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Creating a vFiler unit

You can create a vFiler unit when you want to partition the storage and network resources of a single storage system. You can create a vFiler unit by either using the vfiler create command from the command-line interface or System Manager.

Before you begin

You must have created an IPspace for a vFiler unit.

About this task

When you create and associate a vFiler unit with the IPspace that is used by a stopped vFiler unit belonging to the same subnet, the default or static routes are migrated from the stopped vFiler unit to the newly created vFiler unit.

Steps

  1. From the CLI, enter the following command:
    vfiler create vfiler_name [-s ipspace] -i ip_address [ -i ip_address ] ... path [ path ] ...

    vfiler_name is the name of the vFiler unit.

    ipspace is the IPspace the vFiler unit must belong to.

    ip_address is an IP address of the vFiler unit.

    path is the complete path name to an existing volume or qtree.

    The first path name is the storage unit that contains the /etc directory. The /etc directory contains the configuration information about the vFiler unit.

    Example

    The following command creates a vFiler unit with two IP addresses, one volume, and one qtree:

    vfiler create vfiler1 -i 123.123.123.123 -i 123.123.123.124 /vol/vol1 /vol/vol2/qtree2

    For more information about the vfiler create command, see the na_vfiler(1) man page.

  2. Respond to the prompts to set up the storage system, and to set up CIFS if necessary.
  3. To set up CIFS on a vFiler unit with an IPv6 address, perform the following steps:
    1. Skip the cifs setup by entering n at the CIFS setup prompt.
    2. Enable cifs on the vFiler unit by entering the following command:
      vfiler run vfiler1 options cifs.ipv6.enable on
    3. Set up cifs on the vFiler unit by entering the following command:
      vfiler run vfiler1 cifs setup

Result

The setup process does the following on the new vFiler unit:
  • Starts NFS (if NFS is licensed on the hosting storage system) and configures the vFiler unit’s primary storage (root volume) to be exported to the vFiler unit’s administration host (using an entry in the /etc/exports file)
  • Configures the vFiler unit’s IP addresses and adds the appropriate entries to /etc/rc

  • Creates a “pseudo-root” that allows CIFS clients to see all the storage that has been assigned to the vFiler unit as a single tree
  • Starts the iSCSI service (if iSCSI is licensed on the hosting storage system)

As the vFiler unit administrator, you can now mount the root volume of the vFiler unit, edit /etc/exports to suit your needs, and rerun the exportfs command.