Installation manual

The Dell/EMC CX Series allows reverting to a prior revision as long as the FLARE code has not
been committed. The tradeoffs are:
• No changes are allowed to the Dell/EMC CX Series.
• New features in the new revision of FLARE may not be usable.
Not committing allows you to confirm that the basic I/O functions work in your environment. Once
committed, the FLARE code can only be upgraded. EMC recommends committing the new
FLARE revision at installation. Therefore, the ability to revert should be considered the exception.
Ensure all host, layered application and switch components (driver, agent, and firmware) are
upgraded to maintain compatibility.
MONITORING
This section discusses the different management methods available to the user.
Management system
To manage the storage system, use the installed management software.
Access to the management system requires browser software. EMC recommends Internet
Explorer, Netscape, and/or Mozilla, depending upon the OS.
Use Java JRE revision 1.4.2 for the browser. Note that this may change faster than this document
is revised. Navisphere will tell you if you are running the wrong revision of Java and point you to
the web site for the correct version. If you are not running the correct revision of Java, the
Navisphere UI will send the user to the Java site. It is therefore also recommended that the
system running the browser have access to a public network.
A Dell/EMC CX Series agent is not required on the system using a browser connection to
manage a Dell/EMC CX Series domain unless the system has a FC or iSCSI connection to the
Dell/EMC CX Series and is used to manage a legacy Dell/EMC CX Series via portals.
Off-array management server
EMC supports management of a Dell/EMC CX Series from either a management station or the
storage system itself. The following are the EMC recommendations for off-array management.
• To manage a Dell/EMC CX Series using the off-array management server, that
station must be a member of a Dell/EMC CX Series domain.
• For management stations running pre-release 19 software, EMC recommends a
single management server manage no more than 30 storage systems at one time.
The storage systems can be managed as one session if they are all placed in a
domain.
• For management stations running post-release 19 software, EMC recommends no
more than 72 total storage systems in the multi-domain configuration. The storage
systems may be in one domain or several domains.
• The server should be a Windows server running at least Windows 2000 SP4. The
server should have at least a 1-GHz CPU and 512 MB of RAM.
• The server used for off-array management should not be running any production
application. You can use the same server as the CLARalert
®
workstation. Dell/EMC
CX Series should be in the same domain as the management station of Dell/EMC CX
Series.
Dell/EMC CX Series Initial Configuration
Best Practices Planning 19