Dell PowerStore File Services: NAS, NFS Exports via PSTCLI

PowerStore does block (volumes) and file (NAS) in the same appliance, but the file side has its own object hierarchy: a NAS server owns the network identity, file systems live inside it, and NFS exports or SMB shares publish those file systems to clients. Command-line provisioning through PSTCLI is the reliable path for repeatable builds, because the manager UI wizard hides the ordering that matters. This guide walks the hierarchy and the verification steps after each object is created.

The object hierarchy

PowerStore cluster
  └── NAS server  (own IP, own DNS/Kerberos identity, protocol: NFS, SMB, or both)
        └── File system  (owns capacity, protection policy)
              └── NFS export  or  SMB share  (client access rules)

A file system cannot be exported until its NAS server is up and running, and the NAS server needs at least one storage-network IP address before it will start.

Enable file support and create the NAS server

# enter PSTCLI on the management IP
pstcli -u admin -p '<password>' -d <cluster_mgmt_ip>

# is file support already enabled?
pstcli -d <cluster_mgmt_ip> -u admin file_nas_server show

# create (or find) the NAS servers for a multi-appliance cluster
pstcli -d <mgmt> -u admin file_nas_server -create -name nas01 -current_node A

# give it a network identity
pstcli -d <mgmt> -u admin file_nas_server -name nas01 -set -add_ip_addresses 10.20.30.10/24

# protocol selection: create the file interface for NFS and/or SMB
pstcli -d <mgmt> -u admin file_interface -create -nas_server nas01 \
  -ip_address 10.20.30.10 -prefix_length 24 -gateway 10.20.30.1 -vlan_id 30

NFS-only environments can create a NAS server without joining a domain; SMB requires either an SMB-only server, a Windows-domain join, or stand-alone SMB authentication.

Create the file system

pstcli -d <mgmt> -u admin file_system -create \
  -name fs_projects -nas_server nas01 \
  -size 2T -description "Project shares" \
  -protection_policy "Policy-1h-Snapshot"

pstcli -d <mgmt> -u admin file_system show
pstcli -d <mgmt> -u admin file_system -name fs_projects show

Volume-level protection policies apply to file systems the same way they apply to block volumes, so a snapshot policy chosen here drives restore granularity later.

Create an NFS export

pstcli -d <mgmt> -u admin nfs_export -create \
  -name exp_projects -file_system fs_projects \
  -path /projects -read_only_hosts "" \
  -read_write_hosts 10.10.0.0/16 -no_access_hosts 10.99.0.0/24 \
  -root_access_hosts 10.10.10.5 -default_access ROOT \
  -no_squash_hosts 10.10.10.5

pstcli -d <mgmt> -u admin nfs_export show
pstcli -d <mgmt> -u admin nfs_export -name exp_projects show

Three settings cause most access complaints: read_write_hosts must include the client subnet (not the individual host you think is connecting), no_squash_hosts must include any host needing root-owned writes, and the export path must match what the client mounts. Verify export lists from the array rather than trusting the mount command's error:

pstcli -d <mgmt> -u admin nfs_export -name exp_projects show -select "name,file_system,path,read_write_hosts,no_squash_hosts"

Create an SMB share (when the NAS server joined a domain)

pstcli -d <mgmt> -u admin smb_share -create \
  -name "Projects" -file_system fs_projects -path "/projects"

pstcli -d <mgmt> -u admin smb_share show

Client-side verification

# NFSv3 and NFSv4
showmount -e 10.20.30.10
mount -t nfs 10.20.30.10:/projects /mnt/projects
mount -t nfs -o vers=4.1,hard 10.20.30.10:/projects /mnt/projects

# permissions actually applied
df -hT /mnt/projects
touch /mnt/projects/.write_test && rm /mnt/projects/.write_test
ls -ln /mnt/projects | head

If showmount lists the export but the mount hangs, the usual cause is a missing route from the client subnet to the NAS server's file IP — PowerStore file traffic uses the file interface, not the management or block-storage network.

Operational notes

• Keep one NAS server per workload group rather than one giant server; each carries its own identity and failover behaviour.
• Separate the file network from the block network (iSCSI) to avoid head-of-line blocking between protocols.
• Record the NAS server, file system, export and protection policy in the source of truth — file objects are not covered by most SNMP-focused monitoring.

Related reading: Dell PowerStore PSTCLI volume provisioning, Dell EMC Unity uemcli command guide, and NetApp ONTAP NFS export policy configuration.

原文链接：https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/powerstore-1000t/pwrstr-cfg-files/create-an-nfs-export