Dell PowerFlex 4.5.x Administration Guide

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Node settings (PowerFlex File-SW Only template)

This table describes the most important node settings for the PowerFlex File-SW Only template.


Setting	Description
Number of Instances	For a PowerFlex file cluster, you must have a minimum of 2 nodes and a maximum of 16 nodes. Software-only NAS nodes also need to be discovered with a resource type of Node (Software Management). The operating system has to be installed and configured manually for each software-only node. The software-only nodes must also have base networking configured. PowerFlex Manager takes care of provisioning the NAS application-level components on top of the operating system. When you deploy a PowerFlex File-SW Only template, PowerFlex Manager automatically creates control volumes for the deployment. Two of the volumes are common and are mapped to every node (one for the NAS cluster and the other for the Postgres cluster). The other volumes (SVDM volumes) are mapped separately to each of the nodes added. The control volumes are special NAS cluster volumes that cannot be deleted or modified. These control volumes are hidden from view in the management software appliance.
Related Components	Choose All Components.
OS Settings: OS Image	For a PowerFlex file cluster, you must choose Use Compliance File Linux Image.
OS Settings: PowerFlex Role	Choose Compute Only.
OS Settings: Enable PowerFlex File	This option must be selected for NAS.
OS Settings: Switch Port Configuration	Choose Port Channel (LACP Enabled) or Trunk Port. Port Channel (LACP Enabled) is the preferred option. Port Channel (standard port channel with LACP disabled) is not supported with this template.
OS Settings: Teaming and Bonding Configuration	Choose Mode 4 (IEEE 802.3ad policy) for Port Channel (LACP Enabled).
Network Settings	The PowerFlex File-SW Only template pulls in the PowerFlex management and PowerFlex data networks from the associated PowerFlex gateway. To ensure that the PowerFlex file resource group works properly, you need to deploy a storage-only or hyperconverged resource group first that includes the target gateway. In addition to the PowerFlex management and PowerFlex data networks, you need to include a NAS management network and at least one NAS data network. One NAS data network is enough, but, for redundancy, two networks are recommended. By default, the software-only template includes six interfaces with a single network VLAN on each interface. These interfaces could be for six physical NICs, or for a single physical NIC. For a software-only deployment, the interfaces do not have a one-to-one relationship with the physical NIC ports. In the case of a software-only deployment, PowerFlex Manager does not know about the physical NICs. It only knows about the networks in the operating system.