Dell PowerVault 775N, CX200 Platform Manual

Dell™ PowerVault™ NAS Fibre Channel Cluster Systems

Platform Guide

www.dell.com | support.dell.com

Notes, Notices, and Cautions

NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your computer.

NOTICE: A NOTICE indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to

avoid the problem.

CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death.

Abbreviations and Acronyms

For a complete list of abbreviations and acronyms, see the

Cluster Systems Installation and Troubleshooting Guide

.

Dell PowerVault NAS Fibre Channel

____________________

Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
© 2003 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.

Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden.

Trademarks used in this text: Dell, the DELL logo, Dell OpenManage, and PowerVault are trademarks of Dell Inc.; Microsoft
and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation; EMC, PowerPat h, and Navisphere are registered trademarks
and Access Logix, Access Control, MirrorView, and SnapView are trademarks of EMC Corporation.

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 trademarks and trade names other than its own.

September 2003 P/N U2564 Rev. A00

Contents

Supported Cluster Configurations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

High-Availability Cluster Configurations

HBA Support for NAS Cluster Configurations
HBA Connectors

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Fibre Channel Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Rules and Guidelines
Maximum Distance Between Cluster Nodes

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Obtaining More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Installing Peripheral Components in Your NAS Cluster Node PCI Slots

Attaching Your Cluster Shared Storage System in a Direct-Attach
Configuration

Rules and Guidelines

Attaching Your Cluster Shared Storage System to a SAN

Rules and Guidelines
Obtaining More Information

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

. . . . . . . . . . . 9

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Tables

Table 1-1. Supported Cluster Configurations . . . . . . . . . 5

. . . . 7

Table 1-2. PCI Slot Assignments for NAS Cluster Nodes

Table 1-3. Direct-Attached Clusters Rules and Guidelines

Table 1-4. SAN-Attached Clusters Rules and Guidelines

. . . . 7

. . . 8

. . . . 9

Contents 3

4 Contents

This document provides information for installing and connecting peripheral hardware, storage,
and storage area network (SAN) components to your Dell™ PowerVault™ NAS Fibre Channel
Cluster solution. The configuration information in this document is specific to the Microsoft
Windows

®

Storage Server 2003, Enterprise Edition operating system.

®

This document covers the following topics:

• Configuration information for installing peripheral hardware components (such as HBAs,
NICs, and PCI adapter cards) in NAS cluster configurations

• Configuration rules and guidelines for direct-attached or SAN-attached configurations

NOTICE: Configurations not listed in this document may not be certified or supported by Dell or

Microsoft.

NOTICE: In this guide and in other cluster documentation, the Microsoft Cluster Service (for Windows

Storage Server 2003, Enterprise Edition) is also referred to as MSCS.

Supported Cluster Configurations

This section provides information about supported cluster configurations for your NAS cluster
configuration.

Table 1-1 provides a list of supported cluster configurations for NAS cluster systems.

NOTE: Each cluster node must be the same system model and have two or more processors.

Table 1-1. Supported Cluster Configurations

Supported
PowerVault
NAS Systems

770N, 775N Dell | EMC CX600,

Supported Storage Systems Supported Cluster Interconnect

Dell | EMC CX400, and
Dell | EMC CX200

Obtaining More Information

See the
for a detailed list of related documentation.

Dell PowerVault NAS Fibre Channel Cluster Systems Installation and Troubleshooting Guide

HBA (for the Private Network)

Any Ethernet NIC supported
by the system

NOTE: All nodes in the same

cluster must use homogeneous
(identical) Ethernet NICs for the
cluster interconnect.

Platform Guide 5

www.dell.com | support.dell.com

High-Availability Cluster Configurations

This section provides information about the supported operating systems, HBAs, and HBA drivers
for your NAS cluster configuration.

NOTICE: All cluster nodes in a NAS cluster must run the same operating system.

NOTICE: HBAs installed in NAS clusters using redundant paths must be identical. PowerVault NAS

cluster configurations are tested and certified using identical HBAs installed in all cluster nodes. Using
dissimilar HBAs in your cluster nodes is not supported.

HBA Support for NAS Cluster Configurations

NAS cluster nodes can use any of the following HBAs: Emulex LP9002L, Emulex LP982, Emulex
LP9802, or QLogic QLA2340. See "Installing Peripheral Components in Your NAS Cluster Node
PCI Slots" for PCI slot recommendations.

HBA Connectors

Only optical HBA connectors are supported.

Fibre Channel Switches

• Dual (redundant) fabric configurations are required.

• A maximum of 16 switches may be used in a SAN.

• A minimum of two and a maximum of eight Inter-Switch Links (ISLs) may exist between any
two directly communicating switches. A single ISL is permitted only when connecting to a
remote switch in an EMC

®

MirrorView™ configuration.

• A maximum of three hops (the number of ISLs that each data frame must traverse) may exist
between a host and a storage system.

Rules and Guidelines

When configuring your NAS cluster, all cluster nodes must contain identical versions of the
following:

• Operating systems and service packs

• Hardware drivers, firmware, or BIOS for the NICs, HBAs, and any other peripheral hardware
components

• Systems management software, such as Dell OpenManage™ systems management software
and EMC Navisphere

®

storage management software

Maximum Distance Between Cluster Nodes

• The maximum cable length allowed from an HBA to a switch, from an HBA directly
connected to a storage system, or from a switch to a storage system is 300 meters using
multimode fiber at 2 Gb/sec. This distance may be increased through the use of switch ISLs.

6 Platform Guide

• The maximum cable length is 100 meters for Fast Ethernet and copper Gigabit Ethernet and
550 meters for optical Gigabit Ethernet. This distance may be extended using switches and
VLAN technology. The maximum latency for a round-trip network packet between nodes is
500 milliseconds.

Obtaining More Information

See the

Dell PowerVault NAS Fibre Channel Cluster Systems Installation and Troubleshooting Guide

for installation instructions.

Installing Peripheral Components in Your NAS Cluster Node
PCI Slots

This section provides configuration information for adding HBAs, a DRAC II or DRAC III, and
RAID controllers into your NAS cluster node PCI slots.

Table 1-2 provides configuration information for PowerVault 770N and 775N cluster nodes.

CAUTION: Only trained service technicians are authorized to remove and access any of the

components inside the system. See your
safety precautions, working inside the computer, and protecting against electrostatic discharge.

Table 1-2. PCI Slot Assignments for NAS Cluster Nodes

PowerVault
NAS System

770N PCI bus 0: PCI slot 1 is 32 bit,

PCI Buses HBA RAID Controller

33 MHz.

PCI/PCI-X bus 2: PCI slot 7 is
64 bit, 33/66/100/133 MHz.

PCI/PCI-X bus 3: PCI slot 6 is
64 bit, 33/66/100/133 MHz.

System Information Guide

For dua l HBA
configurations, Dell
recommends installing the
HBAs on separate 64-bit
PCI buses to balance the
load on the system.

for complete information about

Install in any
available PCI slot,
or use the
integrated RAID
controller on the
system board.

PCI/PCI-X bus 4: PCI slots 4
and 5 are 64 bit, 33/66/100 MHz.

PCI/PCI-X bus 5: PCI slots 2
and 3 are 64 bit, 33/66/100 MHz.

NOTE: If you are using expansion

cards with different operating
speeds, you should install the
fastest card in slot 7 and the
slowest card in slot 1.

Platform Guide 7

Table 1-2. PCI Slot Assignments for NAS Cluster Nodes

(continued)

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PowerVault
NAS System

775N PCI/PCI-X bus 1: PCI slot 1 is

PCI Buses HBA RAID Controller

64 bit, 33/66/100 MHz.

PCI/PCI-X bus 1: PCI slot 2 is
64 bit, 33/66/100/133 MHz.

PCI/PCI-X bus 2: PCI slot 3 is
64 bit, 33/66/100/133 MHz.

For dua l HBA
configurations, Dell
recommends installing the
HBAs on separate PCI buses
to balance the load on the
system.

Install in any
available PCI slot,
or use the
integrated RAID
controller on the
system board.

NOTE: PCI/PCI-X slot 1 must be

empty for PCI/PCI-X slot 2 to
attain an operating speed of
133 MHz.

Attaching Your Cluster Shared Storage System in a Direct­Attach Configuration

This section provides the rules and guidelines for attaching your NAS cluster nodes to the shared
storage system using a direct connection (without Fibre Channel switches).

In a direct-attach configuration, both cluster nodes are connected directly to the storage system.

Rules and Guidelines

The following rules and guidelines described in Table 1-3 apply to direct-attached clusters.

Table 1-3. Direct-Attached Clusters Rules and Guidelines

Rule/Guideline Description

Primary storage Each cluster can support up to 22 unique drive letters for shared

logical drives.

Only one storage system can be direct-attached to the cluster.

Fibre Channel HBAs Emulex LP9002L, Emulex LP982 or LP9802, or QLogic QLA2340.

Emulex driver version Storport miniport driver 5-1.00a15 or later.

QLogic driver version Storport miniport driver 8.2.2.20 or later.

Operating system Each direct-attached cluster must run Windows Storage Server 2003,

Enterprise Edition.

Dell | EMC CX600 core
software

2.04.0 or later; however, version 2.04.1 (EMC Access Logix™ enabled)
or later is required if two clusters or a mix of clustered and
nonclustered hosts are direct-attached to the CX600.

8 Platform Guide

Table 1-3. Direct-Attached Clusters Rules and Guidelines

Rule/Guideline Description

(continued)

Dell | EMC CX400 core
software

Dell | EMC CX200 core
software

Additional software
application programs

2.04.0 or later.

2.04.0 or later.

EMC Navisphere Agent 6.4 or later.

EMC Navisphere Manager 6.4 or later.

®

EMC PowerPath

EMC SnapView™ version 2.10.03 or later (not supported on the
Dell | EMC CX200).

Emulex Configuration Utility version 1.41a10 or later.

3.00 (with 3.02 build 50 patch) or later.

Attaching Your Cluster Shared Storage System to a SAN

This section provides the rules and guidelines for attaching your NAS cluster nodes to the shared
storage systems through a Dell | EMC SAN using redundant Fibre Channel switch fabrics.

Rules and Guidelines

The rules and guidelines described in Table 1-4 apply to SAN-attached clusters.

Table 1-4. SAN-Attached Clusters Rules and Guidelines

Rule/Guideline Description

Primary storage Each NAS cluster can support up to 22 unique drive letters for shared

logical drives.

Up to four Dell | EMC Fibre Channel disk arrays are supported per
cluster in a SAN environment.

Secondary storage Up to two PowerVault 132T, 136T or 160T tape libraries.

Any system attached to the SAN can share these devices.

Fibre Channel switch
configuration

Fibre Channel switch
zoning

Fibre Channel switches Dell | EMC DS-16B2 (Brocade SilkWorm 3800), Brocade

Fibre Channel switch
firmware

Redundant switch fabrics required.

Single-initiator zoning.

SilkWorm 3200, or Dell | EMC DS-24M2 (McData Spherion 4500).

Version 3.0.2m or later for Brocade 3200 and 3800.

Version 4.01.02 or later for McData.

Platform Guide 9

Table 1-4. SAN-Attached Clusters Rules and Guidelines

Rule/Guideline Description

Fibre Channel HBAs Emulex LP9002L, Emulex LP982, LP9802, or QLogic QLA2340.

Emulex driver version Storport miniport driver 5-1.00a15 or later.

QLogic driver version Storport miniport driver 8.2.2.20 or later.

Operating system Each cluster attached to the SAN must run Windows Storage Server

2003, Enterprise Edition.

(continued)

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Dell | EMC CX600 core
software

Dell | EMC CX400 core
software

Dell | EMC CX200 core
software

Additional software
application programs

2.04.1 (with Access Logix and Access Control™ enabled) or later.

2.04.1 (with Access Logix and Access Control enabled) or later.

2.04.1 (with Access Logix and Access Control enabled) or later.

EMC Navisphere Agent 6.4 or later.

EMC Navisphere Manager 6.4 or later.

EMC PowerPath 3.00 (with 3.02 build 50 patch) applied.

EMC MirrorView version 1.70 or later (not supported on the
Dell | EMC CX200).

EMC SnapView version 2.10.03 or later (not supported on the
Dell | EMC CX200).

Emulex Configuration Utility version 1.41a10 or later.

Obtaining More Information

See the
for more information about SAN-attached clusters. You can also go to the Dell Support website at

support.dell.com

Dell PowerVault NAS Fibre Channel Cluster Systems Installation and Troubleshooting Guide

.

10 Platform Guide