Seneca XV-AM3U35 User manual

1
ST3000
and
X-Vault Xvos
User Guide
XV-AM3U35
XV-AM4U35
V2.0.1
Product revisions covered are 1 & 2
Manual Revision 2.01
4/16/2015
This unit ships with a 30 day temporary use license. The
unit must be correctly licensed to enable permanent
operation and specific features. Please follow chapter titled
“Licensing” to acquire and enter license files.
NOTICE: First and most important level of data protection starts with uninterruptable power.

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Seneca Data Distributors, Inc. (“Seneca”) reserves the right to make changes to the product described in this
manual at any time and without notice. This product, including software and documentation, is the property of
Seneca and/or its licensors, and is supplied only under a license. Any use or reproduction of this product is not
allowed, except as expressly permitted by the terms of said license.
In no event will Seneca be liable for direct, indirect, special, incidental, speculative or consequential damages
arising from the use or inability to use this product or documentation, even if advised of the possibility of such
damages. In particular, Seneca shall not have liability for any hardware, software or data stored or used with
the product, including the costs of repairing, replacing, integrating, installing or recovering such hardware,
software or data.
Any disputes arising between manufacturer, reseller and customer shall be governed by the laws of the State
of New York, USA. The State of New York shall be the exclusive venue for the resolution of any such disputes.
Seneca’s total liability for all claims will not exceed the price paid for the hardware product.
FCC Statement: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital
device pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection
against harmful interference when the equipment is operated in a commercial environment. This equipment
generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the
manufacturer’s instruction manual, may cause harmful interference with radio communications. Operation of
this equipment in a residential area is likely to cause harmful interference, in which case you will be required to
correct the interference at your own expense.
Unless you request and receive written permission from Seneca, you may not copy any part of this document.
Information in this document is subject to change without notice. Other products and companies referred to
herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or mark.

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Page
I. Product Introduction ……………………………………………………………………. 6
II. Intended Audience………………………………………………………………………. 7
III. Best Practices……………………………………………………………………………..8
IV. Network Requirements …………………………………………………………………. 12
V. User Interface Orientation …………………………………………………………… 15
VI. Licensing ……………………………………………………………………………… 18
VII. The Process
Create & Modify “The Plan” ……………………………………………………..21
Configure Ports ………………………………………………………………….. 21
Create Host ……………………………………………………………………….22
Create RAID Sets ……………………………………………………………….. 22
Create Logical Volumes …………………………………………………………22
Backup New Configuration …………………………………………………… 22
Connect Volumes At Host ……………………………………………………… 22
Create File System, Format & Mount Volume ……………………………….. 23
VIII. Location & Addressing
Drive Enclosure Slots And Trays ……………………………………………… 25
i. Drive Tray Identification
ii. Drive Tray Removal
iii. Drive Tray Insertion
Cabling …………………………………………………………………………….26
Preset IP Address and Password ………………………………………………28
First Time Accessing The Management GUI……………..…………………. 29
iSCSI/NAS Port Configuration ……………………………………………..….. 31
SAS Port Configuration ………………………………………………………… 34
IX. Host Port Management
Finding Windows Server 2008 IQN …………………………………………… 35
Finding VMware 5.x IQN ……………………………………………………….. 36
Three Methods To Connect To iSCSI Server ……………………………….. 36
Creating a CHAP iSCSI Host …………………………………………………. 37
Creating A Mapped & Masked Host ………………………………………….. 38
Creating A Mapped/Masked With CHAP Host ………………………………. 39
Creating A NAS Host …………………………………………………………… 39
Creating A SAS Host …………………………………………………………… 39
X. RAID Management
Creating A RAID Set ………………………………………...…………………. 40
Modifying A RAID Set ………………………………………………………….. 45
Viewing A RAID Set ……………………………………………………………. 46
XI. Volume Management
Preparation For Logical Volume Creation ……………………………………..48
Creating A Volume ……………………………………………………………….49

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Spanning Logical Volume Across RAID Sets …………………………………53
Volume IO Port & Host Assignment ………………..……………………… 54
Viewing A Logical Volume …………………………………………………… 57
Modifying A Logical Volume …………………………………………………. 57
Expanding A Logical Volume ………………………………………………… 58
Creating A Thin Volume ………………………………………………………. 59
Thin Provisioning FAQ’s ………………………………………………………. 61
Creating Single Drive Volumes ………………………………………………. 62
XII. Mounting Volumes To Operating System
Attaching iSCSI Volume To Windows Server 2008 ………………………… 64
Entry Point for SAS & iSCSI Volumes Appearing In Disk Manager …….. 68
XIII. Snapshots
Preparing To Create Snapshots ………………….…………………………... 72
Creating A Snapshot …………………………………………………………… 72
XIV. Attaching External ISCSI Storage Appliances ………………………………………. 76
Deletion of Remote iSCSI Disk ……………………………………………….. 77
XV. Replication ………………………………………………………………………………. 79
Creation of Replication set ……………………………………………………... 81
Monitoring Replication …………………………………………………………. 82
XVI. Backup & Restore Of Specific Configuration Settings ……………………………… 84
XVII. Individual Drive Configuration and S.M.A.R.T ………………..……………………… 85
XVIII. Housekeeping
Setting System Name, Time and NTP …………………………………………88
Setting Up SMTP ………………………………………………………………... 88
Creating & Managing Users ………………………………………………….. 90
XIX. Alert Notification ……………………………………………………………………….. 91
XX.Information, Statistics, Status & Errors ………………………………………………. 92
XXI. Update & Diagnostics ………………………………………………………………… 94
XXII. Adding Expansion Enclosures ……………………………………………………….. 95
Naming Enclosures ………………………………………………………….. 96
XXIII. Configuring a SAS SAN ………………………………………………………………. 98
XXIV. Remote Management Through Firewalls ………………………………………….… 100
XXV. UPS Port Configuration ………………………………………………...……………… 101
Appendix A Specifications …………………………………………………………………... 102
Appendix B Main Board connectors and jumpers ………………………………………… 104
Appendix C Revisions & BIOS Settings …………………………………………………… 106
Appendix D Field Replaceable Units (FRU) Parts ………………………………………… 108

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NOTICE: First and most important level of data protection starts with
uninterruptable power. An Uninterruptable Power Source (UPS) is
required to protect storage data, cache battery backup is not adequate
to the task of data storage protection.
If this Storage Appliance is not protected by an UPS please consult
with your account representative or pre-sales engineer for assistance
in correctly sizing a UPS to not only protect this Storage Appliance but
your entire IT infrastructure.
THE ST3000 and XVOS v2 models are identical. The only difference is
branding and market verticals applied

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I PRODUCT INTRODUCTION
The X-Vault® Xvos or ST3000 series empowers IT users with both network file level access and block
level access in the same unit. One network attached subsystem provides CIFS and NFS file access as
well as IP SAN connectivity.
The X-Vault Xvos series is available in two rack mount comfigurations.
Xvos V1
3U 4U
Xvos V2 or ST3000
3U 4U
V2 units support SAS 3g and 6g, SATA-II and III and Solid State Drives. V3 units support the
preceding as well as SAS 12g enclosures, controllers, SSD and drives. The 3U supports up to
sixteen internal hot swap drives and the 4U supports up to twenty four internal hot swap drives.. The
3U and 4U X-Vaults are expandable externally up to 128 and 192 total drives respectfully. Both
appliances can be optionally configured to 512 drives.
A quad core 3.3GHz XEON processor provides ample power to drive outstanding IO and bandwidth.
Memory options up to 32GB are available to support high count NAS clients. The standard units ship
with five 1Gbe network ports with four different 10Gbe NIC options and one management port..
Multiple NIC ports, adaptive RAID caching as well as hot swap power supplies provide best in class
performance and reliability.
The Xvault Storage Operating System (XSos) graphical user interface allows easy configuration for
advance features such as volume expansion, storage virtualization, same enclosure mixed tier
support, local and area mirroring, remote replication, snapshots, thin provisioning, NAS client backup,
Backup to Cloud, drive level encryption and block level deduplication.
The Xvos storage appliance can provision in iSCSI, F/C and SAS storage. This feature allows
previously purchased storage investment protection and integratability.
The X-Vault® Xvos platform supports the latest versions of VMwareTM, Microsoft WindowsTM, Citrix
XENTM Server, Red HatTM Linux as well as any operating system that supports a level 2 or higher
iSCSI initiator, NAS, Fibre Channel, FcoE or Infiniband.

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II INTENDED AUDIENCE
The intended audience for this manual and IP SAN storage product should have a working
knowledge of server hardware and operating systems, a firm grasp of storage area network concepts
as well as the ability to configure managed network switches.
Server Hardware/OS
Have working knowledge of PCIe slot types, slot availability and ability to add
appropriate cards when necessary.
Be familiar with network connectivity and configuration of NIC cards with regard to IP
addressing, teaming, jumbo frames and MTU size.
Have the ability and authorization to add drivers and software components to facilitate
the installation of the IP SAN, F/C SAN, SAN, FcoE or Infiniband subsystem.
Enact a plan for exactly what type of storage will be used, NAS, iSCSI, FcoE, SAS, F/C,
Infiniband or a combination of three different type of physical connection. Along with
this, the ability to create, configure and allocate NAS shares, Mapping and Masking of
F/C, IP and FcoE SAN volumes as well as SAS direct or switched and finally Infiniband
architecture and requirements. The ability to plan for capacity requirements and the
subsequent allocation of logical volumes to network accessed share or block level
connected devices. As well as the formatting and mounting of virtual drives.
Network Hardware
Have a clear understanding of the present LAN/WAN infrastructure and how to plan for
the addition of NAS and/or SAN storage in an IP environment.
Be familiar with LACP and teaming configuration options for Layer2 and 3 managed
switches to be used in the implementation of a NAS or IP/FcoE SAN.
Be familiar with VLAN creation or segmentation of switches to be used in the installation
of NAS and/or IP/FcoE SAN storage.
Have a working knowledge of how to configure network switches or routers to
accommodate remote storage for replication transport or remote sites.
Correctly segment NAS/IP/FcoE SAN traffic between server traffic and/or client traffic.
Xvos/ST3000 Appliance
Be able to create a virtual storage device plan using best practices described in this
manual.
Have the ability to recognize when and what security features should be implemented to
the site requirements.
Correctly assign proper attributes to NAS shares as required by local and remote site
requirements. Including the management of Active directory servers.

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III BEST PRACTICES
DRIVE AND RAID SELECTION CONSIDERATION
RAID type, drives used (15k RPM, 10k RPM, 7200 RPM and SSD) and number of drives in a RAID
set are important considerations when planning your NAS or SAN implementations. There are many
articles available on the network explaining how RAID sets work. This manual will deal with RAID10,
RAID5 and RAID6.
DISK DRIVE PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONS
The base all starts with drive selection. In the past, drive categories were 15k RPM SAS, 10k RPM
SAS or 7200 RPM SATA. Today all spindle speeds are available with 6 Gb/s interfaces. Deal
strictly with the drive RPM classification or solid state drives as the performance metric. With regard
to SAS or SATA-III interface, SATA-III drives still have a slight cost advantage over SAS. However,
this initial savings may be mute given some of the SAS feature advantages.
SAS drives are designed by standard to be backward compatible, when SAS 12g
become available, SAS 6g and 3g drives will be be compatible. SATA drives on the
other hand do not have to be backward compatible. This has represented issues as
SATA-I to II to III progression has transpired.
The SAS standard offers better internal configurability, more robust error handling and
reporting.
SAS drives are dual ported and offer multiple paths in the event of controller or cable
failure when used in high availability configurations.
Many SAS/SATA array offerings require a small adapter card between the enclosure
SAS midplane and the SATA drive. SAS disk drive investment is more easily preserved
because SAS drives can be migrated more easily to other platforms. The Seneca Xvos
platform does not require SAS to SATA adapters.
SATA drives still use communication tunneling which inhibits performance.
Drive performance is measure in two ways. Average access time which equals the average seek
time (head positioning) plus average rotational latency (time for the disk to spin 1800). I/O’s per
second operations benefit with lower access times. Transfer rate or how fast the data comes off of a
physical disk is determined by bit density and how fast the disk spins.
Drive Avg. Rotational Avg. Read Access Avg. Transfer
Latency Seek Time Rate __
3.5” 7200 4.16ms 8.5ms 12.66ms 112 MB/s
3.5” 15k 2.00ms 3.4ms 5.40ms 241 MB/s
2.5” 7200 4.16ms 7.5ms 11. 66ms 112 MB/s
2.5” 10k 3.00ms 3.7ms 6.70ms 125 MB/s
2.5” 15k 2.00ms 3.1ms 5.10ms 238 MB/s

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Application Guidelines
< 3000 IO per second 7200 RPM disk drives
3000 > 7000 IO per second 10k or 15k RPM disk drives
> 7000 IO per second Solid State Disks
Performance is subjective. There are tools to measure existing IO. Windows operating systems
provide the “Perfmon” performance monitoring tool. Linux users generally subscribe to dd.
Other best drive/array practices include fragmentation prevention and disk defragmentation.
RAID SET PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONS
The most common RAID types in use today are RAID5, RAID6 and RAID10. RAID5 provides best
performance with single drive failure protection. RAID6 performance is only slightly less on read
operation but exacts a 10% to 25% write performance. RAID6 offers up to two drive failures in a
single RAID set. RAID10 was the exclusive domain for database performance. Today’s RAID
controller technology has evened the performance between RAID10 and RAID5 when eight or more
drives are used. When less than eight drives are used in a RAID set the performance advantage
goes to RAID10. RAID10’s best advantage is when the capacity requirement are low and the
performance requirement is high. Four to sixteen drive RAID10 configurations are optimal.
RAID Minimum Maximum
Type Drives* Drives*
10 4 16
5 5 24
6 6 24
*Per RAID Set
Many users are concerned about the data exposure while a drive is down in a RAID5 set, while
waiting for a replacement to arrive and do not wish to pay the write performance penalty of RAID6.
Consider a hot spare or global spare for RAID5, this will reduce the time of exposure to RAID5 failure.
When the cost of a spare drive is weighed against the extra protection afforded, an onsite spare or a
global/hot spare should be considered a best recommendation.
ISCSI VOLUME AND NETWORK PATH RELATIONSHIP
An iSCSI volume is the space earmarked in the storage appliance to be used as a virtual disk
presented to a server (host). The server will assign this virtual logical disk as an actual drive letter or
designation and mount to the system. An iSCSI volume is often referred to as a LUN (logical unit
number)
The iSCSI volume may change network paths because of path failure or load balancing measures
taken by the host operating system or the storage appliance. This requires the server/host OS
feature; MPIO

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Multiple iSCSI volumes travel across multiple network path when hosts are correctly configured.. The
iSCSI protocol was written when 1Gbe network paths were in development. The iSCSI protocol was
conceptualized with the idea that high I/O’s per second could be achieved with limited bandwidth. As
such using multiple 1Gbe paths would supply the IO capability and bandwidth necessary while still
using commoditized network components. The increased bandwidth of 10Gbe has removed many
sizing restrictions and bandwidth restrictions. It is a best practice to create multiple volumes and
paths to each server. Never restrict a server to a single port, consider two or more IP SAN dedicated
paths to and from a server. This not only increases performance but it also provides path resiliency in
the event of port failure. Server OS Multiple Input Output (MPIO) and load balancing capability is
responsible for port failover and performance increase. The MPIO features must be enabled and
configured.
The maximum mathematical sustained transfer rate per 1Gbe link is 125MB/s (1 Gb/s), higher
transfer rates require more than one iSCSI path. With IP and iSCSI protocol overhead a maximum
transfer rate of 100 MB/s is more realistic. When sustained transfer rate requirements are greater
than 400Mb/s consider a 10Gbe implementation. The Xvos platform can support 10Gbe and 1Gbe
networks simultaneously but they must be connected to separate networks.
MPIO –MULTI POINT INPUT OUTPUT
MPIO is a supported feature on Xvault Xvos Appliances. However it is installed and configured on
the host system. The enablement of this feature is accomplished by defining multiple Ethernet paths
for the iSCSI devices using the iSCSI Initiator on the host system. SAS and Fibre Channel connected
arrays also support MPIO and are managed through the disk management subsystem.
Any server requires more than one path from the Server/Host (NIC port, SAS x4 connection or Fibre
Channel port) to the Storage Appliance to support MPIO.
SYST
PS1
PS2
FAN
STAT
DUPLEX
SPEED
MODE
X2-2
15
X2-1
13
16
14
3
1 2 3 4
3
5 6 7 8
3
9 10 11 12
Catalyst 3560-E Series
VD
2VD
3VD 4
VD
1
SYST
PS1
PS2
FAN
STAT
DUPLEX
SPEED
MODE
X2-2
15
X2-1
13
16
14
3
1 2 3 4
3
5 6 7 8
3
9 10 11 12
Catalyst 3560-E Series
VD
2VD
3
VD
4
VD
1
Normal
iSCSI Volumes balanced across all
available 1Gbe Paths
Path Failure
OS MPIO recognizes path failure and
redirects iSCSI Volume to alternate 1Gbe
Path
MPIO should always be installed and configured on host servers through iSCSI Initiator for an
IP/FcoE SAN or Disk Manager for SAS. MPIO is considered a must for performance to transcend the
single 1Gbe port performance barrier. 10g iSCSI, SAS and Fiber Channel have higher bandwidths
resulting in less of a performance difference then configuring multiple 1Gbe ports.