IBM N Hardware Manual

Front cover

IBM System Storage
N series Hardware Guide

Select the right N series hardware for
your environment

Understand N series unified
storage solutions

Take storage efficiency to the
next level

Roland Tretau

Jeff Lin

Dirk Peitzmann

Steven Pemberton

Tom Provost

Marco Schwarz

ibm.com/redbooks

International Technical Support Organization

IBM System Storage N series Hardware Guide

May 2014

SG24-7840-03

Note: Before using this information and the product it supports, read the information in “Notices” on
page xi.

Fourth Edition (May 2014)

This edition applies to the IBM System Storage N series portfolio as of October 2013.

© Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 2012, 2014. All rights reserved.

Note to U.S. Government Users Restricted Rights -- Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule
Contract with IBM Corp.

Contents

Notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

Authors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

Now you can become a published author, too! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv

Comments welcome. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xv

Stay connected to IBM Redbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv

Summary of changes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii

May 2014, Fourth Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii

New information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii

Changed information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii

Part 1. Introduction to N series hardware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Chapter 1. Introduction to IBM System Storage N series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.2 IBM System Storage N series hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1.3 Software licensing structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

1.3.1 Mid-range and high-end . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

1.3.2 Entry-level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

1.4 Data ONTAP 8 supported systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Chapter 2. Entry-level systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

2.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

2.2 N32x0 common features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

2.3 N3150 model details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

2.3.1 N3150 model 2857-A15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

2.3.2 N3150 model 2857-A25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

2.3.3 N3150 hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

2.4 N3220 model details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

2.4.1 N3220 model 2857-A12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

2.4.2 N3220 model 2857-A22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

2.4.3 N3220 hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

2.5 N3240 model details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2.5.1 N3240 model 2857-A14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2.5.2 N3240 model 2857-A24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2.5.3 N3240 hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

2.6 N3000 technical specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Chapter 3. Mid-range systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

3.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

3.1.1 Common features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

3.1.2 Hardware summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

3.1.3 Functions and features common to all models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

3.2 N62x0 model details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

3.2.1 N6220 and N6250 hardware overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

3.2.2 IBM N62x0 MetroCluster and gateway models. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2012, 2014. All rights reserved. iii

3.3 N62x0 technical specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Chapter 4. High-end systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

4.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

4.1.1 Common features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

4.1.2 Hardware summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

4.2 N7x50T hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

4.2.1 Chassis configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

4.2.2 Controller module components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

4.2.3 I/O expansion module components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

4.3 IBM N7x50T configuration rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

4.3.1 IBM N series N7x50T slot configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

4.3.2 N7x50T hot-pluggable FRUs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

4.3.3 N7x50T cooling architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

4.3.4 System-level diagnostic procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

4.3.5 MetroCluster, Gateway, and FlexCache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

4.3.6 N7x50T guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

4.3.7 N7x50T SFP+ modules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

4.4 N7000T technical specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Chapter 5. Expansion units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

5.1 Shelf technology overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

5.2 Expansion unit EXN3000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

5.2.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

5.2.2 Supported EXN3000 drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

5.2.3 Environmental and technical specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

5.3 Expansion unit EXN3200 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

5.3.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

5.3.2 Supported EXN3000 drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

5.3.3 Environmental and technical specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

5.4 Expansion unit EXN3500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

5.4.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

5.4.2 Intermix support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

5.4.3 Supported EXN3500 drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

5.4.4 Environmental and technical specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

5.5 Self-Encrypting Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

5.5.1 SED at a glance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

5.5.2 SED overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

5.5.3 Threats mitigated by self-encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

5.5.4 Effect of self-encryption on Data ONTAP features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

5.5.5 Mixing drive types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

5.5.6 Key management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

5.6 Expansion unit technical specifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Chapter 6. Cabling expansions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

6.1 EXN3000 and EXN3500 disk shelves cabling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

6.1.1 Controller-to-shelf connection rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

6.1.2 SAS shelf interconnects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

6.1.3 Top connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

6.1.4 Bottom connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

6.1.5 Verifying SAS connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

6.1.6 Connecting the optional ACP cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

6.2 EXN4000 disk shelves cabling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

6.2.1 Non-multipath Fibre Channel cabling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

iv IBM System Storage N series Hardware Guide

6.2.2 Multipath Fibre Channel cabling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

6.3 Multipath HA cabling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Chapter 7. Highly Available controller pairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

7.1 HA pair overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

7.1.1 Benefits of HA pairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

7.1.2 Characteristics of nodes in an HA pair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

7.1.3 Preferred practices for deploying an HA pair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

7.1.4 Comparison of HA pair types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

7.2 HA pair types and requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

7.2.1 Standard HA pairs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

7.2.2 Mirrored HA pairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

7.2.3 Stretched MetroCluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

7.2.4 Fabric-attached MetroCluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

7.3 Configuring the HA pair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

7.3.1 Configuration variations for standard HA pair configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

7.3.2 Preferred practices for HA pair configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

7.3.3 Enabling licenses on the HA pair configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

7.3.4 Configuring Interface Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

7.3.5 Configuring interfaces for takeover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

7.3.6 Setting options and parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

7.3.7 Testing takeover and giveback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

7.3.8 Eliminating single points of failure with HA pair configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

7.4 Managing an HA pair configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

7.4.1 Managing an HA pair configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

7.4.2 Halting a node without takeover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

7.4.3 Basic HA pair configuration management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

7.4.4 HA pair configuration failover basic operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

7.4.5 Connectivity during failover. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Chapter 8. MetroCluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

8.1 Overview of MetroCluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

8.2 Business continuity solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

8.3 Stretch MetroCluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

8.3.1 Planning Stretch MetroCluster configurations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

8.3.2 Cabling Stretch MetroClusters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

8.4 Fabric Attached MetroCluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

8.4.1 Planning Fabric MetroCluster configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

8.4.2 Cabling Fabric MetroClusters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

8.5 Synchronous mirroring with SyncMirror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

8.5.1 SyncMirror overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

8.5.2 SyncMirror without MetroCluster. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

8.6 MetroCluster zoning and TI zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

8.7 Failure scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

8.7.1 MetroCluster host failure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

8.7.2 N series and expansion unit failure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

8.7.3 MetroCluster interconnect failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

8.7.4 MetroCluster site failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

8.7.5 MetroCluster site recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Chapter 9. MetroCluster expansion cabling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

9.1 FibreBridge 6500N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

9.1.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

9.1.2 Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Contents v

9.1.3 Administration and management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

9.2 Stretch MetroCluster with SAS shelves and SAS cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

9.2.1 Before you begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

9.2.2 Installing a new system with SAS disk shelves by using SAS optical cables . . . 133

9.2.3 Replacing SAS cables in a multipath HA configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

9.2.4 Hot-adding an SAS disk shelf by using SAS optical cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

9.2.5 Replacing FibreBridge and SAS copper cables with SAS optical cables . . . . . . 141

Chapter 10. Data protection with RAID Double Parity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

10.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

10.2 Why use RAID-DP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

10.2.1 Single-parity RAID using larger disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

10.2.2 Advantages of RAID-DP data protection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

10.3 RAID-DP overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

10.3.1 Protection levels with RAID-DP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

10.3.2 Larger versus smaller RAID groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

10.4 RAID-DP and double parity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

10.4.1 Internal structure of RAID-DP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

10.4.2 RAID 4 horizontal row parity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

10.4.3 Adding RAID-DP double-parity stripes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

10.4.4 RAID-DP reconstruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

10.4.5 Protection levels with RAID-DP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

10.5 Hot spare disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Chapter 11. Core technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

11.1 Write Anywhere File Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

11.2 Disk structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

11.3 NVRAM and system memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

11.4 Intelligent caching of write requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

11.4.1 Journaling write requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

11.4.2 NVRAM operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

11.5 N series read caching techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

11.5.1 Introduction of read caching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

11.5.2 Read caching in system memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Chapter 12. Flash Cache. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

12.1 About Flash Cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

12.2 Flash Cache module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

12.3 How Flash Cache works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

12.3.1 Data ONTAP disk read operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

12.3.2 Data ONTAP clearing space in the system memory for more data . . . . . . . . . 177

12.3.3 Saving useful data in Flash Cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

12.3.4 Reading data from Flash Cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Chapter 13. Disk sanitization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

13.1 Data ONTAP disk sanitization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

13.2 Data confidentiality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

13.2.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

13.2.2 Data erasure and standards compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

13.2.3 Technology drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

13.2.4 Costs and risks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

13.3 Data ONTAP sanitization operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

13.4 Disk Sanitization with encrypted disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

vi IBM System Storage N series Hardware Guide

Chapter 14. Designing an N series solution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

14.1 Primary issues that affect planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

14.2 Performance and throughput . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

14.2.1 Capacity requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

14.2.2 Other effects of Snapshot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

14.2.3 Capacity overhead versus performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

14.2.4 Processor usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

14.2.5 Effects of optional features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

14.2.6 Future expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

14.2.7 Application considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

14.2.8 Backup servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

14.2.9 Backup and recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

14.2.10 Resiliency to failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

14.3 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Part 2. Installation and administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Chapter 15. Preparation and installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

15.1 Installation prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

15.1.1 Pre-installation checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

15.1.2 Before arriving on site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

15.2 Configuration worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

15.3 Initial hardware setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

15.4 Troubleshooting if the system does not boot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Chapter 16. Basic N series administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

16.1 Administration methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

16.1.1 FilerView interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

16.1.2 Command-line interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

16.1.3 N series System Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

16.1.4 OnCommand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

16.2 Starting, stopping, and rebooting the storage system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

16.2.1 Starting the IBM System Storage N series storage system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

16.2.2 Stopping the IBM System Storage N series storage system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

16.2.3 Rebooting the system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Part 3. Client hardware integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Chapter 17. Host Utilities Kits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

17.1 Host Utilities Kits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

17.2 Host Utilities Kit components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

17.2.1 What is included in the HUK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

17.2.2 Current supported operating environments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

17.3 Host Utilities functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

17.3.1 Host configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

17.3.2 IBM N series controller and LUN configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

17.4 Windows installation example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

17.4.1 Installing and configuring Host Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

17.4.2 Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

17.4.3 Running the Host Utilities installation program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

17.4.4 Host configuration settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

17.4.5 Host Utilities registry and parameters settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

17.5 Setting up LUNs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

17.5.1 LUN overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Contents vii

17.5.2 Initiator group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

17.5.3 Mapping LUNs for Windows clusters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

17.5.4 Adding iSCSI targets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

17.5.5 Accessing LUNs on hosts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Chapter 18. Boot from SAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

18.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

18.2 Configuring SAN boot for IBM System x servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

18.2.1 Configuration limits and preferred configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

18.2.2 Preferred practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

18.2.3 Basics of the boot process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

18.2.4 Configuring SAN booting before installing Windows or Linux systems. . . . . . . 243

18.2.5 Windows 2003 Enterprise SP2 installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

18.2.6 Windows 2008 Enterprise installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

18.2.7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

18.3 Boot from SAN and other protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

18.3.1 Boot from iSCSI SAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

18.3.2 Boot from FCoE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Chapter 19. Host multipathing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

19.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

19.2 Multipathing software options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

19.2.1 Third-party multipathing solution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

19.2.2 Native multipathing solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

19.2.3 Asymmetric Logical Unit Access. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

19.2.4 Why ALUA? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Part 4. Performing upgrades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Chapter 20. Designing for nondisruptive upgrades. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

20.1 System NDU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

20.1.1 Types of system NDU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

20.1.2 Supported Data ONTAP upgrades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

20.1.3 System NDU hardware requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

20.1.4 System NDU software requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

20.1.5 Prerequisites for a system NDU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

20.1.6 Steps for major version upgrades NDU in NAS and SAN environments . . . . . 287

20.1.7 System commands compatibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

20.2 Shelf firmware NDU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

20.2.1 Types of shelf controller module firmware NDUs supported. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

20.2.2 Upgrading the shelf firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

20.2.3 Upgrading the AT-FCX shelf firmware on live systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

20.2.4 Upgrading the AT-FCX shelf firmware during system reboot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

20.3 Disk firmware NDU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

20.3.1 Overview of disk firmware NDU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

20.3.2 Upgrading the disk firmware non-disruptively . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

20.4 ACP firmware NDU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

20.4.1 Upgrading ACP firmware non-disruptively . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

20.4.2 Upgrading ACP firmware manually. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

20.5 RLM firmware NDU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Chapter 21. Hardware and software upgrades. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

21.1 Hardware upgrades. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

21.1.1 Connecting a new disk shelf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

viii IBM System Storage N series Hardware Guide

21.1.2 Adding a PCI adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

21.1.3 Upgrading a storage controller head. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

21.2 Software upgrades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

21.2.1 Upgrading to Data ONTAP 7.3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

21.2.2 Upgrading to Data ONTAP 8.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Part 5. Appendixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Appendix A. Getting started. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Preinstallation planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Collecting documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Initial worksheet for setting up the nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Start with the hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

Power on N series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Updating Data ONTAP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Obtaining the Data ONTAP software from the IBM NAS website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Installing Data ONTAP system files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Downloading Data ONTAP to the storage system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Setting up the network using console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

Changing the IP address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Setting up the DNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Appendix B. Operating environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

N3000 entry-level systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

N3400 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

N3220 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

N3240 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

N6000 mid-range systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

N6210 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

N6240 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

N6270 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

N7000 high-end systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

N7950T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

N series expansion shelves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

EXN1000. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

EXN3000. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

EXN3500. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

EXN4000. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

Related publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

BM Redbooks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

Other publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

Online resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

Help from IBM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

Contents ix

x IBM System Storage N series Hardware Guide

Notices

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© Copyright IBM Corp. 2012, 2014. All rights reserved. xi

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xii IBM System Storage N series Hardware Guide

Preface

This IBM® Redbooks® publication provides a detailed look at the features, benefits, and
capabilities of the IBM System Storage® N series hardware offerings.

The IBM System Storage N series systems can help you tackle the challenge of effective data
management by using virtualization technology and a unified storage architecture. The
N series delivers low- to high-end enterprise storage and data management capabilities with
midrange affordability. Built-in serviceability and manageability features help support your
efforts to increase reliability, simplify and unify storage infrastructure and maintenance, and
deliver exceptional economy.

The IBM System Storage N series systems provide a range of reliable, scalable storage
solutions to meet various storage requirements. These capabilities are achieved by using
network access protocols, such as Network File System (NFS), Common Internet File
System (CIFS), HTTP, and iSCSI, and storage area network technologies, such as Fibre
Channel. By using built-in Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) technologies, all
data is protected with options to enhance protection through mirroring, replication,
Snapshots, and backup. These storage systems also have simple management interfaces
that make installation, administration, and troubleshooting straightforward.

In addition, this book addresses high-availability solutions, including clustering and
MetroCluster that support highest business continuity requirements. MetroCluster is a unique
solution that combines array-based clustering with synchronous mirroring to deliver
continuous availability.

Authors

This Redbooks publication is a companion book to IBM System Storage N series Software
Guide, SG24-7129, which is available at this website:

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247129.html?Open

This book was produced by a team of specialists from around the world working at the
International Technical Support Organization, San Jose Center.

Roland Tretau is an Information Systems professional with over 15 years of experience in the
IT industry. He holds Engineering and Business Masters degrees, and is the author of many
storage-related IBM Redbooks publications. Roland has a solid background in project
management, consulting, operating systems, storage solutions, enterprise search
technologies, and data management.

Jeff Lin is a Client Technical Specialist for the IBM Sales & Distribution Group in San Jose,
California, USA. He holds degrees in engineering and biochemistry, and has six years of
experience in IT consulting and administration. Jeff is an expert in storage solution design,
implementation, and virtualization. He has a wide range of practical experience, including
Solaris on SPARC, IBM AIX®, IBM System x®, and VMWare ESX.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2012, 2014. All rights reserved. xiii

Dirk Peitzmann is a Leading Technical Sales Professional with IBM Systems Sales in
Munich, Germany. Dirk is an experienced professional and provides technical pre-sales and
post-sales solutions for IBM server and storage systems. His areas of expertise include
designing virtualization infrastructures and disk solutions and carrying out performance
analysis and the sizing of SAN and NAS solutions. He holds an engineering diploma in
Computer Sciences from the University of Applied Science in Isny, Germany, and is an Open
Group Master Certified IT Specialist.

Steven Pemberton is a Senior Storage Architect with IBM GTS in Melbourne, Australia. He
has broad experience as an IT solution architect, pre-sales specialist, consultant, instructor,
and enterprise IT customer. He is a member of the IBM Technical Experts Council for
Australia and New Zealand (TEC A/NZ), has multiple industry certifications, and is co-author
of seven previous IBM Redbooks.

Tom Provost is a Field Technical Sales Specialist for the IBM Systems and Technology
Group in Belgium. Tom has many years of experience as an IT professional providing design,
implementation, migration, and troubleshooting support for IBM System x, IBM System
Storage, storage software, and virtualization. Tom also is the co-author of several other
Redbooks and IBM Redpapers™. He joined IBM in 2010.

Marco Schwarz is an IT specialist and team leader for Techline as part of the Techline Global
Center of Excellence who lives in Germany. He has many years of experience in designing
IBM System Storage solutions. His expertise spans all recent technologies in the IBM
storage.

Thanks Bertrand Dufrasne of the International Technical Support Organization, San Jose
Center for his contributions to this project.

Thanks to the following authors of the previous editions of this book:

Alex Osuna
Sandro De Santis
Carsten Larsen
Tarik Maluf
Patrick P. Schill

Now you can become a published author, too!

Here’s an opportunity to spotlight your skills, grow your career, and become a published
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length, and you can participate either in person or as a remote resident working from your
home base.

Find out more about the residency program, browse the residency index, and apply online at
this website:

http://www.ibm.com/redbooks/residencies.html

xiv IBM System Storage N series Hardware Guide

Comments welcome

Your comments are important to us!

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򐂰 Use the online Contact us review Redbooks form found at this website:

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Preface xv

xvi IBM System Storage N series Hardware Guide

Summary of changes

This section describes the technical changes that were made in this edition of the book and in
previous editions. This edition might also include minor corrections and editorial changes that
are not identified.

Summary of Changes
for SG24-7840-03
for IBM System Storage N series Hardware Guide
as created or updated on May 28, 2014.

May 2014, Fourth Edition

New information

The following new information is included:

򐂰 The N series hardware portfolio was updated to reflect the October 2013 status quo.
򐂰 Information and changed in Data ONTAP 8.1.x have been included.
򐂰 High availability and MetroCluster information was updated to include SAS shelf

technology.

Changed information

The following changed information is included:

򐂰 Hardware information for products that are no longer available was removed.
򐂰 Information that is valid for Data ONTAP 7.x only was removed or modified to highlight

differences and improvements in the current Data ONTAP 8.1.x release.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2012, 2014. All rights reserved. xvii

xviii IBM System Storage N series Hardware Guide

Part 1 Introduction to N series

hardware

This part introduces the N series hardware, including the storage controller models, disk
expansion shelves, and cabling recommendations.

It also describes some of the hardware functions, including active/active controller clusters,
MetroCluster, NVRAM and cache memory, and RAID-DP protection.

Finally, this part provides a high-level guide to designing an N series solution.

This part includes the following chapters:

򐂰 Chapter 1, “Introduction to IBM System Storage N series” on page 3
򐂰 Chapter 2, “Entry-level systems” on page 13
򐂰 Chapter 3, “Mid-range systems” on page 23
򐂰 Chapter 4, “High-end systems” on page 33
򐂰 Chapter 5, “Expansion units” on page 45
򐂰 Chapter 6, “Cabling expansions” on page 59
򐂰 Chapter 7, “Highly Available controller pairs” on page 71
򐂰 Chapter 8, “MetroCluster” on page 103
򐂰 Chapter 9, “MetroCluster expansion cabling” on page 125
򐂰 Chapter 10, “Data protection with RAID Double Parity” on page 147
򐂰 Chapter 11, “Core technologies” on page 165
򐂰 Chapter 12, “Flash Cache” on page 175
򐂰 Chapter 13, “Disk sanitization” on page 181
򐂰 Chapter 14, “Designing an N series solution” on page 187

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2012, 2014. All rights reserved. 1

2 IBM System Storage N series Hardware Guide

Chapter 1. Introduction to IBM System

1

Storage N series

The IBM System Storage N series offers more choices to organizations that face the
challenges of enterprise data management. The IBM System Storage N series is designed to
deliver high-end value with midrange affordability. Built-in enterprise serviceability and
manageability features support customer efforts to increase reliability, simplify, and unify
storage infrastructure and maintenance, and deliver exceptional economy.

This chapter includes the following sections:

򐂰 Overview
򐂰 IBM System Storage N series hardware
򐂰 Software licensing structure
򐂰 Data ONTAP 8 supported systems

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2012, 2014. All rights reserved. 3

1.1 Overview

This section introduces the IBM System Storage N series and describes its hardware
features. The IBM System Storage N series provides a range of reliable, scalable storage
solutions for various storage requirements. These capabilities are achieved by using network
access protocols, such as Network File System (NFS), Common Internet File System (CIFS),
HTTP, FTP, and iSCSI. They are also achieved by using storage area network technologies,
such as Fibre Channel and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE). The N series features
built-in Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) technology. Further advanced data
protection options include snapshots, backup, mirroring, and replication technologies that can
be customized to meet client’s business requirements. These storage systems also have
simple management interfaces that make installation, administration, and troubleshooting
straightforward.

The N series unified storage solution supports file and block protocols, as shown in
Figure 1-1. Converged networking also is supported for all protocols.

Figure 1-1 Unified storage

This type of flexible storage solution offers the following benefits:
򐂰 Heterogeneous unified storage solution: Unified access for multiprotocol storage

environments.
򐂰 Versatile: A single integrated architecture that is designed to support concurrent block I/O

and file servicing over Ethernet and Fibre Channel SAN infrastructures.
򐂰 Comprehensive software suite that is designed to provide robust system management,

copy services, and virtualization technologies.
򐂰 Ease of changing storage requirements that allow fast, dynamic changes. If more storage

is required, you can expand it quickly and non-disruptively. If existing storage is deployed

incorrectly, you can reallocate available storage from one application to another quickly

and easily.

4 IBM System Storage N series Hardware Guide

򐂰 Maintains availability and productivity during upgrades. If outages are necessary,

downtime is kept to a minimum.

򐂰 Easily and quickly implement nondisruptive upgrades.
򐂰 Create effortless backup and recovery solutions that operate in a common manner across

all data access methods.
򐂰 Tune the storage environment to a specific application while maintaining its availability and

flexibility.
򐂰 Change the deployment of storage resources easily, quickly, and non-disruptively. Online

storage resource redeployment is possible.

򐂰 Achieve robust data protection with support for online backup and recovery.
򐂰 Include added value features, such as deduplication to optimize space management.

All N series storage systems use a single operating system (Data ONTAP) across the entire
platform. They offer advanced function software features that provide one of the industry’s
most flexible storage platforms. This functionality includes comprehensive system
management, storage management, onboard copy services, virtualization technologies,
disaster recovery, and backup solutions.

1.2 IBM System Storage N series hardware

The following sections address the N series models that are available at the time of this
writing. Figure 1-2 shows all of the N series models that were released by IBM to date that
belong to the N3000, N6000, and N7000 series line.

Figure 1-2 N series hardware portfolio

Chapter 1. Introduction to IBM System Storage N series 5

The hardware includes the following features and benefits:
򐂰 Data compression:

– Transparent in-line data compression can store more data in less space, which

reduces the amount of storage that you must purchase and maintain.

– Reduces the time and bandwidth that is required to replicate data during volume

SnapMirror transfers.

򐂰 Deduplication:

– Runs block-level data deduplication on NearStore data volumes.
– Scans and deduplicates volume data automatically, which results in fast, efficient

space savings with minimal effect on operations.

򐂰 Data ONTAP:

– Provides full-featured and multiprotocol data management for block and file serving

environments through N series storage operating system.

– Simplifies data management through single architecture and user interface, and

reduces costs for SAN and NAS deployment.

򐂰 Disk sanitization:

– Obliterates data by overwriting disks with specified byte patterns or random data.
– Prevents recovery of current data by any known recovery methods.

򐂰 FlexCache:

– Creates a flexible caching layer within your storage infrastructure that automatically

adapts to changing usage patterns to eliminate bottlenecks.

– Improves application response times for large compute farms, speeds data access for

remote users, or creates a tiered storage infrastructure that circumvents tedious data
management tasks.

򐂰 FlexClone:

– Provides near-instant creation of LUN and volume clones without requiring more

storage capacity.

– Accelerates test and development, and storage capacity savings.

򐂰 FlexShare:

– Prioritizes storage resource allocation to highest-value workloads on a heavily loaded

system.

– Ensures that best performance is provided to designated high-priority applications.

򐂰 FlexVol:

– Creates flexibly sized LUNs and volumes across a large pool of disks and one or more

RAID groups.

– Enables applications and users to get more space dynamically and non-disruptively

without IT staff intervention. Enables more productive use of available storage and
helps improve performance.

򐂰 Gateway:

– Supports attachment to IBM Enterprise Storage Server® (ESS) series, IBM XIV®

Storage System, and IBM System Storage DS8000® and DS5000 series. Also
supports a broad range of IBM, EMC, Hitachi, Fujitsu, and HP storage subsystems.

6 IBM System Storage N series Hardware Guide

򐂰 MetroCluster:

– Offers an integrated high-availability and disaster-recovery solution for campus and

metro-area deployments.
– Ensures high data availability when a site failure occurs.
– Supports Fibre Channel attached storage with SAN Fibre Channel switch, SAS

attached storage with Fibre Channel -SAS bridge, and Gateway storage with SAN

Fibre Channel switch.

򐂰 MultiStore:

– Partitions a storage system into multiple virtual storage appliances.
– Enables secure consolidation of multiple domains and controllers.

򐂰 NearStore (near-line):

– Increases the maximum number of concurrent data streams (per storage controller).
– Enhances backup, data protection, and disaster preparedness by increasing the

number of concurrent data streams between two N series systems.

򐂰 OnCommand:

– Enables the consolidation and simplification of shared IT storage management by

providing common management services, integration, security, and role-based access

controls, which delivers greater flexibility and efficiency.
– Manages multiple N series systems from a single administrative console.
– Speeds deployment and consolidated management of multiple N series systems.

򐂰 Flash Cache (Performance Acceleration Module):

– Improves throughput and reduces latency for file services and other random

read-intensive workloads.
– Offers power savings by using less power than adding more disk drives to optimize

performance.

򐂰 RAID-DP:

– Offers double parity bit RAID protection (N series RAID 6 implementation).
– Protects against data loss because of double disk failures and media bit errors that

occur during drive rebuild processes.

򐂰 SecureAdmin:

– Authenticates the administrative user and the N series system, which creates a secure,

direct communication link to the N series system.
– Protects administrative logins, passwords, and session commands from cleartext

snooping by replacing RSH and Telnet with the encrypted SSH protocol.

򐂰 Single Mailbox Recovery for Exchange (SMBR):

– Enables the recovery of a single mailbox from a Microsoft Exchange Information Store.
– Extracts a single mailbox or email directly in minutes with SMBR, compared to hours

with traditional methods. This process eliminates the need for staff-intensive, complex,

and time-consuming Exchange server and mailbox recovery.

򐂰 SnapDrive:

– Provides host-based data management of N series storage from Microsoft Windows,

UNIX, and Linux servers.
– Simplifies host-consistent Snapshot copy creation and automates error-free restores.

Chapter 1. Introduction to IBM System Storage N series 7

򐂰 SnapLock:

– Write-protects structured application data files within a volume to provide Write Once

Read Many (WORM) disk storage.
– Provides storage, which enables compliance with government records retention

regulations.

򐂰 SnapManager:

– Provides host-based data management of N series storage for databases and

business applications.
– Simplifies application-consistent Snapshot copies, automates error-free data restores,

and enables application-aware disaster recovery.

򐂰 SnapMirror:

– Enables automatic, incremental data replication between synchronous or

asynchronous systems.
– Provides flexible, efficient site-to-site mirroring for disaster recovery and data

distribution.

򐂰 SnapRestore:

– Restores single files, directories, or entire LUNs and volumes rapidly, from any

Snapshot backup.
– Enables near-instant recovery of files, databases, and complete volumes.

򐂰 Snapshot:

– Makes incremental, data-in-place, point-in-time copies of a LUN or volume with

minimal performance effect.
– Enables frequent, nondisruptive, space-efficient, and quickly restorable backups.

򐂰 SnapVault:

– Exports Snapshot copies to another N series system, which provides an incremental

block-level backup solution.
– Enables cost-effective, long-term retention of rapidly restorable disk-based backups.

򐂰 Storage Encryption

Provides support for Full Disk Encryption (FDE) drives in N series disk shelf storage and
integration with License Key Managers, including IBM Tivoli® Key Lifecycle Manager.

򐂰 SyncMirror:

– Maintains two online copies of data with RAID-DP protection on each side of the mirror.
– Protects against all types of hardware outages, including triple disk failure.

򐂰 Gateway

Reduce data management complexity in heterogeneous storage environments for data
protection and retention.

򐂰 Software bundles:

– Provides flexibility to use breakthrough capabilities while maximizing value with a

considerable discount.
– Simplifies ordering of combinations of software features: Windows Bundle, Complete

Bundle, and Virtual Bundle.

8 IBM System Storage N series Hardware Guide

For more information about N series software features, see IBM System Storage N series

Storage Efficiency features

Snapshot™Copies

Point-in-time copies that write only
changed blocks. No performance
penalty.

Virtual Copies (FlexClone®)

Near-zero space, instant “virtual”

copies. Only subsequent changes in

cloned dataset get stored.

Thin Provisioning

(FlexVol

®

)

Create flexible volumes that appear to

be a certain size but are really a much

smaller pool.

RAID-DP®Protection

(RAID-6)

Protects against double disk failure with

no performance penalty.

Deduplication

Removes data redundancies in

primary and secondary storage.

Save

up to

95%

Save

up to

46%

Save

up to

33%

Save
over
80%

Save
over
80%

Thin Replication

(SnapVault

®

and SnapMirror®)

Make data copies for disaster recovery
and backup using a minimal amount of

space.

Save

up to

95%

Data Compression

Reduces footprint of primary

and secondary storage.

Save

up to

87%

Software Guide, SG24-7129, which is available at this website:

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247129.html?Open

All N series systems support the storage efficiency features, as shown in Figure 1-3.

Figure 1-3 Storage efficiency features

1.3 Software licensing structure

This section provides an overview of the software licensing structure.

1.3.1 Mid-range and high-end

The software structure for mid-range and high-end systems is assembled out of the following
major options:

򐂰 Data ONTAP Essentials (including one protocol of choice)
򐂰 Protocols (CIFS, NFS, Fibre Channel, iSCSI)
򐂰 SnapRestore
򐂰 SnapMirror
򐂰 SnapVault
򐂰 FlexClone
򐂰 SnapLock
򐂰 SnapManager Suite

Chapter 1. Introduction to IBM System Storage N series 9

Figure 1-4 provides an overview of the software structure that was introduced with the

Data ONTAP
Essentials

Includes: One Protocol of choice, SnapShots, HTTP, Deduplication, Compression, NearStore, DSM/MPIO,
SyncMirror, MultiStore, FlexCache, MetroCluster, High availability, OnCommand

License Key Details: Only SyncMirror Local, Cluster Failover and Cluster Failover Remote License Keys are
required for DOT 8.1, the DSM/MPIO License key must be installed on Server

Protocols

Sold Separately: iSCSI, FCP, CIFS, NFS

License Key Details: Each Protocol License Key must be installed separately

SnapRestore

Includes: SnapRestore

®

License Key Details: SnapRestore License Key must be installed separately

SnapMirror

Includes: SnapMirror

®

License Key Details: SnapMirror License Key unlocks all product features

FlexClone

Includes: FlexClone

®

License Key Details: FlexClone License Key must be installed separately

SnapVault

Includes: SnapVault®Primary and SnapVault®Secondary

License Key Details: SnapVault Secondary License Key unlocks both Primary and Secondary products

SnapLock

Sold Separately: SnapLock®Compliance and SnapLock®Enterprise

License Key Details: Each product is unlocked by its own Master License Key

SnapManager Suite

Includes: SnapManagers for Exchange, SQL Server, SharePoint, Oracle, SAP, VMWare Virtual Infrastructure,
Hyper-V, and SnapDrives for Windows and UNIX

License Key Details: SnapManager Exchange License Key unlocks the entire Suite of features

Complete Bundle

Includes: All Protocols, Single MailBox Recovery, SnapLock ®, SnapRestore®, SnapMirror®, FlexClone®,
SnapVault®, and SnapManager Suite

License Key Details: Refer to the individual Product License Key Details

Software Structure 2.0 Licensing

PLATFORMS: N62x0 & N7950T

NOTE: For DOT 8.0 and earlier, every feature requires its own License Key to be installed separately

availability of Data ONTAP 8.1.

Figure 1-4 Software structure for mid-range and enterprise systems

To increase the business flow efficiencies, the seven-mode licensing infrastructure was
modified to handle features that are included in a more bundled or packaged manner.

You do not need to add license keys on your system for most features that are distributed at
no additional fee. For some platforms, features in a software bundle require only one license

1.3.2 Entry-level

10 IBM System Storage N series Hardware Guide

key. Other features are enabled when you add certain other software bundle keys.

The entry-level software structure is similar to the mid-range and high-end structures that
were described in 1.3.1, “Mid-range and high-end” on page 9. The following changes apply:

򐂰 All protocols (CIFS, NFS, Fibre Channel, iSCSI) are included with entry-level systems
򐂰 Gateway feature is not available
򐂰 MetroCluster feature is not available