Dell MD3600I, MD3620I User Manual

Dell PowerVault MD3600i and

MD3620i 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.

____________________

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, 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.

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.

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

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

December 2010 Rev. A00

Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

About This Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Inside the Box of the Dell PowerVault MD3600i Series Storage Array

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

MD3600i

Dell PowerVault Modular

Disk Storage Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Dell PowerVault Modular Disk Configuration Utility

Series Storage Array . . . . . . . . . . . 20

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Other Information You May Need

. . . . . . . . . . . . 21

2 Planning: About Your Storage Array . . . . 23

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Hardware Features

Front-Panel Features and Indicators

Back-Panel Features and Indicators

Hard-Drive Indicator Patterns

Power Supply and Cooling Fan Features . . . . . . . . 29

Power Indicator Codes

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

. . . . . . . 24

. . . . . . . . 27

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

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

Contents 3

3 Planning: RAID Controller Modules. . . . 31

RAID Controller Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

RAID Controller Module Connectors and Features

. . . 32

RAID Controller Module—Additional Features . . . . . 34

Battery Backup Unit

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

Storage Array Thermal Shutdown . . . . . . . . . 34

System Password Reset

Cache Functions and Features

Cache Mirroring

Write-Back Cache

Write-Through Cache

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

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

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

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

4 Planning: MD3600i Series Storage Array

Terms and Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Physical Disks, Virtual Disks, and Disk Groups. . . . . 37

Physical Disks

Physical Disk States

Self-Monitoring Analysis and

Reporting Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Virtual Disks and Disk Groups

Virtual Disk States

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

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

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

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

4 Contents

RAID Levels

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

RAID Level Usage

Segment Size

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

Virtual Disk Operations

Virtual Disk Initialization

Consistency Check

Media Verification

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

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

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

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

Cycle Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Virtual Disk Operations Limit . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Disk Group Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

RAID Level Migration

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

Segment Size Migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Virtual Disk Capacity Expansion

Disk Group Expansion

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

. . . . . . . . . . 46

Disk Group Defragmentation . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Disk Group Operations Limit

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

RAID Background Operations Priority

. . . . . . . . . 47

Virtual Disk Migration and Disk Roaming. . . . . . . . 48

Disk Migration

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

Disk Roaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Host Server-to-Virtual Disk Mapping

Host Types

Advanced Features

Snapshot Virtual Disks

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

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

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

. . . . . . . . 50

Snapshot Repository Virtual Disk. . . . . . . . . . 52

Virtual Disk Copy

Virtual Disk Recovery

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

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

Using Snapshot and Disk Copy Together . . . . . . 54

Multi-Path Software

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

Preferred and Alternate Controllers and Paths

Virtual Disk Ownership

Load Balancing

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

Monitoring MD3600i Series System Performance

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

. . . 57

Contents 5

5 Configuration: Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Enterprise Management Window

Array Management Window

. . . . . . . . . 62

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

6 Configuration: About Your

Storage Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Out-of-Band and In-Band Management . . . . . . . . . 65

Storage Arrays

Adding Storage Arrays

Setting Up Your Storage Array

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

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

. . . . . . . . . . . 68

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

Naming or Renaming Storage Arrays

Setting a Password

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

. . . . . . . . 70

Viewing Storage Array Connections . . . . . . . . 73

Adding/Editing a Comment to an

Existing Storage Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Removing Storage Arrays

Enabling Premium Features

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Displaying Failover Alert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Changing the Cache Settings on the Storage Array

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Changing Expansion Enclosure ID Numbers . . . . 76

Changing the Enclosure Order in the Physical Pane

Configuring Alert Notifications

Configuring E-mail Alerts

Configuring SNMP Alerts

Battery Settings

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

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

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

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

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

6 Contents

Setting the Storage Array RAID Controller Module Clocks

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

7 Configuration: Using iSCSI . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Changing the iSCSI Target Authentication . . . . . . . 83

Entering Mutual Authentication Permissions

Creating CHAP Secrets

Initiator CHAP Secret

Target CHAP Secret

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

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

Valid Characters for CHAP Secrets

Changing the iSCSI Target Identification

Changing the iSCSI Target Discovery Settings

. . . . . . 84

. . . . . . . . 85

. . . . . . . . 86

. . . . . 86

Configuring the iSCSI Host Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Advanced iSCSI Host Ports Settings

Viewing or Ending an iSCSI Session

. . . . . . . . . . 89

. . . . . . . . . . 90

Viewing iSCSI Statistics and Setting Baseline Statistics

Edit, Remove, or Rename Host Topology

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

. . . . . . . . 92

8 Configuration: Event Monitor . . . . . . . . . 93

Enabling or Disabling the Event Monitor . . . . . . . . 94

Windows

Linux

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

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

Contents 7

9 Configuration: About Your Host . . . . . . . 95

Configuring Host Access. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Using the Mappings Tab

Defining a Host

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

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

Removing Host Access. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Managing Host Groups

Creating a Host Group

Moving a Host to a Different Host Group

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

. . . . . 100

Removing a Host Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Host Topology

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Starting or Stopping the

Host Context Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

I/O Data Path Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Managing Host Port Identifiers

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

10 Configuration: Disk Groups and

Virtual Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Creating Disk Groups and Virtual Disks . . . . . . . . 107

Creating Disk Groups

Locating a Disk Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Creating Virtual Disks

Changing the Virtual

Disk Modification Priority. . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Changing the Virtual Disk Cache Settings

Changing the Segment Size of a Virtual Disk

Changing the I/O Type

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

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

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

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

8 Contents

Choosing an Appropriate Physical Disk Type . . . . . . 117

Physical Disk Security with Self Encrypting Disk

Creating a Security Key

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Changing a Security Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Saving a Security Key

Validate Security Key

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

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

Unlocking Secure Physical Disks. . . . . . . . . . 125

Erasing Secure Physical Disks

. . . . . . . . . . . 126

Configuring Hot Spare Physical Disks

Hot Spares and Rebuild

Global Hot Spares

Hot Spare Operation

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

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

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

. . . . . . . . . 126

Hot Spare Drive Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Enclosure Loss Protection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Host-to-Virtual Disk Mapping

Creating Host-to-Virtual Disk Mappings

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

. . . . . . 132

Modifying and Removing

Host-to-Virtual Disk Mapping. . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Changing Controller

Ownership of the Virtual Disk. . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Removing Host-to-Virtual Disk Mapping

. . . . . . 135

Changing the RAID Controller

Module Ownership of a Disk Group . . . . . . . . 135

Changing the RAID Level of a Disk Group

Restricted Mappings

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

. . . . . 137

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

Changing the RAID Level of a Disk Group

. . . . 139

. . . . . . . . 141

Storage Partitioning

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Contents 9

Disk Group and Virtual Disk Expansion . . . . . . . . 143

Disk Group Expansion

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

Virtual Disk Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Using Free Capacity

Using Unconfigured Capacity

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

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

Disk Group Migration

Export Disk Group

Exporting a Disk Group

Import Disk Group

Importing a Disk Group

Storage Array Media Scan

Changing Media Scan Settings

Suspending the Media Scan

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

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

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

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

. . . . . . . . . . 148

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

11 Configuration: Premium Feature—

Snapshot Virtual Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Creating a Snapshot Virtual Disk Using the Simple Path

About the Simple Path

Preparing Host Servers to Create the Snapshot Using the Simple Path

Creating a Snapshot Virtual Disk Using the Advanced Path

About the Advanced Path

Preparing Host Servers to Create the

Snapshot Using the Advanced Path . . . . . . . 157

Creating the Snapshot

Using the Advanced Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

. . . . . . . . . 154

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

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

10 Contents

Specifying Snapshot Virtual Disk Names

. . . . . . . 161

Snapshot Repository Capacity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Re-Creating Snapshot Virtual Disks

Disabling a Snapshot Virtual Disk

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

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

Preparing Host Servers to Re-Create a Snapshot Virtual Disk

Re-Creating a Snapshot Virtual Disk

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

. . . . . . . . . . 168

12 Configuration: Premium Feature—

Virtual Disk Copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Creating a Virtual Disk Copy for

an MSCS Shared Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Virtual Disk Read/Write Permissions

Virtual Disk Copy Restrictions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Creating a Virtual Disk Copy

Before you Begin

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

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

Virtual Disk Copy and

Modification Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Create Copy Wizard

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

Failed Virtual Disk Copy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

. . . . . . . . . . 171

Preferred RAID Controller Module Ownership

Failed RAID Controller Module

Copy Manager

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

Copying the Virtual Disk

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

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

Storage Array Performance During Virtual Disk Copy

Setting Copy Priority

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

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

. . . . . 174

Contents 11

Stopping a Virtual Disk Copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Recopying a Virtual Disk

Preparing Host Servers to Recopy a Virtual Disk

Recopying the Virtual Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Removing Copy Pairs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

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

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

13 Configuration: Premium Feature—

Upgrading to

High-Performance-Tier . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

14 Configuration: Device Mapper

Multipath for Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Using DM Multipathing Devices

Prerequisites

Device Mapper Configuration Steps

Linux Host Server Reboot Best Practices . . . . 191

Important Information About Special Partitions

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

. . . . . . . . . . . . 186

. . . . . . . 187

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

15 Management: Firmware Downloads . . . 197

12 Contents

Limitations and Known Issues

Troubleshooting

Downloading RAID Controller and NVSRAM Packages

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

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Downloading Both RAID Controller and NVSRAM Firmware

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

Downloading Only NVSRAM Firmware . . . . . . . . . 201

Downloading Physical Disk Firmware

. . . . . . . . . 203

Downloading MD1200 Series Expansion Module EMM Firmware

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

Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART)

Media Errors and Unreadable Sectors

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

. . . . . . . . . 207

16 Management: Installing

Array Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Recommended Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Front Bezel (Optional) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Removing the Front Bezel

Installing the Front Bezel

Hard Drives

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Removing a Drive Blank

Installing a Drive Blank

Removing a Hard Drive

Installing a Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Removing a Hard Drive From a Hard-Drive Carrier

Installing a Hard Drive Into a Drive Carrier. . . . . 217

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

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

RAID Controller Module

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

Removing a RAID Controller Module Blank

Installing a RAID Controller Module Blank

Removing a RAID Controller Module

. . . . 217

. . . . . 218

. . . . . . . . 219

Contents 13

Installing a RAID Controller Module . . . . . . . 220

Opening the RAID Controller Module. . . . . . . 220

Closing the RAID Controller Module

. . . . . . . 221

RAID Controller Module Backup Battery Unit

. . . . . 222

Removing the RAID Controller Module Backup Battery Unit

. . . . . . . . . . . 222

Installing the RAID Controller

Module Backup Battery Unit . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Power Supply/Cooling Fan Module . . . . . . . . . . 224

Removing a Power Supply/Cooling Fan Module

. . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Installing a Power Supply/Cooling Fan Module

Control Panel

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Removing the Control Panel

Installing the Control Panel

Backplane

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Removing the Backplane

. . . . . . . . . . . . 226

. . . . . . . . . . . 227

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

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Installing the Backplane . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

17 Management: Firmware Inventory . . . . 233

Viewing the Firmware Inventory . . . . . . . . . . . 233

18 Management: System Interfaces . . . . . . 235

14 Contents

Microsoft Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Virtual Disk Service

Volume Shadow-Copy Service

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

. . . . . . . . . . 235

19 Troubleshooting: Your

Storage Array Software . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Start-Up Routine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Device Health Conditions

Storage Array Support Data

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

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Automatically Collect the Support Bundle Data . . . . 241

Retrieving Trace Buffers

Collecting Physical Disk Data

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

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

Event Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Recovery Guru

Storage Array Profile

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

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

Viewing the Logical Associations. . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Viewing the Physical Associations

Finding Nodes

Using Go To

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

. . . . . . . . . . . 248

Recovering From an Unresponsive Storage Array Condition

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Locating a Physical Disk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Locating an Expansion Enclosure

Capturing the State Information

SMrepassist Utility

Unidentified Devices

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

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

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

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Contents 15

Recovering From an Unidentified Storage Array . . . 258

Starting or Restarting the Host Context Agent Software

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

20 Troubleshooting: Your Array . . . . . . . . . 263

Safety First—For you and Your Array . . . . . . . . . 263

Troubleshooting Storage Array Startup Failure

. . . . 263

Troubleshooting Loss of Communication . . . . . . . 263

Troubleshooting External Connections

. . . . . . . . 263

Troubleshooting Power Supply/Cooling Fan Module

Troubleshooting Array Cooling Problems

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

. . . . . . . 265

Troubleshooting Expansion Enclosure Management Modules

Troubleshooting RAID Controller Modules

. . . . . . . . . . . 265

. . . . . . 266

Troubleshooting Hard Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Troubleshooting Array and Expansion Enclosure Connections

Troubleshooting a Wet Storage Array

Troubleshooting a Damaged Array

Troubleshooting RAID Controller Modules

Conditions

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

Invalid Storage Array

ECC Errors

PCI Errors

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

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

. . . . . . . . . . 269

. . . . . . . . . 269

. . . . . . . . . . 270

. . . . . . 271

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

16 Contents

Critical Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Noncritical Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

21 Getting Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Contacting Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Contents 17

18 Contents

Introduction

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 document familiarizes you with the functions of the Dell PowerVault MD3600i Series storage array. The document is organized according to the tasks that you must complete after receiving your MD3600i Series storage array. The tasks are:

Planning— Provides information about the storage array and its features.

Configuration—Provides information on tasks you must complete to ensure that your storage array performs optimally.

Management—Provides information on tasks you must complete to ensure the storage array components are up to date and performing properly, including removal and installation of storage array components.

Troubleshooting—Provides information on tasks you must complete to resolve problems that may occur with the storage array.

For more information on these and other topics, see Dell PowerVault MD3600i and MD3620i Storage Array Deployment Guide at support.dell.com/manuals.

Inside the Box of the Dell PowerVault MD3600i Series Storage Array

Unless specified otherwise, MD3600i Series represents the Dell PowerVault MD3600i and PowerVault MD3620i.

Your MD3600i Series product package includes:

• MD3600i

• Power cables

• Bezel (optional)

Series

storage array

Introduction 19

• Mounting rails (2) (optional)

• MD3600i

• The rack installation instructions included with your rack solution describes how to install your enclosure into a rack

•

Getting Started With Your System

features, the procedure to set up your enclosure, and technical specifications

Series

resource media

provides information on enclosure

MD3600i Series Storage Array

The MD3600i Series is a 2U rack-mounted external redundant array of independent disks (RAID) storage array capable of accommodating up to 12,

3.5-inch or 24, 2.5-inch 6.0-Gbps Serial-Attached SCSI (SAS) disks. The MD3600i Series storage arrays can be daisy-chained with MD1200 Series expansion enclosures, providing access to a maximum of 96 disks in the entire storage system. Connectivity between the storage array and the host server is provided by a standard CAT6 or higher Ethernet connection.

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 MD3600i Series storage arrays. The MDSM software is available on the MD3600i Series resource media.

Dell PowerVault Modular Disk Configuration Utility

Dell PowerVault Modular Disk Configuration Utility (MDCU) is an iSCSI Configuration Wizard that can be used in conjunction with MDSM to simplify the configuration of iSCSI connections. The MDCU software is available on the MD3600i Series resource media.

20 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.

NOTE: All the documents, unless specified otherwise, are available at

support.dell.com/manuals.

•

Getting Started Guide

storage array.

•

Deployment Guide

both software and hardware.

•

Storage Manager CLI Guide

command line interface (CLI).

• Resource media contains all system management tools.

•

Systems Support Matrix

hardware for MD systems.

•

Dell PowerEdge Cluster Documentation

•

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.

•

Dell PowerVault MD 1200 Series Installation Guide

for users who incorporate MD1200 expansion enclosures.

provides an overview of setting up and cabling your

provides installation and configuration instructions for

provides information about using the

provides information on supported software and

is available at

dell.com/ha

provides information

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

22 Introduction

Planning: About Your Storage Array

Overview

The Dell PowerVault MD3600i Series storage array is designed for high availability, offering redundant access to data storage. It supports single and dual RAID controller configuration.

The MD3600i Series storage array provides 1 GBase-T or 10 GBase-T connectivity to the host server and enables access to 64 physical hosts.

The MD3600i Series storage array includes:

• RAID controller module(s)

•PSU/Fan modules

• Disk drives (also called physical disk 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 MD3600i

Figure 2-2. Front-Panel Features and Indicators—Dell PowerVault MD3620i

24 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 preferred path to a virtual disk.

power supply is supplying power to the enclosure.

Planning: About Your Storage Array 25

Item Indicator, Button, or

Connector

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

4 System identification

button

5 Hard drives PowerVault MD3600i—Up to 12, 3.5-inch SAS

6Enclosure mode

switch

Icon Description

function is not supported by the MD3600i 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.

hot-swappable hard drives.

PowerVault MD3620i—Up to 24, 2.5-inch 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 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 MD3600i Series Storage Array

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 27

Hard-Drive Indicator Patterns

Figure 2-5. Hard Drive Indicators

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

28 Planning: About Your Storage Array

and amber)

Hard-Drive Status Indicator Pattern Condition

Off The physical disk:

• is not yet discovered by the host server

• has been spun down for removal

• is 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 500 ms, amber on 500 ms, off 1000 ms)

Flashing green, amber, and off (green 3 s, amber 3 s, and off 3 s)

Physical disk failure predicted (SMART)

Physical disk rebuild aborted

Power Supply and Cooling Fan Features

The MD3600i 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 separate 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 224.

CAUTION: A power supply/cooling fan module can be removed from a powered-

on system for a maximum period of 5 minutes. Beyond that time, the system automatically shuts down to prevent damage.

Planning: About Your Storage Array 29

Power Indicator Codes

Figure 2-6. Power Indicator Codes

Item LED Type Icon Description

1 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 is not within the limit.

2 Power supply/cooling

fan fault

3 AC power The LED lights green when the AC input voltage

4 Power connector Connect the external power supply to this

5 Power switches (2) The power switch controls the power supply

The LED lights amber when the DC output 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.

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.

connector.

output to the enclosure.

30 Planning: About Your Storage Array

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