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How to Set Up Nutanix Objects

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Stephanie Richards
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Nutanix Objects implements an Object Storage S3-compatible solution on your Nutanix cluster, using Prism Central. You can read the description on this link.

This guide will show you how to set up Nutanix Objects on your cluster.

Requirements

  • A Nutanix cluster in your OVHcloud account.
  • Access to the OVHcloud Control Panel.
  • You must be connected to the cluster via Prism Central.

Instructions

From Prism Central, click your cluster in the Cluster Quick Access widget to connect to Prism Element.

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Click your cluster's name in the top left-hand corner next to the X.

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Verify the IP Address in the ISCSI Data Services IP section, then click Save.

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Configuring VLANs in Prism Central

You need to create two additional VLANs in your cluster configuration and have these VLANs access Prism Central and Prism Element to configure Nutanix Objects. These two VLANs must be able to distribute IP addresses. IPAM will be enabled on both VLANs.

From Prism Central, go to the main menu and click on Subnets in the Network & Security category.

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Click Create Subnet.

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Check the IP Address Management box and fill in this information :

  • Name: Type object-storage.
  • Type: Select VLAN.
  • VLAN ID: Type your VLAN number as 100.
  • Virtual Switch: Keep vs0.
  • Network IP Address / Prefix: Write your subnet 192.168.100.0/24.
  • Gateway IP Address: Enter the address of your gateway 192.168.100.254.

Then click Add IP Pool.

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Enter this information :

  • Start Address: Start address of your scope as 192.168.100.10.
  • End Address: End address of your scope as 192.168.100.200.

Then click the blue validation button ✓ on the right.

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Scroll down and enter the OVHcloud DNS address 213.186.33.99 in Domain Name Servers and click Create.

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Your first VLAN is created. We will create the second VLAN, click on Create Subnet.

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Check the IP Address Management box and fill in this information :

  • Name: Type public-storage.
  • Type: Select VLAN.
  • VLAN ID: Type your VLAN number as 101.
  • Virtual Switch: Keep vs0.
  • Network IP Address / Prefix: Write your subnet 192.168.101.0/24.
  • Gateway IP Address: Enter your gateway address 192.168.101.254.

Then click Add IP Pool.

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Enter this information :

  • Start Address: Start address of your scope as 192.168.101.10.
  • End Address: End address of your scope as 192.168.101.200.

Next, click the blue validation button ✓ on the right.

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Scroll down and enter the OVHcloud DNS address 213.186.33.99 in Domain Name Servers and click Create.

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Your two VLANs are created, make sure they can connect to Prism Element and Prism Central through your gateway. You can use this guide to replace the default gateway and use your VLANs: OVHgateway replacement.

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Enabling Nutanix objects in Prism Central

Go to the main menu, scroll to the Services section, and click Objects.

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Click Enable.

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Click Enable to validate the activation of Nutanix Objects.

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The service checks your system compatibility.

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Click Next.

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Click Create Object Store.

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Fill in this information :

  • Object Store Name: the name of your object storage, such as nutanix-objects.
  • Domain: The domain name that will be used to access your storage, such as mydomain.com.
  • Cluster: The cluster that must have Nutanix Objects enabled.
  • Worker Nodes: The number of nodes that your Object storage will use, select the number 1.

Then click Next.

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Select the VLAN object-storage in Storage Network and enter these two addresses 192.168.100.1,192.168.100.2 in Object Store Storage Network static IPs (2 IPs required). These addresses must not be within the scope of the VLAN DHCP.

Then click Next.

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Select the public-storage VLAN in Storage Network and enter this range of four addresses 192.168.101.1-192.168.100.4 in Public Network static IPs. These addresses should not be within the scope of the VLAN DHCP.

Next, click Save & Continue.

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A connection check is performed between the VLANs, Prism Element, and Prism Central.

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When validation is complete, click Create Object Store.

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Wait twenty minutes for your Object Storage to be active and accessible through the address 192.168.101.1 that is located in your public-storage VLAN.

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Creating an Access Key to your storage

To be able to use Object storage, it is necessary to create associated Access Keys.

Go to the Access Keys tab.

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Click + Add People.

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Check Add people not in a directory service, type user@mydomain.com in Email Address, and click Next.

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Click Generate Keys.

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Click Download Keys.

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Note: Your access credentials are only displayed once in your web browser. Please note down this information (Access Key and Secret Key) before closing this window.

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Your user is created with its login details. You can regenerate Access Keys and create a new login.

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Validation and functional testing

To confirm that our Object storage is working properly, we will use the AWS awscli command-line tool and create a bucket. You can use this guide for more information.

The awscli tool is available on Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Use the following command for help:

aws s3 help

After installing awscli, we will create two configuration files on a computer that has access to the public-storage VLAN and use the aws command to create a bucket.

Create a .aws subfolder in your %USERPROFILE% folder on Windows, or $HOME on Linux and macOS.

Add the credentials file and fill it in with this data:

[default]
aws_access_key_id=your-access-key
aws_secret_access_key=secret-access key

Then add a second file named config with this information :

[default]
region=region = us-east-1

Then use this command to create a bucket.

aws --endpoint-url https://192.168.101.1 s3 mb s3://my-bucket --region=us-east-1 --no-verify-ssl

The bucket is created with a warning message about the SSL certificate. In a production environment, it is necessary to use an SSL certificate.

Now that the bucket is created we will use a browser to connect to the web interface provided by Nutanix to check the existence of our bucket.

Using a web browser, connect to this URL https://192.168.101.1/objectsbrowser which corresponds to your Nutanix Objects access point, and enter your credentials (access_key and secret_key). Then click on Login.

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You can see the bucket you created in the command line. You can create and delete buckets or objects in your web interface.

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Go further

For more information and tutorials, please see our other Nutanix support guides or explore the guides for other OVHcloud products and services.

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