Dell MD3620F User Manual 2

Dell PowerVault MD3600f and

MD3620f Storage Arrays

Owner’s Manual

Regulatory Model: E03J Series and E04J Series Regulatory Type: E03J001 and E04J001

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.

____________________

Trademarks used in this text: Dell™, the DELL logo, PowerEdge™, PowerVault™, and OpenManage™ are trademarks of Dell Inc. Intel the U.S. and other countries. Microsoft

Explorer and/or other countries. Red Hat Hat, Inc. in the United States and other countries. SUSE the United States and other countries.

Regulatory Model: E03J Series and E04J Series Regulatory Type: E03J001 and E04J001

2013- 06 Rev. A02

are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States

and Red Hat Enterprise Linux® are registered trademarks of Red

, Windows®, Windows Server®, MS-DOS®, and Internet

is a registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in

is a registered trademark of Novell, Inc. in

Contents

1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

About This Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Inside the Box of the Dell PowerVault MD3600f Series Storage Array

Other Information You May Need . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

2 Planning: About Your Storage Array . . . . 25

Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

MD3600f Dell PowerVault Modular Disk

Storage Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Series Storage Array . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Hardware Features

Front-Panel Features and Indicators Back Panel Features and Indicators

Hard–Drive Indicator Patterns Power Supply and Cooling Fan Features

Power Indicator Codes and Features . . . . . . . . . . 32

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

. . . . . . . 26

. . . . . . . . 29

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

. . . . . . . . 31

3 Planning: RAID Controller Modules . . . . 33

RAID Controller Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Contents 3

RAID Controller Module Connectors and Features . . . 34 Host Channel LED Link/Rate Indications RAID Controller Module—Additional Features

Battery Backup Unit

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

Storage Array Thermal Shutdown System Password Reset

Cache Functions and Features

Cache Mirroring Write–Back Cache

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

. . . . . . . . 36

. . . . . 36

. . . . . . . . . 37

Write–Through Cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

SFP Transceivers, Fiber Optic, and SAS Cables. . . . . 38

Interoperability of 2 Gbps, 4 Gbps, and 8 Gbps Devices

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

4 Planning: MD3600f Series Storage

Array Terms and Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Physical Disks, Virtual Disks, and Disk Groups. . . . . 41

Physical Disks Physical Disk States Self-Monitoring Analysis and

Reporting Technology Virtual Disks and Disk Groups Virtual Disk States

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

. . . . . . . . . . . 43

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

4 Contents

RAID Levels

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

RAID Level Usage

Segment Size

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Virtual Disk Operations

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Virtual Disk Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Background Initialization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Foreground Initialization Consistency Check

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Media Verification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Cycle Time Virtual Disk Operations Limit

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

. . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Disk Group Operations

RAID Level Migration Segment Size Migration

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Virtual Disk Capacity Expansion . . . . . . . . . . 51

Disk Group Expansion Disk Group Defragmentation

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

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

Disk Group Operations Limit . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

RAID Background Operations Priority . . . . . . . . . 52

Virtual Disk Migration and Disk Roaming

Disk Migration

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

. . . . . . . . 53

Disk Roaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Advanced Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Host Server–to–Virtual Disk Mapping

. . . . . . . 55

Host Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Snapshot Virtual Disks Snapshot Repository Virtual Disk

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

. . . . . . . . . . 57

Virtual Disk Copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Virtual Disk Recovery Using Snapshot and Disk Copy Together

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

. . . . . . 59

Multi-Path Software

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Preferred and Alternate Controllers and Paths

Virtual Disk Ownership

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

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

Contents 5

Load Balancing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Monitoring MD3600f Series System Performance

. . . 61

5 Configuration: Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Enterprise Management Window Array Management Window

. . . . . . . . . 66

. . . . . . . . . . . . 67

6 Configuration: About Your

Storage Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Storage Arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Adding Storage Arrays Setting Up Your Storage Array

Locating Storage Arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Naming or Renaming Storage Arrays

Setting a Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Viewing Storage Array Connections Adding/Editing a Comment to an

Existing Storage Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Removing Storage Arrays Enabling Premium Features

Failover Alert Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Changing the Cache Settings on the Storage Array

Changing Expansion Enclosure

ID Number. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Changing the Enclosure Order in the

Physical Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

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

. . . . . . . . . . . 72

. . . . . . . . 73

. . . . . . . . 76

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

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

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

6 Contents

Configuring Alert Notifications

Configuring E–mail Alerts

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Configuring SNMP Alerts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Battery Settings

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Setting the Storage Array RAID Controller Module Clocks

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

7 Configuration: Event Monitor . . . . . . . . . 87

Enabling or Disabling the Event Monitor . . . . . . . . 88

Windows Linux

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

8 Configuration: About Your Host. . . . . . . . 89

Configuring Host Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Using the Mappings Tab

Defining a Host

Removing Host Access

Managing Host Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Creating a Host Group

Moving a Host to a Different Host Group. . . . . . 94

Removing a Host Group Host Topology

Starting or Stopping the Host Context Agent. . . . 95

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

I/O Data Path Protection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Managing Host Port Identifiers

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Contents 7

9 Configuration: Disk Groups and

Virtual Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Creating Disk Groups and Virtual Disks. . . . . . . . 101

Creating Disk Groups

Locating a Disk Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Creating Virtual Disks Changing the Virtual Disk

Modification Priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Changing the Virtual Disk Cache Settings Changing the Segment Size of a

Virtual Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Changing the I/O Type

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

. . . . 107

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Choosing an Appropriate Physical Disk Type

. . . . . 111

Physical Disk Security With Self Encrypting Disk

Creating a Security Key Changing a Security Key

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Saving a Security Key. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Validate Security Key Unlocking Secure Physical Disks

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

. . . . . . . . . 119

Erasing Secure Physical Disks . . . . . . . . . . 119

Configuring Hot Spare Physical Disks

Hot Spares and Rebuild

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

. . . . . . . . . 120

Global Hot Spares. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Hot Spare Operation Hot Spare Drive Protection

Enclosure Loss Protection Host-to-Virtual Disk Mapping

Creating Host-to-Virtual Disk Mappings

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

. . . . . . . . . . . . 123

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

. . . . . 126

8 Contents

Modifying and Removing Host-to-Virtual Disk Mapping

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Changing Controller Ownership of the Virtual Disk

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Removing Host-to-Virtual Disk Mapping . . . . . . 129

Changing the RAID Controller Module Ownership of a Disk Group

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Changing the RAID Level of a Disk Group . . . . . 130

Removing a Host-to-Virtual Disk Mapping Using Linux DMMP

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Restricted Mappings

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Changing the RAID Controller Module Ownership of a Virtual Disk or a Disk Group

Changing the RAID Level of a Disk Group Storage Partitioning

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

. . . . 134

. . . . . . . . 136

Disk Group and Virtual Disk Expansion. . . . . . . . . 138

Disk Group Expansion

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Virtual Disk Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Using Free Capacity

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Using Unconfigured Capacity . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Disk Group Migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Export Disk Group

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Exporting a Disk Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Import Disk Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Importing a Disk Group

Storage Array Media Scan

Changing Media Scan Settings Suspending the Media Scan

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

. . . . . . . . . . 143

. . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Contents 9

10 Configuration: Premium

Feature—Snapshot Virtual Disks . . . . . 145

Scheduling a Snapshot Virtual Disk. . . . . . . . . . 146

Common Reasons for Scheduling a Snapshot Virtual Disk

Guidelines for Creating Snapshot Schedules

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Enabling and Disabling Snapshot

Schedules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Creating a Snapshot Virtual Disk Using the Simple Path

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

About the Simple Path Preparing Host Servers to Create the

Snapshot Using the Simple Path . . . . . . . . . 150

Creating a Snapshot Virtual Disk Using the Advanced Path

About the Advanced Path Preparing Host Servers to Create the

Snapshot Using the Advanced Path . . . . . . . 154

Creating the Snapshot Using the Advanced Path

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

10 Contents

Specifying Snapshot Virtual Disk Names Snapshot Repository Capacity

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

. . . . . . . 157

Disabling a Snapshot Virtual Disk. . . . . . . . . . . 162

Preparing Host Servers to Re-create a Snapshot Virtual Disk

Re-creating Snapshot Virtual Disks Snapshot Rollback

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

. . . . . . . . . . 164

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Rules and Guidelines for Performing a Snapshot Rollback

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Protecting Against a Failed Snapshot Rollback

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Previous Versions of the MD Storage Manager

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Starting a Snapshot Rollback. . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Resuming a Snapshot Rollback Canceling a Snapshot Rollback

. . . . . . . . . . 167

. . . . . . . . . . 168

11 Configuration: Premium

Feature—Virtual Disk Copy . . . . . . . . . 169

Types of Virtual Disk Copies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Offline Copy

Online Copy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Creating a Virtual Disk Copy for an MSCS Shared Disk

Virtual Disk Read/Write Permissions . . . . . . . . . . 172

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Virtual Disk Copy Restrictions Creating a Virtual Disk Copy

Before You Begin

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Virtual Disk Copy and Modification Operations

Create Copy Wizard Failed Virtual Disk Copy

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Preferred RAID Controller Module Ownership Failed RAID Controller Module Copy Manager

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Copying the Virtual Disk

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

. . . . . 176

Contents 11

Storage Array Performance During Virtual Disk Copy

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Setting Copy Priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Stopping a Virtual Disk Copy Recopying a Virtual Disk

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Preparing Host Servers to Recopy a Virtual Disk

Re-Copying a Virtual Disk

Removing Copy Pairs

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

12 Configuration: Premium Feature—

Upgrading to

High–Performance Tier . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

13 Configuration: Premium Feature—

Remote Replication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Switchable Host Access Configuration

Required With Remote Replication. . . . . . . . 185

Activating Remote Replication

Replication Repository Virtual Disks . . . . . . . 186

RAID Levels for Replication Repository Virtual Disks

Primary and Secondary Virtual Disk Pairs . . . . 187

Using Remote Replication With Other Features

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Storage Partitioning With

Remote Replication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Snapshot Virtual Disk With

Remote Replication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Virtual Disk Copy With Remote Replication

. . . . . . . . . . 186

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

. . . 189

12 Contents

Virtual Disk Expansion With Remote Replication

Required Switch Zoning Configurations Zoning Guidelines for Remote Replication

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

. . . . . . 190

. . . . . 190

Switch Cascading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Journaling File Systems and Remote Replication

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Setting Up and Managing

Remote Replication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Activating the Remote Replication Premium Feature and Creating Replication

Virtual Disks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Activating and Creating Replication Repository Virtual Disks From

the Storage Array. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Activating and Creating Replication Repository Virtual Disks From an

Existing Disk Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Creating a Remote Replication

. . . . . . . . . . . 194

Selecting the Secondary Virtual Disk . . . . . . . 195

Setting the Write Mode

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Setting Synchronization Priority and

Synchronization Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Completing the Remote Replication

. . . . . . . . 197

RAID Controller Module Ownership/Preferred Path

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Viewing Information About a Remote Replication or Replication Repository

Virtual Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Viewing the Properties Pane

. . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Viewing Logical Elements of the

Secondary Virtual Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Viewing the Physical Components or Logical

Elements of the Primary Virtual Disk . . . . . . . . 201

Virtual Disk Status Icons

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Changing Write Mode and Consistency

Group Membership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Contents 13

Resynchronizing Virtual Disks . . . . . . . . . . 204

Normally Synchronized Virtual Disks. . . . . . . 204

Changing Synchronization Priority and Method

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Unsynchronized Virtual Disks. . . . . . . . . . . 207

Automatically Resynchronizing Virtual Disks Manually Resynchronizing Virtual Disks

. . . 208

. . . . . 208

Reversing Roles Between the Primary

and Secondary Virtual Disks . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Promoting the Secondary Virtual Disk or

Demoting the Primary Virtual Disk . . . . . . . . 210

Suspending a Remote Replication Resuming a Remote Replication

. . . . . . . . 210

. . . . . . . . . 211

About Resumed Remote Replications . . . . . . 211

Testing Communication Between the Primary and Secondary Virtual Disks

. . . . . . . 212

Deleting a Virtual Disk From a Replicated Pair

in a Storage Array. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Deleting a Primary Virtual Disk

. . . . . . . . . . 213

Deleting a Secondary Virtual Disk . . . . . . . . 214

Deleting a Primary Virtual Disk in a

Replicated Pair From a Storage Array . . . . . . 214

Deleting a Secondary Virtual Disk in a Replicated Pair From a Storage Array

. . . . . . 215

Removing a Remote Replication From a Storage Array

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Deactivating the Remote Replication

on the Storage Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Disabling the Remote Replication Premium Feature

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

14 Configuration: Device Mapper

Multipath for Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

14 Contents

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Using DM Multipathing Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Prerequisites

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Device Mapper Configuration Steps . . . . . . . . 221

Limitations and Known Issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Troubleshooting

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

15 Management: Firmware

Downloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Downloading RAID Controller and

NVSRAM Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Downloading Both RAID Controller and NVSRAM Firmware

Downloading Only NVSRAM Firmware Downloading Physical Disk Firmware

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

. . . . . . . . . 232

. . . . . . . . . 235

Downloading MD1200 Series Expansion Module EMM Firmware

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART)

Media Errors and Unreadable Sectors

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

. . . . . . . . . 239

16 Management: Installing Array

Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Recommended Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Front Bezel (Optional)

Removing the Front Bezel Installing the Front Bezel

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Contents 15

Hard Drives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Removing a Hard-Drive Blank

. . . . . . . . . . 243

Installing a Hard-Drive Blank. . . . . . . . . . . 244

Removing a Hard Drive Installing a Hard Drive

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Removing a Hard Drive From a

Hard-Drive Carrier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

Installing a Hard Drive Into a

Hard-Drive Carrier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

RAID Controller Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Removing a RAID Controller Module Blank

. . . 249

Installing a RAID Controller Module Blank . . . . 250

Removing a RAID Controller Module Installing a RAID Controller Module

. . . . . . . 251

. . . . . . . 252

Opening the RAID Controller Module. . . . . . . 253

Closing the RAID Controller Module

. . . . . . . 254

16 Contents

RAID Controller Module Backup Battery Unit

. . . . . 255

Removing the RAID Controller Module Backup Battery Unit

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Installing the RAID Controller Module

Backup Battery Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Power Supply/Cooling Fan Module

. . . . . . . . . . 257

Removing a Power Supply/Cooling Fan Module

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Installing a Power Supply/Cooling

Fan Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Control Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Removing the Control Panel Installing the Control Panel

Backplane

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Removing the Backplane

. . . . . . . . . . . 259

. . . . . . . . . . . . 261

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Installing the Backplane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

17 Management: Firmware Inventory . . . . 267

Viewing the Firmware Inventory . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

18 Management: System Interfaces . . . . . 269

Microsoft Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Virtual Disk Service Volume Shadow-Copy Service

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

. . . . . . . . . . . 269

19 Troubleshooting: Your Storage

Array Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Start–Up Routine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Device Health Conditions Storage Array Support Data

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Automatically Collect the Support Bundle Data . . . . 275

Collecting the Physical Disk Data Event Log

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

. . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Recovery Guru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Storage Array Profile Viewing the Logical Associations Viewing the Physical Associations Finding Nodes

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

. . . . . . . . . . . . 280

. . . . . . . . . . . 281

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Contents 17

Using Go To. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Recovering From an Unresponsive Storage Array Condition

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Locating a Physical Disk Locating an Expansion Enclosure

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

. . . . . . . . . . . 287

Capturing the State Information . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

SMrepassist Utility Unidentified Devices

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Recovering From an Unidentified Storage Array . . . 290 Starting or Restarting the Host Context

Agent Software

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

20 Troubleshooting: Your Array . . . . . . . . . 295

Safety First—For You and Your Array . . . . . . . . . 295

Troubleshooting Storage Array Startup Failure Troubleshooting Loss of Communication Troubleshooting an SFP Transceiver

. . . . . . . . . 295

. . . . 295

. . . . . . . 295

18 Contents

Troubleshooting External Connections

. . . . . . . . 298

Troubleshooting Power Supply/Cooling Fan Module

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

Troubleshooting Array Cooling Problems Troubleshooting Expansion Enclosure

Management Modules

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

Troubleshooting RAID Controller Modules

. . . . . . . 299

. . . . . . 301

Troubleshooting Hard Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Troubleshooting Array and Expansion Enclosure Connections

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

Troubleshooting a Wet Storage Array Troubleshooting a Damaged Array

. . . . . . . . . . 304

. . . . . . . . . . . 305

Troubleshooting RAID Controller Modules . . . . . . . 306

Conditions

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

21 Getting Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Locating Your System Service Tag . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Contacting Dell

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Documentation Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Contents 19

20 Contents

Introduction

NOTE: Unless specified, MD3600f Series represents Dell PowerVault MD3600f and

Dell PowerVault MD3620f storage arrays.

WARNING: See the Safety, Environmental, and Regulatory Information document

for important safety information before following any procedures listed in this document.

About This Document

This guide familiarizes you with the functions of the Dell PowerVault MD3600f Series storage array. The guide is organized according to the tasks that you must complete after receiving your MD3600f Series storage array. The tasks are:

Planning—Information about the storage array and its features. Configuration—Tasks that must be completed to ensure that your storage

array performs optimally. Management—Tasks that may be performed to ensure that 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 at dell.com/support/manuals.

Introduction 21

Inside the Box of the Dell PowerVault MD3600f Series Storage Array

Your MD3600f Series product package includes:

• Dell PowerVault MD3600f

• Small form-factor pluggable (SFP) transceiver (2 per controller)

• Fiber optic cables (optional)

• Power cables (2)

• Front bezel (optional)

• Mounting rails (2) (optional)

• MD3600f

•

Rack Installation Instructions

•

Getting Started With Your System

features, setting up your enclosure, and technical specifications)

Series

resource media

MD3600f Series Storage Array

The MD3600f Series is a 2U rack-mounted external redundant array of independent disks (RAID) storage array capable of accommodating up to twelve 3.5" or twenty four 2.5" 6.0-Gbps Serial-Attached SC SI (SAS) disks. The MD3600f Series storage arrays can be daisy-chained with MD1200 Series expansion enclosures, providing access to a maximum of 120 disks (or 192 disks with Premium Feature activation) 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).

Series

storage array

(provides an overview of enclosure

Dell PowerVault Modular Disk Stor ag e Man ager

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.

22 Introduction

Other Information You May Need

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.

•The

• The Resource media contains all system management tools.

•The

•

• This document as well as

•The

Getting Started Guide

your storage array.

Deployment Guide

for both software and hardware.

Storage Manager CLI Guide

command line interface (CLI).

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

dell.com/support/manuals.

Systems Support Matrix

and hardware for MD systems. The document is available at

dell.com/support/manuals

Dell P owerEdge C luster D ocum entation

dell.com/support/manuals

Release notes

to the enclosure or documentation or advanced technical reference material intended for experienced users or technicians.

Guide

is available at

MD1200 expansion enclosures.

Rack Installation Instructions

describes how to install your enclosure into a rack.

or readme files are included to provide last-minute updates

provides an overview of setting up and cabling

provides installation and configuration instructions

provides information about using the

provides information on supported software

is available at

Dell P o werVault MD 1200 Series Installation

dell.com/support/manuals

included with your rack solution

for users who incorporate

NOTE: Always check for updates on dell.com/support/manuals and read the

updates first because they often supersede information in other documents.

Introduction 23

24 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 configurations.

The Dell PowerVault MD3600f Series storage array provides Fibre Channel (FC) connectivity to the host server and enables access for up to eight nonredundant 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)

• A front bezel (optional)

• A system enclosure, into which, the other components are plugged

Planning: About Your Storage Array 25

Hardware Features

Front-Panel Features and Indicators

Figure 2-1. Front-Panel Features and Indicators—Dell PowerVault MD3600f

Figure 2-2. Front-Panel Features and Indicators—Dell PowerVault MD3620f

26 Planning: About Your Storage Array

Figure 2-3. Front-Bezel Features and Indicators

Item Indicator, Button, or

Connector

1 Enclosure status LED The enclosure status LED lights when the

2 Power LED The power LED lights green when at least one

Icon Description

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 preferr ed path to a virtual disk.

power supply is supplying power to the enclosure.

Planning: About Your Storage Array 27

Item Indicator, Button, or

Connector

3 Split mode LED This LED must be unlit as the split mode

4 System identification

button

5 Hard drives MD3600f—Up to twelve 3.5" SAS hot-swappable

6Enclosure mode

switch

Icon Description

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.

hard drives. MD3620f—Up to twenty four 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 MD1200 Series expansion enclosures must be set to the Unified-Mode position.

NOTE: This switch must be set before turning on

the MD1200 Series expansion enclosure. Changing the switch setting after the expansion enclosure is turned on has no effect on the enclosure configuration until the expansion enclosure goes through a complete power cycle.

28 Planning: About Your Storage Array

Back Panel Features and Indicators

Figure 2-4. Back-Panel Features and Indicators—Dell PowerVault MD3600f Series

1 600 W power supply/cooling fan

module

3 RAID Controller Module 1 4 600 W power supply/cooling fan

2 RAID Controller Module 0

module

Planning: About Your Storage Array 29

Hard–Drive Indicator Patterns

Figure 2-5. Hard Drive Indicators

1 hard-drive activity indicator (green) 2 hard-drive status indicator (green

30 Planning: About Your Storage Array

and amber)

+ 288 hidden pages

Dell MD3620F User Manual 2

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Introduction

About This Document

Inside the Box of the Dell PowerVault MD3600f Series Storage Array

MD3600f Series Storage Array

Dell PowerVault Modular Disk Stor ag e Man ager

Other Information You May Need

Planning: About Your Storage Array

Overview

Hardware Features

Front-Panel Features and Indicators

Back Panel Features and Indicators