Cloud disks

About cloud disks

A cloud desktop user can save personal data to a cloud disk specially assigned to the user in the data center. Administers in Space Console can assign cloud disks to users and set the capacity for each assigned cloud disk. A user can download, copy, move, delete, and share files in batches in the cloud disk. In addition, one single file can be shared to multiple users in bulk. Files in a cloud disk are automatically classified and the maximum size of a file that can be uploaded to the disk is to 100 GB.

You can select a local server or a remote cloud disk server.

• If you select a local server in standalone deployment, the cloud disk server can use the following storage types:

• External shared storage (recommended)—The cloud disk server can use an active shared storage path as its local storage path. For example, assume that the path of the shared storage used by the cloud disk server is /vms/share, the local storage path of the server will be set to /vms/share too. If the cloud disk server uses a shared storage, you must disable the cloud disks before disabling the shared storage. To re-enable the cloud disks, you must re-enable the shared storage first.

• Mounted hard drive (recommended)—The cloud disk server can use an external hard drive mounted to the cloud disk server host to provide storage for cloud disks. However, the cloud disk service will be interrupted after a server reboot because the mounted hard drive will be disconnected after the reboot. To avoid this issue, you must edit the /etc/fstab file.

• Local system drive (not recommended)—The cloud disk server can use a directory set aside in the local system drive to provide storage for cloud disks. This approach is not recommended for production environment because the cloud disk data will occupy system drive space. Use this approach in test environment only.

• If you select a local server in failover or cluster deployment, the cloud disk server can use only shared storage. Create shared storage first if no shared storage exists.

• If you select a remote cloud disk server, you can connect to the remote cloud disk server and use it as the cloud disk storage. Make sure that the remote cloud disk server has been created.

Restrictions and guidelines

• ARM hosts do not support cloud disks.

• An IDV cloud desktop user can access and use the cloud disk directly after opening the cloud disk client. No username or password are required.

Configuration workflow

1. Configure the cloud disk server. See "Configure the cloud disk server."

2. Authorize cloud disk space to users. See "Authorize cloud disk space to users."

3. Enable cloud disks for cloud users. See "Enable or disable cloud disks."

4. Install the cloud disk client on the desktop of the end user by using the optimization tool during desktop image or class creation. A shortcut to the cloud disk client will be displayed after the cloud disk client is installed.

5. After logging in to the cloud desktop, a user can access the assigned cloud disk through the cloud disk client.

Configure the cloud disk server

·          The cloud disk server must be configured before you can use the cloud disk service. ·          Cloud disk server configuration cannot be edited after initialization. Plan the cloud disk server and storage service settings carefully before the configuration.

 

1. From the navigation pane, select Applications > Cloud Disks.

2. Select a server type:

• To use the local server, select Local and set the local storage path in the Path field.

• In standalone deployment, use the storage path on the management node as the local storage path. Create the path if it does not exist.

• In failover or cluster deployment, you can use the shared storage configured in the stateful failover settings only as the local storage path. Create the shared storage first if it does not exist.

• To use a remote cloud disk server, select Remote, and then specify the IP address of the server. A remote cloud disk server uses port 8888 by default, which cannot be changed. 

3. Click Start Initialization to initialize the cloud disk server.

Synchronize LDAP or AD users

Use this function to synchronize users from the LDAP server or AD domain controller to the cloud disk server. By default, the cloud disk server will allocate 1 GB's cloud disk space to each synchronized domain user.

Before you use this function, configure the LDAP authentication server and synchronize OUs from the LDAP server first. For more information about LDAP server configuration, see "Configure authentication servers." For more information about OU configuration synchronization, see "Synchronize OU configurations."

 

1. From the navigation pane, select Applications > Cloud Disks.

2. Click Sync LDAP/AD Users. The Sync LDAP/AD Users dialog box opens, displaying the OUs configured in Space Console.

3. Click Sync in the Actions column for an OU to synchronize users under the OU to the cloud disk server.

Cancel synchronization

Perform this task to cancel synchronization for domain user so the user will be removed from the cloud disk server.

Canceling synchronization for a domain user and removing the user do not automatically reclaim the cloud disk space allocated to the user. Before you cancel synchronization for a domain user, log in to the cloud disk client by using the domain user account and manually delete the data in the user's cloud disk to release the cloud disk space.

 

1. From the navigation pane, select Applications > Cloud Disks.

2. Click Sync LDAP/AD Users. The Sync LDAP/AD Users dialog box opens, displaying the OUs configured in Space Console.

3. Click Cancel in the Actions column for an OU to cancel synchronization for users under the OU.

Authorize cloud disk space to users

Perform this task to allocate cloud disk space to local users. 

The actual cloud disk capacity allocated to a user might be smaller than the user-defined Cloud Disk Capacity if the cloud disk server does not have sufficient storage capacity.

 

1. From the navigation pane, select Applications > Cloud Disks.

2. Click Authorize Users.

3. In the dialog box that opens, specify the cloud disk capacity to allocate to each user, and select the target users or user groups.

4. Click OK.

Edit the cloud disk space authorized to users

You can edit the cloud disk space authorized to users in bulk or individually. The edited cloud disk space must be greater than the cloud disk space already authorized to the user.

1. From the navigation pane, select Applications > Cloud Disks.

2. Perform either of the following tasks:

• To bulk edit the authorized cloud disk space for multiple users, select the target users. In the dialog box that opens, specify the cloud disk space to authorize, and click OK.

• To edit the authorized cloud disk space for a single user, click Edit in the Actions column for the user. In the dialog box that opens, specify the cloud disk space to authorize, and click OK.

Enable or disable cloud disks

Perform this task to enable or disable cloud disks assigned to users. A disabled cloud disk cannot be used by the disk owner.

1. From the navigation pane, select Applications > Cloud Disks.

2. Perform either of the following tasks:

• To bulk enable or disable cloud disks for multiple users, select the target users, click More, and then click Enable or Disable. In the dialog box that opens, click OK.

• To enable or disable the cloud disk for a single user, click Enable or Disable in the Actions column for the user. In the dialog box that opens, click OK.

Synchronize users

Perform this task to synchronize the most recent domain user information from the domain controller to the cloud disk server.

1. From the navigation pane, select Applications > Cloud Disks.

2. Click Sync Local Users.

Reclaim cloud disks

Perform this task to reclaim cloud disks assigned to users. A user will be removed from the cloud disk server after the assigned cloud disk is reclaimed.

This function can reclaim cloud disks only from local users. To reclaim cloud disks from a domain user, you must log in to the cloud disk client by using the domain user account and manually delete the data in the user's cloud disk.

 

1. From the navigation pane, select Applications > Cloud Disks.

2. Perform either of the following tasks:

• To bulk reclaim cloud disks from multiple users, select the target users, click More, and then click Recycle. In the dialog box that opens, click OK.

• To reclaim the cloud disk assigned to a single user, click Recycle in the Actions column for the user. In the dialog box that opens, click OK.

Enable cloud disk encryption

Perform this task to encrypt the files uploaded to the cloud disks to improve data security.

 

Cloud disk encryption might cause cloud disk performance downgrade, and you cannot disable this feature once you enable it. Before you enable cloud disk encryption, make sure you are fully aware of the impact.

 

1. From the navigation pane, select Applications > Cloud Disks.

2. Click Enable Cloud Disk Encryption on the top right of the page.

3. In the dialog box that opens, click OK.

Enable or disable the cloud disk service

Perform this task to enable or disable the cloud disk service. Cloud disk-related functions will not be available after the cloud disk service is disabled.

1. From the navigation pane, select Applications > Cloud Disks.

2. To disable the cloud disk service, click Disable Cloud Disk. In the dialog box that opens, click OK.

3. To re-enable the cloud disk service, click Enable Cloud Disk.