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Dell EMC PowerVault MD 3400, Administrator'S Manual

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About your MD Series storage array

This chapter describes the storage array concepts, which help in configuring and operating the Dell MD Series storage arrays.

Physical disks, virtual disks, and disk groups

Physical disks in your storage array provide the physical storage capacity for your data. Before you can begin writing data to the storage 
array, you must configure the physical storage capacity into logical components, called disk groups and virtual disks.
A disk group is a set of physical disks upon which multiple virtual disks are created. The maximum number of physical disks supported in a 
disk group is:

•

96 disks for RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 10

•

30 disks for RAID 5 and RAID 6

You can create disk groups from unconfigured capacity on your storage array.

A virtual disk is a partition in a disk group that is made up of contiguous data segments of the physical disks in the disk group. A virtual disk 
consists of data segments from all physical disks in the disk group.

All virtual disks in a disk group support the same RAID level. The storage array supports up to 255 virtual disks (minimum size of 10 MB 
each) that can be assigned to host servers. Each virtual disk is assigned a Logical Unit Number (LUN) that is recognized by the host 
operating system.

Virtual disks and disk groups are set up according to how you plan to organize your data. For example, you can have one virtual disk for 
inventory, a second virtual disk for financial and tax information, and so on.

Physical disks

Only Dell EMC supported physical disks are supported in the storage array. If the storage array detects unsupported physical disks, it marks 
the disk as unsupported and the physical disk becomes unavailable for all operations.
For the list of supported physical disks, see the Support Matrix at 

Dell.com/support/manuals

.

Physical disk states

The following describes the various states of the physical disk, which are recognized by the storage array and reported in the MD Storage 
Manager under the Hardware tab or in the Storage Array Profile on the 

Summary

 tab.

Table 1. Physical disk states

Status

Mode

Description

Optimal

Assigned

The physical disk in the indicated slot is configured as part of a 
disk group.

Optimal

Unassigned

The physical disk in the indicated slot is unused and available to be 
configured.

Optimal

Hot Spare Standby

The physical disk in the indicated slot is configured as a hot spare.

2

16

About your MD Series storage array

Summary of Contents for PowerVault MD 3400

Page 1: ...Dell EMC PowerVault MD 34XX 38XX Series Storage Arrays Administrator s Guide ...

Page 2: ...age to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem WARNING A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage personal injury or death 2012 2018 Dell Inc or its subsidiaries All rights reserved Dell EMC and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc or its subsidiaries Other trademarks may be trademarks of their respective owners 2018 05 Rev A05 ...

Page 3: ...rtual disk states 17 Disk pools 18 Thin virtual disks 18 RAID levels 18 Maximum physical disk support limitations 18 RAID level usage 18 RAID 0 19 RAID 1 19 RAID 5 19 RAID 6 19 RAID 10 19 Segment size 19 Virtual disk operations 20 Virtual disk initialization 20 Consistency check 20 Media verification 20 Cycle time 20 Virtual disk operations limit 21 Disk group operations 21 RAID level migration 21...

Page 4: ...ound performance monitor session 34 Viewing current background performance monitor data 34 Saving the current background performance monitor data 35 Viewing saved background performance monitor data 35 Invalid objects in Performance Monitor 36 3 Discovering and managing your storage array 37 Out of band management 37 In band management 38 Access virtual disk 38 Storage arrays 38 Automatic discover...

Page 5: ...d setting baseline statistics 53 Edit remove or rename host topology 54 5 Event monitor 55 Enabling or disabling event monitor 55 Windows 55 Linux 56 6 About your host 57 Configuring host access 57 Using the Host Mappings tab 57 Defining a host 58 Removing host access 59 Managing host groups 59 Creating a host group 59 Adding a host to a host group 59 Removing a host from a host group 60 Moving a ...

Page 6: ...ing disk 75 Creating a security key 76 Changing security key 77 Saving a security key 78 Validate security key 79 Unlocking secure physical disks 79 Erasing secure physical disks 79 Configuring hot spare physical disks 79 Hot spares and rebuild 80 Global hot spares 80 Hot spare operation 81 Hot spare physical disk protection 81 Physical disk security 81 Enclosure loss protection 82 Drawer loss pro...

Page 7: ... RAID controller module ownership of a disk pool 99 Checking data consistency 99 Deleting disk pool 100 Viewing storage array logical components and associated physical components 101 Secure disk pools 101 Changing capacity on existing thin virtual disks 102 Creating thin virtual disk from disk pool 102 9 Using SSD cache 104 How SSD cache works 104 Benefits of SSD cache 104 Choosing SSD cache para...

Page 8: ... Changing snapshot group settings 120 Renaming a snapshot group 120 Deleting snapshot group 121 Converting a snapshot Virtual Disk to read write 121 Viewing associated physical components of an individual repository virtual disk 121 Creating consistency group 122 Manually creating a consistency group repository 123 Renaming a consistency group 124 Deleting consistency group 124 Changing the settin...

Page 9: ...ns 142 Creating a virtual disk copy 142 Setting read write permissions on target virtual disk 143 Before you begin 143 Virtual disk copy and modification operations 143 Create copy wizard 143 Failed virtual disk copy 144 Preferred RAID controller module ownership 144 Failed RAID controller module 144 Copy manager 144 Copying the virtual disk 144 Storage array performance during virtual disk copy 1...

Page 10: ...tion from Remote Replication legacy 158 Remote Replication requirements and restrictions 159 Restrictions on using Remote Replication 159 Setting up Remote Replication 159 Activating Remote Replication premium features 159 Deactivating Remote Replication 160 Remote Replication groups 160 Purpose of a Remote Replication group 160 Remote Replication group requirements and guidelines 161 Creating a R...

Page 11: ...moving a support data collection schedule 177 Event log 177 Viewing the event log 178 Recovery Guru 178 Storage array profile 178 Viewing the physical associations 179 Recovering from unresponsive storage array condition 179 Locating a physical disk 181 Locating an expansion enclosure 181 Capturing state information 182 SMrepassist utility 182 Unidentified devices 182 Recovering from unidentified ...

Page 12: ...anagement window Dell EMC PowerVault Modular Disk Configuration Utility Related documentation Dell EMC PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager Dell EMC PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager MD Storage Manager is a graphical user interface GUI application used to configure and manage one or more MD Series storage arrays The MD Storage Manager software is located on the MD Series resource DVD For ...

Page 13: ...twork Manually add and remove hosts and storage arrays Blink or locate the storage arrays Name or rename discovered storage arrays Add comments for a storage array in the Table view Schedule or automatically save a copy of the support data when the client monitor process detects an event Store your EMW view preferences and configuration data in local configuration files The next time you open the ...

Page 14: ... relevant storage array The context menu for the selected storage is displayed 2 In the context menu select Manage Storage Array The AMW for the selected storage array is displayed NOTE You can also launch the AMW by Double clicking on a storage array displayed in the Devices tab of the EMW Selecting a storage array displayed in the Devices tab of the EMW and then selecting Tools Manage Storage Ar...

Page 15: ...es setting up your system and technical specifications This document is also shipped with your system Dell EMC PowerVault MD3460 MD3860i MD3860f Storage Arrays Owner s Manual Provides information about system features and describes troubleshooting the system and install or replace system components Rack Installation Instructions Describes installing your system into a rack This document is also sh...

Page 16: ...ch that can be assigned to host servers Each virtual disk is assigned a Logical Unit Number LUN that is recognized by the host operating system Virtual disks and disk groups are set up according to how you plan to organize your data For example you can have one virtual disk for inventory a second virtual disk for financial and tax information and so on Physical disks Only Dell EMC supported physic...

Page 17: ...appings to associate the virtual disks with the host servers NOTE Host server access must be created before mapping virtual disks Disk groups are always created in the unconfigured capacity of a storage array Unconfigured capacity is the available physical disk space not already assigned in the storage array Virtual disks are created within the free capacity of a disk group Free capacity is the sp...

Page 18: ... physical disks using replication or consistency supports reconstruction of lost data if an error occurs even if that error is the failure of a physical disk Each RAID level provides different performance and protection You must select a RAID level based on the type of application access fault tolerance and data you are storing The storage array supports RAID levels 0 1 5 6 and 10 The maximum and ...

Page 19: ...ID level and is suited for multi user environments where typical I O size is small and there is a high proportion of read activity such as file application database web e mail news and intranet servers RAID 6 RAID 6 is similar to RAID 5 but provides an additional consistency disk for better consistency RAID 6 is the most versatile RAID level and is suited for multi user environments where typical ...

Page 20: ...lves computing the data on one physical disk and comparing the results to the contents of the parity physical disk A consistency check is similar to a background initialization The difference is that background initialization cannot be started or stopped manually while consistency check can NOTE It is recommended that you run data consistency checks on a redundant array at least once a month This ...

Page 21: ...ray writes on a physical disk in a virtual disk before writing data on the next physical disk Valid values for the segment size are 8 KB 16 KB 32 KB 64 KB 128 KB and 256 KB Dynamic segment size migration enables the segment size of a given virtual disk to be changed A default segment size is set when the virtual disk is created based on such factors as the RAID level and expected usage You can cha...

Page 22: ...disk capacity expansion Disk group expansion Disk group defragmentation If a redundant RAID controller module fails with an existing disk group process the process on the failed controller is transferred to the peer controller A transferred process is placed in a suspended state if there is an active disk group process on the peer controller The suspended processes are resumed when the active proc...

Page 23: ... capacity NOTE Only disk groups and associated virtual disks with all member physical disks present can be migrated from one storage array to another It is recommended that you only migrate disk groups that have all their associated member virtual disks in an optimal state NOTE The number of physical disks and virtual disks that a storage array supports limits the scope of the migration Use either...

Page 24: ...n addition the host server can be part of a host group that shares access to one or more virtual disks You can manually configure a host server to virtual disk mapping When you configure host server to virtual disk mapping consider these guidelines You can define one host server to virtual disk mapping for each virtual disk in the storage array Host server to virtual disk mappings are shared betwe...

Page 25: ...ing for the snapshot group When a snapshot image is deleted its definition is removed from the system and the space occupied by the snapshot image in the repository is released and made available for reuse within the snapshot group Virtual disk copy Virtual disk copy is a premium feature you can use to Back up data Copy data from disk groups that use smaller capacity physical disks to disk groups ...

Page 26: ...D Storage Manager when a virtual disk is created You can change the preferred RAID controller module owner of a virtual disk after it is created If a host is connected to only one RAID controller module the preferred owner must manually be assigned to the RAID controller module that the host can access Ownership of a virtual disk is moved from the preferred controller to the secondary controller a...

Page 27: ...this policy an I O request is simply a command in the queue The type of command or the number of blocks that are associated with the command are not considered The least queue depth with subset policy treats large block requests and small block requests equally The data path selected is one of the paths in the path group of the RAID controller module that owns the virtual disk Monitoring system pe...

Page 28: ...ks The values reported for a RAID controller module or storage array include both host I Os and I Os internal to the storage array metadata reads and writes whereas the values reported for a virtual disk include only host I O Interpreting performance monitor data Performance Monitor provides you with data about devices You can use this data to make storage array performance tuning decisions as des...

Page 29: ...n about segment size and performance see the related topics listed at the end of this topic The higher the cache hit rate the higher I O rates will be Higher write I O rates are experienced with write caching enabled compared to disabled In deciding whether to enable write caching for an individual virtual disk look at the current IOPS and the maximum IOPS You should see higher rates for sequentia...

Page 30: ... can increase the cache hit percentage for a sequential I O workload Viewing real time graphical performance monitor data You can view real time graphical performance as a single graph or as a dashboard that shows six graphs on one screen A real time performance monitor graph plots a single performance metric over time for up to five objects The x axis of the graph represents time The y axis of th...

Page 31: ...rformed by this object since the beginning of the polling session I Os per second The number of I O requests serviced per second during the current polling interval also called an I O request rate MBs per second The transfer rate during the current polling interval The transfer rate is the amount of data in megabytes that can be moved through the I O data connection in a second also called through...

Page 32: ...elect the objects to monitor and the sampling interval click the Settings button The Settings button is available only when the real time textual performance monitor is not started The Performance Summary Settings dialog is displayed 3 In the Select an object s list select the objects for which you want to view performance data You can select as many objects as you want Use Ctrl Click and Shift Cl...

Page 33: ... this short sampling interval can affect performance Select a longer interval such as 30 seconds to 60 seconds if you are saving the results to a file to look at later to minimize the system overhead and performance impact 5 Click OK 6 To start collecting performance data click Start Data collection begins 7 Continue data collection for the desired period of time 8 To stop collecting performance d...

Page 34: ...old the pointer over the Stop link A tooltip displays the time background performance monitoring was started the length of time background performance monitoring has been in progress and the sampling interval NOTE For an accurate elapsed time do not use the Synchronize RAID controller module Clocks option while using Performance Monitor If you do it is possible for the elapsed time to be negative ...

Page 35: ...therwise the file will not load A background performance monitor graph plots a single performance metric over time for up to five objects The x axis of the graph represents time The y axis of the graph represents the metric value The metric value is displayed in thousands K when the value exceeds 99 999 starting with 100 K until the number reaches 9999 K then the value is displayed in millions M F...

Page 36: ...rtual disk was unmapped A disk group that is being imported The RAID controller module is in simplex mode The RAID controller module is offline The RAID controller module failed The RAID controller module was removed The physical disk failed The physical disk was removed It is possible to have two objects with the same name Two virtual disks can have the same name if you delete a virtual disk and ...

Page 37: ...t adapters A maximum of eight storage management stations can concurrently monitor an out of band managed storage array This limit does not apply to systems that manage the storage array through the in band management method When you use out of band management you must set the network configuration for each RAID controller module s management Ethernet port This includes the Internet Protocol IP ad...

Page 38: ...age and cannot be removed without deleting the entire virtual disk virtual disk group or virtual disk pair The default LUN is 31 Storage arrays You must add the storage arrays to the MD Storage Manager before you can set up the storage array for optimal use NOTE You can add storage arrays only in the EMW You can Automatically discover storage arrays Manually add storage arrays NOTE Verify that you...

Page 39: ...al location of the storage array on your network by turning on the system identification indicator Give a new name to the storage array Use a unique name that identifies each storage array Set a storage array password Configure the storage array with a password to protect it from unauthorized access The MD Storage Manager prompts for the password when an attempt is made to change the storage array...

Page 40: ...ay 1 Perform one of these actions In the AMW select Setup Rename Storage Array In the EMW select Devices tab Tree view select Edit Rename In the EMW Devices tab Tree view right click the desired array icon and select Rename The Rename Storage Array dialog is displayed 2 Type the new name of the storage array NOTE Avoid arbitrary names or names that may lose meaning in the future 3 Click OK A messa...

Page 41: ...the letter a For increased protection use a long password with at least 15 alphanumeric characters The maximum password length is 30 characters Passwords are case sensitive NOTE You can attempt to enter a password up to ten times before the storage array enters a lockout state Before you can try to enter a password again you must wait 10 minutes for the storage array to reset To reset the password...

Page 42: ...opens which lets you select the generated key file 3 Navigate to the relevant folder select the appropriate key file and click OK The Confirm Enable Premium Fetaures dailog is displayed 4 Click Yes The required premium feature is enabled on your storage array 5 Click Close Displaying failover alert You can change the failover alert delay for a storage array The failover alert delay lets you delay ...

Page 43: ...enclosure ID number from the Change Enclosure ID list The enclosure ID must be between 0 and 99 inclusive 3 To save the changed enclosure ID click OK Changing the enclosure order You can change the order of the RAID controller modules and the expansion enclosures to match the hardware configuration in your storage array The enclosure order change remains in effect until it is modified again To cha...

Page 44: ... sender the network administrator is displayed on each e mail alert sent to the destination c Optional To include the contact information of the sender in the e mail alert select Include contact information with the alerts and type the contact information 4 Select the Email tab to configure the e mail destinations Adding an e mail address In Email address type the e mail address and click Add Repl...

Page 45: ...rage array 3 To configure an SNMP alert originating from the event monitor see Creating SNMP Alert Notifications Originating from the Event Monitor 4 To configure an SNMP alert originating from the storage array see Creating SNMP Alert Notifications Originating from the Storage Array Creating SNMP alert notifications originating from the event monitor The MD storage management software can notify ...

Page 46: ...NMP traps originating from the storage management station where the event monitor is installed and SNMP traps originating from the storage array if available This topic describes how to create SNMP traps originating from the storage array To configure an SNMP alert notification originating from the storage array you specify the community name and the trap destination The community name is a string...

Page 47: ...d SNMP addresses area select the SNMP destination that you want to test and click Test A test message is sent to the SNMP address A dialog is displayed with the results of the validation and any errors The Test button is disabled if you have not selected a community name 9 Click OK An alert icon is displayed next to each node in the Tree view for which an alert is set Battery settings A smart batt...

Page 48: ... the RAID controller modules to the Event Log match the event timestamps written to host log files The RAID controller modules remain available during synchronization To synchronize the RAID controller module clocks with the storage management station 1 In the AMW on the menu bar select Hardware RAID Controller Module Synchronize Clocks 2 If a password is set in the Enter Password dialog type the ...

Page 49: ... not require initiator authentication If you select None any initiator can access the target CHAP To enable an initiator that tries to authenticate the target using Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol CHAP Define the CHAP secret only if you want to use mutual CHAP authentication If you select CHAP but no CHAP target secret is defined an error message is displayed See Creating CHAP Secrets ...

Page 50: ...rage array you must enter the same CHAP secret that is defined in the host server iSCSI initiator and you must define a CHAP secret on the target the storage array that must be configured in every iSCSI initiator that connects to the target storage array For more information about CHAP see Understanding CHAP Authentication in the storage array s Deployment Guide Initiator CHAP secret The initiator...

Page 51: ...very settings 1 In the AMW select the Setup tab 2 Select Manage iSCSI Settings The Manage iSCSI Settings window is displayed 3 Select the Target Discovery tab 4 Select Use iSNS to activate iSCSI target discovery 5 To activate iSCSI target discovery you can use one of the following methods Select Obtain configuration automatically from DHCP server to automatically activate target discovery for IPv4...

Page 52: ...ct Enable IPv4 and select the IPv4 Settings tab 6 To use the IPv6 settings for the iSCSI host port select Enable IPv6 and select the IPv6 Settings tab 7 To configure the IPv4 and IPv6 settings select Obtain configuration automatically from DHCP server to automatically configure the settings This option is selected by default Specify configuration to manually configure the settings NOTE If you sele...

Page 53: ...ces the initiator to log off the storage array The initiator can log on if None authentication method is available System downtime If you need to turn off a storage array and initiators are logged on you can end the iSCSI session to log off the initiators from the storage array To view or end an iSCSI session 1 In the AMW menu bar select Storage Array iSCSI View End Sessions 2 Select the iSCSI ses...

Page 54: ...val is the difference in time from when you set the baseline until you launch the dialog or click Refresh NOTE You must first set a baseline before you can compare baseline statistics Edit remove or rename host topology If you give access to the incorrect host or the incorrect host group you can remove or edit the host topology Follow the appropriate procedures given in the following table to corr...

Page 55: ... Management Console Replicate the alert settings from a particular managed device by copying the emwdata bin file to every storage management station from which you want to receive alerts Each managed device shows a check mark that indicates that alerts have been set Enabling or disabling event monitor You can enable or disable the event monitor at any time Disable the event monitor if you do not ...

Page 56: ...begins the following message is displayed SMmonitor started To disable the event monitor start terminal emulation application console ox xterm and at the command prompt type SMmonitor stop and press Enter When the program shutdown is complete the following message is displayed Stopping Monitor process 56 Event monitor ...

Page 57: ...u must map the host to the virtual disk This mapping grants a host or a host group access to a particular virtual disk or to several virtual disks in a storage array You can define the mappings on the Host Mappings tab in the AMW On the Summary tab in the AMW the Host Mappings area indicates how many hosts are configured to access the storage array Click Configured Hosts in the Host Mappings area ...

Page 58: ...ting a known unassociated host port identifier In Known unassociated host port identifier select the relevant host port identifier Add by creating a new host port identifier In New host port identifier enter a 16 character name and an Alias of up to 30 characters for the host port identifier and click Add NOTE The host port identifier name must contain only the letters A through F 6 Click Add The ...

Page 59: ...torage array and every host in the cluster must be added to the host group Creating a host group To create a host group 1 In the AMW select the Host Mappings tab 2 In the object tree select the storage array or the Default Group 3 Perform one of the following actions From the menu bar select Host Mappings Define Host Group Right click the storage array or the Default Group and select Define Host G...

Page 60: ...ns the specific virtual disk mappings assigned to it The host inherits the virtual disk mappings assigned to the host group to which it is moved The host loses the virtual disk mappings assigned to the host group from which it was moved Removing a host group To remove a host group 1 In the AMW select the Host Mappings tab select the host group node in the object tree 2 Perform one of these actions...

Page 61: ...ent 3 If the Host Context Agent is running click Action Stop then wait approximately 5 seconds 4 Click Action Start I O data path protection You can have multiple host to array connections for a host Ensure that you select all the connections to the array when configuring host access to the storage array NOTE See the Deployment Guide for more information about cabling configurations NOTE For more ...

Page 62: ... appropriate host interface type 7 Select the method to add a host port identifier to the host You can select Add by selecting a known unassociated host port identifier Select the appropriate host port identifier from the existing list of Known unassociated host port identifiers Add by creating a new host port identifier In New host port identifier enter the name of the new host port identifier 8 ...

Page 63: ...ation options When creating a virtual disk consider the uses for that virtual disk and select an appropriate capacity for those uses For example if a disk group has a virtual disk that stores multimedia files which tend to be large and another virtual disk that stores text files which tend to be small the multimedia file virtual disk requires more capacity than the text file virtual disk A disk gr...

Page 64: ...isplayed in Select capacity table b In the Select Capacity table select the relevant disk group capacity and click Finish 6 For manual configuration the Manual Physical Disk Selection window is displayed a Select the appropriate RAID level in Select RAID level You can select RAID levels 0 1 10 5 and 6 Depending on your RAID level selection the physical disks available for the selected RAID level a...

Page 65: ...up To create standard virtual disks 1 In the AMW select the Storage Copy Services tab 2 Select a Free Capacity node from an existing disk group and do one of the following From the menu bar select Storage Virtual Disk Create Virtual Disk Right click on the Free Capacity and select Create Disk Group The Create Virtual Disk Specify Parameters window is displayed 3 Select the appropriate unit for mem...

Page 66: ...e settings for a virtual disk After opening the Change Cache Settings dialog the system may display a window indicating that the RAID controller module has temporarily suspended caching operations This action may occur when a new battery is charging when a RAID controller module has been removed or if a mismatch in cache sizes has been detected by the RAID controller module After the condition has...

Page 67: ...nging the segment size You cannot cancel this operation after it starts Do not start this operation unless the disk group is in Optimal status The MD Storage Manager determines the segment size transitions that are allowed Segment sizes that are inappropriate transitions from the current segment size are unavailable on the menu Allowed transitions usually are double or half of current segment size...

Page 68: ...ith replication Select this option to replicate cached data across two redundant RAID controller modules that have the same cache size Enable write caching without batteries Select this option to permit write caching to continue even if the RAID controller module batteries are discharged completely not fully charged or are not present NOTE Cache is automatically flushed if you disable Enable write...

Page 69: ...ed by the host for read write operations sometimes called consumed capacity exceeds the amount of physical capacity allocated on a standard virtual disk the storage array cannot accommodate additional write requests until the physical capacity is increased However on a thin virtual disk MD Storage Manager can automatically expand physical capacity of a thin virtual disk You can also do it manually...

Page 70: ...select Manual automatic expansion does not occur and an alert is displayed when the Warning Threshold value percentage is reached Warning Threshold When consumed capacity reaches the specified percentage MD Storage Manager sends an E mail or SNMP alert Thin virtual disk states The following are the virtual disk states displayed in MD Storage Manager Optimal Virtual disk is operating normally Full ...

Page 71: ...in virtual disk is created it is automatically initialized However the MD Storage Manger Recovery Guru may advise that you manually initialize a thin virtual disk to recover from certain failure conditions If you choose to reinitialize a thin virtual disk you have several options Keep the same physical capacity If you keep the same physical capacity the virtual disk can keep its current repository...

Page 72: ...lect the Storage Copy Services tab 2 Select the thin virtual disk that you want to initialize The thin virtual disks are listed under the Disk Pools node 3 Select Storage Virtual Disk Advanced Initialize The Initialize Thin Virtual Disk window is displayed 4 Select Use a different repository 5 Based on whether you want to keep the current repository for future use select or clear Delete existing r...

Page 73: ...ata from the virtual disk NOTE You can create thin virtual disks only from disk pools not from disk groups 1 In the AMW select the Storage Copy Services tab 2 Select the thin virtual disk that you want to initialize The thin virtual disks are listed under the Disk Pools node 3 Select Storage Virtual Disk Advanced Initialize The Initialize Thin Virtual Disk window is displayed 4 Based on whether yo...

Page 74: ...ng feature is enhanced to support the UNMAP command through the command line interface Any thinly provisioned virtual disks that are configured on a storage array before an upgrade to version 8 25 are still available after the upgrade and supports the UNMAP command However in previous versions of the MD Storage Manager operating system thinly provisioned virtual disks are reported to the host oper...

Page 75: ...es in a storage array share security key The shared security key provides read and write access to the physical disks while the physical disk encryption key on each physical disk is used to encrypt the data A security capable physical disk works like any other physical disk until it is security enabled Whenever the power is turned off and turned on again all the security enabled physical disks cha...

Page 76: ... Hardware menu The storage array password protects a storage array from potentially destructive operations by unauthorized users The storage array password is independent from self encrypting disk and should not be confused with the pass phrase that is used to protect copies of a security key However it is good practice to set a storage array password Creating a security key When you create a secu...

Page 77: ... 10 Click Create Key 11 If the Invalid Text Entry dialog is displayed select Yes There are errors in the strings that were entered The Invalid Text Entry dialog is displayed Read the error message in the dialog and click OK Go to step 6 No There are no errors in the strings that were entered Go to step 12 12 Make a record of the security key identifier and the file name from the Create Security Ke...

Page 78: ...ick Change Key 8 Make a record of the security key identifier and the file name from the Change Security Key Complete dialog and click OK Saving a security key You save an externally storable copy of the security key when the security key is first created and each time it is changed You can create additional storable copies at any time To save a new copy of the security key you must provide a pass...

Page 79: ...e Physical Disk menu You can use the secure erase procedure to re provision a physical disk You can use the Secure Erase option if you want to remove all of the data on the physical disk and reset the physical disk security attributes CAUTION Possible loss of data access The Secure Erase option removes all of the data that is currently on the physical disk This action cannot be undone Before you c...

Page 80: ... Hot spare coverage area 6 Review the information about the hot spare coverage in the Details area 7 Click Assign The Assign Hot Spare window is displayed 8 Select the relevant Physical disks in the Unassigned physical disks area as hot spares for the selected disk and click OK 9 To unassign hot spares in the Hot Spare Coverage window select physical disks in the Hot spare physical disks area 10 R...

Page 81: ...laced with a security capable physical disk If you select a security capable physical disk as hot spare for a non secure disk group a dialog box is displayed indicating that a security capable physical disk is being used as a hot spare for a non secure disk group The availability of enclosure loss protection for a disk group depends on the location of the physical disks that comprise the disk grou...

Page 82: ...ata on the virtual disks in a disk group if a total loss of communication occurs with a single expansion enclosure An example of total loss of communication may be loss of power to the expansion enclosure or failure of both RAID controller modules CAUTION Enclosure loss protection is not guaranteed if a physical disk has already failed in the disk group In this situation losing access to an expans...

Page 83: ...cal disks Make sure that each physical disk in a remotely replicated pair is located in a different drawer By locating each physical disk in a different drawer you can have more than two physical disks of the disk group within the same drawer For example if you create a RAID Level 1 disk group with six physical disks three replicated pairs you can achieve the drawer loss protection for the disk gr...

Page 84: ...or host must be created using the Storage Partitioning Wizard before defining additional mappings See Storage Partitioning To create host to virtual disk mappings 1 In the AMW select the Host Mappings tab 2 In the object tree select Default Group Undefined mappings node Individual defined mapping Host group Host 3 From the menu bar select Host Mappings LUN Mapping Add The Define Additional Mapping...

Page 85: ...e Manager install process 9 Restart the host applications Changing RAID controller ownership of the virtual disk If the host has a single data path to the MD storage array the virtual disk must be owned by the RAID controller to which the host is connected You must configure this storage array before you start I O operations and after the virtual disk is created You can change the RAID controller ...

Page 86: ...tain operating system environments it may be necessary to reconfigure the multi path driver before an I O path can be used To change the RAID controller module ownership of a disk group 1 In the AMW select the Storage Copy Services tab and select a disk group 2 From the menu bar select Storage Disk Group Change Ownership Preferred Path 3 Select the appropriate RAID controller module slot and click...

Page 87: ...ue_if_no_path pg_init_retries 50 hwhandler 1 rdac _ round robin 0 prio 6 active _ 1 0 0 2 sdf 8 80 active ready _ round robin 0 prio 1 enabled _ 0 0 0 2 sde 8 64 active ghost In this example the mpath6 device contains two paths dev sdf at Host 1 Channel 0 Target 0 LUN 2 dev sde at Host 0 Channel 0 Target 0 LUN 2 3 Flush the multipathing device mapping using the following command multipath f dev ma...

Page 88: ...fic storage partition all the hosts in that storage partition are limited to the maximum number of LUNs allowed by the restricted host type You cannot move a host with a restricted host type into a storage partition that already has LUNs mapped that are greater than what is allowed by the restricted host type For example if you have a restricted host type that allows only LUNs up to 31 you cannot ...

Page 89: ...informational dialog is displayed each time you select the Host Mappings tab You must define the storage partitioning topology before you define the actual storage partition Disk group and virtual disk expansion Adding free capacity to a disk group is achieved by adding unconfigured capacity on the array to the disk group Data is accessible on disk groups virtual disks and physical disks throughou...

Page 90: ...n and then click OK 5 In the Increase Virtual Disk Capacity window type the required memory volume to increase the capacity of the virtual disk If additional disks are required to be added then select Add Physical Disks For more information about disk group expansion instructions see Disk group expansion 6 Click OK This operation cannot be cancelled after initiating and this may take a while to co...

Page 91: ...he physical disks are offline Any associated virtual disks or free capacity nodes are no longer shown in the MD Storage Manager Non exportable components You must remove or clear any non exportable settings before you can complete the export disk group procedure Remove or clear the following settings Persistent reservations Host to virtual disk mappings Virtual disk copy pairs Snapshot virtual dis...

Page 92: ...mport Report for an overview of the disk group that you are importing 3 Check for non importable components 4 Confirm that you want to proceed with the import procedure NOTE Some settings cannot be imported during the import disk group procedure Non importable components Some components cannot be imported during the import disk group procedure These components are removed during the procedure Pers...

Page 93: ...an individual virtual disk select the virtual disk in the Select virtual disks to scan area and deselect Scan selected virtual disks 6 To enable media scans on an individual virtual disk select the virtual disk in the Select virtual disks to scan area and select Scan selected virtual disks 7 To enable or disable the consistency check select either With consistency check or Without consistency chec...

Page 94: ...xample if your disk pool is comprised of several 4 GB physical disks and several 8 GB physical disks only 4 GB on each physical disk is used The data and consistency information in a disk pool is distributed across all of the physical disks in the pool and provides the following benefits Simplified configuration Better utilization of physical disks Reduced maintenance the ability to use thin provi...

Page 95: ...D enabled physical disks cannot be mixed with SED capable physical disks You can mix SED capable and non SED capable physical disks but the encryption abilities of the SED physical disks cannot be used Creating a disk pool manually You can use the unconfigured capacity in a storage array to create a disk pool NOTE Ensure that you have created virtual disks before you create a disk pool To create a...

Page 96: ...dialog select Storage Array Configuration Disk Pools Each physical disk in a disk pool must be of the same physical disk type and physical disk media type and have similar capacity If there are enough of physical disks of those types the MD Storage Manager prompts you to create a single disk pool If the unconfigured capacity consists of different physical disk types the MD Storage Manager prompts ...

Page 97: ...ing in the future If you choose a disk pool name that is already in use an error message is displayed You are prompted to choose another name To configure alert notifications for a disk pool 1 In AMW select the Storage Copy Services tab 2 Select the disk pool 3 From the menu bar select Storage Disk Pool Rename Alternatively right click on the disk pool and select Rename The Rename Disk Pool dialog...

Page 98: ...iew information about The disk pool in the Disk Pool Information area The unassigned physical disks that can be added to the disk pool in the Select physical disks for addition area NOTE The RAID controller module firmware arranges the unassigned physical disk options with the best options listed at the top in the Select physical disks for addition area 4 Select one or more physical disks in the S...

Page 99: ...rship of a disk pool You can change the RAID controller module ownership of a disk pool to specify which RAID controller module must own all of the virtual disks in the disk pool Changing the RAID controller module ownership at the disk pool level causes each virtual disk in that disk pool to transfer to the other RAID controller module and use a new I O path If you do not want to set each virtual...

Page 100: ...ION Possible loss of data access A consistency error is potentially serious and could cause a permanent loss of data The status of the consistency check is shown in the Associated Status column Deleting disk pool Use the Delete option to delete a disk pool and all the virtual disks in the disk pool When a disk pool is deleted the physical disks that were associated with the disk pool change to the...

Page 101: ...ew Associated Physical Components Select a component and click View Associated Physical Components in the Properties pane Select a component and from the menu bar select Storage Disk Pool View Associated Physical Components The associated physical components are displayed with a blue circle Secure disk pools You can create a secure disk pool from security capable physical disks The physical disks ...

Page 102: ...ository Capacity If you select the automatic expansion option you can also set a maximum expansion capacity The maximum expansion capacity enables you to limit the automatic growth of a virtual disk to an amount less than the defined virtual capacity NOTE Because less than full capacity is allocated when you create a thin virtual disk insufficient free capacity may exist when certain operations ar...

Page 103: ...ositories are placed at the top of the list NOTE The benefit of reusing an existing repository is that you can avoid the initialization process that occurs when you create a new one 13 If you want to change the repository expansion policy or warning threshold click View advanced repository settings Repository expansion policy Select either Automatic or Manual When the consumed capacity gets close ...

Page 104: ...in DRAM and is copied from user specified base virtual disks and stored on two internal RAID virtual disks one per RAID controller module These virtual disks are automatically created when you initially set up an SSD cache Neither virtual disks is accessible for read write operations and cannot be displayed or managed in the MD Storage Manager interface Simple virtual disk I O mechanisms are used ...

Page 105: ...mum usable SSD cache capacity on a storage array is dependent on the RAID controller module s primary cache capacity You cannot remove the last physical disk in an SSD cache without first deleting the SSD cache Only one SSD cache is supported per storage array If all the SSDs in the SSD cache are data assurance capable and the data assurance DA feature is enabled DA is automatically enabled for th...

Page 106: ...lect the SSD cache and do one of the following From the menu bar select Storage SSD Cache Blink Right click on the SSD cache and select Blink The LEDs on the physical disks comprising the SSD cache blink 3 After locating the physical disks click OK The LEDs stop blinking 4 If the LEDs for the disk group do not stop blinking from the toolbar in AMW select Hardware Blink Stop All Indications If the ...

Page 107: ...To resume SSD caching do one of the following From the menu bar select Storage SSD Cache Resume Right click on the SSD cache and select Resume In the Table view of the SSD cache the Status is displayed as Optimal Changing I O type in an SSD cache To change the I O type in an SSD cache 1 In the AMW select the Storage Copy Services tab 2 Do one of the following From the menu bar select Storage SSD C...

Page 108: ...the menu bar select Storage SSD Cache Run Performance Modeling Right click on the SSD cache and select Run Performance Modeling The SSD Cache Performance Modeling window is displayed 4 Review the information in the Modeling Information area of the SSD Cache Performance Modeling window 5 Select one of the following options from View results to choose the format you want to view the results Response...

Page 109: ...tual Disk to read write Viewing associated physical components of an individual repository virtual disk Creating consistency group Creating a snapshot virtual disk of a snapshot image Creating consistency group Snapshot Virtual Disk Snapshot images and groups Snapshot images can be created manually or automatically by establishing a schedule that defines the date and time you want the snapshot ima...

Page 110: ... rules apply Snapshot groups can be created with or without snapshot images Each snapshot image is can be a member of only one snapshot group Standard virtual disks and thin virtual disks are the only types of virtual disks that can contain a snapshot group Non standard virtual disks such as snapshot virtual disks cannot be used for snapshot groups The base virtual disk can reside on either a disk...

Page 111: ...al disk to a consistency group the system automatically creates a new snapshot group that corresponds to this member virtual disk A consistency group repository must be created for each member virtual disk in a consistency group in order to save data for all snapshot images in the group A consistency group snapshot image comprises multiple snapshot virtual disks Its purpose is to provide host acce...

Page 112: ... an existing base virtual disk 1 From the AMW select the base virtual disk you are copying and select Copy Services Snapshot Image Create The Select or Create a Snapshot Group window is displayed 2 Do one of the following If snapshot groups exist on the base virtual disk or if the base virtual disk already has the maximum number of snapshot groups the An Existing Snapshot Group radio button is sel...

Page 113: ...roup Advanced Cancel Pending Snapshot Image Copy Services Consistency Group Advanced Cancel Pending Consistency Group Snapshot Image Deleting snapshot image Use the Delete Snapshot Image option to delete the oldest snapshot image from a snapshot group or consistency group After a snapshot image is deleted from a snapshot group the system performs the following actions Deletes the snapshot image fr...

Page 114: ...nly one schedule Scheduled snapshot image creations do not occur when the storage array is offline or turned off If you delete a snapshot group or consistency group that has a schedule the schedule is also deleted The snapshot image creation operation completes as soon as the synchronization operation is complete To cancel the pending snapshot image creation before the synchronization operation co...

Page 115: ...pshot image to the base virtual disk which allows you to roll back the base virtual disk to a previous point in time NOTE The host will have immediate access to the new rolled back base virtual disk but the existing base virtual disk will not allow the host read write access after the rollback is initiated You can create a snapshot of the base virtual disk just before you start the rollback to sav...

Page 116: ...otherwise skip to step 4 4 In the Rollback priority area use the slider bar to set a priority for the rollback operation There are five priority rates available lowest low medium high and highest If the priority is set at the lowest rate I O activity is prioritized and the rollback operation takes longer time to complete If the priority is set at the highest priority rate the rollback operation is...

Page 117: ...ion 5 Type yes in the text box and click OK Viewing the progress of a snapshot rollback You can view the progress of the rollback operation in the Properties pane of the AMW when you select the base virtual disk or consistency group member virtual disk in the Logical pane When a rollback operation is in progress the following information is displayed The Operation in Progress bar at the bottom of ...

Page 118: ... virtual disk resides on a standard disk group the repository members for any associated snapshot group can reside on either a standard disk group or a disk pool If a base virtual disk resides on a disk pool all repository members for any associated snapshot group must reside on the same disk pool as the base virtual disk You cannot create a snapshot group on a failed virtual disk If you attempt t...

Page 119: ...d any future requirements that you might have for other virtual disks in this disk group or disk pool Make sure that you have enough capacity to meet your data storage needs but you do not over allocate because you can quickly use up all the storage in your storage array The list of repository candidates can contain both new and existing repository virtual disks Existing repository virtual disks a...

Page 120: ...tically purge oldest snapshot image The system automatically purges the oldest snapshot image in the snapshot group which releases the repository s reserve space for reuse within the snapshot group Reject writes to base virtual disk When the repository reaches its maximum defined percentage the system rejects any I O write request to the base virtual disk that triggered the repository access 1 Fro...

Page 121: ...n the snapshot virtual disk 1 From the AMW select the Storage Copy Services tab 2 Select either a snapshot virtual disk or a consistency group member s snapshot virtual disk and then select Copy Services Snapshot Virtual disk Convert to Read Write 3 Select how you want to create the repository for the Read Write snapshot virtual disk Do one of the following Select Automatic to create the snapshot ...

Page 122: ...ion operation is complete To create a consistency group 1 From the AMW select the Storage Copy Services tab 2 Select Copy Services Consistency Group Create The Consistency Group Settings window is displayed 3 In the Consistency group name field enter a unique name 30 character maximum that best describes the member virtual disks that you want to add for this group By default the consistency group ...

Page 123: ...id the initialization process that occurs when you create a new one To create a consistency group repository 1 From the AMW select the Storage Copy Services tab 2 Select Copy Services Consistency Group Create The Consistency Group Settings window is displayed 3 Select Manual and click Next to customize the repository candidate settings for the consistency group The Consistency Group Repository Set...

Page 124: ...p All the associated snapshot images that exist for each member virtual disk in the consistency group All the associated snapshot virtual disks that exist for each member virtual disk in the consistency group All associated repositories that exist for each member virtual disk in the consistency group if selected To delete a consistency group 1 From the AMW select the Storage Copy Services tab 2 Se...

Page 125: ...up or a disk pool If a base virtual disk resides on a disk pool the repository members for any associated consistency group must reside on the same disk pool as the base virtual disk You cannot add a member virtual disk that is in a failed state 1 From the Array Management Window AMW select the Storage Copy Services tab 2 Do one of the following Select the base virtual disk that you want to add to...

Page 126: ...n the text box and then click Delete to delete one or more member virtual disks from the consistency group The system removes the member virtual disks from the consistency group they are not deleted Creating a snapshot virtual disk of a snapshot image You create a snapshot virtual disk to provide host access to a snapshot image within a snapshot group A read write snapshot virtual disk has its own...

Page 127: ...ype in the text box If the base virtual disk is 30 characters the default name for the group uses the base virtual disk name truncated enough to add the suffix SV and the sequence string 5 In the Map to host drop down specify how you want to map the host to the snapshot virtual disk Map Now to Default Group The virtual disk is automatically assigned a logical unit number LUN and is accessible by a...

Page 128: ...sk pool Make sure that you have enough capacity to meet your data storage needs without allocating too much capacity that takes up the storage in your system The list of repository candidates can contain both new and existing repository virtual disks Existing repository virtual disks are placed at the top of the list The benefit of reusing an existing repository virtual disk is that you can avoid ...

Page 129: ... snapshot virtual disk or consistency group snapshot virtual disk the system performs the following actions Retains the World Wide Name WWN for the snapshot virtual disk or consistency group snapshot virtual disk Retains the snapshot virtual disk or consistency group snapshot virtual disk s association with the same base virtual disk Retains the snapshot virtual disk or consistency group snapshot ...

Page 130: ...l disk or consistency group snapshot virtual disk are retained You can change these names after the re create option completes To re create a snapshot virtual disk or consistency group snapshot virtual disk 1 From the AMW select the Storage Copy Services tab 2 Select the snapshot virtual disk or consistency group snapshot virtual disk that you want to disable and then select one of the following C...

Page 131: ...ollowing conditions The base virtual disk that contains this snapshot image is a member of an asynchronous remote replication group The base virtual disk is in a synchronizing operation The snapshot image is created when the synchronization operation is completed To create a consistency group snapshot virtual disk 1 From the AMW select the Storage Copy Services tab 2 Do one of the following Select...

Page 132: ... want to create the snapshot virtual disk repositories for each member in the consistency group Do one of the following Select Automatic and click Finish to create each snapshot virtual disk repository with the default capacity settings This option is the recommended one Select Manual and click Next to define the properties for each snapshot virtual disk repository then click Finish to continue wi...

Page 133: ... value you specified for percentage or the value you specified for preferred capacity By default the system displays the repositories for each member virtual disk of the consistency group using a value of 20 percent of the member virtual disk s capacity It filters out undersized repository candidates and those with different Data Service DS attributes If appropriate candidates are not returned usi...

Page 134: ... create a snapshot virtual disk or consistency group snapshot virtual disk that you previously disabled Re creating a snapshot virtual disk or consistency group snapshot virtual disk takes less time than creating a new one If you have a snapshot virtual disk or consistency group snapshot virtual disk that you no longer need you can reuse it and any associated snapshot repository virtual disk inste...

Page 135: ...Select the storage object for which to change the modification priority 3 Right click the selected storage object and select Overall Repository Change Modification Priority The Change Disk Pool Settings window is displayed 4 In the Select modification priority area move the slider bar to select a priority level 5 Click OK Changing the media scan setting of an overall repository virtual disk Use th...

Page 136: ...itory If an overall repository virtual disk that is configured with pre read is migrated to a RAID level that does not maintain consistency information the metadata of the overall repository virtual disk continues to show that pre read is enabled However reads to that overall repository virtual disk ignores consistency pre read If the virtual disk is subsequently migrated back to a RAID level that...

Page 137: ...ilable on a disk group or disk pool NOTE If no free capacity exists on any disk group or disk pool you can add unconfigured capacity in the form of unused physical disks to a disk group or disk pool You cannot increase the storage capacity of an overall repository if one of these conditions exists The repository virtual disk that you want to add does not have an Optimal status Any repository virtu...

Page 138: ...oup or disk pool you selected the total free space is displayed in the Capacity spinner box b If necessary adjust the Capacity NOTE If free capacity does not exist on the disk group or disk pool you selected the free space that appears in the Capacity spinner box is 0 If this storage array has Unconfigured Capacity you can create a disk group or disk pool and then retry this operation using the ne...

Page 139: ...ory member virtual disk s for the overall repository Performing revive operation Use the Revive option to force a storage object to an Optimal state if it does not transition automatically after a failure is corrected You can use the Revive option for these storage objects Snapshot group Snapshot virtual disk Consistency group member virtual disk Consistency group member snapshot virtual disk NOTE...

Page 140: ...rage array Copying data for larger access capacity enables you to move data to greater capacity physical disks for example 61 146 GB Restoring snapshot virtual disk data to the source virtual disk The Virtual Disk Copy feature enables you first to restore the data from a snapshot virtual disk and then to copy the data from the snapshot virtual disk to the original source virtual disk Copying data ...

Page 141: ...he source virtual disk must be a standard virtual or thin disk in the storage array A snapshot virtual disk and a snapshot repository virtual disk are created during the online copy operation The snapshot virtual disk is not an actual virtual disk containing data instead it is a reference to the data contained on the virtual disk at a specific time For each snapshot taken a snapshot repository vir...

Page 142: ...urce virtual disk or target virtual disk A virtual disk with a Degraded status cannot be used as a target virtual disk A virtual disk participating in a modification operation cannot be selected as a source virtual disk or target virtual disk Modification operations include the following Capacity expansion RAID level migration Segment sizing Virtual disk expansion Defragmenting a virtual disk NOTE...

Page 143: ...lly makes the target virtual disk read only to hosts If eight virtual disk copies with a status of In Progress exist any subsequent virtual disk copy has a status of Pending which stays until one of the eight virtual disk copies completes Virtual disk copy and modification operations If a modification operation is running on a source virtual disk or a target virtual disk and the virtual disk copy ...

Page 144: ...by using the Create Copy Wizard you can monitor the virtual disk copy through the Copy Manager From the Copy Manager a virtual disk copy may be re copied stopped or removed You can also modify the attributes such as the copy priority and the target virtual disk Read Only attribute You can view the status of a virtual disk copy in the Copy Manager Also if you want to determine which virtual disks a...

Page 145: ...vity Virtual disk RAID level Virtual disk configuration Number of physical disks in the virtual disk groups Virtual disk type Snapshot virtual disks may take more time to copy than standard virtual disks Snapshots created using older RAID controller firmware versions legacy snapshots will take longer to complete During a virtual disk copy resources for the storage array are diverted from processin...

Page 146: ...te a copy of a source virtual disk stop any data access I O activity or suspend data transfer to the source virtual disk and if applicable the target disk to ensure that you capture an accurate point in time image of the source virtual disk Close all applications including Windows Internet Explorer to make sure all I O activity has stopped NOTE Removing the physical disk letter of one or more asso...

Page 147: ... window is displayed 6 Set the copy priority There are five copy priority rates available lowest low medium high and highest If the copy priority is set at the lowest rate I O activity is prioritized and the virtual disk copy takes longer If the copy priority is set to the highest priority rate the virtual disk copy is prioritized but I O activity for the storage array might be affected Removing c...

Page 148: ...y or file system problems including loss of communication with the array and corruption of the file system Avoid accessing any device other than the multipathing device NOTE After creating a partition on a multipathing device all I O operations including file system creation raw I O and file system I O must be done through the partition node and not through the multipathing device nodes Prerequisi...

Page 149: ...ce Mapper Partition The following instructions show how to complete each of these steps In the following command descriptions x is used to indicate where a substitution must be made On Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems x is the number assigned to the device On SUSE Linux Enterprise Server systems x is the letter s assigned to the device Scan for newly added virtual disks The rescan_dm_devs command ...

Page 150: ...ted by device mapper It is located in the dev mapper directory DELL is the vendor of the device MD3xxxx is the model of the device Sdx is the physical path to the owning RAID for the device Sdcl is the physical path to the nonowning RAID for the device Create fdisk partition on multipath device node The fdisk command allows creation of partition space for a file system on the newly scanned and map...

Page 151: ... example mkfs t filesystem type dev mapper partition node where partition node is the partition on which the file system is created Mount a Device Mapper partition Use the standard mount command to mount the Device Mapper partition as shown below mount dev mapper partition_node mounting point Ready for use The newly created virtual disks created on the MD Series storage array are now setup and rea...

Page 152: ...ed to the hosts New targets are added to the host Failback of the storage array is required For MD Series Dense iSCSI storage arrays iSCSI sessions have to be established for rescan to take effect Limitations and known issues In certain error conditions with the no_path_retry or the queue_if_no_path feature is set applications may hang To overcome these conditions enter the following command for e...

Page 153: ...th conf to ensure that it is been updated with proper settings After this run multipath Then run multipath ll the new devices must show up Why is a newly mapped LUN not assigned a multipathing device node Run rescan_dm_devs in any directory This should bring up the devices I removed a LUN But the multipathing mapping is still available The multipathing device is still available after you remove th...

Page 154: ...wning RAID controller module accesses a virtual disk To maintain the best possible throughput the host driver communicates with the RAID firmware to send data requests to the owning RAID controller if possible Automatic transfer of ownership The RAID controller firmware automatically transfers virtual disk ownership if more than 75 percent of data I O over the previous five minutes was routed to t...

Page 155: ...ray array_PID MD3400 MD34xx MD3420 MD34xx MD3800i MD38xxi MD3820i MD38xxi MD3800f MD38xxf MD3820f MD38xxf MD3460 MD34xx MD3860i MD38xxi MD3860f MD38xxf 2 Reboot your ESX based host server Verifying ALUA on VMware ESXi To verify that the SATP claim rule you set is added in VMware ESXi run the following command for ESXi 5 x esxcli storage nmp satp rule list s VMW_SATP_ALUA Verify that the claim rule...

Page 156: ...array For more information see Enabling ALUA On VMware ESX ESXi and Verifying If Host Server Is Using ALUA For MD Storage Array To set a round robin load balancing policy on your ESXi based host server 1 For ESXi 5 x run the following command esxcli storage nmp satp set default psp VMW_PSP_RR satp VMW_SATP_ALUA VMW_SATP_LSI 2 Reboot your ESX based host server 156 Configuring Asymmetric Logical Uni...

Page 157: ... transferred to the secondary virtual disk in the pair Remote Replication groups allow you to manage synchronization of both virtual disks to create a consistent data set across local and remote storage arrays Point in time images on the primary virtual disk and the secondary virtual disk can be resynchronized in a batch approach that increases replication throughput When data synchronization comp...

Page 158: ...ory virtual disk to be created for each replicated pair remote virtual disk to local virtual disk Alternately Remote Replication Legacy only requires a single repository virtual disk Data protocol supported Standard Remote Replication is supported on both iSCSI and Fibre Channel storage arrays Remote Replication Legacy is supported only on Fibre Channel storage arrays NOTE Both remote and local st...

Page 159: ...irtual disk Only standard virtual disks can be included in a replication relationship A primary virtual disk can be a source virtual disk or a target virtual disk in a virtual disk copy A secondary virtual disk cannot be a source virtual disk or a target virtual disk unless a role reversal is initiated after the copy has completed If a role reversal is initiated during a Copy in Progress status th...

Page 160: ...ted virtual disk pairs from the local and remote storage arrays To deactivate the Remote Replication feature 1 From the AMW select Copy Services Remote Replication Deactivate A message prompts you to confirm if the Remote Replication premium feature is to be deactivated 2 Click Yes Remote Replication groups After the Remote Replication premium feature is successfully activated on both the local an...

Page 161: ...emote storage array drop down select a remote storage array NOTE If a remote storage array is not available you cannot continue Verify your network configuration or contact your network administrator 5 In the Connection type drop down choose your data protocol iSCSI or Fibre Channel only 6 Select View synchronization settings to set the synchronization settings for your Remote Replication group 7 ...

Page 162: ...ing 3 Select an existing Remote Replication group then click Next 4 In the Select Primary Virtual Disk window select one of the following Select an existing virtual disk on the local storage array to serve as the primary virtual disk in the replicated pair and click Next Go to step 4 Select the option to create a new virtual disk and click Next See Creating a Standard Virtual Disk 5 In the Select ...

Page 163: ... on the local storage array then from the remote storage array NOTE Occasionally when the removal process fails to complete on both storage arrays the next data synchronization initiated by the primary virtual disk to the secondary virtual disk is paused The Logical view in the AMW may also show an unresponsive secondary virtual disk Removing the replication relationship on the local storage array...

Page 164: ...rmware to several storage arrays by using a script Downloading both RAID controller and NVSRAM firmware NOTE I O to the array can continue while you are upgrading RAID controller and NVSRAM firmware NOTE It is recommended that the firmware and NVSRAM be upgraded during a maintenance period when the array is not being used for I O NOTE The RAID enclosure must contain at least two disk drives in ord...

Page 165: ...E If you select the storage arrays with different RAID controller module types that cannot be updated with the same firmware or NVSRAM file and click Firmware the Incompatible RAID Controller Modules dialog is displayed Click OK to close the dialog and select the storage arrays with similar RAID controller module types 12 To locate the directory in which the file to download resides click Browse i...

Page 166: ...e window is displayed The Storage array pane lists the storage arrays The Details pane shows the details of the storage array that is selected in the Storage array pane 8 In the Storage array pane select the storage array for which you want to download the NVSRAM firmware You can select more than one storage array NOTE The Details pane shows the details of only one storage array at a time If you s...

Page 167: ...sentative Stop all I O to the storage array before the download Make sure that the firmware that you download to the physical disks are compatible with the physical disks that you select Do not make any configuration changes to the storage array while downloading the firmware NOTE Downloads can take several minutes to complete During a download the Download Physical Disk Progress dialog is display...

Page 168: ...h expansion enclosure that is participating in the download is displayed in the Status column of the Select enclosures table NOTE Each firmware download can take several minutes to complete 8 Perform one of these actions depending on whether the download succeeded The download succeeded The statuses of all the expansion enclosures show Complete You can close the Download environmental EMM Card Fir...

Page 169: ... An error is encountered on source disks during rebuild NOTE Data on an unreadable sector is no longer accessible Management firmware downloads 169 ...

Page 170: ...alysis Your Technical Support representative can detect any firmware mismatches Viewing the firmware inventory 1 Perform one of these actions based on whether you want to view the firmware information for one storage array or all storage arrays Single storage array From the AMW select Summary View Firmware Inventory All storage arrays From the EMW select Tools Firmware Inventory 2 To save the firm...

Page 171: ...t applications NOTE Virtual disks used as source virtual disks for VSS snapshots must not have names longer than 16 characters Dell EMC is discontinuing support of the VSS and VDS hardware providers For more information about deprecation see the Dell EMC MD Series Storage Arrays Information Update For supported software see the Supported Management Software section in the Dell PowerVault MD Series...

Page 172: ... Manager are differential snapshots Plex snapshots are not supported Virtual disks to be used as source virtual disks for VSS snapshots must not have names longer than 16 characters The VSS hardware provider uses the base virtual disk name as a prefix for the snapshot and repository virtual disk names The resulting snapshot and repository names are too long if the source virtual disk name exceeds ...

Page 173: ...can determine the condition causing the Needs Attention status or the Fixing status by selecting the storage array and launching its Array Management Window AMW After the AMW opens select the Hardware tab to see the components in the storage array A component that has a problem is indicated by a status icon The status icons indicate the status of the components that comprise the storage array Also...

Page 174: ... Status Bar and the AMW Status Bar if there are discovered storage arrays with either condition The EMW Tree view has additional status icons that are shown in the following table Table 19 Additional status icons and description Status Icon Description Unsupported Alerts with a Needs Upgrade Status Setting an alert on a storage array with a Needs Upgrade status is not supported In this case the st...

Page 175: ...d file The firmware uses the trace buffers to record processing activity including exception conditions that may be useful for debugging Trace information is stored in the current buffer and can be moved to the flushed buffer after being retrieved Because each RAID controller module has its own buffer there may be more than one flushed buffer The trace buffers can be retrieved without interrupting...

Page 176: ... the physical disks on your storage array Log sense data consists of statistical information that is maintained by each of the physical disks in your storage array Your Technical Support representative can use this information to analyze the performance of your physical disks and for troubleshooting problems that may exist WARNING Use this option only under the guidance of your Technical Support r...

Page 177: ... EMW select Tools Collect Support Data Create Edit Schedule The Schedule Support Data Collection dialog is displayed 2 In the Storage arrays table select one or more storage arrays 3 Perform one of the following actions To suspend a support data collection schedule click Suspend then click Yes To restart a support data collection schedule click Resume then click OK 4 Click OK Removing a support da...

Page 178: ... item You can view the details about a single log entry at a time 3 To save the event log click Save As The Save Events dialog is displayed navigate to the relevant folder enter the relevant file name and click Save 4 To erase all log entries from the event log click Clear All 5 To exit the event log click Close Recovery Guru The Recovery Guru is a component of MD Storage Manager that diagnoses cr...

Page 179: ...elect sections and select the check boxes corresponding to the sections that you want to save d Select an appropriate directory e In File Name type the file name of your choice To associate the file with a particular software application that opens it specify a file extension such as txt NOTE The file is saved as ASCII text f Click Save 6 To exit the storage array profile click Close Viewing the p...

Page 180: ...th the Unresponsive status from the EMW and select Add Storage Array to add the host again 15 If the host does not return to Optimal status go to step 16 16 Ensure that the host is turned on and operational and that the host adapters have been installed 17 Check all external cables and switches or hubs to make sure that no visible damage exists and that they are securely connected 18 Make sure the...

Page 181: ...uccessfully stop blinking a confirmation message is displayed 6 Click OK Locating an expansion enclosure You can use the Blink option to physically locate and identify an expansion enclosure in the storage array The LED activation varies according to the type of expansion enclosure that you have If you have an expansion enclosure with a white LED the Blink Expansion Enclosure operation causes the ...

Page 182: ... Storage Manager Use this utility before and after you create a virtual disk copy on a Windows operating system to ensure that all the memory resident data for file systems on the target virtual disk is flushed and that the driver recognizes signatures and file system partitions You can also use this utility to resolve duplicate signature problems for snapshot virtual disks From a command prompt w...

Page 183: ...are so that the new controller is found If a problem exists make the appropriate modifications to the host 4 If you have an out of band storage array use the following procedure Click Refresh after each step to make sure of the results a Make sure that the network can access the controllers by using the ping command Use the following syntax ping controller IP address If the network can access the ...

Page 184: ...in Linux To start or restart the Host Context Agent software in Linux enter the following command at the prompt SMagent start The SMagent software may take a little time to initialize The cursor is shown but the terminal window does not respond When the program starts the following message is displayed SMagent started After the program completes the startup process text similar to the following is...

Page 185: ...pport and service options Availability varies by country and product and some services may not be available in your area To contact Dell for sales technical support or customer service issues 1 Go to Dell com support 2 Select your support category 3 Verify your country or region in the Choose a Country Region drop down list at the bottom of the page 4 Select the appropriate service or support link...

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