Network Storage Data Stores

DDC supports two types of Network Storage types as data stores:

• NFS Share - NFS (Unix Network File System) is a distributed file system protocol allowing a user on a client computer to access files over a computer network as if it were a local storage.

• SMB/CIFS Share - Common Internet File System (CIFS) is a cross-platform, transport-independent protocol that provides a mechanism for client systems to use file and print services made available by server systems over a network.

To add a SMB/CIFS Share data store:

• Use a Windows Proxy Agent.

• Ensure that the target storage is accessible from the Proxy agent host.

To add a NFS Share data store:

• Use a Linux Proxy Agent.

• The target storage path must be mounted on the Proxy agent host. For instructions, refer to Mounting an NFS Share.

Adding Network Storage Data Stores

1. Select Store Type

1. In the Select Store Type screen of the wizard select Network Storage in the Select Data Store Category.

2. From the Select Network Storage Type drop-down list select NFS Share or SMB/CIFS Share.

3. Click Next to go on to the Configure Connection screen.

2. Configure Connection

1. In the Configure Connection screen of the wizard, provide the following configuration details for your data store:

   • NFS Share

     • Hostname/IP - a valid hostname, IP address, or URI of the data store. This is usually an NFS file server. For example, if your Unix share path is //remote-server-name/share-name, enter remote-server-name.

     • Share Path - a valid NFS path, it must begin with a slash (“/”). This is the mount path on the Proxy host for the Unix file share target. For example: //remote-server-name/share-name. The path must be set to the mount path on the Proxy host.

     • Agent Hostname/IP - a valid hostname, IP address, or URI of the host where the DDC agent resides. The file share to be scanned must be mounted on that host.

     • Mount Point (On Proxy Agent) - the mount path on the Proxy host (for the Share Path above).

   • SMB/CIFS Share

     • Hostname/IP - a valid hostname, IP address, or URI of the data store. For example, if your Windows share path is \\remote-server-name\share-name, enter remote-server-name.

     • Share Name - a valid Windows share name. These characters are not allowed in the Share Name: =*?,<>|;:+[]"/\

     Caution

     Do not confuse the Share Name with the Network Path. In Windows, the Share Name is typically set in the Advanced Sharing settings in the folder sharing properties.

     • User, Password - provide a valid username and password. Use the appropriate user name format for the target Windows hosts credentials:

       • <domain\username> - use this format if the Windows host and the Windows agent host reside in the same Active Directory.

       • <target_hostname\username> - use this format if the Windows host and the Windows agent host do not reside in the same Active Directory.

       • <username> - use it if the above formats do not work.

     Tip

     DNS / DNS reverse resolution may increase the time to scan. Make sure that you optimize your DNS resolution or modify the agent's hosts file to skip the external DNS resolution as indicated in this technical note.

2. The Agent Selection section allows you to specify the minimum and maximum number of proxy agents when adding a datastore. Employing a group of agents instead of a single agent to run the scan should improve the scan execution time.

   Note

   The multiple agent functionality is not supported for the Linux Data Store (NFS Share).

   In the Select Number of Agents menu set the number of agents for the datastore:

   • Minimum: Set the minimun number of agents to use to scan the datastore. At least that number of proxy agents must be able to connect to the datastore.

   • Maximum: Set the maximum number agents to use to scan the datastore.

   Warning

   • As there is no limit on the number of minimum and maximum agents that you can set, you should exercise caution so that you do not impact the system performance by using too many resouces for a single scan.
   • You will not be able to add a datastore if the minimum number of agents cannot be assigned.
   • A scan will fail if the assigned agent is unavailable after adding the datastore.
   • The minimum number of agents must be less than or equal to the maximum number of agents.

3. In the Add Label: field, add an agent label, by entering a label or removing and existing label. Agent labels represent the agent capabilities.

4. Click Next to go to the General Info screen.

3. General Info

1. Configure the General Info part per the information in General Info.

2. Click Next to go to the Add Tags & Access Control screen.

4. Add Tags & Access Control

1. Configure the Tags & Access Control par per the information in Tags & Access Control.

2. Click Save. The newly created data store appears on the Data Stores page. By default, data stores are displayed in alphabetic order by name. Depending on the number of entries per page, you might need to navigate to other pages to view the newly created data store.