Data ONTAP 8.0.1 7-Mode Simulator

NetApp provides a simulator for their Data ONTAP operating system that provides most of the same functionality as Data ONTAP on a NetApp storage system. This article includes some basic tips to get you started with the ONTAP 8 7-Mode Simulator.

1. First, if you haven't already, you will need to register for a NetApp support account.
2. Download Data ONTAP 8 7-Mode Simulator from http://now.netapp.com/NOW/download/tools/simulator/ontap/8.0/.
3. Unzip the vsim-DOT801-7m.zip file and edit the file in the 7M folder called "DataONTAP.vmx". You can change the name of the Virtual Machine by changing this line:
   

   displayName = "YOUR PREFERRED NAME HERE"

4. From VMWare Fusion or Workstation, use File->Open to open the file in the 7M folder called "DataONTAP.vmx".
5. The Data ONTAP Simulator VM should start as soon as you click open.
   Press a key besides enter when you see the following prompt:

   Hit [Enter] to boot immediately, or any other key for command prompt.

   This should bring you to the loader prompt where you can set a unique serial number and system id.
   

   SIMLOADER> set bootarg.nvram.sysid=1111111101 SIMLOADER> set SYS_SERIAL_NUM=1111111101 SIMLOADER> set MOBO_SERIAL_NUM=1111111101 SIMLOADER> boot

6. Press Control-C when you see the following prompt:
   

   ******************************* * Press Ctrl-C for Boot Menu. * *******************************

7. You should see "Boot Menu will be available".
8. Choose option 4 from the boot menu:
   

   Please choose one of the following: (1) Normal Boot. (2) Boot without /etc/rc. (3) Change password. (4) Clean configuration and initialize all disks. (5) Maintenance mode boot. (6) Update flash from backup config. (7) Install new software first. (8) Reboot node. Selection (1-8)? 4

9. Answer "y" to both of the following questions:
   

   Zero disks, reset config and install a new file system?: y This will erase all the data on the disks, are you sure?: y

10. The simulator will reboot, and initialize all disks.
    
11. After disk initialization completes, you will be prompted for simulator configuration information. Here is an example of how I setup my Simulator:
    

    Please enter the new hostname []: simulator

12. I suggest answering yes when you are prompted about interface groups and configure a virtual interface called "vif0" as follows:
    

    Do you want to configure interface groups? [n]: y Number of interface groups to configure? [1] 1 Name of interface group #1 []: vif0 Is vif0 a single [s], multi [m] or a lacp [l] interface group? [s] s Number of links for vif0? [] 2 Name of link #1 for vif0 []: e0a Name of link #2 for vif0 []: e0c Please enter the IP address for Network Interface vif0 []: 192.168.1.10 Please enter the netmask for Network Interface vif0 [255.255.255.0]: Please enter media type for vif0 {100tx-fd, tp-fd, 100tx, tp, auto (10/100/1000)} [auto]: Please enter the IP address for Network Interface e0b []: Please enter the IP address for Network Interface e0d []: Would you like to continue setup through the web interface? [n]: Please enter the name or IP address of the default gateway [192.168.1.254]: The administration host is given root access to the filer's /etc files for system administration. To allow /etc root access to all NFS clients, enter 'all' below. Please enter the name or IP address of the administration host []: Please enter timezone [GMT]: US/Central Where is the filer located? []: Do you want to run DNS resolver? [n]: Do you want to run NIS client? [n]: Do you want to configure the Shelf Alternate Control Path Management interface for SAS shelves [n]: Now type 'reboot' for changes to take effect.

13. As the prompt suggests, type reboot for the changes to take effect.
14. Now you have an ONTAP simulator running in a virtual machine.
15. Log back into your simulator and assign all of the virtual disks to your simulator.
    

    simulator> disk assign all

How To Unlock And Use The Diagnostics Shell in ONTAP 8

Data ONTAP 8 provides a user mode system shell for rare diagnostic tasks. While most of the CPU cycles are spent in various Data ONTAP kernel modules, a user space exists and is used to run some processes and for diagnostics. Below is a quick example of how to unlock the diagnostic user account and gain access to the system shell.

1. First, we need to unlock the diag user and assign it a password:
   

   priv set advanced useradmin diaguser unlock useradmin diaguser password Please enter a new password: Please enter it again:

2. Now log in to the system shell using the diag user account:
   

   systemshell login: diag password:

This diagnostics shell gives you access to the BSD OS that hosts ONTAP. The Data ONTAP simulator has a collection of virtual disks, virtual tapes and other virtual devices. These device files are stored in the BSD filesystem. You can use typical UNIX commands like "cd", "ls", and "sudo".

Add Disks to a 7-Mode Simulator

The ONTAP 8 simulator takes advantage of the user space to implement simulated disks. These disks are kept as files in a special directory. The default simulator comes with 28 simulated disks of 1GB each. It is possible to increase the simulated disk count to 56 simulated disks. Any disk files above the first 56 are ignored. The following procedures will provide step-by-step instructions for doubling the disk count to 56 disks and making the disks available for use.

The procedure to add more disks can be found at http://communities.netapp.com/docs/DOC-9579 and a summary of this procedure is included below.

1. First you need to add the directory with the simulator disk tools to the path.
   

   setenv PATH "${PATH}:/sim/bin" echo $PATH

2. Then, you need to fix a glitch in how one of the utility programs was compiled. The following set of commands create a symbolic link to a shared library that's needed by the utility.:
   

   cd /lib sudo mount -u -o rw / sudo ln -s libc.so.6 libc.so.7 sudo mount -u -o ro /

3. Go to the simulated devices directory and add two more sets of 14 disks to the currently unused adapters 2 and 3:
   

   cd /sim/dev makedisks.main -h sudo makedisks.main -n 14 -t 23 -a 2 sudo makedisks.main -n 14 -t 23 -a 3 ls ,disks

4. Now we're done with the system shell, so we can exit and reboot to add the new disks.
   

   exit reboot

5. After the reboot complete, log back in and take ownership of all the new disks:
   

   disk assign all sysconfig -r

You should now see 56 disks of 1GB each listed in the simulator. The new disks should be listed as already zeroed and ready to use inside an aggregate.