# VPSA (Virtual Private Storage Arrays)
Using Command Center, cloud administrators can manage and monitor Virtual
Private Storage Array instances running in the cloud.
Command Center’s VPSA management feature set provides administrators with a
single pane of glass, in which administrators receive a holistic image
of the underlying instance’s status and operations, and allows for
enforcements of policies, lifecycle management and supervised resource
distribution.
## Viewing Virtual Private Storage Array Properties
To view a specific VPSA:
1. Click **VPSAs** in Command Center’s left menu panel.
2. In the VPSAs grid, click the VPSA instance.
### VPSA Instance Dashboard
The VPSA instance’s main **Dashboard** tab’s **Information** panel provides
information regarding the VPSA’s configuration, current health status and
network topology.
| **Property** | **Description** |
|-----------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
| Name | VPSA instance’s display name |
| Internal Name | VPSA instance’s internal name |
| User | User who created the instance |
| Company | Company of the user who created the instance |
| Description | Description given when the instance was provisioned |
| Nova ID | VPSA instance’s Nova ID |
| Status | Current status of the instance |
| Protection Zone | Instance Protection Zone configuration |
| Image | Instance deployment image |
| IO Engine Type | VPSA IO Engine Flavor |
| App Engine Type | VPSA APP Engine Flavor |
| VCPUs | Instance VCPU count |
| RAM | Instance configured RAM capacity |
| Base Cache | Instance Base Cache capacity |
| Extended Cache | Instance Extended SSD cache configured capacity |
| Setup Volume Capacity | Instance setup volume capacity |
| IP Address | Instance floating frontend IP address |
| Public IP | Instance public IP address |
| Mgmt. Address | Instance hostname for management access |
| UUID | Instance UUID |
| SNMPv3 Engine ID | Instance SNMPv3 Engine ID |
| Created | Instance creation timestamp |
| Updated | Instance last update timestamp |
The VPSA instance’s main **Dashboard** tab provides monitoring charts
with adjustable time period views:
* **Network Activity** chart
* **Total Capacity Trend** chart displaying capacity utilization
VPSA Flash Array: The main **Dashboard** tab also displays
the **Capacity Data Reduction Savings** panel:
* A chart comparing used capacity, provisioned and effective capacity.
* Information about savings from inline data deduplication and inline data
compression, and the VPSA overall data reduction ratio.
The VPSA resource tabs provide information regarding underlying resources
attached to the VPSA:
* Physical Drives
* Virtual Controllers
* RAID Groups
* Pools
### VPSA Pools tab
The VPSA **Pools** tab displays consumption in **Pool Capacity Trend**
charts. These charts provide cloud administration with an overview of the
Pool’s capacity change over time, and the effect of data reduction
mechanisms such as deduplication and compression on
VPSA Flash Array Pools.
To view the capacity trend for a specific Pool:
1. Navigate to the VPSA’s **Pools** tab.
2. In the Pools grid, click the charts icon in the Pool’s **Capacity Trend**
column.
**Pool Capacity Trends** charts display capcity trends over a period of
time, defaulting to the past month.
To change the trend display period, enter the **Start** and **End**
dates, and click **Submit**.
#### Pool Capacity Trends chart styles
The **Pool Capacity Trends** chart styles depend on the type of VPSA:
* VPSA Storage Array:
A single chart displays the overall **Free**, **Data** and **Metadata**
Pool Capacity Trends over time.
* VPSA Flash Array:
Two charts display the Pool’s Capacity Trends:
* **Physical Capacity**: Overall Pool Capacity trends over time:
* Free
* Used by Data Copies
* Used by volumes
* Used by metadata
* **Virtual Capacity**: Comparison of Provisioned Capacity, Virtual
Capacity and Effective Capacity trends over time.
## Configuring Virtual Private Storage Array Settings
To view or alter VPSA settings:
1. Click the VPSA’s **Settings** tab.
2. Click **Edit** on a specific setting to view or update its details.
* VPSA Storage Array **Settings**:
* VPSA Flash Array **Settings**:
### Remote mirroring properties
| Parameter | Description |
|--------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Dst total quota pc | Allowance for amount of unapplied data for all VPSA mirror jobs
0 - No quota enforcement |
| Connections count | Number of TCP sessions established between two VPSAs performing mirroring |
### Backup to Object Storage (B2OS)
| Parameter | Description |
|-------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| Src buffers count | Amount of source buffers allocated for
B2OS activities |
| Dst buffers count | Amount of destination buffers allocated for
B2OS activities |
### NAS Defragmentation
| Parameter | Description |
|----------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Minimum extents count | Number of extents a file needs to have to
be considered for defragmentation |
| Minimum file alignment percent
VPSA Flash Array | Defrag files of size greater than
“Minimum file size in KiB” AND have less than
“Minimum file alignment percent” of extents
that are not aligned to pool LSA chunk size. |
| Minimum file size in kib
VPSA Flash Array | Defrag files of size greater than
“Minimum file size in KiB” AND have less than
“Minimum file alignment percent” of extents
that are not aligned to pool LSA chunk size. |
### RAID
| Parameter | Description |
|-------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Allow mixed types | Enable allowing a mix of HDD types in the sameRAID Group or Pool |
### Maximum Pool & Volume Sizes
Scope: VPSA Storage Array
| Parameter | Description |
|-----------------------------|------------------------------------------------|
| Pool transactional max size | Maximum capacity (TiB) of a transactional pool |
| Pool repository max size | Maximum capacity (TiB) of a repository pool |
| Pool archival max size | Maximum capacity (TiB) of an archival pool |
| Pool depot max size | Maximum capacity (TiB) of a depot pool |
### Pools Count and Max Capacity
Scope VPSA Flash Array
| Parameter | Description |
|------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------|
| Pool iops optimized allocation limit capacity in tib | Pool IOPs optimized allocation limit capacity in TiB |
| Pool balanced allocation limit capacity in tib | Pool balanced max mapped capacity in TiB |
| Pool throughput optimized allocation limit capacity in tib | Pool throughput optimized max mapped capacity in TiB |
| Maximum number of pools | Max Number of Pools allowed for this VPSA |
### Metered objects
| Parameter | Description |
|-----------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Check interval | Interval in seconds for validation of metered objects threshold
alerts |
| Report interval | Interval in seconds for rate limiting all metered objects
thresholds alerts |
| Read cache late IO threshold | Amount of read hit IO operations with late time exception required to
trigger an alert |
| Read cache late IO threshold time(ms) | Read hit IO operation service time value that is considered as
*late IO* |
| Write cache late IO threshold | Amount of write hit IO operations with late time exception required to
trigger an alert |
| Write cache late IO threshold time (ms) | Write hit IO operation service time value that is considered as
*late IO* |
| Enable metering upload agent | Enable upload of metering data to an external cloud repository |
### Ticket Settings
See [Managing Cloud Settings > Management Settings](managing-cloud-settings.html#management-settings)
in this manual for details regarding the ticket settings section.
### Upload Endpoints
The cloud administrator can configure alternative endpoints for uploading
cloud Zsnaps, MAG and configuration information.
Expanding the Upload Enpoints section displays details of the cloud’s
configured endpoints.
Upload endpoints can be of the following types:
* AWS S3 endpoint
| Parameter | Description |
|---------------|---------------------|
| Endpoint name | The endpoint’s name |
| Method | AWS S3 |
| Access Key | Endpoint access key |
| Secret Key | Endpoint secret key |
| Region | AWS region |
* Object Storage endpoint
| Parameter | Description |
|---------------|---------------------|
| Endpoint name | The endpoint’s name |
| Method | ZIOS S3 |
| Access Key | Endpoint access key |
| Secret Key | Endpoint secret key |
| Endpoint | Object Storage FQDN |
* FTP target
| Parameter | Description |
|---------------|-------------------------------------------|
| Endpoint name | The endpoint’s name |
| Method | FTP |
| Server | FTP server |
| User | Username |
| Password | Password |
| Use Proxy | Whether to use a proxy for the connection |
#### Creating a new endpoint
To create a new endpoint:
1. Expand the **Upload Endpoints** section.
2. At the top right of this section, click **New**.
3. In the **Create Upload Endpoint** dialog, select the endpoint **Method**
from the dropdown list, and enter the other parameters relevant to its
**Method**.
4. Click **Save**.
#### Editing an endpoint
To edit an endpoint:
1. Expand the **Upload Endpoints** section.
2. Locate the endpoint to edit. In its **Actions** column, click **Edit**.
3. In the **Edit Upload Endpoint** dialog, update the relevant parameters.
4. Click **Save**.
#### Deleting an endpoint
To delete an endpoint:
1. Expand the **Upload Endpoints** section.
2. Locate the endpoint to delete. In its **Actions** column, click **Delete**.
3. In the **Delete Upload Endpoint** dialog, confirm the deletion.
### Metering data upload
The cloud administrator can configure the target endpoints to which
metering data can be uploaded.
Up to three AWS S3 endpoints can be configured for metering data uploads.
#### Adding an additional endpoint
To add an additional upload endpoint:
1. Expand the **Metering data upload** section.
2. Click **Add Another**.
3. Select the **Endpoint** from the dropdown and enter the **Bucket**.
| Parameter | Description |
|-------------|-----------------------------------|
| Endpoint | Endpoint for metering data upload |
| Bucket | Bucket for metering data upload |
4. Click **Update**.
#### Removing an additional endpoint
To remove an additional endpoint:
1. Expand the **Metering data upload** section.
2. Locate the additional endpoint to remove and click **Discard Endpoint**.
3. Click **Update**.
### VPSA configuration upload
The cloud administrator can configure the target endpoints to which
metadata from this cloud for Zadara management and analysis can be uploaded.
Up to three AWS S3 endpoints can be configured for these uploads.
#### Adding an additional endpoint
To add an additional upload endpoint:
1. Expand the **VPSA configuration upload** section.
2. Click **Add Another**.
3. Select the **Endpoint** from the dropdown and enter the **Bucket**.
| Parameter | Description |
|-------------|-----------------------------------|
| Endpoint | Endpoint for metering data upload |
| Bucket | Bucket for metering data upload |
4. Click **Update**.
#### Removing an additional endpoint
To remove an additional endpoint:
1. Expand the **VPSA configuration upload** section.
2. Locate the additional endpoint to remove and click **Discard Endpoint**.
3. Click **Update**.
### SCSI
Scope: VPSA Flash Array
* VPSA Block Volume XCopy Concurrency
### Zadara Configuration Update
Administrators can define Zadara Configuration Keys.
#### Creating Zadara Configuration Keys
To create a new Configuration Key:
1. Click **New**.
2. In the Create Zadara Configuration Key dialog:
1. Select **Key Type** from the dropdown. Possible options:
* **String**
* **Integer**
* **Float**
* **Boolean**
2. Enter the **Keyname** and **Key Value** pair.
3. Click **Save**.
#### Editing and Deleting Zadara Configuration Keys
To **Edit** or **Delete** an entry, click on the appropriate button in the
**Actions** column.
## Performing Virtual Private Storage Array Operations
### Changing VPSA engine configuration
Command Center can be used to modify a VPSA engine type to a bigger or
smaller engine, or to update the configuration of a VPSA ZCS engine.
To change a VPSA’s engine configuration:
1. Navigate to the VPSA’s dashboard.
2. On the VPSA’s **Information** panel, click **Actions**.
3. From the dropdown, select **Change Engine Type(s)**.
4. In the **Change Engine Type(s)** dialog:
1. Select an **IO Engine type** from the dropdown.
2. Select a **ZCS App Engine type** from the dropdown.
3. **Advanced** options:
| Option | Description |
|---------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Advanced Scheduling | After the Standby Virtual Controller changes to the new engine,
the change engine process is paused.
The VPSA will failover to the Standby Virtual Controller and proceed
with active Virtual Control engine change according to the selected
option:
* **Immediate**
Failover will take place immediately after the Standby
Virtual Controller engine is changed (default)
* **Manual**
Failover will be done on demand, upon Resume action
initiation
* **Scheduled**
Failover will be done at the requested time, configurable from
30 minutes from the current time and up to 7 days |
| Version Upgrade | Performs a VPSA version upgrade to a selected version, alongside the
engine model change process |
4. Click **Confirm** to confirm the **Change Engine Type(s)** operation.
The VPSA Status changes to **Change Engine** for the duration of the
process, and then to **Normal** when complete.
### Adding physical drives
To add physical drives to a VPSA:
1. Navigate to the VPSA’s dashboard.
2. On the VPSA’s **Information** panel, click **Actions**.
3. From the dropdown, select **Add Drives**.
4. In the **Add Drives** dialog:
1. VPSA Flash Array
Select the **Storage Class** of the Drives to add:
* SSD Storage Class
* HDD Storage Class
The selected **Storage Class** determines the possible Drive Types
for the next selection step.
2. VPSA Storage Array and VPSA Flash Array
From the dropdowns, select:
1. **Number** of Drives to add
2. **Drive Type**
3. Click **Confirm** to confirm the **Add Drives** operation.
### Change VPSA Cache configuration
Scope: VPSA Storage Array
The Flash Cache configuration specifies the amount of Flash Cache capacity
on top of the specific model baseline. By default it is 0 GiB.
Cloud administrators can use Command Center to raise or lower the Flash
Cache configuration of a VPSA.
To change the Cache configuration for a specific VPSA:
1. Navigate to the VPSA’s dashboard.
2. On the VPSA’s **Information** panel, click **Actions**.
3. From the dropdown, select **Change Cache**.
4. In the **Change Cache** dialog:
1. From the dropdown, select the amount of Cache in GiB.
2. Click **Submit** to confirm the **Change Cache** operation.
### Upgrading a VPSA
Command Center allows administrators to perform a version upgrade on the
VPSA instances running in the cloud.
To upgrade a VPSA’s version:
1. Navigate to the VPSA’s dashboard.
2. On the VPSA’s **Information** panel, click **Actions**.
3. From the dropdown, select **Upgrade**.
4. In the **Upgrade VPSA** dialog:
1. From the dropdown, select the VPSA image version for the upgrade.
2. **Advanced** options:
| Option | Description |
|---------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Advanced Scheduling | After the Standby Virtual Controller changes to the new engine,
the upgrade is paused.
The VPSA will failover to the Standby Virtual Controller and proceed
with active Virtual Control upgrade according to the selected
option:
* **Immediate**
Failover will take place immediately after the Standby
Virtual Controller engine is upgraded
* **Manual**
Failover will be done on demand, upon Resume action
initiation
* **Scheduled**
Failover will be done at the requested time, configurable from
30 minutes from the current time and up to 7 days |
| Version Validation | By default, the upgrade process includes version validation.
Mark the checkbox to skip the validation. |
3. Click **Upgrade**.
4. In the **Confirm Upgrade** dialog, click **Upgrade** to confirm the
**Upgrade VPSA version** operation.
The VPSA Status changes to **Upgrading version** for the duration
of the process, and then to **Normal** when complete.
### Cancelling a Scheduled VPSA upgrade
From version 20.12 and later, it is possible to cancel a scheduled VPSA
upgrade in Command Center:
To cancel a scheduled upgrade:
1. Navigate to the VPSA’s dashboard.
2. On the VPSA’s **Information** panel, click **Actions**.
3. From the dropdown, select **Cancel Scheduled upgrade**.
4. In the **Cancel Scheduled upgrade** dialog, click **Cancel Upgrade** to
confirm cancellation of the scheduled VPSA upgrade.
### Assigning or Unassigning a Public IP address to a VPSA
In specific cases where a VPSA must be available for management access
from outside of its cloud-allocated VLAN, a public IP address can be
assigned to it.
See [Public IP Addresses](public-ip-addresses.md#cc-public-ip-addresses) for information about configuration of
cloud-level public IP ranges.
#### Assigning a Public IP address to a VPSA
To assign a public IP address:
1. Navigate to the VPSA’s dashboard.
2. On the VPSA’s **Information** panel, click **Actions**.
3. From the dropdown, select **Assign Public IP**.
4. In the **Assign Public IP** dialog:
1. Select one of the options:
* **Automatic IP address assignment**
* **Manual IP address assignment**
Select an IP from the dropdown that displays for the manual
IP assignment option.
2. Click **Assign** to confirm the **Assign Public IP** operation.
#### Unassigning a Public IP address
To unassign a Public IP address:
1. Navigate to the VPSA’s dashboard.
2. On the VPSA’s **Information** panel, click **Actions**.
3. From the dropdown, select **Unassign Public IP**.
4. In the **Unassign Public IP** dialog, click **Confirm** to confirm the
**Unassign Public IP** operation.
### Adding or removing a VPSA’s Virtual Network
An existing VPSA is created with one Primary Virtual Network, and can be
assigned additional Virtual Networks.
VPSAs connected to multiple networks can be used to enable use cases
requiring partitioning or isolation per volume.
See [Performing Cloud Networking Management](managing-cloud-networking.md#performing-cloud-networking-management) for viewing, creating and
deleting the cloud’s Virtual Networks.
#### Adding a Virtual Network to a VPSA
To assign a Virtual Network to a VPSA:
1. Verify that an appropriate Virtual Network is already defined in the
cloud, excluding the Virtual Network already in use by the VPSA.
2. Navigate to the VPSA’s dashboard.
3. On the VPSA’s **Information** panel, click **Actions**.
4. From the dropdown, select **Add Virtual Network**.
5. In the **Add Virtual Network** dialog:
1. Select the Virtual Network to assign to the VPSA.
2. Click **Add** to confirm adding the Virtual Network to the VPSA.
On completion, the newly added Virtual Network displays in the
VPSA’s **Virtual Network** tab.
#### Releasing a Virtual Network from a VPSA
To release a Virtual Network from a VPSA:
1. Navigate to the VPSA’s dashboard.
2. On the VPSA’s **Information** panel, click **Actions**.
3. From the dropdown, select **Release Virtual Network**.
4. In the **Release Virtual Network** dialog:
1. Select the Virtual Network to release from the VPSA.
2. Click **Release**.
The **Confirm Release Virtual Network** dialog opens, displaying a
warning that the VPSA will no longer be accessible via the selected
Virtual Network.
Click **Release** to reconfirm releasing the Virtual Network from
the VPSA.
On completion, the released Virtual Network no longer appears in the
VPSA’s **Virtual Network** tab.
### Performing a managed Virtual Controller failover
Command Center can be used to trigger a managed VPSA failover to its
standby Virtual Controller.
A managed failover can be used by cloud administrator to evacuate all
active Virtual Controllers from a specific Storage node before
infrastructure operations or hardware replacement.
To perform A Virtual Controller failover:
1. Navigate to the VPSA’s dashboard.
2. On the VPSA’s **Information** panel, click **Actions**.
3. From the dropdown, select **Failover**.
4. In the **Failover** dialog:
1. **Advanced** options:
| Option | Description |
|---------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Advanced Scheduling | * **Immediate**
Failover will take place immediately
* **Scheduled**
Failover will be done at the requested time, configurable from
30 minutes from the current time and up to 7 days |
2. Click **Failover** to confirm the **Failover** operation.
The failover Status and progress can be monitored in the VPSA log tab.
### Moving a Virtual Controller
In cases where the cloud’s Storage Node inventory and capacity are
sufficient, Virtual Controllers can be moved from the SN the
currently reside in to another.
Both Primary and secondary Virtual Controllers can be moved.
Moving the Primary Virtual Controller will trigger a
failover operation prior to its relocation.
To move a Virtual Controller:
1. Navigate to the VPSA’s dashboard.
2. On the VPSA’s **Information** panel, click **Actions**.
3. From the dropdown, select **Move Virtual Controller**.
4. In the **Move Virtual Controller** dialog:
1. Click the **Virtual Controller** to move.
2. From the **Available Nodes** dropdown, select the destination
Storage Node.
The **Selected Storage nodes** column displays the selected Storage
Nodes.
3. Optionally, to select multiple destination Storage Nodes, select
additional destination Storage Nodes rom the **Available Nodes**
dropdown.
The **Selected Storage nodes** column displays the selected Storage
Nodes in the sequence they were selected.
To change the order, drag the individual Storage Nodes up or down.
4. Click **Move** to confirm the **Move Virtual Controller** operation.
### Hibernate a VPSA
VPSA hibernation takes the instance offline and releases its consumed
resources (vCPU, RAM) on the Storage Nodes level.
Hibernation of a VPSA also reduces its associated service cost, in that
only drives are billed for VPSAs in a hibernated state.
Hibernating a VPSA deletes its Virtual Controllers (the VPSA) while
maintaining the data drives and all the necessary metadata to resume its
operation at a later stage.
Resuming a hibernated VPSA takes only a few minutes.
To hibernate a VPSA:
1. Navigate to the VPSA’s dashboard.
2. On the VPSA’s **Information** panel, click **Actions**.
3. From the dropdown, select **Hibernate**.
4. In the **Hibernate** dialog:
1. In the text box, enter the word “**HIBERNATE**”.
2. Click **Hibernate** to confirm hibernating the VPSA.
The VPSA Status changes to **Hibernated** when complete.
### Creating VPSA Zsnap
A VPSA Zsnap is a snapshot of the VPSA at a point in time.
By taking periodic Zsnaps and identifying each Zsnap with a prefix, at a
later date or time you can restore the VPSA back to its state as at the
latest or a specific earlier Zsnap.
To trigger the manual creation of a Zsnap of the VPSA:
1. Navigate to the VPSA’s dashboard.
2. On the VPSA’s **Information** panel, click **Actions**.
3. From the dropdown menu, select **Create Zsnap**.
4. In the **Create Zsnap** dialog:
1. Enter a prefix for the Zsnap.
2. **Advanced** options:
| Option | Description |
|---------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Advanced Scheduling | * **Immediate**
Zsnap creation will take place immediately
* **Scheduled**
Zsnap creation will be done at the requested time, configurable from
30 minutes from the current time and up to 7 days |
3. Click **Create Zsnap** to confirm creation of the Zsnap.
### Purging or restoring a deleted VPSA
Any VPSA instance that has been deleted from the cloud will remain in the
cloud’s recycle bin for the period specified in it’s settings.
See **Recycle Bin** in [VPSA Settings](cloud-settings.md#vpsa-settings).
Cloud administrators can manually purge a deleted VPSA prior to the Recycle
Bin retention period expiration, to free allocated cloud resources such as
Physical Drives.
Administrators can also restore an VPSA from the Recycle Bin and get it up
and running on the same data set it contained when it was deleted.
### Purging a deleted VPSA
To purge a VPSA from the cloud’s Recycle Bin:
1. Navigate to the VPSA’s dashboard.
2. On the VPSA’s **Information** panel, make sure that the VPSA’s
Status is **Recycle Bin**.
3. On the VPSA’s **Information** panel, click **Actions**.
4. From the dropdown menu, select **Purge**.
5. In the **Purge** dialog:
1. In the text box, enter the VPSA ID.
2. Click **Purge** to confirm purging the VPSA from the Recycle Bin.
### Restoring a deleted VPSA
To restore a VPSA from the cloud’s Recycle Bin:
1. Navigate to the VPSA’s dashboard.
2. On the VPSA’s **Information** panel, make sure that the VPSA’s
Status is **Recycle Bin**.
3. On the VPSA’s **Information** panel, click **Actions**.
4. From the dropdown menu, select **Restore**.
5. In the **Restore** dialog, click **Restore** to confirm restoring the
VPSA from the Recycle Bin.
The VPSA Status changes to **Launching**.
When the process completes and the VPSA is fully restored, the VPSA Status changes to **Normal**.