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Dell POWERVAULT MD3600F User's Manual

1. Configuring E mail Alerts 79 Configuring SNMP Alerts 81 Battery Settings 83 Setting the Storage Array RAID Controller Module Clocks 0 4 84 Configuration Event Monitor 85 Enabling or Disabling the Event Monitor 86 Windows 2 22055 86 LINUX a denne Awe Be 2 ad 86 Configuration About Your Host 87 Configuring Host Access 87 Using the MappingsTab 88 DefiningaHost 88 Removing Host Access 90 Managing Host Groups 90 CreatingaHostGroup 91 Moving a Host to a Different Host Group 92 Removing aHostGroup 92 HostTopology 93 Starting or Stopping the Host Context Agent 93 1 0 Data Path Protection 94 Managing Host Portldentifiers 95 Contents 9 Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks Contents Creating Disk Groups and Virtual Disks Creating Disk Groups LocatingaDiskGroup Creating Virtual Disks Changing the Virtual Disk Modification Priority Changing the Virtual Disk Cache Settings Changing the Segment Size of a Virtual Disk Changing the 1 0 Type Choosing an Appropriate Physical Disk Type Physical Disk Securi
2. 138 Importing a DiskGroup 138 Storage ArrayMediaScan 139 Changing Media Scan Settings 140 Suspending the MediaScan 141 10 Configuration Premium Feature Snapshot Virtual Disks 143 Creating a Snapshot Virtual Disk Using the Simple Path 144 About the Simple Path 145 Contents Preparing Host Servers to Create the Snapshot Using the Simple Path 145 Creating a Snapshot Virtual Disk Using the Advanced Path 148 About the Advanced Path 148 Preparing Host Servers to Create the Snapshot Using the Advanced Path 149 Creating the Snapshot Using the Advanced Path 151 Specifying Snapshot Virtual Disk Names 153 Snapshot Repository Capacity 154 Re creating Snapshot Virtual Disks 157 Disabling a Snapshot Virtual Disk 158 Preparing Host Servers to Re create a Snapshot Virtual Disk 159 Re creating a Snapshot Virtual Disk 160 11 Configuration Premium Feature Virtual Disk Copy 161 Creating a Virtual Disk Copy for an MSCS Shared Disk 162 Virtual Disk Read Write Permissions 163 Virtual Disk Copy Restrictions 164 Creating a Virtual Disk Copy 165 Before YouBegin 165 Virtual Disk Copy and Modification Operati
3. K NOTE Each test shows a status of Executing while it is in progress The test then shows Completed when it successfully finishes If any of the tests cannot be completed a status of Failed appears in the Execution summary window 5 Monitor the progress and completion status of all of the tests When they finish click OK to close the State Capture dialog Clicking Cancel stops the state capture process and any remaining tests do not complete Any test information that has been generated to that point is saved to the state capture file K NOTE See the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager online help topics for more information on troubleshooting and recovering from failures 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 all the memory resident data for file systems on the target virtual disk is flushed and that the driver recognizes signatures and file system partitions You can also use this utility to resolve duplicate signature problems for snapshot virtual disks From a command prompt window on a host running Windows navigate to C Program Files Dell MD Storage Manager util and run the following command SMrepassist f lt filesystem identifier gt where f flushes all the memory resident data for the file sy
4. To view the Properties pane 1 In the AMW select the Logical tab 2 Select either the primary or secondary virtual disk of the replicated pair The Properties pane shows properties for the selected virtual disk Under Replication properties the Replication status displays the synchronization status of the replicated pair When the primary and secondary virtual disks are synchronizing the Replication status shows a synchronizing icon see Virtual Disk Status Icons on page 194 Viewing Logical Elements of the Secondary Virtual Disk To view the logical elements of the secondary virtual disk of a remote replication 1 In the AMW of the local storage array select the Logical tab 2 Right click the secondary virtual disk of the remote replication 3 Select View Associated Logical Elements The View Associated Logical Elements pop up is displayed revealing these logical elements e Primary and secondary virtual disks and their locations e Replication repository virtual disks and their locations 192 Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication Viewing the Physical Components or Logical Elements of the Primary Virtual Disk To view the physical components or logical elements of the primary virtual disk in a remote replication 1 Inthe AMW of the storage array that contains t he primary virtual disk select the Logical tab 2 Right click the primary virtual disk and either e View the logical elements of the prima
5. Journaling File Systems and Remote Replication Setting Up and Managing Remote Replication Activating the Remote Replication Premium Feature and Creating Replication Virtual Disks Activating and Creating Replication Repository Virtual Disks From the StorageArray Activating and Creating Replication Repository Virtual Disks From an Existing Disk Group Creating a Remote Replication Selecting the Secondary Virtual Disk Setting the Write Mode Setting Synchronization Priority and Synchronization Method Completing the Remote Replication RAID Controller Module Ownership Preferred Path Viewing Information About a Remote Replication or Replication Repository Virtual Disk 179 180 180 181 181 Viewing the Properties Pane Viewing Logical Elements of the Secondary VirtualDisk Viewing the Physical Components or Logical Elements of the Primary Virtual Disk Virtual Disk StatusIcons Changing Write Mode and Consistency Group Membership Resynchronizing Virtual Disks Normally Synchronized Virtual Disks Changing Synchronization Priority and Method Unsynchronized Virtual Disks Automatically Resynchronizing Virtual Disks Manually Resynchronizing
6. The Go To option is available only if the Snapshot premium feature or the Virtual Disk Copy premium feature is enabled or if snapshot virtual disks or virtual disk copies currently exist on the storage array The Go To option is not accessible from the Mappings tab of the Array Management Window 1 On the Logical tab of the AMW select one of these virtual disks and go to the indicated step e Snapshot virtual disk Go to step 2 e Snapshot repository virtual disk Go to step 3 e Source virtual disk Go to step 4 e Target virtual disk Go to step 5 Select View Go To Snapshot Virtual Disk The selection jumps to the associated snapshot virtual disk in the Logical pane Select View Go To Snapshot Repository Virtual Disk The selection jumps to the associated snapshot repository virtual disk in the Logical pane Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software 275 4 5 Select View Go To gt Source Virtual Disk The selection jumps to the associated source virtual disk in the Logical pane Select View Go To gt Target Virtual Disk K NOTE If the source virtual disk has more than one associated target virtual disk select the target virtual disk that you want from the list and click OK The selection jumps to the associated target virtual disk in the Logical pane Recovering From an Unresponsive Storage Array Condition A storage array can have an Unresponsive status for several reasons Use the p
7. e File system typical e Database e Multimedia e Custom 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 K NOTE If you selected the Custom option select your preferred dynamic cache read prefetch setting enabled disabled and segment size 8 KB to 512 KB 2 Click OK Choosing an Appropriate Physical Disk Type You can create disk groups and virtual disks in the storage array You must select the capacity that you want to allocate for the virtual disk from either unconfigured capacity or free capacity available in the storage array Then you define basic and optional advanced parameters for the virtual disk With the advent of different physical disk technologies it is now possible to mix physical disks with different media types and different interface types within a single storage array In this release of MDSM the following media types are supported Hard physical disk Solid State Disk SSD Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 109 Physical Disk Security With Self Encrypting Disk Self encrypting disk SED technology prevents unauthorized access to the data on a physical disk that is physically removed from the storage array The storage array has a security key Self encrypting disks provide access to data only thro
8. operations To suspend a media scan 1 2 In the AMW select the Logical tab and select any virtual disk Select Virtual Disk Change Media Scan Settings The Change Media Scan Settings window is displayed Select Suspend media scan K NOTE This applies to all the virtual disks on the disk group Click OK Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 141 142 Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks Configuration Premium Feature Snapshot Virtual Disks K 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 obtain a key file and to enable the feature K NOTE The snapshot feature allows up to eight snapshots per LUN and 128 per array to be present at the same time A snapshot virtual disk is a point in time image of a virtual disk in a storage array It is not an actual virtual disk containing a copy of the original data It is a reference to the data that was contained on a virtual disk at a specific time A snapshot virtual disk is the logical equivalent of a complete physical copy However you can create a snapshot virtual disk much faster than a physical copy using less disk space The virtual disk on which the snapshot is based called the source virtual disk must be a standard virtual disk in your storage array Typically you create a snapshot so that an application su
9. 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 the host sending the write request Although the host can continue to send write requests to the primary virtual disk no data transfer takes place to the secondary virtual disk Writes to the secondary virtual disk are suspended pending restoration of communications between the primary and secondary virtual disks When connectivity is restored between the primary and secondary virtual disks the replicated pair is ready to be resynchronized Ka A NOTE When the primary virtual disk and the secondary virtual disk are resynchronized only data that has changed on the primary virtual disk after the break in communication is transferred to the secondary virtual disk CAUTION Loss of data can occur if communication is broken after resynchronization starts between the primary storage array and the secondary storage array In addition to resulting in an incomplete resynchronization that may render the secondary storage array unusable an interrupted resynchronization could cause a loss of data integrity on both arrays Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication 199 Automatically Resynchronizing Virtual Disks When automatic resynchronization is selected the RAID controller module owning the primary
10. Ensure that all of the physical disks from a storage array are migrated to the destination storage array before starting migration from the next storage array K NOTE If the drive modules are not moved as a set to the destination storage array the newly relocated disk groups might not be accessible 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 existing physical disks After the destination storage array has been turned on and has successfully recognized the newly migrated physical disks migration operations can continue K NOTE Disk groups from multiple storage arrays should not be migrated at the same time to a storage array that has no existing physical disks Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts e Enabling premium features before migration Before migrating disk groups and virtual disks enable the required premium features on the destination storage array If a disk group is migrated from a MD3600f storage array that has a premium feature enabled and the destination array does not have this feature enabled an Out of Compliance error message can be generated Disk Roaming You can move physical disks within an array The RAID controller module automatically recognizes the relocated physical disks and logically
11. Figure 3 1 1 2 Paea MD3600f Series Fibre Channel RAID Controller Module Ka UD qi R q fo 12 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 1 10 Item Component Function 1 Co wi lt amp AW a 32 SAS OUT port FCIN port 0 FCIN port 1 FCIN port 2 FCIN port 3 MAC Address label Debug port Management port activity LED Provides SAS connection for cabling to a downchain expansion enclosure Provides host to controller FC connection Provides host to controller FC connection Provides host to controller FC connection Provides host to controller FC connection Provides MAC addresses of the management port Dell support only Lights green when Ethernet connection is active Off when Ethernet connection is not active Planning RAID Controller Modules LED Item Component Function 9 Management Provides a 100 1000 Mbps Ethernet connection for out of port Ethernet band management of the enclosure connector 10 Management Lights green when Ethernet connection is operating at port speed LED 1000 Mbps Lights amber when Ethernet connection is operating at 100 Mbps Off when Ethernet connection is operating at 10 Mbps or is not active 11 Password reset Activating this switch resets the password switch 12 Battery fault Lights amber when battery backup unit or battery has failed Off when battery backup unit is operating normally 13 FCIN port 3 Displays link rate a
12. Zoning Guidelines 182 Switch Configurations 182 Index 311 312 Index
13. Mount a DM partition See Mount a Device Mapper Partition on page 216 NOTE In the following command descriptions lt x gt is used to indicate where a substitution should be made On RHEL systems lt x gt is the number assigned to the device On SLES systems lt x gt is the letter s assigned to the device Scan for Newly Added Virtual Disks The rescan_dm_devs command scans the host server system looking for existing and newly added virtual disks mapped to the host server rescan dm devs If an array virtual disk VD is mapped to the host server at a later time the rescan_dm_devices command must be run again to make the VD a visible LUN to the operating system Configuration Device Mapper Multipath for Linux 213 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 host To list all the multipath devices run the following command multipath 11 The output should be similar to this example which shows the output for one mapped virtual disk mpathl 3600a0b80005ab177000017544a8d6b92 dm 0 DELL MD36xxf size 5 0G features 3 queue if no path pg_init retries 50 hwhandler 1 rdac rw _ round robin 0 prio 6 active _ 5 0 0 0 sdc 8 32 active ready _ rou
14. On SLES 10 3 hosts a partition node has the format dev mapper mpath lt x gt _part lt y gt where lt x gt is the letter s assigned to the multipathing device and lt y gt is the partition number K NOTE After creating a partition on a multipathing device all 1 0 operations including file system creation raw I O and file system 1 0 must be done through the partition node and not through the multipathing device nodes 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 lt filesystem type gt dev mapper lt partition node gt where lt partition node gt is the partition on which the file system is created Mount a Device Mapper Partition Use the standard mount command to mount the Device Mapper partition as shown below mount dev mapper lt partition node gt lt mounting point gt Ready for Use The newly created virtual disks created on the MD3600f Series array are now setup and ready to be used Future reboots automatically finds multipathing devices along with their partitions 216 Configuration Device Mapper Multipath for Linux Important Information About Special Partitions When using Device Mapper with the MD3600f Series array all physical disks are assigned a disk device node This includes a special device type used for in band management of the MD3600f Series array kn
15. Recommended and click Next The Specify Names window is displayed Enter the Snapshot virtual disk name and the Snapshot repository virtual disk name and click Next The Specify Snapshot Repository Capacity window is displayed Enter the snapshot repository virtual disks capacity as a percentage of the source virtual disks capacity and click Next The Preview window containing the summary of the snapshot virtual disk is displayed Click Finish The Completed window is displayed Click OK After creating one or more snapshot virtual disks mount the source virtual disk and restart the host application using that source virtual disk In the AMW select the Mappings tab assign mappings between the snapshot virtual disk and the host that accesses the snapshot virtual disk K NOTE In some cases conflicts might result from mapping the same host to both a source virtual disk and its associated snapshot virtual disk This conflict depends on the host operating system and any virtual disk manager software in use To register the snapshot virtual disk with the host operating system run the host based hot_add utility To associate the mapping between the storage array name and the virtual disk name run the host based SMdevices utility K NOTE If your operating system requires additional instructions you can find those instructions in your operating system documentation Configuration Premium Feature Snapshot Virtual Dis
16. Remote Replication Reversing Roles Between the Primary and Secondary Virtual Disks Reversing the roles between the virtual disks promotes the secondary virtual disk to the role of primary virtual disk and demotes the primary virtual disk to the role of secondary virtual If the primary virtual disk in a remote virtual disk replication fails you can reverse the roles of the primary virtual disk and the secondary virtual disk to transfer the data back to the restored virtual disk A CAUTION A potential loss of data access can occur if you reverse roles between the secondary virtual disk and the primary virtual disk while a virtual disk copy is in progress The role reversal may succeed but the virtual disk copy fails and cannot be restarted e You cannot perform a virtual disk copy on a secondary virtual disk in a virtual disk remote replication To create a virtual disk copy of a secondary virtual disk you must reverse the roles of the secondary virtual disk and the primary virtual disk then perform the virtual disk copy on the new primary virtual disk e While a virtual disk remote replication is synchronizing you cannot perform a virtual disk copy on either the primary or secondary virtual disk e If you reverse roles between a secondary virtual disk with less capacity than the primary virtual disk the role reversal succeeds but the usable capacity of the new primary virtual disk equals the total capacity of the secondary virtual dis
17. and Disk Groups Physical disks in your storage array provide the physical storage capacity for your data Before you can begin writing data to the storage array you must configure the physical storage capacity into logical components called disk groups and virtual disks A disk group is a set of physical disks upon which multiple virtual disks are created The maximum number of physical disks supported in a disk group is 96 drives for RAID 0 RAID 1 and RAID10 and 30 drives for RAID 5 and RAID 6 You can create disk groups from unconfigured capacity on your storage array A virtual disk is a partition in a disk group that is made up of contiguous data segments of the physical disks in the disk group A virtual disk consists of data segments from all physical disks in the disk group Virtual disks and disk groups are set up according to how you plan to organize your data For example you might have one virtual disk for inventory a second virtual disk for financial and tax information and so on All virtual disks in a disk group support the same RAID level The storage array supports up to 255 virtual disks minimum size of 10 MB each that can be assigned to host servers Each virtual disk is assigned a Logical Unit Number LUN that is recognized by the host operating system Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 39 Physical Disks Only Dell supported 6 0 Gbps SAS physical disks are supported in the storage a
18. as a resource for system testing or to copy data to another device such as a tape drive or other media NOTE Recovering from a backup copy You can use the Edit Host to Virtual Disk Mappings feature to recover data from the backup virtual disk you created in the previous procedure The Mappings option enables you to unmap the source virtual disk from its host and then to map the backup virtual disk to the same host Creating a Virtual Disk Copy for an MSCS Shared Disk To create a virtual disk copy for a Microsoft Cluster Server MSCS shared disk create a snapshot of the virtual disk and then use the snapshot virtual disk as the source for the virtual disk copy 162 NOTE An attempt to directly create a virtual disk copy for an MSCS shared disk rather than using a snapshot virtual disk fails with the following error The operation cannot complete because the selected virtual disk is not a source virtual disk candidate Configuration Premium Feature Virtual Disk Copy K 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 Permissions After the virtual disk copy is complete the target virtual disk automatically becomes read only to the hosts The target virtual disk rejects re
19. 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 then be used to perform a virtual disk expansion on a standard or snapshot repository virtual disk Disk Group Expansion 1 Inthe AMW select the Logical tab 2 Select a disk group 3 Select Disk Group gt Add Free Capacity Physical Disks The Add Free Capacity window is displayed Based on the RAID level and the enclosure loss protection of the current disk group a list of unassigned physical disks appears Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 135 K NOTE If the RAID level of the disk group is RAID Level 5 or RAID Level 6 and the expansion enclosure has enclosure loss protection Display only physical disks that will ensure enclosure loss protection appears and is selected by default 4 inthe Available physical disks area select physical disks up to the allowed maximum number of physical disks K NOTE You cannot mix different media types or different interface types within a single disk group or virtual disk 5 Click Add A message prompts you to confirm your selection 6 To add the capacity to the disk group click Yes 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
20. devices related with dev dm is deleted you must run multipath f dev dm 1 to remove dev dm 1 from DM mapping table If multipathing daemon is stopped restarted run multipath F to flush out all stale mappings Sometimes the low level driver cannot auto detect devices coming back with the array Run rescan_dm_ devs to do a rescan of the host server SCSI bus and re aggregate devices at multipathing layer Configuration Device Mapper Multipath for Linux 219 220 Configuration Device Mapper Multipath for Linux Management Installing Array Components Recommended Tools You may need the following items to perform the procedures in this section e Key to the system keylock e 2 Phillips screwdriver e Wrist grounding strap Management Installing Array Components 221 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 and pull the bezel away from the system Figure 15 1 Removing and Installing the Front Bezel 1 bezel 2 keylock 3 release latch 4 hinge tab Installing the Front Bezel 1 Hook the right end of the bezel onto the chassis 2 Fit the free end of the bezel onto the system 3 Secure the bezel with the keylock See Figure 15 1 222 Management Installing Array Components Hard Drives SAFE
21. speed LEDs on the front of the RAID controller modules If an SFP transceiver has failed both FCIN speed LEDs for a particular port are off If both FCIN speed LEDs are off for a particular port with a known good cable the SFP transceiver must be replaced Go to step 6 e Ifat least one FCIN speed LED is on for a particular port the SFP transceiver is functional The FCIN speed LEDs indicate a channel speed of 2 Gbps 4 Gbps or 8 Gbps see Host Channel LED Link Rate Indications on page 34 Ensure that the speed indicated by the LEDs is what is expected WARNING Data processing environments can contain equipment transmitting on system links with laser modules that operate at greater than Class 1 power levels Never look into the end of an optical fiber cable or open receptacle CAUTION To prevent degraded performance do not twist fold pinch or step on fiber optic cables Do not bend the fiber optic cables tighter than a 5 cm 2 radius If present disconnect the fiber optic cable from the failed SFP transceiver TE D BP Remove the failed SFP transceiver from the interface port 290 Troubleshooting Your Array Figure 20 1 Removing an SFP Module 10 11 Install the new SFP transceiver into the interface port Ensure that the transceiver is properly seated Reconnect the fiber optic cable View the FCIN speed LEDs and the Physical Disk Channel speed LEDs Based on the LED status perform one of these ac
22. 0 Configuration About Your Host 95 To manage a host port identifier 1 Perform one of these actions e Right click the host in the Topology pane and select Manage Host Port Identifiers in the pop up menu e From the menu bar select Mappings gt Manage Host Port Identifiers The Manage Host Port Identifiers dialog is displayed You can choose to manage the host port identifiers for a specific host or all of the host port identifiers for all of the hosts in Show host port identifiers associated with 2 If you want to manage the host port identifiers for a specific host select the host from the list of hosts that are associated with the storage array If you want to manage the host port identifiers for all hosts select All hosts from the list of hosts that are associated with the storage array 3 If you are adding a new host port identifier go to step 4 If you are managing an existing host port identifier go to step 8 4 Click Add The Add Host Port Identifier dialog appears 5 Select the method to add a host port identifier to the host You can select e Add by selecting a know unassociated host port identifier Select the appropriate host port identifier from the existing list of Known unassociated host port identifiers e Add by creating a new host port identifier In New host port identifier enter the name of the new host port identifier 6 In User label enter up to 30 character alphanumeric name In Asso
23. 1 Start Up Routine Indications Look listen for Action Alert messages See your storage management documentation An unfamiliar constant scraping or grinding See Getting Help on page 303 sound when you access a physical disk K NOTE At least two physical disks must be installed in the array Device Health Conditions When you open the Enterprise Management Window EMW the Dell PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Management software MDSM establishes communication with each managed storage array and determines the current storage array status The current status is represented by icons next to the managed storage array The status icons shown in the Tree view in the EMW represent a summary status for each storage array If a storage array has a status of Needs Attention or a status of Fixing you must determine the condition that is causing this status before attempting any management actions You can determine the condition causing the Needs Attention status or the Fixing status by selecting the storage array and launching its Array Management Window AMW Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software 263 To launch the AMW perform one of these actions e On the Devices tab in either the Tree view or the Table view double click a storage array Alternatively you can right click a storage array and select Manage Storage Array from the pop up menu e On the Setup tab select Manage a Storage Array After the AM
24. 1 provides full data redundancy RAID 5 RAID 5 uses parity and striping data across all physical disks distributed parity to provide high data throughput and data redundancy especially for small random access RAID 5 is a versatile RAID level and is suited for multi user environments where typical I O size is small and there is a high proportion of read activity such as file application database web e mail news and intranet servers RAID 6 RAID 6 is similar to RAID 5 but provides an additional parity disk for better redundancy RAID 6 is the most versatile RAID level and is suited for multi user environments where typical I O size is small and there is a high proportion of read activity RAID 6 is recommended when large size physical disks are used or large number of physical disks are used in a disk group 44 Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts RAID 10 RAID 10 a combination of RAID and RAID 0 uses disk striping across mirrored disks It provides high data throughput and complete data redundancy Utilizing an even number of physical disks four or more creates a RAID level 10 disk group and or virtual disk Because RAID levels 1 and 10 use disk mirroring half of the capacity of the physical disks is utilized for mirroring This leaves the remaining half of the physical disk capacity for actual storage RAID 10 is automatically used when a RAID level of 1 is chosen with four or more physical disks
25. 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 hosts in the host group must have special software such as clustering software to manage virtual disk sharing and accessibility If a host is part of a cluster every host in the cluster must be connected to the storage array and every host in the cluster must be added to the host group 90 Configuration About Your Host Creating a Host Group 1 2 3 In the AMW select the Mappings tab In the Topology pane select the storage array or the Default Group Perform one of the following actions Select Mappings Define Host Group e Right click the storage array or the Default Group and select Define Host Group from the pop up menu Type the name of the new host group in Enter new host group name Select the appropriate hosts in the Select hosts to add area Click Add K NOTE To remove hosts select the hosts in the Hosts in group area and click Remove Click OK The host group is added to the storage array 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 on page 88 You can also move a host to a different host group For more information see Mo
26. 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 notifications either for all the storage arrays or a single storage array To configure alert notifications for all storage arrays 1 Inthe EMW select the Setup tab 2 Select Configure Alerts The Configure Alerts dialog is displayed 3 Select All storage arrays 4 Click OK The Configure Alerts dialog is displayed To configure e mail alerts see Configuring E mail Alerts on page 79 To configure SNMP alerts see Configuring SNMP Alerts on page 81 78 Configuration About Your Storage Array To configure alert notifications for a single storage array 1 2 In the EMW select the Devices tab Select the relevant storage array then select Edit Configure Alerts The Configure Alerts dialog is displayed To configure e mail alerts see Configuring E mail Alerts on page 79 To configure SNMP alerts see Configuring SNMP Alerts on page 81 Configuring E mail Alerts For more information on configuring alert notifications see Configuring Alert Notifications on page 78 To configure e mail alerts 1 2 Open the Configure Alerts dialog by performing one of these actions e In the Tree view or the Table view on the Devices tab in the EMW select a node and then select Edi
27. Charges the battery back to full capacity A learn cycle starts automatically when you install a new battery module Learn cycles for batteries in both RAID controller modules in a duplex system occur simultaneously Leam cycles are scheduled to start automatically at regular intervals at the same time and on the same day of the week The interval between cycles is described in weeks Use the following guidelines to adjust the interval e You can use the default interval e You can run a learn cycle at any time e You can set the learn cycle earlier than the currently scheduled time e You cannot set the learn cycle to start more than seven days later than the currently scheduled time Configuration About Your Storage Array 83 To change the battery settings perform these steps 1 In the AMW select Storage Array Change Battery Settings The Battery Settings dialog opens 2 In Battery location select a battery Check these details about the battery e Battery status e Battery age e Days until replacement For more information see the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager online help topics Setting the Storage Array RAID Controller Module Clocks You can use the Synchronize RAID Controller Module Clocks option to synchronize the storage array RAID controller module clocks with the storage management station This option makes sure that the event timestamps written by the RAID controller modules to the Event Log match the e
28. Expansion Enclosure ID Number When an MD1200 series expansion enclosure is connected to an MD3600 series storage array for the first time an enclosure ID number is assigned and maintained by the expansion enclosure This enclosure ID number is also displayed in the MDSM To change the enclosure ID numbers 1 In the AMW select the storage array and select Storage Array gt Change Enclosure ID Select a new enclosure ID number from the Change Enclosure ID list The enclosure ID must be between 0 and 99 inclusive To save the changed enclosure ID click Change Configuration About Your Storage Array 77 Changing the Enclosure Order in the Physical Pane You can change the order of the RAID controller modules and the expansion enclosures in the Physical pane to match the hardware configuration in your storage array The Physical pane that initially appears is a default view that may not match your storage array The enclosure order change remains in effect until it is modified again To change the enclosure order in the physical pane 1 In the AMW select Storage Array Change Enclosure Order 2 From the Enclosures list select the enclosure you want to move and click either Up or Down to move the enclosure to the new position 3 Click OK If you have set a password for the selected storage array the Enter Password dialog appears 4 Type the current password for the storage array 5 Click OK Configuring
29. K NOTE The suffix txt is added to the file name automatically if you do not specify a suffix for the file name 4 Click Save An ASCII text file that contains the firmware inventory is saved to the designated directory Management Firmware Inventory 259 260 Management Firmware Inventory 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 part vendor specific software modules known as providers to access and configure third party storage resources such as MD3600f storage arrays The VDS component exposes a set of application programming interfaces APIs that provides a single interface for managing disks and other storage hardware The MD3600f Series VDS Provider enables Windows tools including the Disk Manager to access and configure storage array virtual disks The VDS Provider for the MD3600f Series arrays is available on the MD3600f Series resource media For more information on VDS see microsoft com Volume Shadow Copy Service The Microsoft Volume Shadow copy Service VSS is a component of the Microsoft Windows operating system The VSS component utilizes third part vendor specific software modules known as providers to access and utilize snapshot and disk copy functionality provided by third party storage resources such as MD3600f Series storage arrays The combi
30. Known Issues e n certain error conditions with the no_path_retry or the queue_if_no_path feature is set applications may hang To overcome these conditions the you must enter the following command for each affected multipath device dmsetup message device 0 fail if no path where device is the multipath device name for example mpath2 do not specify the path T O may hang when a Device Mapper device is deleted before the volume is unmounted e Ifthe 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 e T O may hang if the host server or storage array is rebooted while I O is active All I O to the storage array should be stopped before shutting down or rebooting the host server or storage array e With the MD3600f Series array after a failed path is restored failback does not automatically occur because the driver cannot auto detect devices without a forced rescan Run the command rescan_dm_devs to force a rescan of the host server This restores the failed paths enabling failback to occur 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 e The Device Mapper Multipath service can be slow when the host system is experiencing heavy I O The problem is exacerbated if the host server also experiences very hi
31. Manager CLI Guide provides information about using the command line interface CLI e Resource media contains all system management tools e Configuring Fibre Channel with the Dell MD3600f Series Storage Array provides information regarding configurations host bus adapter HBA installation and zoning This document is available at support dell com manuals e Systems Support Matrix provides information on supported software and hardware for MD systems The document is available at support dell com manuals Dell PowerEdge Cluster Documentation is available at dell com ha e Release notes or readme files are included to provide last minute updates to the enclosure or documentation or advanced technical reference material intended for experienced users or technicians e This document as well as Dell PowerVault MD 1200 series installation guide is available at support dell com manuals for users who incorporate MD 1200 expansion enclosures K NOTE Always check for updates on support dell com manuals and read the updates first because they often supersede information in other documents Introduction 21 Introduction Planning About Your Storage Array Overview The MD3600f Series storage array is designed for high availability offering redundant access to data storage It s features support for both single and dual RAID controller configuration The Dell PowerVault MD3600f Series storage array provides Fibre Channel F
32. Storage Array Condition 276 Recovery Guru 270 Index 309 Starting or Restarting the Host Agent Software 285 Start Up Routine 263 Storage Array Profile 270 Storage Array Support Data 266 Unidentified Devices 282 Viewing the Logical Associations 272 Viewing the Physical Associations 273 troubleshooting 289 connections 297 cooling problems 293 damaged enclosure 299 external connections 292 hard drives 296 loss of communication 289 power supply cooling fan module 292 startup failure 289 wet enclosure 298 U Unconfigured Capacity 137 User Interface AMW 65 EMW 64 Overview 63 Using Go To 275 V Virtual Disk Background Initialization 46 Consistency Check 46 Copy and Modification Operations 166 Copy Restrictions 164 Copying 168 Creating 165 Creating a Copy for an MSCS Shared Disk 162 Cycle Time 47 Failed Copy 166 Foreground Initialization 46 Media Verification 46 Read Write Permissions 163 Recopying 170 Recovery 56 Stopping copy 170 Storage Array Performance 169 Virtual Disk Copy Source 56 Virtual Disk Expansion 136 Virtual Disk Initialization 45 Virtual Disk Migration and Disk Roaming Disk Migration 51 Disk Roaming 53 Virtual Disk Operations 45 Virtual Disk Operations Limit 47 Virtual Disk Ownership 58 Virtual Disk States 42 Virtual DiskCopy Target 56 Index 310 Virtual Disks and Disk Groups 41 Z
33. Virtual Disks Reversing Roles Between the Primary and Secondary Virtual Disks Promoting the Secondary Virtual Disk or Demoting the Primary Virtual Disk Suspending a Remote Replication Resuming a Remote Replication About Resumed Remote Replications Testing Communication Between the Primary and Secondary Virtual Disks Deleting a Virtual Disk From a Replicated Pair in a Storage Array Deleting a Primary Virtual Disk 2 Deleting a Secondary Virtual Disk Deleting a Primary Virtual Disk in a Replicated Pair From a Storage Array Deleting a Secondary Virtual Disk in a Replicated Pair From a Storage Array Removing a Remote Replication From a Storage Array aaa aaa Deactivating the Remote Replication on the StorageArray Contents Disabling the Remote Replication Premium Feature 209 14 Configuration Device Mapper Multipath for Linux 211 Overview 0 0 4 211 Using DM Multipathing Devices 212 Prerequisites 0 00004 212 Device Mapper Configuration Steps 213 Limitations and Known Issues 218 Troubleshooting 0 219 15 Management Installing Array Components 221 Recommended Tools 221 Front Bezel Optional 222 Removing the Fro
34. additional free capacity is available in the disk group for creation of new virtual disks or expansion of existing virtual disks Virtual Disk Expansion Virtual disk expansion is a dynamic modification operation that increases the capacity of standard virtual disks K NOTE Snapshot repository virtual disks can be expanded from the CLI or from MDSM All other virtual disk types are expandable only from the CLI If you receive a warning that the snapshot repository virtual disk is becoming full you may expand the snapshot repository virtual disk from MDSM See Snapshot Repository Capacity on page 154 for step by step instructions Using Free Capacity You can increase the capacity of a virtual disk using the free capacity on the disk group of the standard virtual disk or the snapshot repository virtual disk The Free Capacity node shown in the Logical pane is a contiguous region of unassigned capacity on a defined disk group When increasing virtual disk capacity some or all of the free capacity might be used to achieve the required final capacity Data on the selected virtual disk remains accessible while the process for increasing virtual disk capacity is in progress 136 Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks Using Unconfigured Capacity You can increase the capacity of a standard virtual disk or a snapshot repository virtual disk using the unconfigured capacity when no free capacity exists on a disk group An increa
35. applicable network configuration tasks have been done for example the IP addresses have been assigned to each controller 5 Ensure that the controller firmware is compatible with MDSM on your management station If the controller firmware was upgraded the MDSM might not have access to the storage array A new version of MDSM might be needed to manage the storage array with the new version of the controller firmware If this problem exists see the Dell support website at support dell com Look to see if there is too much network traffic to one or more controllers This problem corrects itself because the MDSM tries to re establish communication with the controllers in the storage array at regular times If the storage array was unresponsive and a subsequent try to connect to the storage array succeeds the storage array becomes responsive For an out of band storage array look to see if management operations are taking place on the storage array from other storage management stations The type of management operations being done and the number of management sessions taking place together establish the number of TCP IP connections made to a controller When the maximum number of TCP IP connections have been made the controller stops responding This problem corrects itself because after some TCP IP connections complete the controller then becomes responsive to other connection tries If the storage array is still unresponsive problems
36. backplane to ensure that the connectors are not damaged Reinstall the hard drive If the problem is not resolved replace the failed hard drive If the problem persists see Troubleshooting Loss of Communication on page 289 Troubleshooting an SFP Transceiver on page 289 or Getting Help on page 303 Troubleshooting Your Array Troubleshooting Array and Expansion Enclosure Connections 1 Verify that the SAS OUT status LED is green and that for each FCIN port connected to a cable at least one of the paired LEDs is on If this is not the case see Planning RAID Controller Modules on page 31 Ensure that all the cables are attached correctly according to array mode you selected Turn off the server storage array and expansion enclosures Reseat the RAID controller module and reconnect cables on the storage array and the server Turn on the expansion arrays and then the storage array and wait until the system is fully booted Turn on the server Check the LEDs of all cabled ports Replace the fiber optic cables of any port s where both LEDs are unlit If the problem is not resolved see Getting Help on page 303 Reboot the host server K NOTE You must turn off the host server before resetting the cables on the storage array or expansion enclosure If the problem is not resolved see Getting Help on page 303 Troubleshooting Your Array 297 Troubleshooting a Wet Storage Array A CAUTION Ma
37. batch management tasks on specific storage arrays Import the operating system theme settings into the MDSM e Upgrade firmware on multiple storage arrays concurrently 64 l Configuration Overview Inheriting the System Settings Use the Inherit System Settings option to import the operating system theme settings into the MDSM Importing system theme settings affects such features as font type font size color and contrast in the MDSM 1 Open the Inherit System Settings window in one of these ways Select Tools Inherit System Settings e Select the Setup tab and click Inherit System Settings 2 Select Inherit system settings for color and font 3 Click OK Array Management Window You can launch the AMW from the EMW The AMW provides management functions for a single storage array You can have multiple AMWs open simultaneously to manage different storage arrays To launch the AMW 1 Inthe EMW on the Devices tab double click on the relevant storage array The context menu for the selected storage is displayed 2 Inthe context menu select Manage Storage Array The AMW for the selected storage is displayed The AMW has the following tabs Summary tab You can view the following information about the storage array Status Hardware components Capacity Hosts and Mappings Storage partitions Disk groups and virtual disks Logical tab You can view the organization of the stora
38. carrier See Figure 15 5 for PowerVault MD3600f and Figure 15 6 for PowerVault MD3620f Figure 15 5 Removing and Installing a Hard Drive Into a 3 5 Inch Drive Carrier 4 1 screws 4 2 drive carrier 3 SAS screw hole 4 hard drive Management Installing Array Components 227 Figure 15 6 Removing and Installing a Hard Drive Into a 2 5 Inch Drive Carrier 1 screws 4 2 drive carrier 3 SAS screw hole 4 hard drive 228 Management Installing Array Components 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 15 5 2 Align the screw holes on the hard drive with the back set of holes on the hard drive carrier When aligned correctly the back of the hard drive is flush with the back of the hard drive carrier 3 Attach the four screws to secure the hard drive to the hard drive carrier RAID Controller Module An MD3600f series storage array supports single as well as dual RAID controller configurations If only one RAID controller module is installed in your array it must be installed in slot 0 You must install the RAID controller module blank in slot 1 A CAUTION RAID controller modules can be removed and installed without turning off the array It is recommended that you do not remove the RAID controller module while data is being transferred Replacing or installing a RAID controller module that is connec
39. copy has a status of In Progress or Pending Write requests are allowed after the virtual disk copy has completed If the source virtual disk has been formatted with a 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 the read request The storage array rejects the write request and the read request might not be issued due to the rejected write request This condition might result in an error message appearing which indicates that the source virtual disk is write protected To prevent this issue from occurring do not attempt to access a source virtual disk that is participating in a virtual disk copy while the virtual disk copy has a status of In Progress Also ensure that the Read Only attribute for the target virtual disk is disabled after the virtual disk copy has completed to prevent error messages from appearing The Virtual Disk Copy premium feature includes these items e The Create Copy Wizard which assists in creating a virtual disk copy The Copy Manager which monitors virtual disk copies after they have been created Before You Begin A virtual disk copy fails all snapshot virtual disks that are associated with the target virtual disk if any exist If you select a source virtual disk of a snapshot virtual disk you must disable all
40. disabled snapshot virtual disk After the virtual disk copy is complete the source virtual disk becomes available to host applications for write requests To prevent error messages do not attempt to access a source virtual disk that is participating in a virtual disk copy while the virtual disk copy is in progress Configuration Premium Feature Virtual Disk Copy 161 Reasons to use virtual disk copy include K 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 capacity within the same storage array Copying data for larger access capacity enables you to move data to greater capacity physical disks for example 61 GB to 146 GB Restoring snapshot virtual disk data to the source virtual disk The Virtual Disk Copy feature enables you first to restore the data from a snapshot virtual disk and then to copy the data from the snapshot virtual disk to the original source virtual disk Creating a backup copy The Virtual Disk Copy feature enables you to create a backup of a virtual disk by copying data from one virtual disk the source virtual disk to another virtual disk the target virtual disk in the same storage array minimizing the time that the source virtual disk is unavailable to host write activity You can then use the target virtual disk as a backup for the source virtual disk
41. disk after resuming a remote virtual disk replication Testing Communication Between the Primary and Secondary Virtual Disks When a resynchronization is manual or during a disaster recovery scenario you might want to test the communication between the primary virtual disk and secondary virtual disk in a remote replication For more information about synchronization and resynchronization in remote virtual disk replications go to these topics e Normally Synchronized Virtual Disks on page 196 e Unsynchronized Virtual Disks on page 199 e Setting Synchronization Priority and Synchronization Method on page 188 e Changing Synchronization Priority and Method on page 197 e Resynchronizing Virtual Disks on page 196 e Automatically Resynchronizing Virtual Disks on page 200 To test the communication between virtual disks in a remote replication 1 In the AMW of either the primary or secondary virtual disk select the Logical tab 2 Inthe Logical pane right click the virtual disk Select Test Replication Communication The Replication Communication Test Progress message is displayed 204 Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication 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 pair in a storage array K NOTE Do not remove a replication relationship to back up a
42. disk is being used as a hot spare for a non secure disk group The availability of enclosure loss protection for a disk group depends on the location of the physical disks that comprise the disk group The enclosure loss protection might be lost because of a failed physical disk and location of the hot spare physical disk To ensure 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 disk because the hot spare physical disk is automatically substituted for the failed physical disk 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 communication might be loss of power to the expansion enclosure or failure of both RAID controller modules Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 121 VAN CAUTION Enclosure loss protection is not guaranteed if a physical disk has already failed in the disk group In this situation losing access to an expansion enclosure and consequently another physical disk in the disk group causes a double physical disk failure and loss of data Enclosure loss protection is achieved when you create a disk group where all of
43. e Do not configure dual mappings on a Windows host 130 Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks e If there is a host with a restricted host type that is part of a specific storage partition all of the hosts in that storage partition are limited to the maximum number of LUNs allowed by the restricted host type e You cannot move a host with a restricted host type into a storage partition that already has LUNs mapped that are greater than what is allowed by the restricted host type For example if you have a restricted host type that 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 Mappings tab has a default host type You can change this type by selecting Storage Array Change Default Host Type If you set the default host type to a host type that is restricted the maximum number of LUNs that are allowed in the Default Group for any host are restricted to the limit imposed by the restricted host type If a particular host with a non restricted host type becomes part of a specific storage partition you are able to change the mapping to a higher LUN 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 snapshot repository
44. has been replaced and is ready tobe On 400 ms Off or is actively being configured intoa 100 ms disk group 40 Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts Table 4 1 RAID Controller Physical Disk States continued Status Mode Description Physical Disk Status LED Pending Assigned A Self Monitoring Analysis and Flashing Green Failure Unassigned Reporting Technology SMART error 500 ms Amber Hot Spare in has been detected on the physical disk 500 ms and use or Hot in the indicated slot off 1000ms Spare standby Offline Not applicable The physical disk has either been spun Flashing Green down or had a rebuild aborted by 3000 ms Amber user request 3000 ms and off 3000ms Identify Assigned The physical disk is being identified Green flashing Unassigned 250 ms Hot Spare in use or Hot Spare standby 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 the rebuild was aborted green for 3 seconds amber for 3 seconds then off for 3 seconds Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology SMART monitors the internal performance of all physical disk components to detect faults indicating the potential for physical disk failure SMART uses this information to report whether failure is imminent so that a physical disk can be replaced before f
45. is displayed 2 Click Next The Specify Capacity Name window is displayed 3 Select the appropriate unit for memory in Units and enter the capacity of the virtual disk in New virtual disk capacity 4 Enter an up to 30 character name for the virtual disk in Virtual disk name Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 103 In Advanced virtual disk parameters you can select Use recommended settings e Customize settings Click Next In the Customize Advanced Virtual Disk Parameters window select the appropriate Virtual Disk I O characteristics type You can select e File system typical e Database e Multimedia e Custom K NOTE If you select Custom you must select an appropriate segment size Select the appropriate Preferred RAID controller module ownership and click Next The Specify Virtual Disk to LUN Mapping window is displayed In the Specify Virtual Disk to LUN Mapping window you can select e Default Mapping e The appropriate Host type e Map later Using Mappings View Click Finish The virtual disks are created Changing the Virtual Disk Modification Priority You can specify the modification priority setting for a single virtual disk or multiple virtual disks on a storage array Guidelines to change the modification priority of a virtual disk 104 If more than one virtual disk is selected the modification priority defaults to the lowest priority The current priority is shown onl
46. might exist with the controllers If these problems exist see the Dell support website at support dell com 284 Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software 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 MD3600f series storage arrays The SMagent software automatically starts after you reboot the host Windows To restart the SMagent software in Windows 1 Click Start Settings Control Pane Administrative Tools Services or Click Start Administrative Tools Services In the Services dialog select Modular Disk Storage Manager Agent If the modular disk storage manager agent is running click Action Stop then wait approximately 5 seconds 4 Click Action gt Start Linux To start or restart the host context agent software in Linux enter the following command at the prompt SMagent start The SMagent software might take a little time to initialize The cursor is shown but the terminal window does not respond When the program starts the following message is displayed SMagent started After the program completes the startup process text similar to the following messages is displayed Modular Disk Storage Manager Agent Version 90 02 A6 14 Built Wed Feb 03 06 17 50 CST 2010 Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software 285 Copyright C 2009 2010 Dell I
47. of modification e The controller that has ownership of this virtual disk is currently adding capacity to another virtual disk Each controller can add capacity to only one virtual disk at a time e No free capacity exists in the disk group e No unconfigured capacity is available to add to the disk group K NOTE You can add a maximum of two physical disks at one time to increase snapshot repository virtual disk capacity 154 Configuration Premium Feature Snapshot Virtual Disks To expand the snapshot repository virtual disk 1 2 In the AMW select the Logical tab Select the snapshot repository virtual disk for which you want to increase the capacity Select Virtual Disk Increase Capacity K NOTE If no free capacity or unconfigured capacity is available the Increase Capacity option is disabled The Increase Snapshot Repository Capacity window displays the Virtual disk attributes The snapshot repository virtual disk name the associated snapshot virtual disk name the associated source virtual disk capacity and name the current capacity and the amount of free capacity that is available for the selected snapshot repository virtual disk appear If free capacity is available the maximum free space appears in the Increase capacity by If free capacity does not exist on the disk group the free space that appears in the Increase capacity by spinner box is 0 You must add physical disks to create free capacity on the
48. or Automatic resynchronization e Automatic resynchronization Resynchronization starts immediately after communication is restored between unsynchronized replicated virtual disks 188 Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication e Manual resynchronization recommended The replicated pair must be manually resynchronized each time communication is restored between unsynchronized replicated virtual disks 3 Click Next The Preview Create Remote Replication wizard is displayed Go to Completing the Remote Replication on page 189 Completing the Remote Replication A CAUTION Creating a replicated virtual disk pair starts a process between the primary and secondary virtual disks that overwrites ALL existing data on the secondary virtual disk and set the disk to read only access If you have existing data on your secondary virtual disk 1 stop all 1 0 to the disk 2 back up the data and 3 unmount any file systems mounted to the secondary virtual disk before creating the replicated virtual disk pair After selecting the synchronization settings perform these steps to complete the remote replication 1 Inthe Preview Create Remote Replication wizard type Yes to confirm the synchronization Then click Finish The Creation Successful Create Remote Replication confirmation message is displayed 2 Ifyou want to create another replication pair click Yes and repeat the steps Otherwise click No to exit I
49. places them in the proper virtual disks that are part of the disk group Disk roaming is permitted when the RAID controller module is either online or powered off K NOTE The disk group must be exported before moving the physical disks Advanced Features The RAID enclosure supports several advanced features e Virtual Disk Snapshots e Virtual Disk Copy e High Performance Tier e Remote Replication this premium feature is supported only in storage arrays with the Fibre Channel FC host ports K NOTE Virtual Disk Snapshot Virtual Disk Copy High Performance Tier and Remote Replication are premium features that must be activated separately If you have purchased these features an activation card is supplied that contains instructions for enabling this functionality Host Server to Virtual Disk Mapping The host server attached to a storage array accesses various virtual disks on the storage array through its host ports Specific virtual disk to LUN mappings to an individual host server can be defined In addition the host server can be part of a host group that shares access to one or more virtual disks Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 53 You can manually configure a host server to virtual disk mapping When you configure host server to virtual disk mapping consider these guidelines e You can define one host server to virtual disk mapping for each virtual disk in the storage array e Host server t
50. ports on the storage arrays are reserved for data synchronization between the primary virtual disk and the secondary virtual disk in a replicated virtual disk pair You can set remote replication to write either synchronously or asynchronously In the synchronous mode the RAID controller module on the primary virtual disk sends an I O completion message back to the host storage array after the data has been successfully copied to the secondary storage array The synchronous mode is the preferred mode of operation since it offers the best chance of full data recovery from the secondary storage array in the event of a disaster However a synchronous replication mode can degrade the I O performance of the host when long distance data transfer is involved In the asynchronous mode the RAID controller module on the primary storage array sends an I O completion message to the host storage array before the data is successfully copied to the secondary storage array The asynchronous mode offers faster host I O performance however it does not guarantee that data was successfully written to the secondary virtual disk or that the write requests were completed on the secondary virtual disk in the same order they were initiated In asynchronous mode you can Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication 187 also specify whether to use a write consistency group option A write consistency group ensures that the secondary virtual disk receives wr
51. properties selected in the dialog become active If the selected cache properties do not become active contact your Technical Support representative If you select more than one virtual disk the cache settings default to no settings selected The current cache settings appear only if you select a single virtual disk If you change the cache settings by using this option the priority of all of the virtual disks that you selected is modified Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 105 To change the virtual disk cache settings 106 In the AMW select the Logical tab and select a virtual disk 2 In the toolbar select Virtual Disk Change Cache Settings The Change Cache Settings window is displayed Select one or more virtual disks To select nonadjacent virtual disks press lt Ctrl gt click To select adjacent virtual disks press lt Shift gt click To select all of the available virtual disks click Select All In the Select cache properties area you can select e Enable read caching to enable read caching e Enable dynamic cache read prefetch to enable dynamic cache read prefetch Enable write caching to enable write caching Enable write caching with mirroring to mirror cached data across two redundant RAID controller modules that have the same cache size e Enable write caching without batteries to permit write caching to continue even if the RAID controller module batteries are dischar
52. re create and reuse it the next time you perform a backup For more information see Re creating Snapshot Virtual Disks on page 157 If you delete a snapshot virtual disk you also delete the associated snapshot repository virtual disk K NOTE Deleting a snapshot does not affect data on the source virtual disk K NOTE The following host preparation sections also apply when using the snapshot feature through the CLI interface 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 requires a minimum 8 MB of free capacity The 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 For more information see Creating a Snapshot Virtual Disk Using the Advanced Path on page 148 In the advanced path option you can choose to place the snapshot repository virtual disk in another disk group or you can use unconfigured capacity on the storage array to create a new disk group 144 Configuration Premium Feature Snapshot Virtual Disks About the Simple Path Using the simple path you can specify Snapshot Virtual Disk Name A
53. selected host groups For more information see the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager online help topics 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 K NOTE A user label must be specified before the host port identifier may be added the add button is disabled until one is entered This user label cannot be the same as the host name It is recommended that you use the host name with HBA port number For example Server1 HBA 0 88 Configuration About Your Host To define a host 1 Inthe AMW select the Mappings tab and select the appropriate storage array 2 Perform one of the actions Select Mappings Define Host e Select the Setup tab and click Manually Define Hosts Select the Mappings tab Right click the root node storage array name Default Group node or Host Group node in the Topology pane to which you want to add the host and select Define Host from the pop up menu The Specify Host Name window is displayed In Host name enter an up to 30 character alphanumeric name 4 Select the relevant option in Do you plan to use the storage partitions in the this storage array and click Next The Specify Host Port Identifiers window is displayed 5 Select the relevant option to add a host port identifier to the host you can select e Add by selecting a know
54. should only perform troubleshooting and simple repairs as authorized in your product documentation or as directed by the online or telephone service and support team Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty Read and follow the safety instructions that came with the product Removing the Backplane 1 2 3 4 10 11 242 Turn off the array and disconnect it from the electrical outlet Disconnect all the cables connected to the array Remove the hard drives See Removing a Hard Drive on page 224 Remove the RAID controller modules See Removing a RAID Controller Module on page 231 Remove the power supply cooling fan modules See Removing a Power Supply Cooling Fan Module on page 237 Remove the control panel See Removing the Control Panel on page 239 Remove the screws that secure the RAID controller module power supply cage to the chassis Grasp the cage removal ring at the bottom center of the array and pull the RAID controller module power supply cage toward the back of the chassis See Figure 15 15 Lift the RAID controller module power supply cage away from the chassis See Figure 15 15 Loosen the captive screw that secures the backplane to the chassis See Figure 15 16 for PowerVault MD3600f or Figure 15 17 for PowerVault MD3620f Remove the screws that secure the backplane and pull the backplane out of the array See Figure 15 16 for PowerVault MD3600
55. the storage array is media verification of all configured physical disks in a disk group The storage array uses the Read operation to perform verification on the space configured in virtual disks and the space reserved for the metadata 46 Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts Cycle Time The media verification operation runs only on selected disk groups independent of other disk groups Cycle time is the time taken to complete verification of the metadata region of the disk group and all virtual disks in the disk group for which media verification is configured The next cycle for a disk group starts automatically when the current cycle completes You can set the cycle time for a media verification operation between 1 and 30 days The storage controller throttles the media verification I O accesses to disks based on the cycle time 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 disk group the storage array resumes after the current cycle If the media verification process on a disk group is stopped due to a RAID controller module restart the storage array resumes the process from the last checkpoint Virtual Disk Operations Limit The maximum number of active concurrent virtual disk processes per RAID controller module installed i
56. virtual disk to be changed A default segment size is set when the virtual disk is created based on such factors as the RAID level and expected usage You can change the default value 128 KB if segment size usage does not match your needs When considering a segment size change two scenarios illustrate different approaches to the limitations e If I O activity stretches beyond the segment size you can increase it to reduce the number of disks required for a single I O Using a single physical disk for a single request frees disks to service other requests especially when you have multiple users accessing a database or storage environment e If you use the virtual disk in a single user large I O environment such as for multimedia application storage performance can be optimized when a single I O request is serviced with a single data stripe the segment size multiplied by the number of physical disks in the disk group used for data storage In this case multiple disks are used for the same request but each disk is only accessed once 48 Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts Virtual Disk Capacity Expansion When you configure a virtual disk you select a capacity based on the amount of data you expect to store However you may need to increase the virtual disk capacity for a standard virtual disk by adding free capacity to the disk group This creates more unused space for new virtual disks or to expand existi
57. virtual disks e Remote replication pairs e Replication repositories Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 137 Exporting a Disk Group On the source storage array 1 Save the storage array configuration 2 Stop all I O and unmount or disconnect the file systems on the virtual disks in the disk group 3 Back up the data on the virtual disks in the disk group 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 Verify that the target storage array supports the physical disks that you import 3 Verify that the target storage array can support the new virtual disks 4 Verify that the latest version of firmware is installed on the RAID controller module Import Disk Group The import disk group operation adds the imported disk group to the target storage array After you complete the import disk group operation all of the physical disks have Optimal status Any associated virtual disks or free capacity nodes are now shown in MDSM installed on the target storage array K NOTE You lose access to your data during the export import process K NOTE You must export a disk group before you move the disk group or import the disk group Importing a Disk Group K NOTE You must insert all of the physical disks that are part
58. virtual disks and snapshot repository virtual disks 1 In the AMW select the Logical tab or in the Topology pane of the Mappings tab 2 Select View Associated Logical Elements or Right click the virtual disk to open a pop up menu and select View gt Associated Logical Elements If you select a virtual disk that does not have logical associations with other virtual disks the Associated Logical Elements option is disabled K NOTE The View Associated Logical Elements dialog appears which indicates the logical associations for the selected virtual disk 3 To close the View Associated Logical Elements dialog click Close 272 Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software Viewing the Physical Associations You can use the Associated Physical Components option to view the physical components that are associated with source virtual disks snapshot virtual disks snapshot repository virtual disks disk groups unconfigured capacity and free capacity in a storage array To view the physical associations 1 Inthe AMW select a node in the Logical pane of the Logical tab or in the Topology pane of the Mappings tab 2 Select View Associated Physical Components Alternatively if the selected node is a virtual disk you can right click the node to open a pop up menu and select View Associated Physical Components If the selected node is a disk group unconfigured capacity or free capacity you can right click the node to open a p
59. with the disk group are moved to another storage array all the virtual disks associated with the snapshot virtual disk remain in the same group Snapshot Repository Virtual Disk Capacity The snapshot repository virtual disk capacity is expressed as a percentage of the source virtual disk capacity The maximum percentage allowed is 120 percent Configuration Premium Feature Snapshot Virtual Disks e Percent Full When the snapshot repository virtual disk reaches the user specified repository full percentage level the event is logged in the Major Event Log MEL The default snapshot repository full percentage level is 50 of the source virtual disk e Snapshot Repository Virtual Disk Full Conditions Choose whether to fail writes to the source virtual disk or fail the snapshot virtual disk when the snapshot repository virtual disk becomes full e Host to Virtual Disk Mapping Choose whether to map the snapshot virtual disk to a host or host group now or to map the snapshot virtual disk later The default setting is Map later Preparing Host Servers to Create the Snapshot Using the Advanced Path K NOTE Before using the Snapshot Virtual Disks Premium Feature in a Microsoft Windows clustered configuration you must first map the snapshot virtual disk to the cluster node that owns the source virtual disk This ensures that the cluster nodes correctly recognize the snapshot virtual disk K NOTE Mapping the snapshot virtual di
60. write mode in a remote replication at a later time as well as change the secondary virtual disk s membership in a write consistency group For more information about write modes and write consistency groups go to Setting the Write Mode for Creating a Remote Replication online help topic To change Write Mode and Consistency Group Membership 1 In the AMW the storage array containing the primary virtual disk select the Logical tab In the Logical pane right click the primary virtual disk of the replicated pair Select Change Write Mode The Change Write Mode dialog is displayed The Replicated pairs table reflects all replicated pairs in both the local and remote storage arrays Select one or more replicated pairs To select all replicated pairs click Select All Select either the Synchronous or Asynchronous write mode If you are you adding the secondary virtual disk of the replicated pair to a write consistency group select Yes and then select the Add to consistency group check box If you are not adding the secondary virtual disk of the replicated pair to a write consistency group go to Step 7 Click OK The Change Write Mode confirmation message is displayed In the Change Write Mode confirmation message click Yes The Replication properties section the Properties panes in the Array Management Window for the local storage array displays the following information Replication status is Synchronized Write mo
61. 3 Hostilypes s 2 sont a et twas Ae 54 Snapshot Virtual Disks 54 Snapshot Repository Virtual Disk 55 Virtual Disk Copy 55 Virtual Disk Recovery 56 Using Snapshot and Disk Copy Together 57 Multi Path Software 57 Preferred and Alternate Controllers andPaths 57 Virtual Disk Ownership 58 Contents Load Balancing 0 2 4 Monitoring MD3600f Series System Performance 5 Configuration Overview User Interface 2 Enterprise Management Window Array Management Window 6 Configuration About Your Storage Array Out of Band and In Band Management Storage Arrays 0004 Adding Storage Arrays Setting Up Your Storage Array Locating Storage Arrays Naming or Renaming Storage Arrays SettingaPassword Viewing Storage ArrayConnections Adding Editing a Comment to an Existing Storage Array Removing Storage Arrays Enabling Premium Features Failover AlertDisplay Changing the Cache Settings onthe StorageArray Changing Expansion Enclosure ID Number Changing the Enclosure Order inthe Physical Pane 04 Configuring Alert Notifications
62. 3 Split mode LED ge This LED should be unlit as the split mode VI 6 System identification button Hard drives Enclosure mode switch O 8 ge function is not supported by the MD3600f Series Storage Arrays The system identification button on the front control panel can be used to locate a particular enclosure within a rack When the button is pushed the system status indicators on the control panel and the RAID controller module s blink blue until the button is pushed again PowerVault MD3600f Up to 12 3 5 SAS hot swappable hard drives PowerVault MD3620f Up to 24 2 5 SAS hot swappable hard drives The function of this switch is not applicable to your storage array However if MD1200 Series expansion enclosures are daisy chained to the storage array the enclosure mode switches of the MD 1200 Series expansion enclosures must be set to the Unified Mode position NOTE This switch must be set prior to turning on the MD1200 Series expansion enclosure Changing the switch setting after the expansion enclosure is turned on has no effect on enclosure configuration until the expansion enclosure goes through a complete power cycle 26 Planning About Your Storage Array Back Panel Features and Indicators Figure 2 4 Back Panel Features and Indicators Dell PowerVault MD3600f Series i 2 3 4 1 600W Power supply cooling fan 2 RAID Controller Module 0 module 3 RAID
63. 9 Remember the following guidelines before creating a Snapshot Virtual Disk The following types of virtual disks are not valid source virtual disks Snapshot repository virtual disks Snapshot virtual disks Replication repository virtual disks Target virtual disks that are participating in a virtual disk copy K NOTE Virtual Disk Copy is an Advanced Premium feature e You cannot create a snapshot of a virtual disk that contains unreadable sectors e You must satisfy the requirements of your host operating system for creating snapshot virtual disks Failure to meet the requirements of your host operating system results in an inaccurate snapshot of the source virtual disk or the target virtual disk in a virtual disk copy K 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 ensure all I O activity has stopped K NOTE Removing the drive letter of the associated virtual disk s in Windows or unmounting the virtual drive in Linux helps to guarantee a stable copy of the drive for the Snapshot Before creating a snapshot virtual disk the host server must be in the proper state To prepare your host server 1 Stop all I O activity to the source 2 Using your Windows system f
64. AID Controller Module A WARNING Fiber optic cables are fragile Bending twisting folding or pinching fiber optic cables can cause damage to the cables degraded performance or loss of data To prevent damage do not twist fold pinch or step on the cables Do not bend the cables in less than a 5 cm 2 radius A 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 team Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty Read and follow the safety instructions that came with the product 1 Insert the RAID controller module into the RAID controller module bay until it seats into place 2 Push the release lever toward the chassis until it clicks into place 232 Management Installing Array Components 3 Connect all the cables to the RAID controller module If SFP transceivers and fiber optic cables were present reinstall them in the correct ports 4 If applicable update the firmware for the RAID controller module For information about the latest firmware see the Dell Support website at support dell com Opening the RAID Controller Module A 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 document
65. C connectivity to the host server and enables access for up to eight non redundant servers or four redundant servers The MD3600f Series storage array includes a number of components These are RAID controller module s PSU fan modules Disk drives also called physical disks hard drives in this document An optional front panel bezel A system enclosure into which the other components are plugged Planning About Your Storage Array 23 Hardware Features Front Panel Features and Indicators Figure 2 1 Front Panel Features and Indicators Dell PowerVault MD3600f 24 Planning About Your Storage Array Figure 2 3 Front Bezel Features and Indicators Item Indicator Button or Icon Connector Description l 2 Enclosure status LED Power LED O The enclosure status LED lights when the enclosure power is on Lights blue during normal operation Blinks blue when a host server is identifying the enclosure or when the system identification button is pressed Lights amber as enclosure boots or is reset Blinks amber when the enclosure is either in a fault state or the hosts are not using the preferred path to a virtual disk The power LED lights green when at least one power supply is supplying power to the enclosure Planning About Your Storage Array 25 Item Indicator Button or Icon Description Connector
66. Click a Type the term that you want to search for in the Find text box If the term is located on the current tab the term is highlighted in the storage array profile information K NOTE The search is limited to the current tab If you want to search for the c term in other tabs select the tab and click the Find button again Click the Find button again to search for additional occurrences of the term 5 To save the storage array profile perform these steps a b c Click Save As To save all sections of the storage array profile select the All sections To save information from particular sections of the storage array profile select the Select sections and select the check boxes corresponding to the sections that you want to save Select an appropriate directory Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software 271 e In File Name type the file name of your choice To associate the file with a particular software application that opens it specify a file extension such as txt K NOTE The file is saved as ASCII text f Click Save 6 To exit the storage array profile click Close For more information see the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager online help topics 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
67. Connection 1 SFP transceiver 2 Fiber optic cable The RAID expansion ports support SAS expansion connections Figure 3 3 shows a SAS cable and an SFF 8088 connector Figure 3 3 SAS Cable 1 SF 8088 connector 2 SAS cable Planning RAID Controller Modules 37 Interoperability of 2 Gbps 4 Gbps and 8 Gbps Devices The FC standard specifies a procedure for speedy auto detection If a 4 Gbps port on a switch or device is connected to a 2 Gbps port it must negotiate down for the link to run at 2 Gbps If there are two 8 Gbps ports on either end of a link the negotiation runs the link at 8 Gbps if the link supports the required specifications If a link connects at 4 Gbps in this scenario possible causes could be excessive cable length poor cable quality loose cables or SFPs and so on Ensure that the cable lengths are not excessive and the quality of the cable and connector is good The same rules apply to 8 Gbps devices relative to 4 Gbps and 2 Gbps environments The 8 Gbps devices have the ability to automatically negotiate down to either 4 Gbps or 2 Gbps depending on the attached device and link quality If the link negotiates down to a speed slower than expected check the device 38 Planning RAID Controller Modules Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts This chapter explains terms and concepts used for configuration and operation of MD3600f Series storage arrays Physical Disks Virtual Disks
68. Controller Module 1 4 600W Power supply cooling fan module Planning About Your Storage Array 27 Hard Drive Indicator Patterns Figure 2 5 Hard Drive Indicators OO aman 1 hard drive activity indicator green 2 hard drive status indicator green and amber 28 Planning About Your Storage Array Drive Status Indicator Pattern Condition Off The physical disk is not yet discovered by the host server e has been spun down for removal not supported for the RAID controller module or is not in the physical disk slot NOTE The drive status indicator remains off until all hard drives are initialized after system power is turned on Drives are not ready for insertion or removal during this time Steady green Physical disk is online Green flashing On 250 ms Off 250 ms Physical disk is being identified Green flashing On 400 ms Off 100 ms Physical disk rebuilding Amber flashing On 150 ms Off 150 ms Physical disk failed Flashing green amber and off Green On Physical disk failure predicted SMART 500 ms Amber On 500 ms Off 1000 ms Flashing green amber and off Green3 Physical disk rebuild aborted seconds amber 3 seconds and off 3 seconds Power Supply and Cooling Fan Features The MD3600f 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 sep
69. Dell PowerVault MD3600f and MD3620f Storage Arrays Owner s Manual Notes Cautions and Warnings K NOTE A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your computer A CAUTION A CAUTION indicates potential damage to hardware or loss of data if instructions are not followed A WARNING A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage personal injury or death Information in this publication is subject to change without notice 2011 Dell Inc All rights reserved Reproduction of these materials in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Inc is strictly forbidden Trademarks used in this text Dell the DELL logo OpenMana age PowerEdge and PowerVault are trademarks of Dell Inc Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer MS DOS and Windows Server are either trademarks or r registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation i in the United States and or other countries Red Hat and Red Hat Enterprise Linux are registered trademarks of Red Hat Inc in the United States and other countries SUSE is a registered trademark of Novell Inc in the United States and other countries VMware isare gistered trademark of VMware Inc in the United States and or other jurisdictions Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products Dell Inc disclaims any proprietary interest in
70. ID Level 5 or RAID Level 6 The currently selected option is designated with a dot 5 Click Yes The RAID level operation begins Storage Partitioning A storage partition is a logical entity consisting of one or more virtual disks that can be accessed by a single host or shared among hosts that are part of a host group The first time you map a virtual disk to a specific host or host group a storage partition is created Subsequent virtual disk mappings to that host or host group do not create another storage partition One storage partition is sufficient if e Only one attached host accesses all of the virtual disks in the storage array e All attached hosts share access to all of the virtual disks in the storage array When you choose this type of configuration all of the hosts must have the same operating system and special software such as clustering software to manage virtual disk sharing and accessibility More than one storage partition is required if e Specific hosts must access specific virtual disks in the storage array e Hosts with different operating systems are attached to the same storage array In this case a storage partition is created for each host type You can use the Storage Partitioning wizard to define a single storage partition The Storage Partitioning wizard guides you through the major steps required to specify which host groups hosts virtual disks and associated logical unit numbers LUNs are to b
71. ID controller module To view the storage array connections 1 From the toolbar in AMW select Storage Array View Connections The lt Storage Array gt Connections dialog is displayed 2 Click the column name to sort the connections according to your preference 3 Click Close If you receive an error message for a port you can use this dialog to identify the components on the port that might have caused the error By isolating these components you prevent accidentally disconnecting components that are still in operation which could cause an interruption in data flow 74 Configuration About Your Storage Array Adding Editing a Comment to an Existing Storage Array A descriptive comment with an applicable storage array name is a helpful identification tool You can add or edit a comment for a storage array in the EMW only To add or edit a comment 1 Inthe EMW select the Devices tab and select the relevant managed storage array 2 Select Edit Comment The Edit Comment dialog is displayed 3 Type the 60 character comment 4 Click OK This option updates the comment in the table view and saves it in your local storage management station file system The comment does not appear to administrators who are using other storage management stations 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 sto
72. If both LEDs for any given FCIN port are unlit see Troubleshooting Array and Expansion Enclosure Connections on page 297 a Turn off the server storage arrays and expansion enclosures b Reseat the RAID controller module and reconnect cables on the storage array and the server c Restart the storage array and wait until the array is fully booted d Turn on the server e Recheck the LEDs of the affected port s Replace the fiber optic cables of any port s where both LEDs are unlit NOTE The SAS OUT status LED should be green If the problem is not resolved see Getting Help on page 303 Troubleshooting Hard Drives A CAUTION Many repairs may only be done by a certified service technician 296 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 team Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty Read and follow the safety instructions that came with the product Check the storage array profile to ensure that the most current version of the firmware is installed For more information see the Support Matrix at support dell com manuals Remove the hard drive from the system See Removing a Hard Drive on page 224 K NOTE You must ensure that you check the hard drive indicators before removing the faulty hard drive from the system Check the hard drives and the
73. LEDs also stop blinking In the rare case that the LEDs on the physical disks do not stop blinking in the AMW select Storage Array Blink Stop All Indications If the LEDs successfully stop blinking a confirmation message appears Click OK 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 enclosure with a white LED the Blink Expansion Enclosure operation causes the white LED on the expansion enclosure to come on The LED does not blink If you have any other types of expansion enclosures this operation causes the appropriate LED on all of the physical disks in the expansion enclosure to blink Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software 279 To locate the expansion enclosure 1 2 3 Select the Physical tab Select a physical disk in the expansion enclosure that you want to locate Select Physical Disk Blink Expansion Enclosure The LED or LEDs on the expansion enclosure or physical disks come on When you have located the expansion enclosure click OK The LEDs stop blinking If you have an expansion enclosure with a blue LED the LED goes off If any other blink operations Blink Storage Array Blink Disk Group Blink Physical Disk Ports Blink Expansion Enclosure or Blink Physical Disk are currently being in
74. Path K 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 preparing the host server s as specified in the preceding procedure complete the following steps to create a virtual disk snapshot using the advanced path 1 Stop the host application accessing the source virtual disk and unmount the source virtual disk 2 Inthe AMW select the Logical tab select a valid source virtual disk Select Virtual Disk Snapshot Create or 4 Right click the source virtual disk and select Create Snapshot Virtual Disk from the pop up menu The Create Snapshot Virtual Disk Wizard Introduction dialog appears Configuration Premium Feature Snapshot Virtual Disks 151 152 Select Advanced and click Next The Specify Names window is displayed Enter the Snapshot visual disk name and the Snapshot repository virtual disk name and click Next The Allocate Capacity window is displayed In the Capacity allocation area select e Free capacity on same disk group as base recommended e Free capacity on different disk group e Unconfigured capacity create new disk group Enter the snapshot repository virtual disks capacity as a percentage of the source virtual disks capacity and click Next The Specify Virtual Disk Parameters window is displayed In the Snapshot virtual disk parameters area select t
75. 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 MDSM when a virtual disk is created You can change the preferred RAID controller module owner of a virtual disk after it is created If a host is only connected to only one RAID controller module the preferred owner must manually be assigned to the RAID controller module the host can access Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 57 Ownership of a virtual disk is moved from the preferred controller to the secondary controller also called the alternate controller when the preferred controller is e Physically removed e Updating firmware e Involved in an event that caused failover to the alternate controller Paths used by the preferred RAID controller module to access either the disks or the host server are called the preferred paths redundant paths are called the alternate paths If a failure causes the preferred path to become inaccessible the storage array automatically uses the alternate path to access data when this occurs the enclosure status LED blinks amber Virtual Disk Ownership MDSM can be used to automatically build and view virtual disks It uses optimal settings to stripe the disk group Virtual disks are assigned to alternating RAID controller modules when they are created This default assignation provides a simple means for load balan
76. RAID 10 works well for medium sized databases or any environment that requires high performance and fault tolerance and moderate to medium capacity Segment Size Disk striping enables data to be written across multiple physical disks Disk striping enhances performance because striped disks are accessed simultaneously The segment size or stripe element size specifies the size of data in a stripe written to a single disk The MD3600f Series array supports stripe element sizes of 8 16 32 64 128 256 and 512 KB The default stripe element size is 128 KB Stripe width or depth refers to the number of disks involved in an array where striping is implemented For example a four disk group with disk striping has a stripe width of four K NOTE Although disk striping delivers excellent performance striping alone does not provide data redundancy Virtual Disk Operations Virtual Disk Initialization Every virtual disk must be initialized Initialization can be done in the foreground or the background A maximum of four virtual disks can be initialized concurrently on each RAID controller module Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 45 Background Initialization The storage array executes a background initialization when the virtual disk is created to establish parity while allowing full host server access to the virtual disks Background initialization does not run on RAID 0 virtual disks The background i
77. Removing a Hard Drive on page 224 K NOTE Mark each hard drive with it s slot position as you remove it 239 Management Installing Array Components 4 Slide the control panel out of the chassis after Pushing the release tab toward the front of the array in PowerVault MD3600f See Figure 15 13 Pulling the release pin toward the front of the array in PowerVault MD3620f See Figure 15 14 Figure 15 13 Removing and Installing the Control Panel PowerVault MD3600f 1 control panel 2 release tab 240 Management Installing Array Components Figure 15 14 Removing and Installing the Control Panel PowerVault MD3620f 1 control panel 2 release pin 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 MD3600f See Figure 15 13 The release pin clicks into place in PowerVault MD3620f See Figure 15 14 3 Replace the hard drives in their respective slots See Installing a Hard Drive on page 226 4 Connect all the power cables to the array 5 Turn on the array and the host server Management Installing Array Components 241 Backplane A WARNING Whenever you need to lift the array get others to assist you To avoid A injury do not attempt to lift the array by yourself CAUTION Many repairs may only be done by a certified service technician You
78. Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology SMART Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology SMART monitors the internal performance of all physical disk components to detect faults indicating the potential for physical disk failure SMART uses this information to report whether failure is imminent so that a physical disk can be replaced before failure occurs The RAID controller monitors all attached drives and notifies users when a predicted failure is reported by a physical disk 256 Management Firmware Downloads 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 disks in the disk group and uses recovered data to correct the error If the controller encounters an error while accessing a peer disk it is unable to recover the data and affected sectors are added to the unreadable sector log maintained by the controller Other conditions under which sectors are added to the unreadable sector log include e A media error is encountered when trying to access a physical disk that is a member of a nonredundant disk group RAID 0 or degraded RAID 1 RAID 5 or RAID 10 e An error is encountered on source disks during rebuild K NOTE Data on an unreadable sector is no longer accessible Management Firmware D
79. Storage Array gt Premium Features The Premium Features and Feature Pack Information screen is displayed 2 Select Remote Replication in the Premium Features window then click Disable A warning message is displayed 3 If you are sure you want to disable the Remote Replication feature click Yes to confirm The Remote Replication premium feature is disabled Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication 209 210 Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication Configuration Device Mapper Multipath for Linux Overview The MD3600f 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 functionality is provided by a combination of drivers and utilities This chapter describes how to use those utilities to complete the process of enabling an MD3600f Series storage array on a Linux system The Device Mapper technology replaces an earlier proprietary technology known as MPP MPP was used to enable multipathing for a previous MD generation the MD3000 Series of storage arrays K NOTE The required Device Mapper software components are installed on a Linux host server by running the MD3600f Series Resource media installation program on the server and selecting either the Full or Host install option For detailed installation procedures see the De PowerVault MD3600f and MD3620f storage arrays D
80. TY 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 5 inch SAS hard drives or up to 12 3 5 SAS hard drives in internal drive bays Hard drives are connected to a backplane through hard drive carriers and can be configured as hot swappable Removing a Drive Blank VAN CAUTION To maintain proper system cooling all empty hard drive bays must have drive blanks installed 1 If installed remove the front bezel See Removing the Front Bezel on page 222 2 Press the release tab and slide the drive blank out until it is free of the drive bay See Figure 15 2 for PowerVault MD3600f and Figure 15 3 for PowerVault MD3620f Figure 15 2 Removing and Installing a 3 5 Inch Hard Drive Blank 1 drive blank 2 release tab Management Installing Array Components 223 Figure 15 3 Removing and Installing a 2 5 Inch Hard Drive Blank 1 drive blank 2 release tab Installing a Drive Blank 1 If installed remove the front bezel See Removing the Front Bezel on page 222 Insert the drive blank into the drive bay until the blank is fully seated Close the handle to lock the blank in place If applicable replace the front bezel See Installing the Front Bezel on page 222 Removing a Hard Drive A CAUTION Many repairs may only be done b
81. The LEDs blink on the physical disks in the storage array After locating the storage array click OK The LEDs stop blinking If the LEDs do not stop blinking select Storage Array Blink gt Stop All Indications A confirmation message is displayed 4 Click OK Configuration About Your Storage Array 71 Naming or Renaming Storage Arrays Each storage array should be assigned a unique up to 30 character alphanumeric name A name can consist of letters numbers and the special characters underscore _ dash and pound sign No other special characters are allowed To rename a selected storage array 1 72 Perform one of these actions Inthe AMW Setup tab select Rename Storage Array e Inthe EMW Devices tab Tree view select Edit Rename e Inthe EMW Devices tab Table view select Edit gt Rename e Inthe EMW Devices tab Tree view right click on the desired array icon and select Rename The Name Rename Storage Arrays dialog appears 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 off the LEDs The name of the storage array appears in the Storage array name In Storage array name type the new name of the storage array If applicable add a comment for the storage array in Additional comment Click Apply A message is displayed warning you a
82. W opens select the Physical tab to see the components in the storage array A component that has a problem is indicated by a status icon The status icons indicate the status of the components that comprise the storage array Also the Recovery Guru option provides a detailed explanation of the conditions and the applicable steps to remedy any Needs Attention status For more information see Recovery Guru on page 270 For the status of a storage array the icons shown in the following table are used in the Tree view the Table view and both the EMW Status Bar and the AMW Status Bar Table 19 2 Status Icon Status Description Optimal Each component in the managed storage array is in the desired working condition Needs Attention There is a problem with the managed storage array that requires your intervention to correct it Unresponsive The storage management station cannot communicate with the storage array or one RAID controller module or both RAID controller modules in the storage array A Needs Attention status has been corrected and the managed storage array is currently transitioning to an Optimal state Fixing Status x OG Unsupported 2 The node is currently not supported by this version of MDSM Software E 1 The storage array is running a level of software that is Unsupported ly no longer supported by MDSM 264 l Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software In the Table view every managed storag
83. ad and write requests while the virtual disk copy operation has a status of Pending or In Progress or if the operation fails before completing the copy Keep the target virtual disk Read Only enabled if you want to preserve the data on the target virtual disk for reasons such as the following e Ifyou are using the target virtual disk for backup purposes e If you are using the data on the target virtual disk to copy back to the source virtual disk of a disabled or failed snapshot virtual disk If you decide not to preserve the data on the target virtual disk after the virtual disk copy is complete change the write protection setting for the target virtual disk to Read Write To set the target virtual disk read write permissions 1 Inthe AMW select Virtual Disk Copy Copy Manager The Copy Manager window is displayed 2 Select one or more copy pairs in the table Perform one of these actions e To enable Read Only permission select Change Target Virtual Disk Permissions Enable Read Only K NOTE Write requests to the target virtual disk are rejected when the Read Only permission is enabled on the target virtual disk e To disable Read Only permission select Change Target Virtual Disk Permissions Disable Read Only Configuration Premium Feature Virtual Disk Copy 163 Virtual Disk Copy Restrictions Before you perform any virtual disk copy tasks understand and adhere to the restrictions listed in this section The re
84. ad to fail damage the storage array or cause loss of data accessibility NOTE Due to a limitation with Linux expansion enclosure EMM firmware updates must be performed using out of band management only Failure to do so may result in the host server becoming unresponsive and it may require a reboot You can transfer a downloadable firmware file to the expansion enclosure EMM in the expansion enclosures attached to the storage array A A CAUTION Risk of possible loss of data or risk of damage to the storage array Downloading the expansion enclosure EMM firmware incorrectly could result in loss of data or damage to the storage array Perform downloads only under the guidance of your Technical Support representative CAUTION Risk of making expansion enclosure EMM unusable Do not make any configuration changes to the storage array while downloading expansion enclosure EMM firmware Doing so could cause the firmware download to fail and make the selected expansion enclosure unusable To download the EMM firmware 1 4 Perform one of these actions e Inthe AMW select Advanced gt Maintenance Download gt EMM Firmware Select the Support tab and click Download Firmware In the dialog that appears select the EMM firmware and click OK The Download Environmental EMM Firmware dialog appears In the Select enclosures area either select each expansion enclosure to which you want to download firmware or se
85. ailure occurs The storage array monitors all attached drives and notifies you when a predicted failure is reported by a physical disk Virtual Disks and Disk Groups 1 Organize the physical disks into disk groups 2 Create virtual disks within these disk groups 3 Provide host server access 4 Create mappings to associate the virtual disks with the host servers K NOTE Host server access must be created before mapping virtual disks Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 41 Disk groups are always created in the unconfigured capacity of a storage array Unconfigured capacity is the available physical disk space not already assigned in the storage array Virtual disks are created within the free capacity of a disk group Free capacity is the space in a disk group that has not been assigned to a virtual disk Virtual Disk States The storage array recognizes the following virtual disk states Table 4 2 RAID Controller Virtual Disk States State Description Optimal The virtual disk contains physical disks that are all online Degraded The virtual disk with a redundant RAID level contains an inaccessible physical disk The system can still work properly but performance may be affected and additional disk failures may result in data loss Offline A virtual disk with one or more member disks in an inaccessible failed Force online missing or offline state Data on the virtual disk is no longer accessib
86. al disk the replicated pair is ready to be resynchronized K NOTE When the primary virtual disk and the secondary virtual disk are resynchronized only data that has changed on the primary virtual disk after the break in communication is transferred to the secondary virtual disk A CAUTION You should be aware of a possible loss of data if communication is broken after resynchronization starts between the primary storage array and the secondary storage array New data might mix with old data on the secondary virtual disk and render the data unusable in a disaster recovery situation Changing Synchronization Priority and Method Synchronization priority defines how much processing time and resources are allocated to synchronizing the primary and secondary virtual disk of a remote replication relative to system performance Increasing the synchronization priority of a remote replication might degrade system performance Synchronization priorities can be reset at any time Synchronization priorities can affect these operations e Performing a copyback e Performing a Virtual Disk Expansion VDE e Reconstructing a virtual disk e Initializing a virtual disk Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication 197 Changing the segment size of a virtual disk Detfragmenting a disk group Adding free capacity to a disk group Changing the RAID level of a disk group To change the synchronization priority and method for an existing remote r
87. an select RAID levels 0 1 10 6 and 5 Depending on your RAID level selection the physical disks available for the selected RAID level is displayed in Unselected physical disks table In the Unselected physical disks table select the appropriate physical disks and click Add K NOTE You can select multiple physical disks at the same time by holding lt Ctrl gt or lt Shift gt and selecting additional physical disks To view the capacity of the new disk group click Calculate Capacity Click Finish A message prompts you that the disk group is successfully created and that you should create at least one virtual disk before you can use the capacity of the new disk group For more information on creating virtual disks see Creating Virtual Disks on page 102 Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 101 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 2 5 In the AMW select the Logical tab Select the appropriate disk group and from the toolbar select Disk Group Blink The LEDs for the selected disk group blink After locating the disk group click OK The LEDs stop blinking If the LEDs for the disk group do not stop blinking from the toolbar in AMW select Storage Array Blink Stop All Indications If the LEDs successfully stop blinking a confirma
88. arate cooling fans The system requires at least one of the cooling fans to function to avoid overheating A power supply cooling fan module can be replaced without powering down the system For information on removing and replacing the modules see Power Supply Cooling Fan Module on page 237 A CAUTION A power supply cooling fan module can be removed from a powered on enclosure for a maximum period of 5 minutes Beyond that time the system may automatically shut down to prevent damage Planning About Your Storage Array 29 Power Indicator Codes Figure 2 6 Power Indicator Codes 1 a 2 T 1 _ ay Item LED Type Icon Description l 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 are not within the limit 2 Power supply cooling A The LED lights amber when the DC output fan fault voltage is not within the limit or a fault with the fan is detected If this LED is off it indicates that no fault condition is present 3 AC power Ri The LED lights green when the AC input voltage is within the limit If this LED is off it indicates either there is no power or the AC input voltage is not within the limit 4 Power connector Connect the external power supply to this connector 5 Power switches 2 The power switch controls the power supply output to the enclosure 30 Planning Abo
89. are Contents 15 Downloading Physical Disk Firmware 253 Downloading MD1200 Series Expansion Module EMM Firmware 255 Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology SMART 256 Media Errors and Unreadable Sectors 257 17 Management Firmware Inventory 259 Viewing the Firmware Inventory 259 18 Management System Interfaces 261 Microsoft Services 261 Virtual Disk Service 261 Volume Shadow Copy Service 261 19 Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software 263 Start Up Routine 263 Device Health Conditions 263 Storage Array SupportData 266 Automatically Collect the Support Bundle Data 267 Collecting the Physical Disk Data 268 Event Log 2 223 6 a en eee Res 269 RecoveryGuru 000 270 16 Contents Storage Array Profile 270 Viewing the Logical Associations 272 Viewing the Physical Associations 273 FindingNodes 0245 273 Using Go To 0 0 00 0 eae 275 Recovering From an Unresponsive Storage Array Condition 276 Locating a Physical Disk 279 Locating an Expansion Enclosure 279 Capturing the State Information 280 SMrepassist Utility 281 Unidentifie
90. art the installation of Modular Disk Storage Manager MDSM K NOTE Red Hat install of 5 x needs a remount of the DVD media to make contents executable 2 Reboot when prompted by the install program The installation program prompts for and needs a reboot at completion of install 3 Create and map virtual disks using MDSM After configuring the arrays tun the MDSM to create and map virtual disks Using the MDSM software 1 Map the host server to the MD3600f Series storage array 2 Create the Virtual Disks 3 Map newly created arrays to your host server K NOTE Any array configured with MDCU automatically adds to the list of Devices in the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager Enterprise Management Window EMW 212 Configuration Device Mapper Multipath for Linux Device Mapper Configuration Steps To complete the DM multipathing configuration and make the storage available to the Linux host server 1 Es Scan for virtual disks See Scan for Newly Added Virtual Disks on page 213 Display the multipath device topology See Display the Multipath Device Topology Using the Multipath Command on page 214 Create a partition on a multipath device node See Create a New fdisk Partition on a Multipath Device Node on page 215 Add a partition to DM See Add a New Partition to Device Mapper on page 215 Create a file system on a DM partition See Create a File System on a Device Mapper Partition on page 216
91. ary view is displayed 2 To view the details of each selected log entry select View details A detail pane is added to the event log that contains detailed information about the log item You can view the details about a single log entry at a time 3 To save the event log click Save As The Save Events dialog is displayed navigate to the relevant folder enter the relevant file name and click Save 4 To erase all log entries from the event log click Clear All 5 To exit the event log click Close For more information see the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager online help topics Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software 269 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 i Guru perform one of these actions e Click Recovery Guru f e Inthe Support tab click the Recover from Failure link e From the Status pane on the Summary tab click the Storage Array Needs Attention link You can detect a problem using the following indicators Non Optimal status icons e Alert notification messages that are sent to the appropriate destinations e Hardware indicator lights The status icons return to Optimal status as problems are resolved Storage Array Profile The storage array profile provides a description of all of the components and properties of the
92. at are linked 182 Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication Journaling File Systems and Remote Replication When using a journaling file system you cannot gain read only access to a remote virtual disk A journaling file system does not let you mount the remote virtual disk in Windows NTFS However you can mount a snapshot of the remote virtual disk if available Setting Up and Managing Remote Replication Prerequisites Before setting up remote replication between two storage arrays ensure that e The Remote Replication premium feature has been activated e The local storage array contains two replication repository virtual disks created during activation e The local storage array contains the primary virtual disk to be replicated e The remote storage array contains the secondary virtual disk to serve as the replication target and Both virtual disks are visible to a single management station replicated disk pairs cannot be managed on separate instances of storage management software The RAID level of the secondary virtual disk can be different than that of the primary virtual disk The capacity of the secondary virtual disk after creation and formatting must be equal to or greater than the capacity of the primary virtual disk e The storage arrays containing the virtual disks you want to replicate are connected to each other through a Fibre Channel switch fabric and are accessible fr
93. atically detect all of these storage arrays User Interface The Storage Manager screen is divided into two primary windows e Enterprise Management Window EMW The EMW provides high level management of the storage arrays You can launch the Array Management Window from the EMW e Array Management Window AMW The AMW provides management functions for a single storage array You can launch more than one AMW at the same time to manage different storage arrays The EMW and the AMW consist of the following e The title bar at the top of the window shows the name of the application e Beneath the title bar is the menu bar You can select menu options from the menu bar to perform tasks on a storage array e Beneath the menu bar is the toolbar You can select options in the toolbar to perform tasks on a storage array e Beneath the toolbar are the tabs Tabs are used to group the tasks that you can perform on a storage array e Beneath the tabs is the status bar The status bar shows status messages and status icons related to the storage array K NOTE By default the toolbar and status bar do not appear To view the toolbar or the status bar select View Toolbar or View Status Bar respectively Configuration Overview 63 Enterprise Management Window The EMW provides high level management of storage arrays When you start MDSM the EMW opens The EMW has these tabs e Devices tab Provides information about
94. ation About Your Storage Array Save Configuration Save the configuration parameters in a file that you can use to restore the configuration or reuse the configuration on another storage array For more information see the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager online help topics After you complete the basic steps for configuring the storage array you can perform these optional tasks Manually define hosts Define the hosts and the host port identifiers that are connected to the storage array Use this option only if the host is not automatically recognized and shown in the Mappings tab Configure ethernet management ports Configure the network parameters for the Ethernet management ports on the RAID controller modules if you are managing the storage array by using the out of band management connections View and enable premium features Your MDSM might include premium features View the premium features that are available and the premium features that are already started You can start available premium features that are currently stopped Locating Storage Arrays You can use the Blink option to physically locate and identify a storage array To locate the storage array 1 Select the relevant storage array and e Inthe EMW right click the appropriate storage array and select Blink Storage Array e In the AMW select the Setup tab click Blink Storage Array Inthe AMW select Storage Array Blink Storage Array
95. ation or as directed by the online or telephone service and support team Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty Read and follow the safety instructions that came with the product Turn off the array and host server Disconnect all the power cables connected to the array Remove the RAID controller module See Removing a RAID Controller Module Blank on page 229 4 Remove the screws from the sides of the RAID controller module See Figure 15 9 5 While pressing the indent slide the cover in the direction of the arrow and lift it away from the RAID controller module See Figure 15 9 Management Installing Array Components 233 Figure 15 9 Opening and Closing the RAID Controller Module 1 screws 2 2 RAID controller module 3 indent Closing the RAID Controller Module A 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 team Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty Read and follow the safety instructions that came with the product 1 Place the cover onto the RAID controller module and offset it slightly towards the back so that the hooks on the cover fit over the corresponding slots on the RAID controller module 2 Slide the cover toward t
96. ature Snapshot Virtual Disks Preparing Host Servers to Re create a Snapshot Virtual Disk K K 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 and snapshot virtual disk to ensure that you capture an accurate snapshot of the source virtual disk Close all applications including Windows Internet Explorer to ensure all I O activity has stopped 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 Before re creating a snapshot virtual disk both the host server and the associated virtual disk you are re creating have to be in the proper state To prepare your host server and virtual disk 1 2 Stop all I O activity to the source and snapshot virtual disk if mounted Using your Windows system flush the cache to both the source and the snapshot virtual disk if mounted At the host prompt type SMrepassist f lt filename identifier gt and press lt Enter gt For more information see SMrepassist Utility on page 281 Click the Summary tab then click Disk Groups amp Virtual Disks to ensure that the snapshot virtual disk is in Optimal or Disabled status Remove the drive letter s of the source and if mounted snapshot virtual disk in Windows or unmount the virtual drive s in Linux t
97. bout the implications of changing the storage array name Click Yes The new storage array name appears in the Select storage array table Repeat step 2 through step 4 to name or rename additional storage arrays K NOTE Avoid arbitrary names or names that might lose meaning in the future Configuration About Your Storage Array Setting a Password You can configure each storage array with a password to protect it from unauthorized access MDSM prompts for the password when an attempt is made to change the storage array configuration such as when a virtual disk is created or deleted View operations do not change the storage array configuration and do not require a password You can create a new password or change an existing password K NOTE It is recommended that you use a long password with at least 15 alphanumeric characters to increase security To set a new password or change an existing password 1 Select the relevant storage array and navigate to the AMW for that storage array See Array Management Window on page 65 The AMW for the selected storage array is displayed In the AMW perform one of these actions e Select the storage array in the Logical pane and then select Storage Array Set Password e Select the Setup tab and then click Set a Storage Array Password e Select the Logical tab right click and select Set Password The Set Password dialog appears If you are resetting the password type
98. cation premium feature you must deactivate it on the storage array see Disabling the Remote Replication Premium Feature on page 209 Deactivating the Remote Replication premium feature on this storage array does not affect remote virtual disk replications or the Remote Replication premium features on other storage arrays However another storage array cannot use this storage array as a remote storage array for creating a separate remote virtual disk replication To deactivate remote replication in a storage array 1 In the Array Management Window select Storage Array Remote Replication Deactivate The Deactivate Remote Replication confirmation message is displayed 2 Click Yes The Remote Replication premium feature is deactivated and the two replication repository virtual disks are deleted from the storage array 208 Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication Disabling the Remote Replication Premium Feature Before disabling the Remote Replication premium feature all remote virtual disk replications must have been removed on the storage array See Disabling the Remote Replication Premium Feature on page 209 K NOTE To re enable the Remote Replication premium feature on a storage array after it has been disabled you must either retrieve the premium feature key or obtain a new one from your Dell support representative To disable the remote replication premium feature 1 Inthe Array Management Window select
99. ce the hard drives See Installing a Hard Drive on page 226 Connect all the cables to the array Turn on the array and the host server Management Installing Array Components 245 246 Management Installing Array Components 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 the major firmware versions and the minor firmware versions You can use the Array Management Window AMW to download and activate only the minor firmware versions K NOTE Firmware versions are of the format aa bb cc dd Where aa is the major firmware version bb cc dd is the minor firmware version Depending on which one changes firmware can be updated from EMW and AMW or only EMW You can activate the files immediately or wait until a more convenient time You might want to activate the firmware or NVSRAM files at a later time because of these reasons Time of day Activating the firmware and the NVSRAM can take a long time so you can wait until I O loads are lighter The RAID controller modules goes offline briefly to load the new firmware e Type of package You might want to test the new firmware on one storage array before loading the files onto other storage arrays The ability to download bot
100. ch as a backup application can access the snapshot and read the data while the source virtual disk remains online and accessible K NOTE No 1 0 requests are permitted on the source virtual disk while the virtual disk snapshot is being created A snapshot repository virtual disk containing metadata and copy on write data is automatically created when a snapshot virtual disk is created The only data stored in the snapshot repository virtual disk is that which has changed since the time of the snapshot Configuration Premium Feature Snapshot Virtual Disks 143 After the snapshot repository virtual disk is created I O write requests to the source virtual disk resume Before a data block on the source virtual disk is modified the contents of the block to be modified are copied to the snapshot repository virtual disk for safekeeping Because the snapshot repository virtual disk stores copies of the original data in those data blocks further changes to those data blocks write only to the source virtual disk The snapshot repository uses less disk space than a full physical copy because the only data blocks that are stored in the snapshot repository virtual disk are those that have changed since the time of the snapshot When you create a snapshot virtual disk you specify its location capacity and other parameters You can disable or delete the snapshot virtual disk when it is not required If you disable a snapshot virtual disk you can
101. ciated with host select the appropriate host or host group 96 Configuration About Your Host 8 Select the host port identifier that you would like to manage from the list of host port identifiers in the Host port identifier information area 9 Perform one of these actions for the selected host port identifier e To edit the host port identifier Select the appropriate host port identifier and click Edit the Edit Host Port Identifier dialog appears update User label and Associated with host and click Save e To replace the host port identifier Select the appropriate host port identifier and click Replace the Replace Host Port Identifier dialog appears replace the current host port identifier with a known unassociated host port identifier or create a new host port identifier update User label and click Replace e To remove the host port identifier Select the appropriate host port identifier and click Edit the Remove Host Port Identifier dialog appears type yes and click OK For more information see the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager online help topics Configuration About Your Host 97 98 Configuration About Your Host 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 physical disks supported in a
102. cing the workload of the RAID controller modules 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 Limit the number of virtual disks in a disk group If multiple virtual disks are in a disk group consider e The impact each virtual disk has on other virtual disks in the same disk group e The patterns of usage for each virtual disk e Different virtual disks have higher usage at different times of day Load Balancing A load balance policy is used to determine which path is used to process I O Multiple options for setting the load balance policies lets you optimize I O performance when mixed host interfaces are configured You can choose one of these load balance policies to optimize I O performance 58 Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts Round robin with subset The round robin with subset I O load balance policy routes I O requests in rotation to each available data path to the RAID controller module that owns the virtual disks This policy treats all paths to the RAID controller module that owns the virtual disk equally for I O activity Paths to the secondary RAID controller module are ignored until ownership changes The basic assumption for the round robin policy is that the data paths are equal With mixed host supp
103. condary virtual disk also becomes available for normal I O operations Both virtual disks become read write enabled Unless one of disks has been deleted a replication relationship between the two virtual disks can be re created K NOTE No data on either virtual disk is deleted A CAUTION Do not remove a replication relationship to back up a replicated virtual disk To back up either the primary virtual disk or the secondary virtual disk suspend the remote virtual disk replication so that the replication relationship is not broken Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication 207 To remove remote replication from a storage array 1 In the AMW of the storage array containing the primary virtual disk select the Logical tab 2 Inthe Logical pane right click the primary virtual disk of a replicated pair then select Remove Replication Relationship The Remove Replication Relationship dialog is displayed The Replicated pairs table shows all replicated pairs in both the local and remote storage array 3 To remove a replication relationship select one or more replicated pairs To select all replicated pairs click Select All 4 Click Remove The Remove Replication Relationship Confirmation message is displayed 5 Click Yes The Remove Replicated Pair Progress bar shows the progress of the removal process Deactivating the Remote Replication on the Storage Array Before you can permanently disable the Remote Repli
104. d Devices 282 Recovering From an Unidentified Storage Array 282 Starting or Restarting the Host Context Agent Software 285 20 Troubleshooting Your Array 289 Safety First For You and Your Array 289 Troubleshooting Storage Array Startup Failure 289 Troubleshooting Loss of Communication 289 Troubleshooting an SFP Transceiver 289 Troubleshooting External Connections 292 Contents 17 Troubleshooting Power Supply Cooling FanModule 292 Troubleshooting Array Cooling Problems 293 Troubleshooting Expansion Enclosure Management Modules 294 Troubleshooting RAID Controller Modules 295 Troubleshooting Hard Drives 296 Troubleshooting Array and Expansion Enclosure Connections 297 Troubleshooting a Wet Storage Array 298 Troubleshooting a Damaged Array 299 Troubleshooting RAID Controller Modules 300 Conditions 02 000 300 21 Getting Help naana aana eds neko 303 Contacting Dell 303 Idex ote Sedan E E E ete 305 18 Contents Introduction K NOTE Throughout the document Dell PowerVault MD3600f series storage array refers to both Dell PowerVault MD3600f and Dell PowerVault MD3620f See the Safety Environmental and Regulatory Information document for important safety information before following any procedures liste
105. d in this document About This Document This guide familiarizes you with the functions of the MD3600f Series storage array The guide is organized according to the tasks that you must complete after receiving your Dell PowerVault MD3600f Series storage array Planning Information about the storage array and its features Configuration Tasks that must be completed to ensure that your storage array performs optimally Management lasks the may be performed to ensure the storage array components are up to date and performing properly including removal and installation of storage array components Troubleshooting Tasks that you must complete to resolve problems that may occur with the storage array Additional information on these and other topics can be found in the Dell PowerVault MD3600f and MD3620f Storage Array Deployment Guide available at support dell com manuals Introduction 19 Inside the Box of the Dell PowerVault MD3600f Series Storage Array Unless specified MD3600f Series represents Dell PowerVault MD3600f and Dell PowerVault MD3620f Your MD3600f Series product package includes e Dell PowerVault MD3600f Series storage array e Small form factor pluggable SFP transceiver 2 per controller e Fiber optic cables optional e Power cables 2 e Bezel optional e Mounting rails 2 optional e Dell PowerVault MD3600f Series resource media e The Rack Installation Instructions included with your rack so
106. d is currently replacing a failed physical disk 120 Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks Hot Spare Drive Protection You can use a hot spare physical disk for additional data protection from physical disk failures that occur in a RAID Level 1 or RAID Level 5 disk group If the hot spare physical disk is available when a physical disk fails the RAID controller module uses redundancy data to reconstruct the data from the failed physical disk to the hot spare physical disk When you have physically replaced the failed physical disk a copyback operation occurs from the hot spare physical disk to the replaced physical disk If there are secure disk groups and security capable disk groups in the storage array the hot spare physical disk must match the security capability of the disk group For example a non security capable physical disk cannot be used as a hot spare for a secure disk group K NOTE For a security capable disk group security capable hot spare physical disks are preferred If security capable physical disks are not available non security capable physical disks may be used as hot spare physical disks To ensure that the disk group is retained as security capable the non security capable hot spare physical disk must be replaced with a security capable physical disk If you select a security capable physical disk as hot spare for a non secure disk group a dialog box appears indicating that a security capable physical
107. d to assign or unassign hot spare physical disks if necessary See step 5 e Automatically assign physical disks to create hot spare physical disks automatically for the best hot spare coverage using available physical disks e Manually assign individual physical disks to create hot spare physical disks out of the selected physical disks on the Physical tab e Manually unassign individual physical disks to unassign the selected hot spare physical disks on the Physical tab See step 12 To assign hot spares in the Hot Spare Coverage window select a disk group in the Hot spare coverage area Review the information about the hot spare coverage in the Details area Click Assign The Assign Hot Spare window is displayed Select the relevant Physical disks in the Unassigned physical disks area as hot spares for the selected disk and click OK To unassign hot spares in the Hot Spare Coverage window select physical disks in the Hot spare physical disks area Review the information about the hot spare coverage in the Details area Click Unassign A message prompts you to confirm the operation Type yes and click OK Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 119 Hot Spares and Rebuild A valuable strategy to protect data is to assign available physical disks in the storage array as hot spares A hot spare adds another level of fault tolerance to the storage array A hot spare is an idle powered on stand by phys
108. de contact information with the alerts and type the contact information K NOTE Including the contact information in the e mail alert is optional Select the e mail tab to configure the e mail destinations Adding an e mail address In e mail address type the e mail address and click Add Replacing an e mail address In the Configured E mail addresses area select the e mail address to be replaced type the replacement e mail address in E mail address and click Replace Deleting an e mail address In the Configured E mail addresses area select the e mail address and click Delete Validating an e mail address Type the e mail address in E mail address or select the e mail address in the Configured E mail addresses area and click Test A test e mail is sent to the selected e mail address A dialog with the results of the test and any error appears For the selected e mail address in Information To Send select Event Only The alert e mail contains only the event information This alert type is the default Event Profile The alert e mail contains the event information and the storage array profile Event Support The alert e mail contains the event information and a compressed file that contains complete support information for the storage array that has generated the alert Configuration About Your Storage Array 9 For the selected e mail address in Frequency select Every event Sends an a
109. de is either Synchronous or Asynchronous depending on your selection above The secondary virtual disk is either write consistent not write consistent Resynchronization method is either Manual or Automatic Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication 195 Resynchronizing Virtual Disks There are two resynchronization methods for remote replications e Manual resynchronization See Manually Resynchronizing Virtual Disks on page 200 e Automatic resynchronization See Automatically Resynchronizing Virtual Disks on page 200 For more information about synchronization and resynchronization in remote replications see e Normally Synchronized Virtual Disks on page 196 e Unsynchronized Virtual Disks on page 199 e Setting Synchronization Priority and Synchronization Method on page 188 e Changing Synchronization Priority and Method on page 197 e Resynchronizing Virtual Disks on page 196 You might need to periodically test the communication between the primary virtual disk and the secondary virtual disk in a remote replication especially after resynchronizing virtual disks For information about testing the communication go to Testing Communication between the Primary and Secondary Virtual Disk Normally Synchronized Virtual Disks In a normally synchronized remote replication RAID controller module owners manage the transfer of data from the primary to the secondary virtual disk In a normal remo
110. de the RAID controller module firmware or the NVSRAM You can select more than one storage array K NOTE The Details pane shows the details of only one storage array at a time If you select more than one storage array in the Storage Array pane the details of the storage arrays are not shown in the Details pane Click Firmware in the Download area If you select a storage array that cannot be upgraded the Firmware button is disabled The Download Firmware dialog appears The current firmware version and the NVSRAM version of the selected storage arrays appear K NOTE If you select the storage arrays with different RAID controller module types that cannot be updated with the same firmware or NVSRAM file and click Firmware the Incompatible RAID Controller Modules dialog appears Click OK to close the dialog and select the storage arrays with similar RAID controller module types 249 Management Firmware Downloads 12 To locate the directory in which the file to download resides click Browse in the Select files area The Select File dialog appears 13 Select the file to download 14 Click OK 15 Ifyou want to download the NVSRAM file with the RAID controller module firmware select Download NVSRAM file with firmware in the Select files area Any attributes of the firmware file appear in the Firmware file information area The attributes indicate the version of the firmware file Any attributes of the NVSRAM file a
111. disk group To increase capacity of the snapshot repository virtual disk use one of these methods e Use the free capacity on the disk group of the snapshot repository virtual disk Go to step 5 e Add unconfigured capacity or physical disks to the disk group of the snapshot repository virtual disk Go to step 7 In Increase capacity by enter or select the appropriate capacity Click OK The Logical tab is updated The snapshot repository virtual disk having its capacity increased shows a status of Operation in Progress In addition the snapshot repository virtual disk shows its original capacity and the total capacity being added The virtual disk involved shows a reduction in capacity If all of the free capacity is used to increase the size of the virtual disk the Free Capacity node involved is removed from the Logical tab Configuration Premium Feature Snapshot Virtual Disks 155 156 7 10 11 12 13 If unassigned physical disks are not available do you have empty slots in the expansion enclosures e Yes there are empty slots Insert new physical disks by using the information in the initial setup guide for your expansion enclosure Go to step 9 e No there are no empty slots Install another expansion enclosure and additional physical disks Use the information in the initial setup guides for your RAID controller module and your expansion enclosure Go to step 9 K NOTE The physical disks
112. disk group three mirrored pairs you could achieve enclosure loss protection with only two expansion enclosures by specifying that the physical disk in each mirrored pair are located in separate expansion enclosures This example shows this concept e Mirror pair 1 Physical disk in enclosure 1 slot 1 and physical disk in enclosure 2 slot 1 e Mirror pair 2 Physical disk in enclosure 1 slot 2and physical disk in enclosure 2 slot 2 e Mirror pair 3 Physical disk in enclosure slot 3and physical disk in enclosure 2 slot 3 Because a RAID level 1 disk group requires a minimum of two physical disks enclosure loss protections cannot be achieved if your storage array has less than two expansion enclosures RAID level 0 does not have consistency you cannot achieve enclosure loss protection Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 123 Host to Virtual Disk Mapping After you create virtual disks you must map them to the host s connected to the array Guidelines to configure host to virtual disk mapping Each virtual disk in the storage array can be mapped to only one host or host group Host to virtual disk mappings are shared between controllers in the storage array A unique LUN must be used by a host group or host to access a virtual disk Each host has its own LUN address space MDSM permits the same LUN to be used by different hosts or host groups to access virtual disks in a storage array Not every op
113. disk group is 30 The hosts attached to the storage array read and write data to the virtual disks K NOTE Before you can create virtual disks you must first organize the physical disks into disk groups and configure host access Then you can create virtual disks within a disk group To create a virtual disk use one of the following methods e Create a new disk group from unconfigured capacity You first define the RAID level and free capacity available storage space for the disk group and then you define the parameters for the first virtual disk in the new disk group e Create a new virtual disk in the free capacity of an existing disk group You only need to specify the parameters for the new virtual disk A disk group has a set amount of free capacity that is configured when the disk group is created You can use that free capacity to subdivide the disk group into one or more virtual disks You can create disk groups and virtual disks using e Automatic configuration Provides the fastest method but with limited configuration options e Manual configuration Provides more configuration options When creating a virtual disk consider the uses for that virtual disk and select an appropriate capacity for those uses For example if a disk group has a virtual disk that stores multimedia files which tend to be large and another virtual disk that stores text files which tend to be small the multimedia file virtual disk requir
114. e array is listed once regardless of the number of attachments it has in the Tree view After the storage array has been contacted by MDSM an icon representing its hardware status appears Hardware status can be Optimal Needs Attention or Fixing If however all of the network management connections from the storage management station to the storage array shown in the Tree view are Unresponsive the storage array status is represented as Unresponsive In the EMW Status Bar and the AMW Status Bar the icons also have these behaviors e Hold the mouse over the icon in the EMW Status Bar and the AMW Status Bar to show a tooltip with a brief description of the status e The icons for the Needs Attention status and Unresponsive status appear in EMW Status Bar and the AMW Status Bar if there are discovered storage arrays with either condition The EMW Tree view has additional status icons that are shown in the following table Table 19 3 Additional Status Icons Status Icon Description Unsupported Alerts gg Setting an alert on a s storage array with a Needs with a Needs Upgrade status is not supported In this case the Upgrade Status storage array shows both a Needs Upgrade status and an Unsupported Alerts icon in the Tree view The Unsupported Alerts icon indicates that the storage array cannot be monitored Alert Set i If you installed the Event Monitor with MDSM and if you have set alerts the Alert Set icon appears ne
115. e determined limit exists to the number of Transmission Control Protocol Internet Protocol TCP IP connections that can be made to the RAID controller module before it stops responding to subsequent connection attempts The type of management operations being performed and the number of management sessions taking place together determine the number of TCP IP connections made to a RAID controller module This problem is self correcting because after some TCP IP connections terminate the RAID controller module then becomes responsive to other connection attempts 23 If the storage array is still unresponsive a problem might exist with the RAID controller modules Contact your Technical Support representative 278 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 2 3 6 Select the Physical tab Select the physical disks that you want to locate Select Physical Disk Blink Physical Disk The LEDs on the selected physical disks blink When you have located the physical disks click OK The LEDs stop blinking If any other blink operations Blink Disk Group Blink Storage Array Blink Physical Disk Ports or Blink Expansion Enclosure are currently being invoked from another storage management station these
116. e file name from the Change Security Key Complete dialog and click OK Saving a Security Key You save an externally storable copy of the security key when the security key is first created and each time it is changed You can create additional storable copies at any time To save a new copy of the security key you must provide a pass phrase The pass phrase you choose does not need to match the pass phrase used when the security key was created or last changed The pass phrase is applied to the particular copy of the security key you are saving Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 115 To save the security key for the storage array 1 Inthe AMW toolbar select Storage Array Physical Disk Security Save Security Key File The Save Security Key File Enter Pass Phrase window is displayed 2 Edit the default path by adding a file name to the end of the path or Click Browse navigate to the required folder and enter the name of the file 3 In Pass phrase enter a string for the pass phrase The pass phrase must meet the following criteria e It must be between eight and 32 characters long It must contain at least one uppercase letter e It must contain at least one lowercase letter e It must contain at least one number e It must contain at least one non alphanumeric character for example lt gt t The pass phrase that you enter is masked 4 In Confirm pass phrase re enter the exact string you entered in Pass ph
117. e included in the storage partition Storage partitioning fails when e All mappings are defined e You create a mapping for a host group that conflicts with an established mapping for a host in the host group e You create a mapping for a host in a host group that conflicts with an established mapping for the host group 134 Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks Storage partitioning is unavailable when e No valid host groups or hosts exist in the Topology pane on the Mappings tab e No host ports are defined for the host being included in the storage partition e All mappings are defined K NOTE You can include a secondary virtual disk in a storage partition However any hosts that are mapped to the secondary virtual disk has read only access until the virtual disk is promoted to a primary virtual disk or the mirror relationship is removed 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 page 88 If a storage partitioning topology is not defined an informational dialog appears each time you select the Mappings tab You must define the storage partitioning topology before you define the actual storage partition Disk Group and Virtual Disk Expansion Adding free capacity to a disk group is achieved by adding unconfigured
118. e physical disks Creating a secure disk group makes the physical disks in the disk group security enabled Security enabled physical disks enter Security Locked status whenever power is re applied They can be unlocked only by a RAID controller module that supplies the correct key during physical disk initialization Otherwise the physical disks remain locked and the data is inaccessible The Security Locked status prevents any unauthorized person from accessing data on a security enabled physical disk by physically removing the physical disk and installing the physical disk in another computer or storage array Changing a Security Key When you change a security key a new security key is generated by the system The new key replaces the previous key You cannot view or read the key However a copy of the security key must be kept on some other storage medium for backup in case of system failure or for transfer to another storage array A pass phrase that you provide encrypts and decrypts the security key for storage on other media When you change a security key you also provide information to create a security key identifier Changing the security key does not destroy any data You can change the security key at any time Before you change the security key ensure that e All virtual disks in the storage array are in Optimal status e In storage arrays with two RAID controller modules both are present and working normally To chan
119. e the following command where mpath lt x gt is the multipathing device node on which you want to create the partition fdisk dev mapper mpath lt x gt K NOTE The lt x gt value is an alphanumeric operating system dependent format The corresponding value for mapped virtual disks can be seen using the previously run multipath command Please refer to your operating system documentation for additional information on fdisk usage Add a New Partition to Device Mapper The kpartx command adds the newly fdisk created partition to the Device Mapper list of usable partitions See examples below where mpath lt x gt is the device node on which the partition was created kpartx a dev mapper mpath lt x gt If successful the command does not show an output To verify success and view exact partition naming the user can use these commands to see the full partition names assigned cd dev mapper ls Configuration Device Mapper Multipath for Linux 215 The following examples provide information about the general mapping formats On RHEL hosts a partition node has the format dev mappetr mpath lt x gt p lt y gt where lt x gt is the alphabetic number for the multipathing device lt y gt is the partition number for this device On SLES 1 1 x hosts a partition node has the format dev mappet mpath lt x gt part lt y gt where lt x gt is letter s assigned to the multipathing device and lt y gt is the partition number
120. ead and follow the safety instructions that came with the product CAUTION It is recommended that you turn off the host server before turning off the array to prevent loss of data Locate the faulty power supply and determine the status of the LEDs Ifthe AC power LED is not lit check the power cord and power source into which the power supply is plugged e Connect another device to the power source to verify if it is working e Connect the cable to a different power source e Replace the power cable If the problem is not resolved see Getting Help on page 303 Ifthe DC power LED is not lit verify that the power switch is turned on If the power switch is turned on see step 2 e Ifthe power supply s fault indicator is lit see Getting Help on page 303 Troubleshooting Your Array A CAUTION Power supply cooling fan modules are hot swappable The array can operate on a single power supply however both modules must be installed to ensure proper cooling A single power supply cooling fan module can be removed from a powered on array for a maximum period of five minutes Beyond that time the array may automatically shut down to prevent damage Reseat the power supply by removing and reinstalling it See Power Supply and Cooling Fan Features on page 29 K NOTE After installing a power supply allow several seconds for the array to recognize the power supply and to determine if it is working properly If the
121. eal time replication of data between two storage arrays in separate locations Using remote replication up to 16 replicated virtual disk pairs can be created on a storage array A replicated virtual disk pair is created from two standard virtual disks both of which are logical data storage structures created on a storage array A standard virtual disk can only be a member of one replicated pair A pair consists of a primary virtual disk at a local storage array and a secondary virtual disk at a remote storage array Data written by the host to the primary virtual disk is replicated directly from the primary storage array to the secondary virtual disk No host server or application resources are used during replication The data can be written either synchronously or asynchronously In the event of a disaster loss of communications or catastrophic failure in the local storage array the secondary virtual disk in the remote storage array can be promoted to the role of primary virtual disk and assume responsibility for maintaining business operations For detailed steps on creating virtual disks and implementing remote replication see Setting Up and Managing Remote Replication on page 183 Switchable Host Access Configuration Required With Remote Replication Access to the host server from the local and or remote storage arrays using remote replication must be established through a supported Fibre Channel switch configuration Direct attached c
122. ecure Security enabled or disabled e Read Write Accessible Security locked or unlocked You can view the self encrypting disk status of any disk group in the storage array The status information reports whether the storage array is e Security Capable e Secure 110 Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks The following table shows how to interpret the security status of a disk group Table 9 1 Interpretation of Security Status of Disk Group Secure Security Capable Yes Security Capable No Yes The disk group is composed of all Not applicable Only SED SED physical disks and is in a physical disks can be in a Secure Secure state state The disk group is composed of all The disk group is not entirely SED physical disks and is in a composed of SED physical disks Non Secure state The Physical Disk Security menu appears in the Storage Array menu The Physical Disk Security menu has these options K Create Security Key Change Security Key Save Security Key File Validate Security Key Unlock Drives NOTE If you have not created a security key for the storage array the Create Security Key option is active If you have created a security key for the storage array the Create Security Key option is inactive with a check mark to the left The Change Security Key option the Save Security Key option and the Validate Security Key option are now active The Secure Physical Disks option appears in the Disk G
123. ed is used to increase the capacity of the snapshot repository virtual disk On the Physical tab the unassigned physical disks or unconfigured capacity that you added to increase the capacity of the snapshot repository virtual disk change to assigned physical disks The new assigned physical disks are associated with the disk group of the snapshot repository virtual disk Re creating Snapshot Virtual Disks You can re create a snapshot virtual disk that you have previously disabled A CAUTION Possible loss of data redundancy If the snapshot virtual disk is in Optimal status it is first disabled prior to being re created This action invalidates the current snapshot Keep these important guidelines in mind when you re create a snapshot virtual disk e To re create the snapshot virtual disks correctly follow the instructions for your operating system K NOTE Failing to follow these additional instructions could create unusable snapshot virtual disks For more information see the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager online help topics e To use this option the snapshot virtual disk must be either in an Optimal status or Disabled status e When using this option the previously configured snapshot name parameters and snapshot repository virtual disk are used To recreate the snapshot virtual disk 1 Inthe AMW select the Logical tab select a snapshot virtual disk 2 Select Virtual Disk Snapshot Re create 3 Type
124. ed or is stopped ownership of the secondary virtual disk is restored to its preferred RAID controller module e If ownership of the primary virtual disk is changed during the remote replication ownership of the secondary virtual disk is also changed If any of the following conditions apply to your RAID controller module you must manually change module ownership to the alternate RAID controller module to allow the remote replication to finish e The status of the remote replication is In Progress The preferred RAID controller module of the primary virtual disk fails e Transfer of ownership does not occur automatically during failover A CAUTION To avoid possible loss of data verify that either the virtual disks are not in use or a multi path driver is installed on the host If you change the RAID controller module ownership preferred path while an application is using one of the virtual disks 1 0 activity is disrupted and 1 0 errors may occur Viewing Information About a Remote Replication or Replication Repository Virtual Disk In MD Storage Manager the Storage Array Profile and the Properties pane display information about the physical and logical characteristics of the remote replication 190 Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication Viewing the Storage Array Profile The Storage Array Profile displays the most detailed information about the components of a remote replication and the replication repository v
125. ed the data or back up the data on the target virtual disk K NOTE If you ordered this feature you received a Premium Feature Activation card that shipped in the same box as your Dell PowerVault MD storage array Follow the directions on the card to obtain a key file and to enable the feature K NOTE The preferred method for creating a virtual disk copy is to copy from a snapshot virtual disk This allows the original virtual disk used in the snapshot operation to remain fully available for read write activity while the snapshot is used as the source for the virtual disk copy operation When you create a virtual disk copy you create a copy pair that has a source virtual disk and a target virtual disk on the same storage array The source virtual disk is the virtual disk that contains the data you want to copy The source virtual disk accepts the host I O read activity and stores the data until it is copied to the target virtual disk The source virtual disk can be a standard virtual disk a snapshot virtual disk or the source virtual disk of a snapshot virtual disk When you start a virtual disk copy all data is copied to the target virtual disk and the source virtual disk permissions are set to read only until the virtual disk copy is complete The target virtual disk is a virtual disk to which you copy data from the source virtual disk The target virtual disk can be a standard virtual disk or the source virtual disk of a failed or
126. elect Suspend media scan if selected In Scan duration enter or select the duration in days for the media scan The media scan duration specifies the number of days for which the media scan runs on the selected virtual disks 5 To disable media scans on an individual virtual disk select the virtual disk in the Select virtual disks to scan area and deselect Scan selected virtual disks 6 To enable media scans on an individual virtual disk select the virtual disk in the Select virtual disks to scan area and select Scan selected virtual disks 140 Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 7 To enable or disable the consistency check select either With consistency check or Without consistency check K NOTE A consistency check scans the data blocks in a RAID Level 5 virtual disk or a RAID Level 6 virtual disk and checks the consistency information for each block A consistency check compares data blocks on RAID Level 1 replicated physical disks RAID Level 0 virtual disks have no data consistency Click OK 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 you should suspend the media scan K NOTE A background media scan is the lowest priority of the long running
127. eplication 1 198 In the AMW of the storage array containing the primary virtual disk of the replicated pair right click the Logical tab Select Change Synchronization Settings The Change Synchronization Settings dialog is displayed In the Replicated pairs table select the primary virtual disk and the remote virtual disk you want to change To select all virtual disks click Select All On the Select Synchronization Priority slide bar select the synchronization priority for the replicated pair Select either Manual or Automatic resynchronization e Automatic Resynchronization starts immediately after communication is restored between unsynchronized replicated virtual disks e Manual The replicated pair must be manually resynchronized each time communication is restored between unsynchronized replicated virtual disks Click OK The Change Synchronization Settings confirmation message is displayed In the Change Synchronization Settings confirmation message click Yes The Change Synchronization Priority Progress bar displays the progress of the resynchronization Click OK Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication Unsynchronized Virtual Disks Communication between a primary and secondary virtual disks can be either suspended or become unsynchronized If this communication between both virtual disks is disrupted 1 2 3 4 5 The status of the replicated pair changes to Unsynchronized
128. eplication repository virtual disk with identical capacity In a dual RAID controller module storage array the default capacity for each replication repository virtual disks is 128 MB per controller requiring a total of 256 MB in the RAID group This default capacity cannot be modified RAID Levels for Replication Repository Virtual Disks If replication repository virtual disks are created from unconfigured free capacity on the storage array you can select a RAID level for the disk group of either RAID 1 10 RAID 5 or RAID 6 However if the replication repository virtual disks are created from an existing disk group RAID levels are not user configurable Primary and Secondary Virtual Disk Pairs After the Remote Replication feature is activated and configuration of the FC fabric individual virtual disk replication pairs are be created Up to 16 replication virtual disk pairs can be established Each pair consists of a primary online virtual disk and a secondary offline virtual disk both of identical capacity During operation primary and secondary roles can be interchanged to test the replicated data sets without breaking the relationship Independent copies may be created by deleting the relationship in which case both virtual disks are available online to their configured hosts Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication 179 Before creating a virtual disk pair verify the following 1 The Remote Replication premiu
129. eployment Guide Benefits of using DM Multipath include e Detects path failure and re routes I O to other available paths e Revalidates failed paths after path restoration e Utilizes multiple available paths to maximize performance e Reconfigures path usage based on path states and error conditions e Unifies multiple device nodes into a single logical multipath device node e Indentifies a new multipathed LU and automatically configures a new multipath node e Provides device name persistency for DM devices under dev mappet Configuration Device Mapper Multipath for Linux 211 Using DM Multipathing Devices K 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 accessing any device other than the multipathing device K NOTE After creating a partition on a multipathing device all 10 operations including filesystem creation raw I O and file system I O must be done through the partition node not the multipathing device nodes Prerequisites The following tasks must be completed before proceeding For more information about step land step 2 see the MD3600f and MD3620f storage arrays Deployment Guide For more information about step 3 see Creating Virtual Disks on page 102 1 Install the host software from MD3600f Series resource media Insert the resource media to st
130. er gt and press lt Enter gt For more information see SMrepassist Utility on page 281 Click the Summary tab then click Disk Groups amp Virtual Disks to ensure that the virtual disk is in Optimal or Disabled status 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 has completed successfully but the copied data is not is not updated properly Follow any additional instructions for your operating system Failure to follow these additional instructions can create unusable virtual disk copies K NOTE If your operating system requires additional instructions you can find those instructions in your operating system documentation Configuration Premium Feature Virtual Disk Copy 171 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 virtual disk copy starts over from the beginning Possible loss of data The re copying operation overwrites existing data on the target virtual disk Possible loss of data access While a virtual disk copy has a status of In Progress or Pending source vir
131. erating system has the same number of LUNs available You can define the mappings on the Mappings tab in the Array Management Window See Using the Mappings Tab on page 88 Creating Host to Virtual Disk Mappings Guidelines to define the mappings 124 An access virtual disk mapping is not required for an out of band storage array If your storage array is managed using an out of band connection and an access virtual disk mapping is assigned to the Default Group an access virtual disk mapping is assigned to every host created from the Default Group To prevent this action from occurring remove the access virtual disk mapping from the Default Group Most hosts have 256 LUNs mapped per storage partition The LUN numbering is from 0 through 255 If your operating system restricts LUNs to 127 and you try to map a virtual disk to a LUN that is greater than or equal to 127 the host cannot access it An initial mapping of the host group or host must be created using the Storage Partitioning Wizard before defining additional mappings See Storage Partitioning on page 134 Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks To create host to virtual disk mappings 1 2 In the AMW select the Mappings tab In the Topology pane select e Default Group e Undefined mappings node e Individual defined mapping e Host group e Host In the toolbar select Mappings Define Additional Mapping The Define Additional Mapping window is dis
132. es click Select File Select the file to download in the File selection area and click OK By default only downloadable files that are compatible with the current storage array configuration appear When you select a file in the File selection area applicable attributes if any of the file appear in the NVSRAM File information area The attributes indicate the version of the NVSRAM file Click Transfer K NOTE If the file selected is not valid or is not compatible with the current storage array configuration the File Selection Error dialog appears Click OK to close it and choose a compatible NVSRAM file Click Yes in the Confirm Download dialog The download starts Perform one of these actions Select Tools Upgrade RAID Controller Module Firmware e Select the Setup tab and click Upgrade RAID Controller Module Firmware The Upgrade RAID Controller Module Firmware window appears The Storage array pane lists the storage arrays The Details pane shows the details of the storage array that is selected in the Storage array pane In the Storage array pane select the storage array for which you want to download the NVSRAM firmware You can select more than one storage array Management Firmware Downloads 251 10 11 12 13 14 15 K NOTE The Details pane shows the details of only one storage array at a time If you select more than one storage array in the Storage array pane the details of the st
133. es more capacity than the text file virtual disk Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 99 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 Accounts Receivable AR Accounts Payable AP internal billing and so forth In this scenario the AR and AP virtual disks probably need more capacity than the internal billing virtual disk K NOTE In Linux the host must be rebooted after deleting virtual disks to reset the dev entries K NOTE Before you can use a virtual disk you must register the disk with the host systems See Host to Virtual Disk Mapping on page 124 Creating Disk Groups You can create disk groups using either Automatic configuration or Manual configuration To create disk groups using automatic configuration 1 To start the Create Disk Group Wizard perform one of these actions e To create a disk group from unconfigured capacity in the storage array On the Logical tab select an Unconfigured Capacity node and select Disk Group Create Alternatively you can right click the Unconfigured Capacity node and select Create Disk Group from the pop up menu e To create a disk group from unassigned physical disks in the storage array On the Physical tab select one or more unassigned physical disks of
134. et the physical disk security attributes A CAUTION Possible loss of data access The Secure Erase option removes all of the data that is currently on the physical disk This action cannot be undone Before you complete this option ensure that the physical disk that you have selected is the correct physical disk You cannot recover any of the data that is currently on the physical disk After you complete the secure erase procedure the physical disk is available for use in another disk group or in another storage array See the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager online help topics for more information on the secure erase procedure Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 117 Configuring Hot Spare Physical Disks Guidelines to configure host spare physical disks A You can use only unassigned physical disks with Optimal status as hot spare physical disks 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 If a hot spare physical disk does not have Optimal status follow the Recovery Guru procedures displayed by the MDSM application to correct any problem before trying to unassign the physical disk Hot spare physical disks must be of the same media type and interface type as the physical disks that t
135. etect or unable to communicate with peer port K NOTE If both RAID controller modules fail simultaneously the enclosure cannot issue critical or noncritical event alarms for any enclosure component When the enclosure is under critical condition its enclosure status LED blinks amber Noncritical Conditions A noncritical condition is an event or status that does not cause immediate failure but must be corrected to ensure continued reliability of the storage array Examples of noncritical events include the following e One power supply has failed e One cooling fan has failed e One RAID controller module in a redundant configuration has failed e A battery has failed or has been removed e A physical disk in a redundant virtual disk has failed When the enclosure is under noncritical condition its enclosure status LED blinks amber Troubleshooting Your Array 301 302 Troubleshooting Your Array Getting Help Contacting Dell For customers in the United States call 800 WWW DELL 800 999 3355 K 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 and product and some services may not be available in your area To contact Dell for sales technical support or customer service issues 1 Visit support del
136. f a disk group the Secure Erase option appears in the Physical Disk menu 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 protect copies of a security key However it is good practice to set a storage array password Creating a Security Key When you create a security key it is generated by and securely stored by the array You cannot read or view the security key K NOTE A copy of the security key must be kept on some other storage medium for backup in case of system failure or for transfer to another storage array A pass phrase that you provide is used to encrypt and decrypt the security key for storage on other media When you create a security key you also provide information to create a security key identifier Unlike the security key you can read or view the security key identifier The security key identifier is also stored on a physical disk or transportable media The security key identifier is used to identify which key the storage array is using 112 Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks To create a security key 1 In the AMW toolbar select Storage Array Physical Disk Security gt Create Security Key The Create Security Key window is displayed In Security key identifier enter a string that becomes part
137. f or Figure 15 17 for PowerVault MD3620f Management Installing Array Components Figure 15 15 Removing and Installing the RAID controller module Power Supply Cage 1 RAID controller module power 2 screws 6 supply cage Management Installing Array Components 243 Figure 15 16 Removing and Installing the Backplane PowerVault MD3600f 1 screws 5 2 backplane 3 captive screw Figure 15 17 Removing and Installing the Backplane PowerVault MD3620f 1 screws 4 2 backplane 3 captive screw 244 Management Installing Array Components Installing the Backplane 1 2 10 11 Align the holes on the backplane with the holes on the array Tighten the captive screw to secure the backplane to the chassis See Figure 15 16 for PowerVault MD3600f or Figure 15 17 for PowerVault MD3620F Replace the screws that secure the backplane to the chassis See Figure 15 16 for PowerVault MD3600f or Figure 15 17 for PowerVault MD3620f Align the slots on the RAID controller module power supply cage with the tabs on the chassis See Figure 15 15 Push the RAID controller module power supply cage toward the front of the array Replace the screws that secure the RAID controller module power supply cage to the chassis Replace the control panel See Installing the Control Panel on page 241 Replace the power supply cooling fan modules See Installing a Power Supply Cooling Fan Module on page 238 Repla
138. feature is ordered a Premium Feature Activation card is placed in the box with the storage array After reading the information below follow the directions on the card to obtain a key file and to enable the feature A CAUTION Loss of data access The storage array automatically restarts when the High Performance Tier feature is enabled or disabled During the restart data is unavailable Data availability is restored when the array restarts To upgrade from a standard performance tier storage array to a high performance tier storage array you enable the high performance tier premium feature using the Dell PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Management MDSM software When the high performance tier feature is enabled or disabled the array restarts During this time data access and management access to the controller is temporarily lost It is recommended that all I O to the array be stopped before this feature is enabled or disabled While the array is restarting the state of the array in the MDSM application may change from Optimal to Unresponsive When the restart completes the status returns to Optimal When the array status returns to Optimal I O to the array can be restarted Configuration Premium Feature Upgrading to High Performance Tier 175 176 Configuration Premium Feature Upgrading to High Performance Tier Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication The Remote Replication premium feature enables r
139. 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 path driver transfers the virtual disks back to the preferred controller within the specified delay period a critical event is not logged If the transfer exceeds this delay period then a virtual disk not on preferred path alert is issued as a critical event You can also use this option to minimize multiple alerts when more than one virtual disk fails over because of a system error such as a failed host adapter For more information see the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager online help topics 76 Configuration About Your Storage Array Changing the Cache Settings on the Storage Array 1 In the AMW select Storage Array Change Cache Settings The Change Cache Settings window is displayed Select or enter the percentage of unwritten data in the cache to trigger a cache flush in Start flushing Select or enter the percentage of unwritten data in the cache to stop a cache flush in progress in Stop flushing Select the appropriate Cache block size A smaller cache size is a good choice for file system use or database application use A larger cache size is a good choice for applications that generate sequential I O such as multimedia In the Enter Password dialog type the current password for the storage array and click OK Changing
140. for the physical disk data filename in Specify filename or click Browse to navigate to a previously saved file to overwrite an existing file The suffix bin is added to the file automatically if you do not specify a suffix for the file 3 Click Start The physical disk data collection is completed and saved at the location that you entered 4 Click OK 268 Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software 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 The event log can be used as a supplementary diagnostic tool to the Recovery Guru for tracing storage array events Always refer to the Recovery Guru first when attempting to recover from component failures in the storage array A WARNING Use this option only under the guidance of your Technical Support representative The event log stores approximately 8000 events before it replaces an event with a new event If you want to keep the events you may save them and clear them from the event log The event log window shows two types of event views Summary view Shows an event summary in a table form e Detail view Shows details about a selected event To view the event log 1 Inthe AMW select Advanced Troubleshooting View Event Log The Event Log is displayed By default the summ
141. ge array by virtual disks disk groups free capacity nodes and any unconfigured capacity for the storage array Configuration Overview 65 Physical tab You can view the organization of the storage array by RAID controller modules physical disks and other hardware components Mappings tab You can define the hosts host groups and host ports You can change the mappings to grant virtual disk access to host groups and hosts and create storage partitions Setup tab You can complete the initial setup tasks to configure the storage array Support You can complete common support tasks like downloading RAID controller module firmware viewing the online help and so on In the AMW you can 66 Provide storage array options for example renaming a storage array changing a password or enabling a background media scan Provide the ability to configure virtual disks from the storage array capacity define hosts and host groups and grant host or host group access to sets of virtual disks called storage partitions Monitor the health of storage array components and report detailed status using applicable icons Provide applicable recovery procedures for a failed logical component or a failed hardware component Present a view of the Event Log for the storage array Present profile information about hardware components such as RAID controller modules and physical disks Provide RAID controller module management optio
142. ge the security key 1 In the AMW toolbar select Storage Array Physical Disk Security gt Change Security Key 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 114 Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 3 In Secure key identifier enter a string that becomes part of the secure key identifier You may leave the text box blank or enter up to 189 alphanumeric characters without white space punctuation or symbols Additional characters are generated automatically 4 Edit the default path by adding a file name to the end of the path or Click Browse navigate to the required folder and enter the name of the file 5 In Pass phrase enter a string for the pass phrase The pass phrase must meet the following criteria It must be between eight and 32 characters long e It must contain at least one uppercase letter e It must contain at least one lowercase letter e It must contain at least one number e It must contain at least one non alphanumeric character for example lt gt t The pass phrase that you enter is masked 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 Click Change Key 8 Make a record of the security key identifier and th
143. ged completely not fully charged or are not present CAUTION Possible loss of data Selecting the Enable write caching without batteries option lets write caching continue even when the batteries are discharged completely or are not fully charged Typically write caching is turned off temporarily by the RAID controller module until the batteries are charged If you select this option and do not have a universal power supply for protection you could lose data In addition you could lose data if you do not have RAID controller module batteries and you select the Enable write caching without batteries option K NOTE When the Optional RAID controller module batteries option is enabled the Enable write caching does not appear The Enable write caching without batteries is still available but it is not checked by default K NOTE Cache is automatically flushed after the Enable write caching check box is disabled Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks Click OK A message prompts you to confirm the change in the virtual disk modification priority Click Yes Click OK 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 Es You cannot cancel this operation after it starts Do not start this operation unless the disk group is i
144. gh CPU utilization e If the root disk is not blacklisted in the multipath conf file a multipathing node may be created for the root disk The command multipath 11 lists vendor product ID which can help identify this issue 218 Configuration Device Mapper Multipath for Linux Troubleshooting Question Answer How can I check if multipathd is running Why does the multipath 11 command output not show any devices Why is a newly mapped LUN not assigned a multipathing device node I have no LUNs mapped before Then I map a few LUNs After running rescan scsi bus sh LUN 0 does not show up I removed a LUN but the multipathing mapping is still present Failback does not happen as expected with the array Run the following command etc init d multipathd status First verify if the devices are discovered or not The command cat proc scsi scsi displays all the devices that are already discovered Then verify the multipath conf to ensure that it is been updated with proper settings After this run multipath Thenrunmultipath 11 the new devices should be displayed Run rescan_dm_devs in any directory This should bring up the devices Run rescan_dm_devs instead of rescan scsi bus for LUN 0 reconfiguration The multipathing device is still there after you remove the LUNs Runmultipath f lt device node for the deleted LUN gt to remove the multipathing mapping For example if device
145. h files and activate them later depends on the type of RAID controller module in the storage array K NOTE You can use the command line interface to download and activate the firmware to several storage arrays by using a script See the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager online helptopics for more information on the command line interface Management Firmware Downloads 247 Downloading Both RAID Controller and NVSRAM Firmware NOTE 1 0 to the array can continue while you are upgrading RAID controller and NVSRAM firmware K NOTE Dell recommends that the firmware and NVSRAM be upgraded during a maintenance period when the array is not being used for I 0 K NOTE The RAID enclosure must contain at least two disk drives in order to update the firmware on the controller To download RAID controller and NVSRAM firmware in a single operation 248 If you are using the EMW go to step 9 If you are using the AMW go to step 2 Perform one of these actions e Select Advanced gt Maintenance Download RAID Controller Module Firmware e Select the Support tab and click Download Firmware In Select download task select the Download RAID controller module firmware and click OK K NOTE The RAID Controller Module Firmware area and the NVSRAM area list the current firmware and the current NVSRAM versions respectively To locate the directory in which the file to download resides click Select File In the File Selec
146. he array may automatically shut down to prevent damage Removing a Power Supply Cooling Fan Module A K 1 A 4 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 team Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty Read and follow the safety instructions that came with the product NOTE If you remove a fully functioning power supply cooling fan module the fan speed in the remaining module increases significantly to provide adequate cooling The fan speed decreases gradually when a new power supply cooling fan module is installed Turn off the power supply cooling fan module Disconnect the power cable from the power source Remove the velcro straps that secure the power cable and then disconnect the power cable from the power supply cooling fan module WARNING The power supply cooling fan modules are heavy Use both hands while removing the module Press the release tab and pull the power supply out of the chassis Management Installing Array Components 237 Figure 15 11 Removing and Installing a Power Supply Cooling Fan Module WIVIS SSS ERSS REESS 555533533 Ssa 9 13 4 iD 6 f 4 j2 E 23339 Sy 1 release tab 2 power supply 3 power supply handle Ins
147. he multi path driver before an I O path can be used To change the ownership of the virtual disk to the connected controller 1 Inthe AMW select the Logical tab and select a virtual disk 2 Select Virtual Disk Change Ownership Preferred Path 3 Select the appropriate RAID controller module slot and click Yes to confirm the selection Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 127 Removing Host to Virtual Disk Mapping 1 In the AMW select the Mapping tab 2 Select a virtual disk from the Defined Mappings pane 3 Perform one of these actions Select Mappings Remove e Right click the virtual disk and select Remove Mapping from the pop up menu 4 Click Yes to remove the mapping Changing the RAID Controller Module Ownership of a Disk Group You can change the RAID controller module ownership of a a disk group You can change the RAID controller module ownership of a standard virtual disk or a snapshot repository virtual disk You cannot directly change the RAID controller module ownership of a snapshot virtual disk because the snapshot virtual disk inherits the RAID controller module owner of its associated source virtual disk Changing the RAID controller module ownership of a virtual disk changes the preferred RAID controller module ownership of the virtual disk 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 ha
148. he front till it snaps into place See Figure 15 9 Replace the screws on the RAID controller module See Figure 15 9 Connect all the cables to the array If SFP transceivers and fiber optic cables were previously in place reinstall them in the correct ports 5 Turn on the array and the host server 234 Management Installing Array Components RAID Controller Module Backup Battery Unit Removing the RAID Controller Module Backup Battery Unit A 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 team Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty Read and follow the safety instructions that came with the product Turn off the array and host server Disconnect all the cables connected to the array Remove the RAID controller module See Removing a RAID Controller Module on page 231 4 Open the RAID controller module See Opening the RAID Controller Module on page 233 5 Loosen the screw that secures the backup battery unit to the RAID controller module See Figure 15 10 6 Slide the backup battery unit in the direction of the arrow and lift it out of the RAID controller module See Figure 15 10 Figure 15 10 Removing and Installing the RAID Controller Module Backup Battery Unit 1 backup bat
149. he relevant mapping option you can select e Automatic e Map later with Storage Partition In the Snapshot repository virtual disk parameters area enter the system behavior when e The snapshot repository virtual disk is full to the selected percentage level e The snapshot repository virtual disk is full Click Next The Preview window containing the summary of the snapshot virtual disk is displayed Click Finish The Completed window is displayed Click OK In the Mappings tab assign mappings between the snapshot virtual disk and the host that accesses the snapshot virtual disk Configuration Premium Feature Snapshot Virtual Disks 15 To register the snapshot virtual disk with the host operating system run the host based hot_add utility 16 To associate the mapping between the storage array name and the virtual disk name run the host based SMdevices utility Specifying Snapshot Virtual Disk Names Choose a name that helps you associate the snapshot virtual disk and snapshot repository virtual disk with its corresponding source virtual disk The following information is useful when naming virtual disks By default the snapshot name is shown in the Snapshot virtual disk name field as lt source virtual disk name gt lt sequence number gt where sequence number is the chronological number of the snapshot relative to the source virtual disk The default name for the associated snapshot rep
150. he 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 K NOTE To view the progress or change the priority of the modification operation select a virtual disk in the disk group and select Virtual Disk gt Change gt Modification Priority Changing the 1 0 Type You can specify the virtual disk I O characteristics for the virtual disks that you are defining as part of the storage array configuration The expected I O characteristics of the virtual disk is used by the system to indicate an applicable default virtual disk segment size and dynamic cache read prefetch setting K NOTE The dynamic cache read prefetch setting can be changed later by selecting Virtual Disk gt Change Cache Settings You can change the segment size later by selecting Virtual Disk gt Change Segment Size 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 the Dynamic cache read prefetch field and the Segment size field 108 Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks To change the I O type 1 Select from these virtual disk I O characteristic types based on your application needs
151. her 128 MB or 256 MB capacity You cannot create the replication repository virtual disks on a disk group with insufficient capacity or change the default capacities of the replication repository virtual disks 1 In the Introduction Activate Remote Replication wizard select Free capacity on existing disk groups 2 From the list of available disk groups select a disk group to contain the replication repository virtual disks then click Next The Preview Activate Remote Replication wizard is displayed 3 Click Finish The Completed Activate Remote Replication message is displayed 4 Click OK The Remote Replication premium feature is now active The Logical pane displays the two replication repository virtual disks as part of the disk group Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication 185 Creating a Remote Replication Before creating a remote replication ensure that all prerequisites are met See Prerequisites on page 183 for more information 186 1 2 Open the AMW of both the local and remote storage array Verify that the Remote Replication premium feature has been activated on both storage arrays In the AMW of the local storage array select the Logical tab In the Logical pane of the local storage array select the virtual disk you created to serve as your primary virtual disk This is the disk that is replicated to the secondary disk In the menu bar in the AMW select Virtual Disk Remote Rep
152. hey are protecting If there are secure disk groups and security capable disk groups in the storage array the hot spare physical disk must match the security capability of the disk group Hot spare physical disks must have capacities equal to or larger than the used capacity on the physical disks that they are protecting The availability of enclosure loss protection for a disk group depends on the location of the physical disks that comprise the disk group To ensure that enclosure loss protection is not affected you must replace a failed physical disk to initiate the copyback process See Enclosure Loss Protection on page 121 CAUTION If a hot spare physical disk does not have Optimal status follow the Recovery Guru procedures to correct the problem before you try to unassign the physical disk You cannot assign a hot spare physical disk if it is in use taking over for a failed physical disk To assign or unassign hot spare physical disks 1 2 3 118 In the AMW select the Physical tab Select one or more physical disks Perform one of these actions e Select Physical disk Hot Spare Coverage Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 10 11 12 e Right click the physical disk and select Hot Spare Coverage from the pop up menu The Hot Spare Physical Disk Options window is displayed Select the appropriate option you can select e View change current hot spare coverage to review hot spare coverage an
153. hould only perform troubleshooting and simple repairs as authorized in your product documentation or as directed by the online or telephone service and support team Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty Read and follow the safety instructions that came with the product A CAUTION In the case of non redundant configurations it is recommended that you turn off the host server before turning off the array to prevent loss of data e If the array status LED is solid or blinking amber In the AMW select the Summary tab and click on Storage Array needs attention Follow the listed procedures in the recovery guru s and wait for up to 5 minutes to check if the LED has turned blue See Recovery Guru on page 270 If following the recovery guru procedures does not solve the problem complete the following procedure to further troubleshoot the array Turn off the host server as appropriate Remove the RAID controller module and verify that the pins on backplane and RAID controller module are not bent See Removing a RAID Controller Module Blank on page 229 Reinstall the RAID controller module and wait for 30 seconds See Installing a RAID Controller Module on page 232 Check the RAID controller module status LED Replace the RAID controller module Turn on the host server If the problem is not resolved see Getting Help on page 303 Troubleshooting Your Array 295 K
154. ical 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 controller modules If no hot spares are defined the rebuild process is initiated by the RAID controller modules when a replacement physical disk is inserted into the storage array Global Hot Spares The MD3600f Series supports global hot spares A global hot spare can replace a failed physical disk in any virtual disk with a redundant RAID level as long as the capacity of the hot spare is equal to or larger than the size of the configured capacity on the physical disk it replaces including its metadata 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 is called copy back By default the RAID controller module automatically configures the number and type of hot spares based on the number and capacity of physical disks in your system A hot spare may have the following states e A standby hot spare is a physical disk that has been assigned as a hot spare and is available to take over for any failed physical disk e An in use hot spare is a physical disk that has been assigned as a hot spare an
155. id State Disks SSDs Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 139 Errors discovered by the media scan include e Unrecovered media error Data could not be read on the first attempt or on any subsequent attempts For virtual disks with redundancy protection data is reconstructed rewritten to the physical disk and verified and the error is reported to the event log For virtual disks without redundancy protection RAID 1 RAID 5 and RAID 6 virtual disks the error is not corrected but is reported to the event log e Recovered media error Data could not be read by the physical disk on the first attempt but was successfully read on a subsequent attempt Data is rewritten to the physical disk and verified and the error is reported to the event log e Redundancy mismatches error The first 10 redundancy mismatches that are found on the virtual disk are reported to the event log e Unfixable error Data could not be read and parity or redundancy information could not be used to regenerate the data For example redundancy information cannot be used to reconstruct the data on a degraded virtual disk The error is reported to the event log For more information see the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager online help topics Changing Media Scan Settings 1 In the AMW select the Logical tab and select any virtual disk 2 Select Virtual Disk Change Media Scan Settings The Change Media Scan Settings window is displayed Des
156. ip of the target virtual disk is restored to its preferred RAID controller module If ownership of the source virtual disk is changed during the virtual disk copy ownership of the target virtual disk is also changed 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 e A virtual disk copy has a status of In Progress e The preferred RAID controller module of the source virtual disk fails e The ownership transfer does not occur automatically in the failover Copy Manager After you create a virtual disk copy by using the Create Copy Wizard you can monitor the virtual disk copy through the Copy Manager From the Copy Manager a virtual disk copy may be re copied stopped or removed You can also modify the attributes such as the copy priority and the target virtual disk Read Only attribute You can view the status of a virtual disk copy in the Copy Manager Also if you need to determine which virtual disks are involved in a virtual disk copy you can use the Copy Manager or the storage array profile Configuration Premium Feature Virtual Disk Copy 167 Copying the Virtual Disk You can create a virtual disk copy by using the Create Copy Wizard VAN CAUTION Possible loss of data access A virtual disk copy overwrites data on the target virtual disk A virtual disk copy automa
157. irtual disks You can View detailed information about individual and paired virtual disks in a remote replication View detailed information about the replication repository virtual disks in the remote replication and storage array Save the Storage Array Profile information as a text file To view the Storage Array Profile 1 In the Array Management Window of the local or remote storage array select the Summary tab In the Status area click Storage Array Profile The Storage Array Profile opens Select the Virtual Disks tab Select either the Replications tab or the Repositories tab The Profile for Storage array page is displayed Perform one of the following e To return to the Array Management Window without saving the information click Close e To save the information click Save As then go to Step 6 In the Section Selection area of the Save Profile window select each section you want to save To save the file either e Save the file in the default directory or e Save the file in another directory by choosing it in the Look in drop down list In File name type a name for the file and click Save The file is saved as a txt file Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication 191 Viewing the Properties Pane The Properties pane is a view only display of the physical and logical characteristics of a single virtual disk in a replicated pair or a single replication repository virtual disk
158. irtual disk in the storage array NOTE The primary virtual disk is deleted from the storage array and all data on the virtual disk is permanently lost 206 Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication Deleting a Secondary Virtual Disk in a Replicated Pair From a Storage Array 1 K Stop all I O activity on the secondary virtual disk and unmount any file systems on the secondary virtual disk In the AMW of the storage array that contains the secondary virtual disk select the Logical tab In the Logical pane right click the secondary virtual disk then select Delete The Delete Virtual Disks dialog is displayed Select one or more virtual disks to delete then click Delete The Confirm Delete Virtual Disk s message is displayed In the confirmation text box type Yes Then click OK The Delete Virtual Disks Progress bar is displayed When the deletion is complete click OK The replication relationship is removed and the remote virtual disk replication is destroyed NOTE The secondary virtual disk is deleted from the storage array and all data on the virtual disk is permanently lost Removing a Remote Replication From a Storage Array Removing a remote virtual disk replication from a storage array returns both the primary virtual disk and the secondary virtual disk to regular standard virtual disks After the removal is complete normal I O operations continue on the former primary virtual disk the former se
159. irtual disk copy starts and data is read from the source virtual disk and written to the target virtual disk The Operation in Progress icon appears on the source virtual disk and the target virtual disk while the virtual disk copy has a status of In Progress or Pending Failed Virtual Disk Copy A virtual disk copy can fail due to these conditions e A read error from the source virtual disk e A write error to the target virtual disk e A failure in the storage array that affects the source virtual disk or the target virtual disk When the virtual disk copy fails a critical event is logged in the Event Log and a Needs Attention icon appears in the Array Management window While a virtual disk copy has this status the host has read only access to the source virtual disk Read requests from and write requests to the target virtual disk do not take place until the failure is corrected by using the Recovery Guru 166 Configuration Premium Feature Virtual Disk Copy Preferred RAID Controller Module Ownership During a virtual disk copy the same RAID controller module must own both the source virtual disk and the target virtual disk If both virtual disks do not have the same preferred RAID controller module when the virtual disk copy starts the ownership of the target virtual disk is automatically transferred to the preferred RAID controller module of the source virtual disk When the virtual disk copy is completed or is stopped ownersh
160. irtual disk is removed from the Virtual Disk Properties dialog and the Storage Array Profile dialogs When you remove a virtual disk copy from the storage array the Read Only attribute for the target virtual disk is also removed After the virtual disk copy is removed from the Copy Manager you can either select the target virtual disk as a source virtual disk or the target virtual disk for a new virtual disk copy If you remove a virtual disk copy the source virtual disk and the target virtual disk no longer appear in the Copy Manager Keep these guidelines in mind when you remove copy pairs e Removing copy pairs does not delete the data on the source virtual disk or target virtual disk e If the virtual disk copy has a status of In Progress you must stop the virtual disk copy before you can remove the copy pair To remove copy pairs 1 Inthe AMW select Virtual Disk Copy Copy Manager The Copy Manager window is displayed 2 Inthe table select one or more copy pairs 3 Select Copy Remove Copy Pairs The Remove Copy Pairs dialog appears 4 Click Yes Configuration Premium Feature Virtual Disk Copy 173 174 Configuration Premium Feature Virtual Disk Copy Configuration Premium Feature Upgrading to High Performance Tier The High Performance Tier premium feature on an MD3600f Series array increases the performance of the system beyond that of an MD3600f Series array operating at the standard performance level If this
161. isk can be a standard virtual disk or the source virtual disk of a failed or disabled snapshot virtual disk K NOTE The target virtual disk capacity must be equal to or greater than the source virtual disk capacity When you begin the disk copy process you must define the rate at which the copy is completed Giving the copy process top priority slightly impacts I O performance while giving it lowest priority makes the copy process longer to complete You can modify the copy priority while the disk copy is in progress For more information see the online help topics 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 the backup virtual disk to the same host server Ensure that you record the LUN used to provide access to the source virtual disk You need this information when you define a host server to virtual disk mapping for the target backup virtual disk Also be sure to stop all I O activity to the source virtual disk before beginning the virtual disk recovery procedure 56 Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts Using Snapshot and Disk Copy Together You can use the Snapshot Virtual Disk and Virtual Disk Copy premium features together to back up data on the same storage array or to restore the data on the snapshot virt
162. ite requests in the sequence initiated by the RAID controller module of the primary virtual disk The secondary virtual disk can also be added to a write consistency group To set the write mode for the remote replication 1 In the Set Write Mode Create Remote Replication wizard select either the Synchronous or Asynchronous mode 2 If you select asynchronous mode select whether to use the Add to write consistency group option 3 Click Next The Select Synchronization Settings Create Remote Replication wizard is displayed Go to Setting Synchronization Priority and Synchronization Method on page 188 Setting Synchronization Priority and Synchronization Method You can set the priority for allocating system resources to synchronizing the remote replication e Higher synchronization priorities allocate more resources to the process and might degrade I O performance e Lower synchronization priorities allocate fewer resources to the process and have less impact on normal I O performance The initial synchronization priority and synchronization method you select can be changed later For more information about resynchronizing virtual disks in a remote replication go to Resynchronizing Virtual Disks on page 196 To set Synchronization Priority and Synchronization Method 1 In the Select Synchronization Settings Create Remote Replication wizard select the synchronization priority on the slide bar 2 Select either Manual
163. ity of 2 Gbps 4 Gbps and 8 Gbps Devices Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts Physical Disks Virtual Disks and Disk Groups Physical Disks 0 000008 Physical Disk States Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology Virtual Disks and Disk Groups Virtual Disk States RAID Levels 2 0 pred bn ep att RS Se KG RAID Level Usage SegmentSize 00 4 Virtual Disk Operations Contents 32 Virtual Disk Initialization 45 Background Initialization 46 Foreground Initialization 46 Consistency Check 46 Media Verification 46 Cycle Time se sage wee e ayer See 47 Virtual Disk Operations Limit aaa 47 Disk Group Operations 48 RAID Level Migration 48 Segment Size Migration 48 Virtual Disk Capacity Expansion 49 Disk Group Expansion 49 Disk Group Defragmentation 49 Disk Group Operations Limit 49 RAID Background Operations Priority 50 Virtual Disk Migration and Disk Roaming 51 Disk Migration 51 DiskRoaming 53 Advanced Features 53 Host Server to Virtual Disk Mapping 5
164. k Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication 201 Promoting the Secondary Virtual Disk or Demoting the Primary Virtual Disk To promote the secondary virtual disk to the role of primary virtual disk or demote the primary virtual disk to the role of secondary virtual disk 1 In the AMW of the storage array that contains the virtual disk you are changing click the Logical tab 2 Right click the virtual disk you are changing e Ifyou are promoting the secondary virtual disk to the role of primary virtual disk select Change Role to Primary The Change to Primary message is displayed Clicking Yes reverses the roles of the primary and secondary virtual disks e If you are demoting the primary virtual disk to the role of secondary virtual disk select Change Role to Secondary The Change to Secondary message is displayed Clicking Yes reverses the roles of the primary and secondary virtual disks Suspending a Remote Replication 1 In the AMW of the storage array with the primary virtual disk select the Logical tab 2 In the Logical tab right click the primary virtual disk of a replicated pair then select Suspend Replication The Suspend Replicated Pair dialog is displayed The Replicated pairs table shows all replicated pairs in the local and remote storage arrays 3 Select one or more of the replicated pairs to suspend To select all replicated pairs click Select All 4 Click Suspend The Suspend Replication Relatio
165. k If the host has a single data path to the MD storage array the virtual disk must be owned by the controller to which the host is connected You must configure this storage array before you start I O operations and after the virtual disk is created You can change the RAID controller module ownership of a standard virtual disk or a snapshot repository virtual disk You cannot directly change the RAID controller module ownership of a snapshot virtual disk because the snapshot virtual disk inherits the RAID controller module owner of its associated source virtual disk Changing the RAID controller module ownership of a virtual disk changes the preferred RAID controller module ownership of the virtual disk 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 Therefore the ownership of the target virtual disk is automatically transferred to the preferred RAID controller module of the source virtual disk When the virtual disk copy is completed or is stopped ownership of the target virtual disk is restored to its preferred RAID controller module If ownership of the source virtual disk is changed during the virtual disk copy ownership of the target virtual disk is also changed Under certain operating system environments it might be necessary to reconfigure t
166. ks 147 Creating a Snapshot Virtual Disk Using the Advanced Path About the Advanced Path Use the advanced path to choose whether to place the snapshot repository virtual disk on free capacity or unconfigured capacity and to change the snapshot repository virtual disk parameters You can select the advanced path regardless of whether you use free capacity or unconfigured capacity for the snapshot virtual disk Using the advanced path you can specify the following parameters for your snapshot virtual disk 148 Snapshot Virtual Disk Name A user specified name that helps you associate the snapshot virtual disk to its corresponding snapshot repository virtual disk and source virtual disk Snapshot Repository Virtual Disk Name A user specified name that helps you associate the snapshot repository virtual disk to its corresponding snapshot virtual disk and source virtual disk Capacity Allocation This parameter allows you to choose where to create the snapshot repository virtual disk You can allocate capacity by using one of the following methods Use free capacity on the same disk group where the source virtual disk resides Use free capacity on another disk group Use unconfigured capacity and create a new disk group for the snapshot repository virtual disk Dell recommends placing the snapshot repository virtual disk within the disk group of the source virtual disk This ensures that if drives associated
167. l com 2 Verify your country or region in the Choose A Country Region drop down menu at the bottom of the page Click Contact Us on the left side of the page Select the appropriate service or support link based on your need Choose the method of contacting Dell that is convenient for you Getting Help 303 304 Getting Help Index A Access Virtual Disk 68 Advanced Feature Using Snapshot and Disk Copy Together 57 Advanced Features 53 Snapshot Repository Virtual Disk 55 Snapshot Virtual Disks 54 Advanced Path 148 Array Management Types In Band Management 68 Out of Band Management 67 backplane installing 245 removing 242 Battery Settings 83 C Change Controller Ownership of the Virtual Disk 127 TVO Type 108 RAID Controller Module Ownership of a Disk Group 128 RAID Controller Module Ownership of a Virtual Disk or a Disk Group 131 RAID Level of a Disk Group 129 133 Segment Size of a Virtual Disk 107 Virtual Disk Cache Settings 105 Virtual Disk Modification Priority 104 Choosing an Appropriate Physical Disk Type 109 Configuring Host Access 87 Hot Spare Physical Disks 118 Configuring Alert Notifications SNMP 81 Contacting Dell 303 contacting Dell 303 control panel installing 241 removing 239 Copy Manager 167 Index 305 D Defining a Host 88 Dell contacting 303 Disk Group Creating 100 Expansion 135 Export 137 Exporting 138 Im
168. l disks and RAID controller modules to monitor or to change the polling interval Keep these guidelines in mind when using the Performance Monitor The Performance Monitor does not dynamically update its display if any configuration changes occur while the window is open You must close the Performance Monitor window and reopen it for the changes to appear 59 Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts Using the Performance Monitor to retrieve performance data can affect the normal storage array performance depending on the polling interval that you set If the storage array you are monitoring begins in or transitions to an unresponsive state an informational dialog appears The dialog informs you that the Performance Monitor cannot poll the storage array for performance data To monitor the performance of the arrays 60 1 2 Open MDSM and select the appropriate storage array Open the Array Management Window AMW for the selected storage array In the AMW select Storage Array Monitor Performance Click Settings a Select the components that you want to monitor You can monitor e RAID controller modules e Virtual disks e Storage array totals K NOTE By default all items are selected b In Polling interval select how often you want to update the performance statistics K NOTE For an accurate elapsed time do not use the Set RAID Controller Module Clocks option while using the Performance Moni
169. l from the list c Gotostep 8 To search for all nodes based on their virtual disk capacity perform these steps a Select Find all virtual disks with capacity b Type the capacity in the GB box c Specify that the capacity to be matched is less than equal to or greater than the capacity entered in the GB box d Goto step 8 To search for all Free Capacity nodes with a particular capacity perform these steps K 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 to use this option a Select Find all free capacity nodes b Type the capacity in the GB box Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software c Specify that the free capacity to be matched is less than equal to or greater than the capacity entered in the GB box d Goto step 8 Click Find Next To see every node that matches the criteria click Find Next repeatedly If no matches are found the Search Failed dialog appears Click OK and re enter the search criteria To close the dialog click Cancel To continue searching for nodes with the same criteria after the Find dialog has been closed press lt F3 gt Using Go To Use the Go To option to quickly jump to an associated snapshot repository virtual disk snapshot virtual disk source virtual disk or target virtual disk These virtual disks appear in the Logical pane of the Logical tab
170. le The storage array forces a virtual disk that is in an Offline state to an Optimal state If all the member physical disks are not available the storage array forces the virtual disk to a Degraded state The storage array can force a virtual disk to an Online state only when a sufficient number of physical disks are available to support the virtual disk 42 Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 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 using a single physical disk e Placing data on multiple physical disks striping allows input output I O operations to occur simultaneously and improve performance e Storing redundant data on multiple physical disks using mirroring or parity supports reconstruction of lost data if an error occurs even if that error is the failure of a physical disk Each RAID level provides different performance and protection You should select a RAID level based on the type of application access fault tolerance and data you are storing The storage array supports RAID levels 0 1 5 6 and 10 The maximum number of physical disks that can be used in a disk group depends on the RAID level e 96 for RAID 0 and 10 e 30 for RAID 5 and 6 RAID Level Usage To ensure best performa
171. lect Name Rename Storage Arrays e Inthe AMW select the Setup tab and select Rename Storage Array e Inthe EMW right click the icon corresponding to the array and select Rename Setting Up Your Storage Array A list of initial setup tasks is displayed on the Setup tab in the AMW The list of initial setup tasks shows you how to set up a storage array Using the steps outlined in the Initial Setup Tasks area ensures that the basic setup steps are completed properly Use the Initial Setup Tasks list the first time that you set up a storage array to perform these tasks 70 Locate the storage array Find the physical location of the storage array on your network by turning on the unit identify LEDs The storage array can be identified with a label Give a new name to the storage array Use a unique name that identifies each storage array Set a storage array password Contigure the storage array with a password to protect it from unauthorized access MDSM prompts for the password when you attempt to change the storage array configuration For example when a virtual disk is created or deleted Configure the storage array Create disk groups virtual disks and hot spare physical disks by using the Automatic configuration method or the Manual configuration method For more information see the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager online help topics Map Virtual Disks Map virtual disks to hosts or host groups Configur
172. lect the Select All to select all of the expansion enclosures in the storage array Each selected expansion enclosure should have the same product ID Click Select File The Select Environmental EMM Card Firmware File dialog appears Select the file to download and click OK Management Firmware Downloads 255 5 Click Start 6 Click Yes to continue with the firmware download K 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 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 appears in the Status column of the Select enclosures table K NOTE Each firmware download can take several minutes to complete 7 Perform one of these actions depending on whether the download succeeded e The download succeeded The statuses of all the expansion enclosures show Complete You can close the Download environmental EMM Card Firmware dialog by clicking Close The expansion enclosure EMM cards are now operating with the new firmware e The download failed The status of one expansion enclosure shows Failed and the remainder of the expansion enclosures show Canceled Ensure that the new firmware file is compatible before attempting another firmware download
173. lert e mail whenever an event occurs This is the default option Every x hours Sends an alert e mail after the specified time interval if an event 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 drop down list 10 Click OK An alert icon appears next to each node in the Tree view where an alert is set To ensure that the e mail is sent successfully You must provide a SMTP mail server name and an e mail sender address for the e mail addresses to work The e mail addresses that you had previously configured appear in the Configured e mail addresses area You must use fully qualified e mail addresses for example name mycompany com You can configure multiple e mail addresses before you click OK 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 e In the Tree view or the Table view on the Devices tab in the EMW select a node and select Edit Configure Alerts Go to step 3 e In the Setup tab in the EMW select Configure Alerts Go to step 2 2 Select one of the following radio buttons to specify an alert level e All storage arrays Select this option to send an alert notification about events on all storage arrays e An individual storage array Select this option t
174. lication Create The Introduction Activate Remote Replication wizard is displayed Click Next The Select Storage Array Create Remote Replication dialog is displayed The Storage Arrays list shows the remote storage arrays Select the storage array where you created the secondary virtual disk then click Next The Select Secondary Virtual Disk Create Remote Replication wizard is displayed Go to Selecting the Secondary Virtual Disk on page 187 Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication Selecting the Secondary Virtual Disk A CAUTION Creating a replicated virtual disk pair starts a process between the primary and secondary virtual disks that overwrites all existing data on the secondary virtual disk and set the disk to read only access If you have existing data on your secondary virtual disk stop all 1 0 to the disk back up the data and unmount any file systems mounted to the secondary virtual disk before creating the replicated virtual disk pair Select the remote storage array and the primary virtual disk In the Select Secondary Virtual Disk Create Remote Replication wizard select the secondary virtual disk K NOTE The secondary virtual disk must have a capacity equal to or greater than the capacity of the primary virtual disk Click Next The Set Write Mode Create Remote Replication wizard is displayed Go to Setting the Write Mode on page 187 Setting the Write Mode The secondary host
175. lt in the operating system incorrectly identifying the snapshot virtual disk This can result in data loss or an inaccessible snapshot For details on mapping the snapshot virtual disk to the secondary node see the Dell PowerVault MD3600f and MD3620f Storage Arrays With Microsoft Windows Server Failover Clusters on support dell com manuals Virtual Disk Copy Virtual disk copy is a premium feature you can use to e Back up data e Copy data from disk groups that use smaller capacity physical disks to disk groups using greater capacity physical disks e Restore snapshot virtual disk data to the source virtual disk Virtual disk copy generates a full copy of data from the source virtual disk to the target virtual disk in a storage array Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 55 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 Target Virtual Disk When you start a virtual disk copy the target virtual disk maintains a copy of the data from the source virtual disk You can choose whether to use an existing virtual disk or create a new virtual disk as the target virtual disk If you choose an existing virtual disk as the target all data on the target is overwritten A target virtual d
176. lush the cache to the source At the host prompt type SMrepassist f lt filename identifier gt and press lt Enter gt For more information see SMrepassist Utility on page 281 150 Configuration Premium Feature Snapshot Virtual Disks 3 Remove the drive letter s of the source in Windows or unmount the virtual drive s in Linux to help guarantee a stable copy of the drive for the Snapshot If this is not done the snapshot operation reports that it has completed successfully but the snapshot data is not updated properly K NOTE Verify that the virtual disk has a status of Optimal or Disabled by clicking the Summary tab and then clicking Disk Groups amp Virtual Disks 4 Follow any additional instructions for your operating system Failure to follow these additional instructions can create unusable snapshot virtual disks K NOTE If your operating system requires additional instructions you can find those instructions in your operating system documentation After your host server has been prepared see Creating a Snapshot Virtual Disk Using the Advanced Path on page 148 to create the snapshot using the advanced path If you want to use a snapshot regularly such as for backups use the Disable Snapshot and Re create Snapshot options to reuse the snapshot Disabling and re creating snapshots preserves the existing virtual disk to host mappings to the snapshot virtual disk Creating the Snapshot Using the Advanced
177. lution describes how to install your enclosure into a rack The Getting Started With Your System provides an overview of enclosure features setting up your enclosure and technical specifications Dell PowerVault MD3600f Series Storage Array The Dell PowerVault MD3600f Series is a 2U rack mounted external redundant array of independent disks RAID storage array capable of accommodating up to 12 3 5 or 24 2 5 6 0 Gbps Serial Attached SCSI SAS disks The MD3600f Series storage arrays can be daisy chained with MD1200 Series expansion enclosures providing access to a maximum of 96 disks in the entire storage array Connectivity between the storage array and the host server is provided by a Fibre Channel FC host bus adapter HBA Dell PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager Dell PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager MDSM is a graphical user interface GUI application used to configure and manage one or more MD3600f Series Storage Arrays The MDSM software is located on the MD3600f Series resource media 20 Introduction Other Information You May Need A 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 e Getting Started Guide provides an overview of setting up and cabling your storage array e Deployment Guide provides installation and configuration instructions for both software and hardware e Storage
178. m which makes a backup copy of data the instant an error occurs Data on a virtual disk is copied to the snapshot repository before it is modified Snapshots are instantaneous and take up less overhead than a full physical copy process 54 Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts Snapshot Repository Virtual Disk When you create a snapshot virtual disk it automatically creates a snapshot repository virtual disk A snapshot repository is a virtual disk created in the storage array as a resource for a snapshot virtual disk A snapshot repository virtual disk contains snapshot virtual disk metadata and copy on write data for a particular snapshot virtual disk The repository supports one snapshot only You cannot select a snapshot repository virtual disk as a source virtual disk or as a target virtual disk in a virtual disk copy If you select a Snapshot source virtual disk as the target virtual disk of a virtual disk copy you must disable all snapshot virtual disks associated with the source virtual disk A CAUTION Before using the Snapshot Virtual Disks Premium Feature in a Windows Clustered configuration you must map the snapshot virtual disk to the cluster node that owns the source virtual disk This ensures that the cluster nodes correctly recognize the snapshot virtual disk Mapping the snapshot virtual disk to the node that does not own the source virtual disk before the snapshot enabling process is completed can resu
179. m feature has been installed enabled and activated on the primary and secondary storage arrays 2 The storage arrays containing the two virtual disks you want to replicate are connected through a Fibre Channel fabric interface 3 The secondary storage array contains a virtual disk that is equal or larger in capacity than the primary virtual disk in the replicated pair Both virtual disks are visible to the storage management software All I O into the secondary virtual disk is stopped and all file systems are unmounted A CAUTION Creating a replicated virtual disk pair starts a synchronous process between the primary and secondary virtual disks This process overwrites all existing data on the secondary virtual disk and sets the disk to read only access If you have existing data on your secondary virtual disk back up the data before creating the replicated virtual disk pair Using Remote Replication With Other Features Remote replication can be used with other disk utility features such as e Storage Partitioning Snapshot Virtual Disk Premium Feature e Virtual Disk Copy Premium Feature e Virtual Disk Expansion VDE Snapshot Virtual Disk and Virtual Disk Copy are premium features that must be enabled and activated on the primary storage array Storage Partitioning With Remote Replication Storage partitioning allows hosts to share access to virtual disks in a storage array A storage partition is created when a collection of h
180. mplete During a download the Download Physical Disk Progress dialog appears Do not attempt another operation when the Download Physical Disk Progress dialog is shown Management Firmware Downloads 253 To download Physical Disk Firmware 1 7 From the AMW select Advanced Maintenance gt Download Physical Disk The Download Physical Disk Introduction window appears Click Next The Download Physical Disk Firmware Add Packages window is displayed In the Selected Packages area click Add Navigate to the location of the packages and click OK The selected package is added to the Packages to be transferred area Click Next The Download Physical Disk Firmware Select Physical Disks window is displayed In the Compatible Physical Disks tab select the appropriate physical disks or Select all the physical disks The Confirm Download dialog is displayed Type yes and click OK The Download Physical Disk Firmware Progress window is displays the progress of physical disk firmware download After the firmware download is complete click Close For more information see the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager online help topics 254 Management Firmware Downloads Downloading MD1200 Series Expansion Module EMM Firmware K K 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 downlo
181. n Optimal status MDSM determines the segment size transitions that are allowed Segment sizes that are inappropriate transitions from the current segment size are unavailable on the menu Allowed transitions usually are double or half of current segment size For example if the current virtual disk segment size is 32 KB a new virtual disk segment size of either 16 KB or 64 KB is allowed NOTE The operation to change the segment size is slower than other modification operations for example changing RAID levels or adding free capacity to a disk group This slowness is the result of how the data is reorganized and the temporary internal backup procedures that occur during the operation The amount of time that a change segment size operation takes depends on The I O load from the host The modification priority of the virtual disk The number of physical disks in the disk group The number of physical disk ports The processing power of the storage array RAID controller modules If you want this operation to complete faster you can change the modification priority although this might decrease system I O performance Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 107 To change the segment size of a virtual disk 1 In the AMW select the Logical tab and select a virtual disk 2 Select Virtual Disk Change Segment Size 3 Select the required segment size A message prompts you to confirm the selected segment size 4 Click Yes T
182. n the storage array is four This limit is applied to the following virtual disk processes e Background initialization e Foreground initialization e Consistency check e Rebuild e Copy back If a redundant RAID controller module fails with existing virtual disk processes the processes on the failed controller are transferred to the peer controller A transferred process is placed in a suspended state if there are four active processes on the peer controller The suspended processes are resumed on the peer controller when the number of active processes falls below four 47 Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts Disk Group Operations RAID Level Migration You can migrate from one RAID level to another depending on your requirements For example fault tolerant characteristics can be added to a stripe set RAID 0 by converting it to a RAID 5 set MDSM provides information about RAID attributes to assist you in selecting the appropriate RAID level You can perform a RAID level migration while the system is still running and without rebooting which maintains data availability Segment Size Migration Segment size refers to the amount of data in kilobytes that the storage array writes on a single physical disk in a virtual disk before writing data on the next physical disk Valid values for the segment size are 8 16 32 64 128 256 and 512 KB Dynamic segment size migration enables the segment size of a given
183. n unassociated host port identifier In Known unassociated host port identifiers select the relevant host port identifier e Add by creating a new host port identifier In New host port identifier enter a 16 character name and an up to 30 character Alias for the host port identifier and click Add K NOTE The host port identifier name must contain only the letters A through F 6 Click Next The Specify Host Type window is displayed 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 e Yes this host shares access to the same virtual disks with other hosts e No this host does NOT share access to the same virtual disks with other hosts Configuration About Your Host 89 9 Click Next If you select Yes the Specify Host Group window is displayed If you select No see step 11 10 Enter the name of the host group or select an existing host group and click Next The Preview window is displayed 11 Click Finish Removing Host Access 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 e Right click the host node and select Remove from the pop up menu The Remove confirmation dialog appears 3 Type yes 4 Click OK For more information see the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager online help topics Managing Host Groups
184. nation of the VSS component and the VSS Provider included on the MD3600f Resource media enable the MD3600f Series arrays to be utilized by third party and Windows backup and snapshot applications K NOTE Virtual disks that is used as source virtual disks for VSS snapshots should have names no longer than 16 characters The VSS hardware provider uses the source virtual disk name as a prefix for the snapshot and repository virtual disk names The resulting snapshot and repository names are too long if the source virtual disk name exceeds 16 characters Management System Interfaces 261 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 the following configuration options e Snapshot Repository Virtual Disk Properties This section contains a drop down list for the RAID level and a field for entering source virtual disk capacity percentage for snapshot repositories e Snapshot Repository Virtual Disk Location This section contains a list of preferences for the location of the snapshot repository virtual disk These preferences are honored whenever conditions permit The Microsoft VSS installer service for storage provisioning is available on the MD3600f resource media in the windows VDS_VSS directory K NOTE When regis
185. nc All rights reserved Checking device lt n a gt dev sg10 Activating Checking device dev sdb dev sgl11 Skipping Checking device lt n a gt dev sg3 Activating Checking device lt n a gt dev sg4 Activating Checking device lt n a gt dev sg5 Activating Checking device lt n a gt dev sg6 Activating Checking device lt n a gt dev sg7 Activating Checking device lt n a gt dev sg8 Activating Checking device lt n a gt dev sg9 Activating 286 Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software 287 288 Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software Troubleshooting Your Array Safety First For You and Your Array VAN 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 team Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty Read and follow the safety instructions that came with the product Troubleshooting Storage Array Startup Failure If your system halts during startup check if e The array emits a series of beeps The array fault LEDs are lit See RAID Controller Modules on page 31 e There is a constant scraping or grinding sound when you access the hard drive See Getting Help on page 303 Troublesho
186. nce you should select an optimal RAID level when you create a system physical disk The optimal RAID level for your disk array depends on e Number of physical disks in the disk array e Capacity of the physical disks in the disk array e Need for redundant access to the data fault tolerance s Disk performance requirements Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 43 RAID 0 RAID 0 uses disk striping to provide high data throughput especially for large files in an environment that requires no data redundancy RAID 0 breaks the data down into segments and writes each segment to a separate physical disk I O performance is greatly improved by spreading the I O load across many physical disks Although it offers the best performance of any RAID level RAID 0 lacks data redundancy Choose this option only for non critical data because failure of one physical disk results in the loss of all data Examples of RAID 0 applications include video editing image editing prepress applications or any application requiring high bandwidth RAID 1 RAID 1 uses disk mirroring so that data written to one physical disk is simultaneously written to another physical disk This RAID level offers fast performance and the best data availability but also the highest disk overhead RAID 1 is recommended for small databases or other applications that do not require large capacity for example accounting payroll or financial applications RAID
187. nd port status per the accompanying LED 1 LED0 host channel LED link rate table 14 Cache active or Lights green when on board controller memory cache offload contains data LED If AC power fails this LED changes to indicate Cache Offload status If the password reset function has successfully changed the password this LED flashes on and off briefly 15 FCIN port 2 Displays link rate and port status per the accompanying LED 1 LED0 _ host channel LED link rate table 16 System Blinks blue when system identification switch push button identification on enclosure front panel is pressed LED 17 Controller fault Lights amber when controller fault detected LED Off when controller operating normally 18 FCIN port 1 Displays link rate and port status per the accompanying LED 1 LED0 host channel LED link rate table 19 Controller power Lights green when controller power is on Off when controller is not powered Planning RAID Controller Modules 33 Item Component Function 20 FCIN port 0 Displays link rate and port status per the accompanying LED 1 LED0 host channel LED link rate table ZI SAS OUT port Lights green when all four links are connected link fault LED Lights amber when one to three links are disconnected Off when all links in the port are disconnected or cable is disconnected Host Channel LED Link Rate Indications Below each FC port is a pair of LED indicators The status of any FC port can be determined by ap
188. nd robin 0 prio 1 enabled _ 4 0 0 0 sdb 8 16 active ghost where mpathi is the name of the virtual device created by device mapper It is located in the dev mapper directory DELL is the vendor of the device MD36xxf is the model of the device Sdc is the physical path to the owning controller for the device Sdb is the physical path to the non owning controller for the device The following is an example of SLES output mpathb 360080e500017b2f80000c6ca4ald4ab8 dm 21 DELL MD36xxf size 1 0G features 3 queue if no path pg_init retries 50 hwhandler 1 rdac rw _ round robin 0 prio 6 active _ 4 0 0 22 sdx 65 112 active ready 214 Configuration Device Mapper Multipath for Linux _ round robin 0 prio 1 enabled 6 0 0 22 sdcl 69 144 active ghost where mpathb is the name of the virtual device created by device mapper It is located in the dev mapper directory DELL is the vendor of the device MD36xxf is the model of the device Sdx is the physical path to the owning controller for the device Sdc1 is the physical path to the non owning controller for the device Create a New fdisk Partition on a Multipath Device Node The fdisk command allows you to create partition space for a file system on the newly scanned and mapped virtual disks that have been presented to Device Mapper To create a partition with the multipathing device nodes dev mapper mpath lt x gt for example us
189. ng virtual disks Disk Group Expansion Because the storage array supports hot pluggable physical disks you can add two physical disks at a time for each disk group while the storage array remains online Data remains accessible on virtual disk groups virtual disks and physical disks throughout the operation The data and increased unused free space are dynamically redistributed across the disk group RAID characteristics are also reapplied to the disk group as a whole 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 maximum number of active concurrent disk group processes per installed RAID controller module is one This limit is applied to the following disk group processes e Virtual disk RAID level migration e Segment size migration e Virtual disk capacity expansion e Disk group expansion e Disk group defragmentation Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 49 If a redundant RAID controller module fails with an existing disk group process the process on the failed controller is transferred to the peer controller A transferred process is placed in a suspended state if there is an active disk group process on the peer controller The suspended processes are resumed when the active process on the peer controller comple
190. nitialization rate is controlled by MDSM To change the rate of background initialization you must stop any existing background initialization The rate change is implemented when the background initialization restarts automatically 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 every sector of the virtual disk The virtual disk is available after foreground initialization is completed Consistency Check A consistency check verifies the correctness of data in a redundant array RAID levels 1 5 6 and 10 For example in a system with parity checking consistency involves computing the data on one physical disk and comparing the results to the contents of the parity physical disk A consistency check is similar to a background initialization The difference is that background initialization cannot be started or stopped manually while consistency check can K 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 have the redundancy to recover the data Media Verification Another background task performed by
191. nresponsive status from the EMW and select Add Storage Array to add the storage array again If the storage array does not return to Optimal status check the Ethemet cables to ensure that there is no visible damage and that they are securely connected Ensure the appropriate network configuration tasks have been performed For example ensure that IP addresses have been assigned to each RAID controller module If there is a cable or network accessibility problem see step 20 if not step 12 For an in band managed storage array ensure that the host is network accessible by using the ping command to verify that the host can be reached Type one of these commands and press lt Enter gt ping lt host name gt ping lt RAID controller module IP address gt If the verification is successful go to step 14 If the verification is not successful go to step 15 Remove the host with the Unresponsive status from the EMW and select Add Storage Array to add the host again If the host does not return to Optimal status go to step 16 Ensure that the host is turned on and operational and that the host adapters have been installed Check all external cables and switches or hubs to ensure that no visible damage exists and that they are securely connected Ensure the host context agent software is installed and running If you started the host system before you were connected to the RAID controller module in the storage array the hos
192. ns such as changing ownership of virtual disks or placing a RAID controller module online or offline Provide physical disk management options such as assignment of hot spares and locating the physical disk Monitor storage array performance Configuration Overview Configuration About Your Storage Array Out of Band and In Band Management You can manage a storage array in two ways e Out of band management In band management Out of Band Management Using the out of band management method data is separated from commands and events Data travels through the host to controller interface while commands and events travel through the management port Ethernet cables This management method lets you configure the maximum number of virtual disks that are supported by your operating system and host adapters A maximum of eight storage management stations can concurrently monitor an out of band managed storage array This limit does not apply to systems that manage the storage array through the in band management method When you use out of band management you must set the network configuration for each RAID controller module s management Ethernet port This includes the Internet Protocol IP address subnetwork mask subnet mask and gateway If you are using a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol DHCP server you can enable automatic network configuration but if you are not using a DHCP server you must enter the net
193. nship Confirmation message is displayed 5 In the Confirmation text box type Yes then click OK The Suspend Replicated Pair Progress bar indicates the progress of the suspension The Properties pane in the AMW that contains the suspended primary virtual disk shows the Replication status as Suspended The suspended icon is displayed next to both the primary virtual disk icon and the secondary virtual disk icon in the Logical pane in the AMW 202 Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication Resuming a Remote Replication 1 Inthe AMW of the storage array with the primary virtual disk select the Logical tab 2 Inthe Logical pane right click the primary virtual disk of the replicated pair then select Resume Replication The Resume Replicated Pair dialog is displayed The Replicated pairs table shows all suspended replicated pairs in the local and remote storage arrays 3 Select one or more replicated pairs To select all replicated pairs click Select All 4 Click Resume The Resume Replication Pair Confirmation message is displayed 5 In the Confirmation text box type Yes The remote virtual disk replication resumes The Properties panes in the AMW for the local storage array and the remote storage array show the Replication status as Synchronized for both the primary and secondary virtual disks About Resumed Remote Replications When a remote virtual disk replication is suspended data continues to wri
194. nt Bezel 222 Installing the Front Bezel 222 Hard Drives 223 Removing a Drive Blank 223 Installing a Drive Blank 224 Removing aHardDrive 224 InstallingaHardDrive 226 Removing a Hard Drive From a Hard Drive Carrier 227 Installing a Hard Drive Into a Drive Carrier 229 RAID ControllerModule 229 14 Contents Removing a RAID Controller Module Blank Installing a RAID Controller Module Blank Removing a RAID Controller Module Installing a RAID Controller Module Opening the RAID Controller Module Closing the RAID Controller Module RAID Controller Module Backup Battery Unit Removing the RAID Controller Module Backup Battery Unit Installing the RAID Controller Module Backup Battery Unit Power Supply Cooling FanModule Removing a Power Supply Cooling Fan Module Installing a Power Supply Cooling Fan Module ControlPanel Removing the Control Panel Installing the Control Panel Backplane Removing the Backplane Installing the Backplane 16 Management Firmware Downloads Downloading RAID Controller and NVSRAM Packages Downloading Both RAID Controller and NVSRAM Firmware Downloading Only NVSRAM Firmw
195. nt to monitor A possible alert destination would be the Dell Management Console More information about the Dell Management Console can be found at dell com e Replicate the alert settings from a particular managed device by copying the emwdata bin file to every storage management station from which you want to receive alerts Each managed device shows a check mark that indicates that alerts have been set Configuration Event Monitor 85 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 on all but one system prevents the sending of duplicate messages K NOTE It is recommended that you configure the event monitor to start by default on a management station that runs 24 hours a day Windows To enable or disable the event monitor 1 Click Start Settings gt Control Panel gt Administrative Tools Services or Click Start Administrative Tools Services 2 From the list of services select Modular Disk Storage Manager Event Monitor 3 Select Action Properties To enable the event monitor in the Service Status area click Start To disable the event monitor in the Service Status area click Stop Linux To enable the event monitor at the command prompt type SMmonitor start and press lt E
196. nter gt When the program startup begins the system displays the following message SMmonitor started To disable the event monitor start terminal emulation application console ox xterm and at the command prompt type SMmonitor stop and press lt Enter gt When the program shutdown is complete the system displays the following message Stopping Monitor process 86 Configuration Event Monitor 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 The host context agent is installed as part of the MDSM installation and runs continuously in the background If the host context agent is running on a host that host and the host ports connected from it to the storage array are automatically detected by MDSM and appear on the Mappings tab in the Array Management Window AMW For more information on the Mappings tab see Using the Mappings Tab on page 88 If the hosts are not detected automatically you can use the Define Host Wizard to define the hosts that access the virtual disks in the storage array Defining a host is one of the steps required to let the storage array know which hosts are attached to it and to allow access to the virtual disks For more information on defining the hosts see Defining a Host on page 88 To enable the host to write to the storage array you must ma
197. nthe Array Management Windows of both the local storage array and the remote storage array the Logical panes show the replicated virtual disk pairs as members of their disk groups e In the local storage array the Properties pane displays the Replication status as Synchronizing and the Synchronization Progress bar shows estimated time to completion To view detailed information about the virtual disks in a remote replication go to either Viewing Information About a Remote Replication or Replication Repository Virtual Disk on page 190 in the Properties Pane or Viewing Information about a Remote Replication or Replication Repository Virtual Disk in the Storage Array Profile Each virtual disk is also represented by a status icon in the Devices tab on the Enterprise Management Window For a description of each icon see Virtual Disk Status Icons on page 194 Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication 189 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 controller module when a remote replication begins the ownership of the secondary virtual disk is automatically transferred to the preferred RAID controller module of the primary virtual disk e When the remote replication is complet
198. ny repairs may only be done by a certified service technician 298 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 team Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty Read and follow the safety instructions that came with the product Turn off the array and disconnect all the cables Remove the following components from the array See Management Installing Array Components on page 221 e Hard drives e RAID controller modules e Power supply cooling fan modules e Control panel e Backplane Let the system dry thoroughly for at least 24 hours Reinstall the components you removed in step 2 Connect all the cables and turn on the array If the array does not start properly see Getting Help on page 303 Troubleshooting Your Array Troubleshooting a Damaged Array A 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 team Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty Read and follow the safety instructions that came with the product 1 Ensure that the following components are properly installed e Hard drives e RAID controller modules e Powe
199. o Unresponsive depends on the network link to the storage array All other status change updates faster 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 forward the archive file to your Technical Support representative for troubleshooting and further analysis To generate the support data report 1 In the AMW perform one of these actions e Select Advanced Troubleshooting gt Support Data gt Collect e Select the Support tab and click Gather Support Information The Collect All Support Data window is displayed 266 Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software 2 5 Enter a name for the support data file in Specify filename or click Browse to navigate to a previously saved file to overwrite an existing file The suffix zip is added automatically to the file if you do not specify a suffix for the file Enter the Execution summary Click Start After all of the support files have been gathered they are archived using the file name that you specified Click OK Automatically Collect the Support Bundle Data You can use the Collect Support Bundle option to automatically save a copy of the support bundle when the client monitor process detects a critical event During a critical event the support bundle is saved to the local
200. o help guarantee a stable copy of the drive for the Snapshot If this is not done the snapshot operation reports that it has completed successfully but the snapshot data is not updated properly 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 Configuration Premium Feature Snapshot Virtual Disks 159 Re creating a Snapshot Virtual Disk After first preparing the host server s re create a snapshot virtual disk For more information see Preparing Host Servers to Create the Snapshot Using the Simple Path on page 145 or Preparing Host Servers to Create the Snapshot Using the Advanced Path on page 149 To recreate a snapshot virtual disk K NOTE This action invalidates the current snapshot 1 In the AMW select the Logical tab select a snapshot virtual disk 2 Select Virtual Disk Snapshot Re create 3 Type yes and click OK Re creating a snapshot repository virtual disk uses the previously configured snapshot name and parameters 160 Configuration Premium Feature Snapshot Virtual Disks Configuration Premium Feature Virtual Disk Copy K NOTE A virtual disk copy overwrites data on the target virtual disk Before starting a virtual disk copy ensure that you no longer ne
201. o send an alert notification about events that occur in only a specified storage array Configuration About Your Storage Array 81 These results occur depending on your selection e Ifyou select all storage arrays the Configure Alerts dialog appears e If you select an individual storage array the Select Storage Array dialog appears Select the storage array for which you want to receive alert notifications and click OK The Configure Alerts dialog appears K NOTE If you do not know which storage array to select click Blink to turn on the LEDs of the storage array 3 Select the SNMP tab to configure the SNMP alert destinations e Adding an SNMP address In Community name type the community name In Trap destination type the trap destination and click Add K NOTE The community name is an American Standard Code for Information Interchange ASCII string that identifies a known set of network management stations and is set by the network administrator The default community name is the string public The trap destination is the IP address or the host name of a computer running an SNMP management application An example of a SNMP enabled management application is the Dell Management Console Please see dell com for more information on the Dell Management Console e Replacing an SNMP address Select the SNMP address in the Configured SNMP addresses area type the replacement community name in Community name and the t
202. o virtual disk mappings are shared between RAID controller modules in the storage array e Aunique LUN must be used by a host group or host server to access a virtual disk e 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 servers are mapped to the virtual disks Host servers have the following attributes e Host name A name that uniquely identifies the host server e Host group used in Cluster solutions only Two or more host servers associated together to share access to the same virtual disks This host group is a logical entity you can create in MDSM All host servers in a host group must be running the same operating system e Host type The operating system running on the host server 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 application can access the snapshot and read the data while the source virtual disk remains online and user accessible When the backup is completed the snapshot virtual disk is no longer needed You can create up to four snapshots per virtual disk Snapshots are used to recover previous versions of files that have changed since the snapshot was taken Snapshots are implemented using a copy on write algorith
203. obal Hot Spares 120 Operation 120 Hot Spares and Rebuild 120 l I O Data Path Protection 94 Inside the box 20 installing backplane 245 control panel MD1200 241 drive blank 224 EMM 232 EMM blank 230 front bezel 222 hard drive 226 hard drives 226 power supply cooling fan module 238 L Load Balancing 58 Locating a Physical Disk 279 Managing Host Groups 90 Managing Host Port Identifiers 95 MDSM 20 Media Errors and Unreadable Sectors 257 Media Scan Changing settings 140 Suspending 141 Microsoft Virtual Disk Service 261 Volume Shadow Copy Service 261 Microsoft Services Index 307 Virtual Disk Copy 55 Monitoring Performance 59 Multi Path Preferred and Alternate Controllers and Paths 57 Multi Path Software 57 Non Exportable Components 137 0 Other Information 21 P phone numbers 303 Physical Disk Security with Self Encrypting Disk 110 Physical Disk States 40 Physical Disks 40 Erasing Secure 117 Unlocking Secure 117 Physical Disks Virtual Disks and Disk Groups 39 Power Indicator Codes 30 Power Supply and Cooling Fan Features 29 Preferred RAID Controller Module Ownership 167 Preparing Host Servers Simple path 145 RAID 43 Changing Level of disk group 133 RAID 0 43 RAID 1 44 RAID 10 45 RAID 5 44 RAID 6 44 Usage 43 RAID Background Operations Priority 50 recommended tools 221 Remote Replication Acti
204. of an invalid array but the array status LED is lit with a flashing amber color to indicate a fault state For full details on the LEDs and their interpretation see Back Panel Features and Indicators on page 27 ECC Errors RAID controller firmware can detect ECC errors and can recover from a single bit ECC error whether the RAID controller module is in a redundant or nonredundant configuration A storage array with redundant controllers can recover from multi bit ECC errors as well because the peer RAID controller module can take over if necessary The RAID controller module failsover if it experiences up to 10 single bit errors or up to three multi bit errors 300 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 dirty cache Critical Conditions The storage array generates a critical event if the RAID controller module detects a critical condition that could cause immediate failure of the array and or loss of data The storage array is in a critical condition if one of the following occurs e More than one fan has failed e Any backplane temperature sensors in the critical range e Backplane power supply failure e Two or more temperature sensors are unreadable e Failure to d
205. of the disk group into the enclosure before the disk group can be imported On the target storage array 1 Insert the exported physical disks into the available physical disk slots 138 Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 2 Review the Import Report for an overview of the disk group that you are importing 3 Check for non importable components 4 Confirm that you want to proceed with the import procedure K NOTE Some settings cannot be imported during the import disk group procedure 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 replication pairs Replication repositories Non Importable Components Some components cannot be imported during the import disk group procedure These components are removed during the procedure Persistent reservations Host to virtual disk mappings Virtual disk copy pairs Snapshot virtual disks and snapshot repository virtual disks Remote replication pairs Replication repositories 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 virtual disk comprised of Sol
206. of the secure key identifier You can enter up to 189 alphanumeric characters without spaces punctuation or symbols Additional characters is generated automatically and is appended to the end of the string that you enter The generated characters help to ensure that the secure key identifier is unique Edit the default path by adding a file name to the end of the path or Click Browse navigate to the required folder and enter the name of the file In Pass phrase enter a string for the pass phrase The pass phrase must e be between eight and 32 characters long e contain at least one uppercase letter e contain at least one lowercase letter e contain at least one number e contain at least one non alphanumeric character for example lt gt The pass phrase that you enter is masked K NOTE Create Key is active only if the pass phrase meets the above mentioned criterion In Confirm pass phrase re enter the exact string that you entered in Pass phrase Make a record of the pass phrase that you entered and the security key identifier that is associated with the pass phrase You need this information for later secure operations Click Create Key Make a record of the security key identifier and the file name from the Create Security Key Complete dialog and click OK Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 113 After you have created a security key you can create secure disk groups from security capabl
207. of the snapshot virtual disks that are associated with the source virtual disk before you can select it as a target virtual disk Otherwise the source virtual disk cannot be used as a target virtual disk A virtual disk copy overwrites data on the target virtual disk and automatically makes the target virtual disk read only to hosts If eight virtual disk copies with a status of In Progress exist any subsequent virtual disk copy has a status of Pending which stays until one of the eight virtual disk copies completes Configuration Premium Feature Virtual Disk Copy 165 Virtual Disk Copy and Modification Operations If a modification operation is running on a source virtual disk or a target virtual disk and the virtual disk copy has a status of In Progress Pending or Failed the virtual disk copy does not take place If a modification operation is running 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 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 virtual disk copy When you have completed the wizard dialogs the v
208. om a single management station If either the primary or secondary virtual disk does not exist you must create it before proceeding with remote replication setup See Activating the Remote Replication Premium Feature and Creating Replication Virtual Disks on page 184 and complete the necessary steps If all virtual disks are created skip to Creating a Remote Replication on page 186 Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication 183 Activating the Remote Replication Premium Feature and Creating Replication Virtual Disks To activate the Remote Replication feature and create the two replication repository virtual disks required you can either e Activate the feature then create the two replication virtual disks from the total unconfigured capacity on the storage array or e Activate the feature then create the two replication virtual disks from the unconfigured capacity in an already existing disk group Activating and Creating Replication Repository Virtual Disks From the Storage Array To activate the Remote Replication feature and create the two replication repository virtual disks required you can either 1 Inthe 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 2 In Disk Group Name type a unique name for the disk group 3 Select one to select a physical disk e Automatic The s
209. onfigurations between the host server and Dell PowerVault MD storage arrays are not supported For more information on configuring the switch environment see Required Switch Zoning Configurations on page 182 Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication 177 Activating Remote Replication K NOTE If you ordered the Remote Replication feature you received a Premium Feature Activation card in the Dell PowerVault MD storage array shipping box Follow the directions on the card to install and enable this feature After the Remote Replication feature has been installed following the steps on the Premium Feature Activation card it must be activated using a wizard based process As part of activation the following actions occur e Two replication repository virtual disks are created using existing capacity on either a disk group or storage array specified by the user e All hosts currently using the highest numbered Fibre Channel host port Port 3 on each RAID controller are logged out The highest numbered Fibre Channel host port Port 3 on each RAID controller is reserved for replication data transmission The highest numbered Fibre Channel host port Port 3 on each RAID controller is not available to direct host access when the Remote Replication premium feature is activated Any attempted host communication to this port is rejected e Communication between the replication reserved Fibre Channel ports requi
210. ons 166 Create Copy Wizard 166 Contents Failed Virtual Disk Copy Preferred RAID Controller Module Ownership Failed RAID ControllerModule CopyManager Copying the Virtual Disk Storage Array Performance During Virtual Disk Copy Setting Copy Priority Stopping a Virtual Disk Copy Recopying a Virtual Disk Preparing Host Servers to Recopy a Virtual Disk Recopying the Virtual Disk Removing Copy Pairs 12 Configuration Premium Feature Upgrading to High Performance Tier 13 Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication Switchable Host Access Configuration Required With Remote Replication Activating Remote Replication Replication Repository Virtual Disks RAID Levels for Replication Repository Virtual Disks Contents 11 12 Contents Primary and Secondary Virtual Disk Pairs Using Remote Replication With Other Features Storage Partitioning With Remote Replication Snapshot Virtual Disk With Remote Replication Virtual Disk Copy With Remote Replication Virtual Disk Expansion With Remote Replication Required Switch Zoning Configurations Zoning Guidelines for Remote Replication Switch Cascading
211. op up menu and select View gt Associated Physical Components The View Associated Physical Components dialog appears with blue dots next to the physical components that are associated with the selected node 3 To close the View Associated Physical Components dialog click Close 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 AMW The search might be based on a particular node name the RAID level virtual disk capacity or specific free capacity nodes The search might be based also on one of these combinations e The node name and the RAID level e The node name and the virtual disk capacity Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software 273 To find nodes 274 In the AMW select View gt Find Based on the type of search select one of these options and go to the indicated step e Search by name see step 3 e Search by special criteria see step 4 Type the name of the node to be found in the Find node text box See step 8 Based on the search criteria select one of these options and go to the indicated step e Find all virtual disks with RAID level Go to step 5 e Find all virtual disks with capacity Go to step 6 Find all free capacity nodes Go to step 7 To search for all nodes based on their RAID level perform these steps a Select Find all virtual disks with RAID level b Select the RAID leve
212. opics 92 l Configuration About Your Host 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 Mappings tab of the AMW For more information see Using the Mappings Tab on page 88 The following tasks change the host topology e Moving a host or a host connection e Renaming a host group a host or a host connection e Adding a host connection e Replacing a host connection e Changing a host type MDSM automatically detects these changes for any host running the host agent software 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 the Configure tab in the MDSM You must stop and restart the host context agent to see the changes to the host topology if e Anew storage array is attached to the host server e A host is added while turning on power to the RAID controller modules Linux To start or stop the host context agent enter the following command at the prompt SMagent start SMagent stop You stop and then restart SMagent after e Moving a controller offline or replacing a controller e Removing host to array connections from or attaching host to array connections to a Linux host server Configu
213. orage array Table 4 3 Performance Monitor Table Description Column Headings Description Devices Total IOs Read Percentage Cache Hit Percentage Current KB second Maximum KB second Current O second Maximum IO second Controller virtual disk or storage array total Cumulative I O s per second from last start time Percentage of cumulative I O s that are reads Percentage of cumulative I O s that are in cache Snapshot of throughput value per second IKB 1024 bytes Maximum recorded throughput value from last start time Snapshot of I O s per second IOP Input output per second or one completed I O transaction Maximum recorded IOP from last start time For more information see the MD PowerVault Support Matrix at support dell com manuals Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 61 62 Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 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 selecting Help located at the top right corner of MDSM interface See the MD3600f and MD3620f Storage Array s Deployment Guide for information on installing the MDSM K NOTE MDSM supports the MD3000 series MD3200 series and MD3600 series storage arrays and can autom
214. orage array deleting a secondary virtual disk might delete all associated virtual disks resulting in a possible loss of data on those virtual disks K NOTE You cannot delete a secondary virtual disk while it is synchronizing When a secondary virtual disk is deleted the replication relationship is removed and the remote virtual disk replication is destroyed K NOTE Deleting a secondary virtual disk results in the permanent loss of the data on the secondary virtual disk For steps describing how to delete a secondary virtual disk see Deleting a Virtual Disk From a Replicated Pair in a Storage Array on page 205 Deleting a Primary Virtual Disk in a Replicated Pair From a Storage Array 1 Stop all I O activity to the primary virtual disk and unmount any file systems on the primary virtual disk 2 Inthe AMW of the storage array containing the primary virtual disk select the Logical tab 3 In the Logical pane right click the primary virtual disk then select Delete The Delete Virtual Disks dialog is displayed 4 Select one or more virtual disks to delete then click Delete The Confirm Delete Virtual Disk s message is displayed 5 In the confirmation text box type Yes Then click OK The Delete Virtual Disks Progress bar is displayed 6 When the deletion is complete click OK The primary virtual disk is deleted from the storage array The secondary virtual disk in the replicated pair now becomes a regular standard v
215. orage arrays are not shown in the Details pane Click NVSRAM in the Download area K NOTE If you select a storage array that cannot be upgraded the NVSRAM button is disabled The Download NVSRAM dialog is displayed The current firmware version and the NVSRAM version of the selected storage arrays appear K 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 Incompatible RAID Controller Modules dialog appears Click OK to close the dialog and select the storage arrays with similar RAID controller module types To locate the directory in which the NVSRAM file to download resides click Browse in the Select file area The Select File dialog appears Select the file to download Click OK Any attributes of the NVSRAM file appear in the NVSRAM file information area The attributes indicate the version of the NVSRAM file Click OK The Confirm Download dialog appears Click Yes The download starts and a progress indicator appears in the Status column of the Upgrade RAID Controller Module Firmware window 252 Management Firmware Downloads Downloading Physical Disk Firmware A CAUTION When updating physical disk firmware you should stop all 1 0 activity to the array to prevent data loss The physical disk firmware controls various features of the physical disk The disk array controller DAC uses this type of firmwa
216. order to increase controller performance In dual active controller configurations with write back caching enabled the write data is always mirrored to the cache of the second controller before completion status is issued to the host initiator Write back cache is enabled by default unless cache mirroring is disabled Write Through Cache In write through cache data is written to the physical disk before completion status is returned to the host operating system Write through cache is considered more robust than write back cache since a power failure is less likely to cause loss of data The RAID controller automatically switches to write through if cache mirroring is disabled or if the battery is missing or has a fault condition SFP Transceivers Fiber Optic and SAS Cables Figure 3 2 shows fiber optic cable and SFP transceivers K NOTE Your SFP transceivers and cables may look different from the ones shown below The differences do not affect the performance of the SFP transceivers FC host connections may operate at 8 Gbps or at a lower data rate Ports for 8 Gbps FC host connections require SFP transceivers designed for this data rate SFP transceivers that support other data rates are incompatible A WARNING Do not disassemble or remove any part of a small form factor pluggable SFP transceiver due to the possibility of being exposed to laser radiation 36 Planning RAID Controller Modules Figure 3 2 Fiber Optic Cable
217. ort the data paths might have different bandwidths or different data transfer speeds Least queue depth with subset 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 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 requests equally The data path selected is one of the paths in the path group of the RAID controller module that owns the virtual disk 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 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 requests equally The data path selected is one of the paths in the path group of the RAID controller module that owns the virtual disk Monitoring MD3600f Series System Performance You can use the Performance Monitor to select virtua
218. ository virtual disk that is shown in the Snapshot repository virtual disk field is lt source virtual disk name gt R lt sequence number gt For example if you are creating the first snapshot virtual disk for a source virtual disk called Accounting the default snapshot virtual disk is Accounting 1 and the associated snapshot repository virtual disk default name is Accounting R1 The default name of the next snapshot virtual disk you create based on Accounting is Accounting 2 with the corresponding snapshot repository virtual disk named as Accounting R2 by default e Whether you use the software supplied sequence number that by default populates the Snapshot virtual disk name or the Snapshot repository virtual disk name field the next default name for a snapshot or snapshot repository virtual disk still uses the sequence number determined by the software For example if you give the first snapshot of source virtual disk Accounting the name Accounting 8 and do not use the software supplied sequence number of 1 the default name for the next snapshot of Accounting is still Accounting 2 The next available sequence number is based on the number of existing snapshots of a source virtual disk If you delete a snapshot virtual disk its sequence number becomes available again Configuration Premium Feature Snapshot Virtual Disks 153 e You must choose a unique name for the snapshot virtual disk and the snapshot repository vir
219. osts host group or a single host is defined then a virtual disk to logical unit number LUN mapping is defined This mapping allows you to define which host or host group has access to a particular virtual disk in the storage array Storage partition definitions for the local storage array and remote storage array are independent Establishing similar definitions on the disk serving in a secondary role reduces administrative effort required during site recovery 180 Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication Snapshot Virtual Disk With Remote Replication A snapshot virtual disk is a point in time image of a virtual disk In a remote replication do not mount a snapshot virtual disk on the same server as the primary virtual disk Virtual Disk Copy With Remote Replication The virtual disk copy premium feature copies data from a source virtual disk to a target virtual disk within the same storage array 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 replicated pair Instead you can copy a secondary virtual disk in one of two ways e Promote the secondary virtual disk to the primary role VAN CAUTION If a primary secondary role reversal is begun while a virtual disk copy is in prog
220. osts listed in the Table 9 3 have these mapping restrictions If you try to map a virtual disk to a LUN that exceeds the restriction on these operating systems the host is unable to access the virtual disk Table 9 3 Mapping Restrictions Operating System Highest LUN Windows Server 2003 and Windows server 2008 255 Linux 255 Guidelines when you work with host types with LUN mapping restrictions e You cannot change a host adapter port to a restricted host type if there are already mappings in the storage partition that would exceed the limit imposed by the restricted host type e Consider the case of the Default Group that has access to LUNs up to 256 0 to 255 and a restricted host type is added to the Default Group In this case the host that is associated with the restricted host type is able to access virtual disks in the Default Group with LUNs within its limits For example if the Default Group had two virtual disks mapped to LUNs 254 and 255 the host with the restricted host type would not be able to access those two virtual disks e If the Default Group has a restricted host type assigned and the storage partitions are disabled you can map only a total of 32 LUNs Any additional virtual disks that are created are put in the Unidentified Mappings area If additional mappings are defined for one of these Unidentified Mappings the Define Additional Mapping dialog shows the LUN list and the Add button is unavailable
221. ot to another on the same array Disk Migration You can move virtual disks from one array to another without taking the target array offline However the disk group being migrated must be offline prior to performing the disk migration If the disk group is not offline prior to migration the source array holding the physical and virtual disks within the disk group marks them as missing However the disk groups themselves migrate to the target array An array can import a virtual disk only if it is in an optimal state You can move virtual disks that are part of a disk group only if all members of the disk group are being migrated The virtual disks automatically become available after the target array has finished importing all the disks in the disk group When you migrate a physical disk or a disk group from one MD3600f array to another the MD3600f array you migrate to recognizes any data structures and or metadata you had in place on the migrating MD3600f array However if you are migrating from any device other than a MD3600f Series Storage Array the MD3600f array does not recognize the migrating metadata and that data is lost In this case the MD3600f initializes the physical disks and mark them as unconfigured capacity K NOTE Only disk groups and associated virtual disks with all member physical disks present can be migrated from one storage array to another it is recommended that you only migrate disk groups that have all thei
222. oting Loss of Communication For information about troubleshooting loss of communication see Troubleshooting Array and Expansion Enclosure Connections on page 297 Troubleshooting an SFP Transceiver A CAUTION When handling static sensitive devices take precautions to avoid damaging the product from static electricity K NOTE Before proceeding with this section see Working with SFP Modules and Fiber Optic Cables in the De PowerVault MD3600f Deployment Guide Equip yourself with antistatic protection and a replacement small form factor pluggable SFP transceiver before replacing an SFP transceiver in the RAID controller module Also see the initial setup information for the enclosure to verify LED definitions Troubleshooting Your Array 289 1 If possible use the storage management software to create save and print a new storage array profile 2 Ifthe Recovery Guru directed you to replace a failed RAID controller module go to step 3 else run the Recovery Guru to identify the failed component 3 Unpack the new SFP transceiver K NOTE Ensure that the SFP transceiver is replaced by the same type K NOTE Set the new SFP transceiver on a dry level surface near the RAID controller module the RAID controller module enclosure or the expansion enclosure K NOTE Save all the packing materials in case you need to return the SFP transceiver 4 To locate a failed SFP transceiver view the FCIN host channel
223. ou turn off the host server before turning off the expansion enclosure array to prevent loss of data If the EMM status LED is solid or blinking amber 2 or 4 times per sequence a Turn off the server b Remove the EMM and verify that the pins on backplane and EMM are not bent See Removing an EMM in the MD1200 and MD1220 Storage Enclosures Hardware Owner s Manual 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 Ifthe LED does not turn Green replace the EMM If the problem is not resolved step c If EMM status LED is blinking amber 5 times per sequence update the firmware to the latest supported firmware on both the EMMs For more information about downloading the latest firmware see Management Firmware Downloads on page 247 If the link status LEDs are not green a Turn off the server b Reseat the cables on the expansion array and the server c Turn on the expansion arrays and then the storage array and wait until the system is fully booted Troubleshooting Your Array d Turn on the server Check the link status LED If the link status LED is not green replace the cables If the problem is not resolved see Getting Help on page 303 Troubleshooting RAID Controller Modules A CAUTION Many repairs may only be done by a certified service technician You s
224. over Drivers for multi path frameworks such as Microsoft Multi Path IO MPIO and Linux Device Mapper DM are installed on host systems that access the storage array and provide I O path failover 94 Configuration About Your Host For more information on Linux DM please see Configuration Device Mapper Multipath for Linux on page 211 For more information on MPIO please see microsoft com K NOTE You should have the multi path driver installed on the hosts at all times even in a configuration where there is only one path to the storage system such as a single port cluster configuration During a failover the virtual disk transfer is logged as a critical event and an alert notification is sent automatically if you have configured alert destinations for the storage array Managing Host Port Identifiers You can manage the host port identifiers that are added to the storage array You can e Add Add or associate a new host port identifier to a particular host e Edit Change the host port identifier alias or user label You can move associate the host port identifier to a new host e Replace Replace a particular host port identifier with another host port identifier e Remove Remove the association between a particular host port identifier and the associated host K NOTE User label cannot be the same as the host name It is recommended that you use the host name with HBA port number For example Server1 HBA
225. own as the Access Disk or Universal Xport device A CAUTION Certain commands such as Isscsi displays one or more instances of Universal Xport devices These device nodes must never be accessed mounted or used in any way Doing so could cause loss of communication to the storage array and possibly cause serious damage to the storage array potential making data stored on the array inaccessible Only multipathing device nodes and partition nodes created using the directions provided above should be mounted or in any way accessed by the host system or its users Table 14 1 Device Mapper Commands Command Descriptions multipath h Prints usage information multipath ll Displays the current multipath topology using all available information sysfs the device mapper path checkers and so on multipath Re aggregates multipathing device with simplified output multipath f Flushes out Device Mapper for the specified lt multipath_dev_node gt multipathing device Used if the underlying physical devices are deleted unmapped multipath F Flushes out all unused multipathing device maps rescan_dm_devs Dell provided script Forces a rescan of the host s SCSI bus and aggregates multipathing devices as needed For use when e LUNs are dynamically mapped to the hosts e New targets are added to the host e Failback of the storage array is required Configuration Device Mapper Multipath for Linux 217 Limitations and
226. ownership of a virtual disk perform these steps 1 Select the Logical tab 2 Select the virtual disk 3 Select Virtual Disk Change Ownership Preferred Path Or you can right click the virtual disk and select Change Ownership Preferred Path from the pop up menu 4 Select the RAID controller module A CAUTION Possible loss of data access If you do not use a multi path driver shut down any host applications that are currently using the virtual disk This action prevents application errors when the 1 0 path changes 5 Click Yes The ownership of the virtual disk is changed I O to the virtual disk is now directed through this I O path K NOTE The virtual disk might not use the new 1 0 path until the multi path driver reconfigures and recognizes the new path This action usually takes less than five minutes To change the RAID controller module ownership of a disk group 1 Select the Logical tab 2 Select the disk group 3 Select Disk Group Ownership Preferred Path Or 4 Right click the disk group and select Change Ownership Preferred Path from the pop up menu 5 Select the RAID controller module 132 Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks A CAUTION Possible loss of data access Changing ownership at the disk group level causes every virtual disk in that disk group to transfer to the other RAID controller module and use the new 1 0 path If you do not want to set every virtual disk to the new path change o
227. ownloads 257 258 Management Firmware Downloads 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 firmware are dependent on other versions of firmware To capture information about all of the firmware versions in the storage array view the firmware inventory If the firmware inventory does not contain information for a particular storage array the firmware inventory service is not available on that storage array You can also save the firmware inventory to a text file You can then send the file to your Technical Support representative for analysis Your Technical Support representative is able to detect any firmware mismatches Viewing the Firmware Inventory 1 Perform one of these actions based on whether you want to view the firmware information for one storage array or all storage arrays e One storage array From the Array Management Window select Advanced Maintenance Firmware Inventory e All storage arrays From the Enterprise Management Window select Tools Firmware Inventory 2 To save the firmware inventory to a text file Click Save As 3 In Specify filename enter a name for the file to be saved You might also specify another physical disk and directory if you want to save the file in a location other than the default
228. p the host to the virtual disk This mapping grants a host or a host group access to a particular virtual disk or to a number of virtual disks in a storage array You can define the mappings on the Mappings tab in the Array Management Window AMW On the Summary tab in the AMW the Hosts amp Mappings area indicates how many hosts are configured to access the storage array You can click Configured Hosts in the Hosts amp Mappings area to see the names of the hosts A collection of elements such as default host groups hosts and host ports appear as nodes in the Topology pane of the Mappings tab in the AMW Configuration About YourHost 87 The host topology is reconfigurable You can perform the following tasks e Create a host and assign an alias or user label e Add or associate a new host port identifier to a particular host e Change the host port identifier alias or user label e Move or associate a host port identifier to a different host e Replace a host port identifier with a new host port identifier e Manually activate an inactive host port so that the port can gain access to host specific or host group specific LUN mappings Set the host port type to another type e Move a host from one host group to another host group e Remove a host group a host or a host port identifier Rename a host group or a host Using the Mappings Tab In the mappings tab you can e Define hosts and hosts groups e Add mappings to the
229. physical disk of the client system in the same area that is used for other recovery information This information is not overwritten for at least 72 hours A WARNING Use this option only under the guidance of your Technical Support representative To automatically collect the support bundle data 1 In the AMW select Advanced Troubleshooting Support Data gt Automatic Settings Select Automatically collect support data for critical events To change the location of the saved support bundle click Change The Change Folder Location window is displayed navigate to the relevant folder and click OK To reset the default location click Reset Click OK Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software 267 Collecting the 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 disks in your storage array Your Technical Support representative can use this information to analyze the performance of your physical disks and for troubleshooting problems that might exist A WARNING Use this option only under the guidance of your Technical Support representative To collect physical disk data 1 In the AMW select Advanced Troubleshooting Collect Physical Disk Data The Collect Physical Disk Data window is displayed 2 Enter a name
230. played 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 In Logical unit number select a LUN The supported LUNs are 0 through 255 Select the virtual disk to be mapped in the Virtual Disk area The Virtual Disk area lists the names and capacity of the virtual disks that are available for mapping based on the selected host group or selected host Click Add K NOTE The Add button is inactive until a host group or host LUN and virtual disk are selected To define additional mappings repeat step 4 through step 7 K NOTE After a virtual disk has been mapped once it is no longer available in the Virtual Disk area Click Close The mappings are saved The Topology pane and the Defined Mappings pane in the Mappings tab are updated to reflect the mappings Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 125 Modifying and Removing Host to Virtual Disk Mapping You can modify or remove a host to virtual disk mapping for several reasons such as an incorrect mapping or reconfiguration of the storage array Modifying or removing a host to virtual disk mapping applies to both hosts and host groups To modify or remove host to virtual disk mapping K NOTE Before you modify or remove a host to virtual disk mapping you must stop 126 any data access I O to the virtual disks to prevent data loss In the AMW select the Mapping
231. plying Table 3 1 to the condition of each LED pair Table 3 1 LED Status Indicators LED 1 LED 0 CommRate Off Off Link down Off On 2 Gbps On Off 4 Gbps On On 8 Gbps 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 see RAID Controller Module Backup Battery Unit on page 235 K NOTE For virtual disks the RAID controller firmware changes the data cache setting based on the state of the battery If the battery is missing or does not have sufficient charge the controller flushes the cache and sets the write cache attribute to Write Through for all virtual disks When the battery is replaced Write Back is re enabled 34 Planning RAID Controller Modules Storage Array Thermal Shutdown The system automatically shuts down when system temperature exceeds the safe threshold The battery backup unit protects against data loss by providing power to offload cache to non volatile memory in the event of power loss It is not necessary to shut down any MD1200 Series expansion enclosures attached to the storage array when thermal shutdown occurs Temperature threshold values determine the temperature at which shutdown occurs These thresholds cannot be changed Table 3 2 Shutdown Threshold Type Threshold Temperature Exceeding Even
232. port 138 Locating 102 Migration 137 Disk Group and Virtual Disk Expansion 135 Disk Group Operations 48 Defragmentation 9 Expansion 49 Limit 49 RAID Level Migration 48 Segment Size Migration 48 Virtual Disk Capacity Expansion 49 Disk Groups and Virtual Disks Creating 99 Download NVSRAM Firmware 250 Physical Disk Firmware 253 RAID Controller and NVSRAM Firmware 248 RAID Controller and NVSRAM Packages 247 RAID controller module Firmware 255 drive carrier hard drive 227 E Enclosure Loss Protection 121 Enterprise Management Window 64 Event Monitor 85 Enabling or Disabling 86 Linux 86 Windows 86 F Failed RAID Controller Module 167 Features and Indicators Front Panel 24 Firmware Downloads 247 Firmware Inventory 259 View 259 Free Capacity 136 front bezel installing 222 removing 222 H hard drive drive carrier 227 installing 226 Index 306 removing 224 Hard Drive Indicator Patterns 28 Hardware Features Back panel features 27 Front panel features 24 Hard drive indicator patterns 28 Power indicator codes 30 Power supply and cooling fan features 29 Host Group Adding 91 Create 91 Moving a Host 92 Removing a host 91 Removing a Host Group 92 Host Topology 93 Host to Virtual Disk Mapping 124 Host to Virtual Disk Mappings Creating 124 Modifying and Removing 126 Removing 128 Hot Spare Drive Protection 121 Gl
233. ppear in the NVSRAM file information area The attributes indicate the version of the NVSRAM file 16 Ifyou want to download the file and activate the firmware and NVSRAM later select the Transfer files but don t activate them activate later check box K 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 appears 18 Click Yes The download starts and a progress indicator appears in the Status column of the Upgrade RAID Controller Module Firmware window Downloading Only NVSRAM Firmware You also can 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 download the NVSRAM firmware from e EMW Go to step 9 e AMW Go to step 10 250 Management Firmware Downloads Perform one of these actions e Select Advanced gt Maintenance Download RAID Controller Module NVSRAM e Select the Support tab and click Download Firmware In Select download task select Download RAID controller module NVSRAM and click OK An error message appears Click OK to close it and select a compatible file To locate the directory in which the file to download resid
234. prevent direct communication with the storage array However you might still be able to manage the storage array over the in band connections The opposite situation can also occur If a storage array is managed through more than one host it is possible that the storage array might become unresponsive to communication over the connections given by one host However you might still be able to manage the storage array over the connections provided by another host Recovering From an Unidentified Storage Array 282 1 Ensure that the network connection to the storage management station is operating Ensure that the controllers are installed and that the power is turned on to the storage array Correct any existing problems before continuing If you have an in band storage array use the following procedure Click Refresh after each step to check the results Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software Ensure that the host context agent software is installed and running If the host is started before it is connected to the controllers in the storage array the host context agent software will not be able to find the controllers If so ensure that the connections are tight and restart the host context agent software Ensure that the network can access the host by using the ping command in the following syntax ping lt host name or IP address of the host gt If the network can access the host continue to step c If the netwo
235. problem is not resolved see Getting Help on page 303 Troubleshooting Array Cooling Problems A 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 team Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty Read and follow the safety instructions that came with the product Ensure that none of the following conditions exist Array cover or drive blank is removed Ambient temperature is too high See Technical Specifications in the Getting Started Guide External airflow is obstructed The power supply cooling fan module is removed or has failed See Troubleshooting Power Supply Cooling Fan Module on page 292 If the problem is not resolved see Getting Help on page 303 Troubleshooting Your Array 293 Troubleshooting Expansion Enclosure Management Modules A CAUTION Many repairs may only be done by a certified service technician 294 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 team Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty Read and follow the safety instructions that came with the product CAUTION It is recommended that y
236. r associated member virtual disks in an optimal state K NOTE The number of physical disks and virtual disks that a storage array supports limits the scope of the migration Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 51 Use either of the following methods to move disk groups and virtual disks Hot virtual disk migration Disk migration with the destination storage array power turned on Cold virtual disk migration Disk migration with the destination storage array power turned off NOTE To ensure that the migrating disk groups and virtual disks are correctly recognized when the target storage array has an existing physical disk use hot virtual disk migration When attempting virtual disk migration follow these recommendations 52 Moving physical disks to the destination array for migration When inserting drives into the destination storage array during hot virtual disk migration wait for the inserted physical disk to be displayed in MDSM before inserting the next physical disk AA WARNING Without the delay between drive insertions the storage array can become unstable and manageability is temporarily lost Migrating virtual disks from multiple storage arrays into a single storage array W hen migrating virtual disks from multiple or different storage arrays into a single destination storage array move all of the physical disks from the same storage array as a set into the new destination storage array
237. r supply cooling fan modules e Control panel e Backplane 2 Ensure that all the cables are properly connected and that there are no damaged pins in the connectors 3 Run diagnostics available in Dell PowerVault Modular Disk MD Storage Manager software In the AMW select a component in the Physical pane of the Physical tab Select Advanced Troubleshooting Run Diagnostics If the test fails see Getting Help on page 303 Troubleshooting Your Array 299 Troubleshooting RAID Controller Modules Conditions Certain events can cause a RAID controller module to fail and or shut down Unrecoverable ECC memory or PCI errors or critical physical conditions can cause lockdown If your RAID storage array is configured for redundant access and cache murroring the surviving controller can normally recover without data loss or shutdown Typical controller failures are detailed in the following sections Invalid Storage Array The RAID controller module is supported only in a Dell supported storage array After installation in the storage array the controller performs a set of validation checks The array status LED is lit with a steady amber color while the RAID controller module completes these initial tests and the controllers are booted successfully If the RAID controller module detects a non Dell supported storage array the controller aborts startup The RAID controller module does not generate any events to alert you in the event
238. rage array does not affect the storage array or its data in any way Removing a storage array simply removes it from the list of storage arrays that appear in the drop down list in the Array Selector If a storage array is accidentally removed it can be added again See Adding Storage Arrays on page 68 You can remove the storage array only from the EMW To remove the storage array 1 Inthe EMW select the Devices tab and select the relevant managed storage array 2 Select Edit Remove Storage Array A message prompts you for a confirmation for the removal of the selected storage array 3 To remove the storage array click Yes Configuration About Your Storage Array 75 Enabling Premium Features You can enable premium features on the storage array To enable the premium features you must obtain a feature key file specific to the premium feature that you want to enable from your storage supplier To enable premium features 1 From the toolbar in AMW select Storage Array Premium Features The Premium Features and Feature Pack Information window is displayed 2 Select the relevant premium feature and click Enable The Select Feature Key File dialog is displayed 3 Navigate to the relevant folder select the appropriate key file and click OK 4 Click Close For more information see the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager online help topics Failover Alert Display You can change the failover alert delay
239. rap destination in Trap destination and click Replace e Deleting an SNMP address Select the SNMP address in the Configured SNMP addresses area and click Delete e 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 address A message box with the results of the validation and any error information appears 4 Click OK An alert icon appears next to each node in the Tree view for which an alert is set 82 Configuration About Your Storage Array Follow these guideline for SNMP alerts e 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 management application such as the Dell Management Console More information about the Dell Management Console is available at dell com e You can configure multiple SNMP addresses before you click OK Battery Settings A smart battery backup unit BBU can perform a learn cycle The smart BBU module includes the battery a battery gas gauge and a battery charger The learn cycle calibrates the smart battery gas gauge so that it provides a measurement of the charge of the battery module A learn cycle can only start when the battery is fully charged The learn cycle completes the following operations e Discharges the battery to a predetermined threshold e
240. rase Make a record of the pass phrase you entered You need it for later secure operations Click Save Make a record of the security key identifier and the file name from the Save Security Key Complete dialog and click OK 116 Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks Unlocking Secure Physical Disks You can export a security enabled disk group to move the associated physical disks to a different storage array After you install those physical disks in the new storage array you must unlock the physical disks before data can be read from or written to the physical disks To unlock the physical disks you must supply the security key from the original storage array The security key on the new storage array is different and cannot unlock the physical disks You must supply the security key from a security key file that was saved on the original storage array You must provide the pass phrase that was used to encrypt the security key file to extract the security key from this file For more information see the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager online help topics 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 physical disk You can use the Secure Erase option if you want to remove all of the data on the physical disk and res
241. ration About Your Host 93 Windows To start or stop the host context agent 1 Click Start Settings Control Panel Administrative Tools gt Services or Click Start Administrative Tools Services From the list of services select Modular Disk Storage Manager Agent If the host context agent is running click Action Stop then wait approximately 5 seconds Click Action gt Start 1 0 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 E EZ K NOTE See the Deployment Guide for more information on cabling configurations at support dell com manuals NOTE For maximum redundancy you must select all host connections to the array when manually defining host topology For example a host might have two host connections listed when manually configuring host access For this host you would select the two host connections listed in the Available hosts section and add them to the Selected hosts section using the Add button NOTE For more information on configuring hosts see Configuration About Your Host on page 87 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 for processing This process is called fail
242. re Physical disk firmware stores information about the system configuration on an area of the physical disk called DACstore DACstore and the physical disk firmware enable easier reconfiguration and migration of the physical disks The physical disk firmware performs these functions e The physical disk firmware records the location of the physical disk in an expansion enclosure If you take a physical disk out of an expansion enclosure you must insert it back into the same physical disk slot or the physical disk firmware cannot communicate with the RAID controller module or other storage array components e RAID configuration information is stored in the physical disk firmware and is used to communicate with other RAID components VAN CAUTION Risk of application errors Downloading the firmware could cause application errors Keep these important guidelines in mind when you download firmware to avoid the risk of application errors e Downloading firmware incorrectly could result in damage to the physical disks or loss of data Perform downloads only under the guidance of your Technical Support representative Stop all I O to the storage array before the download e Ensure that the firmware that you download to the physical disks are compatible with the physical disks that you select Do not make any configuration changes to the storage array while downloading the firmware K NOTE Downloads can take several minutes to co
243. remote replication configurations must contain Fibre Channel switches Fibre Channel switches must be zoned so that a single host adapter accesses only one RAID controller module in a storage array Additionally all zone configurations should specify separate zones for ports that are reserved for remote replication functions K NOTE Do not zone the uplink port E_port that connects cascades switches within a fabric Switch zoning configurations are typically set using the switch management software provided by the Fibre Channel switch vendor This software is either included with the switch itself or downloaded from the vendor s website Zoning Guidelines for Remote Replication Enabling remote replication on your storage array automatically dedicates one port per RAID controller exclusively to replication These dedicated ports Port 3 on RAID controller 0 and Port 3 on RAID controller 1 must be in different zones on the Fibre Channel switch Generally switch zoning should be established so that e All RAID Controller 0 Fibre Channel Port 3s are in a common zone e All RAID Controller 1 Fibre Channel Port 3s are in a common zone but separately zoned from RAID Controller 0 ports e Host Fibre Channel access ports are in separate zones from those established for remote replication Switch Cascading When two or more Fibre Channel switches are cascaded the switch management software combines the ports for all of the switches th
244. replicated virtual disk To perform backups of either the primary virtual disk or the secondary virtual disk suspend the remote virtual disk replication so that the replication relationship is not broken Deleting a Primary Virtual Disk A CAUTION Depending on which premium features are enabled on the storage array deleting a primary virtual disk might delete all associated virtual disks resulting in a possible loss of data on those virtual disks K NOTE You cannot delete a primary virtual disk while it is synchronizing When a primary virtual disk is deleted from a remote virtual disk replication the following occurs The primary virtual disk is deleted from the storage array K NOTE The virtual disk is permanently deleted from the storage array and all data on the primary virtual disk is permanently lost e The replication relationship breaks e The capacity of the deleted virtual disk becomes unconfigured free capacity in the storage array and is available for creation of new virtual disks e The secondary virtual disk becomes a regular standard virtual disk and is can accept both reads and writes e For instructions on how to delete a primary virtual disk go to Deleting a Primary Virtual Disk in a Replicated Pair from a Storage Array online help topic Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication 205 Deleting a Secondary Virtual Disk K NOTE Depending on which premium features are enabled on the st
245. res established zoning of Fibre Channel switches in the fabric see Required Switch Zoning Configurations on page 182 e Before establishing virtual disk replication pairs the Remote Replication premium feature must be activated on each of the storage arrays participating in replication Replication Repository Virtual Disks Using the Remote Replication premium feature on the storage array requires that two replication repository virtual disks be created on one of the disk groups on the storage array The RAID controller module stores replication information on these virtual disks including information about incomplete remote writes that can be used to recover from RAID controller module resets and accidental storage array shutdown 178 Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication Other information about replication repository virtual disks include e Specifying that replication repository virtual disks be created from unconfigured free capacity on the disk group or creating a new disk group and its member replication repository virtual disks from unconfigured free capacity on the storage array K NOTE The disk group containing replication repository virtual disks cannot be deleted without disabling the Remote Replication premium feature e Default names of the replication repository virtual disks are Replication Repository 1 and Replication Repository 2 These names cannot be changed e The activation process creates r
246. ress the virtual disk copy fails and be unable to restart e Create a snapshot virtual disk of the secondary virtual disk then perform a virtual disk copy of the snapshot virtual disk Virtual Disk Expansion With Remote Replication Virtual Disk Expansion VDE increases the capacity of an existing virtual disk This increased capacity is achieved by using the free capacity available on either e The disk group of the standard virtual disk or e The snapshot repository virtual disk Performing a VDE operation does not interrupt access to data on disk groups virtual disks or physical disks A VDE operation can be performed on a primary virtual disk or a secondary virtual disk of a replicated pair It cannot be performed on a replication repository virtual disk No other action can be performed on a virtual disk while it is undergoing expansion except normal disk I O K NOTE To perform a VDE operation the remote replication must be in Optimal status The properties pane in the logical view displays the status of a virtual disk Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication 181 Required Switch Zoning Configurations K NOTE A limited set of Fibre Channel switches are supported by the storage array For a complete list of supported switches and their required driver BIOS and firmware levels see the Configuring Fibre Channel with the Dell MD3600f Series Storage Array Due to potential restrictions at the host level
247. rier handle Management Installing Array Components 225 Installing a Hard Drive A A A 226 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 team Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty Read and follow the safety instructions that came with the product CAUTION Use only hard drives that have been tested and approved for use with the MD3600f series CAUTION When installing a hard drive ensure that the adjacent drives are fully installed Inserting a hard drive carrier and attempting to lock its handle next to a partially installed carrier can damage the partially installed carrier s shield spring and make it unusable If applicable remove the front bezel See Removing the Front Bezel on page 222 If applicable remove the drive blank from the bay See Removing a Drive Blank on page 223 Press the release button to open the drive carrier release handle Insert the hard drive carrier into the drive bay until the carrier contacts the backplane Close the handle to lock the drive in place Management Installing Array Components 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
248. river reconfigures and recognizes the new path This action usually takes less than five minutes 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 level of a disk group e You cannot cancel this operation after it begins e The disk group must be in Optimal status before you can perform this operation e Your data remains available during this operation e If you do not have enough capacity in the disk group to convert to the new RAID level an error message appears and the operation does not continue If you have unassigned physical disks use the Disk Group gt Add Free Capacity Physical Disks option to add additional capacity to the disk group Then retry the operation To change the RAID level of a disk group 1 Inthe AMW select the Logical tab and select a disk group 2 Select Disk Group Change RAID Level 3 Select the appropriate RAID level and click Yes to confirm the selection The RAID level operation begins Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 129 Restricted Mappings Many hosts are able to map up to 256 logical unit numbers LUNs 0 to 255 per storage partition However the maximum number of mappings differs because of operating system variables failover driver issues and potential data problems The h
249. rk cannot access the host skip to step d Remove the host with the unresponsive status from the MDSM and add that host again If the host returns to optimal status you have completed this procedure Ensure that the power to the host is turned on and that the host is operational If applicable ensure that the host bus adapters have been installed in the host Examine all external cables and switches or hubs to ensure that you cannot see any damage and that they are tightly connected If you have recently replaced or added the controller restart the host context agent software so that the new controller is found If a problem exists make the appropriate modifications to the host If you have an out of band storage array use the following procedure Click Refresh after each step to ensure the results Ensure that the network can access the controllers by using the ping command Use the following syntax ping lt controller IP address gt If the network can access the controllers continue to step b If the network cannot access the controllers skip to step c Remove the storage array with the unresponsive status from MDSM and add that storage array again Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software 283 If the storage array returns to optimal status you have completed this procedure c Examine the ethernet cables to ensure that you cannot see any damage and that they are tightly connected d Ensure that the
250. rocedure in this topic to determine a possible cause and solution MDSM can take up to five minutes to detect that a storage array has become unresponsive or becomes responsive again Before completing this procedure ensure that you wait some time before you decide that the storage array is still unresponsive To recover from an unresponsive storage array 1 2 276 Check the Tree View in the EMW to see if all storage arrays are unresponsive If any storage arrays are unresponsive check the storage management station network connection to ensure that it can reach the network Ensure that the RAID controller modules are installed and that there is power to the storage array If there a problem with the storage array correct the problem Perform one of these actions depending on how your storage array is managed e Out of band managed storage array Go to step 6 In band managed storage array Go to step 12 For an out of band managed storage array ensure that the RAID controller modules are network accessible by using the ping command to ensure that the RAID controller module can be reached Type one of these commands and press Enter e ping lt host name gt e ping lt RAID controller module IP address gt Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 If the verification is successful see step 8 if not see step 9 Remove the storage array with the U
251. roup menu The Secure Physical Disks option is active if these conditions are true 2 The selected storage array is not security enabled but is comprised entirely of security capable physical disks The storage array contains no snapshot base virtual disks or snapshot repository virtual disks The disk group is in an Optimal state A security key is set up for the storage array NOTE The Secure Physical Disks option is inactive if these conditions are not true Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 111 The Secure Physical Disks option is inactive with a check mark to the left if the disk group is already security enabled The Create a secure disk group option appears in the Create Disk Group Wizard Disk Group Name and Physical Disk Selection dialog The Create a secure disk group option is active only when these conditions are met e A security key is installed in the storage array e At least one security capable physical disk is installed in the storage array e All of the physical disks that you selected on the Physical tab are security capable physical disks You can erase security enabled physical disks so that you can reuse the drives in another disk group or in another storage array When you erase security enabled physical disks ensure that the data cannot be read When all of the physical disks that you have selected in the Physical pane are security enabled and none of the selected physical disks is part o
252. rray If the storage array detects unsupported physical disks it marks the disk as unsupported and the physical disk becomes unavailable for all operations K NOTE The MD3600f Series array must contain at least two physical disks for proper operation This is necessary because the physical disks are used to store configuration information Physical Disk States The storage array recognizes the physical disk states Mode and status of physical disks are reported in the MDSM application Possible values for mode and status are described in Table 4 1 Table 4 1 RAID Controller Physical Disk States Status Mode Description Physical Disk Status LED Optimal Assigned The physical disk in the indicated slot Steady Green is configured as part of a disk group Optimal Unassigned The physical disk in the indicated slot Steady Green is unused and available to be configured Optimal Hot Spare The physical disk in the indicated slot Steady Green standby is configured as a hot spare Optimal Hot Sparein The physical disk in the indicated slot is Steady Green use in use as a hot spare within a disk group Failed Assigned The physical disk in the indicated slot Amber flashing Unassigned has failed because of an unrecoverable 150 ms Hot Spare in error an incorrect drive type or drive use or Hot size or by its operational state being Spare standby set to failed Replaced Assigned The physical disk in the indicated slot Green flashing
253. ry virtual disk by selecting Select View Associated Logical Elements The View Associated Logical Elements pop up is displayed showing visual representations of these elements the primary and secondary virtual disk in the remote replication and their locations and the replication repository virtual disks in the storage array and their locations Or e View the physical components of the primary virtual disk by clicking View Associated Physical Components in the Properties pane The View Associated Physical Components pop up is displayed showing a visual representation of the primary virtual disk in the remote replication Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication 193 Virtual Disk Status Icons In the Devices tab on the EMW the following icons depict the status of each virtual disk Changing Write Mode and Consistency Group Membership Table 13 1 Write Mode and Consistency Group Membership Icon Status B Replication repository virtual disk 3 Primary virtual disk a Secondary virtual disk Primary virtual disk synchronization in progress SE S Primary virtual disk replication suspended Secondary virtual disk replication suspended wig F Primary virtual disk unsynchronized oa Secondary virtual disk unsynchronized with communications loss 194 Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication The write mode of a remote replication is selected when it is created However you can change the
254. s option in the Enterprise Management Window provide automatic methods for discovering managed storage arrays Manual Addition of a Storage Array Use Manual Addition if the storage array resides outside of the local subnet This process requires specific identification information to manually add a storage array To add a storage array that uses out of band management specify the host name or management port IP address of each controller in the storage array Before using this option verify that the applicable network configuration tasks have been performed To add an in band storage array add the host through which the storage array is attached to the network K NOTE It can take several minutes for MDSM to connect to the specified storage array To add a storage array manually 1 Select Edit Add Storage Array 2 Select the relevant management method e Out of band management Enter a host name or an IP address for the RAID controller Modules in the 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 Configuration About Your Storage Array 69 K NOTE The host agent must be restarted before in band management communication can be established See Starting or Restarting the Host Context Agent Software on page 285 3 Click Add 4 Use one of these methods to name a storage array e Inthe EMW select the Setup tab and se
255. s tab In the Defined Mappings pane perform one of these actions e Select a single virtual disk and select Mappings gt Change gt Mapping e Right click the virtual disk and select Change Mapping from the pop up menu 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 virtual disk In Logical unit number select the appropriate LUN The drop down list shows only the currently available LUNs that are associated with the selected virtual disk Click OK Stop any host applications associated with this virtual disk and unmount the virtual disk if applicable from your operating system In the Change Mapping dialog click Yes to confirm the changes The mapping is checked for validity and is saved The Defined Mappings pane is updated to reflect the new mapping The Topology pane is also updated to reflect any movement of host groups or hosts K NOTE If a password is set on the storage array the Enter Password dialog appears Type the current password for the storage array and click OK Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 7 Ifconfiguring a Linux host run the rescan_dm_devs utility on the host and remount the virtual disk if required This utility is installed on the host as part of the MDSM install process 8 Restart the host applications Changing Controller Ownership of the Virtual Dis
256. se is achieved by adding unconfigured capacity in the form of unassigned physical disks to the disk group of the standard virtual disk or the snapshot repository virtual disk See Disk Group Expansion on page 135 For more information see the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager online help topics 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 K NOTE During the export process before the disk group is imported you lose access to the data on the exported disk group K NOTE You must export a disk group before you move the disk group or import the disk group Export Disk Group The export disk group operation prepares the physical disks in the disk group for removal You can remove the physical disks for offline storage or you can import the disk group to a different storage array After you complete the export disk group operation all of the physical disks are offline Any associated virtual disks or free capacity nodes are no longer shown in MDSM Non Exportable Components You must remove or clear any non exportable settings before you can complete the export disk group procedure Remove or clear the following settings e Persistent reservations e Host to virtual disk mappings e Virtual disk copy pairs e Snapshot virtual disks and snapshot repository
257. sk to the node that does not own the source virtual disk before the Snapshot enabling process is completed can result in the operating system mis identifying the snapshot virtual disk This in turn can result in data loss on the source virtual disk or an inaccessible snapshot K NOTE For details on mapping the snapshot virtual disk to the secondary node see the Dell PowerVault MD3200 and MD3220 Storage Arrays With Microsoft Windows Server Failover Clusters on support dell com manuals The destination of a snapshot repository virtual disk is determined based on the free capacity available in the disk group A snapshot repository virtual disk requires a minimum 8 MB of free capacity You can choose your preferred creation path simple or advanced if the disk group of the source virtual disk has the required amount of free space 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 see Creating a Snapshot Virtual Disk Using the Advanced Path on page 148 In the advanced path option you can choose to place the snapshot repository virtual disk in another disk group or you can use unconfigured capacity on the storage array to create a new disk group K NOTE You can create concurrent snapshots of a source virtual disk on both the source disk group and on another disk group Configuration Premium Feature Snapshot Virtual Disks 14
258. stem indicated by lt filesystem identifier gt and lt filesystem identifier gt specifies a unique file system in the following syntax drive letter lt mount point path gt The file system identifier may consist of only a drive letter for example SMrepassist f E Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software 281 K NOTE In Windows the mount point path is a drive letter An error message appears in the command line when the utility cannot distinguish between the following Source virtual disk and snapshot virtual disk for example if the snapshot virtual disk has been removed Standard virtual disk and virtual disk copy for example if the virtual disk copy has been removed 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 K NOTE Before beginning any recovery procedure ensure that the host context agent software is installed and running If you host is started before it is connected to the storage array the host context agent software will not be able to find the storage array If so ensure that the connections are tight and restart the host context agent software If a storage array is managed by using both out of band management and in band management using the same host a management network connection problem might
259. storage array The storage array profile also provides the option to save the storage array profile information to a text file You might want to use the storage array profile as an aid during recovery or as an overview of the current configuration of the storage array Create a new copy of the storage array profile if your configuration changes To open the storage array profile 1 In the AMW perform one of the following actions e Select Storage Array View Profile e Select the Summary tab and click Storage Array Profile in the Status area e Select the Support tab and click View Storage Array Profile The Storage Array Profile dialog appears The Storage Array Profile dialog contains several tabs and the title of each tab corresponds to the subject of the information contained 270 Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software 2 Perform one of these actions in the Storage Array Profile dialog View detailed information Go to step 3 Search the storage array profile Go to step 4 Save the storage array profile Go to step 5 Close the storage array profile Go to step 6 3 Select one of the tabs and use the horizontal scroll bar and the vertical scroll bar to view the storage array profile information You can use the other steps in this procedure to search the storage array profile to save the storage array profile or to close the storage array profile 4 To search the storage array profile perform these steps a b
260. strictions apply to the source virtual disk the target virtual disk and the storage array 164 While a virtual disk copy has a status of In Progress Pending or Failed the source virtual disk is available for read I O activity only After the virtual disk copy is complete read and write I O activity to the source virtual disk are permitted A virtual disk can be selected as a target virtual disk for only one virtual disk copy at a time A virtual disk copy for any virtual disk cannot be mounted on the same host as the source virtual disk Windows does not allow a drive letter to be assigned to a virtual disk copy A virtual disk with a Failed status cannot be used as a source virtual disk or target virtual disk A virtual disk with a Degraded status cannot be used as a target virtual disk A virtual disk participating in a modification operation cannot be selected as a source virtual disk or target virtual disk Modification operations include the following Capacity expansion RAID level migration Segment sizing Virtual disk expansion Defragmenting a virtual disk NOTE The following host preparation sections also apply when using the virtual disk copy feature through the CLI interface Configuration Premium Feature Virtual Disk Copy Creating a Virtual Disk Copy Source virtual disks that are participating in a virtual disk copy are available for read I O activity only while a virtual disk
261. t Configure Alerts Go to step 3 In the Setup tab in the EMW select Configure Alerts Go to step 2 Select one of the following radio buttons to specify an alert level e All storage arrays Select this option to send an alert e mail about events on all storage arrays e An individual storage array Select this option to send an alert e mail about events that occur on only a specified storage array These results occur depending on your selection e If you select all storage arrays the Configure Alerts dialog appears e If you select an individual storage array the Select Storage Array dialog appears Select the storage array for which you want to receive e mail alerts and click OK The Configure Alerts dialog appears e If you do not know which storage array to select click Blink to turn on the LEDs of the storage array In the Configure Alerts dialog select the Mail Server tab In Mail server type the name of the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol SMTP mail server The SMTP mail server is the name of the mail server that forwards the alert e mails to the configured e mail addresses Configuration About Your Storage Array 79 80 In E mail sender address type the e mail sender address Use a valid e mail address The e mail address of the sender the network administrator appears on each e mail alert sent to the destination To include the contact information of the sender in the e mail alert select Inclu
262. t Description Nominal failure threshold A critical event is set Maximum failure threshold Shutdown of the system power supplies occurs within three minutes Shutdown threshold Shutdown of the system power supplies occurs within five seconds System Password Reset The storage array password can be reset if it is forgotten To reset the 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 more about setting your password see Setting a Password on page 73 K NOTE The reset switch can be accessed by using a small object such as the tip of a pen Cache Functions and Features Cache Mirroring Cache mirroring function copies accepted host write data from the primary controller to the partner controller This action ensures that host write data is safely mirrored to the partner controller before successful completion status is returned to the host If a controller fails the surviving controller safely retains all mirrored data Cache mirroring is enabled by default Planning RAID Controller Modules 35 Write Back Cache In write back cache write operations result in a completion signal being sent to the host operating system as soon as the cache receives the data to be written The target physical disk receives the data at a more appropriate time in
263. t Virtual Disks Premium Feature in a Microsoft Windows clustered configuration you must first map the snapshot virtual disk to the cluster node that owns the source virtual disk This ensures that the cluster nodes correctly recognize the snapshot virtual disk NOTE Mapping the snapshot virtual disk to the node that does not own the source virtual disk before the Snapshot enabling process is completed can result in the operating system mis identifying the snapshot virtual disk This in turn can result in data loss on the source virtual disk or an inaccessible snapshot Configuration Premium Feature Snapshot Virtual Disks 145 K NOTE For details on mapping the snapshot virtual disk to the secondary node see the Dell PowerVault MD3200 and MD3220 Storage Arrays With Microsoft Windows Server Failover Clusters on support dell com manuals K NOTE You can create concurrent snapshots of a source virtual disk on both the source disk group and on another disk group Before creating a Snapshot Virtual Disk note that The following types of virtual disks are not valid source virtual disks Snapshot repository virtual disks Snapshot virtual disks Replication repository virtual disks Target virtual disks that are participating in a virtual disk copy K NOTE Virtual Disk Copy is an Advanced Premium feature e You cannot create a snapshot of a virtual disk that contains unreadable sectors e You must satisfy the req
264. t an Unconfigured Capacity node and select Virtual Disk Create Alternatively you can right click the Unconfigured Capacity node and select Create Virtual Disk from the pop up menu To create a virtual disk from free capacity on a disk group On the Logical tab select a Free Capacity node and select Virtual Disk gt Create Alternatively you can right click the Free Capacity node and select Create Virtual Disk from the pop up menu To create a virtual disk from unassigned physical disks in the storage array On the Physical tab select one or more unassigned physical disks of the same physical disk type and select Virtual Disk Create Alternatively you can right click the unassigned physical disks and select Create Virtual Disk from the pop up menu To create a secure virtual disk On the Physical tab select one or more unassigned security capable physical disks of the same physical disk type and select Virtual Disk Create Alternatively you can right click the unassigned security capable physical disks and select Create Virtual Disk from the pop up menu If you selected an Unconfigured Capacity node or unassigned physical disks to create a virtual disk the Disk Group Required dialog is displayed Click Yes and create a disk group by using the Create Disk Group Wizard The Create Virtual Disk Wizard appears after you create the disk group If you selected a Free Capacity node the The Introduction Create Virtual Disk window
265. t context agent software is not able to detect the RAID controller modules If this is the case ensure that the connections are secure and restart the host context agent software If you have recently replaced or added the RAID controller module restart the host context agent software so that the new RAID controller module is recognized Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software 277 20 If the problem still exists make the appropriate host modifications check with other administrators to see if a firmware upgrade was performed on the RAID controller module from another storage management station If a firmware upgrade was performed the EMW on your management station might not be able to locate the new AMW software needed to manage the storage array with the new version of the firmware 21 If the problem persists contact your Technical Support representative 22 Determine if there is an excessive amount of network traffic to one or more RAID controller modules This problem is self correcting because the EMW software periodically retries to establish communication with the RAID controller modules in the storage array If the storage array was unresponsive and a subsequent try to connect to the storage array succeeds the storage array becomes responsive For an out of band managed storage array determine if management operations are taking place on the storage array from other storage management stations A RAID controller modul
266. table select one or more copy pairs Configuration Premium Feature Virtual Disk Copy 169 3 Select Change Copy Priority The Change Copy Priority window is displayed 4 Inthe Copy priority area select the appropriate copy priority depending on your system performance needs K NOTE There are five copy priority rates available lowest low medium high and highest If the copy priority is set at the lowest rate 1 0 activity is prioritized and the virtual disk copy takes longer Stopping a Virtual Disk Copy You can stop a virtual disk copy operation that has an In Progress status a Pending status or a Failed status Stopping a virtual disk copy that has a Failed status clears the Needs Attention status displayed for the storage array Keep these guidelines in mind when you stop a virtual disk copy e To use this option select only one copy pair in the Copy Manager e 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 source virtual disk To stop a virtual disk copy complete the following steps 1 In the AMW select Virtual Disk Copy Copy Manager The Copy Manager window is displayed 2 Select the copy pair in the table Select Copy Stop Click Yes Recopying a Virtual Disk You can recopy a virtual disk when you have stopped a virtual disk cop
267. talling a Power Supply Cooling Fan Module VAN 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 team Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty Read and follow the safety instructions that came with the product 1 Slide the power supply cooling fan module into the chassis until it is fully seated and the release tab clicks into place See Figure 15 11 2 Connect the power cable to the power supply cooling fan module and plug the cable into a power outlet 3 Secure the power cable using the velcro strap See Figure 15 12 238 Management Installing Array Components Figure 15 12 Securing the Power Cable A K velcro strap CAUTION When connecting the power cable secure the cable with the velcro strap NOTE If the array is powered on all the power supply LEDs remain off until the AC power cable is connected to the power supply cooling fan module and the power switch is turned on Turn on the power supply cooling fan module Control Panel Removing the Control Panel 1 2 3 Turn off the array and host server Disconnect all the power cables connected to the array Remove the hard drives from slots 0 to 2 in PowerVault MD3600f slots 0 to 5 in PowerVault MD3620f See
268. te to the primary virtual disk but is not replicated to the secondary virtual disk Writes to the primary virtual disk are persistently logged to the replication repository virtual disks After communications are restored data transfer between the primary virtual disk and the secondary virtual disk must be resynchronized Depending on which resynchronization method you specify the following occurs e Automatic resynchronization Data transfer automatically starts immediately after the virtual disks are resynchronized e Manual resynchronization You must manually resume the remote virtual disk replication to restart the data transfer A suspended remote virtual disk replication stays in a Suspended status until it is manually resumed Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication 203 After the remote virtual disk replication resumes data is automatically written to the secondary virtual disk Only the regions of the primary virtual disk that changed since the replicated pair was suspended are written to the secondary virtual disk A CAUTION Possible loss of data access When you resume a remote virtual disk replication involving a primary or secondary virtual disk that is a member of a write consistency group any other suspended remote replications for replicated pairs in the write consistency group also resumes K NOTE If the write mode is synchronous you do not need to resynchronize the primary and secondary virtual
269. te replication these events occur 1 The primary virtual disk receives a write request from a host 2 The RAID controller module owner on the storage array logs information about the write operation to a replication repository virtual disk in the storage array 3 The RAID controller module owner writes the data to the primary virtual disk The RAID controller module owner starts a data transfer operation to the secondary virtual disk on the secondary storage array 196 Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication The communication between a primary and secondary virtual disks can be suspended or become unsynchronized If communication between the primary virtual disk and the secondary virtual disk is disrupted 1 The status of the replicated pair changes to Unsynchronized A Needs Attention status is displayed for the storage array 2 3 Data is written to the primary virtual disk 4 Write requests to the primary virtual disk are logged 5 The RAID controller module owner sends an I O completion message to the host sending the write request Although the host can continue to send write requests to the primary virtual disk no data transfer takes place to the secondary virtual disk Writes to the secondary virtual disk are suspended pending restoration of communications between the primary virtual disk and the secondary virtual disk When connectivity is restored between the primary virtual disk and the secondary virtu
270. ted to a host server causes it to loose communication with the array and may require a reboot of the host server Removing a RAID Controller Module Blank A CAUTION To maintain proper system cooling you must install a RAID controller module blank in the empty slot Turn off the array and host server Disconnect all the power cables connected to the array To remove the RAID controller module blank press down on the release latch and pull the blank away from the array See Figure 15 7 Install RAID controller modules in slot 0 and 1 See Installing a RAID Controller Module on page 232 Management Installing Array Components 229 5 Connect all the power cables to the array 6 Turn on the array and the host server Figure 15 7 Removing and Installing a RAID controller module Blank 1 release latch 2 RAID controller module blank Installing a RAID Controller Module Blank To install a RAID controller module blank align the blank with the RAID controller module bay and insert the blank into the chassis until it clicks into place 230 Management Installing Array Components Removing a RAID Controller Module A 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 team Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not co
271. tering VSS during your Windows setup the registration graphical user interface GUI prompts you to provide the name of your array because settings in the GUI are array specific not host specific Storage Management VSS Hardware Provider Tips The number of snapshot virtual disks that can be created using a single snapshot set varies with the I O load on the RAID controller modules Under little or no I O load the number of virtual disks in a snapshot set should be limited to eight Under high I O loads the limit should be three e The snapshot virtual disks created in the storage management software are differential snapshots Plex snapshots are not supported e Virtual disks to be used as source virtual disks for VSS snapshots should have names no longer than 16 characters The VSS hardware provider uses the base virtual disk name as a prefix for the snapshot and repository virtual disk names The resulting snapshot and repository names are too long if the source virtual disk name exceeds 16 characters K NOTE A volume is another term for virtual disk For more information on VDS and VSS see microsoft com 262 Management System Interfaces 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 Storage Array on page 23 Table 19
272. tery unit 2 screw Management Installing Array Components 235 Installing the RAID Controller Module Backup Battery Unit A CAUTION Many repairs may only be done by a certified service technician You 236 should only perform troubleshooting and simple repairs as authorized in your product documentation or as directed by the online or telephone service and support team Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty Read and follow the safety instructions that came with the product Align the backup battery unit with the slots on the RAID controller module Slide the backup battery unit toward the connector on the RAID controller module Tighten the screw that secures the backup battery unit to the RAID controller module Close the RAID controller module See Closing the RAID Controller Module on page 234 Replace the RAID controller module See Installing a RAID Controller Module on page 232 Connect all the cables to the array Turn on the array and the host server 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 A CAUTION A single power supply cooling fan module can be removed from a powered on array for a maximum period of five minutes Beyond that time t
273. tes or is stopped K 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 in the disk group is owned by the other controller and there is an active process on the other controller RAID Background Operations Priority The storage array supports a common configurable priority for the following RAID operations e Background initialization e Rebuild e Copy back e Virtual disk capacity expansion e Raid level migration e Segment size migration e Disk group expansion e 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 K NOTE Setting a high priority level impacts storage array performance It is not advisable to set priority levels at the maximum level Priority should also be assessed in terms of impact to host server access and time to complete an operation For example the longer a rebuild of a degraded virtual disk takes the greater the risk for potential secondary disk failure 50 Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts Virtual Disk Migration and Disk Roaming Virtual disk migration is moving a virtual disk or a hot spare from one array to another by detaching the physical disks and re attaching them to the new array Disk roaming is moving a physical disk from one sl
274. that you add must be of the same media type and interface type as the physical disks that already make up the disk group of the snapshot repository virtual disk Click Add Physical Disks K NOTE The physical disks that appear has a capacity that is either the same size or larger than the capacity of the physical disks already being used by the disk group Select either a single physical disk to add or two physical disks to add Click Add The Add Physical Disks window closes Check the Physical Disks to add enclosure slot area to ensure that the correct physical disks have been added Either accept the final capacity or enter or select the appropriate capacity in Increase capacity by Click OK The Logical tab is updated The snapshot repository virtual disk that is having its capacity increased shows a status of Operation in Progress In addition the snapshot repository virtual disk shows its original capacity and the total capacity being added The Free Capacity node involved in the increase shows a reduction in capacity If all of the free capacity is used to increase the size of the virtual disk the Free Capacity node involved is removed from the Logical tab Configuration Premium Feature Snapshot Virtual Disks A new Free Capacity node is created and shown in the Logical tab if these conditions exist e A Free Capacity node did not exist prior to the addition of capacity e Not all of the capacity that is add
275. the Current password K NOTE If you are setting the password for the first time leave the Current password blank Type the New password Re type the new password in Confirm new password K NOTE The password in Confirm new password and New password must be exactly the same Click OK NOTE You are not prompted for a password when you attempt to change the storage array configuration in the current management session Configuration About Your Storage Array 73 Password Guidelines Follow these guidelines when you create a password e Use secure passwords for your storage array A password should be easy for you to remember but difficult for others to determine Consider using numbers or special characters in the place of letters such as a 1 in the place of the letter I or the at sign in the place of the letter a e For increased protection use a long password with at least 15 alphanumeric characters The maximum password length is 30 characters e Passwords are case sensitive K NOTE You can attempt to enter a password up to ten times before the storage array enters a lockout state Before you can try to enter a password again you must wait 10 minutes for the storage array to reset To reset the password press the password reset switch on your RAID controller module see Figure 3 1 Viewing Storage Array Connections You can use the View Connections option to view the expansion enclosures connected to the RA
276. the physical disks that comprise the disk group are located in different expansion enclosures This distinction depends on the RAID level If you choose to create a disk group by using the Automatic method the software attempts to choose physical disks that provide enclosure loss protection If you choose to create a disk group by using the Manual method you must use the criteria specified in Table 9 2 Table 9 2 Criteria for Enclosure Loss Protection RAID Level Criteria for Enclosure Loss Protection RAID level5 Ensure that all the physical disks in the disk group are located in or RAID level different expansion enclosures 6 Because a RAID level 5 requires a minimum of three physical disks enclosure loss protections cannot be achieved if your storage array has less than three expansion enclosures Because a RAID level 6requires a minimum of five physical disks enclosure loss protections cannot be achieved if your storage array has less than five expansion enclosures 122 Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks Table 9 2 Criteria for Enclosure Loss Protection continued RAID Level Criteria for Enclosure Loss Protection RAID level 1 RAID level 0 Ensure that each physical disk in a mirrored pair is located in a different expansion enclosure This enables you to have more than two physical disks in the disk group within the same expansion enclosure For example if you are creating a six physical disk
277. the same physical disk type and select Disk Group Create Alternatively you can right click the unassigned physical disks and select Create Disk Group from the pop up menu e To create a secure disk group On the Physical tab select one or more unassigned security capable physical disks of the same physical disk type and select Disk Group Create Alternatively you can right click the unassigned security capable physical disks and select Create Disk Group from the pop up menu The Introduction Create Disk Group window is displayed 2 Click Next The Disk Group Name and Physical Disk Selection window is displayed 100 Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 10 11 12 13 Type up to a 30 character name of the disk group in Disk group name Select the appropriate Physical Disk selection choices you can select e Automatic see step 6 e Manual see step 9 Click Next For Automatic configuration The RAID Level and Capacity window is displayed Select the appropriate RAID level in Select RAID level You can select RAID levels 0 1 10 6 and 5 Depending on your RAID level selection the physical disks available for the selected RAID level is displayed in Select capacity table In the Select Capacity table select the relevant disk group capacity and click Finish For Manual configuration The Manual Physical Disk Selection window is displayed Select the appropriate RAID level in Select RAID level You c
278. the storage arrays e Setup tab Presents the initial setup tasks that guide you through adding storage arrays and configuring alerts The Devices tab has a Tree view on the left side of the window that shows discovered storage arrays unidentified storage arrays and the status conditions for the storage arrays Discovered storage arrays are managed by MDSM Unidentified storage arrays are available to MDSM but not configured for management The right side of the Devices tab has a Table view that shows detailed information for each storage array In the EMW you can e Discover hosts and managed storage arrays on the local sub network e Manually add and remove hosts and storage arrays e Locate the storage arrays e Name or rename discovered storage arrays e Add storage array comments to the Table view e Sort rows in the Table view according to different criteria Store your EMW view preferences and configuration data in local configuration files The next time you open the EMW data from the local configuration files is used to show customized view and preferences e Monitor the status of managed storage arrays and indicate status using appropriate icons e Add or remove management connections e Configure alert notifications for all selected storage arrays through e mail or SNMP traps e Report critical events to the configured alert destinations e Launch the AMW for a selected storage array e Runa script to perform
279. tically makes the target virtual disk read only to hosts You might want to keep this attribute enabled to preserve the data on the target virtual disk A CAUTION If you decide not to preserve the data on the target virtual disk after the virtual disk copy has completed disable the Read Only attribute for the target virtual disk See Virtual Disk Read Write Permissions on page 163 for more information on enabling and disabling the Read Only attribute for the target virtual disk To prevent write protected error messages from appearing do not try to access a source virtual disk that is participating in a virtual disk copy while the virtual disk copy has a status of In Progress Also ensure that the Read Only attribute for the target virtual disk is disabled after the virtual disk copy has completed to prevent error messages from appearing To copy the virtual disk 1 Stop all I O activity to the source virtual disk and the target virtual disk 2 Unmount any file systems on the source virtual disk and the target virtual disk 3 In the AMW select the Logical tab and select the source virtual disk 4 Select Virtual Disk Copy gt Create The Create Copy Wizard Introduction window is displayed 5 In the Select source virtual disk area select the appropriate virtual disk and click Next The Select Target Virtual Disk and Copy Priority window is displayed 6 Click Next The Preview window displays the summary of your selections 7 T
280. tion area select the file to download By default only the downloadable files that are compatible with the current storage array configuration appear When you select a file in the File Selection area of the dialog applicable attributes if any of the file appear in the File Information area The attributes indicate the version of the file If you want to download an NVSRAM file with the firmware select Transfer NVSRAM file with RAID controller module firmware and click Select File next to Selected NVSRAM file To transfer the files to the RAID controller module without activating them click Transfer files but don t activate them activate later Management Firmware Downloads 7 10 11 Click Transfer Keep these guidelines in mind e If the Transfer button is inactive ensure that you either select an NVSRAM file or deselect the Transfer NVSRAM file with RAID controller module firmware option e Ifthe file selected is not valid or is not compatible with the current storage array configuration the File Selection Error dialog appears Click OK to close it and choose a compatible firmware or NVSRAM file In the Confirm Download dialog click Yes The download starts Perform one of these actions Select Tools Upgrade RAID Controller Module Firmware e Select the Setup tab and click Upgrade RAID Controller Module Firmware In the Storage array pane select the storage array for which you want to upgra
281. tion message appears Click OK Creating Virtual Disks Keep these important guidelines in mind when you create a virtual disk Many hosts can have 256 logical unit numbers LUNs mapped per storage partition but the number varies per operating system After you create one or more virtual disks and assign a mapping you must register the virtual disk with the operating system In addition you must ensure that the host recognizes the mapping between the physical storage array name and the virtual disk name Depending on the operating system run the host based utilities hot_add and SMdevices If the storage array contains physical disks with different media types or different interface types multiple Unconfigured Capacity nodes may appear in the Logical pane of the Logical tab Each physical disk type has an associated Unconfigured Capacity node if unassigned physical disks are available in the expansion enclosure You cannot create a disk group and subsequent virtual disk from different physical disk technology types Each physical disk that comprises the disk group must be of the same physical disk type K NOTE Ensure that you create disk groups before creating virtual disks 102 Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks To create virtual disks 1 Choose one of these methods to start the Create Virtual Disk Wizard To create a virtual disk from unconfigured capacity in the storage array On the Logical tab selec
282. tions e At least one of the FCIN LEDs for each port is on Go to step 11 Both the FCIN LEDs on an MD storage array RAID controller module enclosure for a particular port are off e Check that the SFP transceiver has been installed correctly Reinstall the SFP transceiver if necessary K NOTE If the storage array is not in an Optimal status click the Recovery Guru toolbar button in the Array Management Window to determine if any other actions are required If the problem is resolved go to step 11 If the problem persists see Getting Help on page 303 Create save and print a new storage array profile Troubleshooting Your Array 291 Troubleshooting External Connections Verify that the cables are connected to the correct ports before troubleshooting any external devices For the location of the back panel connectors on your array see Figure 3 1 Ensure that all the cables are securely attached to the external connectors on your array For information on cabling see the Dell PowerVault MD3600f Deployment Guide Troubleshooting Power Supply Cooling Fan Module A A 1 292 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 team Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty R
283. tor Each time the polling interval elapses the Performance Monitor queries the storage array again and updates the statistics in the table Click Start Values appear for the selected storage arrays in the Performance Monitor data table The table is updated at the interval specified in the Polling Interval setting Click Update to force an immediate poll of the storage array Click Stop to stop monitoring the storage array Click Save As on the Performance Monitor main dialog to save the currently displayed performance statistics Planning MD3600f Series Storage Array Terms and Concepts 9 Select an appropriate directory 10 Type a file name in the File name text box K NOTE The perf extension is the default 11 Select a file type from the Files of type list e Use the Report format ASCII text file type to save the data to a report form for viewing or printing e Use the Comma Delimited Format file type to save the data in a form that can be imported into a commercial spreadsheet application for further analysis Most leading commercial spreadsheet applications recognize a comma delimiter These applications use the delimiter to import the data into spreadsheet cells 12 Click Save The Performance Monitor data provides information about how your storage array is performing The data is presented in eight columns which are described in this table Use this data to make performance tuning decisions for your st
284. torage management software generates a list of available capacity and physical disk options for each available RAID level e Manual The storage management software generates a list of unselected physical disks 4 Click Next e Ifyou selected Automatic an empty Select Capacity table and a drop down list of available RAID levels is displayed Go to Step 5 e Ifyou selected Manual a populated Unselected Physical Disks table empty Selected Physical Disks table and a drop down list of available RAID levels is displayed 5 In the Select RAID level dropdown list select the RAID level for the disk group The Select capacity table displays the available virtual disks for the RAID level 184 Configuration Premium Feature Remote Replication 6 Inthe Select capacity table select the physical disks and capacities for the new disk group then click Next The Preview Activate Remote Replication wizard is displayed 7 Click Finish The Completed Activate Remote Replication message is displayed 8 Click OK The Remote Replication premium feature is now active The Logical pane displays the new disk group and the two replication repository virtual disks Activating and Creating Replication Repository Virtual Disks From an Existing Disk Group Using this method for creating the replication repository virtual disks free capacity in an existing disk group is used By default the replication repository virtual disks each have eit
285. trademarks and trade names other than its own Regulatory Model E03J Series and E04J Series Regulatory Type E03J001 and E04J001 2011 05 Rev A00 Contents 1 Introduction 0 19 About ThisDocument 19 Inside the Box of the Dell PowerVault MD3600f Series Storage Array 20 Dell PowerVault MD3600f Series Storage Array 20 Dell PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager 20 Other Information YouMayNeed 21 2 Planning About Your Storage Array 23 Overview 20000 23 Hardware Features 24 Front Panel Features and Indicators 24 Back Panel Features and Indicators 27 Hard Drive Indicator Patterns 28 Power Supply and Cooling Fan Features 29 Power Indicator Codes 30 3 Planning RAID Controller Modules 31 RAID ControllerModules 31 Contents RAID Controller Module Connectors and Features Host Channel LED Link Rate Indications RAID Controller Module Additional Features Battery Backup Unit Storage Array Thermal Shutdown System Password Reset Cache Functions and Features Cache Mirroring 4 Write BackCache Write Through Cache SFP Transceivers Fiber Optic and SAS Cables Interoperabil
286. tual disks or an error message is displayed e Names are limited to 30 characters After you reach this limit in either the snapshot virtual disk name or the Snapshot repository virtual disk name fields you can no longer type in the field If the source virtual disk is 30 characters the default names for the snapshot and its associated snapshot repository virtual disk use the source virtual disk name truncated enough to add the sequence string For example for Host Software Engineering Group GR 1 the default snapshot name is Host Software Engineering GR 1 and the default repository name would be Host Software Engineering GR RI1 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 methods e Use the free capacity available on the disk group of the snapshot repository virtual disk e Add unconfigured capacity to the disk group of the snapshot repository virtual disk Use this option when no free capacity exists on the disk group You cannot increase the storage capacity of a snapshot repository virtual disk if the snapshot repository virtual disk has any one of the following conditions e The virtual disk has one or more hot spare drives in use e The virtual disk has a status other than Optimal e Any virtual disk in the disk group is in any state
287. tual disks are available for read I O activity only Write requests are allowed after the virtual disk copy has completed Keep these guidelines in mind when re copying a virtual disk If hosts are mapped to the source virtual disk the data that is copied to the target virtual disk when you perform the re copy operation might have changed since the previous virtual disk copy was created Select only one virtual disk copy in the Copy Manager dialog To recopy the virtual disk 1 2 3 172 Stop all I O to the source virtual disk and the target virtual disk Unmount any file systems on the source virtual disk and the target virtual disk In the AMW select Virtual Disk Copy Copy Manager The Copy Manager window is displayed Select the copy pair in the table Select Copy Re Copy The Re Copy window is displayed 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 1 0 activity is prioritized and the virtual disk copy takes longer If the copy priority is set to the highest priority rate the virtual disk copy is prioritized but I O activity for the storage array might be affected Configuration Premium Feature Virtual Disk Copy Removing Copy Pairs You can remove one or more virtual disk copies by using the Copy Manager Any virtual disk copy related information for the source virtual disk and the target v
288. tware uses the access virtual disk to communicate management requests and event information between the storage management station and the RAID controller module in an in band managed storage array The access virtual disk is not available for application data storage The default LUN is 31 Storage Arrays You must add the storage arrays to MDSM before you can setup the storage array for optimal use Adding Storage Arrays You can add storage arrays only in the EMW You can e Automatically discover storage arrays e Manually add storage arrays K 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 68 Configuration About Your Storage Array iy NOTE For Linux set the default gateway so that broadcast packets are sent to 255 255 255 0 For Red Hat Enterprise Linux if no gateway exists on the network set the default gateway to the IP address of the NIC K NOTE MDSM uses TCP UDP port 2463 for communication to the MD Storage Array Automatic Discovery of Storage Arrays The Automatic Discovery process sends out a broadcast message across the local subnetwork subnet and adds any storage array that responds to the message The Automatic Discovery process finds both in band and out of band storage arrays K NOTE The Automatic Discovery option and the Re scan Host
289. ty With Self Encrypting Disk Creating a SecurityKey Changing a SecurityKey Saving a Security Key Unlocking Secure Physical Disks Erasing Secure Physical Disks Configuring Hot Spare Physical Disks Hot Spares and Rebuild GlobalHotSpares Hot Spare Operation Hot Spare Drive Protection Enclosure Loss Protection Host to Virtual Disk Mapping Creating Host to Virtual Disk Mappings Modifying and Removing Host to Virtual Disk Mapping Changing Controller Ownership ofthe Virtual Disk Removing Host to Virtual Disk Mapping 128 Changing the RAID Controller Module Ownership of aDiskGroup 128 Changing the RAID Level of a Disk Group 129 Restricted Mappings 130 Changing the RAID Controller Module Ownership of a Virtual Disk or a Disk Group 131 Changing the RAID Level of a Disk Group 133 Storage Partitioning 134 Disk Group and Virtual Disk Expansion 135 Disk Group Expansion 135 Virtual Disk Expansion 136 Using Free Capacity 136 Using Unconfigured Capacity 137 Disk Group Migration 137 ExportDiskGroup 137 ExportingaDiskGroup 138 Import Disk Group
290. ual disk to its original source virtual disk You can copy data from a virtual disk in one of two ways e By taking a point in time snapshot of the data e By copying the data to another virtual disk using a virtual disk copy You can select a snapshot virtual disk as the source virtual disk for a virtual disk copy This configuration is one of the best ways you can apply the snapshot virtual disk feature since it enables complete backups without any impact to the storage array I O You cannot use a snapshot repository virtual disk as a source virtual disk or as a target virtual disk in a virtual disk copy If you select the source virtual disk as the target virtual disk of a virtual disk copy you must disable all snapshot virtual disks associated with the source virtual disk Multi Path Software Multi path software also referred to as the failover driver is software resident on the host server that provides management of the redundant data path between the host server and the storage array 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 to the alternate path so that the storage array continues to operate without interruption K NOTE Multi path software is available on the MD3600f Series resource media Preferred and Alternate Controllers and
291. ugh an array that has the correct security key The self encrypting disk or a security capable physical disk encrypts data during writes and decrypts data during reads For more information see the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager online help topics You can create a secure disk group from security capable physical disks When you create a secure disk group from security capable physical disks the physical disks in that disk group become security enabled When a security capable physical disk has been security enabled the physical disk requires the correct security key from a RAID controller module to read or write the data 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 encrypt the data A security capable physical disk works like any other physical disk until it is security enabled Whenever the power is turned off and turned on again all of the security enabled physical disks change to a security locked state In this state the data is inaccessible until the correct security key is provided by a RAID controller module You can view the self encrypting disk status of any physical disk in the storage array from the Physical Disk Properties dialog The status information reports whether the physical disk is e Security Capable e S
292. uirements of your host operating system for creating snapshot virtual disks Failure to meet the requirements of your host operating system results in an inaccurate snapshot of the source virtual disk or the target virtual disk in a virtual disk copy K 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 ensure all 1 0 activity has stopped K NOTE Removing the drive letter of the associated virtual disk s in Windows or unmounting the virtual drive in Linux helps to guarantee a stable copy of the drive for the Snapshot Before creating a snapshot virtual disk the host server has to be in the proper state To ensure that the host server is properly prepared to create a snapshot virtual disk you can either use an application to carry out this task or you can perform the following steps 1 Stop all I O activity to the source 2 Inthe AMW select the Logical tab and select a valid source virtual disk 146 Configuration Premium Feature Snapshot Virtual Disks 10 11 Select Virtual Disk Snapshot Create Or Right click the source virtual disk and select Create Snapshot Virtual Disk from the pop up menu The Create Snapshot Virtual Disk Wizard Introduction dialog appears Select Simple
293. user specified name that helps you associate the snapshot virtual disk to its corresponding snapshot repository virtual disk and source virtual disk Snapshot Repository Virtual Disk Name A user specified name that helps you associate the snapshot repository virtual disk to its corresponding snapshot virtual disk and source virtual disk Snapshot Repository Virtual Disk Capacity The snapshot repository virtual disk capacity is expressed as a percentage of the source virtual disk capacity The maximum percentage allowed is 120 percent Using the simple path the following defaults are used for the other parameters of a snapshot virtual disk Capacity Allocation The snapshot repository virtual disk is created using free capacity on the same disk group where the source virtual disk resides Host to Virtual Disk Mapping The default setting is Map now Percent Full When the snapshot repository virtual disk reaches the specified repository full percentage level the event is logged in the Major Event Log MEL The default snapshot repository full percentage level is 50 percent of the source virtual disk Snapshot Repository Virtual Disk Full Conditions When the snapshot repository virtual disk becomes full you are given a choice of failing write activity to the source virtual disk or failing the snapshot virtual disk Preparing Host Servers to Create the Snapshot Using the Simple Path K K NOTE Before using the Snapsho
294. ut Your Storage Array 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 mirrored with the other controller s cache for high availability and is protected by a battery powered cache offload mechanism RAID controller modules provide the following data path and enclosure management functions e Monitoring and controlling enclosure environment elements temperature fans power supplies and enclosure LEDs e Controlling access to the physical disks e Communicating enclosure attributes and states to the host server and management station Each RAID controller module has multiple Fibre Channel FC ports labeled FCIN for host access The ports provide redundant host connections and support a high availability storage environment Each port must have a small form factor pluggable SFP transceiver module installed for connectivity Various configurations can be utilized in both single controller simplex and dual controller duplex modes to connect the storage enclosure to hosts depending on specific redundancy needs For information on cabling see the MD3600f and MD3620f Series Storage Array s Deployment Guide at support dell com manuals Planning RAID Controller Modules 31 RAID Controller Module Connectors and Features
295. vating 178 Activation 184 Creating 186 Host Access 177 Managing 183 Virtual Disks 178 removing backplane 242 control panel MD1200 239 drive blank 223 EMM 231 EMM blank 229 front bezel 222 hard drive 224 Index 308 hard drive from a drive carrier 227 power supply cooling fan module 237 Removing Copy Pairs 173 Removing Host Access 90 Restricted Mappings 130 S Safety 19 safety 289 Security Key Changing 114 Creating 112 Saving 115 Segment Size 45 Setting a Password 73 Setting Copy Priority 169 Simple Path 145 SMART 41 SMrepassist Utility 281 Snapshot Repository Capacity 154 Snapshot Virtual Disk Creating using advanced path 145 Creating using simple path 144 Snapshot Virtual Disks Disabling 158 Re create 160 Re creating 157 Starting or Stopping the Host Context Agent 93 Storage Array RAID Controller Module Clocks 84 Storage Array Media Scan 139 Storage Arrays 68 Automatic Discovery 69 Manual Addition 69 Storage Partitioning 134 support contacting Dell 303 Switch Cascading 182 T telephone numbers 303 Troubleshooting Automatically Collect the Support Bundle Data 267 Capturing the State Information 280 Collecting the Physical Disk Data 268 Device Health Conditions 263 Event Log 269 Finding Nodes 273 Locating an Expansion Enclosure 279 Recovering from an Unidentified Storage Array 282 Recovering from an Unresponsive
296. ve the same preferred RAID controller module when the virtual disk copy starts Therefore the ownership of the target virtual disk is automatically transferred to the preferred RAID controller module of the source virtual disk When the virtual disk copy is completed or is stopped ownership of the target virtual disk is restored to its preferred RAID controller module If ownership of the source virtual disk is changed during the virtual disk copy ownership of the target virtual disk is also changed Under certain operating system environments it might be necessary to reconfigure the multi path driver before an I O path can be used 128 Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks To change the RAID controller module ownership of a disk group 1 Inthe AMW select the Logical tab and select a disk group 2 Select Disk Group Change Ownership Preferred Path 3 Select the appropriate RAID controller module slot and click Yes to confirm the selection A CAUTION Possible loss of data access Changing ownership at the disk group level causes every virtual disk in that disk group to transfer to the other RAID controller module and use the new 1 0 path If you do not want to set every virtual disk to the new path change ownership at the virtual disk level instead The ownership of the disk group is changed I O to the disk group is now directed through this I O path K NOTE The disk group might not use the new 1 0 path until the multi path d
297. vent timestamps written to host log files The RAID controller modules remain available during synchronization To synchronize the RAID controller module clocks with the storage management station 1 In the AMW select Storage Array Synchronize RAID Controller Module Clocks 2 Ifa password is set in the Enter Password dialog type the current password for the storage array and click Synchronize The RAID controller module clocks are synchronized with the storage management station 84 Configuration About Your Storage Array 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 problems it can notify a host or remote system using e mail Simple Network Management Protocol SNMP trap messages or both For the most timely and continuous notification of events enable the event monitor on a management station that runs 24 hours a day Enabling the event monitor on multiple systems or having a combination of an event monitor and MDSM active can result in duplicate events but this does not indicate multiple failures on the array The Event Monitor is a background task that runs independently of the Enterprise Management Window EMW To use the Event Monitor e Set up alert destinations for the managed device that you wa
298. vered by your warranty Read and follow the safety instructions that came with the product A CAUTION If your configuration uses fiber optic cables remember that they are fragile Bending twisting folding or pinching fiber optic cables can cause damage to the cables degraded performance or loss of data To prevent damage do not twist fold pinch or step on the cables Do not bend the cables in less than a 5 cm 2 radius 1 If small form factor pluggable SFP transceivers are present record the ports in which they are installed and remove them Take the desired RAID controller module offline Disconnect the cables connected to the RAID controller module If fiber optic cables are present it might be necessary to partially remove the RAID controller module using the two release levers Opening the release levers makes it easier to press down the fiber optic cable release tab If the system is still running do not disturb the second RAID controller module 4 Push down on the release tab and pull the release lever away from the chassis See Figure 15 8 5 Grasp the release lever and pull the module away from the chassis K NOTE To avoid damage to the sensitive EMI contacts on the RAID controller module do not stack RAID controller modules Management Installing Array Components 231 Figure 15 8 Removing and Installing a RAID controller module 1 RAID controller module 2 release tab 3 release lever Installing a R
299. ving a Host to a Different Host Group on page 92 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 92 Configuration About Your Host 91 Moving a Host to a Different 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 gt Move e Right click the host node and select Move from the pop up menu The Move Host dialog appears 3 In the Select host group select the host group to which you want to move the host The Move Host Confirmation dialog appears 4 Click Yes The host is moved to the selected host group with the following mappings e The host retains the specific virtual disk mappings assigned to it e The host inherits the virtual disk mappings assigned to the host group to which it is moved e The host loses the virtual disk mappings assigned to the host group from which it was moved Removing 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 e Right click the host node and select Remove from the pop up menu The Remove dialog is displayed 3 Click Yes The selected host group is removed For more information see the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager online help t
300. virtual disk You cannot directly change the RAID controller module ownership of a snapshot virtual disk because the snapshot virtual disk inherits the RAID controller module owner of its associated source virtual disk Changing the RAID controller module ownership of a virtual disk changes the preferred RAID controller module ownership of the virtual disk 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 Therefore the ownership of the target virtual disk is automatically transferred to the preferred RAID controller module of the source virtual disk When the virtual disk copy is completed or is stopped ownership of the target virtual disk is restored to its preferred RAID controller module If ownership of the source virtual disk is changed during the virtual Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 131 disk copy ownership of the target virtual disk is also changed Under certain operating system environments it might be necessary to reconfigure the multi path driver before an I O path can be used To change the RAID controller module ownership of a virtual disk or a disk group e Change the RAID controller module ownership of a virtual disk e Change the RAID controller module ownership of a disk group To change the RAID controller module
301. virtual disk automatically starts resynchronizing the data on the remote replication pair immediately after communication is restored K NOTE When choosing automatic resynchronization a possible loss of data can occur if a resynchronization is interrupted in progress Since another resynchronization begins automatically after communication is restored between the primary virtual disk and the remote virtual disk data integrity could be affected With automatic resynchronization set you cannot add a secondary virtual disk to a write consistency group Therefore write consistency during the resynchronization process is not preserved The write order is not consistent until the entire group achieves Optimal status Manually Resynchronizing Virtual Disks When manual resynchronization is selected you must manually resynchronize and resume the data transfer on a remote replication after communication is restored between the primary and remote virtual disks Manual resynchronization is the recommended setting for all remote replications for these reasons e You determine when resynchronization starts which allows you to better manage and or mitigate impact on I O performance e Ina disaster recovery situation manual resynchronization offers the best chance of retrieving valid data e When the secondary virtual disk is in a write consistency group manual resynchronization preserves the write order 200 Configuration Premium Feature
302. voked from another storage management station these LEDs also stop blinking In the rare case that the LEDs on the expansion enclosure do not stop blinking from the Array Management Window select Storage Array gt Blink Stop All Indications If the LEDs successfully stop blinking a confirmation message appears Click OK 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 information to your Technical Support representative for analysis Potential to cause an unresponsive storage array The State Capture option can cause a storage array to become unresponsive to both the host and the storage management station Use this option only under the guidance of your Technical Support representative 1 From the AMW select Advanced Troubleshooting gt Capture State Information 2 Read the information in the Confirm State Capture dialog and type yes to continue 3 In the Specify filename text box enter a name for the file to be saved or 280 browse to a previously saved file if you want to overwrite an existing file Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software Use the convention filename dmp for the name of the file The suffix dmp is added to the file automatically if you do not specify a suffix for the file 4 Click Start
303. wnership at the virtual disk level instead 6 Click Yes The ownership of the disk group is changed I O to the disk group is now directed through this I O path K NOTE The disk group might not use the new 1 0 path until the multi path driver reconfigures and recognizes the new path This action usually takes less than five minutes Changing the RAID Level of a Disk Group Use the Change RAID Level option to change the RAID level on a selected disk group Using this option changes the RAID levels of every virtual disk that comprises the disk group Performance might be slightly affected during the operation Keep these guidelines in mind when you change the RAID level of a disk group e You cannot cancel this operation after it begins e The disk group must be in Optimal status before you can perform this operation e Your data remains available during this operation e If you do not have enough capacity in the disk group to convert to the new RAID level an error message appears and the operation does not continue If you have unassigned physical disks use the Disk Group gt Add Free Capacity Physical Disks option to add additional capacity to the disk group Then retry the operation To change the RAID level of a disk group 1 Select the Logical tab 2 Select the disk group 3 Select Disk Group Change RAID Level Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks 133 4 Select the RAID level RAID Level 0 RAID Level 1 RA
304. work configuration manually K NOTE RAID controller module network configurations can be assigned using a DHCP server the default setting However if a DHCP server is not available for 150 seconds the RAID controller modules assign static IP addresses The addresses assigned are 192 168 128 101 for controller 0 and 192 168 128 102 for controller 1 Configuration About Your Storage Array 67 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 K NOTE For detailed information on setting up in band and out of band management see the Deployment Guide When you add storage arrays by using this management method you need to specify only the host name or IP address of the host After you add the specific host name or IP address the host agent software automatically detects any storage arrays that are connected to that host A CAUTION Some operating systems can be used only as storage management stations For more information about the operating system that you are using see the MD PowerVault Support Matrix at support dell com manuals For more information see the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager online help topics Access Virtual Disk Each RAID controller module in an MD3600f Series storage array maintains a special virtual disk called the access virtual disk The host agent sof
305. xt to the storage array status in the Tree view for which the alerts have been set Setting an Alert at You can set alerts at any of the nodes in the Tree the Parent Node view Setting an alert at a parent node level such Level as at a host level sets alert fir any child nodes If you set an alert at a parent node level and any of the in band storage array child nodes have a Needs Upgrade status the Alert Disables status icon appears next to the parent node in the tree view Troubleshooting Your Storage Array Software 265 Table 19 3 Additional Status Icons Status Icon Description Adding a Storage The Contacting Storage Array icon is shown in Array the Tree view and Table view until the current status of each managed storage array is known The Contacting Storage Array icon is shown in the EMW Status Bar and the AMW Status Bar and the tooltip shows Contacting Storage arrays As each storage array is contacted its current status is obtained and shown in the Tree view and Table view The applicable statuses are the Optimal Needs Attention Fixing or Unresponsive Adding a Storage amp No problems were encountered while adding the Array OK storage array MDSM software continues to check for any status change events Adding a Storage pra Appears only when an error occurs Array Error K NOTE MDSM may take a few minutes to update a status change to Unresponsive or from Unresponsive A status change from or t
306. y a certified service technician 224 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 team Damage due to servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your warranty Read and follow the safety instructions that came with the product If installed remove the front bezel See Removing the Front Bezel on page 222 From the Modular Disk Storage Manager MDSM software prepare the drive for removal Wait until the hard drive indicators on the drive carrier signal that the drive can be removed safely See your controller documentation for information about hot swap drive removal Management Installing Array Components If the drive has been online the green activity fault indicator flashes as the drive is powered down When the drive indicators are off the drive is ready for removal 3 Press the release button to open the drive carrier release handle See Figure 15 4 4 Slide the hard drive out until it is free of the drive bay A CAUTION To maintain proper system cooling all empty hard drive bays must have drive blanks installed 5 Insert a drive blank in the empty drive bay See Installing a Drive Blank on page 224 6 Ifapplicable replace the front bezel See Installing the Front Bezel on page 222 Figure 15 4 Removing and Installing a Hard Drive 1 release button 2 hard drive car
307. y 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 the target virtual disk read only to hosts This option fails all snapshot virtual disks associated with the target virtual disk if any exist 170 Configuration Premium Feature Virtual Disk Copy Preparing Host Servers to Recopy a Virtual Disk K K NOTE Before you create a new copy of a source virtual disk stop any data access I O activity or suspend data transfer to the source virtual disk and if applicable the target disk to ensure that you capture an accurate point in time image of the source virtual disk Close all applications including Windows Internet Explorer to ensure all I O activity has stopped NOTE Removing the drive letter of the associated virtual disk s in Windows or unmounting the virtual drive in Linux helps to guarantee a stable copy of the drive for the virtual disk copy Before creating a new virtual disk copy for an existing copy pair both the host server and the associated virtual disk you are recopying have to be in the proper state Perform the following steps to prepare your host server and virtual disk 1 2 Stop all I O activity to the source and target virtual disk Using your Windows system flush the cache to both the source and the target virtual disk if mounted At the host prompt type SMrepassist f lt filename identifi
308. y if a single virtual disk is selected Changing the modification priority by using this option modifies the priority for the selected virtual disks Configuration Disk Groups and Virtual Disks To change the virtual disk modification priority 1 2 3 In the AMW select the Logical tab Select a virtual disk In the toolbar select Virtual Disk Change Modification Priority The Change Modification Priority window is displayed Select one or more virtual disks To select nonadjacent virtual disks press lt Ctrl gt click To select adjacent virtual disks press lt Shift gt click To select all of the available virtual disks click Select All Move the Select modification priority slider bar to the desired priority Click OK A message prompts you to confirm the change in the virtual disk modification priority Click Yes Click OK Changing the Virtual Disk Cache Settings You can specify the cache memory settings for a single virtual disk or for multiple virtual disks on a storage array Guidelines to change cache settings for a virtual disk After opening the Change Cache Settings dialog the system may prompt you that the RAID controller module has temporarily suspended caching operations This action might occur when a new battery is charging when a RAID controller module has been removed or if a mismatch in cache sizes has been detected by the RAID controller module After the condition has cleared the cache
309. yes and click OK Configuration Premium Feature Snapshot Virtual Disks 157 Disabling a Snapshot Virtual Disk Disable a snapshot virtual disk if K You do not need the snapshot now You intend to re create the snapshot at a later time and want to retain the associated snapshot repository virtual disk so that you do not need to create it again You want to maximize storage array performance by stopping copy on write activity to the snapshot repository virtual disk 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 removed See the PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager online help topics for more information on removing a snapshot virtual disk NOTE The SMdevices utility displays the snapshot virtual disk in its output even after the snapshot virtual disk is disabled To disable a snapshot virtual disk 1 2 158 In the AMW select the Logical tab select the snapshot virtual disk and select Virtual Disk Snapshot Disable In the text box type yes and click OK The snapshot virtual disk is disabled The associated snapshot repository virtual disk does not change status The copy on write activity to the snapshot repository virtual disk stops until the snapshot virtual disk is re created Configuration Premium Fe
310. ype yes and click Finish K NOTE The Operation in Progress icon appears on the source virtual disk and the target virtual disk while the virtual disk copy has a status of In Progress or Pending 168 Configuration Premium Feature Virtual Disk Copy Storage Array Performance During Virtual Disk Copy The following factors contribute to the overall performance of the storage array e T O activity e Virtual disk RAID level e Virtual disk configuration Number of drives in the virtual disk groups e Virtual disk type Snapshot virtual disks might take more time to copy than standard virtual disks During a virtual disk copy resources for the storage array are diverted from processing I O activity to completing a virtual disk copy This affects the overall performance of the storage array When you create a new virtual disk copy you define the copy priority to determine how much controller processing time is diverted from I O activity to a virtual disk copy operation Setting Copy Priority You can use the Copy Manager to select the rate at which a virtual disk copy completes for a selected copy pair You can change the copy priority for a copy pair at any of these times e Before the virtual disk copy begins e While the virtual disk copy has a status of In Progress e When you re create a virtual disk copy To set copy priority 1 Inthe AMW select Virtual Disk Copy Copy Manager The Copy Manager window is displayed 2 Inthe

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