Sun Microsystems 3510 User Manual
Sun StorEdge™3000 Family
Best Practices Manual
Sun StorEdge 3510 FC Array
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
www.sun.com
Part No. 816-7325-12
October 2003, Revision A
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Contents
Overview 1
Introduction 2
Overview 3
Fibre Channel Architecture 3
Fibre Channel Protocols 3
Supported RAID Levels 4
Logical Drives 4
Cache Optimization 5
Array Management Tools 6
Saving and Restoring Configuration Information 7
Direct-Attached Storage 7
Storage Area Networking 8
Scaling Capacity 9
First Steps 10
General Configuration Considerations 11
Non-Redundant DAS Configurations 12
Non-Redundant DAS Tips and Techniques 13
Non-Redundant DAS Setup Details 14
High-Availability DAS Configurations 15
iii
High-Availability DAS Tips and Techniques 16
High-Availability DAS Setup Details 17
Full-Fabric SAN Configurations 19
Full-Fabric SAN Tips and Techniques 20
Full-Fabric SAN Setup Details 20
High-Performance SAN Configurations 23
High-Performance SAN Tips and Techniques 24
High-Performance SAN Setup Details 24
Summary 26
iv Sun StorEdge 3000 Family Best Practices Manual • October 2003
Best Practices for the Sun StorEdge 3510 FC Array
This document highlights Fibre Channel (FC) best practices which apply to the Sun
StorEdge 3510 FC array.
Overview
The Sun StorEdge3510 array is a next generation Fibre Channel storage system
designed to provide direct attached storage (DAS) to entry-level, mid-range, and
enterprise servers, or to serve as the disk storage within a storage area network
(SAN). This solution features powerful performance and reliability, availability and
serviceability (RAS) features using modern FC technology. As a result, the Sun
StorEdge 3510 FC array is ideal for performance sensitive applications and for
environments with many entry-level, mid-range, and enterprise servers, such as:
■ Internet
■ Messaging
■ Database
■ Technical
■ Imaging
This document gives a high level overview of the Sun StorEdge 3510 FC array and
outlines four sample storage solutions for entry-level, mid-range, and enterprise
servers. The Sun StorEdge 3510 FC array supports multiple servers, so these
solutions are designed to match the overall environment rather than the particular
applications running within it. Use them as-is or tailor them to fit your exact needs.
Examples of customization opportunities include adding disks, enclosures and
software or even combining configurations. Choosing the solution that best matches
each particular environment will provide the best results.
1
Introduction
There are two popular methods for connecting storage to servers.
■ The original and still most widely used approach uses a direct connection
between a server and its storage system. A storage system connected in this
manner is commonly referred to as direct-attached storage (DAS). The DAS
solution of connecting each server to its own dedicated storage system is straightforward, and the absence of storage switches can minimize costs in some
instances.
■ A newer, more sophisticated technique places a storage switch between network
servers and storage systems, creating what has become known as a Storage Area
Network (SAN). In many ways, these two methods create contrasting storage
architectures providing their own unique mix of benefits. A SAN solution shares
a storage system among multiple servers using storage switches, and reduces the
total number of storage systems required for a particular environment but
increases the complexity.
Direct-Attached Storage (DAS)
FIGURE 1 DAS and SAN Storage Architectures
Storage Area Network (SAN)
Selecting the best storage architecture for a particular environment can be a
confusing exercise. In general, some environments are well-suited for DAS while
others will benefit greatly from SAN.
The challenge of selecting between DAS and SAN is often further complicated by the
need to choose between different storage systems – one designed for DAS or another
intended for SAN. Fortunately, every Sun StorEdge 3510 FC array inherently
supports both DAS and SAN.
2 Sun StorEdge 3000 Family Best Practices Manual • October 2003
Overview
Fibre Channel Architecture
The Sun StorEdge 3510 FC array RAID controller has six fibre channels that can
support 1 or 2 Gb data transfer speeds. RAID controller channels 0, 1, 4, and 5 are
normally designated for connection to hosts or Fibre Channel switches. RAID
controller channels 2 and 3 are dedicated drive channels.
In a dual RAID controller configuration, both RAID controllers have the same host
channel designators, due to the architecture of the loops within the chassis. Each
host channel of the top RAID controller shares a loop with the matching host
channel on the bottom RAID controller. For example, channel 0 of the top RAID
controller shares the same loop as channel 0 of the bottom RAID controller. This
provides four distinct loops for connectivity with two ports per loop. The individual
loops provide LUN failover without causing HBA path failover in the event of a
controller failure.
Each I/O board has two ports designated as disk drive loops. These ports connect to
the internal dual-ported Fibre Channel disk drives and are used to add expansion
chassis to the configuration. The two drive loop ports on the upper I/O board form
FC loop 2 while the two drive ports on the lower I/O board form FC loop 3. FC loop
2 provides a data path from both RAID controllers to the A loop of the internal disk
drives, while FC loop 3 provides a data path from both RAID controllers to the B
loop of the internal disk drives.
A single RAID controller configuration is slightly different. The lower I/O board has
drive channels but does not have host channels. Overall, the same number of loops
are available, but with half as many host channel ports.
Fibre Channel Protocols
The Sun StorEdge 3510 FC array supports point-to-point and Fibre Channel–
Arbitrated Loops (FC–AL) protocols. Using the point-to-point protocol with the Sun
StorEdge 3510 FC array requires a switched fabric network (SAN), whereas selecting
FC-AL mode enables the array to be used in either DAS or SAN environments.
Using point-to-point protocol enables full-duplex use of the available channel
bandwidth, whereas selecting FC-AL mode limits host channels to half-duplex
mode.
Best Practices for the Sun StorEdge 3510 FC Array 3
In a point-to-point configuration, only one ID can be assigned to each host channel.
If more than one ID is assigned, the point-to-point protocol rules are violated. Any
host channel with more than one ID will not be able to log in to an FC switch in
fabric mode. This “one-ID-per-channel” requirement is true in both single-controller
and dual- controller configurations. Thus, in dual-controller configurations, either
the primary or the secondary controller can have an ID assigned, but not both. This
yields:
(4 host channels) X (1 ID per channel) X (32 LUNs per ID) = 128 maximum
addressable LUNs in a fabric point-to-point environment. If dual paths are
desired for each logical device, a maximum of 64 dual-pathed LUNs are available.
In an FC-AL configuration, multiple IDs can be assigned to any given host channel.
Although it is possible to add more, it is preferable that no more than four IDs be
assigned to a controller on a given host channel. Thus no more that eight IDs should
be assigned to any host channel if both primary and secondary controllers each have
four IDs. This yields (4 host channels) X (8 IDs per channel) X (32 LUNs per ID) =
1024 maximum addressable LUNs in a FC-AL environment. However, configuring
the maximum number of LUNs increases overhead and can have a negative impact
on performance.
The FC-AL protocol should be selected for environments needing more than 128
LUNs, or where a switched fabric network is not available.
Supported RAID Levels
There are several RAID level choices: RAID 0, 1, 3, 5, 1+0 (10), 3+0 (30), and 5+0 (50).
RAID levels 1, 3, and 5 are the most commonly used. The Sun StorEdge 3510 FC
array supports the use of both global and local spare drives in the unlikely event of
disk failure. It is good practice to use spare drives when configuring RAID devices.
Refer to the Sun StorEdge 3000 Family RAID Firmware 3.27 User’s Guide, Sun StorEdge
3510 FC Array (P/N 816-7934) for detailed information on how RAID levels and
spare drives are implemented.
Logical Drives
A logical drive (LD) is a group of physical drives configured with a RAID level. Each
LD can be configured for a different RAID level.
The Sun StorEdge 3510 FC array supports a maximum of eight LDs. A LD can be
managed by either the primary or secondary controller. The best practice for creating
LDs is to split them evenly across the primary and secondary controllers. The most
efficient maximum configuration would have four LDs assigned to each controller.
4 Sun StorEdge 3000 Family Best Practices Manual • October 2003
With at least one LD assigned to each controller, both controllers are active. This
configuration is known as an active-active controller configuration and allows
maximum use of a dual controller array's resources.
Each LD can be partitioned in up to 128 separate partitions or used as a single
partition. The partitions are presented to the host as LUNs.
Once the LDs have been created, assigned to a controller, and partitioned, the
partitions must be mapped to host channels as LUNs in order for them to be seen by
a host. It is usually desirable to map each partition to two host channels for
redundant pathing.
A partition can only be mapped to a host channel where its controller has an
assigned ID. For example, if LD 0 is assigned to the primary controller, all partitions
on LD 0 will need to be mapped to a host channel ID on the primary controller
(PID). Any LDs assigned to the secondary controller will need to have all partitions
mapped to a host channel ID on the secondary controller (SID).
When attaching fibre cables for LUNs configured with redundant paths, make sure
one cable is connected to an upper port channel and the other cable is connected to
a different channel on the lower controller. Then, if multipathing software is
configured on the host, a controller can be hot-swapped in the event of failure
without losing access to the LUN.
For example, suppose partition 0 of LD0 is mapped to Channel 0 PID 42 and
Channel 5 PID 47. To ensure that there is no single point of failure (SPOF), connect a
cable from the host HBA or a switch port to the upper board port FC0, and connect
a second cable from the lower board port FC5 to a different host HBA or switch.
Cache Optimization
The Sun StorEdge 3510 FC array can optimize the RAID devices for either sequential
I/O or random I/O. Sequential I/O is the default setting.
The sequential optimization mode reads and writes data in large 128K blocks, in
order to transfer information more efficiently for the kinds of applications most often
employed. The logical drive, cache memory, and other controller internal parameters
are adjusted for high throughput use such as video and imaging applications. The
maximum allowable size of a logical drive optimized for sequential I/O is 2
terabytes (TB).
The random I/O optimization mode reads and writes data in small 32K blocks.
When using random I/O optimization mode, the logical drive, cache memory, and
other controller parameters are adjusted for the use of database/transactionprocessing applications. The maximum allowable size of a logical drive optimized
for random I/O is 512 GB. This limit constrains the number of disks that can be
included in a logical drive.
Best Practices for the Sun StorEdge 3510 FC Array 5
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