VAST Admin MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for VAST Data administration. Enables AI assistants to interact with VAST clusters for monitoring, management, and data protection operations.

Features

• 🤖 Full MCP Integration - Native support for Claude Desktop, Cursor, VSCode, and other MCP clients
• 🔧 Cluster Management - List and monitor VAST clusters, views, tenants, quotas, and more
• 📊 Performance Metrics - Real-time performance data and graph generation
• 🔐 Secure Credentials - Encrypted password storage using system keyring
• 🛡️ API Whitelist - Security through endpoint and method restrictions
• ✏️ Read-Write Mode - Optional write access for create operations (views, snapshots, quotas)
• 🎨 Customizable - YAML-based templates for adding custom list functions

Installation

pip install vast-admin-mcp

Requirements:

• Python 3.10+
• jq command-line tool (for JSON transformations)

Installing jq

macOS:

brew install jq

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian):

sudo apt-get install jq

Linux (RHEL/CentOS):

sudo yum install jq

Quick Start

1. Configure VAST Cluster Connection

vast-admin-mcp setup

This will prompt you for:

• Cluster address (IP, FQDN, or URL)
• Username and password
• Tenant name (if applicable)

2. Configure Your AI Assistant

Get setup instructions for your AI tool:

# For Cursor
vast-admin-mcp mcpsetup cursor

# For Claude Desktop
vast-admin-mcp mcpsetup claude-desktop

# For VSCode
vast-admin-mcp mcpsetup vscode

# For Windsurf
vast-admin-mcp mcpsetup windsurf

Note: Add --read-write as an argument in the config to enable create operations.

3. Start Using with Your AI Assistant

Example prompts:

List all VAST clusters
Show me all views on cluster1 with capacity information
Create a bandwidth and IOPS graph for cluster1 over the last hour
List all snapshots for view path /data/app1
Show me any critical alarms that haven't been acknowledged

CLI Usage

Test functions directly from the command line:

# List available commands
vast-admin-mcp list

# List clusters
vast-admin-mcp clusters

# List views with filters
vast-admin-mcp list views --cluster cluster1 --tenant mytenant

Read-Only vs Read-Write Mode

By default, the MCP server runs in read-only mode for safety:

• ✅ All list/query operations
• ✅ Performance monitoring
• ✅ Viewing configurations
• ❌ Create operations disabled

Enable read-write mode to allow:

• ✅ Creating views
• ✅ Creating snapshots and clones
• ✅ Setting quotas
• ✅ Creating view templates

Add --read-write to the MCP server configuration to enable write operations.

Available MCP Tools

List Tools

• list_clusters_vast - Cluster information and status
• list_views_vast - Views with capacity and protocols
• list_tenants_vast - Tenant information and capacity
• list_volumes_vast - NVMe volumes/namespaces
• list_quotas_vast - Quota configurations
• list_snapshots_vast - Snapshot information
• list_alarms_vast - Active alarms and alerts
• list_performance_vast - Performance metrics
• And many more...

Create Tools (read-write mode only)

• create_view_vast - Create new views
• create_view_from_template_vast - Create from templates
• create_snapshot_vast - Create snapshots
• create_clone_vast - Clone from snapshots
• create_quota_vast - Set quotas

Docker Support

Docker images are available for easy deployment:

# Using helper script
./vast-admin-mcp-docker.sh setup
./vast-admin-mcp-docker.sh list clusters

# Or with docker directly
docker run --rm -it \
  -v ~/.vast-admin-mcp:/root/.vast-admin-mcp \
  vast-admin-mcp:latest \
  vast-admin-mcp list clusters

See the full documentation for complete Docker setup instructions.

Configuration Files

• Cluster Config: ~/.vast-admin-mcp/config.json
• Template Customizations: ~/.vast-admin-mcp/mcp_list_template_modifications.yaml
• View Templates: ~/.vast-admin-mcp/view_templates.json
• Logs: ~/.vast-admin-mcp/vast_admin_mcp.log

Documentation

For comprehensive documentation, including:

• Detailed installation instructions
• Template customization guide
• API whitelist configuration
• Advanced Docker usage
• Security best practices
• Full prompt examples

Visit: https://github.com/vast-data/vast-admin-mcp#readme

Platform Support

• ✅ macOS
• ✅ Linux
• ❌ Windows (not supported)

Community & Support

VAST Admin MCP Server welcomes questions, feedback, and feature requests. Join the conversation on https://community.vastdata.com/

License

Apache License 2.0 - See LICENSE for details.

Author

Haim Marko <haim.marko@vastdata.com>

Links

• Documentation: https://github.com/vast-data/vast-admin-mcp#readme
• Issues: https://github.com/vast-data/vast-admin-mcp/issues
• Source: https://github.com/vast-data/vast-admin-mcp
• PyPI: https://pypi.org/project/vast-admin-mcp/