Quick Start - open-e/JovianDSS-Proxmox GitHub Wiki

This guide shows you how to set up the JovianDSS Proxmox plugin on a ProxmoxVE cluster in just a few steps.

JovianDSS preparation

Enable REST API

Ensure REST services are enabled on your JovianDSS storage. You’ll find the REST settings under System Settings > Administration. Configure a username and password for REST API access. This guide uses admin/admin, but choose a stronger password at setup.

By default, the JovianDSS REST API listens on port 82, and this guide assumes you retain that setting. The REST API communicates over SSL/TLS only, so changing the port won’t switch to an unencrypted connection. If you choose to proceed with an insecure connection because the certificate is self-signed, disable certificate verification by setting the ssl_cert_verify property to 0, see Options

Create pool

The JovianDSS Proxmox plugin manages existing JovianDSS Pools. You must ensure at least one pool exists. For instructions on creating a pool, see:

Quick Start video

JumpStart Paper Chapter 3

In this guide, we assume that Pool-0 already exists and that the Proxmox JovianDSS plugin will manage it.

Assign VIP to Pool

JovianDSS’s Proxmox plugin creates volumes on the JovianDSS side and exports them over iSCSI. It transfers iSCSI data only over VIP addresses assigned to a JovianDSS 'Pool'. To use the plugin, assign at least one VIP address to the Pool you created or referenced earlier.

See this video iSCSI Targets Available Through Specific VIPs

In this guide, we assume you’ve assigned VIP 192.168.41.100 to Pool-0 for iSCSI data transfers.

Proxmox VE server preparation

Network check

Ensure that both the REST API address and the VIP address assigned earlier are accessible from every Proxmox node in your cluster. To test connectivity, run the ping command from each node against the specified addresses.

Test the REST API address:

root@pve-node1:~# ping -c 5 192.168.21.100

If connectivity is good, you’ll see output similar to:

PING 192.168.21.100 (192.168.21.100) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.21.100: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.258 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.21.100: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.336 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.21.100: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.323 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.21.100: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.357 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.21.100: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=0.291 ms

--- 192.168.21.100 ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 received, 0% packet loss, time 4101ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.258/0.313/0.357/0.034 ms

Possible source of issues: routing problems. If you encounter connectivity issues, check the Network Configuration Guide.

Ensure that both the REST API and VIP addresses are accessible from every node in the cluster.

Installation

Download the latest deb package from JovianDSS Proxmox plugin GitHub release page.

Install it with the apt package manager on every Proxmox VE node in a cluster:

apt install ./open-e-joviandss-proxmox-plugin_0.10.0.deb

Restart the pvedaemon service to load the newly installed plugin:

systemctl restart pvedaemon

Configuration

Next, make Proxmox aware of the plugin.

This step defines an instance of a storage pool managed by the JovianDSS Proxmox plugin in the Proxmox VE storage.cfg configuration file.

You can do this by editing /etc/pve/storage.cfg or by running pvesm.

Editing storage.cfg

Each storage pool record in the Proxmox VE storage.cfg file starts with a pool definition in the form:

<type>: <STORAGE_ID>

type specifies the storage plugin (set this to joviandss). STORAGE_ID names the storage pool as it appears in the Proxmox VE UI and CLI. Choose a concise, easy-to-type name. In this guide, we use jdss-Pool-0

List of the plugin properties follows pool definition. This guide covers a subset of properties to help you quickly set up a connection and begin evaluation. For the complete list of JovianDSS Proxmox plugin properties, see the configuration guide.

Below are the minimal list of options to evaluate JovianDSS as a Proxmox VE storage backend.

Options

Pool name that is created on the side of the JovianDSS data storage:

pool_name Pool-0

REST API user name mentioned before:

user_name admin

REST API user password mentioned before, please do not forget to set secure password:

user_password admin

Types of data that the JovianDSS plugin will store on the JovianDSS side (virtual machine and container disks):

content images,rootdir

Flag that instructs the JovianDSS plugin to accept self-signed certificates. The plugin always uses SSL/TLS over the REST API:

ssl_cert_verify 0

Comma-separated list of IP addresses used for REST API communication:

control_addresses 192.168.21.100

Comma-separated list of VIP addresses for dynamic iSCSI data transfer between Proxmox VE and JovianDSS. These must be assigned to the referenced pool (Pool-0):

data_addresses 192.168.41.100

Folder on the Proxmox VE server assigned to the plugin:

path /mnt/pve/jdss-Pool-0

Flag indicating that volumes are bound to a single physical server and can be accessed/migrated within the Proxmox VE cluster:

shared 1

Resulting config record should look like:

joviandss: jdss-Pool-0
        pool_name Pool-0
        user_name admin
        user_password admin
        content images,rootdir
        ssl_cert_verify 0
        control_addresses 192.168.21.100
        data_addresses 192.168.41.100
        path /mnt/pve/jdss-Pool-0
        shared 1

Running pvesm

You can achieve the same configuration by passing plugin options directly to pvesm as CLI arguments:

pvesm add joviandss jdss-Pool-0-cmd --pool_name Pool-0 --user_name admin --user_password <your_password> --content images,rootdir --ssl_cert_verify 0 --control_addresses 192.168.21.100 --data_addresses 192.168.41.100 --path /mnt/pve/jdss-Pool-0 --shared 1

Replace <your_password> with your secure password.

More about ProxmoxVE storage configuration can be found here

More about JovianDSS Proxmox plugin configuration can be found here

Troubleshooting

Connectivity issues