Dell PowerVault MD3600i Series Quick reference guide

Dell PowerVault MD3600i and
MD3620i Storage Arrays
Deployment Guide
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Notes, Cautions, and Warnings
NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of
your computer.
CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates potential damage to hardware or loss of data if
instructions are not followed.
WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal
injury, or death.
____________________
Information in this publication is subject to change without notice.
© 2010 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction of these materials in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Inc.
is strictly forbidden.
Trademarks used in this text: Dell™, the DELL logo, and PowerVault™ are trademarks of Dell Inc.
Intel
®
and Pentium
®
are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.
Microsoft®, Windows®, and Windows Server®are either trademarks or registered trademarks of
Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Red Hat Enterprise Linux®and
Enterprise Linux®are registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. Novell®is a registered trademark and
SUSE™ isatrademarkofNovellInc.intheUnitedStatesandothercountries.VMware®isaregistered
trademark of VMWare, Inc. in the United States or other countries.
Othertrademarksandtradenamesmaybeusedinthispublicationtorefertoeithertheentitiesclaiming
the marks and names or their products. Dell Inc. disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and
trade names other than its own.
December 2010 Rev. A00
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Contents 3
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Management Station Requirements . . . . . . . . . 7
Introduction to Storage Arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2 Hardware Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Storage Configuration Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
About the Storage Array Connections. . . . . . . . . . 12
Cabling the Storage Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Redundant and Non-Redundant
Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Direct-Attached Configurations . . . . . . . . . . 13
Network-Attached Configurations . . . . . . . . . 20
Cabling PowerVault MD1200 Series
Expansion Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Expanding With Previously Configured
PowerVault MD1200 Series
Expansion Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Expanding With New PowerVault MD1200 Series
Expansion Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3 Software Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Installing MD Storage Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
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4Contents
Graphical Installation (Recommended). . . . . . . 30
Console Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Silent Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4 Post Installation Tasks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Before You Begin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
iSCSI Configuration Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
IPv4 Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
IPv6 Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Guidelines for Configuring NICs on
Your Host Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Microsoft Windows Host Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Linux Host Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Configuring iSCSI on Your Storage Array . . . . . . . . 42
Automatic Configuration Using the
Modular Disk Configuration Utility . . . . . . . . . 43
Post Connection Establishment Steps. . . . . . . . . . 52
5 Uninstalling Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Uninstalling From Microsoft Windows . . . . . . . . . 55
Uninstalling From Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
A Appendix—Manual Configuration
of iSCSI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Step 1: Discover the Storage Array
(Out-of-band Management Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
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Contents 5
Default Management IPv4 Port Settings . . . . . . 58
Automatic Storage Array Discovery . . . . . . . . 59
Manual Storage Array Discovery . . . . . . . . . 60
Setting Up the Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Step 2: Configure the iSCSI Ports on the
Storage Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Step 3: Perform Target Discovery From the
iSCSI Initiator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Step 4: Configure Host Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Understanding CHAP Authentication . . . . . . . . . . 66
What is CHAP? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Target CHAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Mutual CHAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
CHAP Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Step 5: Configure CHAP Authentication on the
Storage Array (Optional). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Configuring Target CHAP Authentication
on the Storage Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Configuring Mutual CHAP Authentication
on the Storage Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Step 6: Configure CHAP Authentication on the
Host Server (Optional) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Step 7: Connect to the Target Storage Array From the
Host Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Step 8: (Optional) Set Up In-Band Management . . . . 77
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6Contents
B Appendix—Using Internet Storage
Naming Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
C Appendix—Load Balancing . . . . . . . . . . 81
Load Balance Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Round Robin With Subset. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Least Queue Depth With Subset . . . . . . . . . . 82
Least Path Weight With Subset. . . . . . . . . . . 82
Changing Load Balance Policies on the
Windows Server 2008 Operating System . . . . . . 82
Increasing Bandwidth With Multiple
iSCSI Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
D Appendix—Stopping iSCSI Services
in Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
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Introduction 7
1
Introduction
This guide provides information about deploying Dell PowerVault MD
MD3600i and MD3620i storage arrays. The deployment process includes:
• Hardware installation
• Modular Disk Storage Manager (MDSM) software installation
• Initial system configuration
Other information provided include system requirements, storage array
organization, and utilities.
NOTE: For more information on product documentation, see
support.dell.com/manuals.
MDSM enables an administrator to configure and monitor storage arrays for
optimum usability. The version of MDSM included on the MD3600i Series
resource media can be used to manage both the MD3600i Series and the
earlier generation MD3200i and MD3000i Series storage arrays. MDSM is
compatible with both Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems.
System Requirements
Before installing and configuring the MD3600i Series hardware and software,
ensure that the minimum system requirements are met, and the supported
operating system is installed. For more information, see the Dell PowerVault
Support Matrix available on support.dell.com/manuals.
Management Station Requirements
A management station uses MDSM to configure and manage storage arrays
across the network, and must meet the following minimum system
requirements:
• Intel Pentium or an equivalent processor (333 MHz or faster) with 512 MB
RAM (1024 MB recommended)
• 1 GB disk space
• Display resolution of 1024x768 with 16 million colors (1280x1024 32-bit
recommended)
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8Introduction
• Microsoft Windows, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server. Operating system installations can be either native or
hypervisor guest configurations. Supported hypervisors include Microsoft
Hyper-V, Citrix XenServer, and VMware. For information about the
supported versions, see the
Support Matrix at support.dell.com .
• Administrator or equivalent permissions.
Introduction to Storage Arrays
A storage array includes various hardware components, such as physical disks,
RAID controller modules, fans, and power supplies, gathered into enclosures.
An enclosure containing physical disks accessed through RAID controller
modules is called a storage array.
One or more host servers attached to the storage array can access the data on
the storage array. You can also establish multiple physical paths between the
host(s) and the storage array so that loss of any single path (for example,
through failure of a host server port) does not result in loss of access to data
on the storage array.
The storage array is managed by MDSM running on a:
• Host server—On a host server, MDSM and the storage array communicate
management requests and event information using iSCSI ports.
• Management station—On a management station, MDSM communicates
with the storage array either through an Ethernet connection to the
storage array management port or though an Ethernet connection to a
host server, which passes management information between the
management station and the storage array using iSCSI ports.
Using MDSM, you can configure the physical disks in the storage array into
logical components called disk groups and then divide the disk groups into
virtual disks. Disk groups are created in the unconfigured capacity of a storage
array. Virtual disks are created in the free capacity of a disk group.
Unconfigured capacity comprises physical disks not already assigned to a disk
group. When a virtual disk is created using unconfigured capacity, a disk
group is automatically created. If the only virtual disk in a disk group is
deleted, the disk group is also deleted. Free capacity is space in a disk group
that is not assigned to any virtual disk.
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Introduction 9
Data is written to the physical disks in the storage array using RAID
technology. RAID levels define the way in which data is written to physical
disks. Different RAID levels offer different levels of accessibility, redundancy,
and capacity. You can set a specified RAID level for each disk group and
virtual disk on your storage array.
For more information about using RAID and managing data in your storage
solution, see the Owner’s Manual
at support.dell.com/manuals .
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10 Introduction
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Hardware Installation 11
2
Hardware Installation
Before using this guide, ensure that you review the instructions in the:
• Getting Started Guide —The Getting Started Guide that shipped with
the storage array provides information to configure the initial setup of
the system.
• Planning section of the
Owner’s Manual— The planning section provides
information
about important concepts you should know before setting
up your storage solution at
support.dell.com/manuals .
Storage Configuration Planning
Consider the following before installing your storage array:
• Evaluate data storage needs and administrative requirements.
• Calculate availability requirements.
• Decide the frequency and level of backups, such as weekly full backups
with daily partial backups.
• Consider storage array options, such as password protection and e-mail
alert notifications for error conditions.
• Design the configuration of virtual disks and disk groups according to a
data organization plan. For example, use one virtual disk for inventory, a
second for financial and tax information, and a third for customer
information.
• Decide whether to allow space for hot spares, which automatically replace
failed physical disks.
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12 Hardware Installation
About the Storage Array Connections
The storage array is connected to a host using two hot-swappable RAID
controller modules. The RAID controller modules are identified as RAID
controller module 0 and RAID controller module 1.
Each RAID controller module has two iSCSI In port connectors that provide
Ethernet connections to the host server or switches. Each RAID controller
module also contains an Ethernet management port and a SAS Out port. The
Ethernet management port allows you to install a dedicated management
station (server or stand-alone system). The SAS Out port allows you to
connect the storage array to optional PowerVault MD1200 Series expansion
enclosures for additional storage capacity.
Each PowerVault MD3600i Series storage array can be expanded to a
maximum of 96 physical disks through a maximum of seven MD1200 Series
expansion enclosures.
Cabling the Storage Array
The iSCSI interface enables different host-to-controller configurations. The
figures in this chapter are grouped according to the following categories:
• Direct-attached configurations (no Ethernet switches are used)
• Network-attached (SAN) configurations (Ethernet switches are used)
Redundant and Non-Redundant Configurations
Non-redundant configurations are configurations that provide only a single
data path from a host to the storage array. This type of configuration is only
recommended for non-critical data storage. Path failure from a failed or
removed cable, a failed NIC, or a failed or removed RAID controller module
results in loss of host access to storage on the storage array.
Redundancy is established by installing separate data paths between the host
and the storage array, in which each path is to one of the two RAID controller
modules installed in the storage array. Redundancy protects the host from
losing access to data in the event of path failure, because both RAID
controller modules can access all the disks in the storage array.
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Hardware Installation 13
Direct-Attached Configurations
You can connect the Ethernet ports of the host servers directly to the storage
array RAID controller module iSCSI ports.
Single Path Data Configurations
With a single path configuration, a group of heterogeneous hosts can be
connected to the storage array through a single physical Ethernet port. Since
there is only one port, there is no redundancy, although each iSCSI portal
supports multiple connections. This configuration is supported for both
single controller and dual controller modes.
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14 Hardware Installation
Figure 2-1 shows a non-redundant cabling configuration to the RAID
controller modules using a single path data configuration.
Figure 2-1. Two Hosts Connected to a Single Controller
Corporate, public,
or private network
Storage array
Server 1 Server 2
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Hardware Installation 15
Figure 2-2 shows one host connected to a single controller array.
Figure 2-2. One Host Connected to a Single Controller
Corporate, public,
or private network
Storage array
Server
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16 Hardware Installation
Figure 2-3 shows four stand-alone hosts supported in a dual controller array
configuration with a single data path.
Figure 2-3. Four Hosts in a Dual-Controller Configuration
Corporate, public,
or private network
Storage array
Server 2 Server 3 Server 4Server 1
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Hardware Installation 17
Dual-Path Data Configuration
In Figure 2-4, up to two servers are directly attached to the RAID controller
modules. If the host server has a second Ethernet connection to the array,
it can be attached to the iSCSI ports on the array's second controller.
This configuration provides improved availability by allowing two separate
physical paths for each host, which ensures full redundancy if one of the
paths fail.
In Figure 2-5, up to two cluster nodes are directly attached to two RAID
controller modules. Since each cluster node has redundant paths, loss of a
single path would still allow access to the to the storage array through the
alternate path.
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18 Hardware Installation
Figure 2-4. Two Hosts Connected to Two Controllers
Storage array
Server 1 Server 2
Corporate, public,
or private network
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Hardware Installation 19
Figure 2-5. Two Hosts Connected in a Dual-Controller Configuration
Corporate, public,
or private network
Storage array
Two node cluster server
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20 Hardware Installation
Network-Attached Configurations
You can also cable the host servers to the RAID controller module iSCSI ports
through industry-standard 10G or 1G Ethernet switches. An iSCSI
configuration that uses Ethernet switches is frequently referred to as an IP
SAN. By using an IP SAN, the PowerVault MD3600i Series storage array can
support up to 64 hosts simultaneously. This configuration supports either
single- or dual-path data configurations and either single or dual controller
modules.
Figure 2-6 shows up to 64 stand-alone servers attached (using multiple
sessions) to a single RAID controller module through a network. Hosts that
have a second Ethernet connection to the network allow two separate
physical paths for each host, which ensures full redundancy if one of the paths
fails. It is recommended you use two switches for more redundancy. However,
single switch configuration is also supported. Figure 2-7 shows how the same
number of hosts can be similarly attached to a dual RAID controller module
configuration.
Figure 2-8 shows up to 64 stand-alone servers attached (using multiple
sessions) to a single RAID controller module through a network using a 1G to
10G aggregation scheme. The NICs on the servers are 1G NICs and the
uplink ports on the 1G switches are 10G. Hosts that have a second Ethernet
connection to the network allow two separate physical paths for each host,
which ensures full redundancy if one of the paths fails. It is recommended you
use two switches for more redundancy. However, single switch configuration is
also supported.
Figure 2-9 shows how the same number of hosts can be similarly attached to a
dual RAID controller module configuration. Hardware redundancy is
achieved in this configuration, in case of any switch failure.
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