Implementing Ibm Spectrum Scale

This IBM® Redpaper introduces the IBM Spectrum® Scale Erasure Code Edition (ECE) as a scalable, high-performance data and file management solution. ECE is designed to run on any commodity server that meets the ECE minimum hardware requirements. ECE provides all the functionality, reliability, scalability, and performance of IBM Spectrum Scale with the added benefit of network-dispersed IBM Spectrum Scale RAID, which provides data protection, storage efficiency, and the ability to manage storage in hyperscale environments that are composed from commodity hardware. In this publication, we explain the benefits of ECE and the use cases where we believe it fits best. We also provide a technical introduction to IBM Spectrum Scale RAID. Next, we explain the key aspects of planning an installation, provide an example of an installation scenario, and describe the key aspects of day-to-day management and a process for problem determination. We conclude with an overview of possible enhancements that are being considered for future versions of IBM Spectrum Scale Erasure Code Edition. Overall knowledge of IBM Spectrum Scale Erasure Code Edition is critical to planning a successful storage system deployment. This paper is targeted toward technical professionals (consultants, technical support staff, IT Architects, and IT Specialists) who are responsible for delivering cost effective storage solutions. The goal of this paper is to describe the benefits of using IBM Spectrum Scale Erasure Code Edition for the creation of high performing storage systems.

This IBM® RedpaperTM publication describes IBM SpectrumTM Scale, which is a scalable, high-performance data and file management solution, built on proven IBM General Parallel File System (GPFSTM) technology. Providing reliability, performance and scalability, IBM Spectrum ScaleTM can be implemented for a range of diverse requirements. This publication can help you install, tailor, and configure the environment, which is created from a combination of physical and logical components: hardware, operating system, storage, network, and applications. Knowledge of these components is key for planning an environment. However, to appreciate potential benefit first requires a simpler understanding of what IBM Spectrum Scale actually provides. This publication illustrates several example deployments and scenarios to demonstrate how IBM Spectrum Scale can be implemented. This paper is for technical professionals (consultants, technical support staff, IT architects, and IT specialists). These professionals are responsible for delivering cost-effective cloud services and big data solutions, helping to uncover insights among client data and be able to take actions to optimize business results, product development, and scientific discoveries.

Storage systems must provide reliable and convenient data access to all authorized users while simultaneously preventing threats coming from outside or even inside the enterprise. Security threats come in many forms, from unauthorized access to data, data tampering, denial of service, and obtaining privileged access to systems. According to the Storage Network Industry Association (SNIA), data security in the context of storage systems is responsible for safeguarding the data against theft, prevention of unauthorized disclosure of data, prevention of data tampering, and accidental corruption. This process ensures accountability, authenticity, business continuity, and regulatory compliance. Security for storage systems can be classified as follows: Data storage (data at rest, which includes data durability and immutability) Access to data Movement of data (data in flight) Management of data IBM® Spectrum Scale is a software-defined storage system for high performance, large-scale workloads on-premises or in the cloud. IBM SpectrumTM Scale addresses all four aspects of security by securing data at rest (protecting data at rest with snapshots, and backups and immutability features) and securing data in flight (providing secure management of data, and secure access to data by using authentication and authorization across multiple supported access protocols). These protocols include POSIX, NFS, SMB, Hadoop, and Object (REST). For automated data management, it is equipped with powerful information lifecycle management (ILM) tools that can help administer unstructured data by providing the correct security for the correct data. This IBM RedpaperTM publication details the various aspects of security in IBM Spectrum ScaleTM, including the following items: Security of data in transit Security of data at rest Authentication Authorization Hadoop security Immutability Secure administration Audit logging Security for transparent cloud tiering (TCT) Security for OpenStack drivers Unless stated otherwise, the functions that are mentioned in this paper are available in IBM Spectrum Scale V4.2.1 or later releases.

Having appropriate storage for hosting business-critical data and advanced Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) software for deep inspection, detection, and prioritization of threats has become a necessity for any business. This IBM® Redpaper publication explains how the storage features of IBM Spectrum® Scale, when combined with the log analysis, deep inspection, and detection of threats that are provided by IBM QRadar®, help reduce the impact of incidents on business data. Such integration provides an excellent platform for hosting unstructured business data that is subject to regulatory compliance requirements. This paper describes how IBM Spectrum Scale File Audit Logging can be integrated with IBM QRadar. Using IBM QRadar, an administrator can monitor, inspect, detect, and derive insights for identifying potential threats to the data that is stored on IBM Spectrum Scale. When the threats are identified, you can quickly act on them to mitigate or reduce the impact of incidents. We further demonstrate how the threat detection by IBM QRadar can proactively trigger data snapshots or cyber resiliency workflow in IBM Spectrum Scale to protect the data during threat. This third edition has added the section "Ransomware threat detection", where we describe a ransomware attack scenario within an environment to leverage IBM Spectrum Scale File Audit logs integration with IBM QRadar. This paper is intended for chief technology officers, solution engineers, security architects, and systems administrators. This paper assumes a basic understanding of IBM Spectrum Scale and IBM QRadar and their administration.

Business continuity and continuous application availability are among the top requirements for many organizations. Advances in virtualization, storage, and networking have made enhanced business continuity possible. Information technology solutions can now manage both planned and unplanned outages, and provide the flexibility and cost efficiencies that are available from cloud-computing models. This IBM® RedpaperTM publication describes the following products and topics: IBM SpectrumTM Virtualize, which is the software that is at the core of the IBM SAN Volume Controller IBM Spectrum Scale, which was previously known as IBM General Parallel File System (GPFSTM) or IBM Elastic StorageTM IBM Spectrum Virtualize (SAN Volume Controller component) and IBM Spectrum Scale, which are together in an Enhanced Stretched Cluster (ESC) An example implementation Test results Preferred practices when using IBM Spectrum Virtualize and IBM Spectrum Scale together in an Enhanced Stretched Cluster

This IBM® Redbooks® publication helps you with the planning, installation, and configuration of the new IBM Spectrum® Archive Enterprise Edition (EE) Version 1.3.2.2 for the IBM TS4500, IBM TS3500, IBM TS4300, and IBM TS3310 tape libraries. IBM Spectrum Archive Enterprise Edition enables the use of the LTFS for the policy management of tape as a storage tier in an IBM Spectrum Scale based environment. It also helps encourage the use of tape as a critical tier in the storage environment. This edition of this publication is the tenth edition of IBM Spectrum Archive Installation and Configuration Guide. IBM Spectrum Archive EE can run any application that is designed for disk files on a physical tape media. IBM Spectrum Archive EE supports the IBM Linear Tape-Open (LTO) Ultrium 9, 8, 7, 6, and 5 tape drives. and the IBM TS1160, TS1155, TS1150, and TS1140 tape drives. IBM Spectrum Archive EE can play a major role in reducing the cost of storage for data that does not need the access performance of primary disk. The use of IBM Spectrum Archive EE to replace disks with physical tape in tier 2 and tier 3 storage can improve data access over other storage solutions because it improves efficiency and streamlines management for files on tape. IBM Spectrum Archive EE simplifies the use of tape by making it transparent to the user and manageable by the administrator under a single infrastructure. This publication is intended for anyone who wants to understand more about IBM Spectrum Archive EE planning and implementation. This book is suitable for IBM customers, IBM Business Partners, IBM specialist sales representatives, and technical specialists.

This IBM RedpaperTM publication introduces the IBM Spectrum Scale immutability function. It shows how to set it up and presents different ways for managing immutable and append-only files. This publication also provides guidance for implementing IT security aspects in an IBM Spectrum Scale cluster by addressing regulatory requirements. It also describes two typical use cases for managing immutable files. One use case involves applications that manage file immutability; the other use case presents a solution to automatically set files to immutable within a IBM Spectrum Scale immutable fileset.

This IBM® Redpaper® publication is intended to facilitate the deployment and configuration of the IBM Spectrum® Scale based high-performance storage solutions for the scalable data and AI solutions on Amazon Web Services (AWS). Configuration, testing results, and tuning guidelines for running the IBM Spectrum Scale based high-performance storage solutions for the data and AI workloads on AWS are the focus areas of the paper. The LAB Validation was conducted with the Red Hat Linux nodes to IBM Spectrum Scale by using the various Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instances. Simultaneous workloads are simulated across multiple Amazon EC2 nodes running with Red Hat Linux to determine scalability against the IBM Spectrum Scale clustered file system. Solution architecture, configuration details, and performance tuning demonstrate how to maximize data and AI application performance with IBM Spectrum Scale on AWS.

This IBM® RedpaperTM publication describes IBM Spectrum ScaleTM for Linux on z SystemsTM. This paper helps you install and configure IBM Spectrum Scale (formerly GPFSTM) in a disaster recovery configuration. Scenario testing is described for various events: Site failure, storage failure, node failure. Recovery procedures from each tested scenario are provided. This paper also provides an installation and configuration scenario for saving data stored in a Spectrum Scale file system by using IBM Spectrum ProtectTM integration features. Multi-node backup usage is described.

This IBM® Redbooks publication introduces and describes the IBM Elastic Storage® Server 3000 (ESS 3000) as a scalable, high-performance data and file management solution. The solution is built on proven IBM Spectrum® Scale technology, formerly IBM General Parallel File System (IBM GPFS). IBM Elastic Storage System 3000 is an all-Flash array platform. This storage platform uses NVMe-attached drives in ESS 3000 to provide significant performance improvements as compared to SAS-attached flash drives. This book provides a technical overview of the ESS 3000 solution and helps you to plan the installation of the environment. We also explain the use cases where we believe it fits best. Our goal is to position this book as the starting point document for customers that would use ESS 3000 as part of their IBM Spectrum Scale setups. This book is targeted toward technical professionals (consultants, technical support staff, IT Architects, and IT Specialists) who are responsible for delivering cost-effective storage solutions with ESS 3000.