Dell MD3200I, MD3220I User Manual

Dell PowerVault MD3200i and

MD3220i Storage Arrays

Deployment Guide

Notes, Cautions, and Warnings

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

your computer.

CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates potential damage to hardware or loss of data if

instructions are not followed.

WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal

injury, or death.

____________________

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, and PowerVault™ are trademarks of Dell Inc.

Intel

and Pentium® are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Microsoft Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Red Hat Linux a registered trademark of Novell, Inc., in the United States and other countries. VMware trademark of VMware, Inc. in the United States or other countries. Citrix™ is a trademark of Citrix Systems, Inc. and/or more of its subsidiaries, and may be register ed in the United States Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries.

Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this publication 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.

, Windows®, and Windows Server® are either trademarks or registered trademarks of

are registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. in the United States and other countries. SUSE® is

and Red Hat® Enterprise

is a registered

2011 - 09 Rev. A01

Contents

1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Management Station Requirements

. . . . . . . . . 7

Introduction to Storage Arrays

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

2 Hardware Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Planning the Storage Configuration. . . . . . . . . . . 11

Connecting the Storage Array Cabling the Storage Array

Redundant and Non-Redundant Configurations

Direct-Attached Configurations . . . . . . . . . . 13

Network-Attached Configurations

Cabling PowerVault MD1200 Series

Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Expanding With Previously Configured PowerVault MD1200 Series Expansion Enclosures

Expanding With New PowerVault MD1200 Series Expansion Enclosures

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

. . . . . . . . . 20

Expansion

. . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Contents 3

3 Installing PowerVault MD Storage

Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Graphical Installation (Recommended). . . . . . . 28

Console Installation

Silent Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Upgrading PowerVault MD Storage Software . . . . . 31

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

4 Post Installation Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Before You Begin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

iSCSI Configuration Worksheet

IPv4 Settings IPv6 Settings

Configuring iSCSI on Your Storage Array

Automatic Configuration Using the Modular Disk Configuration Utility

Post Connection Establishment Steps

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

. . . . . . . . 38

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

. . . . . . . . . . 48

5 Guidelines for Configuring Your

Network for iSCSI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Microsoft Windows Host Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Linux Host Setup

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

6 Uninstalling PowerVault MD

Storage Software

Uninstalling Dell PowerVault MD Storage

Software From Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

4 Contents

Uninstalling PowerVault MD Storage Software From Linux

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

A Appendix—Manual Configuration

of iSCSI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Step 1: Discover the Storage Array

(Out-of-band Management Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Default Management Port Settings Automatic Storage Array Discovery

Manual Storage Array Discovery . . . . . . . . . 57

Setting Up the Array

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Step 2: Configure the iSCSI Ports on the Storage Array

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Step 3: Perform Target Discovery From the iSCSI Initiator

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

. . . . . . . . 56

. . . . . . . . 57

Step 4: Configure Host Access Understanding CHAP Authentication

What is CHAP? Target CHAP Mutual CHAP

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

CHAP Definitions

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

. . . . . . . . . . 63

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Step 5: Configure CHAP Authentication on the Storage Array (Optional)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Configuring Target CHAP Authentication on the Storage Array

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Configuring Mutual CHAP Authentication on the

Storage Array. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Step 6: Configure CHAP Authentication on the Host Server (Optional)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Contents 5

Step 7: Connect to the Target Storage Array From he Host Server

Step 8: (Optional) Set Up In-Band Management. . . . . 74

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

B Appendix—Using Internet Storage

Naming Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

C A ppendix—Load Balancing. . . . . . . . . . 77

Load Balance Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Round Robin With Subset

Least Queue Depth With Subset . . . . . . . . . . 78

Least Path Weight With Subset Changing Load Balance Policies on the

Windows Server 2008 Operating System. . . . . . 78

Increasing Bandwidth With Multiple iSCSI Sessions

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

. . . . . . . . . . . 78

D Appendix—Stopping and Starting

iSCSI Services in Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

6 Contents

Introduction

This guide provides information about deploying Dell PowerVault MD MD3200i and Dell PowerVault MD3220i storage arrays. The deployment process includes:

• Hardware installation

• Modular Disk Storage Manager (MDSM) software installation

• Initial system configuration

Other information provided include system requirements, storage array organization, and utilities.

NOTE: For more information on product documentation see,

support.dell.com/manuals.

MDSM enables an administrator to configure and monitor storage arrays for optimum usability. The version of MDSM included on the PowerVault MD series resource media can be used to manage both the PowerVault MD3200i series and the earlier PowerVault MD series storage arrays. MDSM is compatible with both Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems.

System Requirements

Before installing and configuring the PowerVault MD3200i series hardware and software, ensure that the operating system is supported and minimum system requirements are met. For more information, see the Dell PowerVault Support Matrix available on support.dell.com/manuals.

Management Station Requirements

A management station uses MDSM to configure and manage storage arrays across the network. A management station must meet the following minimum system requirements:

• Intel Pentium or an equivalent processor (1333 MHz or faster) with 512 MB RAM (1024 MB recommended)

• 1 GB disk space

Introduction 7

• Display resolution of 1024x768 with 16 million colors (1280x1024 32-bit recommended)

• Microsoft Windows, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

NOTE: Operating system installations can be either native or hypervisor guest

configurations.

NOTE: Supported hypervisors include Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix XenServer,

and VMware. For information about the supported versions, see the Support Matrix at support.dell.com.

• Administrator or equivalent permissions

Introduction to Storage Arrays

A storage array includes various hardware components, such as physical disks, RAID controller modules, fans, and power supplies, gathered into enclosures. An enclosure containing physical disks accessed through RAID controller modules is called a storage array.

One or more host servers attached to the storage array can access the data on the storage array. You can also establish multiple physical paths between the host(s) and the storage array so that loss of any single path (for example, through failure of a host server port) does not result in loss of access to data on the storage array.

The storage array is managed by MDSM running on a:

• Host server—On a host server, MDSM and the storage array communicate management requests and event information using iSCSI ports.

• Management station—On a management station, MDSM communicates with the storage array either through an Ethernet connection to the storage array management port or though an Ethernet connection to a host server. The Ethernet connection passes management information between the management station and the storage array using iSCSI ports.

Using MDSM, you can configure the physical disks in the storage array into logical components called disk groups and then divide the disk groups into virtual disks. Disk groups are created in the unconfigured capacity of a storage array. Virtual disks are created in the free capacity of a disk group.

8 Introduction

Unconfigured capacity comprises of physical disks not already assigned to a disk group. When a virtual disk is created using unconfigured capacity, a disk group is automatically created. If the only virtual disk in a disk group is deleted, the disk group is also deleted. Free capacity is space in a disk group that is not assigned to any virtual disk.

Data is written to the physical disks in the storage array using RAID technology. RAID levels define the way in which data is written to physical disks. Different RAID levels offer different levels of accessibility, redundancy, and capacity. You can set a specified RAID level for each disk group and virtual disk on your storage array.

For more information about using RAID and managing data in your storage solution, see the Owner’s Manual

support.dell.com/manuals

Introduction 9

10 Introduction

Hardware Installation

Befo re using thi s guide, ensure that y ou review the instructions in the:

•

Getting Started Guide

the storage array provides information to configure the initial setup of the system.

• Planning section of the information up your storage solution. See the

about important concepts you must know before setting

Planning the Storage Configuration

Consider the following before installing your storage array:

• Evaluate data storage needs and administrative re quirements.

• Calculate availability requirements.

• Decide the frequency and level of backups, such as weekly full backups with daily partial backups.

• Consider storage array options, such as password protection and e-mail alert notifications for error conditions.

• Design the configuration of virtual disks and disk groups according to a data organization plan. For example, use one virtual disk for inventory, a second for financial and tax information, and a third for customer information.

• Decide whether to allow space for hot spares, which automatically r eplace failed physical disks.

—The

Getting Started Guide

Owner’s Manual—

Owner’s Manual

that shipped with

The planing section provides

support.dell.com

Hardware Installation 11

Connecting the Storage Array

The storage array is connected to a host using two hot-swappable RAID controller modules. The RAID controller modules are identified as RAID controller module 0 and RAID controller module 1.

Each RAID controller module has four iSCSI In port connectors that provide Ethernet connections to the host server or switches. Each RAID controller module also contains an Ethernet management port and a SAS Out port. The Ethernet management port allows you to install a dedicated management station (server or stand-alone system). The SAS Out port allows you to connect the storage array to optional PowerVault MD1200 series e xpansion enclosures for additional storage capacity.

Each PowerVault MD3200i series storage array can be expanded to a maximum of 120 (or 192, if enabled using Premium Feature activation) physical disks through a maximum of seven PowerVault MD1200 series expansion enclosures.

Cabling the Storage Array

The iSCSI interface enables different host-to-controller configurations. The figures in this chapter are grouped according to the following categories:

• Direct-attached configurations (no Ethernet switches are used)

• Network-attached (SAN) configurations (Ethernet switches are used)

Redundant and Non-Redundant Configurations

Non-redundant configurations are configurations that provide only a single data path from a host to the storage array. This type of configuration is only recommended for non-critical data storage. Path failure from a failed or removed cable, a failed NIC, or a failed or removed RAID controller module results in loss of host access to storage on the storage array.

Redundancy is established by installing separate data paths between the host and the storage array, in which each path is to one of the two RAID controller modules installed in the storage array. Redundancy protects the host from losing access to data in the event of path failure, because both RAID controller modules can access all the disks in the storage array.

12 Hardware Installation

Direct-Attached Configurations

You can connect the Ethernet ports of the host servers directly to the storage array RAID controller module iSCSI ports.

Single Path Data Configurations

With a single path configuration, a group of heterogeneous hosts can be connected to the storage array through a single physical Ethernet port. Since there is only one port, there is no redundancy, although each iSCSI portal supports multiple connections. This configuration is supported for both single controller and dual controller modes.

Hardware Installation 13

Figure2-1 shows a non-redundant cabling configuration to the RAID

Corporate, public, or private network

Storage array

Server 1 Server 2 Server 3 Server 4

controller modules using a single path data configuration.

Figure 2-1. Four Hosts Connected to a Single Controller

14 Hardware Installation

Figure 2-2 shows two hosts connected to a single controller array.

Corporate, public, or private network

Storage array

Server 1

Server 2

Figure 2-2. T wo Hosts Connected to a Single Controller

Hardware Installation 15

Figure2-3 shows eight stand-alone hosts supported in a dual controller array

Corporate, public, or private network

Storage array

Server 1

Server 2

Server 3 Server 4

Server 8

Up to 8 hosts

configuration with a single data path.

Figure 2-3. Eight Hosts in a Dual-Controller Configuration

16 Hardware Installation

Dual-Path Data Configuration

In Figure2-4, up to four servers are directly attached to the RAID controller modules. If the host server has a second Ethernet connection to the array, it can be attached to the iSCSI ports on the array's second controller. This configuration provides improved availability by allowing two separate physical paths for each host, which ensures full redundancy if one of the paths fail.

In Figure2-5, up to four cluster nodes are directly attached to two RAID controller modules. Since each cluster node has redundant paths, loss of a single path would still allow access to the to the storage array through the alternate path.

Hardware Installation 17

Figure 2-4. Four Hosts Connected to Two Controllers

Storage array

Server 1 Server 2 Server 3 Server 4

Corporate, public, or private network

18 Hardware Installation

Figure 2-5. Four Hosts Connected in a Dual-Controller Configuration

Corporate, public, or private network

Storage array

Four node cluster server

Hardware Installation 19

Network-Attached Configurations

You can also cable the host servers to the RAID controller module iSCSI ports through industry-standard 1GB Ethernet switches. An iSCSI configuration that uses Ethernet switches is frequently referred to as an IP SAN. By using an IP SAN, the PowerVault MD3200i series storage array can support up to 64 hosts simultaneously. This configuration supports either single- or dual-path data configurations and either single or dual controller modules.

Figure2-6 shows up to 64 stand-alone servers attached (using multiple sessions) to a single RAID controller module through a network. Hosts that have a second Ethernet connection to the network allow two separate physical paths for each host, which ensures full redundancy if one of the paths fail. Figure2-7 shows how the same number of hosts can be similarly attached to a dual RAID controller module configuration.

20 Hardware Installation

Corporate, public, or private network

Up to 64 hosts

Switch

Storage array

Figure 2-6. 64 Servers Connected to a Single Controller

Hardware Installation 21

Corporate, public, or private network

Switch

Storage array

Up to 64 hosts

Figure 2-7. 64 Servers Connected to Two Controllers

22 Hardware Installation

Cabling PowerVault MD1200 Series Expansion Enclosures

You can expand the capacity of your PowerVault MD3200i series storage array by adding PowerVault MD1200 series expansion enclosures. You can expand the physical disk pool to a maximum of 120 (or 192, if enabled using Premium Feature activation) physical disks using a maximum of seven expansion enclosures.

Expanding With Previously Configured PowerVault MD1200 Series Expansion Enclosures

Use this procedure if your expansion enclosure is directly attached to and configured on a Dell Po werEdge RAID Controller (PER C)H800 adapter. Data from virtual disks created on a PERC H800 adapter cannot be directly migrated to a PowerVault MD3200i series storage array or to a PowerVault MD1200 series expansion enclosure connected to a PowerVault MD3 200i series storage array.

CAUTION: If a PowerVault MD1200 series expansion enclosure that was

previously attached to PERC H800 adapter is used as an expansion enclosure to a PowerVault MD3200i series storage array, the physical disks of the expansion enclosure are reinitialized and data is lost. You must backup all data on the expansion enclosure before attempting the expansion.

To attach previously configured PowerVault MD1200 series expansion enclosures to the PowerVault MD3200i series storage array:

Back up all data on the expansion enclosure(s).

While the enclosure is still attached to the PERC H800 controller, upgrade the expansion enclosure firmware to the latest version available at

support.dell.com

Windows systems users can reference the kernel users can reference the

DUP.bin

DUP.exe

package.

package and Linux

Ensure that the storage array software is installed and up to date before adding the expansion enclosure(s).

For more information, see the

support.dell.com/manuals

Support Matrix

Hardware Installation 23

Install the software and driver package included on the PowerVault MD series resource media.

For information about installing the software, see "Installing PowerVault MD Storage Software" on page 25.

Update the storage array RAID controller module firmware and NVSRAM to the latest versions available at

support.dell.com

, using

PowerVault MDSM.

Click

Tools

Upgrade RAID Controller Module Firmware

in the

Enterprise Management Window (EMW).

Stop all I/O and turn off the system and attached units.

Stop all I/O to the storage array and turn off the host systems attached to the storage array.

Turn off the storage array .

Turn off the expansion enclosure(s) in the affected system.

Cable the expansion enclosure(s) to the storage array.

Turn on attached units:

Turn on the expansion enclosure(s). Wait for the enclosure status LED to turn blue.

Turn on the storage array and wait for the status LED to indicate that the unit is ready:

• If the status LEDs are solid amber, the storage array is still coming online.

• If the status LEDs are blinking amber, there is an error that can be viewed using the PowerVault MDSM.

• If the status LEDs are solid blue, the storage array is ready.

When the storage array is online and ready, turn on any attached host systems.

After the PowerVault MD1200 series expansion enclosure is configured as an expansion enclosure of the storage array, restore the data that was backed up in step 1.

After the expansion enclosures are online, they can be accessed as a part of the storage array.

24 Hardware Installation

Expanding With New PowerVa ult MD1200 Series Ex pan sion Enclo s ures

Perform the following steps to attach new PowerVault MD1200 series expansion enclosures to a PowerVault MD3200 i series sto r age array:

Before adding the expansion enclosure(s), ensure that the storage array software is installed and up to date. For more information, see the

Matrix

support.dell.com/manuals

Install the software and driver package included on the PowerVault

MD series resource media. For information about installing the software, see "The PowerVault

MD series storage software installer provides features that include the core software, providers, and optional utilities. The core software feature includes the host-based storage agent, multipath driver, and MD Storage Manager (MDSM) application used to configure, manage, and monitor the storage array solution. The providers feature includes providers for the Microsoft Virtual Disk Service (VDS) and Microsoft Volume Shadow-Copy Service (VSS) framework. The PowerVault Modular Disk Configuration Utility (MDCU) is an optional utility that provides a consolidated approach for configuring the management ports, iSCSI host ports, and creating sessions for the iSCSI Modular Disk storage arrays. It is recommended that you install and use PowerVault MDCU to configure iSCSI on each host connected to the storage array." on page 27.

Set up the PowerVault MD1200 series expansion enclosure(s). For information about setting up the PowerVault MD1200 series

expansion enclosure(s), see the

support.dell.com/manuals

Hardware Owner’s Manual

Support

Using PowerVault MDSM, update the RAID controller module firmware and NVSRAM to the latest versions available on

support.dell.com

. From the Enterprise Management Window

(EMW).

Click

ToolsUpgrade RAID Controller Module Firmware

Stop I/O and turn off all systems:

Stop all I/O to the storage array and turn off affected host systems attached to the storage array.

Turn off the storage array .

Hardware Installation 25

Turn off any expansion enclosure(s) in the affected system.

Cable the expansion enclosure(s) to the storage array.

Turn on attached units:

Turn on the expansion enclosure(s). Wait for the enclosure status LED to turn blue.

Turn on the storage array and wait for the status LED to indicate that the unit is ready:

• If the status LEDs are solid amber, the storage array is still coming online.

• If the status LEDs are blinking amber, there is an error that can be viewed using PowerVault MDSM.

• If the status LEDs are solid blue, the storage array is ready.

After the storage array is online and ready, turn on any attached host systems.

Using PowerVault MDSM, update all attached expansion enclosure firmware if it is out of date:

From the EMW, select the enclosure that you want to update and

b c

enter the Click Select

Array Management Window

AdvancedMaintenance

Select All

to update all the attached expansion enclosures

(AMW).

DownloadEMM Firmware

simultaneously.

26 Hardware Installation

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