Dell 6 series- Manuals

xiii Preface This document describes PS Series group functionality and management operations. It describes how you use the Group Manager graphical user interface (GUI) to perform tasks. For information about using the command line interface (CLI) to manage a group, see the CLI Reference manual on th...

Group Administration Preface xiv Part II: Using Group Storage: • Chapter 7, Storage pools , describes how to organize storage for a group. • Chapter 8, iSCSI target security , describes how to protect volumes and snapshots from unauthorized and uncoordinated iSCSI initiator access. • Chapter 9, Basi...

Group Administration Preface xv PS Series Array Software • Firmware – Installed on each array, PS Series firmware allows you to manage your storage environment and provides capabilities such as volume snapshots, cloning, and replication to protect data hosted on the array in the event of an error or...

Group Administration Preface xvi Related Documentation For detailed information about PS Series arrays, groups, volumes, array software, and host software, see the documentation listed in the following figure: Figure 2-1: PS Series Documentation

Group Administration Preface xvii Technical Support and Customer Service Dell’s support service is available to answer your questions about PS Series arrays. If you have an Express Service Code, have it ready when you call. The code helps Dell's automated-support telephone system direct your call mo...

1–1 1 Storage solutions for all enterprises PS Series storage arrays provide consolidated storage in a self-managing, iSCSI (Internet Small Computer System Interface) storage area network (SAN). Featuring automated management and fast, flexible scalability, PS Series arrays can greatly decrease the ...

Group Administration Storage solutions for all enterprises 1–2 By default, a group provides a single pool of storage. If you have multiple members, you can divide group space into different storage pools and then assign members. Pools help you organize storage according to usage and give you a way t...

Group Administration Storage solutions for all enterprises 1–3 • Support for standard Ethernet networks. Only one IP network connection is necessary for array operation. You can configure all the network interfaces for maximum bandwidth. You do not have to train administrators in unfamiliar and comp...

Group Administration Storage solutions for all enterprises 1–4 Automatic SAN operation In contrast to traditional storage management environments involving error-prone, manual tasks, a PS Series group does complex tasks correctly and without user intervention: • Automatic RAID configuration and data...

Group Administration Storage solutions for all enterprises 1–5 You can restrict iSCSI access to volumes according to IP address, iSCSI initiator name, or Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) user name. You can set up and authenticate CHAP accounts locally in the group or through a RADI...

Group Administration Storage solutions for all enterprises 1–6 A replica represents the contents of a volume at a specific point in time. You can create replicas on-demand and through schedules. • Failover and failback. If a volume is destroyed, you can fail over to the recovery group and recover da...

2–1 2 Common group tasks When you use the setup utility or the Remote Setup Wizard to create a new PS Series group with one or more members, you have a fully functioning group with many features. Dell recommends you perform the common post-setup tasks listed here. See About the Group Manager GUI on ...

Group Administration Common group tasks 2–2 Configuring CHAP for initiator authentication You can use Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) for iSCSI authentication to manage access controls more efficiently. Using a challenge-response mechanism, CHAP restricts target access through use...

3–1 3 Group Manager user interfaces PS Series arrays provide simple, yet robust user interfaces for creating, expanding, and managing groups. The graphical user interface (GUI) and the command-line user interface provide virtually identical functionality. About the Group Manager GUI You can run the ...

Group Administration Group Manager user interfaces 3–2 b. Navigate to the Windows Programs menu, and click EqualLogic PS Group, then group_name Group Manager. When you install the GUI locally, it automatically updates when you upgrade the PS Series firmware. However, you must log out of the GUI and ...

Group Administration Group Manager user interfaces 3–3 – Inbound replica collections - related sets of storage objects located on a partner group, sending replicated data to the login group. – Inbound replicas- individual storage objects located on a partner group, sending replicated data to the log...

Group Administration Group Manager user interfaces 3–4 GUI icons Table 3-2 identifies the icons at the top of the GUI window. The first column lists the icons and the second describes them. Table 3-2: GUI Icons Icon Description Keyboard Shortcut Save changes . Saves and applies any changes you made ...

Group Administration Group Manager user interfaces 3–5 Displaying the tools panel If the Tools panel is not showing in the bottom left of the GUI window, click its Show window icon ( ) to open the Tools panel. To keep the Tools window open, drag the panel divider bar . Table 3-3 shows the Tools pane...

Group Administration Group Manager user interfaces 3–6 2. In the User Preferences – General dialog box, select your preferences and click OK . See the online help for information about the options. Setting GUI communication policies To manage connections between your workstation and the Group Manage...

Group Administration Group Manager user interfaces 3–7 Starting online help for group manager In addition to tooltips and command-line help for the GUI and CLI, online help is available for the Group Manager GUI. An internet connection is required to use online help, which is served from a Web site ...

4–1 4 Group security Group security features enable you to control access to the group and the data it contains. About group security To access a group for management purposes, an administrator must meet several security conditions. See Table 4-1. Table 4-1: Access Requirements for Group Administrat...

Group Administration Group security 4–2 Administration access options Table 4-3 shows the access options and network services. Table 4-3: Administration Access Options Field Description Shortcut User Actions Enable Web access Whether administrators can access the Group Manager through the web interf...

Group Administration Group security 4–3 You can manage accounts locally or remotely: • Locally in the group – If you have relatively few administration accounts, this method is practical. Account authentication occurs within the group. The default administration account, grpadmin , is a local accoun...

Group Administration Group security 4–4 Administrators accounts have these restrictions: • You cannot change the name of an administration account. Instead, you must delete the account and then re- create it with the new name. • You cannot disable, delete, change the name, or change the type of the ...

Group Administration Group security 4–5 Displaying local administration accounts To see the names, types, access permissions or status of local administration accounts: 1. Click Group , then Group Configuration. 2. Select the Administration tab. The Group Administration window appears. See the onlin...

Group Administration Group security 4–6 • For a pool administrator, select one or more pools the account can manage and whether the account has read-only access to the entire group. • For a volume administrator, select one or more pools the account can manage and specify the quotas for each pool. 5....

Group Administration Group security 4–7 About administration accounts on a RADIUS authentication server You can use an external RADIUS authentication server to centralize the management of administration accounts. The RADIUS server authenticates administration accounts and also determines the accoun...

Group Administration Group security 4–9 Displaying RADIUS authentication and accounting servers 1. Click Group , then Group Configuration . 2. Select the Administration tab. See the online help for information about the data fields and options. Using RADIUS authentication and accounting servers Prer...

Group Administration Group security 4–10 Procedure for configuring RADIUS servers 1. Click Group , then Group Configuration , and then the Administration tab. 2. Click RADIUS settings . The RADIUS Settings dialog box appears. 3. Under RADIUS authentication servers click Add and specify the IP addres...

Group Administration Group security 4–11 • Number of retries value 1. Click Group , then Group Configuration , and then the Administration tab. 2. In the RADIUS Authentication panel, click RADIUS settings . 3. To change a server IP address or password, select the server IP address and click Modify i...

Group Administration Group security 4–12 To change SNMP access: 1. In the SNMP Access panel, click Add . 2. Enter a SNMP community name (for example, public ) and click OK . You can specify up to five names. 3. Click Save all changes (Control+S). To modify or delete an SNMP community name: 1. In the...

Group Administration Group security 4–13 VDS/VSS access control records use the same criteria for restricting access as iSCSI target access control records: CHAP user name, iSCSI initiator name, or iSCSI initiator IP address. See About iSCSI target access controls on page 8-1. To display VDS/VSS Acc...

Group Administration Group security 4–14 Although a dedicated management network can provide additional group administration security, it has disadvantages: • Because you assign the highest-numbered network interface on each group member to the management network, iSCSI traffic is limited to the rem...

Group Administration Group security 4–15 Procedure for configuring a management network Warning: When you complete the management network configuration, administrators cannot log in to the group using the group IP address. Instead, administrators must use the new management IP address. Any open GUI ...

Group Administration Group security 4–16 Figure 4-1: Configure Management Network – Configuration Complete 8. In the Warning dialog box, click Yes to restart the Group Manager GUI session using the new management IP address. Note: When you configure a management network correctly, the highest-number...

Group Administration Group security 4–17 Adding a member to a group with a management network If you add a member to a group that has a management network, you must assign the highest-numbered network interface on the new member to the management network. After you select the pool and RAID policy fo...

Group Administration Group security 4–18 Unconfiguring a management network You can unconfigure a dedicated management network and re-enable the group IP address to be used for group management. 1. Click Group , then Group Configuration , and then the Advanced tab. 2. In the Group Advanced window’s ...

5–1 5 Group configuration You can change the group configuration defaults and initial settings. You can also add members to a group to expand group capacity and improve performance. Displaying the Group summary The Group Summary window appears when you first start the Group Manager GUI or when you c...

Group Administration Group configuration 5–2 Displaying the Group configuration To display the current configuration, click Group Configuration in the left panel. The Summary panel contains important configuration attributes and provides links to views that contain more details and in some cases, pr...

Group Administration Group configuration 5–3 Group configuration tabs Each of the Group Configuration tabs provides additional information and configuration options as shown in Table 5-2: Table 5-2: Group Configuration Tabs Tab Name Description User Actions General General group settings, date and t...

Group Administration Group configuration 5–4 Setting the time through an NTP server You can specify that the group use up to three external Network Time Protocol (NTP) servers to automatically set the same time for all the group members. The group uses one NTP server at a time and the first listed s...

Group Administration Group configuration 5–5 About group network configuration The group network configuration, which appears in the Group Summary window, includes the group name and group IP address, which you set when creating a group: • Group name – Identifies the group on the network. For exampl...

Group Administration Group configuration 5–6 1. Click Group , then Group Configuration . 2. Select the General tab. (See the online help for information about the data fields and options.) 3. Modify the group name or group IP address. 4. [Optional] Change the location and group description. 5. Click...

6–1 6 Group members A PS Series group includes one or more PS Series arrays configured as group members. Displaying Group members To display information about all group members, click Members in the far-left panel. The Group Members panel appears, containing the following panels: • Group disk space ...

Group Administration Group members 6–2 – Click Front view to see the front panel of the array. For some array models, the GUI shows disk drives located behind the front bezel. – Click Inside view (not available on all array models) to see the disk drives located inside the array. – Click Rear view t...

Group Administration Group members 6–3 Controllers tab 1. Click Group , then expand Members . 2. Select the member name, and click the Controllers tab. The following panels provide information about the member’s controller modules: • Control module panel – Enables you to identify controller location...

Group Administration Group members 6–4 Connections tab 1. Click Group , then expand Members . 2. Select the member name, and click the Connections tab. The iSCSI Connection panel displays details of the current initiator connections. See the online help for information about the data fields and opti...

Group Administration Group members 6–5 The RAID policy for a member consists of two parts: • RAID level – RAID 10, RAID 50, RAID 5, or RAID 6. See RAID level characteristics . Recommendation: For optimal performance, Dell recommends that you assign the same RAID level to pool members with the same d...

Group Administration Group members 6–6 Table 6-1 compares the performance and availability characteristics of the supported RAID levels. The first column lists workload requirements, with the other columns respectively listing the performance quality for each requirement at RAID 10, RAID 50, RAID 5,...

Group Administration Group members 6–7 1. In the Group Summary window, expand Members and double-click the member name or click Group , then expand Members , and then select the member name. The GUI shows whether a member is configured or not. 2. In the warning dialog box that appears, click Yes to ...

Group Administration Group members 6–8 Recommendation: For high availability and performance, Dell recommends that you configure multiple network interfaces and use redundant network switches. Note: Some control module types include a network interface that can be used only in a dedicated management...

Group Administration Group members 6–9 1. Install a secondary control module in the member. 2. For each configured network interface, connect the Ethernet port on the secondary control module to the network. Configuring redundant network switches Redundant network switches protect against network an...

Group Administration Group members 6–10 Note: Unless you are using a dedicated management network, the default gateway is the same for all network interfaces on an array. To modify the default gateway, see Modifying the default gateway for a member . 6. Select Enable this interface . You must enable...

Group Administration Group members 6–11 Requirement: You must use a default gateway to enable communication outside the local network. 1. Click Group , then expand Members , then select the member name, and then click the Network tab. 2. In the IP Configuration panel next to the Default gateway fiel...

Group Administration Group members 6–12 on the functional control module uses write-through mode. If you disable this policy (the default), the cache on the functioning control module uses write-back mode. • Use write-through mode if battery charge is below tolerance – Also called low-battery-safe m...

Group Administration Group members 6–13 Before updating firmware, see Firmware update considerations and prerequisites for important information to consider. Firmware update considerations and prerequisites Regular firmware updates are an important part of maintaining a well-functioning group. Befor...

Group Administration Group members 6–14 Disallowing member firmware downgrades If the Disallow downgrades option is active, the group is not using all features of the installed firmware. You must disallow firmware downgrades to use the features in an updated firmware release. Requirement: Before you...

7–1 7 Storage pools About storage pools Storage pools allocate storage space into partitions comprising one or more members. By default, a group provides a single pool of storage. If your group has multiple members, you can divide group space into different pools and then assign members. Note: Load ...

Group Administration Storage pools 7–2 – Disk speed – Member RAID level (RAID 10, RAID 50, RAID 5, RAID 6) Recommendation: Dell recommends that pool members with the same disk spin rate have the same RAID level. For example, if a pool contains two members that have 7200 RPM disks installed, configur...

Group Administration Storage pools 7–3 2. Under Storage pool assignment, click Create new pool . 3. In the Create Storage Pool dialog box, enter a name and description for the new pool and click OK . If a description contains spaces, surround it with quotation marks. 4. In the Modify Member Settings...

Group Administration Storage pools 7–4 • Pool members panel– Provides information that enables you to identify members in the pool, member status and configuration, and pool iSCSI connections. See the online help for information about the data fields and options. Storage pool volumes tab To display ...

Group Administration Storage pools 7–5 To cancel an in-progress member pool move operation, click Members , then member_name , then Cancel member move. Moving a volume to a pool When you create a volume, you assign the volume to a pool. The group stores volume data on the pool members. You can also ...

Group Administration Storage pools 7–6 1. Click Group , then expand Storage pools , then select the pool name, and then click Modify pool settings . 2. Modify the pool name or description and click OK . Deleting a storage pool If you delete a storage pool, the group immediately moves its members and...

8–1 8 iSCSI target security Volumes and snapshots are seen on the network as iSCSI targets. It is important to understand how to protect your volumes and snapshots from unauthorized and uncontrolled access by iSCSI initiators. About iSCSI access requirements To access an iSCSI target (for example, a...

Group Administration iSCSI target security 8–2 Authenticating initiators through CHAP CHAP is a network login protocol that uses a challenge-response mechanism. You can use CHAP to authenticate iSCSI initiators by specifying a CHAP user name in an access control record. To meet this condition, a com...

Group Administration iSCSI target security 8–3 Note: For optimal security, passwords must contain at least 12 characters (preferably random). Individual iSCSI initiators have their own rules and restrictions for length and format. Consult your initiator documentation for details. • Select whether to...

Group Administration iSCSI target security 8–4 5. If you have not already configured the group to use a RADIUS server, click RADIUS settings and add at least one RADIUS server. See the procedure in Using RADIUS authentication and accounting servers on page 4-9 for adding RADIUS servers. 6. Click Sav...

Group Administration iSCSI target security 8–5 When an initiator tries to log in to a target, the group uses access control records to determine if access should be authorized. However, access control records do not prevent multiple initiators, either on the same computer or different computers, fro...

Group Administration iSCSI target security 8–6 Deleting an iSNS server To delete the IP address for an iSNS server, select the address in the iSCSI Discovery panel in the Group iSCSI window and click delete . Then, click Save all changes (Control+S). Preventing the discovery of unauthorized targets ...

Group Administration iSCSI target security 8–7 • If an initiator is connected to the volume, the group compares the IQN of the current connection to the IQN of the incoming connection. If the IQNs are not the same, access is denied. If the IQNs are the same, the group uses access control records to ...

9–1 9 Basic volume operations Basic volume operations consist of creating volumes, setting up access controls, and modifying volume attributes. You can also clone a volume to create an exact copy. About volumes A computer uses an industry-standard iSCSI initiator to access a volume in a group. Most ...

Group Administration Basic volume operations 9–2 You can replicate any volume type, resulting in a replica set for the volume. In addition, you can fail over any volume type, resulting in a recovery version of the volume. However, you can only fail back a standard volume or a thin clone volume. Disp...

Group Administration Basic volume operations 9–3 In addition, you can allow or disallow volume access from multiple initiators, depending on your configuration needs. See Allowing or disallowing multi-host volume access on page 9-14. About volume data protection Dell recommends that you use snapshot...

Group Administration Basic volume operations 9–5 Displaying group-wide default volume settings When you create a volume or enable thin provisioning on a volume, group-wide defaults are applied, unless you explicitly override them for a volume. These default values control snapshot space, snapshot be...

Group Administration Basic volume operations 9–6 To create a standard volume: 1. Click Volumes in the lower-left panel and then click Create volume . 2. In the Create Volume – Volume Settings dialog box, specify: • Volume name • Optional volume description • Storage pool 3. Click Next . 4. In the Cr...

Group Administration Basic volume operations 9–7 the Volumes Summary window provides the following volume information: • Identifiers – name, storage pool location and accessibility status. • Capacity – Reported size and reserve space allocation. • Parameters – Replication partner, snapshot count, co...

Group Administration Basic volume operations 9–8 – Name, status, and security (access) – Capacity and reserve – iSCSI connections – Storage pool and (if a thin clone) template volume – Replication identifiers • Volume and snapshot space panel – Provides information about volume use: – Size, capacity...

Group Administration Basic volume operations 9–9 – Collections and schedules that include this snapshot – Accessibility (security) and current connections See the online help for information about the data fields and options. Displaying volume replication Displays the replication configuration and r...

Group Administration Basic volume operations 9–10 • Schedules summary panel – Provides information about the snapshot and replication schedules for a volume, schedule status and the next scheduled event. • Snapshot and Replication schedules panel – Provides information about individual schedules, ev...

Group Administration Basic volume operations 9–11 2. In the Access Control List panel, click Add . The Add Access Control Record dialog box appears. 3. Select the conditions that a computer must meet and specify the required information (CHAP user name, IP address, iSCSI initiator name). 4. Select w...

Group Administration Basic volume operations 9–12 2. Click Clone . The following dialog box appears: Clone Volume – Settings. Specify the new volume name and description. 3. Click Next .The following dialog box appears: Clone Volume – Space. Enable or disable thin provisioning (only applicable to st...

Group Administration Basic volume operations 9–13 1. Click Volumes in the lower-left panel, then expand Volumes in the far-left tree, then select the volume name, then click the Modify settings , and then click the General tab. 2. In the Modify volume settings – General dialog box, modify the name o...

Group Administration Basic volume operations 9–14 Modifying volume permission A volume can have read-write or read-only permission, unless it is a template volume. Requirement: To change a volume permission to read-only, you must first set the volume offline. Restriction: You cannot set a template v...

Group Administration Basic volume operations 9–15 You cannot use the Group Manager GUI to enable or disable iSNS discovery for a volume or snapshot. Instead, you must use the following CLI command formats: volume select volume_name isns-discovery enable | disable volume select volume_name snapshot s...

10–1 10 Advanced volume operations Only knowledgeable group administrators should perform advanced volume operations, including creating thin- provisioned volumes, using template volumes and thin clones, changing a volume size, using volume collections, and scheduling volume operations. About thin p...

Group Administration Advanced volume operations 10–2 – For a volume with a reported size that is less than 100GB, when free volume reserve falls below 6% of the reported volume size, the group allocates an additional 10% of the reported volume size. Event messages inform you when in-use volume reser...

Group Administration Advanced volume operations 10–3 Enabling thin provisioning on a volume When you create a new volume or clone an existing volume, you can enable thin provisioning on the volume. In addition, you can modify an existing volume and enable thin provisioning. Thin provisioning is not ...

Group Administration Advanced volume operations 10–4 • Because the group bases snapshot space and replication space on a percentage of the volume reserve, disabling thin provisioning increases snapshot space and replication space. Therefore, you must have sufficient free pool space. • In some cases,...

Group Administration Advanced volume operations 10–5 About reported volume size You can change the reported size of a volume while the volume is online and without disrupting access to the volume. Warning: Not all operating systems, file systems, and applications easily handle volume size changes or...

Group Administration Advanced volume operations 10–6 Decreasing the reported size of a volume You can decrease the reported size of the volume, while the volume remains online. Decreasing the size of a volume is sometimes called “shrinking” a volume. See About reported volume size on page 10-5 for i...

Group Administration Advanced volume operations 10–8 thin clone before you need to increase its size. This value is the same as the value for “unreserved” space in the Volume Space table in the Volume Status window for the template volume. If you detach a thin clone, the resulting new standard volum...

Group Administration Advanced volume operations 10–9 Note: When you convert to a template volume, the group disables any schedules that include the volume. If you later convert the template volume to a standard volume, the group does not automatically enable the schedules. Requirement: Before conver...

Group Administration Advanced volume operations 10–10 If you detach a thin clone from a template volume, the thin clone is converted to a standard volume and no longer shares space with the template volume. Therefore, when you detach a thin clone, the volume reserve for the thin clone increases by t...

Group Administration Advanced volume operations 10–12 • Snapshot summary panel – Provides information about snapshot collections, schedules, and scheduled events. • Snapshots panel – Provides information about snapshot timestamp, schedule name, security, and connections. See the online help for info...

Group Administration Advanced volume operations 10–13 Deleting a volume collection Note: Deleting a volume collection does not delete the volumes in the collection or any snapshots or replicas. However, the group deletes any schedules for the volume collections. 1. Click Volumes , then expand Volume...

Group Administration Advanced volume operations 10–14 Creating a schedule When you create a schedule, you specify the attributes described in Table 10-2. 1. Do one of the following: • For a volume, click Volumes , then expand Volumes , then select the volume, and then click Create schedule . • For a...

Group Administration Advanced volume operations 10–15 Displaying volume schedules 1. Click Volumes , then expand Volumes , then select the volume, and then click the Schedules tab. The Schedules Summary panel shows the status of the volume schedules and the creation time for the next scheduled snaps...

Group Administration Advanced volume operations 10–16 Enabling and disabling a volume RAID preference A PS Series group uses automatic performance load balancing (enabled by default) to identify the RAID level that provides the best performance for a volume and store volume data on pool members with...

Group Administration Advanced volume operations 10–17 To unbind a volume from a member, use the following CLI command format: volume select volume_name unbind See the PS Series CLI Reference manual for more information about using CLI commands. Managing a volume or snapshot with lost blocks In rare ...

11–1 11 Snapshot management Snapshots greatly simplify and increase the performance of backup and recovery operations. About snapshots A snapshot is a point-in-time copy of volume data. Creating snapshots on a regular basis can protect you from data loss due to mistakes, viruses, or database corrupt...

Group Administration Snapshot management 11–2 About snapshot reserve allocation Before you can create snapshots of a volume, you must allocate snapshot reserve for the volume. Snapshot reserve is consumed from the pool where the volume resides. You can allocate snapshot reserve when you create a vol...

Group Administration Snapshot management 11–3 See Modifying snapshot reserve settings for a volume on page 11-3. About snapshot schedules You can set up a schedule for creating snapshots of a volume or volume collection at a specific time or on a regular basis. Using a schedule can cause a large num...

Group Administration Snapshot management 11–4 The default snapshot name is the volume name followed by the date and time when you created the snapshot (for example, dbase-2009-03-25-15:31:14.7668 ). Snapshots appear under a volume in the far-left panel listed by by timestamp. When you select a snaps...

Group Administration Snapshot management 11–5 Snapshot status tab The Snapshot Status tab provides the following panels: • General snapshot information panel – Provides information about: – Volume status and accessibility (security) – Schedule and collection relating to this snapshot – Creation time...

Group Administration Snapshot management 11–6 Creating a snapshot collection You can create snapshots of all the volumes in a volume collection in one operation. The resulting set of snapshots, one for each volume in the collection, is called a snapshot collection. Requirement: Before you create a s...

Group Administration Snapshot management 11–7 The snapshot collection Modification status can be: • not modified — No snapshot in the collection is set online with read-write permission. • potentially modified — One or more snapshots in the collection are currently set online with read-write permiss...

Group Administration Snapshot management 11–8 Displaying snapshot collection status Click Volumes , then Custom Snapshot Collections , and then the timestamp of the collection. The Snapshot Collection name window contains the following panels: • Snapshot collection status panel – Provides informatio...

Group Administration Snapshot management 11–9 Click Volumes , then expand Volume Collections , then expand the collection, and then select the timestamp for the snapshot collection. • If you are deleting a custom snapshot collection: Click Volumes , then expand Custom Snapshot Collections , and then...

Group Administration Snapshot management 11–10 See Volume attributes for attributes that apply to a new volume. In addition, you should fully understand volume access controls. See iSCSI target security . 1. Click Volumes in the lower-left panel, then expand Volumes in the far-left panel, then selec...

Group Administration Snapshot management 11–11 Setting a snapshot online or offline By default, a snapshot is offline. You can set a snapshot online, making it accessible to iSCSI initiators that match one of the snapshot’s access control records. If you set a snapshot offline, any current iSCSI con...

Group Administration Snapshot management 11–12 Deleting snapshots Note: If you delete a snapshot that is part of a snapshot collection or a custom snapshot collection, the collection Integrity status changes to incomplete . 1. Click Volumes in the lower-left panel, then expand Volumes in the far-lef...

12–1 12 Volume replication Volume replication between different groups provides protection against data loss. If a volume is destroyed, you can fail over to the recovery group and recover data from a replica. Users can then resume access to the recovery volume. When the original volume becomes avail...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–2 How replication works Before you can replicate volume data, you must configure the group where the volume resides and the group that stores the volume replicas as replication partners . Each partner plays a role in the replication of a volume, and you can...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–3 About manual transfer replication If you are transferring a large amount of data and your network link between the primary and secondary groups is not sufficient, you can use manual transfer replication for a replication operation. Manual transfer replica...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–4 Replication configuration options A group can have multiple replication partners. However, you can replicate a volume only to one replication partner at a time. Choose the replication configuration that is right for your environment. Replication to one pa...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–5 Reciprocal replication between partners Both partners replicate volumes to each other. For example, in Figure 12-3, GroupA replicates Volume1 to GroupB, and GroupB replicates Volume2 to GroupA. For the replication of Volume1, GroupA is the primary group, ...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–6 How volume changes affect replication space How much space you need for replication depends on the volume size and the rate of volume changes. The first replication of a volume copies the entire volume contents from the primary group to the secondary grou...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–7 See the PS Series Release Notes for replication limits. 2. If you did not already configure the groups as replication partners: a. Log in to the primary group and configure the secondary group as a replication partner. b. Log in to the secondary group and...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–9 After each replication completes, the primary group replaces the failback snapshot to update the failback baseline. Therefore, the volume data represented by the failback snapshot on the primary group always matches the volume data represented by the most...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–10 However, using the recommended values might not be the most efficient use of local replication reserve. Ideally, you want to allocate only enough space to meet the volume requirements. However, specifying too little space can prevent successful replicati...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–11 5% + change rate For example, if you estimate that at most 20% of the volume changes, a value of 25% might be appropriate (5% plus 20%). If you use a local replication reserve value that is less than 100%, sufficient space might not be available to maint...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–12 group. Replica reserve is based on a percentage of the volume’s replica volume reserve. See Replica volume reserve and Replica reserve usage . Replica volume reserve Each replicated volume has a replica volume reserve, which approximates the amount of in...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–13 When you configure a volume for replication, you specify the replica reserve size as a percentage (minimum 105%) of the replica volume reserve, which approximates in-use volume space. As volume usage increases, the replica volume reserve increases; there...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–14 The most recent complete replica is never deleted automatically, ensuring that you always have a viable copy of volume data on the secondary group. Note: If you cannot free enough replica reserve for the volume data by deleting replicas, the replication ...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–15 To obtain an appropriate replica reserve value, estimate the average volume changes that occur between replication operations. Then, use this calculation, where 105% is the minimum replica reserve value: 105% + [change rate x (number of replicas to keep ...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–16 About replication partners Before you can replicate volume data between two PS Series groups, you must configure the groups as replication partners. Each partner plays a role in the replication of a volume, and you can monitor replication activity and ma...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–17 Replication partner attributes When you configure a replication partner, you specify values for the attributes described in Table 12-1. The first column lists attributes, and the second describes them. You can also modify the partner configuration and ch...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–18 • Group IP address. • Optional description for the partner. Then, click Next . 3. In the Configure Replication Partner – Contact dialog box, enter the optional name, e-mail address, and phone number or mobile number for the partner administrator. Then, c...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–19 Displaying the replication configuration for a partner Click Replication and then select the partner name. The Replication Partner Summary window appears containing the following panels: • General partner information panel – Provides information about th...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–20 Modifying partner passwords If you make a modification on one partner, you must make the reciprocal modification on the other partner. The password in the Password for partner field on one partner must match the password in the Password obtained from par...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–21 To delete a replication partner: 1. Click Replication , then select the partner, and then click Pause inbound . 2. Click Delete partner. 3. Confirm that you want to delete the partner. Displaying inbound and outbound replication Click Replication and the...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–22 The Inbound Replicas Collections window appears, containing the following panels: • Delegated space panel – Provides information about the space the group delegated to the selected partner: – Space delegated, used, and free – Failback replica space – Inb...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–23 Template replicas tab In the Replica Set Status window, the Template Replicas tab provides information about the inbound replica set for the template volume and includes the following panels: • Template replicas panel – Provides information about templat...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–24 Note: You can also display information about volume collection replication by clicking Volumes in the lower-left corner, then expanding Volume Collections , then selecting the collection name, and then clicking the Replicas tab. • Replication summary pan...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–25 Volume replication configuration attributes Table 12-2 describes the attributes you set when configuring the volume for replication. The first column lists their attributes and the second describe them. You can modify the replication configuration and ch...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–26 Because a template volume is read-only and cannot be failed back from the secondary group, keeping the failback snapshot is not necessary for this type of volume. 5. In the Configure Volume Replication – Summary window, review the information and click F...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–27 See Configuring a volume for replication on page 12-25. If a volume is configured to replicate to a different partner, click the partner name link to modify the volume replication configuration and change the partner. See Modifying volume replication con...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–28 Creating a replica The first time you replicate a volume to a partner, the primary group copies the entire volume contents to replica reserve on the secondary group. Subsequent replication operations transfer only the volume data that changed since the p...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–29 • Replication operation status and replica status. 2. In the Remote Replicas panel, click Replication History to show details about each replication operation: • Time the operation started. • Replication partner. • Total replication time. The duration ti...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–30 The Remote Replicas panel shows the replica collections for the volume collection. Expand a replica collection to see the individual replicas and their status. Using schedules to create replicas Schedules enable you to create replicas of a volume or all ...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–31 • To resume inbound replication from a partner: Click Replication , then expand the partner name, and then click Resume inbound . Cancelling a volume replication You can cancel an in-progress volume replication. Note: To temporarily stop volume replicati...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–32 Deleting outbound replica sets or replicas Deleting a replica set disables replication on the volume. If you re-enable replication on the volume, the first replication is a complete transfer of volume data. 1. Click Volumes , then expand Volumes , then s...

Group Administration Volume replication 12–33 Deleting inbound replica sets or replicas If the primary group is not available, you can delete replicas and replica sets when logged in to the secondary group. However, if you delete replicas or replica sets from the secondary group, the primary group i...

13–1 13 Data recovery If you replicate a volume to a partner (see Chapter 12, Volume replication ), you can recover volume data on the partner. In addition, you might be able to fail over to the partner and later fail back to the original group. About data recovery Effective data recovery requires a...

Group Administration Data recovery 13–2 Data recovery procedures Table 13-1 describes common data recovery procedures. Table 13-1: Data Recovery Procedures Goal Procedure Considerations Reference Fail over and fail back a volume. Use this method if the volume is unavailable due to a failure or maint...

Group Administration Data recovery 13–3 See Replicating a recovery volume to the primary group . 3. When you are ready to fail back to the primary group, use the Failback to Partner operation to: • Set the recovery volume offline. • Perform a final replication to synchronize the volume data across b...

Group Administration Data recovery 13–4 Figure 13-2 shows the replication configuration after a failure in the primary group (GroupA). Figure 13-2: Primary Group Failure – Data Is Not Available

Group Administration Data recovery 13–7 Figure 13-5 shows the final step in recovering data—fail back to the primary group. To fail back to the primary group: • Set the recovery volume offline. • Replicate the recovery volume to synchronize volume data across both groups. • Demote the recovery volum...

Group Administration Data recovery 13–9 • If the original volume becomes permanently unavailable, you can make the inbound replica set promotion permanent. See Making an inbound replica set promotion permanent on page 13-13. Recovery volume restrictions To temporarily fail over a volume to the secon...

Group Administration Data recovery 13–11 Moving a failback replica set to a different storage pool You can move a failback replica set to a different pool in the primary group. If you later promote the failback replica set to a volume, the volume belongs to the new pool. 1. On the primary group, cli...

Group Administration Data recovery 13–12 Note: If you chose to use manual transfer replication, the status of the create replica task is in-progress until you complete the manual transfer replication. When the manual transfer replication is complete, the Failback to Primary operation continues autom...

Group Administration Data recovery 13–14 Then, click Next . 4. Review the information in the Convert Recovery Volume – Summary dialog box and click Finish if satisfactory. Click Back to make changes. When the operation completes, the recovery volume is converted to a volume. Where to go next • If yo...

Group Administration Data recovery 13–15 3. In the Promote Replica Set – Volume Options dialog box: • Choose whether to set the volume online or offline. • Choose whether to retain the iSCSI target name of the original volume. This can facilitate initiator access to the volume. • Deselect the Keep a...

Group Administration Group event logging 14–2 Event priorities Each event has a priority. Table 14-1 lists event priorities in order of lowest (least severe) to highest (most severe). The first column lists the priorities, the second describes them. Table 14-1: Event Priorities Priority Description ...

Group Administration Group event logging 14–3 Configuring E-Mail notification Requirement: To use e-mail notification, a group must have access to a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server or e-mail relay. 1. Click Group , then Group Configuration , and then the Notifications tab. See the online...

Group Administration Group event logging 14–4 Configuring E-Mail home If a hardware component fails or if you update firmware, the group can automatically notify customer support through email. Recommendation: Dell strongly recommends that you enable E-Mail Home, to expedite customer support becomin...

Group Administration Group event logging 14–5 • To modify the IP address for an SMTP server, select the IP address, click Modify , change the address, and click OK . • To delete an SMTP server, select the IP address and click Delete . 3. Click Save all changes (Control+S) to apply the changes. Confi...

Group Administration Group event logging 14–6 About SNMP traps SNMP traps are unsolicited event messages sent to a management console by an agent. PS Series arrays send traps for equipment issues and security issues. See Displaying and configuring SNMP access to a Group on page 4-11 and Configuring ...

Group Administration Group event logging 14–7 Configuring SNMP trap destinations You can configure network addresses to receive SNMP traps from the group. 1. Click Group , then Group Configuration . 1. Click the SNMP tab. See the online help for information about the data fields and options. 2. In t...

15–1 15 Group monitoring It is best practice to regularly monitor a PS Series group, so you can address issues before service is interrupted. About monitoring best practices Dell recommends that you set up event notification to inform you automatically of events and operations in a group. See Event ...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–3 • Double-click an event. The event details panel opens at the bottom of the events list. • Select an event and click the View details ( ) or Hide details icons ( ). The event details panel opens at the bottom of the events list. See the online help for info...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–4 Check for multiple initiators writing to the same target. This can cause volume corruption if not handled correctly by the servers. Note: You can sort the table in the GUI by clicking column headings. By default, the table is sorted by Initiator address. Se...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–5 • Time and data parameters and schedule run status To see more detail about a schedule, move the pointer over a schedule entry in the panel. A pop-up window appears, showing additional information such as the: • Partner for the replication • Schedule type (...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–6 Table 15-3 describes some best practices for monitoring replication between groups. The first column lists the monitoring condition, the second column describes it, and the third column provides a reference for more information about addressing the issue. T...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–7 You can take the following actions: • Click a volume name to navigate to the Volumes Status window. • Double-click a row to navigate to the Outbound Replicas window. Table 15-4 shows the outbound replication operation status. The first column lists the stat...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–8 Monitoring inbound replication Inbound replication stores volume data on the current group, in replica sets, from a replication partner. To monitor inbound replication, click Monitoring and then Inbound Replication . The Inbound Replication panel provides t...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–9 • Maximum reserve, snapshot reserve, and free space • How the latest replication occurred (over the network or through Manual Transfer Replication) • Whether a failback snapshot is enabled • Current and operational status (online or offline) • Number of rep...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–10 To display a list of all the replication partners for a group, click Replication and then Replication Partners . The Delegated Space panel shows all the delegated space for all partners, and how much free space is available. The Replication panel shows all...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–11 • Critical – Serious problem that can cause damage to the array or data loss. See Displaying critical alarms on page 15-11. When an alarm occurs: • The Alarms panel header flashes. Click the header to open and close the panel. • The group generates a corre...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–12 Critical alarms appear on the Critical tab of the Alarms panel. A critical alarm indicates a serious problem that can cause damage to the array or data loss. Correct the problem that causes a critical alarm immediately. Note: Critical alarms correspond to ...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–13 Note: Warning alarms correspond to WARNING events. Warning alarms include: • Data integrity: – Degraded, but functioning RAID set. – RAID (volume-level) has lost blocks. – Installed spare drive does not have enough capacity to replace a RAID set drive. • H...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–14 Some complex operations, such as manual transfer replication, require administrators to perform multiple tasks. To display incomplete tasks, open the Alarms and Operations panel and click the Actions tab. If a multi-task operation is in progress, the GUI d...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–15 Monitoring storage pool free space You must maintain sufficient free pool space to ensure that load balancing, thin provisioning, member removal, snapshot, and replication operations perform optimally. 1. Click Group and then Storage Pools . The Storage Po...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–16 Monitoring a specific member Click Group , expand Members , then select the member name, and then click the Status tab. Displaying general member information In the General Member Information panel, check the RAID status. Table 15-12 describes the RAID sta...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–17 Table 15-13 shows member status, description, and how to solve any issues. Table 15-13: Member Status Status Description Solution unconfigured You did not select a RAID policy for the member. None needed; informational. initializing Member is initializing ...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–18 Monitoring power supplies A member has two or three power supplies. Most PS Series arrays use power supplies that have integrated cooling modules. A member can survive one power supply failure. Replace failed power supplies as soon as possible. For proper ...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–19 The Temperature Sensors panel shows the current temperature for the various array controllers and processors, in addition to the normal temperature range. Table 15-16 describes the array temperature status, descriptions, and how to solve any issues. Table ...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–20 Monitoring the EIP card Some array models include an Enclosure Interface Processor (EIP) card. An array continues to operate if the EIP card fails. You can replace the failed EIP card with no impact on group operation. In the Member Enclosure window, the E...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–21 • Cache battery status and NVRAM battery status. See Table 15-20 and Table 15-21 for descriptions of battery status and possible solutions where appropriate. • Model number. • Boot ROM version. • PS Series firmware version. An empty slot means that a contr...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–22 NVRAM battery status Table 15-21 describes the control module NVRAM coin cell battery status, descriptions, and how to solve any issues. Not every array has an NVRAM battery. Table 15-21: NVRAM Battery Status Status Description Solution good Battery instal...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–23 Warning: A disk drive failure in a RAID 5 or RAID 10 set that is degraded might result in data loss. When a drive in a RAID set fails, a member behaves as follows: • If a spare disk drive is available: Data from the failed drive is reconstructed on the spa...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–24 To display the network information, click Group , expand Members , then select the member name, and then click the Network tab. The Status of Network Interfaces panel shows the following information: • Operational status – This is the current status of the...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–26 The group also sets a thin-provisioned volume offline if the volume’s maximum in-use space setting is less than 100% and a write exceeds this value. In the Volume Summary window, check the current volume status in the Volumes panel. The requested status ap...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–27 Using the Performance Monitor Use the Performance Monitor to show performance statistics for the drives or control modules in a member. The Performance Monitor collects statistical data every second. You can start the Performance Monitor from the Tools men...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–28 Starting Performance Monitor from the Group Manager GUI 1. From the Members list, select a member name. 2. On the Disks or Network tab, click a row for a drive or an Ethernet port. 3. In the Statistics Activity panel, select the statistic to display. The P...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–29 Using the Performance Monitor Table 15-25 shows the operation icons in the Performance Monitor window. Table 15-25: Performance Monitor Operations Click Icon Operation Start polling the data. Stop polling the data. Go to the start (first item). Go to the p...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–30 Changing how data is displayed Table 15-26 shows the icons you use to change the data display. You can view the data as a chart, histogram (bar graph), or as a data table. Table 15-26: Changing How Data is Displayed Icon Data Format Options Chart (line gra...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–31 Figure 15-2: Performance Monitor - Select Data Point Customizing the Performance Monitor Within the Performance Monitor window, you can change the following: • colors used in graphs • length of time between which data points are collected • number of data ...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–32 Figure 15-3: Performance Monitor- Select a Color Dialog Box Changing the data collection values Click Preferences to change: • The time interval between data points. The default is 1 second, and the maximum is 60 seconds. You can choose from a list of pred...

Group Administration Group monitoring 15–33 Contacting customer support The Customer Support website contains downloads for firmware updates, documentation, and other services. You can also create and log into your customer support account to report a problem and receive direct technical support. To...

Glossary –1 Glossary This glossary defines the storage technology terminology that is specific to EqualLogic. If a term has unique meaning in the context of hardware or of a specific software application, that context is indicated. See The SNIA Dictionary (http://www.snia.org/education/dictionary/) ...

Index- 1 Index A access control snapshot 11-2 access control records creating 9-6, 9-10 deleting 9-11 iSCSI target access 8-1 modifying 9-11 snapshot access 9-2 VDS/VSS access 4-12 volume access 9-2 access controls, iSCSI targets 8-1 accessing data snapshot 11-1 accounts (administration) attributes ...