Table of Contents

Disk Storage Overview
Disk Space-Allocation Guidelines

Disk Space-Allocation Guidelines for Content Engines
Disk Space-Allocation Guidelines for Content Routers
Disk Space-Allocation Guidelines for Content Distribution Managers

Commands Related to Disk File Storage Types

sysfs-Related Commands
cfs-Related Commands
mediafs-Related Commands
ecdnfs-Related Commands

Configuring RAID Drives for the Content Distribution Manager 4650

Adding a Storage Array and Configuring the Disks as RAID Drives

Rebuilding a RAID Disk Array

Configuring and Maintaining Disk Storage

Disk space in Cisco Application and Content Networking Software (ACNS) is allocated on a per-system basis, rather than on a per-disk basis. You can configure your overall disk storage allocations according to the kinds of client protocols you expect to use and the amount of storage that you need to provide for each of the functions described in Table 3-1. This chapter provides guidelines for allocating disk space based on the type of device and the most common usage of the device.

This chapter discusses the following topics:

• Disk Storage Overview
  
  
• Disk Space-Allocation Guidelines
  
  
• Commands Related to Disk File Storage Types
  
  
• Configuring RAID Drives for the Content Distribution Manager 4650
  
  
• Rebuilding a RAID Disk Array
  
  

Disk Storage Overview

ACNS software recognizes four types of disk storage, each with an associated function, as described in Table 3-1.

Disk storage can be configured and viewed by using the commands listed in Table 3-2.

Disk Space-Allocation Guidelines

ACNS software is supported on several different hardware models. In terms of disk support, these models can be divided into four types of hardware configurations.

• Single-rack unit devices with internal disks only: CE-507, CE-507AV, CE-560, CE-560AV, CE-590, CDM-4630, CR-4430
  
  
• Single-rack unit devices with the Storage Array 6 (SA-6) attached: CE-560, CE-560AV, CE-590, CDM-4630
  
  
• Seven-rack unit devices without the Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) controller: CE-7320
  
  
• Seven-rack unit devices with the RAID controller: CDM-4650
  
  

This section describes the disk-related commands and provides guidelines for allocating disk space on the different types of hardware configurations that use ACNS 4.0 software.

Space allocation for the different disk file system types and disk preparation are done through a single set of ACNS software CLI commands. You do not have to first partition the disks and then prepare the disks as you do in Cache 3.1 software or in previous releases of Cache software. In most cases you do not need to know which disk has what file system types. Disk space allocation can be done on a per-system basis rather than on a per-disk basis.

Note   The E-CDN application requires at least 2 GB of ecdnfs disk space to operate correctly.

To display the current disk space configuration, use the show disks current EXEC command.

Note   The show disks details command shows that there is 3 to 4 GB of disk space allocated to system use. This detail is not shown by using the show disks current command.

To configure the disk allocations, use the disk config EXEC command. This command takes file system type and size as parameters. Size can be designated in megabytes, gigabytes, or as a percentage of the system total storage. In the following example, 10 percent of the total storage is allocated to the sysfs and 30 percent to every other file system.

ContentEngine# disk config sysfs 10% mediafs 30% ecdnfs 30% cfs 30% Disk configured successfully. New configuration will take effect after reload. Please remove this device from the ECDN CDM (if any) before reboot this device, as this device's configuration will be stale due to disk repartition.

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Caution   The disk config command deletes existing content when the disk configuration takes effect during reboot. Use with care.

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The disk configuration does not take effect until after the next reboot. To view what the configuration is going to be after the next reboot, use the show disks configured command.

ContentEngine# show disks configured SYSFS 10% CFS 30% MEDIAFS 30% ECDNFS 30%

To cancel the disk configuration, use the disk cancel-config command.

ContentEngine# disk cancel-config Disk configuration canceled successfully

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Note   The disk cancel-config command is effective only before a reboot. After reboot, the allocation has already taken effect and can only be changed by issuing another disk config command.

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After you set up a new disk configuration, the following messages appear during reboot:

Using new disk configuration you specified before reboot. Removing old disk contents... Creating new disk configuration... Initializing new file systems (may take several minutes)... Mounting all file systems...

To view disk details, use the show disks details command.

ContentEngine# show disks details disk00:Normal (h00 c00 i00 l00) 17499MB( 17GB) disk00/03:ECDNFS 9044MB( 8GB) mounted at/sonoma/state disk00/04:SYSFS 2047MB( 1GB) mounted at/local/local1 disk00/05:CFS 2047MB( 1GB) disk00/06:MEDIAFS 1023MB( 0GB) mounted at/media/media1 System use: 3317MB( 3GB) FREE: 16MB( 0GB) disk01:Not present

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Note   The show disks details command shows that there is 3 to 4 GB of disk space allocated to system use. This detail is not shown by using the show disks current command.

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To show the space allocation in each individual file system type, use the following commands:

ContentEngine# show cfs volumes cfs 00:/dev/raw/raw1 3812351KB mounted ContentEngine# show mediafs volumes mediafs 00: /media/media1 1048577KB mediafs 01: /media/media2 8730623KB ContentEngine# show ecdnfs volumes ecdnfs 00: /sonoma/state 9188336KB

Disk Space-Allocation Guidelines for Content Engines

Content Engine models such as the CE-507, CE-507AV, CE-560, CE-560AV, CE-590, and CE-7320 that are used as general-purpose Content Engines might use this typical general-purpose disk configuration:

This disk configuration does not specify specific amounts of disk storage space; however, the percentages give you reasonable performance for HTTP caching and content pre-positioning.

For higher-end models such as the CE-7320 that might be used as a dedicated HTTP cache or RealProxy cache without using the E-CDN application, either cfs storage or mediafs storage could be given more disk space. Either of the following configurations should work well:

If both RealProxy caching and HTTP caching are important, disk space could be evenly split between cfs storage and mediafs storage. For example,

Note   The mediafs storage must be configured and RealProxy Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) proxy service must be enabled before any RealProxy files can be cached in the mediafs storage space. For information on how to enable RealProxy, refer to Chapter 3 of the Cisco Cache Software Configuration Guide, Release 3.1.

Lower-end models, especially those models with AV output, are often deployed in small branch offices to store pre-positioned content. These models could be configured as follows:

If RealProxy caching is being used, these models could be configured as follows:

Note   The mediafs storage space is only configured if RealProxy files are being cached.

Disk Space-Allocation Guidelines for Content Routers

Content Routers assist the Content Distribution Manager and serve as backups if the Content Distribution Manager suddenly goes offline. Like Content Distribution Managers, Content Routers store routing hierarchies for Content Delivery Network devices; however, they do not store large amounts of content. The E-CDN application requires 2 GB of disk space to operate.

Disk Space-Allocation Guidelines for Content Distribution Managers

Content Distribution Manager models such as the CDM-4630 and CDM-4650 are used to manage content distribution for Content Delivery Networks. These systems usually need to store a large amount of media content. A typical configuration would be:

Commands Related to Disk File Storage Types

This section lists the commands related to viewing, manipulating, and maintaining the four different disk storage areas.

sysfs-Related Commands

The system file system (sysfs) storage space stores system image files. At least 1 GB of storage must be allocated to sysfs; however, you can allocate more storage to sysfs depending on your network requirements. The content of sysfs storage can be viewed or manipulated with the commands listed in Table 3-3.

cfs-Related Commands

The cache file system (cfs) storage space caches HTTP and FTP objects. The contents of cfs storage cannot be examined or modified. Commands related to maintaining cfs storage are listed in Table 3-4.

mediafs-Related Commands

ACNS software caches RealProxy files in the media file system (mediafs) storage space. The content in the mediafs storage space cannot be examined. Commands related to maintaining mediafs storage are listed in Table 3-5 .

ecdnfs-Related Commands

TheEnterprise Content Delivery Network file system (ecdnfs) storage space is used by the E-CDN application to store pre-positioned streaming media content. Commands related to maintaining ecdnfs storage are listed inTable 3-6 .

Configuring RAID Drives for the Content Distribution Manager 4650

The Content Distribution Manager 4650 (CDM-4650) is manufactured with a Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) controller. When you receive a CDM-4650, the internal disks are already configured as one logical RAID-5 drive at manufacturing time. However, if you want to add a Storage Array device, you must first make sure that your Storage Array disks are configured as logical RAID-5 drives so that they are recognizable to the ACNS software.

This section describes how to configure your Storage Array disks as logical RAID-5 drives so that they are recognizable to the ACNS software. After completing the steps in this section, you can configure disk storage space by using the disk config command. (See the "Disk Space-Allocation Guidelines" section.)

Adding a Storage Array and Configuring the Disks as RAID Drives

Note   If you are running E-CDN 3.x software on a CDM-4650 with an SA-6 or SA-12 attached, do not follow these instructions. Your Storage Array disks are already recognized by the E-CDN software, and they continue to be recognized when you upgrade to ACNS software. Upgrade your system to ACNS software by following the procedure in the "Upgrading from CDN Enterprise 2.x Software or E-CDN 3.0.x Software to ACNS 4.0 Software" section.

The following procedure is used only when you have a new CDM-4650 with ACNS software, or if you have already upgraded from E-CDN 3.0 software to ACNS software without a Storage Array. This procedure is necessary because the ACNS software does not automatically recognize the Storage Array disks.

To add a Storage Array and configure the ACNS software to recognize the disks, follow these steps:

Step 1   Make sure that the CDM-4650 is running ACNS 4.0 software.

Step 2   Power off the CDM-4650 and attach an SA-6 or SA-12 to channel B.

Channel B is located in card slot 7 on the back of the CDM-4650. (Refer to the Cisco Content Networking Hardware Installation Guide for the Seven-Rack Unit Chassis.)

Step 3   Power on the CDM-4650.

Step 4   When the system is powered on, use Telnet or log in from the console and verify that the ACNS software recognizes the Storage Array but is not using the Storage Array disk space.

To determine whether the Storage Array is being recognized, use the show disks raid-info command. The following example shows that all the Storage Array physical disks are recognized on RAID channel 1:

To verify that the Storage Array is not being used, use the show disks command. The following example shows that the eight 18-GB internal disk drives are in use because less than 8 * 18 GB of disk space is being used; therefore, the Storage Array is not being used yet.

Step 5   Enter the disk raid-array command to create a logical disk that is recognized by the RAID controller.

Step 6   Reboot the CDM-4650 by using the reload command and log in again.

Step 7   Enter the disk add command so that the ACNS software begins using the new logical disk. The following example adds the logical disk, disk01, and allocates 100 percent of the disk space to ecdnfs storage.

Step 8   To verify that the ACNS software is using the new logical disk, use the show disks command. The following example shows that the new logical disk is being used by the ACNS software because the ecdnfs storage has 186.2 GB allocated to it.

Rebuilding a RAID Disk Array

If one disk in a RAID disk array fails, you can replace the disk and then run the disk raid-array repair command to rebuild it.

Posted: Thu Nov 14 13:45:05 PST 2002
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