Getting started with IBM Storage Scale

Step 1: Create SSH key

Create SSH keys in your IBM Cloud account. You might need multiple SSH keys if you want to use different keys to access the bastion host, compute cluster, and storage cluster. Ensure that the SSH keys are present in the same resource group and region where the cluster is provisioned. The offering supports passing multiple, comma-separated SSH keys, if the cluster needs multiple SSH keys. For more information, see Managing SSH keys.

Step 2: Create custom image

You can use the default image or create a custom image for compute, storage, and client nodes. But for bootstrap, GKLM (if encryption is enabled) and LDAP (if LDAP is enabled), only the default image is supported. For more information, see Planning for custom images.

For parallel vNIC and CES feature, only default images for storage are supported.

IBM Cloud provides pre-built images with RHEL to help you get started quickly. See the storage_vsi_osimage_name, storage_bare_metal_osimage_name and compute_vsi_osimage_name parameter in Deployment values. In addition to the base operating system, the image includes the Storage Scale software packages that allow for the Storage Scale shared file system to be automatically mounted and ready for use after the creation and configuration of the cluster is complete.

Step 3: Gather public IP address

You need to provide your public IP addresses from where you want to access the environment after it is provisioned. You provide these public IP addresses in the remote_cidr_blocks deployment value. For more information, see Deployment values.

Step 4: Identify cluster deployment location

You need to decide where you want your cluster that is deployed by choosing an IBM Cloud region and availability zone. You provide this location information when you configure your workspace. For more information, see Region and data center locations for resource deployment.

Enable encryption

You need to decide whether you want to enable encryption for your file system. The Storage Scale cluster file system can be encrypted by using the IBM Security® Guardium® Key Lifecycle Manager (GKLM) or the IBM KeyProtect. If you want to enable encryption, you need to define the scale_encryption_xxx deployment values when you configure your workspace. For more information about enabling encryption and configuring these deployment values, see Enabling Encryption.

Enable Parallel vNIC (MROT)

As per parallel vNIC support for each node of the compute and storage cluster, a secondary vNIC comes up based on the bandwidth of a profile. According to the parallel vNIC functionality, if a VSI profile has a Bandwidth Cap (Gbps) of 64 Gbps or more, then a secondary network interface is activated.

If CES is enabled, parallel vNIC functionality cannot be used.

Enable CES

To enable CES, set total_protocol_cluster_instances to a value greater than zero. Refer to Deployment values topic for more details.

Enable boot drive encryption for persistent storage

To enable boot drive encryption for persistent storage, set bms_boot_drive_encryption parameter to true.

Enable LDAP

To enable LDAP, set enable_ldap parameter to true and complete other variables such as ldap_admin_password, ldap_user_name, and ldap_user_password. For more information, refer to Deployment values. Existing LDAP is also supported.

Enable AFM

To enable AFM, set total_afm_cluster_instances parameter to a value greater than zero. For more information, refer to Deployment values.