IBM TotalStorage DS4500, User Manual

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Chapter 2. Operating the DS4500 Storage Server
This chapter describes the tasks required to operate the DS4500 Storage Server.
Best practices guidelines
To ensure optimal operation of your system, always follow these best practices
guidelines:
v Back up the data on your storage drives periodically.
v To maintain power redundancy, plug the DS4500 storage server’s right and the
left power supplies into two independent external power circuits through ac
distribution units inside a rack cabinet or directly into external receptacles.
Similarly, the right and left power supplies of the DS4000 storage expansion
enclosures attached to the DS4500 storage server should be plugged into the
same two independent external power circuits as the DS4500. This ensures that
the DS4500 storage server and all its attached storage expansion enclosures will
have power if only one power circuit is available. In addition, having all the right
or all the left power supplies plug into the same power circuit enables the
components in the storage subsystem to power on simultaneously during an
unattended restoration of power.
v
Before any planned system shutdown or after any system additions, removals, or
modifications (including logical drive creations, storage partitioning definitions,
hardware changes, and so on), save the storage subsystem profile as explained
in the DS4000 Storage Manager guide for your operating system. Save the
profile in a location other than the logical drives created for the DS4500 storage
server.
v
Ensure that your system is in an optimal state before you shut it down. Never
turn the power off if any fault light is lit; be sure to resolve any error conditions
before you shut down the system.
v During any maintenance or attended power-up procedure, carefully follow the
sequences listed in “Turning on the power” on page 22 and “Turning off the
power” on page 23 for the proper DS4000 configuration power-down and
power-up sequences. Check that each component of the subsystem is
powered-on in the proper order during this entire power-up procedure to ensure
the controller will be able to optimally access all of your storage subsystems.
v
A storage system in an optimal state should recover automatically from an
unexpected shutdown and unattended simultaneous restoration of power to
system components. After power is restored, call IBM support if any of the
following conditions occur:
– The storage subsystem logical drives and arrays are not displayed in the
DS4000 Storage Manager graphical user interface (GUI).
– The storage subsystem logical drives and arrays do not come online.
– The storage subsystem logical drives and arrays seem to be degraded.
v Using the DS4000 Storage Manager client, save the DS4000 subsystem
configuration profile to a disk that is not affected every time you make changes
(such as logical drive creation or modification, or storage partitioning changes) to
the DS4000 subsystem configuration.
Tasks overview
Perform the tasks shown in Table 9 on page 20 to maintain the DS4500 Storage
Server after you install it.
© Copyright IBM Corp. 2005
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