Dell PowerVault 3660i- User Manual

2 About Your MD Series Storage Array This chapter describes the storage array concepts, which help in configuring and operating the Dell MD Series storage arrays. Physical Disks, Virtual Disks, And Disk Groups Physical disks in your storage array provide the physical storage capacity for your data. ...

Table 1. RAID Controller Virtual Disk States State Description Optimal The virtual disk contains physical disks that are online. Degraded The virtual disk with a redundant RAID level contains an inaccessible physical disk. The system can still function properly, but performance may be affected and a...

RAID Level Usage To ensure best performance, you must select an optimal RAID level when you create a system physical disk. The optimal RAID level for your disk array depends on: • Number of physical disks in the disk array • Capacity of the physical disks in the disk array • Need for redundant acces...

RAID 10 CAUTION: Do not attempt to create virtual disk groups exceeding 120 physical disks in a RAID 10 configuration even if premium feature is activated on your storage array. Exceeding the 120-physical disk limit may cause your storage array to be unstable. RAID 10, a combination of RAID 1 and RA...

NOTE: It is recommended that you run data consistency checks on a redundant array at least once a month. This allows detection and automatic replacement of unreadable sectors. Finding an unreadable sector during a rebuild of a failed physical disk is a serious problem, because the system does not ha...

process on the peer controller. The suspended processes are resumed when the active process on the peer controller completes or is stopped. NOTE: If you try to start a disk group process on a controller that does not have an existing active process, the start attempt fails if the first virtual disk ...

recognize the migrating metadata and that data is lost. In this case, the receiving storage array initializes the physical disks and marks them as unconfigured capacity. NOTE: Only disk groups and associated virtual disks with all member physical disks present can be migrated from one storage array ...

part of a host group that shares access to one or more virtual disks. You can manually configure a host server-to-virtual disk mapping. When you configure host server-to-virtual disk mapping, consider these guidelines: • You can define one host server-to-virtual disk mapping for each virtual disk in...

• Standard virtual disks • Thin provisioned virtual disks • Consistency groups To create a snapshot image, you must first create a snapshot group and reserve snapshot repository space for the virtual disk. The repository space is based on a percentage of the current virtual disk reserve.You can dele...

• Source virtual disk — When you create a virtual disk copy, a copy pair consisting of a source virtual disk and a target virtual disk is created on the same storage array. When a virtual disk copy is started, data from the source virtual disk is copied completely to the target virtual disk. • Targe...

Preferred And Alternate Controllers And Paths A preferred controller is a RAID controller module designated as the owner of a virtual disk or disk group. The preferred controller is automatically selected by the MD Storage Manager when a virtual disk is created. You can change the preferred RAID con...

has the least outstanding I/O requests queued. For this policy, an I/O request is simply a command in the queue. The type of command or the number of blocks that are associated with the command are not considered. The least queue depth with subset policy treats large block requests and small block r...

Values for the selected storage arrays are displayed in the Performance Monitor data table. The table is updated at the interval specified in the Polling Interval setting. NOTE: To force an immediate poll of the storage array, click Update. 7. Click Stop to stop monitoring the storage array. 8. To s...

3 Discovering And Managing Your Storage Array You can manage a storage array in two ways: • Out-of-band management • In-band management NOTE: If you are using an iSCSI MD storage array, see Troubleshooting the Dell PowerVault MD-Series Storage Array: Configuring the Ethernet Management Port at dell....

Access Virtual Disk Each RAID controller module in an MD Series storage array maintains a special virtual disk, called the access virtual disk. The host-agent software uses the access virtual disk to communicate management requests and event information between the storage management station and the...

– Out-of-band management — Enter a DNS/Network name, IPv4 address, or IPv6 address for the RAID Controller Module in the storage array. – In-band management — Enter a name or a DNS/Network name, IPv4 address, or IPv6 address for the Host through which the storage array is attached to the network. NO...

3. If you are resetting the password, type the Current password. NOTE: If you are setting the password for the first time, leave the Current password blank. 4. Type the New password. NOTE: It is recommended that you use a long password with at least 15 alphanumeric characters to increase security. F...

5. If you have set a password for the selected storage array, the Enter Password dialog is displayed. Type the current password for the storage array and click OK. Changing Expansion Enclosure ID Numbers When an MD3060e Series expansion enclosure is connected to an MD Series storage array for the fi...

– Every x hours — Sends an e-mail alert after the specified time interval if an event has occurred during that time interval. You can select this option only if you have selected either Event + Profile or Event + Support in the Information To Send list. 7. Click OK.An alert icon is displayed next to...

An alert icon is displayed next to each node in the Tree view for which an alert is set. NOTE: – Any SNMP addresses that you had previously configured appear in the Configured SNMP addresses area. – The SNMP Community Name is determined by the system administrator and configured within the a managem...

4 Using iSCSI NOTE: The following sections are relevant only to MD xx0i storage arrays that use the iSCSI protocol. 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 windo...

The initiator details are displayed. 5. Click CHAP Secret to enter the initiator CHAP permissions in the dialog that is displayed. 6. Click OK. 7. Click OK in the Manage iSCSI Settings window.For more information, see the online help topics. Creating CHAP Secrets When you set up an authentication me...

continuous connectivity. For IPv6 addressing, the default method is Stateless auto-configuration. Always use this method for IPv6. For more information, see Troubleshooting your Dell PowerVault MD-Series Storaeg Array: Configuring iSCSI Data Ports at dell.com/support/manuals.To configure the iSCSI h...

Setting Description NOTE: For more information on creating and configuring a VLAN with MD Support Manager, in the AMW, click the Support tab, then click View Online Help. Ethernet Priority The network priority can be set from lowest to highest. Although network managers must determine these mappings...

5 Event Monitor An event monitor is provided with Dell PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager (MD Storage Manager). The event monitor runs continuously in the background and monitors activity on the managed storage arrays. If the event monitor detects any critical problems, it can notify a host or ...

6 About Your Host Configuring Host Access Dell PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager (MD Storage Manager) is comprised of multiple modules. One of these modules is the Host Context Agent, which is installed as part of the MD Storage Manager installation and runs continuously in the background.If t...

13. Click Finish. The Creation Successful window is displayed confirming that the new host is created. 14. To create another host, click Yes on the Creation Successful window. Removing Host Access To remove host access: 1. In the AMW, select the Host Mappings tab. 2. Select the host node from the ob...

Adding A Host To A Host Group You can add a host to an existing host group or a new host group using the Define Host Wizard. For more information, see Defining A Host . You can also move a host to a different host group. For more information, see Moving A Host To A Different Host Group . Removing A ...

Host Topology Host topology is the organization of hosts, host groups, and host interfaces configured for a storage array. You can view the host topology in the Host Mappings tab of the AMW. For more information, see Using The Host Mappings Tab . The following tasks change the host topology: • Movin...

NOTE: For more information on configuring hosts, see About Your Host . If a component such as a RAID controller module or a cable fails, or an error occurs on the data path to the preferred RAID controller module, virtual disk ownership is moved to the alternate non preferred RAID controller module ...

7 Disk Groups, Standard Virtual Disks, And Thin 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 or disk pool. The maximum number of physical disks supporte...

6. In the Data Service (DS) Attributes area, you can select: – Enable data assurance (DA) protection on the new virtual disk– Use SSD cache 7. In the Virtual disk I/O characteristics type list, select the appropriate Virtual Disk I/O characteristics type. You can select: – File system (typical)– Dat...

Changing The Virtual Disk Cache Settings You can specify the cache memory settings for a single virtual disk or for multiple virtual disks in a storage array.Guidelines to change cache settings for a virtual disk: • After opening the Change Cache Settings dialog, the system may display a window indi...

The I/O characteristic types shown below are only presented during the create virtual disk process.When you choose one of the virtual disk I/O characteristics, the corresponding dynamic cache prefetch setting and segment size that are typically well suited for expected I/O patterns are populated in ...

Virtual capacity is capacity that is reported to the host, while physical capacity is the amount of actual physical disk space allocated for data write operations. Generally, physical capacity is much smaller than virtual capacity.Thin provisioning allows virtual disks to be created with a large vir...

9. Select a repository from the table.Existing repositories are placed at the top of the list. NOTE: The benefit of reusing an existing repository is that you can avoid the initialization process that occurs when you create a new one. 10. If you want to change the repository expansion policy or warn...

• A security key is installed in the storage array. • At least one security capable physical disk is installed in the storage array. • All of the physical disks that you selected on the Hardware tab are security capable physical disks. You can erase security enabled physical disks so that you can re...

– Edit the default path by adding a file name to the end of the path.– Click Browse to navigate to the required folder, then add a file name to the end of the path. 8. In Pass phrase dialog box, enter a string for the pass phrase.The pass phrase must: – be between eight and 32 characters long– conta...

The Confirm Change Security Key window is displayed. 2. Type yes in the text field, and click OK. The Change Security Key window is displayed. 3. In Secure key identifier, enter a string that become part of the secure key identifier.You may leave the text box blank, or enter up to 189 alphanumeric c...

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 from the Save Security Key Complete dialog, and click OK. Validate Security Key A file in which a security key is stored is validate...

• You can unassign only hot spare physical disks with Optimal, or Standby status. You cannot unassign a hot spare physical disk that has the In Use status. A hot spare physical disk has the In Use status when it is in the process of taking over for a failed physical disk. • Hot spare physical disks ...

A hot spare is an idle, powered-on, stand-by physical disk ready for immediate use in case of disk failure. If a hot spare is defined in an enclosure in which a redundant virtual disk experiences a physical disk failure, a rebuild of the degraded virtual disk is automatically initiated by the RAID c...

Enclosure Loss Protection Enclosure loss protection is an attribute of a disk group. Enclosure loss protection guarantees accessibility to the data on the virtual disks in a disk group if a total loss of communication occurs with a single expansion enclosure. An example of total loss of communicatio...

To change the ownership of the virtual disk to the connected controller: 1. In the AMW, select the Storage & Copy Services tab and select a virtual disk. 2. From the menu bar, select the appropriate RAID controller module slot in Storage → Virtual Disk → Change → Ownership/Preferred Path. 3. Cli...

In this example, the mpath6 device contains two paths: -- /dev/sdf at Host 1, Channel 0, Target 0, LUN 2 --/dev/sde at Host 0, Channel 0, Target 0, LUN 2 3. Flush the multi-pathing device mapping using the following command: # multipath -f /dev/mapper/mapth_x Where, mapth_x is the device you want to...

allows only LUNs up to 31, you cannot move that restricted host type into a storage partition that has LUNs greater than 31 already mapped. The Default Group on the Host Mappings tab has a default host type. To change the host type, right-click on the host and select Change Default Host Operating Sy...

Disk Group And Virtual Disk Expansion Adding free capacity to a disk group is achieved by adding unconfigured capacity on the array to the disk group. Data is accessible on disk groups, virtual disks, and physical disks throughout the entire modification operation. The additional free capacity can t...

achieve the required final capacity. Data on the selected virtual disk remains accessible while the process for increasing virtual disk capacity is in progress. Using Unconfigured Capacity You can increase the capacity of a standard virtual disk or a snapshot repository virtual disk using the unconf...

On the target storage array, verify that: • The target storage array has available physical disk slots. • The target storage array supports the physical disks that you import. • The target storage array can support the new virtual disks. • The latest version of firmware is installed on the RAID cont...

Storage Array Media Scan The media scan is a background operation that examines virtual disks to verify that data is accessible. The process finds media errors before normal read and write activity is disrupted and reports errors to the event log. NOTE: You cannot enable background media scans on a ...

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 want to perform another long-running operation, yo...

8 Disk Pools And Disk Pool Virtual Disks Disk pooling allows you to distribute data from each virtual disk randomly across a set of physical disks. Disk pooling provides RAID protection and consistent performance across a set of physical disks logically grouped together in the storage array. Althoug...

• You cannot change the RAID level of a disk pool. MD Storage Manager automatically configures disk pools as RAID level 6. • All physical disk types in a disk pool must be the same. • You can protect your disk pool with Self Encrypting Disk (SED), but the physical disk attributes must match. For exa...

To RAID controller module ownership of a disk pool: 1. In AMW, select the Storage & Copy Services tab. 2. Select the disk pool. 3. From the menu bar, select Storage → Disk Pool → Change → Ownership/Preferred Path. 4. Select the RAID controller module. 5. Click Yes. Checking Data Consistency Use ...

Deleting A Disk Pool Use the Delete option to delete a disk pool and all of the virtual disks in the disk pool. When a disk pool is deleted, the physical disks that were associated with the disk pool change to the Unassigned state. This process creates more unconfigured capacity in the storage array...

– Right-click a component, and select View Associated Physical Components.– Select a component, and click View Associated Physical Components in the Properties pane.– Select a component, and from the menu bar, select Storage → Disk Pool → View Associated Physical Components. The associated physical ...

9 Using SSD Cache The SSD Cache feature utilizes solid-state disk (SSD) physical disks to improve read-only performance in your storage array. SSD physical disks are logically grouped together to provide secondary cache for use with the primary cache in the RAID controller module memory.Using SSD Ca...

– Right click on the SSD cache and select Delete. The Confirm Delete SSD Cache window is displayed. 3. Type yes to confirm and click Delete. Using The Performance Modeling Tool The SSD Cache Performance Modeling tool helps you determine the performance improvement for SSD cache capacity when you run...

10 Premium Feature—Snapshot Virtual Disk The following types of virtual disk snapshot premium features are supported on the MD storage array: • Snapshot Virtual Disks using multiple point-in-time (PiT) groups • Snapshot Virtual Disks (Legacy) using a separate repository for each snapshot NOTE: This ...

To create a snapshot image, you must first create a snapshot group and reserve snapshot repository space for the virtual disk. The repository space is based on a percentage of the current virtual disk reserve.You can delete the oldest snapshot image in a snapshot group either manually or you can aut...

Snapshot Consistency Groups To perform the same snapshot image operations on multiple virtual disks, you can create a consistency group containing the virtual disks. Any operation performed on the consistency group is performed simultaneously on all of the virtual disks in that group, which creates ...

subsequent modifications made by the host application to the base virtual disk without affecting the referenced snapshot image. Each member repository is created when the consistency group snapshot virtual disk is created. Ranking Repository Candidates If you choose to create a repository manually, ...

Creating A Snapshot Image You can create a snapshot image by either selecting a base virtual disk or by selecting an existing snapshot group. To create a snapshot image from an existing base virtual disk: 1. From the AMW, select the base virtual disk you are copying and select Copy Services → Snapsh...

The snapshot image creation operation completes as soon as the synchronization operation is complete. To cancel the pending snapshot image creation before the synchronization operation completes, do the following: 1. From the AMW, select either the snapshot group or consistency group that contains t...

snapshot image creation by disabling the schedule. When a schedule is disabled, the scheduled snapshot image creations do not occur. To edit a schedule: 1. From the AMW, select the Storage & Copy Services tab. 2. Select the snapshot group or consistency group for which you want to edit a schedul...

• You cannot start a rollback operation when any of these operations are in progress in the storage array: – Expanding the capacity of a disk group.– Virtual disk Expansion (VDE) to increase the capacity of a virtual disk.– Migrating a disk group to a different RAID level.– Changing the segment size...

3. Click Resume.The following may occur depending on the error condition: – If the resume rollback operation is successful — You can view the progress of the rollback operation in the Properties pane when you select the base virtual disk or the consistency group member virtual disk in the Logical pa...

3. To view the progress for operations that affect a base virtual disk or a consistency group snapshot image, click the triangle next to a base virtual disk or a consistency group snapshot image to expand or collapse it. 4. To change the interval for refreshing the display, use the spinner box in th...

– The base virtual disk that contains this snapshot image is a member of an asynchronous remote replication group. – The base virtual disk is currently in a synchronizing operation. The snapshot image creation completes as soon as the synchronization operation is complete. 1. From the AMW, select th...

Deleting A Snapshot Group Use the Delete Snapshot Group option to delete a snapshot group. The system performs the following actions when a snapshot group is deleted: • Deletes all existing snapshot images from the snapshot group. • Deletes the associated repository that exists for the snapshot grou...

– Storage → Virtual Disk → Convert Snapshot (Legacy) to Snapshot Group. – Copy Services → Snapshot (Legacy) → Convert to Snapshot Group. 3. In the Available snapshot (legacy) virtual disks table, select the snapshot (legacy) virtual disks that you want to convert and then click Add to add them to th...

1. Select the Storage & Copy Services tab. 2. Select the storage object for which you want to view the associated physical components and then select Individual Repository Virtual Disk → View Associated Physical Components. Creating A Consistency Group A consistency group is simultaneous snapsho...

To delete a consistency group: 1. From the AMW, select the Storage & Copy Services tab. 2. Select the consistency group that you want to delete and then select Copy Services → Consistency Group → Delete. The Confirm Delete window is displayed. 3. Select Delete all repositories associated with th...

• If the base virtual disk resides on a standard disk group, the repository members for any associated consistency group can reside on either a standard disk group or a disk pool. If a base virtual disk resides on a disk pool, the repository members for any associated consistency group must reside o...

– Select one or more consistency groups, from the Consistency groups table, that you want to remove the base virtual disk from and then click Remove. NOTE: You can click the Select all check box to remove the virtual disk from all the consistency groups displayed in the table. – Select the member vi...

Use this option if you want to specify all of the customizable settings for the snapshot virtual disk repository. The Manual method is considered advanced and only those who understand physical disk redundancy and optimal physical disk configurations should use this method. 8. Click Finish.The snaps...

Changing The Settings Of A Snapshot Virtual Disk Use the Change Snapshot Virtual Disk Settings option to modify the repository settings that were configured when you created the snapshot virtual disk. You can modify the maximum percentage for the snapshot virtual disk repository to set a warning whe...

3. If the snapshot virtual disk or the consistency group snapshot virtual disk is read-write, select the option to delete the associated repository. 4. Type yes in the text box and then click Delete to delete the snapshot virtual disk or consistency group snapshot virtual disk. Creating A Consistenc...

An overall repository virtual disk that has this feature enabled returns read errors if the data is determined to be inconsistent by the RAID controller module firmware. You can enable this option for overall repository virtual disks that contain consistency information. RAID Level 1, RAID Level 5, ...

NOTE: If free capacity does not exist on the disk group or disk pool you selected, the free space that appears in the Capacity spinner box is 0. If this storage array has Unconfigured Capacity, you can create a new disk group or disk pool and then retry this operation using the new free capacity on ...

The system performs the following actions: – Updates the capacity for the overall repository.– Displays the newly-updated repository member virtual disk(s) for the overall repository. Performing A Revive Operation Use the Revive option to force a storage object to an Optimal state if it does not tra...

Scheduling A Snapshot Virtual Disk When you create a snapshot virtual disk, you can choose whether the snapshot is created immediately or is created according to a schedule that you determine. This schedule can be a one-time snapshot creation or an snapshot creation that occurs at regularly occurrin...

destination of a snapshot repository virtual disk is determined based on the free capacity available in the disk group. If 8 MB of free capacity is not available in the disk group of the source virtual disk, the Create Snapshot Virtual Disks feature defaults to the advanced path. In the advanced pat...

NOTE: Before you create a new snapshot of a source virtual disk, stop any data access (I/O) activity or suspend data transfer to the source virtual disk to ensure that you capture an accurate snapshot of the source virtual disk. Close all applications, including Windows Internet Explorer, to make su...

NOTE: Before you create a new snapshot of a source virtual disk, stop any data access (I/O) activity or suspend data transfer to the source virtual disk to ensure that you capture an accurate snapshot of the source virtual disk. Close all applications, including Windows Internet Explorer, to make su...

– Free capacity on same disk group as base (recommended)– Free capacity on different disk group– Unconfigured capacity (create new disk group) 7. Enter the snapshot repository virtual disks capacity as a percentage of the source virtual disks capacity and click Next.The Specify Virtual Disk Paramete...

capacity is used to increase the size of the virtual disk, the Free Capacity node involved is removed from the Storage & Copy Services tab. 7. If unassigned physical disks are not available, do you have empty slots in the expansion enclosures? – Yes, there are empty slots—Insert new physical dis...

1. In the AMW, select the Storage & Copy Services tab, select a snapshot virtual disk. 2. Select Copy services → Virtual Disk → Snapshot → Re-create. 3. Type yes , and click OK. Disabling A Snapshot Virtual Disk Disable a snapshot virtual disk if one of the following conditions exists: • You do ...

5. Follow any additional instructions for your operating system. Failure to follow these additional instructions can create unusable snapshot virtual disks. NOTE: If your operating system requires additional instructions, you can find those instructions in your operating system documentation. Re-Cre...

12 Premium Feature—Virtual Disk Copy NOTE: A virtual disk copy overwrites data on the target virtual disk. Before starting a virtual disk copy, ensure that you no longer need the data or back up the data on the target virtual disk. NOTE: If you ordered this feature, you received a Premium Feature Ac...

the base virtual disk of an older (Legacy) snapshot virtual disk as your target virtual disk, you must first disable all snapshot (Legacy) virtual disks that are associated with the base virtual disk. Types Of Virtual Disk Copies You can perform either offline or online virtual disk copies. To ensur...

NOTE: When creating a snapshot virtual disk, map the snapshot virtual disk to only one node in the cluster. Mapping the snapshot virtual disk to the host group or both nodes in the cluster may cause data corruption by allowing both nodes to concurrently access data. Virtual Disk Read/Write Permissio...

Creating A Virtual Disk Copy CAUTION: Possible loss of data—Source virtual disks that are participating in a virtual disk copy are available for read I/O activity only while a virtual disk copy has a status of In Progress or Pending. Write requests are allowed after the virtual disk copy has complet...

on a source virtual disk or a target virtual disk after a virtual disk copy has been created, the modification operation must complete before the virtual disk copy can start. If a virtual disk copy has a status of In Progress, any modification operation does not take place. Create Copy Wizard The Cr...

• To use this option, select only one copy pair in the Copy Manager. • When the virtual disk copy is stopped, all of the mapped hosts have write access to the source virtual disk. If data is written to the source virtual disk, the data on the target virtual disk no longer matches the data on the sou...

Recopying The Virtual Disk You can use the Copy Manager to create a new virtual disk copy for a selected source virtual disk and a target virtual disk. Use this option when you have stopped a virtual disk copy and want to start it again or when a virtual disk copy has failed or completed. The virtua...

13 Device Mapper Multipath For Linux Overview The MD Series storage arrays use a Linux operating system software framework, known as Device Mapper (DM), to enable multipath capabilities on Linux Host Servers. The DM multipath functionality is provided by a combination of drivers and utilities. This ...

3. Configure using MDCU — After the host server has rebooted, the MDCU automatically starts and is present on the desktop. This utility allows for quick and easy configuration of new and or existing MD Series storage arrays present on your network. It also provides a GUI Wizard for establishing the ...

Display The Multipath Device Topology Using The Multipath Command The multipath command adds newly scanned and mapped virtual disks to the Device Mapper tables and creates entries for them in the/dev/mapper directory on the host server. These devices are the same as any other block devices in the ho...

Add A New Partition To Device Mapper The kpartx command adds the new fdisk partition to the Device Mapper list of usable partitions. See examples below, where mpath<x> is the device node on which the partition was created. # kpartx –a /dev/mapper/mpath<x> If successful, the command does ...

1. Unmount all Device Mapper multipath device nodes mounted on the server: # umount <mounted_multipath_device_node> 2. Stop the Device Mapper multipath service: # /etc/init.d/multipathd stop 3. Flush the Device Mapper multipath maps list to remove any old or modified mappings: # multipath –F N...

• I/O may hang when a Device Mapper device is deleted before the volume is unmounted. • If the scsi_dh_rdac module is not included in initrd , slower device discovery may be seen and the syslog may become populated with buffer I/O error messages. • I/O may hang if the host server or storage array is...

14 Configuring Asymmetric Logical Unit Access If your MD Series RAID storage array supports Asymmetric Logical Unit Access (ALUA), active-active throughput allows I/O to pass from a RAID controller module to a virtual disk that is not owned by the controller. Without ALUA, the host multipath driver ...

– # esxcli nmp satp addrule –s VMW_SATP_ALUA –V DELL –M array_PID -c tpgs_off Where, array_PID is your storage array model/product ID. To select the appropriate array_PID for your storage array, see the following table. Table 8. Storage Arrays and Model/Product IDs ( array_PID) Storage Array array_P...

15 Premium Feature—Remote Replication The following types of Remote Replication are supported on the MD storage array: • Remote Replication — Standard asynchronous replication using point-in-time images to batch the resynchronization between the local and remote site. This type of replication is sup...

Types Of Remote Replication The following are the types of Remote Replication premium features supported on your storage array: • Remote Replication — Also known as standard or asynchronous, it is supported on both iSCSI- and Fibre Channel-based storage arrays (both local and remote storage arrays m...

Remote Replication Requirements And Restrictions To use the standard Remote Replication premium feature, you must have: • Two storage arrays with write access and both these storage arrays must have sufficient space to replicate data between them. • Each storage must have a dual-controller Fibre Cha...

Activating Remote Replication Premium Features Activating Remote Replication automatically reserves specific ports on each RAID controller module for data replication. After the port is reserved, any non-replication related I/O request to that port is rejected. Only RAID controller modules configure...

1. From the AMW, select Copy Services → Remote Replication → Deactivate. A message prompts you to confirm if the Remote Replication premium feature is to be deactivated. 2. Click Yes. Remote Replication Groups After the Remote Replication premium feature is successfully activated on both the local a...

1. In the AMW of the local storage array, select the Storage & Copy Services tab. 2. Select Copy Services → Remote Replication → Remote Replication → Replication Group → Create. The Create Remote Replication Group window is displayed. 3. In Remote replication group name, enter a group name (30 c...

Creating Replicated Pairs This procedure describes how to create the remote replicated pair on an existing remote replication group. To create a new Remote Replication group, see Creating a Remote Replication Group. 1. In the AMW of the local storage array, select the Storage & Copy Services tab...

– The Associated Replicated Pairs table is updated to show the replication information for the Remote Replication group. Removing A Replicated Pair From A Remote Replication Group Removing a replicated pair from a Remote Replication group breaks the replication relationship between the primary virtu...

16 Premium Feature—Remote Replication (Legacy) NOTE: The following section applies to the Fibre Channel-only Remote Replication premium feature. This premium feature is referred to as Legacy to differentiate from the Remote Replication premium feature available on both Fibre Channel and iSCSI-based ...

Activating Remote Replication (Legacy) NOTE: If you ordered the Remote Replication (Legacy) feature, you received a Premium Feature Activation card in the Dell PowerVault MD Series storage array shipping box. Follow the directions on the card to install and enable this feature. After the Remote Repl...

A primary virtual disk in a remote replication can be either a source virtual disk or a target virtual disk in a virtual disk copy.You can create a virtual disk copy on the primary virtual disk in a replicated pair, but you cannot create a virtual disk copy of a secondary virtual disk in a replicate...

1. From the AMW, select Copy Services → Remote Replication → Activate. 2. In the Activate Remote Replication wizard, select Unconfigured capacity (create a new disk group) and click Next.The Activate Remote Replication - Create Disk Group wizard is displayed. 3. In Disk Group Name, type a unique nam...

3. Click Next.The Select Synchronization Settings (Create Remote Replication (Legacy) wizard is displayed. Go to Setting Synchronization Priority And Synchronization Method. Setting Synchronization Priority And Synchronization Method You can set the priority for allocating system resources to synchr...

RAID Controller Module Ownership/Preferred Path During a remote replication operation, the RAID controller module that owns the primary virtual disk must correspond to the RAID controller owning the secondary volume on the remote array. If both virtual disks do not have the same preferred RAID contr...

6. In the Section Selection area of the Save Profile window, select each section you want to save. 7. To save the file, either: – Save the file in the default directory, or– Save the file in another directory by choosing it in the Look in drop-down list. 8. In File name, type a name for the file and...

• The status of the replicated pair changes to Unsynchronized. • A Needs Attention status is displayed for the storage array. • Data is written to the primary virtual disk. • Write requests to the primary virtual disk are logged. • The RAID controller module owner sends an I/O completion message to ...

3. Select one or more replicated pairs. To select all replicated pairs, click Select All. 4. Click Resume.The Resume Replication Pair - Confirmation dialog is displayed. 5. In the Confirmation text box, type Yes . The remote virtual disk replication resumes. NOTE: The Properties panes in the AMW for...

3. Select Test Replication Communication.The Replication Communication Test Progress message is displayed. Deleting A Virtual Disk From A Replicated Pair In A Storage Array Follow these steps to delete either a primary virtual disk, a secondary virtual disk, or both virtual disks from a replicated p...

17 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 (EMW) to download and activate both t...

NOTE: If any of the selected storage arrays do not support downloading the files and activating the firmware or NVSRAM later, the Transfer files but don’t activate them (activate later) check box is disabled. 17. Click OK. The Confirm Download dialog is displayed. 18. Click Yes. The download starts ...

The Download NVSRAM dialog is displayed. The current firmware version and the NVSRAM version of the selected storage arrays is displayed. NOTE: If you select the storage arrays with different RAID controller module types that cannot be updated with the same NVSRAM file and click NVSRAM, the Incompat...

The Download Physical Disk Firmware - Introduction window is displayed. 2. Click Next.The Download Physical Disk Firmware - Add Package window is displayed. 3. In the Selected Packages area, click Add. Navigate to the location of the packages and click OK.The selected package is added to the Package...

7. Monitor the progress and completion status of the download to the expansion enclosures. The progress and status of each expansion enclosure that is participating in the download is displayed in the Status column of the Select enclosures table. NOTE: Each firmware download can take several minutes...

18 Firmware Inventory A storage array is made up of many components, which may include RAID controller modules, physical disks, and enclosure management modules (EMMs). Each of these components contains firmware. Some versions of the firmware are dependent on other versions of firmware. To capture i...

19 System Interfaces 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 and configure third-party storage resources, such as MD Series sto...

20 Storage Array Software Start-Up Routine Look and listen during the array’s start-up routine for the indications described in the table below. For a description of the front- and back-panel indicators, see About Your Storage Array . Look/Listen for Action Alert messages See your storage management...

Status Icon Description Setting an Alert at the Parent Node Level You can set alerts at any of the nodes in the Tree view. Setting an alert at a parent node level, such as at a host level, sets alert for any child nodes. If you set an alert at a parent node level and any of the in-band storage array...

A zip-compressed archive file is stored at the location you specify on the host. The archive contains trace files from one or both of the RAID controller modules in the storage array along with a descriptor file named trace_description.xml. Each trace file includes a header that identifies the file ...

Removing A Support Data Collection Schedule To remove a support data collection schedule: 1. From the EMW, select Tools → Collect Support Data → Create/Edit Schedule. The Schedule Support Data Collection dialog is displayed. 2. In the Storage arrays table, select one or more storage arrays. 3. Click...

Capturing The State Information Use the 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 information to your Technical Support representative for analysis. CAUTION: P...

c) Examine the Ethernet cables to make sure that you cannot see any damage and that they are tightly connected.d) Make sure that the applicable network configuration tasks have been done (for example, the IP addresses have been assigned to each controller). 5. Make sure that the controller firmware ...

21 Getting Help Contacting Dell 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 online and telephone-based support and service options. Availability varies by country...