StorageGRID Simulator ?

[lusty acorn]

Hi, is there any way to test API of new StorageGRID versions ? Maybe something like "ONTAP Simulator" but for StorageGRID.
Our production environment is on 11.7.6 and we would like to test our playbooks and scripts on 11.8.x

[tropic lagoon]

I think you can download the virtual SG appliances and run them in evaluation mode for a while

[shy peak]

I second that, a virtual GRID for testing is quite good to have. I also know that there's a lab available in "Lab on Demand", but it could be that it's internal only. Worth checking though, LoD is the best way to quickly spin something up for testing.

[supple jewel]

If you download the VMware image for StorageGRID you can deploy as many virtual nodes as you like and it includes a NLF licence file that does not expire (it just doesn't entitle you to tech support). You can still apply hotfixes and Grid upgrades. It's a fully functioning grid that never stops.

[lusty acorn]

Great news, thank you for your answers. I'll try the virtual SG appliances 👍🏻

[limpid ledge]

Hello,

I followed your advice and deployed a virtual StorageGRID in order to perform some S3 and StorageGRID version upgrade tests.
It contains 1 primary admin node, 1 gateway node and 3 storage nodes.
The Grid configuration itself is not yet done, all VMs are still powered off.
Before doing that step, and even if those VMs are thin-provisioned from a storage point of view, I am wondering if I can shrink the size of all storage nodes VMDK disks ?
Let's say for example to 100 GB instead of 4 TB ?

Thanks in advance for your help.
Regards.

[tropic lagoon]

If you put the VMs on a datastore on an ONTAP system (e.g. an NFS mount) all unused space will be reclaimed and the VMs will only take as much space as they physically contain 🙂

[limpid ledge]

Yes of course, but my question was more :
If I resize the VMDK disks to 100 GB each, will the StorageGRID issue an alert about allocated storage that would be under the recommended size or threshold ?
Or even, will it refuse to start if it does not have that minimum disk space allocated ?

Thanks.

[tropic lagoon]

This is from memory (as it's been a while since I last installed virtual SG appliances) but I think space is checked, yes

[limpid ledge]

So I guess it has changed ... I deleted the 3 disks of 4 TB and added new ones of 100 GB, started all nodes and performed the initial Grid configuration and so far I did not noticed any issue.
It looks good, let's see what's next.

[ivory coral]

do you have any documentation on the simulator please? I would like try and install it on a laptop.

[nimble sail]

Use the regular StorageGrid documentation, Section "Install StorageGrid on VMware"
https://docs.netapp.com/us-en/storagegrid-118/vmware/index.html

[ivory coral]

thanks, can this be done on workstation?

[limpid ledge]

Yes indeed, the installation and configuration process is pretty strait forward and well explained in NetApp documentation.
Basically, all you need to know is in the README file contained in the installation package, and attached to this post.

My 5 nodes GRID (1 admin, 1 gateway & 3 storage) with no activity consumes a cumulated total around 11 GHz for CPU, 15 GB of RAM and 70 GB of storage, so I suppose it's better to use ESXi servers instead of a workstation...

[ivory coral]

thanks for that information, i am trying to run this at home on laptop so probably wont be possible

[cerulean zealot]

what sizes did you use instead of 4TB here please? Step 3 - Add storage to storage nodes

In the vSphere client right click on each storage node and click edit settings.
Three 4TB disks for RangeDBs have been provided for simple POCs.
You may need to remove these and configure as appropriate four your environment.

[tropic lagoon]

if you thin provision them, their size doesn't matter much (unless you actually put 4TB of data in them 😉 )

[cerulean zealot]

i only asked because i intend on installing vsphere on my laptop and wanted to know how small i could make the storage because i am limited.

[limpid ledge]

Hello,

I resized all " data " disks to 100 GB instead of 4 TB, no issue encountered or even a warning.
It works fine since then.

[steel drift]

When setting up a lab with VMs I usually edit the ovf file for the storage node and change the number of disks and the size.
You typically want to have less than 500GB for rangeDB 0 to make sure metadata reserve gets set to 10% instead of several TB

[manic apex]

i still have the small POC of storage grid i ran in 2020 updated to 11.7.0 ( last year ) ; if someone wants to see how to do it is documented here :

https://www.alef.com/ro/deploying-a-small-footprint-vmware-based-storagegrid-for-poc-purposes.c-373.html

it shows how to modify the vmware files ( good as example )

everything is running under 1tb 3 storage nodes and 1 admin node ( virtual appliances ) .