Dell PowerVault MD3400 and MD3420 Series Storage Arrays Deployment Guide
Notes, Cautions, and Warnings NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your computer. CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates either potential damage 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. Copyright © 2014 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual property laws.
Contents 1 Introduction................................................................................................................5 System Requirements............................................................................................................................5 Management Station Requirements............................................................................................... 5 Introduction to Storage Arrays.......................................................................
Least Path Weight..........................................................................................................................29 Changing Load Balance Policies On The Windows Server Operating System...........................
Introduction 1 This document provides information about deploying Dell PowerVault MD3400 and Dell PowerVault MD3420 storage arrays. The deployment process includes: • • • Hardware installation Modular Disk Storage Manager (MDSM) software installation Initial system configuration Other information includes system requirements, storage array organization, and utilities. NOTE: For more information on product documentation, see Related Documentation.
connection to a host server. The Ethernet connection passes management information between the management station and the storage array connectivity. Using MDSM, you can configure the physical disks in the storage array into logical components called disk groups or dynamic disk group and then divide the disk groups into virtual disks. Disk groups are created in the unconfigured capacity of a storage array. Virtual disks are created in the free capacity of a disk group.
Contacting Dell NOTE: If you do not have an active Internet connection, you can find contact information on your purchase invoice, packing slip, bill, or Dell product catalog. Dell provides several online and telephone-based support 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/contactdell. 2.
Hardware Installation 2 Before using this guide, ensure that you review the instructions in the documents: • Getting Started Guide — The Getting Started Guide shipped with the storage array provides information to configure the initial setup of the system. • Owner’s Manual — The Owner’s Manual provides information about important concepts to set up your storage solution. See the Owner’s Manual at dell.com/support/manuals.
Item Number Name Description 1 12 gbps SAS Host Ports (2) Allows you to connect host servers to the storage array. 2 7–segment display Displays status of the controller. 3 1G Ethernet Management (MGMT) Port (1) Allows for out of band management of storage array. 4 Reserved Ethernet Port (1) This is a reserved port. 5 12 gbps SAS Host Ports (2) Allows you to connect host servers to the storage array.
Single Controller Configurations The following figures show two and four hosts, each connected to only one RAID controller module. The hosts can share storage space but without redundant paths, if one path fails, the server on that path would be disconnected from the storage array. Figure 2.
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Figure 5. Four Hosts Connected to a Single Controller Dual Controller Configurations The following figures show two and four hosts, each connected to two RAID controller modules. Since each host has redundant paths, loss of a single path still allows access to the storage array through the alternate path.
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Figure 8. Four Hosts Connected to Two Controllers Using One HBA The following figure shows eight hosts, each connected to only one RAID controller module. This configuration allows the maximum number of hosts that can be connected, but provides no redundancy.
Figure 9. Eight Hosts Connected to Two Controllers The following figures show up to four cluster nodes connected to two RAID controller modules. Since each cluster node has redundant paths, loss of a single path would still allow access to the storage array through the alternate path.
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Figure 11. Four Cluster Nodes Connected to Two Controllers Cabling PowerVault MD1200 Series Expansion Enclosures You can expand the capacity of your PowerVault MD3400 and MD3420 storage array by adding PowerVault MD1200 series expansion enclosures. You can expand the physical disk pool to a maximum of 120 slots (or 192, if enabled using Premium Feature activation) using a maximum of seven expansion enclosures. To connect an MD1200 series expansion enclosure to your MD3400 series array: 1.
Expanding With Previously Configured PowerVault MD1200 Series Expansion Enclosures CAUTION: If a PowerVault MD1200 series expansion enclosure that was previously attached to a PERC H800 adapter is used as an expansion enclosure to a PowerVault MD series storage array, the physical disks of the expansion enclosure are reinitialized and data is lost. You must back up all data on the expansion enclosure before attempting the expansion.
Expanding With New PowerVault MD1200 Series Expansion Enclosures Perform the following steps to attach new PowerVault MD1200 series expansion enclosures to a PowerVault MD3400 or PowerVault MD3420 storage array: 1. Before adding the expansion enclosure(s), ensure that the storage array software is installed and is up to date. For more information, see the Dell PowerVault MD34xx/38xx Series Support Matrix at dell.com/support/manuals.
Installing PowerVault MD Storage Software 3 The Dell PowerVault MD series resource media contains software and drivers for both Linux and Microsoft Windows operating systems. The root of the media contains a readme.txt file covering changes to the software, updates, fixes, patches, and other important data applicable to both Linux and Windows operating systems. The readme.
Graphical Installation (Recommended) The PowerVault MD Storage Manager software configures, manages, and monitors the storage array. To install the MD storage software: 1. Insert the PowerVault MD series resource media. Depending on your operating system, the installer may launch automatically. If the installer does not launch automatically, navigate to the root directory of the installation media (or downloaded installer image) and run the md_launcher.exe file.
The autorun script in the root of the resource media detects when there is no graphical environment running and automatically starts the installer in a text-based mode. This mode provides the same options as graphical installation with the exception of the MDCU specific options. The MDCU requires a graphical environment to operate. NOTE: The console mode installer provides the option to install the MDCU. However, a graphical environment is required to utilize the MDCU.
Uninstalling MD Storage Software 4 Uninstalling MD Storage Software From Windows 1. From the Control Panel, double-click Add or Remove Programs. 2. Select MD Storage Software from the list of programs. 3. Click Change/Remove. The Uninstall Complete window is displayed. 4. Follow the instructions on screen. 5. Select Yes to restart the system, and then click Done. Uninstalling MD Storage Software From Windows Server GUI Versions 1. From the Control Panel, double-click Programs and Features. 2.
Load Balancing 5 Load Balance Policy Multi-path drivers select the I/O path to a virtual disk through a specific RAID controller module. When the multi-path driver receives a new I/O to process, the driver tries to find a path to the current RAID controller module that owns the virtual disk. If the path to the current RAID controller module that owns the virtual disk cannot be found, the multi-path driver migrates the virtual disk ownership to the secondary RAID controller module.
selection policy is used to route I/O requests between the paths with the same weight value. The least path weight load balance policy is not supported on Linux operating systems.
