Dell Storage vSphere Client Plugin Version 6.1 Administrator’s Guide Part Number: 680-054-011 June 2021 Rev.
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Preface The Dell Storage vSphere Client Plugin Administrator’s Guide provides instructions for installing, configuring, and using the Dell Storage vSphere Client Plugin. The plugin provides management of Dell storage with the VMware vSphere Client. Revision History Revision Date Description A June 2021 Initial release Audience The intended audience of this guide is information technology professionals who have intermediate to expert knowledge of both Dell Storage Centers and Dell Storage Manager.
Contents Chapter 1: Getting Started............................................................................................................ 6 Key Features.........................................................................................................................................................................6 Requirements for the vSphere Client Plugin................................................................................................................ 6 Software Requirements.....
Viewing Volume Snapshots....................................................................................................................................... 34 Viewing Protocol Endpoints......................................................................................................................................35 Viewing Replications and Live Volumes................................................................................................................. 36 Viewing Dell Storage Charts.....
1 Getting Started The Dell Storage vSphere Client Plugin provides management of Dell Storage NOTE: Use the VMware vSphere Client to perform all procedures in this guide, unless instructed otherwise.
Replication Requirements for VMFS Datastores To replicate data from one Storage Center to another, ensure that the following requirements are met: ● Storage Center: Both the source and destination Storage Centers must be configured in Dell Storage Manager or Unisphere. They must be configured for the Dell Storage Manager or Unisphere user credentials that are supplied to the vSphere Client Plugin.
● Dell Storage Manager User and Password – Type the username and password of a Dell Storage Manager user with administrator privileges. The Dell Storage Manager user credentials control which Storage Centers can be managed in the vSphere Client Plugin. To add a Storage Center to the vSphere Client Plugin, log in to the Dell Storage Manager client using the same user credentials. Add the Storage Center to manage.
The vSphere Client Plugin reviews the settings and registers the VASA provider, or displays an error message if it cannot be registered. Unregistering VASA provider Follow these steps to unregister a VASA provider. Steps 1. Log in to the vSphere Client. 2. In the vSphere Client window, select Menu and click Administration. 3. In the Administration pane, click Dell Storage. 4. Click the Manage tab. 5. Click Update. The Connection Manager dialog box opens. Figure 3. Connection Manager Dialog Box 6.
5. Click Update. The Connection Manager dialog box opens. Figure 4. Connection Manager Dialog Box 6. Modify the vCenter and Dell Storage Manager credentials as needed and click Save. Displaying Storage Center Information The Summary tab on the Dell Storage page displays summary information for Storage Center. The Monitor tab displays performance and usage charts for Storage Center.
Charts The Charts tab displays performance information for the selected Storage Center.
2 Working With Dell Storage The Dell Storage vSphere Client Plugin communicates with Dell Storage Manager and enables the management of Dell Storage. Topics: • • • • Introduction to Dell Storage Creating and Managing VMFS Datastores on Storage Centers Configuring, Creating, and Recovering Snapshots Create and Manage Replications and Live Volumes Introduction to Dell Storage An administrator can use the Dell Storage vSphere Client Plugin to manage Dell storage on a Storage Center.
Storage Term Description system to automatically progress data between storage types and across all storage tiers based on data type and usage. ● High Priority: Use the High Priority profile only for volumes that contain data you want to keep in tier 1 storage. That is, applying the High Priority profile to a volume prevents the volume data from migrating to another tier. ● Medium Priority: Use the Medium Priority profile only for volumes that contain data you want to keep in tier 2 storage.
Adding a Datastore Using a New Dell Volume Create one or more datastores using the Add Datastore wizard. Prerequisites ● The SAS mapping protocol selection is only available on Storage Centers that support Front-end SAS: SCv2000 Series and SC4020 Storage Centers. ● On the Volumes page, the values for Storage Profile and Disk Folder can be modified only if the preferences for the Storage Center have been set to Allow.
c. Select the Replication Options, and click Next. 16. Click Next. The Ready to Complete page opens. 17. Review the settings and click Finish to create the datastore. Map an Existing Dell Volume as a Datastore An existing Dell volume can be mapped as a datastore using the vSphere Client Plugin. Prerequisites ● The SAS mapping protocol selection is available only on Storage Centers that support Front-end SAS: SCv2000 series and SC4020 Storage Centers. ● The volume must be formatted with VMFS file system.
2. Select Actions > All Dell Storage Actions > Edit Datastore. The Edit Datastore wizard opens to the Expand Datastore page. 3. Select a new size for the datastore, and click Next. The Volume Settings page opens. 4. Select the volume settings: ● Storage Type—A Storage Type is a pool of storage with a single datapage size. The Storage Type is set at the disk folder level, and once set it cannot be changed without assistance from technical support.
5. Click Next to advance the wizard. The Ready to Complete page opens. 6. Review the settings an click Finish to apply the new settings. Configuring, Creating, and Recovering Snapshots The Dell Storage vSphere Client Plugin allows you to create, configure, and expire snapshots, and recover data from snapshots.
The Ready to Complete page opens. 5. Click Finish. Recovering a Datastore From a Storage Center Snapshot Use the Storage Center Snapshot Recovery wizard to recover data from a Storage Center snapshot. The wizard allows you to select the snapshot from which you want to recover data and then exposes and maps the snapshot to allow you to copy data for recovery. Prerequisites A snapshot of the datastore must exist. Steps 1. Select the datastore for which you want to recover data. 2.
● High Consistency Mode—Prevents IO requests to the source volume when the destination volume is unavailable to make sure that the volumes remain identical. However, the source volume cannot be modified during this time, which can interrupt operations. For information about replications and Live Volumes, see the Dell Storage Manager Administrator’s Guide. Replication Operations Use the vSphere Client Plugin to add, modify, and remove datastore replications.
○ Replication, Synchronous—High Consistency ● QoS definition—Select a predefined QoS definition for the replication. ● Replicate Active Snapshot—Select this option to copy all writes from the active snapshot area of the volume. This option cannot be disabled for synchronous replication. ● Deduplication—Select this option to copy only the changed portions of the snapshot history on the source volume, rather than all data captured in each snapshot.
9. NOTE: If you choose to change the replication type from a replication to a Live Volume, a warning dialog box opens. Select the check box to confirm that you want to make the conversion, and then click OK. If you confirmed that you want to convert the replica to a Live Volume, the Live Volume Options page opens. 10. Set the Live Volume options: ● Select a Secondary QoS Definition from the drop-down list. ● Select or clear the Storage Center swap options.
3. Select the target (destination) Storage Center. 4. Click Next. The Volume Settings page opens. 5. Select the volume settings: ● Storage Type—A Storage Type is a pool of storage with a single datapage size. The Storage Type is set at the disk folder level, and once set it cannot be changed without assistance from technical support. (This entry appears only if the preferences are set in Storage Center). ● Storage Profile—A Storage Profile controls how the Storage Center manages volume data.
2. Select Actions > Dell Storage Actions > Replications/Live Volume > Edit Settings/Convert. The Modify Replication or Live Volume wizard starts. 3. From the list of replications, select one to modify. 4. Click Next. The Volume Settings page opens. 5. Select the volume settings: ● Storage Type—A Storage Type is a pool of storage with a single datapage size. The Storage Type is set at the disk folder level, and once set it cannot be changed without assistance from technical support.
Removing a Live Volume Datastore Remove a Live Volume datastore after the replication is no longer needed. Steps 1. Select the datastore for which you want to remove a replication. 2. Select Actions > All Dell Storage Actions > Replications/Live Volume > Remove. The Remove Replication or Live Volume wizard starts. 3. Select one or more replications to remove. 4. Click Next. The Delete Options page opens. 5.
3 Working With Virtual Machines The Dell Storage vSphere Client Plugin provides the ability to provision virtual machines and recover virtual machine data from a snapshot. You can provision (create) virtual machines and deploy them to an existing VMS datastore or to a new VMFS datastore.
Deploy Virtual Machines to a New VMFS Datastore Use the Create Virtual Machines wizard to deploy one or more virtual machines to a new datastore. Prerequisites A virtual machine template must be created from which new virtual machines can be deployed. For information about creating or updating a virtual machine template, see the vSphere help topics on virtual machine templates.
14. Select the LUN for mapping the volume, and click Next. 15. Select the VMFS version, and click Next 16. Select the I/O protocol to use for this volume, and click Next. 17. Confirm the Datastore Properties, or change the datastore name, and click Next. 18. (Optional) Select Create Replication/Live Volume if you want to replicate the volume data to a second Storage Center and allow both Storage Centers to process I/O requests for the volume.
4 Viewing Dell Storage Information Use the Dell Storage vSphere Client Plugin to display information about Dell Storage including HBA to Storage Center connectivity, datastore information, and performance charts.
Adapter Details Table 2. Description of Reported Adapter Information Label Description Model Adapter model name WWN World Wide Name (WWN) for Fibre Channel and the iSCSI Qualified Name (IQN) for iSCSI Device Name of the adapter Type Storage adapter type (FC or iSCSI) Node Name Fibre Channel node name Alias iSCSI alias name Status Status of the adapter Storage Details Table 3.
● Creates a server definition on the Storage Center if it does not exist and creates a corresponding HBA definition that is associated with this server. NOTE: If the host is in a cluster that does not exist on the Storage Center, the cluster definition is created on the Storage Center. Using Dell Storage Views Use Dell Storage views to display information about a Dell datastore or RDM.
Dell Storage General Tab The following figure shows an example of information in the General tab for the selected object: Figure 5.
Viewing Usage Statistics The Usage Statistics tab in the Dell Storage Monitor view displays usage information about a selected datastore. Steps 1. In ● ● ● ● ● the left navigation pane, select a Storage Center object such as one of the following: Host Datacenter Datastore Datastore cluster Virtual machine 2. Click the Monitor tab. 3. In the middle navigation pane, scroll down and select Dell Storage. 4. In the top pane of the view, select a datastore. 5.
Label Description Data Reduction Profile Indicates either Compress or None, depending on the Data Reduction option selected Data Reduction Paused Indicates whether Data Compression is currently running on the volume Compression Savings Percentage of volume space saved by using Compression Compression Ratio Indicates the volume efficiency of using Compression Disk Space Saved Through Compression Amount of volume space saved by using Compression Tier 1 Storage Active volume space, active disk spa
Label Description Server Port Server name and port Storage Port Storage port on the Storage Center LUN Mapping LUN Type Protocol (Fibre Channe, iSCSI, or SAS) Status Status for the path Viewing Volume Snapshots The Volume Snapshots tab in the Dell Storage Monitor view displays information about the snapshots take for the selected datastore. Steps 1.
Label Description Description Name of the Snapshot Profile that automatically created the snapshot. Viewing Protocol Endpoints The Protocol Endpoint tab in the Dell Storage Monitor view displays details about the protocol endpoints used by the server for VVol operations. Steps 1. In ● ● ● ● ● the left navigation pane, select a Storage Center object such as one of the following: Host Datacenter Datastore Datastore cluster Virtual machine 2. Click the Monitor tab. 3.
Viewing Replications and Live Volumes The Replications and Live Volumes tab in the Dell Storage Monitor view displays replication or Live Volume information about the selected Dell volume. Steps 1. In the left navigation pane, select a Storage Center datastore or volume that is configured for replication or Live Volume. 2. Click the Monitor tab. 3. In the middle navigation pane, scroll down and select Dell Storage. 4. In the top pane of the view, select a datastore. 5.
Label Description Replication Type Type of replication State Current state of the replication Destination Storage Center Destination (target) Storage Center for the replication Synced Percentage of data currently in sync Remaining Amount of data that is not yet synced For each replication: General Options Settings that are configured for the replication Live Volume Options Settings that are configured for the Live Volume, if the selected volume is a Live Volume Source Details Information ab
Label Description Destination Snapshots Current snapshots for the destination volume Viewing Dell Storage Charts Use Dell Storage-Charts to display Storage Center performance information for an ESXi host. The Dell Storag- Charts view is accessible from the Monitor tab of a host, cluster, datastore, datastore cluster, virtual machine, or datacenter. Steps 1.
Figure 11. IO Size and Latency Charts Charts The following table describes the type of Storage Center performance data displayed in charts.
