VAST Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that enables LLMs to interact with VAST Data storage APIs. This server exposes VAST Data management endpoints as tools for comprehensive storage infrastructure management and automation.

Overview

This project implements a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for the VAST Data storage API, allowing LLMs like GitHub Copilot and Claude to interact with VAST storage infrastructure through natural language commands.

Architecture

• TypeScript for type-safe implementation
• @modelcontextprotocol/sdk for MCP protocol handling
• Axios for HTTP/REST API communication
• Winston for logging (to stderr to avoid protocol corruption)
• OpenAPI 3.0 specification for automatic tool generation

Features

Storage Management

• Views (4 tools): NFS, SMB, and S3 file system views
• Quotas (4 tools): Directory and user quotas with hard/soft limits

Network & Infrastructure

• VIP Pools (4 tools): Virtual IP pool management
• Clusters (2 tools): Cluster monitoring and status
• Nodes (2 tools): Cluster node information and health

Data Protection

• Protected Paths (3 tools): Data protection and replication setup
• Snapshots (4 tools): Snapshot creation and lifecycle management

Access Management

• Users (4 tools): User account management
• Tenants (4 tools): Multi-tenancy configuration

Monitoring & Observability

• Alarms (4 tools): Alarm monitoring, acknowledgement, and management
• Events (2 tools): Event log querying and filtering
• Analytics (2 tools): Performance and capacity analytics with time-series data

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ installed
• VSCode with GitHub Copilot or Claude Desktop
• VAST Data cluster with API access
• VAST API credentials (username and password)

Installation

Step 1: Build

npm install
npm run build

Step 2: Configure Environment

Option A: Interactive Setup (Recommended)

node setup.js

Option B: Manual Setup

cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your VAST cluster details

Required environment variables:

VAST_API_BASE_URL=https://your-vast-cluster.example.com
VAST_API_USERNAME=your-username
VAST_API_PASSWORD=your-password
VAST_SSL_VERIFY=false
LOG_LEVEL=info

Step 3: Configure LLM Client

For VSCode with GitHub Copilot

1. Open VSCode Settings: Cmd+Shift+P → "Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON)"

2. Add this configuration to your settings.json:

{
  "github.copilot.chat.mcp.servers": {
    "vast": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/vast_MCP/dist/main.js"],
      "env": {
        "VAST_API_BASE_URL": "https://your-vast-cluster.example.com",
        "VAST_API_USERNAME": "your-username",
        "VAST_API_PASSWORD": "your-password",
        "LOG_LEVEL": "info"
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Reload VS Code: Cmd+Shift+P → "Developer: Reload Window"

For Claude Desktop

1. Locate your Claude Desktop configuration file:

   • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
   • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
   • Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this configuration to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vast": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/vast_MCP/dist/main.js"],
      "env": {
        "VAST_API_BASE_URL": "https://your-vast-cluster.example.com",
        "VAST_API_USERNAME": "your-username",
        "VAST_API_PASSWORD": "your-password",
        "LOG_LEVEL": "info"
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop application

Available Tools

The MCP server automatically generates tools from the VAST API specification:

📁 Views Management (4 tools)

• viewsGetAll - List all file system views
• viewsGetById - Get specific view details
• viewsCreate - Create new file system views (NFS, SMB, S3)
• viewsUpdate - Update view configuration
• viewsDelete - Delete a view

📊 Quotas Management (4 tools)

• quotasGetAll - List all quotas
• quotasGetById - Get specific quota details
• quotasCreate - Create new quotas with hard/soft limits
• quotasUpdate - Update quota configuration
• quotasDelete - Delete a quota

🌐 Network Management (4 tools)

• vippoolsGetAll - List all VIP pools
• vippoolsGetById - Get specific VIP pool details
• vippoolsCreate - Create new VIP pools
• vippoolsUpdate - Update VIP pool configuration
• vippoolsDelete - Delete a VIP pool

🖥️ Cluster Management (4 tools)

• clustersGetAll - List all clusters
• clustersGetById - Get cluster details
• cnodesGetAll - List all cluster nodes
• cnodesGetById - Get node details and status

🛡️ Data Protection (4 tools)

• protectedPathsGetAll - List all protected paths
• protectedPathsGetById - Get protected path details
• protectedPathsCreate - Create new protected paths
• protectedPathsDelete - Delete protected path

📸 Snapshots (4 tools)

• snapshotsGetAll - List all snapshots
• snapshotsGetById - Get snapshot details
• snapshotsCreate - Create new snapshots
• snapshotsDelete - Delete a snapshot

👥 User Management (4 tools)

• usersGetAll - List all users
• usersGetById - Get user details
• usersCreate - Create new users
• usersUpdate - Update user configuration
• usersDelete - Delete a user

🏢 Tenant Management (4 tools)

• tenantsGetAll - List all tenants
• tenantsGetById - Get tenant details
• tenantsCreate - Create new tenants
• tenantsUpdate - Update tenant configuration
• tenantsDelete - Delete a tenant

🚨 Alarms Management (4 tools)

• alarmsGetAll - List all alarms with filtering by severity, state, and category
• alarmsGetById - Get specific alarm details
• alarmsUpdate - Update alarm state (acknowledge or clear alarms)
• alarmsDelete - Delete an alarm

📋 Events Management (2 tools)

• eventsGetAll - List all events with filtering by type, severity, time range, and category
• eventsGetById - Get specific event details

📊 Analytics (2 tools)

• analyticsGetAll - List analytics metrics with filtering by metric type, time range, and interval
• analyticsGetById - Get specific analytics data by ID

## Advanced Configuration

### Using with Multiple VAST Clusters

Configure multiple server instances in your LLM client:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vast-prod": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/vast_MCP/dist/main.js"],
      "env": {
        "VAST_API_BASE_URL": "https://prod-cluster.example.com",
        ...
      }
    },
    "vast-dev": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/vast_MCP/dist/main.js"],
      "env": {
        "VAST_API_BASE_URL": "https://dev-cluster.example.com",
        ...
      }
    }
  }
}

Custom OpenAPI Specification

To use a custom or extended VAST API specification:

# In .env or client config
OPENAPI_SPEC_PATH=/path/to/custom_vast_spec.json

References

• VAST Data API Documentation
• Model Context Protocol
• OpenAPI Specification 3.0
• Hyperfabric MCP Reference