SPM adapter for EMC® Symmetrix® VMAX®: Matrix support for automation of EMC storage operations via the HP Storage Provisioning Manager

Technical white paper | SPM Adapter for EMC Symmetrix VMAX
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Introduction
The HP Matrix Operating Environment includes an HP Storage Provisioning Manager (SPM) adapter for EMC Symmetrix VMAX
storage. SPM is a bundled solution for managing storage provisioning within the Matrix Operating Environment. SPM
provides out-of-the-box support for selected HP storage solutions and can be extended to other storage (including third
party storage) via custom SPM adapters. This enables support for automated storage operations in a broader range of
customer environments. Without such adapters, SPM cannot automate storage operations (but does provide a mechanism
for “unmanaged” storage to be manually specified and automatically matched to logical server storage requests).
The SPM adapter for EMC Symmetrix VMAX storage supports storage operations for discovering arrays and reading pool and
volume information, creating and deleting volumes, growing volumes, and performing volume presentations to a given host
using the FC interface. This enables SPM to import EMC arrays and storage pools into the storage catalog, and optionally
import storage volumes or create volumes on-demand which can be used to fulfill storage requests for logical servers.
Using Matrix OE infrastructure orchestration, logical servers can be created automatically from a service template, including
the ability to perform volume creation (if on-demand provisioning is enabled) and LUN presentation through SPM, using the
SPM adapter for EMC Symmetrix VMAX.
The storage pool entries for the logical servers can be fulfilled using SPM catalog storage (either pre-provisioned or on-
demand provisioned). Pre-provisioned storage is volumes created on the EMC array, imported into the SPM storage catalog,
and automatically matched to the Matrix storage requests. On-demand provisioning allows SPM to create the volumes on
the EMC array as needed (and can be enabled with appropriate adjustments to the SPM storage templates, see the Faster
Storage Provisioning in the Matrix Operating Environment: use of the HP Storage Provisioning Manager storage catalog with
controlled storage operations white paper at hp.com/go/matrixoe/docs for more details). SPM can also automate the SAN
zoning in a Brocade SAN environment (or support manual zoning for other environments).
The SPM adapter for EMC Symmetrix VMAX storage will enable customers to have tighter integration of EMC storage into
the Matrix environment and automate storage operations to support Matrix use cases.
Requirements
Hardware Requirements
EMC Symmetrix VMAX Storage
Testing was performed with a Symmetrix VMAX40K.
Note
The SPM Adapter for EMC Symmetrix VMAX uses the SMI-S instrumentation of the EMC storage solution. It uses the
following functions/profiles: Array Profile, Access Points, Block Services Package, Block Storage Views Profiles, EMC
Symmetrix Group Masking & Mapping, Job Control, Thin Provisioning, Volume Composition. Specific SMI-S implementations
differ by model, and the adapter may require modifications to work with other models. For example, the EMC Symmetrix
DMX has an implementation of mapping and masking sub profile whereas the Symmetrix VMAX has an implementation of
Group Masking & Mapping profile (supported in SMI-S Specification v1.5 and above).
Software Requirements
EMC SMI-S Provider Version 4.4.0 or later
The HP SPM adapter for EMC Symmetrix VMAX has dependency on the the HP SPM bundled with Matrix Operating
Environment (no action is necessary as the Matrix OE will have included a suitable version of the SPM adapter for EMC
Symmetrix VMAX and SPM). The table below shows the mapping of required versions of SPM bundled with the version of
Matrix Operating Environment:
HP Matrix Operating
Environment
HP SPM
HP SPM Adapter for EMC
Symmetrix VMAX
7.2.0
2.2.0
7.2.0
7.2 Update 1
2.2.0
7.2.1
7.2 Update 2
2.2.0 or 2.2.2
1
7.2.1
7.3.0
2.3.0
7.3.0
1
SPM 2.2.2 is a hot fix provided with the latest HP Matrix OE 7.2 Update 2 patch (originally released November 22, 2013). The SPM Adapter for EMC Symmetrix
VMAX is supported for 7.2 Update 2 with or without that patch.