Dell EMC PowerVault MD 34XX/38XX Series Storage Arrays Administrator's Guide September 2018 Rev.
Notes, cautions, and warnings NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your product. 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. © 2012 - 2018 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Dell, EMC, and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries.
Contents Chapter 1: Introduction.................................................................................................................. 12 Dell EMC PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager................................................................................................... 12 User interface.......................................................................................................................................................................
Host types...................................................................................................................................................................... 23 Advanced features.............................................................................................................................................................. 24 Types of snapshot functionality supported................................................................................................................
Changing the iSCSI target authentication........................................................................................................................44 Entering mutual authentication permissions.................................................................................................................... 44 Creating CHAP secrets......................................................................................................................................................
Thin virtual disk states.................................................................................................................................................. 63 Comparison—Types of virtual disks and copy services........................................................................................... 64 Rollback on thin virtual disks........................................................................................................................................
Locating physical disks in a disk pool................................................................................................................................ 87 Renaming a disk pool...........................................................................................................................................................88 Configuring alert notifications for a disk pool..................................................................................................................
Starting snapshot rollback.......................................................................................................................................... 105 Resuming a snapshot image rollback.........................................................................................................................105 Canceling snapshot image rollback............................................................................................................................
Failed virtual disk copy.................................................................................................................................................130 Preferred RAID controller module ownership.................................................................................................................130 Failed RAID controller module..........................................................................................................................................
Activating Remote Replication premium features......................................................................................................... 145 Deactivating Remote Replication.....................................................................................................................................146 Remote Replication groups...............................................................................................................................................
Starting or restarting the Host Context Agent software............................................................................................. 167 Starting the SMagent software in Windows............................................................................................................ 167 Starting SMagent software in Linux.......................................................................................................................... 167 Chapter 19: Getting help......................
1 Introduction CAUTION: See the Safety, Environmental, and Regulatory Information document for important safety information before following any procedures listed in this document.
NOTE: By default, the toolbar and status bar are not displayed. To view the toolbar or the status bar, select View > Toolbar or View > Status Bar. Enterprise management window The EMW provides high-level management of storage arrays. When you start the MD Storage Manager, the EMW is displayed. The EMW has the: • • Devices tab — Provides information about discovered storage arrays. Setup tab — Presents the initial setup tasks that guide you through adding storage arrays and configuring alerts.
• • • • View profile information about hardware components, such as RAID controller modules and physical disks. Manage RAID controller modules — For example, changing ownership of virtual disks or placing a RAID controller module online or offline. Manage physical disks — For example, assignment of hot spares and locating the physical disk. Monitor storage array performance. To launch the AMW: 1. In the EMW, on the Devices tab, right-click on the relevant storage array.
• • • • • • • Dell EMC PowerVault MD3460/MD3860i/MD3860f Storage Arrays Getting Started Guide—Provides an overview of system features, 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.
2 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.
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. Optimal Hot Spare in use The physical disk in the indicated slot is in use as a hot spare within a disk group.
Table 2. Raid controller virtual disk states (continued) State Description storage array forces the virtual disk to a Degraded state. The storage array can force a virtual disk to an Online state only when enough of physical disks are available to support the virtual disk. Disk pools Disk pooling allows you to distribute data from each virtual disk randomly across a set of physical disks.
RAID 0 CAUTION: Do not attempt to create virtual disk groups exceeding 120 physical disks in a RAID 0 configuration even if premium feature is activated on your storage array. Exceeding the 120-physical disk limit may cause your storage array to be unstable. RAID 0 uses disk striping to provide high data throughput, especially for large files in an environment that requires no data consistency. RAID 0 breaks the data down into segments and writes each segment to a separate physical disk.
Virtual disk operations Virtual disk initialization Every virtual disk must be initialized. Initialization is done in the background automatically, however the priority can be modified by updating the Change Modification Priority option. This change can affect the performance of the array until the initialization is complete. A maximum of four virtual disks can be initialized concurrently on each RAID controller module.
Disk group operations RAID level migration You can migrate from one RAID level to another depending on your requirements. For example, fault-tolerant characteristics can be added to a stripe set (RAID 0) by converting it to a RAID 5 set. The MD Storage Manager provides information about RAID attributes to assist you in selecting the appropriate RAID level. You can perform a RAID level migration while the system is still running and without rebooting, which maintains data availability.
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 process on the peer controller completes or is stopped.
NOTE: To ensure that the migrating disk groups and virtual disks are correctly recognized when the target storage array has an existing physical disk, use hot virtual disk migration.
Advanced features The RAID enclosure supports several advanced features: • • Virtual Disk Snapshots Virtual Disk Copy NOTE: The premium features listed must be enabled separately. If you have purchased these features, an activation card is supplied that contains instructions for enabling this functionality.
Virtual disk recovery You can use the Edit host server-to-virtual disk mappings feature to recover data from the backup virtual disk. This functionality enables you to unmap the original source virtual disk from its host server, then map the backup virtual disk to the same host server. Ensure that you record the LUN used to provide access to the source virtual disk. You need this information when you define a host server-to-virtual disk mapping for the target (backup) virtual disk.
basic assumption for the round-robin policy is that the data paths are equal. With mixed host support, the data paths may have different bandwidths or different data transfer speeds. Least queue depth with subset — The least queue depth with subset policy is also known as the least I/Os or least requests policy. This policy routes the next I/O request to a data path that has the least outstanding I/O requests queued. For this policy, an I/O request is simply a command in the queue.
• • • The background monitoring process samples and stores data for a seven-day time period. If a monitored object changes during this time, the object does not have a complete set of data points spanning the full seven days. For example, virtual disk sets can change as virtualDisks are created, deleted, mapped, or unmapped or physical disks can be added, removed, or failed.
Table 4. Performance data implications (continued) Performance Data Implications for Performance Tuning database block size. For more information 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.
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 the graph represents the metric value.
NOTE: A kilobyte is equal to 1024 bytes, and a megabyte is equal to 1024 x 1024 bytes. Some applications calculate kilobytes as 1,000 bytes and megabytes as 1,000,000 bytes. The numbers reported by the monitor might be lower by this difference. I/O Latency – The time it takes for an I/O request to complete, in milliseconds. For physical disks, I/O latency includes seek, rotation, and transfer time.
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. 7. To stop collecting performance data, click Stop, and then click Close. Saving real-time textual performance data A feature that real-time textual performance monitoring has that real-time graphical performance monitoring does not have is that you can save the data.
A dialog is displayed asking you whether you want to save the performance data. 6. Do you want to save the current Performance Monitor data? • Yes – Click Yes, select a directory, enter a filename, and then click Save. • No – Click No. 7. To close the View Current Background Performance Monitor dialog, click Close. Viewing information about the current background performance monitor session Before performing this task make sure that the background performance monitoring is in progress.
4. You can save the file in the default location with the default filename that uses the name of the storage array and a timestamp. You can also select a location, enter a filename, and then click Save. The file is saved as a comma-separated values file with a default extension of .csv. You can open a comma-separated values file with any spreadsheet application. Your spreadsheet application might have a limit on the number of rows a file can have.
3 Discovering and managing your storage array You can manage a storage array in two ways: • • Out-of-band management In-band management The Enterprise Management Window (EMW) is the first page that loads when you open the Modular Disk Storage Manager (MDSM) and it allows you to discover, connect to, and manage MD3 storage arrays through in-band and out-of-band connectivity.
Access virtual disk Each RAID controller module in an MD Series storage array maintains a special virtual disk, called the access virtual disk. The host-agent software uses the access virtual disk to communicate management requests and event information between the storage management station and the RAID controller module in an in-band-managed storage array and cannot be removed without deleting the entire virtual disk, virtual disk group or virtual disk pair.
• • • In the EMW, select the Setup tab, and select Name/Rename Storage Arrays. In the AMW, select the Setup tab, and select Rename Storage Array. In the EMW, right-click the icon corresponding to the array and select Rename. Setting up your storage array A list of initial setup tasks is displayed on the Setup tab in the AMW. Using the tasks outlined in the Initial Setup Tasks area, ensures that the basic setup steps are completed.
• • 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 message is displayed warning you about the implications of changing the storage array name. 4. Click Yes. The new storage array name is displayed in the EMW. 5.
3. Type a comment. NOTE: The number of characters in the comment must not exceed 60 characters. 4. Click OK. This option updates the comment in the Table view and saves it in your local storage management station file system. The comment does not appear to administrators who are using other storage management stations. Removing storage arrays You can remove a storage array from the list of managed arrays if you no longer want to manage it from a specific storage management station.
The Change Cache Settings window is displayed. 2. In Start demand cache flushing , select or enter the percentage of unwritten data in the cache to trigger a cache flush . 3. Select the appropriate Cache block size. A smaller cache size is a good choice for file-system use or database-application use. A larger cache size is a good choice for applications that generate sequential I/O, such as multimedia. 4. If you have set a password for the selected storage array, the Enter Password dialog is displayed.
• On the Devices tab, select a node and then on the menu bar, select Edit > Configure Alerts. Go to step 3. NOTE: This option enables you to set up alerts for all the storage arrays connected to the host. • On the Setup, select Configure Alerts. Go to step 2. 2. Select one of the following radio buttons to specify an alert level: • All storage arrays — Select this option to send an e-mail alert about events on all storage arrays.
NOTE: This option enables you to set up alerts for all the storage arrays connected to the host. • On the Setup, select Configure Alerts. Go to step 2. 2. Select one of the following options to specify an alert level: • • All storage arrays — Select this option to send an alert notification about events on all storage arrays. An individual storage array — Select this option to send an alert notification about events that occur in only a specified storage array.
Creating SNMP alert notifications—originating from the storage array NOTE: The availability of SNMP alerts originating from the storage array varies depending on your RAID controller module model. The MD storage management software can notify you when the status of a storage array or one of its components changes. This is called an alert notification.
Battery settings A smart battery backup unit (BBU) can perform a learn cycle. The smart BBU module includes the battery, a battery gas gauge, and a battery charger. The learn cycle calibrates the smart battery gas gauge so that it provides a measurement of the charge of the battery module. A learn cycle can only start when the battery is fully charged.
4 Using iSCSI NOTE: The following sections are relevant only to MDxx0i storage arrays that use the iSCSI protocol.
4. Select an initiator in the Select an Initiator area. The initiator details are displayed. 5. Click CHAP Secret to enter the initiator CHAP permissions in the dialog that is displayed. 6. Click OK. 7. Click OK in the Manage iSCSI Settings window. Creating CHAP secrets When you set up an authentication method, you can choose to create a CHAP secret. The CHAP secret is a password that is recognized by the initiator and the target.
NOTE: Aliases can contain up to 30 characters. Aliases can include letters, numbers, and the special characters underscore (_), minus (-), and pound sign (#). No other special characters are permitted. NOTE: Open iSCSI (which is used by Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 with SP 1) does not support using target alias. Changing iSCSI target discovery settings To change the iSCSI target discovery settings: 1. In the AMW, select the Setup tab. 2. Select Manage iSCSI Settings.
• • 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 select the automatic configuration method, the configuration is obtained automatically using the DHCP for IPv4 settings. Similarly for IPv6 settings, the configuration is obtained automatically based on the MAC address and the IPv6 routers present on the subnetwork. 8.
3. To save the entire iSCSI sessions topology as a text file, click Save As 4. To end the session: a. Select the session that you want to end, and then click End Session. The End Session confirmation window is displayed. b. Click Yes to confirm that you want to end the iSCSI session. NOTE: If you end a session, any corresponding connections terminate the link between the host and the storage array, and the data on the storage array is no longer available.
Table 7. Host topology actions (continued) Desired Action Steps to Complete Action Rename the host or the host group 1. Click the Host Mappings tab. 2. Select the item that you want to remove and select Host Mappings > Rename. 3. Type a new label for the host, and click OK. For more information about Host, Host Groups, and Host Topology, see About Your Host.
5 Event monitor An event monitor is provided with Dell EMC PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager. The event monitor runs continuously in the background and monitors activity on the managed storage arrays. If the event monitor detects any critical problems, it can notify a host or remote system using e-mail, Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) trap messages, or both. For the most timely and continuous notification of events, enable the event monitor on a management station that runs 24 hours a day.
6 About your host Topics: • • • • • • • Configuring host access Using the Host Mappings tab Removing host access Managing host groups Creating a host group I/O data path protection Managing host port identifiers Configuring host access Dell EMC PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager (MD Storage Manager) is comprised of multiple modules. One of these modules is the Host Context Agent, which is installed as part of the MD Storage Manager installation and runs continuously in the background.
Defining a host You can use the Define Host Wizard in the AMW to define a host for a storage array. Either a known unassociated host port identifier or a new host port identifier can be added. A user label must be specified before the host port identifier may be added (the Add button is disabled until one is entered). To define a host: 1. In the AMW, select the Host Mappings tab. 2. Perform one of the actions: • • • From the menu bar, select Host Mappings > Define > Host.
Managing host groups A host group is a logical entity of two or more hosts that share access to specific virtual disks on the storage array. You create host groups using the MD Storage Manager. All hosts in a host group must have the same host type (operating system). In addition, all hosts in the host group must have special software, such as clustering software, to manage virtual disk sharing and accessibility.
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: • • From the menu bar, select Host Mappings > Host Group > Remove. Right-click the host group node, and select Remove from the pop-up menu. The Remove dialog is displayed. 3. Click Yes. The selected host group is removed.
NOTE: See the Deployment Guide for more information about cabling configurations. NOTE: For more information about configuring hosts, see About Your Host. If a component such as a RAID controller module or a cable fails, or an error occurs on the data path to the preferred RAID controller module, virtual disk ownership is moved to the alternate non-preferred RAID controller module for processing. This failure or error is called failover.
• 56 To remove the host port identifier—Select the appropriate host port identifier and click Edit. The Remove Host Port Identifier dialog is displayed. Type yes and click OK.
7 Disk groups, standard virtual disks, and thin virtual disks Topics: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Creating disk groups and virtual disks Thin virtual disks Choosing an appropriate physical disk type Physical disk security with self encrypting disk Configuring hot spare physical disks Physical disk security Enclosure loss protection Drawer loss protection Host-to-virtual disk mapping Restricted mappings Storage partitioning Disk group and virtual disk expansion Disk group migration Storage array media scan
Creating disk groups NOTE: If you have not created disk groups for a storage array, the Disk Pool Automatic Configuration Wizard is displayed when you open the AMW. For more information about creating storage space from disk pools, see Disk Pools. NOTE: Thin-provisioned virtual disks can be created from disk pools. If you are not using disk pools, only standard virtual disks can be created. For more information, see Thin Virtual Disks.
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 LEDs successfully stop blinking, a confirmation message is displayed. 5. Click OK. Creating standard virtual disks Keep these important guidelines in mind when you create a standard virtual disk: • • • • Many hosts can have 256 logical unit numbers (LUNs) mapped per storage partition, but the number varies per operating system.
Changing the virtual disk modification priority You can specify the modification priority setting for a single virtual disk or multiple virtual disks on a storage array. Guidelines to change the modification priority of a virtual disk: • • If more than one virtual disk is selected, the modification priority defaults to the lowest priority. The current priority is shown only if a single virtual disk is selected.
not have a universal power supply for protection, you could lose data. In addition, you could lose data if you do not have RAID controller module batteries and you select the Enable write caching without batteries option. NOTE: When the Optional RAID controller module batteries option is enabled, the Enable write caching does not appear. The Enable write caching without batteries is still available, but it is not checked by default.
The I/O characteristic types shown below are only presented during the create virtual disk process. When you choose one of the virtual disk I/O characteristics, the corresponding dynamic cache prefetch setting and segment size that are typically well suited for expected I/O patterns are populated in the Dynamic cache read prefetch field and the Segment size field. To change the I/O type: 1. 2. 3. 4. To enable read caching, select Enable read caching.
Changing capacity on existing thin virtual disks If the amount of space used 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.
• Over Threshold — Physical capacity of a thin virtual disk is at or beyond the specified Warning Threshold percentage. The storage array status is shown as Needs Attention. Failed — Virtual disk failed, and is no longer available for read or write operations. The storage array status is shown as Needs Attention. • Comparison—Types of virtual disks and copy services The availability of copy services depends on the type of virtual disk that you are working with. Table 9.
Initializing a thin virtual disk erases all data from the virtual disk. However, host mappings, virtual capacity, repository expansion policy and security settings are preserved. Initialization also clears the block indices, which causes unwritten blocks to be read as if they are zerofilled. After initialization, the thin virtual disk appears to be completely empty.
capacity in 4 GB increments. If unusable capacity exists, the only way to regain it is to increase the capacity of the virtual disk. Based on the value that you entered in the previous step, the Disk pool physical capacity candidates table is populated with matching repositories. 9. Select a repository from the table. Existing repositories are placed at the top of the list.
10. 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 to the physical capacity, you can expand the physical capacity. The MD Storage Manager can automatically expand the physical capacity, or you can do it manually. If you select Automatic, you also can set a maximum expansion capacity.
The self encrypting disk or a security capable physical disk encrypts data during writes and decrypts data during reads. You can create a secure disk group from security capable physical disks. When you create a secure disk group from security capable physical disks, the physical disks in that disk group become security enabled. When a security capable physical disk has been security enabled, the physical disk requires the correct security key from a RAID controller module to read or write the data.
the Physical Disk type pane are security enabled, and none of the selected physical disk is part of a disk group, the Secure Erase option is displayed in the 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.
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 Key Complete dialog, and click OK.
1. In the AMW toolbar, select Storage Array > Security > Physical Disk Security > Save Key. The Save Security Key File - Enter Pass Phrase window is displayed. 2. Edit the default path by adding a file name to the end of the path or click Browse, navigate to the required folder and enter the name of the file. 3. In Pass phrase, enter a string for the pass phrase. The pass phrase must meet the following criteria: • • • • • It must be between eight and 32 characters long.
• • • • • • You can use only unassigned physical disks with Optimal status as hot spare physical disks. You can unassign only hot spare physical disks with Optimal, or Standby status. You cannot unassign a hot spare physical disk that has the In Use status. A hot spare physical disk has the In Use status when it is in the process of taking over for a failed physical disk. Hot spare physical disks must be of the same media type and interface type as the physical disks that they are protecting.
Hot spare operation When a physical disk fails, the virtual disk automatically rebuilds using an available hot spare. When a replacement physical disk is installed, data from the hot spare is copied back to the replacement physical disk. This function is called copy back. By default, the RAID controller module automatically configures the number and type of hot spares based on the number and capacity of physical disks in your system.
You can erase security-enabled physical disks so that you can reuse the physical disks in another disk pool, disk group, or in another storage array. When you erase security-enabled physical disks, you ensure that the data cannot be read. When all the physical disks that you have selected and the physical pane are security enabled, and none of the selected physical disks are part of a disk pool or disk group, the Secure Erase option is displayed in the Drive menu.
Table 12. Drawer loss protection requirements for different raid levels (continued) RAID Level Drawer Loss Protection Requirements RAID Level 5 RAID Level 5 requires a minimum of 3 physical disks. Place all the physical disks in different drawers for a RAID Level 5 disk group. Drawer loss protection cannot be achieved for RAID Level 5 if more than one physical disk is placed in the same drawer. RAID Level 1 and RAID Level RAID Level 1 requires a minimum of 2 physical disks.
• 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 window is displayed. 4. In Host group or host, select the appropriate host group or host. All defined hosts, host groups, and the default group are displayed in the list.
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 module ownership of a standard virtual disk or a snapshot repository virtual disk.
Changing the RAID level of a disk group Changing the RAID level of a disk group changes the RAID levels of every virtual disk that comprises the disk group. Performance may be slightly affected during the operation. Guidelines to change the RAID level of a disk group: • • • • You cannot cancel this operation after it begins. The disk group must be in Optimal status before you can perform this operation. Your data is available during this operation.
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/mapper/mapth_x Where, mapth_x is the device you want to delete. 4. Delete the paths related with this device using the following command: # echo 1 > /sys/block/sd_x/device/delete Where, sd_x is the SD node (disk device) returned by the multipath command.
The Default Group on the Host Mappings tab has a default host type. To change the host type, right-click on the host and select Change Default Host Operating System from the pop-up menu. If you set the default host type to a host type that is restricted, the maximum number of LUNs allowed in the Default Group for any host is restricted to the limit imposed by the restricted host type.
The Add Free Capacity window is displayed. Based on the RAID level, and the enclosure loss protection of the current disk group, a list of unassigned physical disks is displayed. NOTE: If the RAID level of the disk group is RAID Level 5, or RAID Level 6, and the expansion enclosure has enclosure loss protection, Display only physical disks that ensure enclosure loss protection is displayed and is selected by default. 4.
Using unconfigured capacity You can increase the capacity of a standard virtual disk or a snapshot repository virtual disk using the unconfigured capacity when no free capacity exists on a disk group. An increase is achieved by adding unconfigured capacity, in the form of unassigned physical disks, to the disk group of the standard virtual disk or the snapshot repository virtual disk. See Disk Group Expansion.
NOTE: You must export a disk group before you move the disk group or import the disk group. Importing a disk group NOTE: You must insert all of the physical disks that are part of the disk group into the enclosure before the disk group can be imported.
4. In Scan duration (in days), enter or select the duration (in days) for the media scan. The media scan duration specifies the number of days for which the media scan runs on the selected virtual disks. 5. To disable media scans on an individual virtual disk, select the virtual disk in the Select virtual disks to scan area, and deselect Scan selected virtual disks. 6.
8 Disk pools and disk pool virtual disks Disk pooling allows you to distribute data from each virtual disk randomly across a set of physical disks. Disk pooling provides RAID protection and consistent performance across a set of physical disks logically grouped together in the storage array. Although there is no limit on the maximum number of physical disks that can comprise a disk pool, each disk pool must have a minimum of 11 physical disks.
Disk pool restrictions CAUTION: If you downgrade the RAID controller module firmware version of a storage array that is configured with a disk pool to a firmware version that does not support disk pools, the virtual disks are lost and the physical disks are treated as unaffiliated with a disk pool. • • • • • • All physical disk media types in a disk pool must be the same. Solid State Disks (SSDs) are not supported. You cannot change the segment size of the virtual disks in a disk pool.
Automatically managing unconfigured capacity in disk pools The MD Storage Manager can detect the unconfigured capacity in a storage array. When the unconfigured capacity is detected, the MD Storage Manager prompts you to create one or more disk pools, or add the unconfigured capacity to an existing disk pool, or both.
Renaming a disk pool Use the Rename option to change the name of a disk pool when the current name is no longer meaningful. Keep these guidelines in mind when you rename a disk pool: • • • • • A disk pool name can consist of letters, numbers, and the special characters underscore (_), hyphen (-), and pound (#). If you choose any other characters, an error message is displayed. You are prompted to choose another name. Limit the name to 30 characters.
The Add Physical Disks dialog is displayed. You can view 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 Select physical disks for addition area.
The higher the priority level, the larger is the impact on host I/O and system performance. Changing the RAID controller module ownership 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.
• 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 Unassigned state. This process creates more unconfigured capacity in the storage array, which you can reconfigure to meet your storage needs.
Secure disk pools You can create a secure disk pool from security capable physical disks. The physical disks in a secure disk pool become security enabled. Read access from and write access to the physical disks is only available through a RAID controller module that is configured with the correct security key. CAUTION: Possible loss of data access – When a disk pool is secured, the only way to remove security is to delete disk pool.
3. Select Storage > Virtual Disk > Create > Virtual Disk. The Create Virtual Disk window is displayed. 4. Select Create thin virtual disk. 5. Use the New virtual capacity box to indicate the virtual capacity of the new virtual disk and Units to indicate the specific capacity units to use—MB, GB, or TB. The minimum virtual capacity is 32 MB. 6. In the Virtual disk name box, enter a name for the virtual disk. 7. To map hosts to virtual disks, select Map later.
9 Using SSD cache The SSD cache feature uses solid-state disk (SSD) physical disks to improve read-only performance in your storage array. SSD physical disks are logically grouped together to provide secondary cache for use with the primary cache in the RAID controller module memory. Using SSD cache improves application throughput and response times and delivers sustained performance improvement across diverse workloads, especially high-IOP workloads.
You also have the following options: • • • capacity of the SSD cache from a list of possible candidates consisting of different counts of SSD physical disks. whether you want to enable SSD cache on all eligible virtual disks currently mapped to hosts whether to use SSD cache on existing virtual disks or when creating new virtual disks SSD cache restrictions The following restrictions apply to using SSD cache feature: • • • • • • • SSD cache is not supported on Snapshot Virtual Disks.
Locating physical disks in an SSD cache You can locate the physical disks in an SSD cache using the Blink option. To locate physical disks in an SSD cache: 1. In the AMW, select the Storage & Copy Services tab. 2. In the tree view, select 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.
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 Cache > Change I/O Type and select an appropriate I/O type. Right click on the SSD cache and select Change I/O Type and select an appropriate I/O type. The newly selected I/O characteristic type is displayed in the Table view for the selected SSD cache. Renaming an SSD cache To rename an SSD cache: 1.
NOTE: Depending on the cache capacity and workload, it may take about 10 to 20 hours to fully populate the cache. There is valid information even after a run of a few minutes, but it takes a number of hours to obtain the most accurate predictions. NOTE: While the performance modeling tool is running, a progress bar is displayed in the main area of the window. You can close or minimize the window and the performance modeling continues to run.
10 Premium feature—Snapshot Virtual Disk The following virtual disk snapshot premium feature is supported on the MD storage array: • Snapshot Virtual Disks using multiple point-in-time (PiT) groups A snapshot image is a logical image of the content of an associated base virtual disk created at a specific point-in-time, often known as a restore point. This type of image is not directly readable or writable to a host because the snapshot image is used to save data from the base virtual disk only.
Snapshot groups and consistency groups The Snapshot Virtual Disk premium feature supports the following types of snapshot groups: • • Snapshot groups — A snapshot group is a collection of point-in-time images of a single associated base virtual disk. Consistency groups — A consistency group is a group of virtual disks that you can manage as a single entity. Operations performed on a consistency group are performed simultaneously on all virtual disks in the group.
Consistency group repositories A consistency group is made up of simultaneous snapshots of multiple virtual disks. Each virtual disk that belongs to a consistency group is referred to as a member virtual disk. When you add a virtual disk to a consistency group, the system automatically creates a new snapshot group that corresponds to this member virtual disk.
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 selected by default. Go to step 3. • If the base virtual disk does not contain any snapshot groups, the following message is displayed: There are no existing snapshot groups on this base virtual disk.
When a snapshot image is deleted from a consistency group, the system performs the following actions: • • • • Deletes the snapshot image from the storage array. Releases the repository’s reserve space for reuse within the consistency group. Moves any member virtual disk, associated with one or more deleted snapshot images, to a Stopped state. Disables the member snapshot virtual disks associated with one or more deleted snapshot images. To delete the snapshot image, do the following: 1.
The system performs the following: • • Creates the schedule for the snapshot group or consistency group and updates the Properties pane for the snapshot group or consistency group. If you had selected Create the First Snapshot Image Now, the system takes a copy of the associated base virtual disk. Each subsequent snapshot image capture depends on the schedule you created.
• • • ○ Changing the segment size of a virtual disk. You cannot start a rollback operation if the base virtual disk is participating in a virtual disk copy. You cannot start a rollback operation if the base virtual disk is a secondary virtual disk in a remote replication. However, if the base virtual disk is the primary virtual disk in a remote replication, you can start a rollback operation.
• • Reinitialize the content of the base virtual disk. Perform a new rollback operation to restore the base virtual disk (using either the same snapshot image that was used in the Cancel Rollback operation or a different snapshot image to perform the new rollback operation). NOTE: If the snapshot group on which the snapshot image resides has one or more snapshot images that are automatically purged, the snapshot image used for the rollback operation may not be available for future rollbacks. 1.
Creating snapshot group A snapshot group is a sequence of point-in-time images of a single associated base virtual disk. A snapshot group uses a repository to save data for all snapshot images contained in the group. The repository is created at the same time the snapshot group is created.
Keep these guidelines in mind when you name a consistency group: • • • There is a minimum required capacity for a consistency group repository (depending on your configuration). When you define the capacity requirements for a repository, keep in mind any future requirements that you might have for other virtual disks in this disk group or disk pool.
3. Change the snapshot group settings as required. 4. Click OK to apply your changes to the snapshot group. Renaming a snapshot group Use the Rename Snapshot Group option to change the name of the snapshot group when the current name is no longer meaningful or applicable. Keep these guidelines in mind when you name a snapshot group: • • • • • A name can consist of letters, numbers, and the special characters underscore (_), hyphen (-), and pound (#).
4. Click Convert to convert the read-only snapshot virtual disk to read-write. The snapshot virtual disk or consistency group member’s snapshot virtual disk table as read- write is displayed under the Mode column, and the Repository columns are now populated.
The Eligible virtual disks table shows only those virtual disks that are capable of being used in the consistency group. To be eligible to be a member of a consistency group, a virtual disk cannot be in a Failed state and must contain less than the maximum allowable number of associated snapshot groups. 5. Select how you want to create the repositories for each member in the consistency group. • Select Automatic and click Finish to create the repositories with the default capacity settings.
7. To edit an individual repository candidate: a. Select the candidate from the Repository candidates table and click Edit to modify the capacity settings for the repository. b. Click OK. 8. Select View advanced options and then accept or change the following default settings as appropriate. 9. Click Finish. Renaming a consistency group Use the Rename Consistency Group option to change the name of the consistency group when the current name is no longer meaningful or applicable.
• 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. From the AMW, select the Storage & Copy Services tab. 2. From the consistency groups category node, select the consistency group that you want to change and then select Copy Services > Consistency Group > Change Settings. The Change Consistency Group Settings window is displayed. 3.
• Select the base virtual disk that you want to remove from the consistency group and then select Storage > Virtual disk > Remove From Consistency Group. • Select the consistency group to which you want to add member virtual disks and then select Copy Services > Consistency Group > Remove Member Virtual Disks. 3.
• Select A new snapshot image (on an existing snapshot group) and then a snapshot group from the existing snapshot group table and then click Next. The Snapshot Virtual Disk Settings window is displayed. 4. In the Snapshot virtual disk name field, enter a unique name (30 character maximum) that best describes the virtual disk selected for this snapshot image, for example, AccountingData.
The following guidelines apply: • • • There is a minimum required capacity for a snapshot group repository which depends on your configuration. When you define the capacity requirements for a repository, keep in mind any future requirements that you may 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 without allocating too much capacity that takes up the storage in your system.
• • • • Retains the snapshot virtual disk or consistency group snapshot virtual disk’s associated repository—if the virtual disk is designated as read-write. Retains any host mapping and access (any read-write requests fail). Removes the snapshot virtual disk or consistency group snapshot virtual disk’s association with the current snapshot image. For a consistency group snapshot virtual disk, disables each member’s snapshot virtual disk.
Renaming a Snapshot Virtual Disk or consistency group Snapshot Virtual Disk Use the Rename Snapshot Virtual Disk option to change the name of a snapshot virtual disk or consistency group snapshot virtual disk when the current name is no longer meaningful or applicable. Keep these guidelines in mind when you name a consistency group: • • • Limit the name to 30 characters. Any leading and trailing spaces in the name are deleted. Use a unique, meaningful name that is easy to understand and remember.
• • Select An existing snapshot image and then select a snapshot image from the consistency group snapshot images table and click Next. Select A new snapshot image and then a snapshot group from the existing snapshot group table and then click Next. The Consistency Group Snapshot Virtual Disk Settings window is displayed. 4. In the Consistency group snapshot virtual disk name field, enter a unique name (30 character maximum) that best describes the consistency group selected for this snapshot image.
You are initially creating an overall repository with one individual repository virtual disk. However, the overall repository can contain multiple repository virtual disks in the future for expansion purposes. Use the Consistency Group Snapshot Virtual Disk Repository Settings - Manual option to manually define the capacity requirements for a consistency group snapshot virtual disk repository.
• You want to maximize the storage array performance by stopping write activity to the snapshot repository virtual disk. If you decide to re-create the snapshot virtual disk or consistency group snapshot virtual disk, you must choose a snapshot image from the same base virtual disk.
The status of the snapshot virtual disk or consistency group snapshot virtual disk is changed from Disabled to Optimal. Changing the modification priority of an overall repository virtual disk Use the Modification Priority option to specify the modification priority setting for an overall repository virtual disk on a storage array.
You can enable this option for overall repository virtual disks that contain consistency information. RAID Level 1, RAID Level 5, and RAID Level 6 maintain consistency information. You can enable this option for overall repository virtual disks that contain consistency information. RAID Level 1, RAID Level 5, and RAID Level 6 maintain consistency information.
Increasing capacity of overall repository An overall repository can contain multiple repository virtual disks. You can use the Increase Capacity option to increase the storage capacity of an existing overall repository for the following storage objects: • • • • • Snapshot group Snapshot virtual disk Consistency group member virtual disk Consistency group member snapshot virtual disk Replicated pair Use this option when you receive a warning that the overall repository is in danger of becoming full.
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 new free capacity on that disk group or disk pool. 7. Click Increase Repository.
• • Consistency group member virtual disk Consistency group member snapshot virtual disk NOTE: Use the Revive option only if you are instructed to do so in a Recovery Guru procedure or by a Technical Support representative. You cannot cancel this operation after it starts. Use this option when you receive a warning that the overall repository is in danger of becoming full. You can increase the repository capacity by performing one of these tasks: • • Adding one or more existing repository virtual disks.
11 Premium feature—virtual disk copy NOTE: A virtual disk copy overwrites data on the target virtual disk. Before starting a virtual disk copy, ensure that you no longer need the data or back up the data on the target virtual disk. NOTE: If you ordered this feature, you received a Premium Feature Activation card that shipped in the same box as your Dell PowerVault MD Series storage array. Follow the directions on the card to obtain a key file and to enable the feature.
Types of virtual disk copies You can perform either offline or online virtual disk copies. To ensure data integrity, all I/O to the target virtual disk is suspended during either type of virtual disk copy operation. After the virtual disk copy is complete, the target virtual disk automatically becomes read-only to the hosts.
• If you are using the data on the target virtual disk to copy back to the source virtual disk of a disabled or failed snapshot virtual disk. If you decide not to preserve the data on the target virtual disk after the virtual disk copy is complete, change the write protection setting for the target virtual disk to Read/Write. Virtual disk copy restrictions Before you perform any virtual disk copy tasks, understand and adhere to the restrictions listed in this section.
Before you begin A virtual disk copy fails all snapshot virtual disks that are associated with the target virtual disk, if any exist. If you select a source virtual disk of a snapshot virtual disk, you must disable all of the snapshot virtual disks that are associated with the source virtual disk before you can select it as a target virtual disk. Otherwise, the source virtual disk cannot be used as a target virtual disk.
Copy manager After you create a virtual disk copy 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.
Setting copy priority You can use the Copy Manager to select the rate at which a virtual disk copy completes for a selected copy pair. You can change the copy priority for a copy pair at any of these times: • • • Before the virtual disk copy begins While the virtual disk copy has a status of In Progress When you re-create a virtual disk copy To set copy priority: 1. In the AMW, select the Storage & Copy Services tab and select Copy Services > Virtual Disk Copy > Manage Copies.
NOTE: Removing the physical disk letter of one or more associated virtual disks in Windows or unmounting the virtual physical disk in Linux helps to guarantee a stable copy of the physical disk for the virtual disk copy. Before creating a new virtual disk copy for an existing copy pair, both the host server and the associated virtual disk you are recopying have to be in the proper state. Perform the following steps to prepare your host server and virtual disk: 1.
• If the virtual disk copy has a status of In Progress, you must stop the virtual disk copy before you can remove the copy pair. To remove copy pairs: 1. In the AMW, select Copy Services > Virtual Disk Copy > Manage Copies. The Copy Manager window is displayed. 2. In the table, select one or more copy pairs. 3. Select Copy > Remove Copy Pairs. The Remove Copy Pairs dialog is displayed. 4. Click Yes.
12 Device Mapper multipath for Linux Topics: • • • • • • • Overview Using Device Mapper Multipathing Devices (DMMP) Device Mapper configuration steps Linux host server reboot best practices Important information about special partitions Limitations and known issues Troubleshooting Overview The MD Series storage arrays use a Linux operating system software framework, known as Device Mapper (DM), to enable multipath capabilities on Linux Host Servers.
3. Configure using MDCU — After the host server has rebooted, the MDCU automatically starts and is present on the desktop. This utility allows for quick and easy configuration of new and or existing MD Series storage arrays present on your network. It also provides a GUI Wizard for establishing the iSCSI sessions to the array. 4. Create and map virtual disks using the MD Storage Manager — After configuring the arrays using the MDCU, run the MD Storage Manager to create and map virtual disks.
The output must be similar to this example, which shows the output for one mapped virtual disk. mpath1 (3600a0b80005ab177000017544a8d6b92) dm-0 DELL, MD3xxxx[size=5.0G][features=3 queue_if_no_path pg_init_retries 50][hwhandler=1 rdac][rw]\_ round-robin 0 [prio=6][active] \_ 5:0:0:0 sdc 8:32 [active][ready]\_ round-robin 0 [prio=1][enabled] \_ 4:0:0:0 sdb 8:16 [active][ghost] where: mpath1 is the name of the virtual device created by device mapper. It is located in the /dev/mapper directory.
• Where is the alphabetic number for the multipathing device, is the partition number for this device. On SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 11.x hosts, a partition node has the format:/dev/mapper/mpath-part • Where is letters assigned to the multipathing device and is the partition number. On SLES 10.3 hosts, a partition node has the format: /dev/mapper/mpath_part Where is one or more letters assigned to the multipathing device and is the partition number.
Table 15. Useful device mapper commands Command multipath –h multipath –ll multipath multipath –f multipath –F rescan_dm_devs Description Prints usage information. Displays the current multipath topology using all available information—sysfs, the device mapper, path checkers, and so on. Reaggregates multipathing device with simplified output. Flushes out Device Mapper for the specified multipathing device. Used if the underlying physical devices are deleted/unmapped.
Troubleshooting Table 16. Troubleshooting Question Answer How can I check if multipathd is running? Run the following command: /etc/init.d/multipathd status Why does the multipath –ll command output not show any devices? First verify if the devices are discovered or not. The command #cat /proc/ scsi/scsi displays all the devices that are already discovered. Then verify the multipath.conf to ensure that it is been updated with proper settings. After this, run multipath.
13 Configuring Asymmetric Logical Unit Access If your MD Series RAID storage array supports Asymmetric Logical Unit Access (ALUA), active-active throughput allows I/O to pass from a RAID controller module to a virtual disk that is not owned by the RAID controller. Without ALUA, the host multipath driver is required to send data requests targeted to a specific virtual disk to the owning RAID controller module. If the RAID controller module does not own the virtual disk, it rejects the request.
1. Run the following command: # esxcli storage nmp satp rule add –s VMW_SATP_ALUA –V DELL –M array_PID -c tpgs_on Where, array_PID is your storage array model/product ID. To select the appropriate array_PID for your storage array, see the following table. Table 17. Array pids of different storage arrays Storage Array array_PID MD3400 MD34xx MD3420 MD34xx MD3800i MD38xxi MD3820i MD38xxi MD3800f MD38xxf MD3820f MD38xxf MD3460 MD34xx MD3860i MD38xxi MD3860f MD38xxf 2.
14 Premium feature—Remote Replication The following types of Remote Replication are supported on the MD storage array: • • Remote Replication — Standard asynchronous replication using point-in-time images to batch the resynchronization between the local and remote site. This type of replication is supported on both Fibre Channel and iSCSI storage arrays (not between). Remote Replication (Legacy) — Synchronous (or full-write) replication that synchronizes local and remote site data in real-time.
Types of Remote Replication The following are the types of Remote Replication premium features supported on your storage array: • • Remote Replication — Also known as standard or asynchronous, it is supported on both iSCSI- and Fibre Channel-based storage arrays (both local and remote storage arrays must use the same data protocol) and requires a dual RAID controller configuration. Remote Replication (Legacy) — Also known as synchronous or full-write, it is supported on Fibre Channel storage arrays only.
○ iSCSI does not require dedicated ports for replication data traffic ○ iSCSI array-to-array communication must use a host-connected port (not the Ethernet management port). ○ The first port that successfully establishes an iSCSI connection is used for all subsequent communication with that remote storage array. If that connection subsequently fails, a new session is attempted using any available ports.
Deactivating Remote Replication Deactivating the Remote Replication premium feature removes RAID controller module port restrictions. NOTE: Before deactivating the Remote Replication premium feature, delete all existing Remote Replication groups and replicated 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.
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. Click OK. The Remote Replication group is created.
• Manual — Select Manual and click Next to define the properties for the replication repository. Then click Finish. NOTE: The replication repository is normally created automatically during virtual disk pair creation. Manual repository creation is recommended only for advanced storage administrators who understand physical disk consistency and optimal physical disk configurations. The Automatic method is recommended. 6. Click OK when you see a message that the pair is successfully created.
15 Management firmware downloads Topics: • • • • • • • Downloading RAID controller and NVSRAM packages Downloading both RAID controller and NVSRAM firmware Downloading only NVSRAM firmware Downloading physical disk firmware Downloading MD3060e Series expansion module EMM firmware Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) Media errors and unreadable sectors Downloading RAID controller and NVSRAM packages A version number exists for each firmware file.
By default, only the downloadable files that are compatible with the current storage array configuration are displayed. When you select a file in the File Selection area of the dialog, applicable attributes (if any) of the file are displayed in the File Information area. The attributes indicate the version of the file. 5. If you want to download an NVSRAM file with the firmware: a. Select Transfer NVSRAM file with RAID controller module firmware. b. Click Select File. 6.
Downloading only NVSRAM firmware Use the command line interface (CLI) to download and activate NVSRAM to several storage arrays. To download only NVSRAM firmware: 1. To download the NVSRAM firmware from: • • EMW — Go to step 7. AMW — Go to step 2. 2. In the AMW, select Upgrade > RAID Controller Module NVSRAM or select the Support tab, and click Download Firmware. In Select download task, select Download RAID controller module NVSRAM and click OK. An error message is displayed.
The download starts and a progress indicator is displayed in the Status column of the Upgrade RAID Controller Module Firmware window. Downloading physical disk firmware CAUTION: When updating physical disk firmware, you should stop all I/O activity to the array to prevent data loss. The physical disk firmware controls various features of the physical disk. The disk array controller (DAC) uses this type of firmware.
CAUTION: Risk of possible loss of data or risk of damage to the storage array—Downloading the expansion enclosure EMM firmware incorrectly could result in loss of data or damage to the storage array. Perform downloads only under the guidance of your Technical Support representative. CAUTION: Risk of making expansion enclosure EMM unusable—Do not make any configuration changes to the storage array while downloading expansion enclosure EMM firmware.
16 Firmware inventory A storage array is made up of many components, which may include RAID controller modules, physical disks, and enclosure management modules (EMMs). Each of these components contains firmware. Some versions of the firmware are dependent on other versions of firmware. To capture information about all of the firmware versions in the storage array, view the firmware inventory.
17 System interfaces Topics: • • Virtual disk service Volume shadow-copy service Virtual disk service The Microsoft Virtual Disk Service (VDS) is a component of the Windows operating system. The VDS component uses third-party vendorspecific software modules, known as providers, to access and configure third-party storage resources, such as MD Series storage arrays.
• • • The number of snapshot virtual disks that can be created using a single snapshot set varies with the I/O load on the RAID controller modules. Under little or no I/O load, the number of virtual disks in a snapshot set must be limited to eight. Under high I/O loads, the limit must be three. The snapshot virtual disks created in the MD Storage Manager are differential snapshots. Plex snapshots are not supported.
18 Storage array software Topics: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Start-up routine Device health conditions Trace buffers Collecting physical disk data Event log Recovery Guru Storage array profile Viewing the physical associations Recovering from unresponsive storage array condition Locating a physical disk Locating an expansion enclosure Capturing state information SMrepassist utility Unidentified devices Recovering from unidentified storage array Starting or restarting the Host Context Agent software S
For the status of a storage array, the icons shown in the following table are used in the Tree view, the Table view, and both the EMW Status Bar and the AMW Status Bar. Table 18. Status icons and description Status Icon Description Optimal Each component in the managed storage array is in the desired working condition. Needs Attention There is a problem with the managed storage array that requires your intervention to correct it.
Table 19. Additional status icons and description (continued) Status Icon Description parent node level and any of the in-band storage array child nodes have a Needs Upgrade status, the Alert Disables status icon appears next to the parent node in the tree view. Adding a Storage Array The Contacting Storage Array icon is shown in the Tree view and Table view until the status of each managed storage array is known.
Retrieving trace buffers To retrieve the trace buffers: 1. From the AMW, select Monitor > Health > Retrieve Trace Buffers. The Retrieve Trace Buffers dialog is displayed. 2. Select either RAID controller module 0, RAID controller module 1, or both. If the RAID controller module status message to the right of a check box indicates that the RAID controller module is offline, the check box is disabled. 3. From the Trace buffers list, select the relevant option. 4.
• To choose another location, select Use alternate location, then click the Browse button to select the desired directory. NOTE: The filename cannot be modified. 6. Click OK. Suspending or resuming a support data collection schedule Suspending a support data collection schedule temporarily disables the scheduled operation. When you suspend a support data collection schedule, the schedule’s timer continues to run, but the scheduled support data collections do not occur.
1. In the AMW, select Monitor > Reports > Event Log. The Event Log is displayed. By default, the summary view is displayed. 2. To view the details of each selected log entry, select View details. A detail pane is added to the event log that contains detailed information about the log 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.
a. Click Save As. b. To save all sections of the storage array profile, select All sections. c. To save information from particular sections of the storage array profile, select the Select 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.
12. For an in-band managed storage array, make sure that the host is network accessible by using the ping command to verify that the host can be reached. Type one of these commands, and press . 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. • ping • ping If the verification is successful, see step 14, if not, step 15. Remove the host with the Unresponsive status from the EMW, and select Add Storage Array to add the host again.
• If you have any other types of expansion enclosures, this operation causes the appropriate LED on all of the physical disks in the expansion enclosure to blink. To locate the expansion enclosure: 1. Select the Hardware tab. 2. Select a physical disk in the expansion enclosure that you want to locate. 3. Select Hardware > Blink > Expansion Enclosure. The LED or LEDs on the expansion enclosure or physical disks come on. 4. When you have located the expansion enclosure, click OK. The LEDs stop blinking.
An error message is displayed in the command line when the utility cannot distinguish between the following: • • Source virtual disk and snapshot virtual disk—for example, if the snapshot virtual disk has been removed. Standard virtual disk and virtual disk copy—for example, if the virtual disk copy has been removed. Unidentified devices An unidentified node or device occurs when the MD Storage Manager cannot access a new storage array.
6. Look to see if there is too much network traffic to one or more controllers. This problem corrects itself because the MD Storage Manager tries to re-establish communication with the controllers in the storage array at regular times. If the storage array was unresponsive and a subsequent attempt to connect to the storage array succeeds, the storage array becomes responsive. 7.
19 Getting help Topics: • Contacting Dell EMC Contacting Dell EMC 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. 2. 3. 4. Go to Dell.
