What is “Tier 0” in Storage Environments?

Tier "0" is not new in storage market but for implementation purposes it has been difficult to accommodate because it requires best performance and lowest latency. Enterprise Flash disks (Solid State Disks) capable to meet this requirement. It is possible to get more performance for company most critical applications. The performance can be gained through using Flash drives supported in VMAX and DMX-4 systems.  Read More →

Showing posts with label VMware. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VMware. Show all posts

Nondisurptive installation of PowerPath/VE using VMotion

Posted by Diwakar ADD COMMENTS

When connecting to an ESX host for the first time, rpowermt prompts the administrator for the username and password of the ESX host. Each new ESX host managed by rpowermt generates a prompt a username and password. The administrator is prompted for a lockbox password once, rpowermt securely stores the following information in a lockbox(encrypted
file).


-         --ESX host being accessed


-     --Username and password of ESX host being accessed,


Storing the host and passwords in a lockbox enables them to be mainitained across system reboots. If a lockbox is copied from one rpowermt server to anotherm, the user is prompted to enter the lockbox password again.


PowerPath/VE for vSphere rpowermt commands do not require root access to run the executable; however, the ESX root password is required as an entry in the lockbox, Access to rpowermt command executable is based on the native access controls of the server (Windows or RHEL) where rpowermt is installed.

PowerPath/VE  5.4 and supported ESX/ESXi versions




EMC
PowerPath/VE release

Supported VMware ESX/ESXi version

ESX
4.0

ESXi
4.0

ESX
4.0 U1/U2

ESXi
4.0 U1/U2

ESX
4.1

ESXi
4.1

5.4

Yes
- vCLI install only

Yes
- vCLI install only

Yes
- vCLI install only

Yes
- vCLI install only

No

No

5.4
SP1

Yes
- vCLI install only

Yes
- vCLI install only

Yes
- Update Manager and vCLI install

Yes
- Update Manager and vCLI install

Yes
- vCLI install only

No



Procedures:

Note:- Please check ESM for prequisites for PPVE before installing/upgrading.


& 1) vSphere hosts must be part of a DRS cluster.


2) 2) vSphere hosts must have shared storage. If there is not shared storage, create it.


3) 3) Place the first vSphere host in Maintenance Mode. This will force VMs to fail over to
other cluster members using Vmotion.


4)  4)  Install PowerPath/VE on the first vSphere host using vCLI.


Using Vmware Remote Tool (vCLI) on server, install PowerPath/VE on maintenance mode server, use the following command:



vihostupdate --server “server-IP-Address” --install --bunde=/<path>/EMCPower.VMWARE.5.4.bxxx.zip


Note:- Use vihostupdate.pl for Windows



Once the command completes, verify that package is installed. Use the following command.



vihostupdate --server  “server-IP-Address” –query

5) If necessary, make changes to the first vSphere host’s claim rules.


6)   6) Exit Maintenance Mode.


7)   7)  Reboot the first vSphere host. (Wait host to come online before proceeding next steps.)


8)   8)  Place the second vSphere host in Maintenance Mode. This will force VMs to fail over to
other clusters member using Vmotion.


9)   9)  Install PowerPath/VE on the second vSphere host using vCLI.


10)   If necessary, make changes to the second vSphere host’s claim rules.


11)   Exit Maintenance Mode.


12)   Reboot the second vSphere host.


13)   Perform the same operation for remaining hosts in the cluster.


14)   After PowerPath/VE installation has completed for every node in the cluster, rebalance the VMs across the cluster.

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Symmetrix FA bits settting requirement for VMware host

Posted by Diwakar ADD COMMENTS

VMware hosts require few mandatory FA bits setting before SAN storage to be provision. Apart from FA bits a series of procedure require from installing HBAs, HBA Firmware and drivers, zoning, mapping, masking devices, to configure kernel files and devices.

Let’s assume we have already identified Symmetrix FA port for VMware host and completed zoning on switch. It is better to have separate FA pair for VMware host. (You can connect VMware host to 2 pair FA if you have enough FA resources available and going to deploy critical application which require more performance).

You can identify the FA port available on Symmetrix:

symcfg list –connections.


Verify port flag settings-

symcfg list –fa -p -v

( FA-Number and Port where your host connected/zoned)


The following FA bits/flag require being set/Enable:

                     i)    Common Serial Number (C)


                    ii)    VCM State (VCM) --- (ACLX for V-MAX)


                    iii)    SCSI 3 (SC3)


                    iv)    SPC 2


                    v)     Unique World Wide Name (UWWN)


                   vi)     Auto-negotiation (EAN)


                   vii)    Point to Point (P)

Note :- FA bit/flag requirement may vary depending on Symmetrix, but most of times you require to enable above bit for VMware host.

Create a command file for setting FA port flags, call it faflags.cmd with the below entry:

# For C-Bit

set port FA:Port Common_Serial_Number=enable;


set port FA:Port Common_Serial_Number=enable;

# For VCM-Bit

set port FA:Port VCM_State=enable;


set port FA:Port VCM_State=enable;

# For SC3-Bit

set port FA:Port scsi_3=enable;


set port FA:Port scsi_3=enable;

# For SP-2-Bit

set port FA:Port SPC2_Protocol_Version=enable;


set port FA:Port SPC2_Protocol_Version=enable;


# For UWWN-Bit

set port FA:Port Unique_WWN=enable;


set port FA:Port Unique_WWN=enable;

# For EAN-Bit

set port FA:Port Auto_Negotiate=enable;


set port FA:Port Auto_Negotiate=enable;

# For PTOP-Bit

set port FA:Port Init_Point_to_Point=enable;


set port FA:Port Init_Point_to_Point=enable;

Once you prepare command file, you can commit the file:

symconfigure –sid preview –f  faflags.cmd

Verify port flag settings once again, required FA flags should have be enabled by now-

symcfg list –fa -p -v

You are ready to provision SAN storage for VMware host now…

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Multipath Setting required for VMWare in SAN

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A multipath requirement for different storage arrays:-
All storage arrays: - Write cache must be disabled if not battery backed.
Topology: - No single failure should cause both HBA and SP failover, especially with active-passive storage arrays.

IBM TotalStorage DS 400 Family (formely FastT) –

Defaul host type must be LNXCL or Host Type must be LNXCL or
AVT (Auto Volume Transfer) is disabled in this host mode.

HDS 99xx and 95xx family – HDS 9500V family (Thunder)- Requires two host modes:
Host mode 1 – standard
Host mode 2 – Sun Cluster
HDS 99xx family Lightning and HDS Tamba USP requires host mode set to Netware.

EMC Symmetrix :- Enable the SPC2 and SC3 settings.

EMC CLARiiON – All initiator records must have

- Fail-over Mode = 1
- Initiator Type = “CLARiiON Open”
- Array CommPath = “Enabled” or 1

HP EVA :- For EVA3000/5000 firmware 4.001 and above and EVA 4000/6000/8000 firmware 5.031 and above, set the host type to VMWare. Otherwise, set the host mode type to custom. The value is :
EVA3000/5000 firmware 3.x: 000000002200282E
EVA4000/6000/8000: 000000202200083E

HP XP:- For XP 128/1024/10000/12000, the host mode should be set to 0C (Windows), that is, zeroC (Windows).

NetApp :- No specific requirements

ESX Server Configuration :- Set the following Advanced Settings for the ESX Server host:-

Set Disk.UseLunReset to 1
Set Disk.UseDeviceReset to 0
A multipathing policy of Most Recently Used must be set for all LUNs hosting clustered disks for active-passive arrays. A multipathing policy of Most Recently Used or Fixed may be set for LUNs on active-active arrays. All FC HBAs must be of the same model.

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About Me

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Sr. Solutions Architect; Expertise: - Cloud Design & Architect - Data Center Consolidation - DC/Storage Virtualization - Technology Refresh - Data Migration - SAN Refresh - Data Center Architecture More info:- diwakar@emcstorageinfo.com
Blog Disclaimer: “The opinions expressed here are my personal opinions. Content published here is not read or approved in advance by EMC and does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of EMC.”
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