SmartConnect™ uses the existing Domain Name Service (DNS) Server and provides a layer of intelligence within the OneFS software application.
The resident DNS server forwards the lookup request for the delegated zone to the delegated zone's server of authority, which is the SmartConnect Service IP (SIP) address on the cluster. If the node providing the SmartConnect service becomes unavailable, the SIP address automatically moves to a different node in the pool.
Connections are balanced across the cluster, which ensures optimal resource utilization and performance. If a node goes down, SmartConnect automatically removes the node's IP address from the available list of nodes, ensuring that a connection is not tried with the unavailable node. When the node returns to service, its IP address is added to the list of available nodes.
The delegated server authority is always the node with the lowest ID, unless it has surrendered its authority status, either voluntarily or involuntarily. This node should always be available, but if the status of the node changes and becomes unavailable, it voluntarily surrenders its role as server of authority.
You must add a delegation Name Server (NS) entry to the resident DNS server for the SmartConnect name, which points to the SIP address as the Name Server. In your DNS Manager, create a New Delegation using your SmartConnect zone name. In the Microsoft DNS wizard, a New Delegation record is added in the forward lookup zone for the parent domain.
SmartConnect balances connection loads to the Isilon cluster and handles connection failover. With SmartConnect, all Honeywell Recorders use a single fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or universal naming convention (UNC) path for video storage access. Using this network name provides load balancing when the connection to the cluster is made and simplifies installations.
SmartConnect Basic can use a round-robin-type connection allocation, which is based on DNS load balancing.
SmartConnect Advanced can include multiple pools for each subnet. Static pools must be used for SMB connections. We recommend using Dynamic IP addresses for NFS. There is a connection policy per pool used by both Static IP (SMB) and Dynamic IP (NFS), while the rebalance policy is only used with Dynamic IP.
- Round-robin (recommended)
- Sequentially directs a connection to the next Isilon IP address in the cycle. Based on field reports, this option works well with 20 servers or more.
- Connection count
- Provides uniform distribution of the Honeywell Recorder servers to specified nodes in the Isilon cluster. Use a unique IP address pool for video recording and Recorder read/write access.
- Network throughput
- Based on NIC utilization. Use of throughput requires that each Recorder is activated, configured, and recording video after it connects to Isilon.
- CPU usage
- Uses the node CPU utilization to determine which Isilon IP address to assign to the next connection request.
Ensure that no other service uses the Recorder IP address pool. Define additional pools for management (such as Isilon InsightIQ™ or administrative access), evidence repository, post process, or other use.
- Click .
- Under , define the SmartConnect service IP (SSIP) address. The SSIP address is the IP address that the DNS uses for the Isilon Authoritative name service.
- Under Pool settings:
- Define the SmartConnect zone name, which is the name to which clients connect.
- Define the SmartConnect service subnet (the subnet that has the SSIP configured on the DNS server).
- Define the connection balancing policy to Round Robin.
- Set the IP allocation strategy to Static.
- Verify this configuration on the SmartConnect dashboard.