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How to connect AWS EC2 instances to Zadara High Performance Virtual Private Storage Array

Support Team
  • Updated
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Zadara allows each cloud customer to have their own Virtual Private Storage Array (VPSA), and connect from Amazon EC2 at very low latency. It is currently available in:

  • US East (2 clouds, N.Virginia, USA)
  • US Ohio (Ohio, USA)
  • US West (N.California, USA)
  • US West (Oregon, USA)
  • Europe (Dublin, Ireland)
  • Europe (Frankfurt, Germany)
  • Japan
  • Australia
  • AWS Outposts


Note: This article describes connection of VPC-based EC2 instances to Zadara VPSA storage. For connecting regular, non-VPC instances contact support@zadarastorage.com.


The setup requires a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) on AWS side, VPSA on Zadara Storage side and logical connection between them. The VPSA GUI and storage will be available only to EC2 instances spawned within the VPC.

 

Here is a step by step procedure how to establish a connection between EC2 instance in AWS and Zadara Storage:

 

Zadara Storage VPSA Setup

  1. Register and login to your account with Zadara Storage
  2. Create VPSA
    • Click on "Create VPSA button"
    • Select one of AWS locations and appropriate number of drives.
    • NOTE: For every new VPSA, you will receive an email from Zadara with a temporary password for your VPSA. Please login and change this password prior to accessing the EC2 instance for the first time.
  3. The VPSA will be created in one of the address ranges listed below.  If a different address range is needed, please notify support@zadarastorage.com with the desired address range (it must be unique amongst all the networks your VPC is connected to, and cannot overlap with the range of the VPC).

 

AWS Setup (non AWS Outposts)

Access the AWS Management Console and setup a connection between an AWS VPC and your Zadara VPSA.  You only need to set this up for your first VPSA.  Subsequent VPSAs can use the same connection to Zadara.  If an onboarding session has been scheduled, all of this can be done during the call.

For AWS Outposts connectivity, please refer to the AWS Outposts article.

 

  1. Send your AWS Account ID to support@zadarastorage.com together with your VPSA name asking for establishing a virtual connection.

    Our support team will create our side of the connection and send you a confirmation email. You will see new Virtual Interfaces pending approval in the Direct Connect section of the AWS Management Console (usually, there will be 2 Virtual Interfaces for redundancy).

  2. Accept the connection for all new Virtual Interfaces. You will be asked to select the Virtual Private Gateway (VGW) which will be associated with this connection. Please use the same VGW for all Virtual Interfaces. If you don't have the VGW, create one as described below.

    Note: You can use the same VGW for establishing connection with Zadara Storage VPSA and for other connections, like VPNs.

    Note    : The VPC may have only one VGW attached to it and the VGW may be attached to one VPC only.

  3. How to create a Virtual Private Gateway (VGW) (if doesn't exist):
    1. AWS Management Console > VPC  > Virtual Private Gateways > Create Virtual Private Gateway
      NOTE: Don't delete this VGW if you would like to continue accessing Zadara. All other components (VPC/subnets/etc) can be recreated.
  4. How to create a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) (if doesn't exist):
      1. Wizard setup
        1. From the VPC Dashboard select "Start VPC Wizard"
        2. Select the 1st type, “VPC with a Single Public Subnet Only”
        3. Leave default CIDR 10.0.0.0/16 and Subnet 10.0.0.0/24 or pick any other combination
          1. NOTE: Do not use one of the Zadara IP ranges listed below.
      2. Manual Setup
        1. If you create the VPC without the wizard, you will need to add a subnet, internet gateway and routing tables manually.
  5. Attach Virtual Private Gateway (VGW) to the VPC (if it is not attached yet):
    1. In the Virtual Private Gateways page, right-click on the newly created VGW and select "Attach To VPC"
    2. Select the correct VPC and press Yes, Attach.

  6. Route Tables
    1. Go to Route Tables Page
    2. Select the Route table associated with newly created VPC and Subnet (it should already have an internet gateway (igw) added)
    3. Go to Route Propagation tab on the bottom panel, select the VGW you've created previously and add it. It will automatically add one of the following routes to your routing table (depending on where your VPSA was built):
      1. for VPSA in US East-1 (N.Virginia us-east-1): destination = 10.10.1.0/24, target = vgw-xxxx
      2. for VPSA in US East-2 (N.Virginia us-east-1): destination = 172.31.240.0/20, target = vgw-xxxx
      3. for VPSA in US Ohio (Ohio us-east-2): destination - 172.27.224.0/22, target = vgw-xxxx
      4. for VPSA in US West 1 (N. California us-west-1): destination = 172.31.224.0/22, target = vgw-xxxx
      5. for VPSA in US West 2 (Oregon us-west-2): destination = 172.28.224.0/22, target = vgw-xxxx
      6. for VPSA in Japan: destination = 172.30.224.0/22, target = vgw-xxxx
      7. for VPSA in EU-Dublin: destination = 172.29.224.0/22, target = vgw-xxxx
      8. for VPSA in EU-Frankfurt: destination = 172.28.224.0/22, target = vgw-xxxx
      9. for VPSA in Australia: destination = 172.29.224.0/22, target = vgw-xxxx
    4. NOTE: This route will appear in the list of your routes only when Zadara Storage establishes a Direct Connect connection between the VGW and the Zadara Storage Cloud, and when you accept the offered connection in your AWS 'Direct Connect' console.
  7. Create Instance:
    1. Select Launch into VPC
    2. Select an appropriate instance size (be aware of network bandwidth limitations for different EC2 instance sizes)
    3. Verify that the correct Security Group is selected.

Using the Product

Once you are notified that your Logical Direct Connection is established (email from 1c) you can check connectivity from the EC2 instance to the IP address of your VPSA (https port 443 & iSCSI port 3260 are open and should be accessible).

 

  1. From within your EC2 instance, Connect to Zadara VPSA GUI.  For Linux instances you can use SSH tunneling. For Windows you can use a regular Internet Browser.
  2. Your EC2 instance will be automatically registered if you used one of Zadara-provided AMIs or you can register through VPSA GUI:
    • Go to Servers section --> Connect button
    • Create your RAID Groups, Volumes and attach volumes to servers.

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