HP Matrix Operating Environment 7.2 Update 1 Infrastructure Orchestration User Guide

In the pre-provisioned use case, SAN volumes are pre-created within SPM but are not yet masked
to one or more initiator WWNs. Zoning must be pre-configured. The SAN volumes are made
available within the SPM storage catalog and are visible in Matrix OE visualization’s storage pool
as storage pool entries (either in advance for manually created storage pool entries, or at service
provisioning when infrastructure orchestration automatically generated the storage pool entries).
At service creation, infrastructure orchestration attempts to find a suitable storage pool entry. The
storage pool entry must fully match the storage requirements for the logical server: number of SAN
volumes, size, RAID level, OS type, redundancy, and optionally a set of one or more tags. Unlike
the multi-initiator NPIV approach above, infrastructure orchestration is able to perform automatic
LUN masking and host mode assignment through SPM. This allows infrastructure orchestration to
separate the visibility of boot and data storage during OS provisioning. It also allows a single
storage pool entry to be re-used across different logical servers because the host mode may also
be set dynamically based on the logical server’s requirements.
If a suitable storage pool entry is not found, infrastructure orchestration creates a storage pool
entry and attempts to fulfill the request through SPM (matching to a pre-provisioned volume or using
on-demand provisioning, based on the SPM storage template policies). The storage returned meets
the needs of the service being provisioned, including masking/presentation to suitable initiator
WWNs.
This process is supported only on Virtual Connect managed servers. This approach requires that
a SAN administrator be willing to grant restricted access to the disk array management interface
for performing the SAN volume inventory and LUN masking operations, and, if using on-demand
provisioning, volume creation operations and access to the Brocade SAN management SMI-S
instrumentation for SAN zoning. Storage administrators can specify policies within storage templates
using SPM. SPM enables the storage administrator to create storage templates, which can capture
policies such as size (with boundaries), RAID level to use (or avoid), tags, use of pre-provisioned
SAN volumes and/or on-demand provisioining, use of thin provisioning (or preventing its use),
and other aspects. SPM catalog entries represent the pre-provisioned SAN volumes and have
granular control over operations (some may support LUN masking and changing host mode, others
may not). This provides much more granular control than giving the server administrator the Admin
password to the storage array.
Manual storage provisioning
Manual storage provisioning can be performed using the Matrix OE visualization logical server
management Modify→Logical Server Storage Pools screen and SPM.
Manual storage provisioning is used when no storage has been pre-provisioned or when only a
subset of the storage has been pre-provisioned for a logical server. At service creation, infrastructure
orchestration attempts to locate and allocate the storage resources. The storage pool entry must
fully match the storage requirements for the logical server: number of SAN volumes, size, RAID
level, OS type, redundancy, and optionally a set of one or more tags.
When no storage resources are found, the overall request pauses for the administrator to manually
provision the required storage. The administrator is notified by an Operations
Orchestration-generated email message that contains the details of the service being provisioned
and the storage resources that are required. After the administrator has completed the storage
provisioning process, the request is re-activated and allowed to continue.
If the IO administrator submits storage requests to SPM and no candidates are returned, the
unfulfilled requests are visible within SPM and the storage administrator can create appropriate
storage matching the needs (and do appropriate SAN zoning), then fulfill the request within SPM.
If IO cannot find storage for an automatically generated storage pool entry, the storage pool entry
is deleted. The administrator can fulfill the storage manually, or can adjust the storage in SPM by,
for example, putting more volumes in the catalog, importing arrays, or modifying the template
before performing a repeated attempt to create the storage pool entry and fulfill it through SPM.
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