Date: Dec 2009
Affected Product & Version :
•SmartDisk 1.0 and higher
OS Version – any
Application Information: N/A
Symptoms:
The installer for version 1.0 of SmartDisk does not allow network attached drives to be used for the stage or store disk locations, they need to be added post installation.
To add a network attached disk for staged data;
smartdisk.bat config --add --volume \\server\share\directory\ --account myuser -- password "mypassword" --deny storage --favour staging
Note: Data is written to the staged area initially and then moved to the deduped storage area.
To add a network attached disk for storage of deduped data;
smartdisk.bat config --add --volume \\server\share\directory\ --account myuser -- password "mypassword" --deny staging --favour storage
To add a network attached disk for both staging and storage;
smartdisk.bat config --add --volume \\server\share\directory\ --account myuser -- password "mypassword"
smartdisk.bat is located in C:\Program Files\BakBone Software\NetVault SmartDisk\foundation\bin for a default installation in Windows. Unix and Linux installations would use smartdisk.sh.
It is possible to limit the amount of space used on each disk as follows;
The file \diskmanager\etc\storage.cfg specifies each volume available to SmartDisk and a limitation on the size of the SmartDisk data on that volume.
e.g.
[SmartDisk:Volume]
Storage Pool = Staging Pool
Location = C:\Program Files\BakBone Software\NetVault SmartDisk\diskmanager\stage
Size = 100, %
Compressed Filesystem = FALSE
Deduplication Activity Cap = 4
By adjusting the entry "Size = 100, %" it is possible to limit the capacity of SmartDisk data on a volume.
Having installed SmartDisk and used local disks for stage and store directories, limiting the size of these local areas may be desirable after adding network attached storage.
Explanation:
This information is also presented in the SmartDisk Administration guide. During testing it was noted that passwords using special characters needed to be in double quotes.
Note:
Consider the performance implications of networked attached drives when planning an installation of SmartDisk. A production installation of SmartDisk should be on a dedicated server with suitable locally attached disks.
