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The QuantaStor Administrators Guide is intended for all administrators and cloud users who plan to manage their storage using QuantaStor Manager as well as for those just looking to get a deeper understanding of how the QuantaStor Storage System Platform (SSP) works.
[[Category:admin_guide]]
The Administrator Guide provides documentation on how to configure all aspects of QuantaStor systems and storage grids, with a primary focus on the web user interface (WUI) and a secondary focus on how to automate using the QuantaStor CLI. In contrast the [[+ User Guide Overview|User Guide]] focuses on using QuantaStor storage and accessing it from various operating systems, and on the client-side configuration steps that involves.


== Definitions ==
It is written for IT administrators setting up or maintaining a system or grid, and for anyone wanting a deeper understanding of how the platform works. Each section below groups related topics, with a one-line summary of what each page covers so you can find the right one without opening several. If you are new to the interface, start with [[Using the Web Interface]]; if you are bringing up a new appliance, start with '''System & Grid'''. For the commands referenced throughout, see the [[+ CLI Guide Overview|CLI Guide]] and the [[QuantaStor CLI Command Reference]].


The following series of definitions are here to lay the ground work and context for the rest of the document.  Here we define all the various objects and elements that can be managed using QuantaStor.
== Using the Web Interface ==


=== Storage System ===
The web management interface itself: its screen regions, its nine main tabs, and the navigation conventions this guide uses to describe it.


The storage system is the object that represents the entire iSCSI server both from a physical and logical standpoint.  This includes all the physical disks, fans, enclosures, power supplies and other physical elements of the system as well as all the logical elements including the storage pools, volumes, users, and storage clouds.
{| class="wikitable"
! Topic !! Description
|-
| [[Using the Web Interface]] || Logging in, every region of the screen, the nine main tabs, toolbar groups and the overflow chevron, right-click menus, and how to read a '''Navigation''' breadcrumb.
|}


=== Storage Pool ===
== System & Grid ==
The storage pool is an aggregation of one or more physical disks into a larger entity.  Each storage pool has a single RAID type associated with it, and all storage volumes that are created within that storage pool inherit RAID type.  For example, if a given storage pool of type RAID1 (mirroring) is made up to two 1TB disks, then there is 1TB of usable storage available to create storage volumes (LUNs) with.


=== Storage Volume ===
Bringing up an appliance, joining it to a grid, licensing it, and recovering its configuration.
The storage volume is the most important object in the system as it represents the virtual disk device that is presented to the host a LUN.  Each storage volume has a unique name and a unique target number and a unique IQN associated with it.  Storage volumes can be created "thin" which means they do not use up any disk space until the device has been written to.  Or "thick" which means that all the space for the storage volume is pre-reserved up front.


=== Storage Volume Group ===
{| class="wikitable"
Often times hosts and virtual machines will be comprised of more than one storage volume. Sometimes one storage volume is dedicated as a boot disk and another as a swap disk.  In other cases there are multiple disks utilized to separate out the elements of a database application (index, data, log) into separate storage volumes for improved performance.  Whatever the reason, it can become difficult to manage you storage system without a way to group these storage volumes together so that they can be operated on as a single unit. That's what Storage Volume Groups provide.  They're simple containers for collecting together an arbitrary set of storage volumes so that they can be cloned, snapshot, or even deleted as a group.
! Topic !! Description
|-
| [[Storage System]] || A single QuantaStor appliance, physical or virtual, and the settings on its Modify dialog.
|-
| [[Storage System Optimization]] || System tunables controlling cache behavior and Storage Pool I/O, and how the tunables file works.
|-
| [[Grid Configuration]] || Combining multiple systems into one Storage Grid managed as a single unit.
|-
| [[License Management]] || Applying and managing the license every system requires before the software can be used.
|-
| [[Recovery Manager]] || Restoring the internal configuration database from one of its automatic backups.
|}


=== Snapshot Schedules ===
== Hardware Configuration ==
=== Host ===
=== Host Group ===
=== Storage Cloud ===
=== Storage Quota ===
=== Roles ===
=== Permissions ===
=== Users ===
=== User Groups ===
=== Target Port ===
=== Sessions ===
=== CHAP Authentication ===
=== Alerts ===
=== Events ===
=== Tasks ===


== Target Port Configuration ==
Network interfaces, disks, controllers and third-party enclosures -- the physical layer beneath a Storage Pool.


=== NIC Bonding / Trunking ===
{| class="wikitable"
! Topic !! Description
|-
| [[Network Ports]] || The Ethernet interfaces used for management and storage access, plus bonding, VLANs, virtual ports and static routes.
|-
| [[Physical Disks/Devices]] || Identifying, scanning, formatting and importing the physical disks a system can see.
|-
| [[Hardware Controllers & Enclosures]] || QuantaStor's integration modules for the major HBA and RAID controller models.
|-
| [[Multipath Configuration]] || Redundant SAS paths to dual-ported media, which QuantaStor configures automatically where it can.
|-
| [[External Systems Configuration]] || Disk enclosures and arrays from other vendors, used as the media behind a Storage Pool.
|-
| style="padding-left: 2.5em;" | [[Western Digital (WD) Data24 Configuration|Western Digital (WD) Data24]] || An NVMe-oF JBOF attached over RDMA (RoCE), including driver and lossless-network setup.
|-
| style="padding-left: 2.5em;" | [[Seagate Corvault Configuration|Seagate Corvault]] || A SAS-attached array that does its own RAID and presents large logical volumes.
|}


== Alert Settings ==
== Storage Provisioning ==


== Managing Hosts ==
Turning physical media into pools, then into the block, file and object storage that clients consume.


== Managing Snapshot Schedules ==
{| class="wikitable"
=== Near Continuous Data Replication (N-CDP) ===
! Topic !! Description
|-
| [[Storage Pools]] || Aggregating one or more disks into a pool of fault-tolerant storage.
|-
| [[Provisioning Tiers]] || Grouping pools together so automated frameworks such as OpenStack Cinder can provision from a tier.
|-
| [[Storage Volumes]] || Block devices (LUNs) accessed over iSCSI, Fibre Channel or Infiniband/SRP.
|-
| style="padding-left: 2.5em;" | [[Clustered SCSI-3 Persistent Reservations]] || Sharing client reservations across an HA group so Hyper-V, WSFC and SQL Server clusters survive a failover.
|-
| [[Fibre Channel Target Port Management]] || Exposing volumes as LUNs to Fibre Channel initiator hosts alongside iSCSI.
|-
| [[Network Shares]] || NAS access to a pool over NFSv3, NFSv4, SMB2 and SMB3.
|-
| [[NFS Configuration]] || The two NFS server implementations, and which one applies to a given storage architecture.
|-
| [[Multi-protocol File Locking]] || Locking on shares used by NFS and SMB clients at once, the setting that makes it coherent, and its limits.
|-
| [[Cloud Containers / NAS Gateway]] || Mapping an object-storage bucket to a Network Share so it can be accessed as files.
|}


== Managing Sessions ==
== Security, Alerting & Upgrades ==
=== Dropping Sessions ===


== Managing Storage Volumes ==
Controlling who can do what, learning when a system needs attention, and keeping it patched.
=== Creating & Deleting Storage Volumes ===
 
=== Creating Snapshots ===
{| class="wikitable"
=== Creating Clones ===
! Topic !! Description
=== Restoring from Snapshots ===
|-
=== Converting a Snapshot into a Primary ===
| [[Security Configuration]] || Users, roles and RBAC, multi-factor authentication, certificates, the firewall and audit logging.
|-
| [[Call-home / Alerting]] || How a grid notifies you when systems need attention, including the ITSM integrations.
|-
| [[Upgrade Manager]] || Kernel, driver, security and core QuantaStor package updates.
|-
| [[Send System Log Report]] || Collecting the configuration and log bundle OSNEXUS support asks for on a new ticket.
|-
| [[FIPS Mode]] || Running the appliance with the FIPS 140-2 validated cryptographic module, and verifying it is active.
|-
| [[Encryption Bypass]] || Why QuantaStor does not encrypt devices that arrays such as Seagate Corvault, Seagate Exos E/EP and Dell PowerVault already encrypt in hardware, and how to add new vendor and model combinations as they are released. Applies to scale-up Storage Pools and scale-out OSDs alike.
|}
 
== High-availability VIF Management ==
 
The cluster heartbeat layer and the floating service addresses it manages, for both scale-out (Ceph) and scale-up (ZFS) storage clusters within a grid. Named for the main tab these are managed from.
 
{| class="wikitable"
! Topic !! Description
|-
| [[High-availability VIF Management]] || How cluster VIFs work: the grid, site cluster, heartbeat ring, HA group and VIF hierarchy, what triggers a failover and how long one takes, what blocks one, moving a VIF deliberately, and location constraints.
|-
| [[Site Cluster Setup]] || Creating a site cluster and its heartbeat rings, adding and removing members, and the corosync and pacemaker configuration it puts in place.
|-
| [[Cluster VIFs]] || Adding a cluster virtual interface and choosing its use case -- grid primary, scale-up storage pool, scale-out storage pool -- and what each type follows.
|-
| [[Configure Member Standby]] || Setting a node into standby moves all VIF resources and pools off it, so maintenance can be done without risk of a pool or resource moving onto it while the work is in progress.
|}
 
== Snapshots & Replication ==
 
Point-in-time copies, scheduled backups, and getting data to a second site.
 
{| class="wikitable"
! Topic !! Description
|-
| [[Snapshot Schedules]] || Automating space-efficient point-in-time snapshots of volumes and shares.
|-
| [[Backup Policies]] || Backing up any NFS or CIFS share on your network onto a QuantaStor system.
|-
| [[Remote-replication (DR)]] || Replicating both Storage Volumes (SAN) and Network Shares (NAS) to a remote system.
|-
| [[Bucket Synchronization Policies]] || Keeping object storage buckets in step across sites.
|}
 
== Scale-out Cluster Configuration ==
 
Scale-out Ceph cluster setup and configuration.
 
{| class="wikitable"
! Topic !! Description
|-
| [[Scale-out Block Setup (ceph)]] || Scale-out SAN built on Ceph.
|-
| [[Scale-out File Setup (ceph)]] || Scale-out NAS with access over native CephFS, SMB and NFS.
|-
| [[Scale-out Object Setup (ceph)]] || Scale-out object storage over the S3-compatible REST protocols.
|}
 
== Scale-up Cluster Configuration ==
 
Highly available scale-up pool cluster configuration.
 
{| class="wikitable"
! Topic !! Description
|-
| [[HA Cluster Setup (JBODs)]] || Clustered pools on shared SAS JBODs, so a node or path outage does not take storage offline.
|-
| [[HA Cluster Setup (external SAN)]] || The same clustered pool configuration where the media comes from an external SAN.
|}
 
== Optimization ==
 
Matching pool behavior to your workload, and watching how the grid performs.
 
{| class="wikitable"
! Topic !! Description
|-
| [[Performance Tuning]] || Pool I/O profiles, which set read-ahead, request queue depth and the I/O scheduler.
|-
| [[Performance Monitoring]] || The Grid Dashboard and the health and performance views built on it.
|}
 
== System Internals ==
 
How the platform is put together, for deeper troubleshooting and for extending it.
 
{| class="wikitable"
! Topic !! Description
|-
| [[QuantaStor systemd Services]] || The internal services and the systemd units under <code>/lib/systemd/system</code> that manage them.
|-
| [[QuantaStor Configuration Files]] || The configuration files that let engineering and support customize platform behavior.
|-
| [[QuantaStor Shell Utilities]] || The <code>qs</code> CLI plus the <code>qs-*</code> helpers such as <code>qs-iostat</code>, <code>qs-sendlogs</code> and <code>qs-upgrade</code>.
|-
| [[QuantaStor Custom Scripting / Application Extensions]] || Script call-outs for integrating QuantaStor with custom applications.
|}
 
----
<small>''Verified against QuantaStor 6.9.0.''</small>

Latest revision as of 16:32, 28 September 2026

The Administrator Guide provides documentation on how to configure all aspects of QuantaStor systems and storage grids, with a primary focus on the web user interface (WUI) and a secondary focus on how to automate using the QuantaStor CLI. In contrast the User Guide focuses on using QuantaStor storage and accessing it from various operating systems, and on the client-side configuration steps that involves.

It is written for IT administrators setting up or maintaining a system or grid, and for anyone wanting a deeper understanding of how the platform works. Each section below groups related topics, with a one-line summary of what each page covers so you can find the right one without opening several. If you are new to the interface, start with Using the Web Interface; if you are bringing up a new appliance, start with System & Grid. For the commands referenced throughout, see the CLI Guide and the QuantaStor CLI Command Reference.

Using the Web Interface

The web management interface itself: its screen regions, its nine main tabs, and the navigation conventions this guide uses to describe it.

Topic Description
Using the Web Interface Logging in, every region of the screen, the nine main tabs, toolbar groups and the overflow chevron, right-click menus, and how to read a Navigation breadcrumb.

System & Grid

Bringing up an appliance, joining it to a grid, licensing it, and recovering its configuration.

Topic Description
Storage System A single QuantaStor appliance, physical or virtual, and the settings on its Modify dialog.
Storage System Optimization System tunables controlling cache behavior and Storage Pool I/O, and how the tunables file works.
Grid Configuration Combining multiple systems into one Storage Grid managed as a single unit.
License Management Applying and managing the license every system requires before the software can be used.
Recovery Manager Restoring the internal configuration database from one of its automatic backups.

Hardware Configuration

Network interfaces, disks, controllers and third-party enclosures -- the physical layer beneath a Storage Pool.

Topic Description
Network Ports The Ethernet interfaces used for management and storage access, plus bonding, VLANs, virtual ports and static routes.
Physical Disks/Devices Identifying, scanning, formatting and importing the physical disks a system can see.
Hardware Controllers & Enclosures QuantaStor's integration modules for the major HBA and RAID controller models.
Multipath Configuration Redundant SAS paths to dual-ported media, which QuantaStor configures automatically where it can.
External Systems Configuration Disk enclosures and arrays from other vendors, used as the media behind a Storage Pool.
Western Digital (WD) Data24 An NVMe-oF JBOF attached over RDMA (RoCE), including driver and lossless-network setup.
Seagate Corvault A SAS-attached array that does its own RAID and presents large logical volumes.

Storage Provisioning

Turning physical media into pools, then into the block, file and object storage that clients consume.

Topic Description
Storage Pools Aggregating one or more disks into a pool of fault-tolerant storage.
Provisioning Tiers Grouping pools together so automated frameworks such as OpenStack Cinder can provision from a tier.
Storage Volumes Block devices (LUNs) accessed over iSCSI, Fibre Channel or Infiniband/SRP.
Clustered SCSI-3 Persistent Reservations Sharing client reservations across an HA group so Hyper-V, WSFC and SQL Server clusters survive a failover.
Fibre Channel Target Port Management Exposing volumes as LUNs to Fibre Channel initiator hosts alongside iSCSI.
Network Shares NAS access to a pool over NFSv3, NFSv4, SMB2 and SMB3.
NFS Configuration The two NFS server implementations, and which one applies to a given storage architecture.
Multi-protocol File Locking Locking on shares used by NFS and SMB clients at once, the setting that makes it coherent, and its limits.
Cloud Containers / NAS Gateway Mapping an object-storage bucket to a Network Share so it can be accessed as files.

Security, Alerting & Upgrades

Controlling who can do what, learning when a system needs attention, and keeping it patched.

Topic Description
Security Configuration Users, roles and RBAC, multi-factor authentication, certificates, the firewall and audit logging.
Call-home / Alerting How a grid notifies you when systems need attention, including the ITSM integrations.
Upgrade Manager Kernel, driver, security and core QuantaStor package updates.
Send System Log Report Collecting the configuration and log bundle OSNEXUS support asks for on a new ticket.
FIPS Mode Running the appliance with the FIPS 140-2 validated cryptographic module, and verifying it is active.
Encryption Bypass Why QuantaStor does not encrypt devices that arrays such as Seagate Corvault, Seagate Exos E/EP and Dell PowerVault already encrypt in hardware, and how to add new vendor and model combinations as they are released. Applies to scale-up Storage Pools and scale-out OSDs alike.

High-availability VIF Management

The cluster heartbeat layer and the floating service addresses it manages, for both scale-out (Ceph) and scale-up (ZFS) storage clusters within a grid. Named for the main tab these are managed from.

Topic Description
High-availability VIF Management How cluster VIFs work: the grid, site cluster, heartbeat ring, HA group and VIF hierarchy, what triggers a failover and how long one takes, what blocks one, moving a VIF deliberately, and location constraints.
Site Cluster Setup Creating a site cluster and its heartbeat rings, adding and removing members, and the corosync and pacemaker configuration it puts in place.
Cluster VIFs Adding a cluster virtual interface and choosing its use case -- grid primary, scale-up storage pool, scale-out storage pool -- and what each type follows.
Configure Member Standby Setting a node into standby moves all VIF resources and pools off it, so maintenance can be done without risk of a pool or resource moving onto it while the work is in progress.

Snapshots & Replication

Point-in-time copies, scheduled backups, and getting data to a second site.

Topic Description
Snapshot Schedules Automating space-efficient point-in-time snapshots of volumes and shares.
Backup Policies Backing up any NFS or CIFS share on your network onto a QuantaStor system.
Remote-replication (DR) Replicating both Storage Volumes (SAN) and Network Shares (NAS) to a remote system.
Bucket Synchronization Policies Keeping object storage buckets in step across sites.

Scale-out Cluster Configuration

Scale-out Ceph cluster setup and configuration.

Topic Description
Scale-out Block Setup (ceph) Scale-out SAN built on Ceph.
Scale-out File Setup (ceph) Scale-out NAS with access over native CephFS, SMB and NFS.
Scale-out Object Setup (ceph) Scale-out object storage over the S3-compatible REST protocols.

Scale-up Cluster Configuration

Highly available scale-up pool cluster configuration.

Topic Description
HA Cluster Setup (JBODs) Clustered pools on shared SAS JBODs, so a node or path outage does not take storage offline.
HA Cluster Setup (external SAN) The same clustered pool configuration where the media comes from an external SAN.

Optimization

Matching pool behavior to your workload, and watching how the grid performs.

Topic Description
Performance Tuning Pool I/O profiles, which set read-ahead, request queue depth and the I/O scheduler.
Performance Monitoring The Grid Dashboard and the health and performance views built on it.

System Internals

How the platform is put together, for deeper troubleshooting and for extending it.

Topic Description
QuantaStor systemd Services The internal services and the systemd units under /lib/systemd/system that manage them.
QuantaStor Configuration Files The configuration files that let engineering and support customize platform behavior.
QuantaStor Shell Utilities The qs CLI plus the qs-* helpers such as qs-iostat, qs-sendlogs and qs-upgrade.
QuantaStor Custom Scripting / Application Extensions Script call-outs for integrating QuantaStor with custom applications.

Verified against QuantaStor 6.9.0.

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