Dell PowerVault MD3600i- Manuals

Contents 15 19 Troubleshooting: Your Storage Array Software . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 Start-Up Routine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 Device Health Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 Storage Array Support Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 Automatically Collect the S...

16 Contents Recovering From an Unidentified Storage Array . . . 258 Starting or Restarting the Host Context Agent Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 20 Troubleshooting: Your Array . . . . . . . . . 263 Safety First—For you and Your Array . . . . . . . . . 263 Troubleshooting Storage Array Startu...

Contents 17 Critical Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 Noncritical Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 21 Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 Contacting Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....

Introduction 19 1 Introduction WARNING: See the Safety, Environmental, and Regulatory Information document for important safety information before following any procedures listed in this document. About This Document This document familiarizes you with the functions of the Dell PowerVault MD3600i Se...

20 Introduction • Mounting rails (2) (optional)• MD3600i Series resource media • The rack installation instructions included with your rack solution describes how to install your enclosure into a rack • Getting Started With Your System provides information on enclosure features, the procedure to set...

Introduction 21 Other Information You May Need WARNING: See the safety and regulatory information that shipped with your system. Warranty information may be included within this document or as a separate document. NOTE: All the documents, unless specified otherwise, are available at support.dell.com...

Planning: About Your Storage Array 23 2 Planning: About Your Storage Array Overview The Dell PowerVault MD3600i Series storage array is designed for high availability, offering redundant access to data storage. It supports single and dual RAID controller configuration. The MD3600i Series storage arr...

24 Planning: About Your Storage Array Hardware Features Front-Panel Features and Indicators Figure 2-1. Front-Panel Features and Indicators—Dell PowerVault MD3600i Figure 2-2. Front-Panel Features and Indicators—Dell PowerVault MD3620i 1 2 3 5 4 6 1 2 3 4 6 5 book.book Page 24 Thursday, December 9, ...

Planning: About Your Storage Array 27 Back-Panel Features and Indicators Figure 2-4. Back-Panel Features and Indicators—Dell PowerVault MD3600i Series Storage Array 1 600 W power supply/cooling fan module 2 RAID Controller Module 0 3 RAID Controller Module 1 4 600 W power supply/cooling fan module 1...

28 Planning: About Your Storage Array Hard-Drive Indicator Patterns Figure 2-5. Hard Drive Indicators 1 hard-drive activity indicator (green) 2 hard-drive status indicator (green and amber) 1 2 book.book Page 28 Thursday, December 9, 2010 3:20 PM

Planning: About Your Storage Array 29 Power Supply and Cooling Fan Features The MD3600i Series storage array includes two integrated, hot-swappable power supply/cooling fan modules. Both modules must be installed to ensure proper cooling. Each module contains two separate cooling fans. The system re...

30 Planning: About Your Storage Array Power Indicator Codes Figure 2-6. Power Indicator Codes Item LED Type Icon Description 1 DC power The LED lights green when the DC output voltage is within the limit. If this LED is off, it indicates that the DC output voltage is not within the limit. 2 Power su...

Planning: RAID Controller Modules 31 3 Planning: RAID Controller Modules RAID Controller Modules The RAID controller modules provide high-performance, advanced virtual disk configuration, and fault-tolerant disk subsystem management. Each RAID controller module contains 2 GB of cache that is mirrore...

32 Planning: RAID Controller Modules RAID Controller Module Connectors and Features Figure 3-1. MD3600i Series iSCSI RAID Controller Module Item Component Function 1 SAS OUT port Provides SAS connection for cabling to an expansion enclosure. 2 iSCSI IN port 0 Provides host-to-controller iSCSI 1/10 G...

34 Planning: RAID Controller Modules RAID Controller Module—Additional Features Battery Backup Unit Each RAID controller contains a two-cell lithium ion nanopolymer battery backup unit (BBU). It provides power to the RAID controller module in the event of a power outage. For information on removing ...

Planning: RAID Controller Modules 35 System Password Reset To reset a forgotten password, push and hold down the password reset switch for at least 5 seconds. The password is deleted. See Figure 3-1 to locate the password reset switch.The RAID controller module allows you to change the password. For...

Planning: MD3600i Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 37 4 Planning: MD3600i Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts This chapter describes the storage array concepts, which help in configuring and operating the Dell PowerVault MD3600i Series storage arrays. Physical Disks, Virtual Disks, and Di...

38 Planning: MD3600i Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts Physical Disks Only Dell supported 6.0-Gbps SAS physical disks are supported in the storage array. If the storage array detects unsupported physical disks, it marks the disk as unsupported and the physical disk becomes unavailable for all ...

Planning: MD3600i Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 39 If a disk drive rebuild fails because of a source drive failure or because the drive is too small, the MDSM reports a failure of the physical disk even though the LED state on the drive indicates that the rebuild was aborted (green for 3 s...

40 Planning: MD3600i Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 3 Provide host server access. 4 Create mappings to associate the virtual disks with the host servers. NOTE: Host server access must be created before mapping virtual disks. Disk groups are always created in the unconfigured capacity of a s...

Planning: MD3600i Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 41 RAID Levels RAID levels determine the way in which data is written to physical disks. Different RAID levels provide different levels of accessibility, redundancy, and capacity.Using multiple physical disks has the following advantages over...

Planning: MD3600i Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 43 actual storage. RAID 10 is automatically used when a RAID level of 1 is chosen with four or more physical disks. RAID 10 works well for medium- sized databases or any environment that requires high performance and fault tolerance and moder...

44 Planning: MD3600i Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts Foreground Initialization The storage array supports foreground initialization for virtual disks. All access to the virtual disk is blocked during foreground initialization. During foreground initialization, zeros (0x00) are written to eve...

Planning: MD3600i Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 45 The storage array tracks the cycle for each disk group independent of other disk groups on the controller and creates a checkpoint. If the media verification operation on a disk group is preempted or blocked by another operation on the dis...

46 Planning: MD3600i Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts Segment Size Migration Segment size refers to the amount of data (in kilobytes) that the storage array writes on a physical disk in a virtual disk before writing data on the next physical disk. Valid values for the segment size are 8, 16, ...

Planning: MD3600i Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 47 Disk Group Defragmentation Defragmenting consolidates the free capacity in the disk group into one contiguous area. Defragmentation does not change the way in which the data is stored on the virtual disks. Disk Group Operations Limit The m...

48 Planning: MD3600i Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts • Segment size migration• Disk group expansion• Disk group defragmentation. The priority of each of these operations can be changed to address performance requirements of the environment in which the operations are to be executed. NOTE: Se...

50 Planning: MD3600i Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts • Migrating virtual disks to a storage array with no existing physical disks— Turn off the destination storage array, when migrating disk groups or a complete set of physical disks from a storage array to another storage array that has no ...

Planning: MD3600i Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 51 • A unique LUN must be used by a host group or host server to access a virtual disk. • Not every operating system has the same number of LUNs available for use. Host Types A host server is a server that accesses a storage array. Host serve...

52 Planning: MD3600i Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts Snapshot Virtual Disks A snapshot is a point-in-time image of a virtual disk. The snapshot provides an image of the virtual disk at the time the snapshot was created. You create a snapshot so that an application (for example, a backup appl...

Planning: MD3600i Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 53 For details on mapping the snapshot virtual disk to the secondary node, refer to the Dell PowerVault MD3600i and MD3620i Storage Arrays With Microsoft Windows Server Failover Clusters on support.dell.com/manuals . Virtual Disk Copy Virtual...

54 Planning: MD3600i Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts Virtual Disk Recovery You can use the Edit host server-to-virtual disk mappings feature to recover data from the backup virtual disk. This functionality enables you to unmap the original source virtual disk from its host server, then map t...

Planning: MD3600i Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 55 The multi-path software identifies the existence of multiple paths to a virtual disk and establishes a preferred path to that disk. If any component in the preferred path fails, the multi-path software automatically re-routes I/O requests ...

56 Planning: MD3600i Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts Ownership can later be modified to balance workload according to actual usage. If virtual disk ownership is not manually balanced, it is possible for one controller to have the majority of the work, while the other controller is idle. Limi...

Planning: MD3600i Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 57 • Least path weight with subset (Windows operating systems only)—The least queue depth with subset policy is also known as the least I/Os or least requests policy. This policy routes the next I/O request to a data path that has the least o...

Configuration: Overview 61 5 Configuration: Overview Dell PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager (MDSM) online help contains information on the how to use the MDSM application to perform the configuration and management tasks described in this document. You can access online help by clicking Help l...

62 Configuration: Overview Enterprise Management Window The EMW provides high-level management of storage arrays. When you start MDSM, the EMW opens. The EMW has the: • Devices tab—Provides information about the storage arrays. • Setup tab—Presents the initial setup tasks that guide you through addi...

Configuration: Overview 63 • Upgrade firmware on multiple storage arrays concurrently.• Obtain information about the firmware inventory including the version of the RAID controller modules, physical disks, and the enclosure management modules (EMMs) in the storage array. Inheriting the System Settin...

64 Configuration: Overview • Storage partitions• Disk groups and virtual disks • Logical tab—You can view the organization of the storage array by virtual disks, disk groups, free capacity nodes, and any unconfigured capacity for the storage array. • Physical tab—You can view the organization of the...

Configuration: About Your Storage Array 65 6 Configuration: About Your Storage Array Out-of-Band and In-Band Management You can manage a storage array in two ways: • Out-of-band management • In-band management Out-of-Band Management In the out-of-band management method, data is separate from command...

66 Configuration: About Your Storage Array In-Band Management Using in-band-management, commands, events, and data travel through the host-to-controller interface. Unlike out-of-band management, commands and events are mixed with data. NOTE: For detailed information on setting up in-band and out-of-...

Configuration: About Your Storage Array 67 NOTE: Verify that your host or management station network configuration— including station IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway—is correct before adding a new storage array using the Automatic option. NOTE: For Linux, set the default gateway so that...

68 Configuration: About Your Storage Array • In-band management —Enter a name or an IP address for the Host through which the storage array is attached to the network. NOTE: When adding a storage array using in-band management with iSCSI, a session must first be established between the initiator on ...

Configuration: About Your Storage Array 69 • Configure iSCSI host ports—Configure network parameters for each iSCSI host port automatically or specify the configuration information for each iSCSI host port. • Configure the storage array—Create disk groups, virtual disks, and hot spare physical disks...

70 Configuration: About Your Storage Array Locating Storage Arrays You can use the Blink option to physically locate and identify a storage array. NOTE: If the LEDs from the Blink Storage Array operation do not stop blinking, select Stop All Indications to stop the process manually. To locate the st...

Configuration: About Your Storage Array 71 The Name/Rename Storage Arrays dialog appears. 2 Select the relevant storage array from the Select storage array table. If you do not know the name or physical location of the storage array, click Blink . After locating the storage array, click OK to turn o...

Configuration: About Your Storage Array 73 Viewing Storage Array Connections You can use the View Connections option to view the expansion enclosures connected to the RAID controller module. To view the storage array connections: 1 From the toolbar in AMW, select Storage Array  View  Connections ....

74 Configuration: About Your Storage Array Removing Storage Arrays You can remove a storage array from the list of managed arrays if you no longer want to manage it from a specific storage management station. Removing a storage array does not affect the storage array or its data in any way. Removing...

Configuration: About Your Storage Array 75 Displaying Failover Alert You can change the failover alert delay for a storage array. The failover alert delay lets you delay the logging of a critical event if the multi-path driver transfers virtual disks to the non-preferred controller. If the multi-pat...

76 Configuration: About Your Storage Array Changing Expansion Enclosure ID Numbers When an MD1200 series expansion enclosure is connected to an MD3600i Series storage array for the first time, an enclosure ID number is assigned and maintained by the expansion enclosure. This enclosure ID number is a...

Configuration: About Your Storage Array 77 Configuring Alert Notifications MDSM can send an alert for any condition on the storage array that requires your attention. Alerts can be sent as e-mail messages or as Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) trap messages.You can configure alert notificat...

80 Configuration: About Your Storage Array Configuring SNMP Alerts To add a management console to the list of addresses configured to receive SNMP alerts: 1 Open the Configure Alerts dialog by performing one of these actions: • In the Tree view or the Table view on the Devices tab in the EMW, select...

Configuration: About Your Storage Array 81 • Deleting an SNMP address—Select the SNMP address in the Configured SNMP addresses area, and click Delete . • Validating an SNMP address—Select the SNMP address in the Configured SNMP addresses area, and click Test . A test message is sent to the SNMP addr...

82 Configuration: About Your Storage Array Use the following guidelines to adjust the interval: • You can use the default interval. • You can run a learn cycle at any time. • You can set the learn cycle earlier than the currently scheduled time. • You cannot set the learn cycle to start more than se...

Configuration: Using iSCSI 83 7 Configuration: Using iSCSI Changing the iSCSI Target Authentication To change the iSCSI target authentication: 1 In the AMW, select the Setup tab. 2 Select Manage iSCSI Settings . The Manage iSCSI Settings window is displayed and by default, the Target Authentication ...

84 Configuration: Using iSCSI Entering Mutual Authentication Permissions Mutual authentication or two-way authentication is a way for a client or a user to verify themselves to a host server, and for the host server to validate itself to the user. This validation is accomplished in such a way that b...

Configuration: Using iSCSI 85 Initiator CHAP Secret The initiator CHAP secret is set on the host using the iSCSI initiator configuration program provided with the host operating system. If you are using the mutual authentication method, you must define the initiator CHAP secret when you set up the h...

86 Configuration: Using iSCSI Changing the iSCSI Target Identification You cannot change the iSCSI target name, but you can associate an alias with the target for simpler identification. Aliases are useful because the iSCSI target names are not intuitive. You should provide an iSCSI target alias tha...

Configuration: Using iSCSI 87 • Select Specify Configuration , and type the IPv4 address to activate the target discovery. • Type the iSNS server IP address in the IPv6 settings area to activate the target discovery. After you manually enter an IP address, you can also click Advanced to configure th...

Configuration: Using iSCSI 89 Advanced iSCSI Host Ports Settings NOTE: Configuring the advanced iSCSI host ports settings is optional. Use the advanced settings for the individual iSCSI host ports to specify the TCP frame size, the virtual LAN, and the network priority. NOTE: Changing any of these s...

90 Configuration: Using iSCSI Viewing or Ending an iSCSI Session You might want to end an iSCSI session for the following reasons: • Unauthorized access—If an initiator is logged on whom you consider to not have access, you can end the iSCSI session. Ending the iSCSI session forces the initiator to ...

Configuration: Using iSCSI 91 Viewing iSCSI Statistics and Setting Baseline Statistics To view iSCSI statistics and set baseline statistics: 1 In the AMW toolbar, select Storage Array  iSCSI  Statistics . The View iSCSI Statistics window is displayed. 2 Select the iSCSI statistic type you want to ...

Configuration: Event Monitor 93 8 Configuration: Event Monitor An event monitor is provided with Dell PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager (MDSM). The event monitor runs continuously in the background and monitors activity on the managed storage arrays. If the event monitor detects any critical p...

94 Configuration: Event Monitor Enabling or Disabling the Event Monitor You can enable or disable the event monitor at any time.Disable the event monitor if you do not want the system to send alert notifications. If you are running the event monitor on multiple systems, disabling the event monitor o...

Configuration: About Your Host 95 9 Configuration: About Your Host Configuring Host Access Dell PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager (MDSM) software is comprised of multiple modules. One of these modules is the Host Context Agent, which is installed as part of the MDSM installation and runs conti...

96 Configuration: About Your Host The host topology is reconfigurable. You can perform the following tasks: • Create a host and assign an alias or user label.• Add or associate a new host port identifier to a particular host.• Change the host port identifier alias or user label.• Move or associate a...

Configuration: About Your Host 97 Defining a Host You can use the Define Host Wizard in the AMW to define a host for a storage array. Either a known unassociated host port identifier or a new host port identifier can be added. NOTE: A user label must be specified before the host port identifier may ...

98 Configuration: About Your Host 7 In Host type, select the relevant operating system for the host. The Host Group Question window is displayed. 8 In this window, you can select:• Yes —this host shares access to the same virtual disks with other hosts. • No —this host does NOT share access to the s...

Configuration: About Your Host 99 Managing Host Groups A host group is a logical entity of two or more hosts that share access to specific virtual disks on the storage array. You create host groups with MDSM.All hosts in a host group must have the same host type (operating system). In addition, all ...

100 Configuration: About Your Host Removing a Host From a Host Group You can remove a host from the Topology pane on the Mappings tab of the Array Management Window. For more information, see "Removing a Host Group" on page 101. Moving a Host to a Different Host Group To move a host to a dif...

Configuration: About Your Host 101 Removing a Host Group To remove a host group: 1 In the AMW, select the Mappings tab, select the host node in the Topology pane. 2 Perform one of these actions:• Select Mappings  Remove . • Right-click the host node, and select Remove from the pop-up menu. The Remo...

102 Configuration: About Your Host Starting or Stopping the Host Context Agent The Host Context Agent discovers the host topology. The Host Context Agent starts and stops with the host. The topology discovered by the Host Context Agent can be viewed by clicking Configure Host Access (Automatic) in t...

Configuration: About Your Host 103 I/O Data Path Protection You can have multiple host-to- array connections for a host. Ensure that you select all the connections to the array when configuring host access to the storage array. NOTE: See the Deployment Guide for more information on cabling configura...

104 Configuration: About Your Host Managing Host Port Identifiers You can manage the host port identifiers that are added to the storage array. You can: • Add—Add or associate a new host port identifier to a particular host.• Edit—Change the host port identifier alias or user label. You can move (as...

Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 107 10 Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks Creating Disk Groups and Virtual Disks Disk groups are created in the unconfigured capacity of a storage array, and virtual disks are created in the free capacity of a disk group. The maximum number of p...

108 Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks A disk group should be organized according to its related tasks and subtasks. For example, if you create a disk group for the Accounting Department, you can create virtual disks that match the different types of accounting performed in the department:...

110 Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks Locating a Disk Group You can physically locate and identify all of the physical disks that comprise a selected disk group. An LED blinks on each physical disk in the disk group.To locate a disk group: 1 In the AMW, select the Logical tab. 2 Select th...

112 Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 5 In Advanced virtual disk parameters , you can select: • Use recommended settings . • Customize settings . 6 If you select Use recommended settings in Advanced virtual disk parameters , click Finish . Otherwise, click Next . 7 In the Customize Advanc...

Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 113 4 Select one or more virtual disks. Move the Select modification priority slider bar to the desired priority. NOTE: To select nonadjacent virtual disks, press <Ctrl> click. To select adjacent virtual disks, press <Shift> click. To select a...

Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 115 Changing the Segment Size of a Virtual Disk You can change the segment size on a selected virtual disk. During this operation, I/O performance is affected, but your data remains available.Guidelines to proceed with changing the segment size: • You can...

116 Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks The segment size modification operation begins. The virtual disk icon in the Logical pane shows an Operation in Progress status while the operation is taking place. NOTE: To view the progress or change the priority of the modification operation, selec...

Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 117 The corresponding dynamic cache read prefetch setting and segment size values that are typically well suited for the selected virtual disk I/O characteristic type are populated in the Dynamic cache read prefetch and Segment size fields. NOTE: If you s...

118 Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks All of the physical disks and RAID controller modules in a storage array share the same security key. The shared security key provides read and write access to the physical disks, while the physical disk encryption key on each physical disk is used to...

120 Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks The storage array password protects a storage array from potentially destructive operations by unauthorized users. The storage array password is independent from self encrypting disk, and should not be confused with the pass phrase that is used to pro...

122 Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks The pass phrase that you enter is masked. NOTE: Create Key is active only if the pass phrase meets the above mentioned criterion. 9 In the Confirm pass phrase dialog box, re-enter the exact string that you entered in the Pass phrase dialog box. Make a...

124 Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 6 In Confirm pass phrase , re-enter the exact string you entered in Pass phrase . Make a record of the pass phrase you entered and the security key identifier it is associated with. You need this information for later secure operations. 7 Click Change...

Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 125 4 In Confirm pass phrase , re-enter the exact string you entered in Pass phrase . Make a record of the pass phrase you entered. You need it for later secure operations. 5 Click Save . 6 Make a record of the security key identifier and the file name fr...

126 Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks Erasing Secure Physical Disks In the AMW, when you select a security enabled physical disk that is not part of a disk group, the Secure Erase menu item is enabled on the Physical Disk menu. You can use the secure erase procedure to re-provision a phys...

128 Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 8 Select the relevant Physical disks in the Unassigned physical disks area, as hot spares for the selected disk and click OK . 9 To unassign hot spares, in the Hot Spare Coverage window, select physical disks in the Hot spare physical disks area. 10 R...

Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 129 Hot Spare Operation When a physical disk fails, the virtual disk automatically rebuilds using an available hot spare. When a replacement physical disk is installed, data from the hot spare is copied back to the replacement physical disk. This function...

130 Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks hot spare physical disk. To make sure that enclosure loss protection is not affected, you must replace a failed physical disk to initiate the copyback process. The virtual disk remains online and accessible while you are replacing the failed physical ...

Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 133 4 In Host group or host , select the appropriate host group or host. All defined hosts, host groups, and the default group appear in the list. NOTE: When configuring an iSCSI storage array, including the MD3600i or MD3620i, if a host or a host group i...

134 Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks • Right-click the virtual disk, and select Change Mapping from the pop-up menu. 3 In Host group or host , select the appropriate host group or host. By default, the drop-down list shows the current host group or the host associated with the selected v...

Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 135 During a virtual disk copy, the same RAID controller module must own both the source virtual disk and the target virtual disk. Sometimes both virtual disks do not have the same preferred RAID controller module when the virtual disk copy starts. Theref...

Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 137 Changing the RAID Level of a Disk Group Changing the RAID level of a disk group changes the RAID levels of every virtual disk that comprises the disk group. Performance might be slightly affected during the operation.Guidelines to change the RAID leve...

Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 139 Changing the RAID Controller Module Ownership of a Virtual Disk or a Disk Group You can change the RAID controller module ownership of a virtual disk or a disk group.You can change the RAID controller module ownership of a standard virtual disk or a s...

Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 143 Storage partitioning topology is the collection of elements, such as Default Group, host groups, hosts, and host ports shown as nodes in the Topology pane of the Mappings tab in the AMW. For more information, see "Using the Mappings Tab" on pa...

144 Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks You can also use the Command Line Interface (CLI) on both Windows and Linux hosts to add free capacity to a disk group. See the CLI Guide for more information.After the capacity expansion is completed, additional free capacity is available in the disk...

Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 145 Disk Group Migration Disk group migration allows to you export a disk group so that you can import the disk group to a different storage array. You can also export a disk group so that you can store the data offline. NOTE: During the export process (b...

146 Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 4 Locate the disk group, and label the physical disks. 5 Place the disk group offline. 6 Obtain blank physical disk modules or new physical disks. On the target storage array: 1 Verify that the target storage array has available physical disk slots. 2...

Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 147 The following settings are removed/cleared during the procedure: • Persistent reservations • Host-to-virtual disk mappings • Virtual disk copy pairs • Snapshot virtual disks and snapshot repository virtual disks • Remote mirror pairs • Mirror reposito...

148 Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks • Redundancy mismatches error—The first 10 redundancy mismatches that are found on the virtual disk are reported to the event log. • Unfixable error—Data could not be read and parity or redundancy information could not be used to regenerate the data. ...

Configuration: Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 149 Suspending the Media Scan You cannot perform a media scan while performing another long-running operation on the disk drive such as reconstruction, copy-back, reconfiguration, virtual disk initialization, or immediate availability formatting. If you w...

Configuration: Premium Feature—Snapshot Virtual Disks 151 11 Configuration: Premium Feature— Snapshot Virtual Disks NOTE: If you ordered this feature, you received a Premium Feature Activation card shipped in the same box as your Dell PowerVault MD storage array. Follow the directions on the card to...

Configuration: Premium Feature—Snapshot Virtual Disks 153 Creating a Snapshot Virtual Disk Using the Simple Path You can choose the simple path to create a snapshot virtual disk if the disk group of the source virtual disk has the required amount of free space. A snapshot repository virtual disk req...

156 Configuration: Premium Feature—Snapshot Virtual Disks 9 In the AMW, select the Mappings tab, assign mappings between the snapshot virtual disk and the host that accesses the snapshot virtual disk. NOTE: In some cases, conflicts might result from mapping the same host to both a source virtual dis...

160 Configuration: Premium Feature—Snapshot Virtual Disks Creating the Snapshot Using the Advanced Path NOTE: Removing the drive letter of the associated virtual disk in Windows or unmounting the virtual drive in Linux helps to guarantee a stable copy of the drive for the Snapshot. After first prepa...

Configuration: Premium Feature—Snapshot Virtual Disks 163 Snapshot Repository Capacity If you receive a warning that the capacity for the snapshot repository virtual disk is approaching its threshold, you can increase the capacity of a snapshot repository virtual disk by using one of the following m...

166 Configuration: Premium Feature—Snapshot Virtual Disks Re-Creating Snapshot Virtual Disks You can re-create a snapshot virtual disk that you have previously disabled. CAUTION: Possible loss of data redundancy — If the snapshot virtual disk is in Optimal status, it is first disabled prior to being...

Configuration: Premium Feature—Snapshot Virtual Disks 167 NOTE: If you do not intend to re-create the snapshot virtual disk at a later time, in the Logical pane, select the snapshot virtual disk, and select Virtual Disk  Delete to remove it. The associated snapshot repository virtual disk is also ...

168 Configuration: Premium Feature—Snapshot Virtual Disks 3 Click the Summary tab, then click Disk Groups & Virtual Disks to ensure that the snapshot virtual disk is in Optimal or Disabled status. 4 Remove the drive letter(s) of the source and (if mounted) snapshot virtual disk in Windows or unm...

170 Configuration: Premium Feature—Virtual Disk Copy Reasons to use virtual disk copy include: • Copying data for improved access—As your storage requirements for a virtual disk change, you can use a virtual disk copy to copy data to a virtual disk in a disk group that uses drives with larger capaci...

Configuration: Premium Feature—Virtual Disk Copy 171 Virtual Disk Read/Write Permissions After the virtual disk copy is complete, the target virtual disk automatically becomes read-only to the hosts. The target virtual disk rejects read and write requests while the virtual disk copy operation has a ...

172 Configuration: Premium Feature—Virtual Disk Copy Virtual Disk Copy Restrictions Before you perform any virtual disk copy tasks, understand and adhere to the restrictions listed in this section. The restrictions apply to the source virtual disk, the target virtual disk, and the storage array. • W...

Configuration: Premium Feature—Virtual Disk Copy 173 journaling file system, any attempt to issue a read request to the source virtual disk might be rejected by the storage array, and an error message might appear. The journaling file system driver issues a write request before it attempts to issue ...

174 Configuration: Premium Feature—Virtual Disk Copy Create Copy Wizard The Create Copy Wizard guides you through: 1 Selecting a source virtual disk from a list of available virtual disks 2 Selecting a target virtual disk from a list of available virtual disks 3 Setting the copy priority for the vir...

Configuration: Premium Feature—Virtual Disk Copy 175 Failed RAID Controller Module You must manually change RAID controller module ownership to the alternate RAID controller module to allow the virtual disk copy to complete under all of these conditions: • A virtual disk copy has a status of In Prog...

Configuration: Premium Feature—Virtual Disk Copy 177 Storage Array Performance During Virtual Disk Copy The following factors contribute to the overall performance of the storage array: • I/O activity • Virtual disk RAID level • Virtual disk configuration—Number of drives in the virtual disk groups ...

178 Configuration: Premium Feature—Virtual Disk Copy 3 Select Change  Copy Priority . The Change Copy Priority window is displayed. 4 In the Copy Priority area, select the appropriate copy priority, depending on your system performance needs. NOTE: There are 5 copy priority rates available: lowest,...

Configuration: Premium Feature—Virtual Disk Copy 179 Recopying a Virtual Disk You can recopy a virtual disk when you have stopped a virtual disk copy and you want to start it again or when a virtual disk copy has failed.The Recopy option overwrites existing data on the target virtual disk and makes ...

180 Configuration: Premium Feature—Virtual Disk Copy 4 Remove the drive letter(s) of the source and (if mounted) virtual disk in Windows or unmount the virtual drive(s) in Linux to help guarantee a stable copy of the drive for the virtual disk. If this is not done, the copy operation reports that it...

Configuration: Premium Feature—Virtual Disk Copy 181 5 Select Copy  Re-Copy . The Re-Copy window is displayed. 6 Set the copy priority. NOTE: There are five copy priority rates available: lowest, low, medium, high, and highest. If the copy priority is set at the lowest rate, I/O activity is priorit...

Configuration: Premium Feature—Upgrading to High-Performance-Tier 183 13 Configuration: Premium Feature— Upgrading to High-Performance- Tier The High Performance Tier premium feature on an MD3600i Series array increases the performance of the system beyond that of a MD3600i Series array operating at...

Configuration: Device Mapper Multipath for Linux 185 14 Configuration: Device Mapper Multipath for Linux Overview The MD3600i Series storage array uses a Linux operating system software framework, known as Device Mapper (DM), to enable multipath capabilities on Linux Host Servers. The DM multipath f...

186 Configuration: Device Mapper Multipath for Linux Using DM Multipathing Devices NOTE: Using or modifying any nodes other than the multipathing device nodes can result in array or file system problems, including loss of communication with the array and corruption of the file system. Avoid accessin...

Configuration: Device Mapper Multipath for Linux 187 Using the MDSM software: 1 Map the host server to the MD3600i Series storage array. 2 Create the Virtual Disks. 3 Map newly created arrays to your host server. NOTE: Any arrays configured with MDCU automatically get added to the list of Devices in...

Configuration: Device Mapper Multipath for Linux 191 Create a File System on a Device Mapper Partition Use the standard mkfs command to create the file system on the newly created Device Mapper partition.For example: # mkfs –t <filesystem type> /dev/mapper/<partition node> where <part...

192 Configuration: Device Mapper Multipath for Linux 3 Flush the Device Mapper multipath maps list to remove any old or modified mappings: # multipath –F NOTE: The boot operating system drive may have an entry with the Device Mapper multipathing table. This is not affected by the multipath –F comman...

Configuration: Device Mapper Multipath for Linux 193 Limitations and Known Issues • In certain error conditions with the no_path_retry or the queue_if_no_path feature is set, applications may hang. To overcome these conditions, enter the following command for each affected multipath device: dmsetup ...

194 Configuration: Device Mapper Multipath for Linux • Failback can be slow when the host system is experiencing heavy I/O. The problem is exacerbated if the host server is also experiencing very high CPU utilization. • The Device Mapper Multipath service can be slow when the host system is experien...

Management: Firmware Downloads 197 15 Management: Firmware Downloads Downloading RAID Controller and NVSRAM Packages A version number exists for each firmware file. The version number indicates whether the firmware is a major version or a minor version. You can use the Enterprise Management Window (...

198 Management: Firmware Downloads Downloading Both RAID Controller and NVSRAM Firmware NOTE: I/O to the array can continue while you are upgrading RAID controller and NVSRAM firmware. NOTE: It is recommended that the firmware and NVSRAM be upgraded during a maintenance period when the array is not ...

Management: Firmware Downloads 201 Downloading Only NVSRAM Firmware Use the command line interface (CLI) to download and activate NVSRAM to several storage arrays. For more information, see the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager online help topics. To download only NVSRAM firmware: 1 To downloa...

Management: Firmware Downloads 203 13 Click OK . The Confirm Download dialog appears. 14 Click Yes . The download starts and a progress indicator appears in the Status column of the Upgrade RAID Controller Module Firmware window. Downloading Physical Disk Firmware CAUTION: When updating physical dis...

Management: Firmware Downloads 205 Downloading MD1200 Series Expansion Module EMM Firmware NOTE: Do not make any configuration changes to the storage array while you are downloading the expansion enclosure EMM firmware. Doing so could cause the firmware download to fail, damage the storage array, or...

206 Management: Firmware Downloads 6 Click Yes to continue with the firmware download, NOTE: If you click Stop while a firmware download is in progress, the download-in-progress finishes before the operation stops. The status for the remaining expansion enclosures changes to Canceled. 7 Monitor the ...

Management: Firmware Downloads 207 Media Errors and Unreadable Sectors If the RAID controller detects a media error while accessing data from a physical disk that is a member of a disk group with a redundant RAID level (RAID 1, RAID 5 or RAID 10), the controller tries to recover the data from peer d...

Management: Installing Array Components 209 16 Management: Installing Array Components Recommended Tools You may need the following items to perform the procedures in this section: • Key to the system keylock• #2 Phillips screwdriver• Wrist grounding strap book.book Page 209 Thursday, December 9, 20...

210 Management: Installing Array Components Front Bezel (Optional) Removing the Front Bezel 1 Using the system key, unlock the front bezel (if locked). 2 Lift up the release latch next to the keylock. 3 Rotate the left end of the bezel away from the front panel. 4 Unhook the right end of the bezel a...

Management: Installing Array Components 211 Hard Drives SAFETY: Models AMT, E03J, and E04J Models AMT, E03J, and E04J are intended for installation only in restricted access locations as defined in cl 1.2.7.3 of IEC 60950-1:2005.Depending on your configuration, your array either supports up to 24, 2...

212 Management: Installing Array Components Figure 16-3. Removing and Installing a 2.5-Inch Hard-Drive Blank Installing a Drive Blank 1 If installed, remove the front bezel. See "Removing the Front Bezel" on page 210. 2 Insert the drive blank into the drive bay until the blank is fully seate...

214 Management: Installing Array Components Installing a Hard Drive CAUTION: Many repairs may only be done by a certified service technician. You should only perform troubleshooting and simple repairs as authorized in your product documentation, or as directed by the online or telephone service and ...

Management: Installing Array Components 215 Removing a Hard Drive From a Hard-Drive Carrier Remove the screws from the slide rails on the hard-drive carrier and separate the hard drive from the carrier. See Figure 16-5 for PowerVault MD3600i and Figure 16-6 for PowerVault MD3620i. Figure 16-5. Remov...

Management: Installing Array Components 217 Installing a Hard Drive Into a Drive Carrier 1 Insert the hard drive into the hard-drive carrier with the connector end of the drive at the back. See Figure 16-5. 2 Align the screw holes on the hard drive with the back set of holes on the hard-drive carrie...

218 Management: Installing Array Components 5 Connect all the power cables to the array. 6 Turn on the array and the host server. Figure 16-7. Removing and Installing a RAID Controller Module Blank Installing a RAID Controller Module Blank To install a RAID controller module blank, align the blank w...

Management: Installing Array Components 219 Removing a RAID Controller Module CAUTION: Many repairs may only be done by a certified service technician. You should only perform troubleshooting and simple repairs as authorized in your product documentation, or as directed by the online or telephone se...

220 Management: Installing Array Components Installing a RAID Controller Module CAUTION: Many repairs may only be done by a certified service technician. You should only perform troubleshooting and simple repairs as authorized in your product documentation, or as directed by the online or telephone ...

Management: Installing Array Components 221 Figure 16-9. Opening and Closing the RAID Controller Module Closing the RAID Controller Module CAUTION: Many repairs may only be done by a certified service technician. You should only perform troubleshooting and simple repairs as authorized in your produc...

222 Management: Installing Array Components RAID Controller Module Backup Battery Unit Removing the RAID Controller Module Backup Battery Unit CAUTION: Many repairs may only be done by a certified service technician. You should only perform troubleshooting and simple repairs as authorized in your pr...

Management: Installing Array Components 223 Installing the RAID Controller Module Backup Battery Unit CAUTION: Many repairs may only be done by a certified service technician. You should only perform troubleshooting and simple repairs as authorized in your product documentation, or as directed by th...

224 Management: Installing Array Components Power Supply/Cooling Fan Module The array supports two hot-swappable power supply/cooling fan modules. While the array can operate temporarily with one module, both the modules must be present for proper system cooling. CAUTION: A single power supply/cooli...

226 Management: Installing Array Components Installing a Power Supply/Cooling Fan Module CAUTION: Many repairs may only be done by a certified service technician. You should only perform troubleshooting and simple repairs as authorized in your product documentation, or as directed by the online or t...

Management: Installing Array Components 227 Control Panel Removing the Control Panel 1 Turn off the array and host server. 2 Disconnect all the power cables connected to the array. 3 Remove the hard drives from:– slots 0 to 2 in PowerVault MD3600i – slots 0 to 5 in PowerVault MD3620i See "Removi...

228 Management: Installing Array Components Figure 16-14. Removing and Installing the Control Panel—PowerVault MD3620i Installing the Control Panel 1 Align the control panel with the slot on the array. 2 Slide the control panel into the array until:– The release tab clicks into place in PowerVault M...

Management: Installing Array Components 229 Backplane WARNING: Whenever you need to lift the array, get others to assist you. To avoid injury, do not attempt to lift the array by yourself. CAUTION: Many repairs may only be done by a certified service technician. You should only perform troubleshooti...

232 Management: Installing Array Components Installing the Backplane 1 Align the holes on the backplane with the holes on the array. 2 Tighten the captive screw to secure the backplane to the chassis. See Figure 16-16 for PowerVault MD3600i or Figure 16-17 for PowerVault MD3620i. 3 Replace the screw...

Management: Firmware Inventory 233 17 Management: Firmware Inventory A storage array is made up of many components, which might include RAID controller modules, physical disks, and enclosure management modules (EMMs). Each of these components contains firmware. Some versions of the firmware are depe...

Management: System Interfaces 235 18 Management: System Interfaces Microsoft Services Virtual Disk Service The Microsoft Virtual Disk Service (VDS) is a component of the Windows operating system. The VDS component utilizes third-party vendor specific software modules, known as providers, to access a...

236 Management: System Interfaces VSS attaches to the service and uses it to coordinate the creation of snapshot virtual disks on the storage array. VSS-initiated snapshot virtual disks can be triggered through backup tools, known as requestors. The VSS Provider Configuration Tool makes available th...

Troubleshooting: Your Storage Array Software 237 19 Troubleshooting: Your Storage Array Software Start-Up Routine Look and listen during the array’s start-up routine for the indications described in Table 19-1. For a description of the front- and back-panel indicators, see "Planning: About Your ...

Troubleshooting: Your Storage Array Software 241 Storage Array Support Data You can gather various types of inventory, status, and performance data that can help troubleshoot any problem with the storage array. All the files are compressed into a single archive in a zipped-file format. You can forwa...

242 Troubleshooting: Your Storage Array Software NOTE: Enable only one collect support bundle data to a single client system. Setting multiple systems to collect data may potentially affect the storage array performance. To automatically collect the support bundle data: 1 In the AMW, select Advanced...

244 Troubleshooting: Your Storage Array Software Collecting Physical Disk Data You can use the Collect Physical Disk Data option to collect log sense data from all the physical disks on your storage array. Log sense data consists of statistical information that is maintained by each of the physical ...

Troubleshooting: Your Storage Array Software 245 Event Log You can use the Event Log Viewer to view a detailed list of events that occur in a storage array. The event log is stored on reserved areas on the storage array disks. It records configuration events and storage array component failures. WAR...

246 Troubleshooting: Your Storage Array Software Recovery Guru The Recovery Guru is a component of MDSM that diagnoses critical events on the storage array and recommends step-by-step recovery procedures for problem resolution. In the AMW, to display the Recovery Guru, perform one of these actions: ...

248 Troubleshooting: Your Storage Array Software Viewing the Logical Associations You can use the Associated Logical Elements option to view the logical associations among different virtual disks in a storage array. To view the associations for source virtual disks, snapshot virtual disks, and snaps...

Troubleshooting: Your Storage Array Software 249 Finding Nodes You can use the Find option to search for a particular node on the Logical tab, the Physical tab, or the Mappings tab of the Array Management Window. The search might be based on a particular node name, the RAID level, virtual disk capac...

250 Troubleshooting: Your Storage Array Software 7 To search for all Free Capacity nodes with a particular capacity, perform these steps: NOTE: This option is not available when the Search by name option is selected or from the Mappings tab. You must cancel the selection of the Search by name option...

Troubleshooting: Your Storage Array Software 251 2 Select View  Go To  Snapshot Virtual Disk . The selection jumps to the associated snapshot virtual disk in the Logical pane. 3 Select View  Go To  Snapshot Repository Virtual Disk . The selection jumps to the associated snapshot repository virtu...

252 Troubleshooting: Your Storage Array Software • Out-of-band managed storage array—Go to step 6.• In-band managed storage array – Go to step 12. 6 For an out-of-band managed storage array, ensure that the RAID controller modules are network accessible by using the ping command to make sure that th...

254 Troubleshooting: Your Storage Array Software Locating a Physical Disk You can use the Locate Physical Disk option to physically locate and identify one or more of the physical disks in an expansion enclosure by activating physical disk LEDs. To locate the physical disk: 1 Select the Physical tab...

Troubleshooting: Your Storage Array Software 255 Locating an Expansion Enclosure You can use the Blink option to physically locate and identify an expansion enclosure in the storage array.The LED activation varies according to the type of expansion enclosure that you have. • If you have an expansion...

256 Troubleshooting: Your Storage Array Software Capturing the State Information Use the Troubleshooting  Capture State Information option to capture information about the current state of your storage array and save the captured information to a text file. You can then send the captured informatio...

Troubleshooting: Your Storage Array Software 257 SMrepassist Utility SMrepassist (replication assistance) is a host-based utility for Windows platforms. This utility is installed with MDSM. Use this utility before and after you create a virtual disk copy on a Windows operating system to ensure that ...

258 Troubleshooting: Your Storage Array Software Unidentified Devices An unidentified node or device occurs when MDSM cannot access a new storage array. Causes for this error include network connection problems, the storage array is turned off, or the storage array does not exist. NOTE: Before begin...

Troubleshooting: Your Storage Array Software 261 Starting or Restarting the Host Context Agent Software The Host Context Agent software module is the software component that resides on the server or management station that communicates with the MD3600i Series storage arrays. The SMagent software aut...

Troubleshooting: Your Array 263 20 Troubleshooting: Your Array Safety First—For you and Your Array CAUTION: Many repairs may only be done by a certified service technician. You should only perform troubleshooting and simple repairs as authorized in your product documentation, or as directed by the o...

264 Troubleshooting: Your Array Troubleshooting Power Supply/Cooling Fan Module CAUTION: Many repairs may only be done by a certified service technician. You should only perform troubleshooting and simple repairs as authorized in your product documentation, or as directed by the online or telephone ...

Troubleshooting: Your Array 265 Troubleshooting Array Cooling Problems CAUTION: Many repairs may only be done by a certified service technician. You should only perform troubleshooting and simple repairs as authorized in your product documentation, or as directed by the online or telephone service a...

266 Troubleshooting: Your Array c Reseat the EMM module and wait for 30 seconds. See Removing an EMM in the MD1200 and MD1220 Storage Enclosures Hardware Owner's Manual . d Turn on the server. e Check the EMM status LED. f If the LED does not turn green, replace the EMM. If the problem is not resolv...

268 Troubleshooting: Your Array Troubleshooting Hard Drives CAUTION: Many repairs may only be done by a certified service technician. You should only perform troubleshooting and simple repairs as authorized in your product documentation, or as directed by the online or telephone service and support ...

Troubleshooting: Your Array 269 Troubleshooting Array and Expansion Enclosure Connections 1 Verify that the RAID controller module port link status LED and the RAID controller module status LED are solid green for each port that is connected to a cable. If the LEDs are not solid green, see "Plan...

270 Troubleshooting: Your Array 2 Remove the following components from the array. See "Management: Installing Array Components" on page 209.• Hard drives• RAID controller modules• Power supply/cooling fan modules• Control panel• Backplane 3 Let the system dry thoroughly for at least 24 hours...

272 Troubleshooting: Your Array PCI Errors The storage array firmware can detect and only recover from PCI errors when the RAID controller modules are configured for redundancy. If a virtual disk uses cache mirroring, it fails over to its peer RAID controller module, which initiates a flush of the d...

Getting Help 273 21 Getting Help Contacting Dell For customers in the United States, call 800-WWW-DELL (800-999-3355). NOTE: If you do not have an active Internet connection, you can find contact information on your purchase invoice, packing slip, bill, or Dell product catalog. Dell provides several...