Dell MD Storage Array VMware vStorage APIs For Storage Awareness (VASA) Provider User's Guide Regulatory Model: E16S Series Regulatory Type: E16S001
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. © 2013 Dell Inc.
Contents 1 Overview.......................................................................................................................................5 VASA Storage Capabilities....................................................................................................................................... 6 Profile-Driven And Policy-Based Storage................................................................................................................ 8 Storage Service-Level Agreements.......
Overview 1 VMware vStorage APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA) is a set of application program interfaces (APIs) that support Dell PowerVault MD-Series iSCSI and Fibre Channel storage arrays. VASA enables vSphere vCenter to recognize MD storage array features and corresponding datastores, which allows storage administrators to more easily set virtualization and maintenance policies.
Figure 1. VASA Provider in a vCenter Storage Management Architecture VASA Storage Capabilities Storage provisioning operations available in vSphere allow VASA to monitor whether a storage array's physical components can meet virtual machine needs according to defined capabilities. Available capabilities and their common performance ranges are shown in table below. Table 1.
Storage Capabilities SSD Drives-Thin 10K/15K Drives 10K/15K Drives-Thin NLSAS Drives NLSAS Drives-Thin Replicated SSD Drives Replicated 10K/15K Drives Replicated NLSAS Drives Common Use/Performance Range Performance Level Highest available Storage Type Thin-provisioned virtual disks comprised of solid-state physical disks Performance Level Highest available Storage Type Virtual disks comprised of high-performance physical disks Performance Level High (used in most standard environments) S
Profile-Driven And Policy-Based Storage The VASA provider supports profile-driven storage management by categorizing virtual disks by performance and reporting performance capability to vCenter. This information can then be used to establish profiles based on specific application performance requirements.
Installing The VASA Provider 2 This section describes prerequisites and installation steps for the VASA provider. Before You Install Before installing the VASA provider, review the supported and required shown in this section. Supported Operating Systems And Platforms The VASA provider is dependent on specific operating system and application platform requirements. Before installing and configuring VASA, make sure your environment meets the requirements detailed in this section.
Required RAID Controller Module Firmware The VASA provider is supported on MD Series RAID controller module firmware versions 7.35 and later. To verify your firmware and operating system compatibility, see the Support Matrix available at dell.com/support/manuals. Downloading The VASA Provider The VASA provider is a self-extracting, self-installing file available from the Drivers and Download page at dell.com/ support. To download the VASA provider: 1. Go to dell.
Using The VASA Provider 3 After installing the VASA provider, configure it for use in your environment: 1. From the installation directory, click on the VASAPConfigUI.exe file. The application server starts and the Configuration Manager screen is displayed. Figure 2.
2. In Configuration Manager, choose user IDs, passwords, and port settings for the host server. NOTE: The default Admin User Password is password. Enter SSL settings, including key store/trust store file names and passwords. Passwords are verified dynamically and will display in a red text field background if they do not match existing values. 3. To configure security between VASA and vSphere using a self-signed certificate, click Generate Self Signed Certificate.
Figure 3. Array Manager Window 2. From the Array Manager window, click Add Array in the Commands section. To first create a separate folder to contain the storage arrays you intend to add, click Add Folder). NOTE: vSphere 5.1 supports a Discover Arrays option to performs automatic array discovery based on a range of RAID controller module IP addresses that you provide. Either method of specifying arrays -Add Array or Discover Arrays (if available) - can be used. 3.
Figure 4. vSphere Client Login Screen 2. From the vSphere Client window, click Storage Providers. Figure 5. vSphere Client Home Screen 3. 14 Above the Vendor Providers window, click Add.
Figure 6. vSphere Add Vendor Provider Menu 4. In the Add Vendor Provider window, enter name, URL and login credentials to the server containing the VASA provider you installed earlier. Before you begin: In the URL field, paste the URL you copied when you clicked Copy Provider URL to Clipboard in the VASA Configuration Manager.
Figure 7. vSphere Client VASA Provider Window Working with Storage Profiles In order for the storage capabilities to be recognized and reported the user must create a profile, and assign the capability desired to said profile using the check box supplied with the corresponding system-defined capability. This will allow the System Defined capabilities to be associated with the datastore and then displayed properly.
Figure 9. Select Storage Capabilities 6. Review the summary information, then click Finish. Assigning VM Storage Profiles To Existing Virtual Machines After creating the storage profile, assign the profile to an existing virtual machine: 1. From the vSphere Hosts and Clusters view, select the virtual machine. 2. Right-click on the virtual machine and select VM Storage Profile → Manage Profiles. 3.
Figure 10. Create VM Storage Profile Figure 11. vSphere Storage Profile Summary Checking Storage Profile Compliance After assigning a storage profile to a virtual machine, you can verify its compliance by selecting the virtual machine from the Host and Clusters view and selecting the Summary tab. The VM Storage Profiles box shows compliance details.
Figure 12. vSphere Storage Profile Summary Storage Array Events And Alerts The VASA provider propagates storage array alerts to the vCenter Server Event Monitor. Alerts are displayed on two separate views: • Alert tab in the Tasks view • Alarms view at the bottom of the vSphere Client Events are viewed by clicking on the Events icon on the vSphere Client Home view. Figure 13. Triggered Alarms View Troubleshooting Tips The table below shows some common issues and possible steps for resolution.
Issue Possible Resolution • • Unable to access the Array Manager • • • Event messages do not display description information Verify that monitored storage arrays have been added to the array manager. Verify the VASA provider service is running on the provider host. Verify the URL for the Storage Array Manager is correct. (The default provider host URL is http://localhost:8080/arraytree/) Verify that firewall settings allow configured ports.
Getting Help 4 Locating Your System Service Tag Your system is identified by a unique Express Service Code and Service Tag number. The Express Service Code and Service Tag are found on the front of the system by pulling out the information tag. This information is used by Dell to route support calls to the appropriate personnel. Contacting Dell NOTE: Dell provides several online and telephone-based support and service options.
