Dell Virtual Storage Manager: Installation Considerations and Local Data Protection Virtual Storage Manager (VSM) end-to-end array management, local data protection and recovery, and VMware vSphere Virtual Volumes (vVols) with Dell PS Series storage Dell Storage Engineering November 2019 A Dell Deployment and Configuration Guide
Revisions Date Description June 2015 Initial release November 2019 vVols branding update THIS WHITE PAPER IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, AND MAY CONTAIN TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS AND TECHNICAL INACCURACIES. THE CONTENT IS PROVIDED AS IS, WITHOUT EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. © 2015–2019 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Dell, the DELL logo, and the DELL badge are trademarks of Dell Inc.
Table of contents Revisions ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 2 Executive summary .............................................................................................................................................................................. 6 1 Introduction ...............................................................................
6.1 Protection with VSM snapshots ....................................................................................................................................... 29 6.1.1 Creating a snapshot .......................................................................................................................................................... 30 6.2 Scalability with folders and datastores.............................................................................................................
A.4 5 Related documentation .................................................................................................................................................... 66 B Configuration details ................................................................................................................................................................... 67 C Virtual Volumes terminology .........................................................................................................
Executive summary This document provides guidance for VMware® and Dell PS Series SAN administrators on the installation and usage of the Dell Virtual Storage Manager (VSM) versions 4.0 or 4.5. It focuses on installing VSM, highlights the functionality provided by the Datastore Manager component of the VSM plugin, and discusses adding array-based snapshots to data-protection capabilities.
1 Introduction Data centers today use VMware virtualization solutions and Dell PS Series SAN storage to consolidate servers and storage for efficient utilization and ease of management. The encapsulation of a virtual machine (VM) into a set of files increases both the flexibility of data protection as well as the challenges of managing the protection of virtualized assets. VMware uses a snapshot technology within VMware vCenter® that can quiesce and help protect the VMs.
1.1 Introduction to Virtual Volumes VMware vSphere 6.0 introduces Virtual Volumes (vVols), a significant change in how storage is utilized in a virtualized environment. Enabled by the second-generation VASA Provider included with Virtual Storage Manager 4.5, this feature enables storage to be virtual-machine aware, and for virtual machines to be first-class citizens in the storage array.
The size of a storage container is limited only by the size of the pool it exists in on a PS Series group. However, nontechnical issues, such as a preference for keeping a virtual machine isolated to a specific department or project, may drive a preference for multiple storage containers. In an environment where a PS Series group has multiple pools, multiple storage containers are needed as a storage container does not span pools.
2 Installation considerations To ensure a smooth installation of Virtual Storage Manager v4.x, a few considerations should be taken into account and prerequisites completed. The installation process for VSM can be completed using either the vCenter Web Client or the legacy vCenter Client, however, it is recommended that the vSphere Web Client is used. VSM 4.x can only be used with the vCenter Web Client. For users of the legacy vCenter Client, VSM 3.5 provides similar functionality.
2.1.1 To verify or set the vCenter Server managed IP 1. 2. 3. Figure 1 4. 2.2 From the vSphere Web Client landing homepage, click vCenter, and then under Inventory Lists, click vCenter Servers. Select the vCenter Server that manages the environment where the VSM will be installed. In the Manage tab, click Edit. Under Runtime settings, set the vCenter Server managed address to the IP address assigned to the vCenter Server. Setting vCenter Server managed address Click OK to apply.
For failures that are more serious, it may be necessary to re-install the VSM. The critical data that VSM contains exists in an internal database where a locally stored backup is automatically created each day. This database backup can be accessed through the VSM CIFS share, located at: \\\database\dbbackup.sql. This should be copied or backed up to another location.
Note: Option 1 does not require a second NIC in the VSM. Option 2 requires a second NIC in the VSM. Option 3 may require a second NIC in the VSM depending on the network configuration of the environment. See section 2.4.3, “Adding a second NIC to VSM”. 2.4 Post-install configuration The installation process of importing the VSM appliance into vCenter configures the network settings of VSM. However, a few important steps remain: 1. 2. 3. 4. 2.4.1 Configure the VASA Provider credentials (section 2.4.1).
7. 8. Figure 3 2.4.2 Enter y to proceed with these settings. The VSM PS Series VASA Provider will then be registered with the vCenter VASA Service. This process takes approximately two minutes. Once complete, the PS Series VASA Provider is listed under Storage Providers. Listing of vSphere Storage Providers – vSphere 6.0 example Changing the root account password Change the root password from the default using the following steps. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 2.4.
3. Figure 4 Select the Enabled checkbox. From the Network Connection dropdown menu, select the appropriate VM Network for communicating with the PS Series array. If using DHCP, select the Use DHCP checkbox. Otherwise, enter the static IP Address and appropriate Netmask. Configuring the optional Storage Network in VSM 4.0 Note: Depending on the network configuration, some environments may require the use of an additional route or a gateway IP address. 4. Click OK to continue.
1. 2. From the vSphere Web Client Home screen, click the Dell VSM icon to view the VSM Home page. On the PS Groups menu, select the Objects tab, and click the Add Groups icon. 3. In the Add PS Series Group dialog box, enter the group name or IP address and credential with grpadmin privileges, and then click Add. 4. 5. Repeat step 3 for each group that will be managed by this VSM, then click OK to continue. VSM connects to each of the groups, and begins to populate VSM with information about the groups.
The access controls for volumes created with VSM can be done in two ways: • Have VSM auto-generate an access control policy or access control list (ACL). For PS Series groups running firmware 7.0 and above, VSM will assign an Access Control Policy that contains the IQNs of the servers contained in the cluster or server selected on the Hardware Resource step. If no existing Access Control Policy meets these requirements, a new Access Control Policy will be created.
The selected host or cluster is given access to the protocol endpoint, and in turn, access any storage containers created on that group. Note: See appendix C for a glossary of Virtual Volume terms. See the document, VMware vSphere Virtual Volumes on Dell PS Series Storage for information on Virtual Volumes.
3 VSM datastore management The design principles behind VSM provide the vSphere administrator with: • • • A view into the storage that supports the datastore presented to the vSphere virtualized environment The ability to perform normal day-to-day storage administration tasks The ability to use all the data protection capabilities of a PS Series array For details on the data protection capabilities of VSM, see sections 6 and 7. The next section gives examples of the information views that VSM provides.
Figure 6 Summary screen of the firefly Group registered with VSM The detailed view displays several tabs with additional information about the selected firefly group. The Summary tab displays details about the individual members that make up the group, a breakdown of the storage consumption, information on the total number of volumes on the array, and how many datastores are used in the vSphere environment.
3.2 VSM Inventory Datastores view The Datastores view under VSM Inventory provides a lot of useful information at a glance. The vSphere administrator can quickly see the capacity, snapshot and replication status of all the datastores in the environment. Figure 7 VSM Datastores view This Datastores screen displays the following states: • • • • The datastore FireflyCITV has a warning status because its Snapshot Space Utilization is exceeding 90%.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. From the VSM Inventory > Datastores page click the Create Dell Datastore icon Enter a Name for the datastore, and the volume on the array backing the datastore will be created with the same label. Select the Type of datastore to be created (VMFS-5, VMFS-3 or NFS), and select the Inventory Location (for example, Datacenter, Datastore Folder, or Datastore Cluster) where the datastore should be placed. Select the cluster or individual host where the datastore should be mounted.
2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 3.3.3 Enter a Name for the datastore, select the datastore Type VVol, and select the Inventory Location (for example, Datacenter, Datastore Folder or Datastore Cluster) where the datastore should be placed. Select the cluster or individual host where the vVol datastore should be mounted. From the dropdown menus, select the PS Group and the Storage Pool where the Storage Container backing the datastore will be created.
1. 2. Figure 8 3. From the VSM Inventory > Datastores page, highlight a datastore to resize, and then click the Delete Dell Datastore icon . Alternatively, right click a datastore and select Delete Dell Datastore from the context menu. A verification dialog is displayed, with the warning ALL DATA WILL BE LOST! Select the checkbox to acknowledge the deletion and enable the OK button allowing you to proceed.
1. From the VSM home, under Templates, click ACL Templates. 2. 3. 4. Click the Create ACL Template icon . Provide a name for the new ACL Template and optionally add a description. Click Add, and enter an ACL entry or entries. An ACL entry can consist of either a CHAP user name, IP address, or iSCSI initiator name or a combination of these. Click OK to save the ACL entry. If the ACL Template requires multiple ACL entries, click Add again and repeat step 4 until the policy has all the ACL entries required.
4 Role-based access controls Dell VSM is a powerful tool that enables vSphere administrators to complete storage management and data protection tasks from within vCenter. However, in many vSphere environments, there will be multiple vSphere users with varying degrees of knowledge, skills, and responsibilities. VSM 4.0 introduces over 50 additional privileges enabling the creation of very granular vCenter roles that reflect the skills and business needs of the individual user.
5 VASA Provider The PS Series VSM virtual appliance includes the PS Series VASA Provider. The VASA Provider is a set of APIs that enable vCenter to communicate with the virtual environment’s underlying storage. This non-SCSI communication with the PS Series array enables vSphere to learn the capabilities of each datastore volume presented to the virtual environment.
Series VASA Provider to find out whether the migration of the VM and its workload would benefit the overall I/O workload distribution of the PS Series array. If the migration will not result in an improvement in the distribution of the I/O workload (for example, if the volumes involved reside on the same PS Series group members) the VASA Provider informs Storage DRS not to perform the migration.
6 Local data protection strategies with VMFS datastores Once the VSM appliance is installed and running in the environment, a Dell Virtual Storage Manager icon appears in the vCenter Web UI. Throughout this document, the term VSM snapshot refers to the coordinated protection process of VMware snapshots and PS Series SAN snapshots being used together to create a hypervisor-aware array snapshot recovery point.
The supported objects for a VSM Snapshot are: VM, VM Folder, Datastore, Datastore Folder, and Datastore Cluster. 6.1.1 Creating a snapshot All of the available actions for a particular object appear in the right-click menu of any supported object. All Dell VSM Actions are listed at the bottom of the menu. 1. 30 Select an object and click All Dell VSM Actions > Create Snapshot to take a VSM snapshot using the Create Snapshot wizard.
The snapshot options displayed are optional parameters that can be selected for the snapshot. These options apply to all VMs included in the Snapshot. • • Include volumes accessed by guest iSCSI initiators: This option requires the VMs to be powered on and the VMware tools to be installed. If these conditions are met, VSM will query the tools and any connected PS Series iSCSI initiated volumes and include them in the snapshot. These volumes must reside on a group that is also managed by the VSM.
During the snapshot process, each VM is placed into VMware snapshot mode, quiescing the virtual machine (if VMware Tools are installed). Once the VM snapshots are created, VSM coordinates PS Series snapshots for each of the included PS Series volumes. When the PS Series snapshots are completed, VSM deletes the VMware snapshots associated with the snapshot. This does not delete existing VMware snapshots on the VMs, just the ones created for this snapshot. 3.
Figure 11 6.3 Example of folders in vCenter for protection Automating protection with schedules Individual snapshots are useful for one-off situations, such as testing a new patch or software build, but the real power from VSM comes from the built-in scheduling function. This provides a layer of protection that allows VMs to meet a better SLA for recoverability. Everything that can have a snapshot taken can also have a schedule created to automate the process.
Either method for creating a snapshot schedule displays existing schedules for that particular object.
6.3.1 Adding a snapshot schedule In this example, protection is established for the datastore folder, VSM Demo, that contains the three datastores (VSMDemo01, VSMDemo02, and VSMDemo03). A four hour schedule that keeps the past 8 copies is created, and it runs from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. This means a snapshot is created at 6 a.m., 10 a.m., 2 p.m., and 6 p.m. and then kept for two days. The schedule is repeated Monday through Friday.
VSM automatically populates the Name field with the object description, but you can change this if you plan on applying it to other objects. 2. To apply the same schedule to mulitple types of objects, click Save As Template.... Templates are a useful tool for managing different types of schedules. VSM comes with a few example templates: Business Hours every hour, Weekly Snapshot, and Gold 2hr. These can be modified or used as examples for creating new protection schemes. 3.
In this scenario, imagine that there is a folder with a VM in a two-hour reoccurring snapshot. Elsewhere in the cluster, another folder with a VM is in a six-hour reoccurring snapshot. The second VM resides on the same datastore volume as the first VM. This causes the PS Series SAN to create multiple snapshots of the same volume, but snapshots of the first VM only happen during its schedule.
points of the virtual environment to a traditional backup schedule in case data needs to be restored. By utilizing the snapshots in addition to the traditional backup schemes, administrators gain a shorter recovery time objective. The act of deploying a new virtual machine, patching it, installing the applications, backing up the agent, and then recovering data results in the loss of hours or even days of work.
6. Choose an action to perform on the selected snapshot. Icon Action Description Create Snapshot An additional way to create a one-time snapshot on this object. Selective Restore Use VSM to restore an individual VM or just a few VMs that are contained inside the snapshot without impacting other VMs. Rollback Restore Revert everything in the snapshot to the point in time that the snapshot was taken. This affects every VM and every volume in the snapshot. Delete Delete the highlighted snapshot.
6.5.2 Selective restore Note: This process takes longer than a restore by rollback but it does not impact other VMs on the datastore. 1. 40 2. 3. To perform a selective restore of any number of VMs in the snapshot, select a snapshot timestamp and click the selective restore icon in the menu bar. Inventory: Check the VMs to recover. The Current Status displays whether the VM has been deleted. Click Next to continue. 4. 5.
Monitor the restore task in the VSM Job Details pane. It may be necessary to occasionally refresh the vCenter web UI. VSM performs the following steps: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 41 Powers off the VMs that are being restored. Creates clones of the datastore volumes named VSM-temp-*****. Rescans the VMware ESX® cluster and registers the cloned volumes. Deletes the VMs that are being restored. Copies the VMs from the clone volume to the original datastore. Registers and reverts the VM to the snapshot state.
6.5.3 Rollback restore Note: This method rolls back the entire datastore, and affects all VMs on the datastore including new VMs that might not be part of an older snapshot. VSM provides a warning if these impacts exist. When all of the information in a snapshot needs to be rolled back to the point when it was created, use rollback restore. This reverts every single object in the snapshot including every VM and every volume. 1. 2. 6.
Note: Virtual machines that have data drives on multiple datastore volumes are supported by snapshot creation. However, during a clone operation, these virtual machines that have the additional data drives still point to the original volumes. This causes conflicts without some manual configuration steps. As a best practice, keep all of the data of the VMs that need to be cloned on a single datastore volume to avoid any potential issues. To create a clone from a snapshot: 1.
Access Policy: The next step in the process is to choose the access policy for the new cloned volumes. 4. Select Auto-generate to create ACLs from the hosts that are in the selected cluster. You can choose to specify a new or existing ACL policy. For information about ACL policies in VSM see section 2.5.2.
5. Complete your selections and click Next. 6. Ready to Complete: Verify the options are correct and click Finish. During this time, VSM coordinates with the PS Series SAN and creates volume clones of all the snapshots that are part of the VSM snapshot. Once the volumes are cloned, VSM tells vCenter to rescan and bring these new cloned volumes into the environment in a datastore folder.
Note: VMs contain VMware snapshots and possibly memory state from the snapshot process. During the process, VSM does not revert or delete these snapshots to protect the original VM. These snapshots need to be managed manually once the VMs are isolated. 6.7 Advanced cloning in selective data recovery There are times when data restoration needs to be more granular than at the level of the individual datastore or individual virtual machine.
Dell Virtual Storage Manager: Installation Considerations and Local Data Protection | 2079-BP-V-VSM
The next step is to add an existing hard disk to the VM that points to the cloned datastore. 5. Find the VMDK file with the data in the folder to recover and click OK. Click OK again to commit the change. 6. Once the recovery data disk has been mounted to the VM, utilize the native OS tools to recover the data. For example, in Microsoft Windows Server® 2008 R2, open disk management first. 7. 8. 9. Place the disk online to assign a drive letter to it.
These clones will be listed as a completed task for the clone. This will ensure proper removal of the iSCSI targets and deletion of PS Series cloned volumes. 6.8 Multilayered data protection approach and data placement PS Series SANs are integrated with vSphere through the Virtual Storage Manager. With features such as snapshots, they provide an additional layer of protection by offering hypervisor-aware snapshots for virtual machines.
7 Local data protection strategies with vVol datastores Virtual Volumes significantly changes taking snapshots. Traditional VMware snapshots, its delta VMDKs, and its associated limitations have been replaced by SAN-based traditional volume snapshots. This provides a number of benefits: • • • • 7.
• • • Cause no performance impact Offer application consistency Allow snapshots to be kept indefinitely Note: A virtual machine can span a VMFS datastore and a vVol datastore, however, this configuration is not supported for snapshots. 7.2 Protection with VMware vVol snapshots The workflow for creating a snapshot of a virtual machine stored on a vVol datastore is the same as when it is stored on a VMFS datastore. However, the snapshot creation method has changed: 1. 2. 3.
7.2.1 Creating a snapshot Follow this step-by-step process to create a snapshot: 1. From the virtual machine context sensitive menu, or its Actions dropdown menu, select Snapshots > Take Snapshot. 2. Provide a Name and Description for the snapshot to enable easy identification of what a particular snapshot contains. Optionally, elect to include Snapshot the virtual machine’s memory (selected by default). 3.
Note: A choice must be made between selecting Snapshot the virtual machine’s memory and Quiesce guest file system. Generally the longer a snapshot is retained, the less valuable the virtual machine memory is. 5. Click OK to create the snapshot. Remember that with Virtual Volumes, VMware will offload the creation of virtual machine snapshots to an array, where the array native snapshot capabilities can be used.
5. vSphere is informed of the change. Because data movement does not occur, the restoration process is just an update to the array internal database and a reconfiguration of the virtual machine. This allows the process to complete in a matter of seconds. Two methods can be used to restore from a snapshot: the Manage Snapshot dialog where a particular restore can be chosen, or the Revert to Latest Snapshot, which reverts the virtual machine to the most recent snapshot. 1. 2.
Note: While VMware snapshots can be non-disruptive, selecting Quiesce guest file system invokes a process to bring the virtual machine disks into a state suitable for backups. Depending on how active the data is and the application in use, this may cause disruption. 7.3 Additional vVol snapshot functionality with VSM In a somewhat confusing circular fashion, VSM builds on the VMware snapshot functionality that also enables vSphere to perform.
2. 56 Similar to the native VMware snapshot option from vSphere, there are options to quiesce the filesystem and include a copy of the memory.
Additionally, there is an option to include iSCSI within the guest mounted iSCSI volumes. This requires the virtual machine to be powered on and the VMware Tools installed. VSM will analyze the virtual machines for iSCSI attached volumes, and snapshot them at the same time as the virtual machine. Note: A virtual machine folder may consist of VMFS based virtual machines, and vVol-based virtual machines.
The upper half of the screenshot shown above displays the history of Jobs performed, with the current job (Create Snapshot of Application stack) highlighted. In the Jobs Details section of the screen, the individual tasks that make up the job and their status can be observed. 7.3.2 Automating protection with VSM snapshot schedules Similar to scheduling snapshots of virtual machines (detailed in section 6.
Groups of virtual machines can be protected though the use of virtual machine folders. To create a snapshot schedule for a VSM: 1. From the virtual machine or virtual machine folder context sensitive menu, or its Actions dropdown menu, select All Dell VSM Actions > Snapshot Schedules. Or with the object selected, click Dell VSM from the Manage tab, click Snapshot Schedules, and then the Add Schedule icon 2. 3. 4.
5. Click OK to assign the schedule to the virtual machine or virtual machine folder. Note: A virtual machine or virtual machine folder can have multiple snapshot schedules associated with it. Should one or more snapshot schedules occur at the same time, they will be taken sequentially. 6. 60 Alternatively, provide a Name to the schedule and select a previously created schedule from the template dropdown menu, and then click OK to continue.
7.4 Recovering virtual machines using VSM Recovering a virtual machine may be necessary for a variety of reasons such as a bad patch or software build, file corruption, or user error. However, recovering from backups often incurs a long RTO and RPO, resulting in significant downtime. While snapshots are not a replacement for traditional backups, they can be used to complement them, and provide a shorter RTO and RPO.
1. Initialize a clone vVol VM from snapshot recovery from the Dell VSM button under a virtual machine Manage tab, and then select Snapshots. From the VSM Actions drop-down ( Snapshot. 2. ), select Clone VVOL VM from Provide a Name Suffix for the clone. By default, VSM will append –clone-. Click OK to begin the task. Once the clone vVol VM from snapshot task is completed, the recovery of the data can be performed. 3. 4. 5.
7.5 Creating clones from snapshots The ability to clone a virtual machine has been a long-time feature of vSphere, enabling virtual machines (including a completely installed and configured operating system) to be deployed in minutes. Recent versions of vSphere have enabled this even while the virtual machine is running. However, this clone functionality has not enabled the ability to turn back the clock and get a clone of the state a virtual machine was previously in.
8 Summary The Dell Virtual Storage Manager is a vCenter plugin that provides a whole suite of tools for managing and protecting virtualized environments. By leveraging VSM snapshots for local data protection, environments can augment their existing backup strategies to provide a much finer window of recovery. Also included with VSM is the PS Series VASA Provider which enables Storage Policy Based Management and Virtual Volumes.
A Additional resources A.1 Technical support and customer service Offering online and telephone-based support and service options, Dell support service can answer your questions about PS Series arrays, groups, volumes, array software, and host software. Availability varies by country and product, and some services might not be available in your area. Visit Dell.com/support or call 800-945-3355 (United States and Canada). For international support of Dell PS Series products, visit http://www.dell.
A.4 Related documentation See the following referenced or recommended resources related to this document.
B Configuration details The following table shows the software and firmware used for the preparation of this paper. Table 1 67 Software and firmware versions Vendor Model Software revision Dell PS Series SAN 6.0, 7.0, and 8.0 Dell Virtual Storage Manager 4.0 and 4.5 VMware vCenter™ 5.5 and 6.0 VMware ESX®/ESXi™ 5.1, 5.5, and 6.
C Virtual Volumes terminology While reading this paper, it is important to have an understanding of the following vVols-relevant terminology. VASA Provider: The VASA Provider plays an important role in enabling a vVol environment. The VASA Provider offers out-of-band management access to the SAN from vCenter. It enables vCenter to communicate with the SAN in ways that the current SCSI protocol does not.
Figure 14 Protocol endpoint as shown in vSphere Web Client Storage container: A storage container is reserved space on the SAN that can be increased and decreased as needs change (PS Series storage requires thick, or 100 percent, space reservation). It can also be conceptualized as a type of folder object on the SAN for organizing multiple volumes together. Storage containers are seen and treated as regular datastores by vSphere, and are referred to as a vVol-type datastore.
