FAQ: Ansible Module for Dell EMC Isilon

To which Ansible module for Dell EMC Isilon version does this FAQ apply?

This FAQ applies to version 1.1 of the module

 

Where can I get this Ansible module for Dell EMC Isilon?

We have a community in GitHub: https://github.com/dell/ansible-isilon

 

What is the software prerequisites?

  • Isilon OneFS 8 or higher
  • Ansible 2.7 or higher
  • Python 2.7.12 or higher
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6

 

What are the supported features for this Ansible module for Dell EMC Isilon?

The Ansible Modules for Dell EMC Isilon includes:

  • File System Module
  • Access Zone Module
  • Users Module
  • Groups Module
  • Snapshot Module
  • Snapshot Schedule Module
  • NFS Module
  • SMB Module
  • Gather Facts Module

Each module includes View, Create, Delete and Modify operations. For the details, refer to the table below:

user

group

filesystem

Access zone

NFS export

SMB share

snapshot

Snapshot schedule

Create

y

y

y

n

y

y

y

y

Modify

y

y

y

y

y

y

y

y

Delete

y

y

y

n

y

y

y

y

View

y

y

y

y

y

y

y

y

What is the filesystem as we don’t see this concept in Isilon?

Filesystem in this Ansible module represents a directory in a given access zone with owner, ACL and even quotas specified.

 

How to install it?

I’ve listed high-level steps below. For the details, refer to the product guide at

https://github.com/dell/ansible-isilon/blob/dellemc_ansible/docs/Ansible%20for%20Dell%20EMC%20Isilon%20v1.1%20Product%20Guide.pdf

The following example is using CenoOS 8 + python 3.6 + Ansible 2.9.5 + Isilon sdk 8.1.1 + OneFS 8.2.2. The overall steps are as the followings:

  1. Install Ansible 2.9.5

# dnf -y install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm

# dnf install ansible

  1. Check the python version for ansible by using the following command

# ansible –version

In my case it’s python 3.6.8

[root@c8 ~]# ansible –version

ansible 2.9.5

  config file = /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg

  configured module search path = [‘/root/.ansible/plugins/modules’, ‘/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules’]

  ansible python module location = /usr/lib/python3.6/site-packages/ansible

  executable location = /usr/bin/ansible

  python version = 3.6.8 (default, Nov 21 2019, 19:31:34) [GCC 8.3.1 20190507 (Red Hat 8.3.1-4)]

  1. Install Isilon sdk 8.1.1

# pip3 install isi_sdk_8_1_1

  1. Install Isilon Ansible module: (make sure the path is aligned with the python version)

Copy utils/dellemc_ansible_utils.py to  /usr/lib/python3.6/site-packages/ansible/module_utils/

Copy all module Python files from ‘isilon/library’ folder to  /usr/lib/python3.6/site-packages/ansible/modules/storage/emc

  1. Install the playbook

Coyp dellemc_ansible/isilon/playbooks to any place you want

  1. Test the installation

Update the playbooks/ flo_test.yml. mine is as below:

—

– name: Collect set of facts in Isilon

  hosts: localhost

  connection: local

  vars:

    onefs_host: ‘192.168.116.88’

    verify_ssl: False

    api_user: ‘root’

    api_password: ‘a’

    access_zone: ‘System’

  tasks:

  – name: Get nodes of the Isilon cluster

    dellemc_isilon_gatherfacts:

      onefs_host: “{{onefs_host}}”

      verify_ssl: “{{verify_ssl}}”

      api_user: “{{api_user}}”

      api_password: “{{api_password}}”

      gather_subset:

        – nodes

    register: subset_result

  – debug:

      var: subset_result

run the playbook:

ansible-playbook  <path to playbooks/flo_test.yml>

If everything is good, you should see the Info for your Isilon is returned:

…………

                        “release”: “v9.0.0.BETA.0”,

                        “uptime”: 24533,

                        “version”: “Isilon OneFS v8.2.2(RELEASE): 0x900003000000001:Tue Feb 25 09:19:10 PST 2020    root@se********-build11-114:/b/mnt/obj/b/mnt/src/********md64.********md64/sys/IQ.********md64.rele********se   FreeBSD cl********ng version 5.0.0 (t********gs/RELEASE_500/fin********l 312559) (b********sed on LLVM 5.0.0svn)”

                    }

                }

            ],

            “total”: 1

        },

        “Providers”: [],

        “Users”: [],

        “changed”: false,

        “failed”: false

    }

}

 

PLAY RECAP *********************************************************************

localhost                  : ok=3    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0  

 

Does this module support quota?

The current version only support directory(file system) quotas, but not user or group quotas.

 

Where can I find the examples?

Check examples from each module’s file in /ansible-isilon/dellemc_ansible/isilon/library/

I’ve also create a short video on how to use this module to create and mount NFS export from Isilon.

 

What is the limitation of this module?

Gatherfacts

Getting the list of users and groups with very long names may fail.

Users and Groups

Only local users and groups can be created.

Operations on users and groups with very long names may fail.

Access Zone

Creation and deletion of access zones is not supported.

Filesystems

ACLs can only be modified from POSIX to POSIX mode.

Only directory quotas are supported but not user or group quotas.

Modification of include_snap_data flag is not supported.

NFS Export

If there multiple exports present with the same path in an access zone, operations on such exports fail.

Advanced Isilon features

No support for advanced Isilon features like SyncIQ, tiering, WORM and so on.

How to uninstall the module?

  1. pip3 uninstall isi_sdk_8_1_1
  2. Remove dellemc_ansible_utils.py from  /usr/lib/python3.6/site-packages/ansible/module_utils/
  3. Remove the following files from  /usr/lib/python3.6/site-packages/ansible/modules/storage/emc

dellemc_isilon_accesszone.py

dellemc_isilon_filesystem.py

dellemc_isilon_gatherfacts.py

dellemc_isilon_group.py

dellemc_isilon_nfs.py

dellemc_isilon_smb.py

dellemc_isilon_snapshot.py

dellemc_isilon_snapshotschedule.py

dellemc_isilon_user.py

  1. Remove all the play book

 

Where do submit an issue against the driver?

The Ansible module for Dell EMC Isilon is officially by Dell EMC. Therefore you can open a ticket directly to the support website : https://www.dell.com/support/ or open a discussion in the forum : https://www.dell.com/community/Containers/bd-p/Containers

 

Can I run this module in a production environment?

Yes, the module is production-grade. Please make sure your environment follows the pre-requisites and Ansible best practices.

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