Dell PowerVault MD3800f User Manual

Dell PowerVault MD Storage Array vCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere

Installation and Configuration Guide

Notes, Cautions, and Warnings

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2014 - 01

Rev. A09

Contents

1 Overview......................................................................................................................7

Installation Prerequisites........................................................................................................................7

Configuration Limitations And Scalability............................................................................................ 8

Localization Support............................................................................................................................. 8

Logs, Warnings, And Error Messages..............................................................................................8

Downloading The MD vCenter Plug-In................................................................................................8

Upgrading From A Previous Version...............................................................................................9

Application Server Requirements......................................................................................................... 9

Before You Install The MD vCenter Plug-In.........................................................................................9

Installing The MD vCenter Plug-In..................................................................................................... 10

2 Configuring The Application Server And MD vCenter Plug-In....................11

Configuring Application Server Memory.............................................................................................11

Configuring Storage Administrator Roles...........................................................................................12

Creating A Storage Administrator Role.........................................................................................13

Adding An Existing User To The Storage Administrator Role............................................................ 15

Non-Authorized Plug-In Use Message.........................................................................................16

MD vCenter Plug-In Security.............................................................................................................. 16

Accepting And Installing The Trusted SSL Certificate.................................................................. 17

Microsoft Enhanced Browser Security.........................................................................................20

MD vCenter Plug-in Import And Export Configuration File ............................................................. 22

Application Server Login for Configuration File...........................................................................23

Exporting The Configuration File..................................................................................................23

Importing The Configuration File................................................................................................. 23

Application Server User Management .........................................................................................24

3 Configuring The MD Storage Array For ESX/ESXi.......................................... 25

Grouping HBAs And Creating Virtual Hosts.......................................................................................28

Managing Bandwidth.................................................................................................................... 28

Configuring ALUA Support................................................................................................................. 30

Changing Your Default Multipath Policy......................................................................................30

Adding A SATP Claim Rule To Enable ALUA And Change The Multipath Policy To Round

Robin..............................................................................................................................................30

Network Configuration For iSCSI Storage..........................................................................................31

Network Configuration For MD-Series iSCSI Storage Arrays...................................................... 32

Network Configuration For MD-Series Fibre Channel Storage Arrays........................................32

Installing The SAS Provider Upgrade.................................................................................................. 32

Installing The SAS Provider Upgrade (ESX/ESXi 4.1 Servers Only)...............................................32

Installing The SAS Provider (ESXi 5.0 and 5.1 Servers Only).........................................................33

Configuring SAS Support On ESX And ESXi Hosts.............................................................................34

Requirements For Using A SAS Host............................................................................................ 34

Creating A New User Login With Host Privileges (ESX And ESXi Servers)...................................34

Enabling Root Login From A Host Console (ESX Servers Only).................................................. 34

Enabling Root Login From A Host Console (ESXi Servers Only)................................................. 35

4 Configuring The ESX/ESXi Host.......................................................................... 37

Configuring ESX Host To Storage Array.............................................................................................38

5 Managing Storage Arrays Using The MD vCenter Plug-In Manager

View...............................................................................................................................43

Storage Array Manager Features........................................................................................................ 43

Adding Storage Arrays To The vCenter Plug-In Manager View.................................................. 43

Discovering Storage Arrays...........................................................................................................45

Using Asset Tags........................................................................................................................... 46

Managing Asset Tags.....................................................................................................................47

Removing Storage Arrays From The vCenter Plug-In Manager View.........................................48

All Storage Arrays Table View....................................................................................................... 48

Assigning Asset Tags And Values..................................................................................................49

Summary View.................................................................................................................................... 50

Editing Storage Array Properties................................................................................................... 51

Storage Array Event Log................................................................................................................52

Storage Array Configuration Backup............................................................................................52

Formatting Virtual Disks For vSphere........................................................................................... 54

Virtual Disks Decision-Making Schemes...................................................................................... 55

Virtual Disks View................................................................................................................................ 55

Creating A Virtual Disks Group..................................................................................................... 56

Dynamic Disk Pools.......................................................................................................................57

Creating A New Virtual Disk On Virtual Disks Group................................................................... 57

Creating A Thin Provisioned Virtual Disks.................................................................................... 58

Legacy Snapshots..........................................................................................................................58

Mappings View....................................................................................................................................60

Mapping A Virtual Disks To Host...................................................................................................61

Rescan Storage Adapters...............................................................................................................61

Adding Host To Virtual Disks........................................................................................................ 63

Adding Host Group....................................................................................................................... 63

Virtual Disks Copy View...................................................................................................................... 63

Creating A New Virtual Disks Copy.............................................................................................. 64

Synchronous Replication View...........................................................................................................66

Creating Remote Virtual Disks Replication...................................................................................67

Removing Replicated Pairs........................................................................................................... 68

Testing Replication Communication............................................................................................69

Suspending Asynchronous Replication........................................................................................69

Resuming Replication................................................................................................................... 69

Changing Replication Roles..........................................................................................................69

Changing Replication Parameters................................................................................................ 70

Snapshots View................................................................................................................................... 70

Creating Snapshot Group..............................................................................................................71

Creating A Snapshot Image...........................................................................................................72

Creating A Snapshot Virtual Disks.................................................................................................72

Changing Snapshot Settings......................................................................................................... 73

Asynchronous Remote Replication View...........................................................................................74

Asynchronous Remote Replication.............................................................................................. 75

Creating Asynchronous Replication Group..................................................................................75

Creating Replicated Pairs.............................................................................................................. 76

Changing Roles..............................................................................................................................77

Suspending Asynchronous Replication........................................................................................ 77

Resuming Replication................................................................................................................... 78

Manually Resynchronizing A Replication Group..........................................................................78

Deleting Replication Groups.........................................................................................................78

Removing Replicated Pairs............................................................................................................79

Datastores View.................................................................................................................................. 80

Manually Unregistering The MD vCenter Plug-In..............................................................................81

Uninstall The MD vCenter Plug-In................................................................................................82

6 Troubleshooting MD vCenter Plug-In Issues..................................................83

Application Server Logs...................................................................................................................... 83

vSphere Client Stops Working With Large Number Of Arrays.................................................... 83

I Cannot Communicate With The Application Server................................................................. 84

I Cannot Create Or Delete Objects..............................................................................................84

How Can I Maximize Client Performance....................................................................................84

How Do I Suppress Slow Script Warning Messages.................................................................... 84

Why Can I Not Make Changes To The Storage Array..................................................................84

The MD vCenter Plug-In Does Not Show The New Storage Array Name After A Clear

Configuration Operation In MDSM.............................................................................................. 84

Long Timeout For SAS ESX Host Wizard Operation.................................................................... 85

Storage Administrator Privileges Assigned To User Group Not Working................................... 85

Event Log Viewer Scroll Bar Goes Beyond The Limit.................................................................. 85

7 Getting Help.............................................................................................................87

Related Documentation......................................................................................................................87

VMware Support Information............................................................................................................. 87

Contacting Dell................................................................................................................................... 87

Overview

NOTE: Unless otherwise noted, later references to "MD Storage Array vCenter Plug-in" or "MD vCenter Plug-in" in this document are used interchangeably to represent the MD VMware vCenter Plug-in.

The Dell PowerVault MD Storage Array vCenter Plug-in allows integrated management of Dell MD series storage arrays from a VMware vSphere client. Enabling a single vSphere-based management interface eliminates the need to install, maintain and learn to use proprietary storage array-based management tools. Using the MD vCenter Plug-in, an administrator can:

• Configure ESX/ESXi hosts to connect to MD storage arrays

• Create and delete Virtual Disks

• Map Virtual Disks from the storage arrays to the ESX host

• View the vCenter datastores available to the MD storage array's Virtual Disks

• Create hardware snapshots, Virtual Disks copies, and Remote Replication (Legacy) and Remote Replication Group (if premium features are activated)

The MD vCenter Plug-in uses an application server interface between the vSphere Client and MD storage array and fully supports role-based user authentication.

NOTE: The MD vCenter Plug-in requires that a vCenter Server must be installed.

Figure 1. MD vCenter Plug-In In a VMware Environment

Installation Prerequisites

The MD vCenter Plug-in requires the following:

• VMware vCenter Server 5.x (installed on host server)

• One of the following servers operating systems to host the application server:

– Windows 2008 R2 SP1 Server – Windows Server 2012 – Windows Server 2012 R2 – Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.9 or later (x64) – SUSE Enterprise Linux 11 or later (x64)

• Make sure your MD storage has the latest RAID controller firmware version installed.

For information on installing the correct MD series firmware version for your specific storage array, see the Support Matrix at dell.com/powervaultmanuals.

Configuration Limitations And Scalability

The number of managed storage arrays, Virtual Disks and physical disks on each storage array impacts the overall performance of the MD vCenter Plug-in. This release allows for organization of storage arrays into panels to provide quick access to specific storage arrays based on user defined asset tags. Larger numbers of managed storage arrays (more than 2000) will require more than 4 GB of RAM on your application server platform. For more information on support limitations, see the Support Matrix at

dell.com/powervaultmanuals.

Localization Support

The MD vCenter Plug-in supports the following language sets:

• English

• French

• German

• Japanese

• Simplified Chinese

Logs, Warnings, And Error Messages

On-screen logs, warnings and error messages support the language sets shown above. However, any messages or log files written to the file system are English only.

Downloading The MD vCenter Plug-In

From the application server, download the latest version of the MD vCenter Plug-in from the Download and Drivers page at dell.com/support by selecting your specific MD storage array model. See the Support

Matrix at dell.com/powervaultmanuals for information on supported firmware levels, operating system versions, and other supported hardware components.

NOTE: If you cannot access dell.com/support from your application server, download the MD vCenter Plug-in installer to another host, then copy the installer files to the application server. The Plug-in installer must be run from the application server itself.

Upgrading From A Previous Version

If you are upgrading from a previous version of the MD vCenter Plug-in but plan to use the same host server as the application server, run the latest installer on the current application server. The installation wizard will prompt for an administrator password before unregistering and upgrading your MD vCenter Plug-in version.

Application Server Requirements

The Windows-based application server configured with vCenter Client should be installed on a separate server installation than the one running vCenter Server. While it is possible to install the application server and vCenter Server on the same host, it is not recommended.

Before You Install The MD vCenter Plug-In

Before installing the MD vCenter Plug-in, you need to know some specific information about your storage array and network configuration. The following table shows the information you will need. Gather this information about your specific environment before installing the MD vCenter Plug-in:

Table 1. Storage Array and Network Information

Component Information Needed

vCenter Server

vCenter Administrator

Storage Administrator

Application Server

MD Storage Array

Host Name: DNS Names: IP Addresses:

Username: Password:

Host Name: DNS Names: IP Addresses:

Array Name: Password: IP Addresses:

Installing The MD vCenter Plug-In

NOTE: The MD vCenter Plug-in must be installed on the application server. If you downloaded the installer package to a different location, copy the installer files to the application server before performing the steps shown here.

1. From the application server launch the MD vCenter Plug-in installer, choose your language and click

OK.

2. Review the copyright and introduction screens. To accept, click Next.

3. Read and accept the license agreement, then click Next.

4. Select an installation directory on the vCenter client or accept the default location. Then, click Next.

5. Review the installation summary and click Install.

6. When prompted, either change the port number of the Jetty server or accept the defaults (8084 and

8081

) and click Next.

NOTE: If the MD vCenter Plug-in will be installed on the same system as an active vCenter Server with VMware Update Manager installed, port number 8084 must be changed to an unused port number.

7. Change the IP address of the application server, if desired. The default IP address shown the installer

will be the IP address of the system it is running on. Click Next.

8. Enter the IP address of the host containing the vCenter Server installation (see table Storage Array

and Network Information). Then, click

9. If you want to enable e-mail alerts, enter the vCenter Server administrator e-mail address and click

Next.

NOTE: The MD vCenter Plug-in does not require a domain or domain controller configuration. When installing the Plug-in, do not qualify your administrator user name with an alias (for example, localhost). If you specify a fully qualified pathname, use the host name instead (for example, hostname/username).

10. Enter the vCenter Server administrator user ID, then click Next.

11. Enter the vCenter Server administrator password, then click Next.

12. When the installation completes, click Done to close the installation wizard.

The installation automatically installs a Jetty application server and associated .jar files on your application server and registers the MD vCenter Plug-in with the VMware vCenter Server.

Configuring The Application Server And MD vCenter Plug-In

Once the application server and MD vCenter Plug-in are installed, verify that the MD vCenter Plug-in is successfully registered with the vCenter server:

• Open the vSphere Client

• From the vSphere Client menu bar, select Plug-ins → Manage Plug-ins

• The Dell MD Storage Array vCenter Plug-in should be listed as Enabled

If the MD vCenter Plug-in is listed as disabled with an error message indicating that it cannot communicate with the application server, verify the port number defined for the Jetty server is enabled to pass through any firewalls in use. The default Jetty TCP port numbers are 8084 and 8081. The MD vCenter plug-in icon should also appear in the Solution and Application section of the vSphere Client home page.

Figure 2. vSphere Client Home Page

Configuring Application Server Memory

If more than 250 storage arrays will be managed from the MD vCenter Plug-in, then the application server configuration file has to be modified. The application server by default is configured for 512 MB of RAM usage.

To adjust the settings to support more than 250 arrays, modify the appserver64.ini file located on the application server in the C:\Program Files\Dell\MD Storage Array VMware vCenter Plug-In\jetty.

1. Open the appserver64.ini file in a text editor.

2. Locate the vmarg.3=-Xmx512M line.

3. Change 512 to the number associated with the number of storage arrays to be managed.

4. Save the configuration file.

5. Restart the Application Server service.

NOTE: If the application server is reinstalled, this setting will be reverted to the original setting of 512 MB and must be edited again to adjust the application server memory for your environment.

Figure 3. Configuring the Application Server Memory

Configuring Storage Administrator Roles

By default, any previously defined vCenter users will have no access to MD storage arrays. To create either read or read/write permissions to the storage arrays via the MD vCenter Plug-in, the user’s role must be modified.

Creating A Storage Administrator Role

1. In the Administration area on the vSphere Client home page, click Roles.

A list of roles and usages is displayed.

Figure 4. MD vCenter Plug-in Roles List

2. Click the Add Role icon in the menu bar, or right-click and select Add from the pop-up menu.

The Add New Role is displayed.

Figure 5. Add New Role

3. In the Name text box, enter a name for the new role.

4. From the Privileges list, select the access permissions you want to assign to this role.

NOTE: An administrator role is not editable. Therefore, if the administrator user will be used to manage storage, a new role must be created and all necessary privileges added to that role. The administrator user must then be added to this role, as described in the next section.

5. To assign Read Only or Read Write access permissions to the storage arrays, select the appropriate

permission.

6. When finished, click OK.

NOTE: Existing non-administrator roles may be modified to include the new Storage Administrator privileges created. However, an existing administrator role cannot be modified.

Adding An Existing User To The Storage Administrator Role

Use these steps to add existing users to the Storage Administrator role you created previously. Storage Administrator roles can only be given to individual users, not to user groups.

1. From the Inventory area on the vSphere Client home screen, select Hosts and Clusters.

2. Select your vCenter server name from the left navigation pane.

3. Select the vCenter server element, and click the Permissions tab.

Figure 6. Permissions Tab For The Selected vCenter Server Element

4. Right-click in the permissions window and select Add Permission to add users to the role.

5. Click Add to select the users need access to the storage arrays.

Figure 7. Assign Storage Administrator Role

6. Select the role you want to assign them from the drop-down box under Assigned Role.

7. Click OK to apply the permissions.

Non-Authorized Plug-In Use Message

When you create a new Storage Administrator role, you might have to restart the vSphere Client before the role is recognized. When this happens, a message similar to that shown in the figure Non-Authorized User Message is displayed. This may also occur if new roles are added for users who are not previous members of a Read Only or Read Write Storage Administrator role.

Figure 8. Non-Authorized User Message

MD vCenter Plug-In Security

The MD vCenter Plug-in uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to communicate securely between the vSphere client and application server.

Accepting And Installing The Trusted SSL Certificate

During the vCenter Server installation process, an SSL certificate is generated for the vCenter Server system. If this certificate has not been added to the system's Trusted Root Certification Authorities (CA) store, a Security Alert dialog box is displayed when you start the MD vCenter Plug-in.

Figure 9. SSL Security Alert Message

To avoid this message, you can import the install-generated certificate into the system's Trusted Root Certification Authorities store using the following steps. However, if CA-signed SSL certificates are not used, this alert message cannot be suppressed.

1. Click View Certificate.

Figure 10. Install Certificate Dialog Box

2. From the Certificate window, click Install Certificate.

3. In the Certificate Import Wizard, click Next.

Figure 11. Select Certificate Store Dialog Box

4. From the Certificate Store window, select Place all certificates in the following store.

5. Click Browse.

6. In the Select Certificate Store window, highlight the Trusted Root Certification Authorities folder

and click OK.

7. Click Next.

8. Click Finish.

A Security Warning message box will be displayed.

9. Verify the information and click Yes to add the certificate to the trust store.

Figure 12. Security Warning Message Box

NOTE: The subject name of the system in the certificate must match the system name of the vCenter Server during the vSphere Client login screen. Otherwise, you will continue to receive warning messages that the certificate does not match the site name.

Microsoft Enhanced Browser Security

When Microsoft's Enhanced Internet Explorer Security is installed on the vSphere Client system, the security configuration blocks content from the web site and a warning message is displayed. Clicking Add establishes a trust relationship with the application server.

NOTE: You may also be prompted to add about:security_VpxClient.exe to your Trusted sites (see figure Microsoft Enhanced Security Message).

Figure 13. Microsoft Enhanced Security Message

NOTE: If you are using the Save File option, you will also need to add the DNS name or IP address of the MD vCenter Plug-in application server in non-SSL format (for example, http://192.168.10.14) as a trusted site.

Figure 14. Microsoft Trusted Sites

MD vCenter Plug-in Import And Export Configuration File

The MD vCenter Plug-in provides the functionality to import or export the storage array manager configuration file, that maintains the list of configured storage arrays and metadata information. This feature is useful for backing up array configurations or deployment of new application server using an existing configuration file. A web browser is required to utilize this functionality and access the application server.

Application Server Login for Configuration File

To access the import-export page on application server:

1. Open the web browser and enter the application server URL.

For example:10.113.83.73:8084/vcenter2/ImportExportConfiguration.html A login page is displayed.

2. Enter the MD vCenter Plug-in login credentials.

NOTE: The default login details are, User: admin and Password: admin.

Figure 15. Login Page

Exporting The Configuration File

To export the current configuration file:

1. Click the Export button.

2. Browse and select the location to save the configuration file to.

Importing The Configuration File

To import a saved configuration file:

1. Click the Browse button.

2. Navigate to the configuration file to import and click Open.

3. Select from the following Import Options:

– Merge with Existing File – Overwrite Existing File

4. Click the Import button.

Figure 16. Importing and Exporting the Configuration File

Application Server User Management

The application server user management is controlled via the users.properties file located in C:\Program Files\Dell\MD Storage Array VMware vCenter Plug-In\jettydirectory.

The format of the users.properties file is ID name, MD5 password hash, user ID.

# #Thu Apr 11 18:02:33 PDT 2013 admin=MD5\:21232f297a57a5a743894a0e4a801fc3,admin ro=MD5\:3605c251087b88216c9bca890e07ad9c,storage.ro rw=MD5\:038c0dc8a958ffea17af047244fb6960,storage.rw

The passwords may be stored in clear text, but is not recommended. A MD5 password hash may be generated from the following site: md5hashgenerator.com/index.php. Enter the password to be hashed within the String textbox, then click Generate MD5 Hash. Copy the hashed results to the users.properties file in place of the existing user password hash.

Configuring The MD Storage Array For ESX/ESXi

The MD vCenter Plug-in allows an ESX/ESXi host to be automatically configured to use a Dell MD storage array by detecting the installed Host Bus Adapters (HBAs) within the host and configuring new hosts on the storage array with the Worldwide Names (WWNs) of the HBAs from the host. The default ESX/ESXi multi-pathing mode for Dell MD storage arrays is Most Recently Used (MRU). To ensure optimum performance for the ESX/ESXi host with more than two HBAs, the host should be configured to use the storage array in pairs of HBAs. This method allows for maximum I/O throughput from the host to the storage array. Using this method requires proper SAN configuration and balancing of LUNs between hosts/host groups.

Figure Dual-Port HBA Configuration (Fibre Channel) shows a completely configured two-HBA ESX/ESXi host Fibre Channel SAN configuration utilizing two fabric switches and a dual-controller storage array. While this image shows a Fibre Channel configuration, the basic principles apply to all platforms. For iSCSI-specific configuration details, see the topic Configuring iSCSI.

Figure 17. Dual-Port HBA Configuration (Fibre Channel)

This example shows a fully redundant fabric configuration. If a fibre channel switch or HBA fails, the alternate switch still connects both storage controllers in the storage array. If a storage controller also fails, the host can still access the remaining controller and all virtual disks fail over to that controller. A complete loss of access to storage occurs if any other element fails.

Figure 18. Configuration Showing Single-Point Failure

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