Cisco Video Surveillance Storage System Administration Guide
- Updated:
- August 24, 2015
Chapter: Quick Start
Quick Start
When you click the Quick Start button in the navigation pane, you are taken to the Basic Configure RAID System page. The navigation bar across the top contains links to this section’s subpages.
- Basic links to Basic Quick Start
- Expert links to Expert Quick Start
- Check List links to Check List
This chapter also contains the Integrating Storage Volumes Into Cisco VSM section that describes how to integrate the Cisco Video Surveillance Storage Systems (CPS-SS-4RU and CPS-SS-4RU-EX) into a Cisco VSM Release 7 deployment using an integration script.
Basic Quick Start
Clicking Quick Start takes you to the Basic Configure RAID System page, which lets you quickly and easily configure RAID arrays and volumes for your system. This is an excellent tool for getting started with a new storage system (see Set Up the System).
If arrays or volumes have already been configured on the unit, this tool will erase all existing data. It is recommended that this tool ONLY be used when first setting up the unit.
Arrays are limited to the disks physically contained in a single Cisco Video Surveillance Storage System component.
Note If the system you are setting up is a storage unit/expansion unit pair, you are first asked to select the unit that you wish to configure. Select the unit you wish to configure, then click Next. When you are finished, you can configure the second enclosure by repeating this procedure.
The Basic Quick Start configuration page is displayed.
Note Only SATA disk drives can be used in the RAID array. SAS and SSD are not supported. If your Cisco Video Surveillance Storage System component contains a mixture of disk drive types, the Basic Quick Start configuration page will have two or three Quick Start Options sections, one for each drive type. Choose only the SATA option.
Step 1 Using the drop-down lists, set the following parameters:
- Number of arrays : Choose the number of RAID sets that you wish to create. The maximum number depends on the number of disks detected in the unit.
- Select RAID level : Choose the RAID level that all RAID sets will be configured for. You can choose from the following:
RAID 0 (striped)
RAID 1 (mirrored)
RAID 4 (parity)
RAID 5 (rotating parity)
RAID 6 (rotating dual parity)
Note For more information on RAID levels, see Appendix A, “RAID Levels”.
- Number of pool spares : Choose the number of spare disks that will be available to use as backups in case a RAID disk fails. The maximum number of pool spares depends on the number of disks detected in the unit.
- Number of volumes per array : This setting controls whether or not each RAID array will be further divided into two or more smaller volumes. The default setting is 1. The number of volumes per array can be anywhere from 1 to 10.
- Limit volume size to less than 2TB : This option is unchecked by default. If your hosts do not support volumes of more than 2TB in size, check this option.
The New Configuration Preview page is displayed.
Step 3 Ensure that the settings for Arrays, Volumes, Pool Spares, and Volume Access are correct.
Step 4 If all settings are acceptable, select the confirmation check box, then click the Quickstart button.
If any arrays or volumes have already been configured on the unit, the Management Console displays a warning dialog. If you wish to continue, click the check box and select
Confirm Quickstart Configure. If you do not wish to continue, click
CANCEL Quickstart.
Note Although your volumes are available immediately, Quickstart continues to run in the background. The Quickstart operation may take as much as several hours to complete, depending on the size and number of the disk drives in the unit. You can check the progress of the operation by going to RAID Information > Progress.
Expert Quick Start
Arrays are limited to the disks physically contained in a single Cisco Video Surveillance Storage System component.
Note If the system you are setting up is a storage unit/expansion unit pair, you are first asked to select the unit that you wish to configure. Select the unit you wish to configure, then click Next. When you are finished, you can configure the second enclosure by repeating this procedure.
The Expert Quick Start configuration page is displayed.
Note Only SATA disk drives can be used in the RAID array. SAS and SSD are not supported. If your Cisco Video Surveillance Storage System component contains a mixture of disk drive types, the Basic Quick Start configuration page will have two or three Quick Start Options sections, one for each drive type. Choose only the SATA option.
Step 1 Using the drop-down lists, set the following parameters:
- Number of arrays : Choose the number of RAID sets that you wish to create. The maximum number depends on the number of disks detected in the unit.
- Select RAID level : Choose the RAID level that all RAID sets will be configured for. You can choose from the following:
RAID 0 (striped)
RAID 1 (mirrored)
RAID 4 (parity)
RAID 5 (rotating parity)
RAID 6 (rotating dual parity)
Note For more information on RAID levels, see Appendix A, “RAID Levels”.
- Number of pool spares : Choose the number of spare disks that will be available to use as backups in case a RAID disk fails. The maximum number of pool spares depends on the number of disks detected in the unit.
- Number of volumes per array : This setting controls whether or not each RAID array will be further divided into two or more smaller volumes. The default setting is 1. The number of volumes per array can be anywhere from 1 to 10.
- Limit volume size to less than 2TB : This option is unchecked by default. If your hosts do not support volumes of more than 2TB in size, check this option.
- Select stripe size : The default stripe size is 128Kbytes. You can choose to use smaller stripes by selecting 64Kbytes, 32Kbytes, or 16Kbytes.
- Select host connection type : By default, this setting is set to Fibre/SAS/10Ge iSCSI (multi-path) , which maps all logical unit numbers (LUNs) to all available Fibre Channel/SAS/10GbE iSCSI ports. If you wish to change the mapping, select one of the following:
Note SAS drives are not supported with the Cisco Video Surveillance Storage System. iSCSI is supported on Cisco Video Surveillance Systems (VSM) deployed as a Virtual Machine for VSM releases 7.2 or higher.
None (leave unmapped) : The LUNs will not be associated with any ports on the unit and will not be available to the host. You can later manually assign each LUN to one or more ports using Configure Volumes > Map Volume (see Map Logical Volumes).
Fibre/SAS/10Ge iSCSI (non-redundant) : Assigns each LUN to a single available Fibre Channel/SAS/10Gb iSCSI port.
Fibre/SAS/10Ge iSCSI (multi-path) : Assigns LUNs to all available Fibre Channel/SAS/10Gb iSCSI ports (requires multipathing software).
iSCSI (non-redundant) : Assigns each LUN to a single available iSCSI port.
iSCSI (multi-path) : Assigns LUNs to all available iSCSI ports (requires multipathing software).
- Select default host access : This setting defaults to Read/Write. This will allow all attached hosts to access all volumes on this unit. If you wish to restrict host access to this unit, change this setting to Deny, then use the procedure under Manage Hosts to assign Read or R/W access to specific hosts.
To ensure integrity and security of data, it is recommended that you change this setting to Deny.
- Online Create : When this box is checked, volumes on this unit will be available immediately, with RAID creation continuing in the background. This does, however, slow down the RAID creation process. You can speed up the creation process by unchecking this box, in which case volumes will be unavailable until RAID creation is complete.
- Leave free space on each array for future volumes/expansion : Be default, the volumes will take up all of the space in the RAID arrays. This setting lets you keep a percentage of the RAID array space free for additional volumes or expansion of current volumes. Select 0%, 10%, 25%, 50%, or 75%.
The New Configuration Preview page is displayed.
Step 3 Ensure that the settings for Arrays, Volumes, Pool Spares, and Volume Access are correct.
Step 4 If all settings are acceptable, select Check this checkbox to confirm, then click the Quickstart button.
If any arrays or volumes have already been configured on the unit, the Management Console displays a
warning dialog. If you wish to continue, click the check box and select
Confirm Quickstart Configure. If you do not wish to continue, click
CANCEL Quickstart.
Note The Quickstart operation may take as much as several hours to complete, depending on the size and number of the disk drives in the unit. You can check the progress of the operation by going to RAID Information > Progress.
Check List
Clicking Quick Start > Check List takes you to the Configuration Checklist page, which contains links to pages in the Management Console that should be configured when the unit is first installed.
The items on the Quick Start Configuration Checklist are:
- Security (see Security Settings)
- System Name (see Configure Enclosures)
- Network Settings (see Configure Network Settings)
- Array Configuration (see Create a New RAID Array)
- Volume Configuration and Access (see Create a Logical Volume)
Each item in the list displays its status on the Quick Start Configuration Checklist. If an item has a green check mark next to it, that item has been completed with a recommended setting. If an item has a red exclamation point next to it, that item has either not been completed or has an unrecommended setting. For more information see Set Up the System.
Integrating Storage Volumes Into Cisco VSM
The CPS-SS-4RU and CPS-SS-4RU-EX systems provide external storage volumes to the Cisco Video Surveillance servers. This external storage is in addition to the internal storage available in the Cisco VSM server.
To use these external storage systems with a Cisco VSM, you must integrate the external system by running a script on the Cisco VSM server. See the following topics for more information:
- Understanding Partitions and Video Repositories
- Understanding the Integration Script
- Understanding the Script Options
- Requirements
- Obtaining the Storage Partition Script
- Integration Procedure
– Release 7.5 and Later: Adding Storage Partitions
– Release 7.2 and Earlier: Adding Storage Partitions
Note See the Release Notes for Cisco Video Surveillance Manager for information on supported servers and platforms, such as the Cisco Connected Safety and Security UCS Platform Series servers.
Understanding Partitions and Video Repositories
Recorded video is stored in repositories on Cisco Video Surveillance Media Servers. These repositories are separate partitions from the operating system (OS) partitions. When adding storage from an external storage system, the partitions must be created as described in this section.
The integration scripts described in this section will create partitions on the RAID volume as video repositories for VSM. After the partitions are created, you can use the browser-based Operations Manager GUI interface to define which repository will be used for storing video, backups, and video clips (see Figure 2-1).
Figure 2-1 Media Server Partition (Repository) Setting in the Operations Manager GUI
Understanding the Integration Script
The CPS-SS system is configured to provide the full capacity of a given RAID array (with 2TB or 3TB drives) to the Cisco VSM server as a single volume. For example, if you have a RAID-5 set of 10 drives with 3TB, then the entire ~25TB is provided as a single volume; the single volume appears to the Cisco VSM server as a single hard drive (e.g. sdc, sdd, sde).
The integration scripts creates, formats, and mounts the partition, and integrates it into Cisco VSM. If multiple external storage devices are connected, the script will create and integrate a separate partition for each device.
Understanding the Script Options
The storage integration scripts offers the following options:
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Run the script with no parameters to discover any connected storage devices and create the new media partitions for use by Cisco VSM. |
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Include the restore option (for example, setup_media_storage.sh restore) to retrieve and restore any media partitions that were previously configured on the disk so they can be used again. No new partitions are created using this restore option. Use this option only if the following previously occurred:
See the “Run the Script with the Restore Option” section for more information. |
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Include the help option (for example, setup_media_storage.sh -h) to view more information about the script options and version. |
Requirements
The integration script requires the following:
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A Cisco Connected Safety and Security UCS Platform Series server running Cisco Video Surveillance release 7.0 or higher. |
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The Cisco Video Surveillance Storage System must be configured with one or more RAID array to provide storage for video recording by a Cisco Video Surveillance server.
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A Cisco Video Surveillance Storage System must be connected to the Cisco VSM server. Note If the fiber channel connection is not present when the script is run, the external storage will not be detected and not integrated into Cisco VSM. The script can be run again after the FC cable connection is established. The FC port LEDs indicate the connection status. Note Disconnecting the FC cable during normal operation removes the access by Cisco VSM to the external storage volumes. The |
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| To download the script, see the “Obtaining the Storage Partition Script” section. |
Obtaining the Storage Partition Script
Download the appropriate script for the Cisco Video Surveillance release and OS you are deploying:
32-bit Red Hat OS (Release 7.0 to Release 7.2)
For deployments running the 32-bit version of the Red Hat OS, download the setup_external_storage.sh script from cisco.com.
Step 1 Go to the Cisco Product Support Page.
Step 2 Click Download Software.
Step 3 Click Video Surveillance Media Server Software.
Step 4 Select the 7.2 release page.
Step 5 Download the “ CPS-SS External storage configuration script for Video Surveillance Manager 7.2 ” (setup_external_storage-1.0.zip).
Step 6 Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the download.
Step 7 Complete the Release 7.2 and Earlier: Adding Storage Partitions.
64-bit Red Hat OS (Release 7.5 and Higher)
For deployments running the 64-bit version of the Red Hat OS, download the setup_media_storage.sh script from cisco.com.
Tip In release 7.7 and higher, the setup_media_storage.sh script is also included in the OVA image, and can be run from /usr/BWhttpd/bin.
Step 1 Go to the Cisco Product Support Page.
Step 2 Click Download Software.
Step 3 Click Video Surveillance Media Server Software.
Step 4 Select the 7.5 release page.
Step 5 Download the “Video repository configuration script” ( setup_media_storage-1.0.zip).
Step 6 Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the download.
Step 7 Complete the “Release 7.5 and Later: Adding Storage Partitions” section.
Integration Procedure
Complete one of the following procedures run the integration script for the Cisco VSM release running in your deployment.
– Run the Script With No Options
– Run the Script with the Restore Option
– External Storage Script: Release 7.2 and Earlier:
– Script Examples: Release 7.2 and Earlier
Note Execute the integration script without options to add new partitions. If partitions were previously created, and the Cisco VSM system software was recovered (which deletes any partitions) use the recovery option as described in the “Run the Script with the Restore Option” section.
Release 7.5 and Later: Adding Storage Partitions
For Cisco VSM running Release 7.5 or later on Red Hat 6.4, run the setup_media_storage.sh script to add partitions from an internal or external storage system.
Run the Script With No Options
The following steps erase the partition table on the specified volume, which deletes all data on the volume.
Step 1 Prepare for the external storage integration:
a. If your platform uses external storage, install the external storage system as described in the Cisco Video Surveillance Storage System Hardware Installation Guide.
b. Obtain the correct script for your OS and Cisco VSM release as described in the “Obtaining the Storage Partition Script” section.
Step 2 (Release 7.5 and 7.6) Download the setup_media_storage.sh script to the server and make it executable.
Tip In release 7.7 and higher, the setup_media_storage.sh script is also included in the OVA image, and can be run from /usr/BWhttpd/bin.
a. Download the script as described in the “Obtaining the Storage Partition Script” section.
b. Extract the setup_media_storage.sh script from the setup_media_storage-1.0.zip, and upload the script to the Cisco VSM server using a SFTP or SCP tool (as the user ‘ localadmin ’).
c. Log in to the Cisco VSM server shell as the user ‘ localadmin ’ and move the script to /usr/BWhttpd/bin/ with the following command:
[localadmin@vsm-server ~]$ sudo mv /var/lib/localadmin/setup_media_storage.sh /usr/BWhttpd/bin/
d. Make the setup_media_storage.sh script to be executable with the following command:
[localadmin@vsm-server ~]$ sudo chmod +x /usr/BWhttpd/bin/setup_media_storage.sh
Step 3 (Optional) Display the help output for command options and other information:
Step 4 Run the script from the directory where the script is located.
The script discovers any connected storage devices and creates new media partitions for use by Cisco VSM.
In the following example, the script is run without options, which creates new partitions.
Note After running the script, the newly created /media partitions are available for recording in Cisco VSM, without needing to reboot the server.
Step 5 Enter the command df -h to display the available media repositories (/media1, /media2 and/or /media3) created by the script.
Step 6 Verify that the filesystem disk space usage and external storage partitions are correct.
a. Display the filesystem disk space usage (the -h option displays the results in human readable format):
b. Verify the results by listing the contents of each partition.
Use the -al option to list all results in long format.:
Step 7 Use the browser-based Operations Manager GUI interface to define which partition (repository) will be used for storing video, backups, and video clips. See the Cisco Video Surveillance Operations Manager User Guide for more information.
Run the Script with the Restore Option
The restore option retrieves and restores any media partitions that were previously configured on the disk so they can be used again.
This option is used after the Cisco VSM system software is recovered, since the recovery process deletes any Cisco VSM storage partitions from the Cisco VSM configuration.
Tip See the “Understanding the Script Options” section for more information.
Step 1 Restore the Cisco VSM system software.
See the Cisco Video Surveillance Manager Recovery Guide (UCS Platform) for more information.
Step 2 Complete the “Release 7.5 and Later: Adding Storage Partitions” section, except use the restore option to the integration script.
Step 3 Verify that the filesystem disk space usage and external storage partitions are correct.
a. Display the filesystem disk space usage (the -h option displays the results in human readable format):
b. Verify the results by listing the contents of each partition.
Use the -al option to list all results in long format.:
Step 4 Use the browser-based Operations Manager GUI interface to define which partition (repository) will be used for storing video, backups, and video clips. See the Cisco Video Surveillance Operations Manager User Guide for more information.
Release 7.2 and Earlier: Adding Storage Partitions
For Cisco VSM running Release 7.2 or earlier on Red Hat 5.8, use the procedure to add storage partitions from the external system.
External Storage Script: Release 7.2 and Earlier:
For Cisco VSM running Release 7.2 or earlier on Red Hat 5.8, use the setup_external_storage.sh s cript to add partitions from external storage. The script discovers any connected storage devices and creates new media partitions for use by Cisco VSM.
The following steps erase the partition table on the specified volume, which deletes all data on the volume.
Step 1 Install the external storage system as described in the Cisco Video Surveillance Storage System Hardware Installation Guide.
Step 2 Obtain the correct script for your OS and Cisco VSM release as described in the “Obtaining the Storage Partition Script” section.
Step 3 Run the script from the directory where the script is located (see the Script Examples: Release 7.2 and Earlier).
Step 4 Follow the onscreen prompts to complete the script.
Step 5 Enter the command df -h to display the available media repositories (/media1, /media2 and/or /media3) created by the script.
Step 6 Use the browser-based Operations Manager GUI interface to define which partition (repository) will be used for storing video, backups, and video clips. See the Cisco Video Surveillance Operations Manager User Guide for more information.
Tip Refer to the following Script Examples: Release 7.2 and Earlier for more information.
Script Examples: Release 7.2 and Earlier
This following examples show how to use the setup_external_storage script to add storage partitions to a Cisco VSM server from a supported (and connected) external storage system.
- Example to Run a Script for a Single External Storage System
- Example to Run the Script for Multiple External Storage Systems
Example to Run a Script for a Single External Storage System
The following example creates a single media repository (/media1) from a single external storage system.
Example to Run the Script for Multiple External Storage Systems
The following example creates a multiple media repositories (/media1, /media2, and /media3) from multiple external storage systems.
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