Dell EMC PowerStore Importing External Storage to PowerStore Guide Version 2.x June 2021 Rev.
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Contents Additional Resources.....................................................................................................................6 Chapter 1: Introduction................................................................................................................. 7 Importing external storage to PowerStore overview..................................................................................................7 Non-disruptive import of external storage to PowerStore overview............
Agentless import workflow............................................................................................................................................. 30 Cutover workflow for agentless import....................................................................................................................... 32 Cancel workflow for agentless import.........................................................................................................................
Log information.................................................................................................................................................................. 61 Microhttpd status............................................................................................................................................................. 62 Restart the Web server ..................................................................................................................................
Preface As part of an improvement effort, revisions of the software and hardware are periodically released. Some functions that are described in this document are not supported by all versions of the software or hardware currently in use. The product release notes provide the most up-to-date information about product features. Contact your service provider if a product does not function properly or does not function as described in this document.
1 Introduction This document describes how to import data from external storage to PowerStore. Only SAN/block imports are included. NAS/ file imports are not included. This chapter contains the following information: Topics: • • Importing external storage to PowerStore overview Import security Importing external storage to PowerStore overview PowerStore provides the abilities of a traditional storage appliance and onboard compute to run embedded workloads.
hosts, ensure that the EQL HIT Kit version that is listed in the following table for the given host type is installed. If the version is earlier than the version that is listed in the table, it needs to be upgraded to the version that is listed in the table to support import to PowerStore. The following table lists the supported combinations of host OS, multipath software, host protocol to the source and to the PowerStore cluster, and the type of source system for non-disruptive import.
Table 1. Supported combinations of host OS, host multipath software, host protocol, and source system for non-disruptive import (continued) Host OS Host multipath software SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 Service Pack 3 ● Linux Native MPIO ● and or ● DellEMC-PowerStore● Import-Plugin-for-Linux kit (version 1.0) or ● SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 Service Pack 1 Host to storage protocol iSCSI FC Dell EqualLogic PS (10.0.3) ● Dell EMC Unity (5.0.2.0.5.009) or Dell EMC Unity (5.0.2.0.5.
4. Cutover import – Cutover can be performed only when the import processing state is Ready For Cutover. In other words, cutover is a final confirmation. You can select to cut over automatically without user intervention. After the cutover step, I/O cannot go back to the source system volume. In addition, the following processes are available during the import procedure: ● Pause import – Pause can be performed when the import processing state is Copy In Progress.
Overview of the agentless import process Before importing the external storage from a source system to a PowerStore cluster, the active path for the host I/O is to the source system. The host or hosts are not automatically added to the PowerStore cluster and must be added manually before setting up the agentless import. During the setup of an agentless import, volumes are created on the PowerStore cluster that match the specified volumes on the source system.
● Cancel import – For volumes, Cancel can be performed only when the import processing state is Queued, Scheduled, Ready To Enable Destination Volume, Ready to Start Copy, Copy In Progress, Paused, Ready for Cutover, or Cancel Required and the host application that is accessing the volume has been shut down.
2 Import requirements and restrictions This chapter contains the following information: Topics: • • • • • • • General requirements for importing data Dell EqualLogic PS Series specific requirements Dell Compellent SC Series specific requirements Dell EMC Unity specific requirements Dell EMC VNX2 Series specific requirements Dell EMC XtremIO XI and X2 specific requirements General import restrictions General requirements for importing data The following requirements apply to PowerStore before running impo
○ 8443 (default) ○ 50443 ○ 55443 ○ 60443 The predefined host port for VMware is 5989. Dell EqualLogic PS Series specific requirements (For non-disruptive import) See Supported combinations of host OS, host multipath software, host protocol, and source system for non-disruptive import on page 8 for the supported combinations of host OS, host multipath software, and host protocol that apply to Dell EqualLogic Peer Storage (PS) Series systems.
Dell EMC XtremIO XI and X2 specific requirements (For agentless import) See Supported source systems and operating environment required for agentless import on page 10 for the supported types of source systems and the version of operating environment required for the agentless import. General import restrictions The following restrictions apply to importing external storage to PowerStore: ● At any given time a maximum of 6 source systems is supported.
● ● ● ● ● ○ Snapshot ○ Consistency group migration ○ Creating replication ○ Refreshing volume Such operations should be done before starting import. Snapshot restore on a volume under import is not supported. Only 512b-sector sized devices are supported from the following systems, 4k-sector devices are not supported from these systems: ○ Dell EqualLogic PS ○ Dell Compellent SC ○ Dell EMC Unity ○ Dell EMC VNX2 Both 512b-sector and 4k-sector resources are supported from XtremIO systems.
○ Changes to the paths (enable or disable) which can impact the import operation. ○ Host cluster configuration changes. ○ Operating system (OS) upgrades. Windows-based hosts The following restrictions apply during a non-disruptive import involving Windows-based hosts: ● The following Windows Dynamic Disk volume types are not supported: ○ Simple volume ○ Spanned volume ○ Mirrored volume ○ Striped volume ○ RAID5 volume ● IDE device and SCSI device under Hyper-V configuration are not supported.
VMware ESXi-based hosts The following restrictions apply during a non-disruptive import involving VMware ESXi-based hosts: ● Import is supported only for those datastores that have a 1:1 mapping with a back-end volume. ● Linux Raw Device Mapping (RDM) configurations are not supported. ● If RDM LUNs which are exposed to the VM are imported, the enquiry command on those LUNs will report either the source UID or the destination UID depending on the ESXi cache enablement.
3 Host plugin installation (non-disruptive import only) This chapter contains the following information: Topics: • • • • Installing the host plugin for import on a Windows-based host Installing the host plugin for import on a Linux-based host Installing the Dell EqualLogic MEM kit on an ESXi-based host Uninstalling the host plugin for import Installing the host plugin for import on a Windowsbased host See Supported combinations of host OS, host multipath software, host protocol, and source system for non
NOTE: It is recommended to use the .EXE version of the installer. The .MSI version of the installer is provided to support administrative installations. To use the .MSI file, see Pre-requisites for an install using the .MSI file on page 21. Install the host plugin for import on a Windows-based host Prerequisites Verify the following: ● A supported operating system is running on the host.
Upgrade the host plugin for import on a Windows-based host Prerequisites Verify the host is running an applicable version of the Windows operating system. See Supported combinations of host OS, host multipath software, host protocol, and source system for non-disruptive import on page 8. Also, ensure you know the management IP address and associated port number to use for import. This network configuration information needs to be provided so that the host is added to the PowerStore cluster for import.
NOTE: Installing the DellEMC-PowerStore-Import-Plugin-for-Linux kit does not require a host reboot and it does not impact ongoing I/O operations. Install the host plugin for import on a Linux-based host Prerequisites Verify the following on the host: ● Open-iscsi (iscsid) is installed and running. NOTE: This process is optional in a fibre channel environment. ● sg_utils package is installed. ● For DellEMC-PowerStore-Import-Plugin-for-Linux kit, multipathd is running.
For example, #./minstall NOTE: By default, the installation runs interactively. To run the installation in the background instead, accept all defaults, and accept the Dell EULA, then enter the following command after downloading the host plugin package to the host and installing the certificate key: # ./mnt/minstall --noninteractive --accepted-EULA --fcprotocol (or -iscsiprotocol) --adapter= Where ip_address = subnet IP address for MPIO.
5. Install the host plugin. #./install NOTE: By default, the installation runs interactively. To run the installation in the background instead, see the latest version of the Dell EqualLogic Host Integration Tools for Linux Installation and User's Guide.
For example, #esxcli software vib install -–depot /var/tmp/dell-eql-mem-esx6-.zip The following message appears: Operation finished successfully. Reboot Required: true VIBs Installed: DellEMC_bootbank_dellemc-import-hostagent-provider_1.0-14112019.110359, DellEMC_bootbank_dellemc-import-satp_1.0-14112019.110359 VIBs Removed: VIBs Skipped: 3. Stop hostd. For example, #/etc/init.d/hostd stop Terminating watchdog process with PID 67143 hostd stopped. 4. Start hostd. For example, #/etc/init.
Steps 1. Download the latest version of the Dell EqualLogic MEM kit and associated installation guide from the Dell EqualLogic support site https://eqlsupport.dell.com. After login, the kit and its associated installation guide can be found under downloads for VMware Integration. 2. Run the setup.pl script command on VMA. The script prompts to install the bundle, then it prompts to enable import. The command uses the following format: ./setup.
For example: #/etc/init.d/hostd stop Terminating watchdog process with PID 67143 hostd stopped. b. Start hostd. For example: #/etc/init.d/hostd start hostd started. c. Add import command rules. For example: #esxcli import equalRule add 3. Reboot the system. NOTE: The system must be rebooted before the Dell EqualLogic Multipathing Extension Module with import becomes active.
4 Import workflows This chapter contains the following information: Topics: • • • • • • Non-disruptive import workflow Cutover workflow for non-disruptive import Cancel workflow for non-disruptive import Agentless import workflow Cutover workflow for agentless import Cancel workflow for agentless import Non-disruptive import workflow As part of the import process, the source volume or consistency group is pre-validated whether it is ready to be imported.
The states of a consistency group import and the manual operations that are allowed for those states are as follows: ● Queued state – Cancel operation ● Scheduled state – Cancel operation ● In-Progress state – Cancel operation NOTE: Once the first volume of a CG is picked up for import, the CG state changes to In-Progress. The CG remains in that state until it reaches Ready-For-Cutover.
Cancel workflow for non-disruptive import You can cancel an import session that is in any one of the following states: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Queued Scheduled For volume, Copy-in-Progress or, for CG, In-Progress Paused Ready-for-Cutover For CG, Import-Cutover-Incomplete For CG, Cancel-Required For CG, Cancel-Failed For CG, Failed The cancel operation sets the state of the import session to CANCELLED and disables access to the destination volume or volume group.
The following steps show the manual import workflow in PowerStore Manager: 1. If the host or hosts do not appear in PowerStore Manager, add the information needed to discover and access the hosts. 2. If the remote (source) system does not appear in PowerStore Manager, add the information needed to discover and access the source system.
● In-Progress state – Cancel operation NOTE: Once the first volume of a CG is picked up for import, the CG state changes to In-Progress. The CG remains in that state until it reaches Ready-For-Cutover.
the source volume or volumes. Shutdown of and reconfiguring the host application is applicable only when the import session is being cancelled after the host application has been reconfigured to use the destination volume in PowerStore. The cancel operation sets the state of the import session to CANCELLED and disables access to the destination volume or volume group. It also deletes the destination volume or volume group associated with the import session.
5 Configuring and managing import This chapter contains the following information: Topics: • • • • • Configure a non-disruptive import Refresh hosts and volumes in a non-disruptive import Manage non-disruptive import sessions Configure an agentless import Manage agentless import sessions Configure a non-disruptive import Prerequisites Ensure the following conditions exist on the PowerStore cluster before running import: ● The global storage IP address for the PowerStore cluster is configured.
NOTE: A volume group is automatically created for each consistency group that is selected for import. They cannot be combined with any other volumes or volume group. ● Which protection policy to use for the volume or volume group, or both.
7. Verify that the import session information in the summary is accurate and complete. 8. Click Begin Import to create and start the import session. The Import External Storage page appears and shows the Imports information once the operation is started. 9. To view the progress of ongoing import sessions, under Migration, select Imports. 10. To view the progress details of a specific ongoing import session, click the state of that import session.
Action Description ● For consistency group, Cancel Failed ● For consistency group, Failed The cancel operation sets the state of the import session to CANCELLED and disables access to the destination volume. It also deletes the destination volume or volume group that is associated with the import session. NOTE: When all the volumes in a volume group are canceled successfully, the state of the import session is set to CANCELLED.
Configure an agentless import Prerequisites Ensure the following conditions exist on the PowerStore cluster before running import: ● The global storage IP address for the PowerStore cluster is configured. ● The PowerStore cluster and its nodes are in a healthy state.
3. Under Migration, select Import External Storage. The Import External Storage page appears. 4. If the intended source system does not appear in the list of remote systems, select Add Remote System and specify the relevant information for the remote system. Otherwise, go to the next step.
13. Select whether to have the orchestrator automatically remove the host mappings during the enable destination volume process. NOTE: It is recommended to remove the source volume's host mapping during the enable destination volume process to prevent the host from accidentally accessing the source volume. If the host mappings from the source volume in the source system are not selected to be removed by the orchestrator, remove them manually.
Action Description Scheduled, In Progress, Paused, Ready For Cutover, Import Cutover Incomplete, Cancel Required, Cancel Failed, Failed and the host application that is accessing the volume has been shutdown. Before cancelling an agentless import session, reconfigure the host application that is accessing the import's destination volume back to the source volume.
NOTE: If import of a source volume is in progress and a disaster occurs making the source system unusable or unreachable, you may need to contact your service provider to recover the source system involved in the import. NOTE: During an import session with a Dell PS EqualLogic system that has not shared volumes, those volumes are changed to shared volumes as part of the import processing.
A Import-CLI (Linux) IMPORT-CLI is a utility provided for the Linux host administrator to check import specific details such as volumes information, logging information, the installed version of host plugin, systems supported in the current host plugin version, and such.
Status Dumps the current multipathing status. If selected --importable, information for only importable volumes appears. Format importcli status Options Option Description -v|--verbose Show extra information. --importable Display Show information only for importable volumes. Example # importcli status Generating diagnostic data, please wait...
List supported arrays Shows a list of supported arrays in the current host plugin version. Format importcli list_supported_arrays Example # importcli list_supported_arrays Generating diagnostic data, please wait... ============== =========== Array Name VID ============== =========== EQL EQLOGIC Compellent COMPELNT VNX2 DGC UNITY DGC PowerStore DellEMC Server port Shows the server port that is used for communication and provides the option to change it to a different port.
Examples # importcli server_port Generating diagnostic data, please wait... Server port : 8443 # importcli server_port change 55443 Generating diagnostic data, please wait... Changing Server port to : 55443 Log information Shows log level and location for logs. Format importcli log_show Example # importcli log_show Generating diagnostic data, please wait... Log Level: 2 Log Location: /var/log/import Microhttpd status Shows microhttpd status.
Format importcli restart_webServer Example # importcli restart_webServer Generating diagnostic data, please wait... Server port : 8443 Recover device Recovers the specified device which is stuck in a bad state due to an internal error during the import process. NOTE: Contact your service provider before using this CLI command. Format importcli recover_device Example # importcli recover_device 6006016011404000a331505c1bd8223b Generating diagnostic data, please wait...
B Additional tasks related to import for Linuxbased hosts This appendix contains the following information: Topics: • • Regenerate the host HTTPS certificate Setting the Oracle ASM logical block size Regenerate the host HTTPS certificate About this task During installation, the host plug-in generates a self-signed HTTPS certificate and uses it for secure communication. In the following instances this certificate must be regenerated: ● Host IP address has been changed.
If you are planning to Import external storage to PowerStore from a Linux host running Oracle with ASM on Compellent SC storage and you need to set the Oracle ASM logical block size at the time of creating the database, use the following procedure before getting started with import. Steps 1.
C ImportKit-CLI (Windows) The ImportKit-CLI is a utility provided for the Windows host administrator. The ImportKit-CLI commands list information about devices under import or devices ready for import. The commands also provide the following functionality: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Get list of supported arrays. Get list of volumes / single volume. Get the version of different components. Enable logging level (No Log - 0, Error - 1, Informational - 2, Verbose - 3). Change port or IP address.
List supported arrays Shows all the arrays supported for import. Format Get-ImportKit-ImDsmSupportedArrays Example > Get-ImportKit-ImDsmSupportedArrays VendorID -------EQLOGIC DellEMC DGC DGC ProductID --------100E-00 PowerStore VRAID RAID 5 ProductName ----------EqualLogic PowerStore VNX2 VNX2 Host plugin log information Shows the location and log-level of the host plugin log.
Example > Get-ImportKit-Version HostAgentService HostAgentLibrary HostAgentCLI DSM_MPIODriver ---------------- ---------------- ------------ -------------1.0 1.0 1.0 4.5.0.9859 Restart import kit host plugin service Restarts the Windows host plugin service. NOTE: Do not run this command when an import session is in progress. Format Restart-ImportKit-HAService Example > Restart-ImportKit-HAService ResultingString --------------ImportKITHAService restarted successfully.
VolumeName Size SourceArray ImportStatus : : : : ps-volumes-20 1085276160 Bytes PS NOT IN IMPORT VolumeID VolumeName Size SourceArray ImportStatus : : : : : 64ed2a75a96a0d016bc3f52d3ee8491a ps-volumes-21 1085276160 Bytes PS NOT IN IMPORT > Get-ImportKit-Volumes -VolumeName ps-volumes-21 VolumeID VolumeName Size SourceArray ImportStatus : : : : : 64ed2a75990a1d1738cd35b3ff04f07b ps-volumes-21 1085276160 Bytes PS NOT IN IMPORT Get-ImportKit-Volumes | Format-Table VolumeID -------64ed2a75990a0d1738cd1
Install import kit certificate Installs certificate in the host. Certificate installation in the host is required for the import kit CLI to run. Format Install-ImportKit-Certificate Example > Install-ImportKit-Certificate ResultString -----------Certificate installation was done successfully. Re-generate the import kit certificate During installation, the host plugin generates a self-signed HTTPS certificate and uses it for secure communication.
Options Option Description -IP The specified IP address must be from the list of available adapters. -Port The specified port can be any permissible numeric number (0 - 65536). Examples > Set-ImportKit-WebServerPort -IP 10.0.0.1 Resultstring -----------IP is changed successfully. > Set-ImportKit-WebServerPort -Port 8443 Resultstring -----------Port is changed successfully. > Set-ImportKit-WebServerPort -IP 10.0.0.
Registry Key is updated successfully to value = 1 56 ImportKit-CLI (Windows)
D Import-CLI (VMware) The Import-CLI is a set of commands available to list information about devices being imported. It enables Info-level logging to host plugin and Storage Array Type Plugin (SATP) components. This appendix contains the following information: Topics: • • • • List log levels List volumes Revert SATP, VAAI, and PSP to default settings equalRule options List log levels Import-CLI command for EQL HIT Kit package. Shows the log level that is set for host plugin and SATP components.
Example # esxcli import volume list The following information appears for each volume in the list: ● SourceVolumeNAAID – Unique identifier for the source volume considered for import. For example, naa.68fc61066c31fd6e37c28532f36f1de8 ● SourceVendor – Vendor identification (VID) of the source array. For example, EQLOGIC ● Size – Appears in GB. For example, ● 11.
● List SATP rules. ● Remove SATP rules from the host.
E CLI for EQL MPIO EHCMCLI is an existing utility that is provided for the host administrator to check EQL MPIO specific details. These CLI commands show import specific details such as volume information, logging information, the installed version of the EQL MPIO, and such.
Host plugin version Shows the current version of the host plugin that is installed. Format ehcmcli version Example ehcmcli version Version 1.7.0 Build 469794 Server port information Shows the server port that is used for communication and provides the option to change it to a different port. NOTE: The server port should not be changed while import is in progress on the host.
Format ehcmcli log_show Example ehcmcli log_show Generating diagnostic data, please wait... Log Level: 2 Log Location: /var/log/equallogic Microhttpd status Shows microhttpd status. Format ehcmcli mhd_status Example ehcmcli mhd_status Generating diagnostic data, please wait... Microhttpd Status: ACTIVE Restart the Web server Restarts the Web server in case of microhttpd failure. NOTE: Use this command only if the Micro-http deamon (MHD) is inactive.
Recover device Recovers the specified device which remains in a bad state due to an internal error during the import process. NOTE: Contact Dell support before using this CLI command. Format ehcmcli recover_device Example ehcmcli recover_device 6006016011404000a331505c1bd8223b Generating diagnostic data, please wait...
F Fault handling by PowerStore import This appendix contains the following information: Topics: • • • • • • • • Import processing and fault handling overview Import network overview Import alerts and error codes Failures during non-disruptive import Failures during agentless import Consistency group handling Configuration changes during import Application integration software Import processing and fault handling overview Import copies the source volume content to PowerStore volumes in the back end while
Import network overview Import from source volume to PowerStore depends on several components. One of the most important components is network connections. These connections are: 1. SAN path1: The front-end from the host to the PowerStore cluster. The PowerStore cluster is the destination and good and steady network connectivity from the host to the destination is mandatory. Both Fibre Channel (FC) and iSCSI are options for this segment and must be the same as what the host has towards the source system. 2.
● If one of the source SPs reboots but the surviving SP can service the source volume, both import and I/Os continue without any impact. Depending on the nature of the fault, the import orchestrator handles them so that there is minimum impact on the host I/Os. In all these cases, error messages, or alerts, or both describe the issue to the user.
Exception case Most times, in cases of a single failure, such as a PowerStore node failure during import with host I/O, both import and I/Os are not impacted. The other node takes over. In rare cases, if import is not able to continue due to such failures, automatic cancel occurs and I/Os are redirected back to the source volume. Sometimes, the node recovery time might be long and host I/Os might experience latency issues. In worst cases, the I/O timeout expires, leading to temporary data unavailability.
recovers fully. Once the PowerStore node has recovered and PowerStore is healthy, try importing again. If the issue persists, contact your service provider. Consistency group handling PowerStore import supports import of Consistency Groups (CGs) from the source systems. At a CG level, either the import succeeds for all the volumes in the CG or, if any volume fails, the import fails for all of them. However, in rare situations, it is possible that the rollback fails for one of the volumes.
