onward.

Configuration example

[DEFAULT]
enabled_backends = infinidat-pool-a

[infinidat-pool-a]
volume_driver = cinder.volume.drivers.infinidat.InfiniboxVolumeDriver
volume_backend_name = infinidat-pool-a
driver_use_ssl = true
suppress_requests_ssl_warnings = true
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

Driver-specific options

The following table contains the configuration options that are specific to the INFINIDAT driver.

Description of INFINIDAT InfiniBox configuration options

Configuration option = Default value

Description

infinidat_iscsi_netspaces = []

(List of String) List of names of network spaces to use for iSCSI connectivity

infinidat_pool_name = None

(String) Name of the pool from which volumes are allocated

infinidat_storage_protocol = fc

(String(choices=[‘iscsi’, ‘fc’])) Protocol for transferring data between host and storage back-end.

infinidat_use_compression = False

(Boolean) Specifies whether to turn on compression for newly created volumes.