Dell POWERVAULT MD3620I User Manual

Dell PowerVault MD3600i and
MD3620i Storage Arrays

Deployment Guide

Notes, Cautions, and Warnings
NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of
your computer.
instructions are not followed.
WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal
injury, or death.
___________________
© 2013 Dell Inc.
Trademarks used in this text: Dell™, the DELL logo, PowerEdge™, PowerVault™, andOpenManage™ are trademarks of Dell Inc. Intel® is a registered trademarks of Intel Corporation inthe U.S. and other countries. Microsoft®, Windows®, Windows Server®, MS-DOS®, and InternetExplorer® are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United Statesand/or other countries. Red Hat® and Red Hat Enterprise Linux® are registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. in the United States and other countries. SUSE® is a registered trademark of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
2013 - 07 Rev. A02
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
Network-Attached Configurations . . . . . . . . . 20
Cabling PowerVault MD1200 Series Expansion Enclosures
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Expanding With Previously Configured PowerVault MD1200 Series Expansion Enclosures
Expanding With New PowerVault MD1200
Series Expansion Enclosures. . . . . . . . . . . . 27
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
. . 12
. . . . . . . . . . 13
3 Installing PowerVault MD
Storage Software
Graphical Installation (Recommended) . . . . . . 32
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Contents 3
Console Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Silent Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Upgrading MD Storage Software . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4 Post Installation Tasks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Before You Begin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
iSCSI Configuration Worksheet
IPv4 Settings—Worksheet
IPv6 Settings—Worksheet
Configuring iSCSI on Your Storage Array
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
. . . . . . . . 42
Automatic Configuration Using the Modular Disk Configuration Utility
Post Connection Establishment Steps
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
. . . . . . . . . . 46
Guidelines For Configuring Your Network For iSCSI
Microsoft Windows Host Setup
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Using A DHCP server
Using static IP addressing
Using A DNS server
Using A WINS Server
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Linux Host Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Using DHCP
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Using A Static IP Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4 Contents
5 Uninstalling MD Storage Software . . . . . 51
Uninstalling MD Storage Software From Windows . . 51
Uninstalling MD Storage Software From Linux
. . . . . 52
6 Getting Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Locating Your System Service Tag . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Contacting Dell
Documentation Feedback
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
A Appendix—Manual Configuration
of iSCSI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Step 1: Discover the Storage Array
(Out-of-band Management Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Default Management IPv4 Port Settings
Automatic Storage Array Discovery . . . . . . . . 57
Manual Storage Array Discovery
Setting Up the Array
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Step 2: Configure the iSCSI Ports on the Storage Array
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
. . . . . . 56
. . . . . . . . . 58
Step 3: Perform Target Discovery From the iSCSI Initiator
Step 4: Configure Host Access
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Understanding CHAP Authentication
What is CHAP?
Target CHAP
Mutual CHAP
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
. . . . . . . . . . 64
Contents 5
CHAP Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Step 5: Configure CHAP Authentication on the Storage Array (Optional)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
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)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Step 7: Connect to the Target Storage Array From the Host Server
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Step 8: (Optional) Set Up In-Band Management
. . . . . 74
B Appendix—Using Internet Storage
Naming Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
C Appendix—Load Balancing . . . . . . . . . . 79
Load Balance Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Round Robin With Subset
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Least Queue Depth With Subset . . . . . . . . . . 80
Least Path Weight With Subset
. . . . . . . . . . . 80
Changing Load Balance Policies on the
Windows Server 2008 Operating System . . . . . . 80
Increasing Bandwidth With Multiple iSCSI Sessions
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
D Appendix—Stopping iSCSI Services
in Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
6 Contents
1

Introduction

This guide provides information about deploying Dell PowerVault MD3600i and Dell PowerVault MD3620i 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
dell.com/support/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 MD3600i 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 MD3600i series hardware and software, ensure that the minimum system requirements are met, and the supported operating system is installed. For more information, see the Dell PowerVault Support Matrix available on dell.com/support/manuals.
Management Station Requirements
A management station uses MDSM to configure and manage storage arrays across the network, and must meet the following minimum system requirements:
Intel Pentium or an equivalent processor (333 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, or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.
NOTE: Supported operating systems include both native and guest operating
systems.
NOTE: Supported hypervisors include Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix XenServer,
and VMware. For information about the supported versions, see the
Matrix
at dell.com/support.
Administrator or equivalent permissions.
Support

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 system, MDSM and the storage array communicate management requests and event information using SAS connections.
Management station—On a management station, MDSM communicates with the storage array either through an Ethernet connection to the storage array management port or through an Ethernet connection to a host server. The Ethernet connection passes management information between the management station and the storage array using SAS connections.
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 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 at
dell.com/support/manuals
.
Introduction 9
10 Introduction
2

Hardware Installation

Before using this guide, ensure that you review the instructions in the:
Getting Started Guide
storage array provides information to configure the initial setup of the system.
Planning section of the information your storage solution. See the
dell.com/support/manuals
about important concepts you must know before setting up

Planning the Storage Configuration

Consider the following before installing your storage array:
Evaluate data storage needs and administrative requirements.
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 replace failed physical disks.
—The
Getting Started Guide
Owner’s Manual—
Owner’s Manual
.
that shipped with the
The planning section provides
at
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 two 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 expansion enclosures for additional storage capacity.
Each PowerVault MD3600i 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 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
Figure 2-1 shows a non-redundant cabling configuration to the RAID
Corporate, public, or private network
Storage array
Server 1 Server 2
controller modules using a single path data configuration.
Figure 2-1. Two Hosts Connected to a Single Controller
14 Hardware Installation
Figure 2-2 shows one host connected to a single controller array.
Corporate, public, or private network
Storage array
Server
Figure 2-2. One Host Connected to a Single Controller
Hardware Installation 15
Figure 2-3 shows four stand-alone hosts supported in a dual controller array
Corporate, public, or private network
Storage array
Server 2
Server 3 Server 4Server 1
configuration with a single data path.
Figure 2-3. Four Hosts in a Dual-Controller Configuration
16 Hardware Installation
Dual Path Data Configuration
In Figure 2-4, up to two 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 Figure 2-5, up to two cluster nodes are directly attached to two RAID controller modules. Since each cluster node has redundant paths, loss of a single path still allows access to the storage array through the alternate path.
Hardware Installation 17
Figure 2-4. Two Hosts Connected to Two Controllers
Storage array
Server 1
Server 2
Corporate, public, or private network
18 Hardware Installation
Figure 2-5. Two Hosts Connected in a Dual-Controller Configuration
Corporate, public, or private network
Storage array
Two 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 10G or 1G Ethernet switches. An iSCSI configuration that uses Ethernet switches is frequently referred to as an IP SAN. By using an IP SAN, the PowerVault MD3600i 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.
Figure 2-6 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 fails. It is recommended you use two switches for more redundancy. However, single switch configuration is also supported. Figure 2-7 shows how the same number of hosts can be similarly attached to a dual RAID controller module configuration.
Figure 2-8 shows up to 64 stand-alone servers attached (using multiple sessions) to a single RAID controller module through a network using a 1G to 10G aggregation scheme. The NICs on the servers are 1G NICs and the uplink ports on the 1G switches are 10G. 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 fails. It is recommended you use two switches for more redundancy. However, single switch configuration is also supported.
Figure 2-9 shows how the same number of hosts can be similarly attached to a dual RAID controller module configuration. Hardware redundancy is achieved in this configuration, in case of any switch failure.
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
Figure 2-7. 64 Servers Connected to Two Controllers
Corporate, public, or private network
Storage array
Up to 64 hosts
22 Hardware Installation
Figure 2-8. 64 Servers Connected to a Single RAID Controller
Up to 64 hosts
Storage array
1G NICs
1G Switches
10G Switch
10G Uplinks
Hardware Installation 23
Figure 2-9. 64 Servers Connected to Two RAID Controllers
Up to 64 hosts
1G NICs
1G Switches
10G Uplinks
10G Switches
Storage array
24 Hardware Installation

Cabling PowerVault MD1200 Series Expansion Enclosures

You can expand the capacity of your PowerVault MD3600i 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 PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H800 adapter. Data from virtual disks created on a PERC H800 adapter cannot be directly migrated to a PowerVault MD3600i series storage array or to a PowerVault MD1200 series expansion enclosure connected to a PowerVault MD3600i 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 MD3600i 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 MD3600i series storage array:
1
Back up all data on the expansion enclosure(s).
2
Upgrade the expansion enclosure firmware to the latest version available at
dell.com/support
H800 controller.
Windows systems users can reference the kernel users can reference the
while the enclosure is still attached to the PERC
DUP.bin
DUP.exe
package.
package and Linux
3
Ensure that the storage array software is installed and up to date before adding the expansion enclosure(s).
For more information, see the
dell.com/support/manuals
Support Matrix
.
at
Hardware Installation 25
a
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 31.
b
Update the storage array RAID controller module firmware and NVSRAM to the latest versions available at MDSM
c
Click
Enterprise Management Window
4
Stop all I/O and turn off the system and attached units.
a
Stop all I/O to the storage array and turn off the host systems attached
.
Tools Upgrade RAID Controller Module Firmware
(EMW).
dell.com/support,
using
in the
to the storage array.
b
Turn off the storage array.
c
Turn off the expansion enclosure(s) in the affected system.
5
Cable the expansion enclosure(s) to the storage array.
6
Turn on attached units:
a
Turn on the expansion enclosure(s). Wait for the enclosure status LED to light blue.
b
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 MDSM.
If the status LEDs are solid blue, the storage array is ready.
c
After the storage array is online and ready, turn on any attached host systems.
7
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.
26 Hardware Installation
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