Preventive Service Planning
Abstract
This document lists the configuration limits and restrictions specific to IBM Storwize V3700 software version 7.6
Content
The use of WAN optimization devices such as Riverbed is not supported in native Ethernet IP partnership configurations containing Storwize V3700.
Memory Limitation
V3700 systems with 4GB RAM will not run on V7.6.x or higher unless the RAM is upgraded. To do this a customer will need to upgrade the RAM in their system from 4 GB to 8GB, commit the change and then upgrade to 7.6.x.
If a customer tries to upgrade their V3700 to V7.6.x or higher whilst running 4GB RAM then the CCU checker will not allow the upgrade to continue.
DRAID Strip Size
For candidate drives, with a capacity greater than 4TB, a strip size of 128 cannot be specified for either RAID-5 or RAID-6 DRAID arrays. For these drives a strip size of 256 should be used.
Quorum restriction with version 7.6.1.0
Customers are advised not to force stop and then immediately restart multiple quorum applications in quick succession (e.g. with CTRL+C followed by starting the applications again), especially when using three or more quorum applications. This action may cause the Storwize cluster nodes to restart. Customers are advised to wait a minimum of one minute between restarting each quorum application instance.
This restriction will be removed in a future release of V3700 Software.
Applying drive software update to all drives in a system with a distributed array containing more than 16 drives
Please do not update drive software on all drives together in a system that has a distributed array with more than 16 drives.
The following will perform a drive software upgrade on all drives together and are restricted in this case:
- Using command applydrivesoftware with "-all" parameter.
- Using the "Upgrade All" option in the GUI under "Pools > Internal Storage > Actions".
To workaround this restriction, please perform drive software update on one drive at a time.
You can do this using command applydrivesoftware with "-drive" parameter for each drive.
This restriction is now resolved with software version of 7.6.0.4
iSCSI Limitations
iSCSI host attachment is currently not supported with Software Version 7.6
This restriction is now resolved and iSCSI host attachment is supported with software version 7.6.0.2 and higher.
IP Partnership
Using an Ethernet Switch to convert a 10Gbps IP partnership link to 1Gbps link and vice versa is not supported. Therefore, the IP infrastructure on the two partnership sites should both be 1Gbps or 10Gbps. However, bandwidth limiting on 10Gbps and 1Gbps IP partnership between sites is supported.
NEBS / ETSI
Storwize V3500 and Storwize V3700 models conform to applicable Network Equipment Building System (NEBS) level 3 and European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) documents. This requires licensed machine code level 7.1.0.3, or later.
Conformance testing for applicable NEBS level 3 and ETSI document has been completed for all current Storwize V3500 and Storwize V3700 drive options with the exception of those below in Fig. 1.
It is a customer responsibility to review the test result documents to determine whether the testing performed on the models and options meet their requirements. Contact your IBM sales representative or business partner to obtain a copy of the test result documents.
Fig.1
Conformance testing for applicable NEBS level 3 and ETSI document has not yet been completed for the following Storwize V3500 and Storwize V3700 drive options:
The drive options are currently undergoing conformance testing and this page will be updated when testing has been completed.
Fabric Limitations
Only one FCF ( Fibre Channel Forwarder ) switch per fabric is supported.
Host Limitations
Microsoft Offload Data Transfer ( ODX ) and SDDDSM Requirements
Storwize V3700 version 7.5.0 introduced support for Microsft ODX. In order to utilise this function all windows hosts accessing Storwize V3700 are required to be at a minimum SDDDSM version of 2.4.5.0. Earlier versions of SDDDSM are not supported when the ODX function is activated.
Windows NTP server
The Linux NTP client used by Storwize V3700 may not always function correctly with Windows W32Time NTP Server
TPC Restrictions
TPC Supported Versions
The minimum supported TPC version for SVC/Storwize version 7.6 is TPC 5.2.6.
Vdisk Migration
When a vdisk is migrated between a child pool and its parent, or between child pools of the same parent, it is necessary to re-probe the cluster from TPC as no event is logged on the cluster for this type of migration
Migrations between non-child pools also currently require a re-probe
These issues will be addressed in future releases of TPC and SVC/Storwize Code.
Oracle
Restriction 1: For RHEL4 set Oracle Clusterware 'misscount' parameter to a bigger one to allow SDD to do path failover first. The default miscount setting 60s is too short for SDD. We recommend to set it 90s or 120s. Command to use: crsctl set css misscount 90
Priority Flow Control for iSCSI
Priority Flow Control for iSCSI is supported on Brocade VDX 10-gigabit Ethernet switches only.
SCSI LUN ID 0
SAS Hosts running Linux or Vmware operating systems.
Removal of LUN's mapped to SCSI ID 0 is not supported and may result in a loss of access to the remaining LUNs.
Easy Tier balancing
Pre V7.3 to V7.3 or above upgrade may disable balancing with EasyTier.
Easy Tier balancing is disabled on a 4GB V3700 system if there are more than 700,000 extents. Event 02008 will be logged until either the RAM is upgraded to 8GB, some Mdisks are deleted or CLI action is taken to turn off balancing and Easy Tier for some pools.
Maximum Configurations
Configuration limits for Storwize V3700:
Maximum WWPNs per host Object and iSCSI Names
The maximum number of FC/SAS/FCoE hosts ports supported per host object is 32.
The maximum number of iSCSI names supported per host object is 8.
Please see the following document
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ssg1S1005261
Memory Limitation
V3700 systems with 4GB RAM will not run on V7.6.x or higher unless the RAM is upgraded. To do this a customer will need to upgrade the RAM in their system from 4 GB to 8GB, commit the change and then upgrade to 7.6.x.
If a customer tries to upgrade their V3700 to V7.6.x or higher whilst running 4GB RAM then the CCU checker will not allow the upgrade to continue.
DRAID Strip Size
For candidate drives, with a capacity greater than 4TB, a strip size of 128 cannot be specified for either RAID-5 or RAID-6 DRAID arrays. For these drives a strip size of 256 should be used.
Quorum restriction with version 7.6.1.0
Customers are advised not to force stop and then immediately restart multiple quorum applications in quick succession (e.g. with CTRL+C followed by starting the applications again), especially when using three or more quorum applications. This action may cause the Storwize cluster nodes to restart. Customers are advised to wait a minimum of one minute between restarting each quorum application instance.
This restriction will be removed in a future release of V3700 Software.
Applying drive software update to all drives in a system with a distributed array containing more than 16 drives
Please do not update drive software on all drives together in a system that has a distributed array with more than 16 drives.
The following will perform a drive software upgrade on all drives together and are restricted in this case:
- Using command applydrivesoftware with "-all" parameter.
- Using the "Upgrade All" option in the GUI under "Pools > Internal Storage > Actions".
To workaround this restriction, please perform drive software update on one drive at a time.
You can do this using command applydrivesoftware with "-drive" parameter for each drive.
This restriction is now resolved with software version of 7.6.0.4
iSCSI Limitations
iSCSI host attachment is currently not supported with Software Version 7.6
This restriction is now resolved and iSCSI host attachment is supported with software version 7.6.0.2 and higher.
IP Partnership
Using an Ethernet Switch to convert a 10Gbps IP partnership link to 1Gbps link and vice versa is not supported. Therefore, the IP infrastructure on the two partnership sites should both be 1Gbps or 10Gbps. However, bandwidth limiting on 10Gbps and 1Gbps IP partnership between sites is supported.
NEBS / ETSI
Storwize V3500 and Storwize V3700 models conform to applicable Network Equipment Building System (NEBS) level 3 and European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) documents. This requires licensed machine code level 7.1.0.3, or later.
Conformance testing for applicable NEBS level 3 and ETSI document has been completed for all current Storwize V3500 and Storwize V3700 drive options with the exception of those below in Fig. 1.
It is a customer responsibility to review the test result documents to determine whether the testing performed on the models and options meet their requirements. Contact your IBM sales representative or business partner to obtain a copy of the test result documents.
Fig.1
Conformance testing for applicable NEBS level 3 and ETSI document has not yet been completed for the following Storwize V3500 and Storwize V3700 drive options:
| 3.5-Inch Drives | |||
|
Feature
number |
Plant Install Part Number
|
Field Install Part Number
|
Description
|
|
ACHL
|
00RY142
|
00RY141
|
1.8TB 10,000 rpm 6Gb SAS 3.5 Inch HDD
|
| 2.5-Inch Drives | |||
|
Feature
number |
Plant Install Part Number
|
Field Install Part Number
|
Description
|
|
ACLN
|
00RY146
|
00RY150
|
1.8TB 10,000 rpm 6Gb SAS 2.5 Inch HDD
|
The drive options are currently undergoing conformance testing and this page will be updated when testing has been completed.
Fabric Limitations
Only one FCF ( Fibre Channel Forwarder ) switch per fabric is supported.
Host Limitations
Microsoft Offload Data Transfer ( ODX ) and SDDDSM Requirements
Storwize V3700 version 7.5.0 introduced support for Microsft ODX. In order to utilise this function all windows hosts accessing Storwize V3700 are required to be at a minimum SDDDSM version of 2.4.5.0. Earlier versions of SDDDSM are not supported when the ODX function is activated.
Windows NTP server
The Linux NTP client used by Storwize V3700 may not always function correctly with Windows W32Time NTP Server
TPC Restrictions
TPC Supported Versions
The minimum supported TPC version for SVC/Storwize version 7.6 is TPC 5.2.6.
Vdisk Migration
When a vdisk is migrated between a child pool and its parent, or between child pools of the same parent, it is necessary to re-probe the cluster from TPC as no event is logged on the cluster for this type of migration
Migrations between non-child pools also currently require a re-probe
These issues will be addressed in future releases of TPC and SVC/Storwize Code.
Oracle
|
Oracle Version and OS
|
Restrictions that apply:
|
| Oracle RAC 10g on Linux Host: |
1
|
Restriction 1: For RHEL4 set Oracle Clusterware 'misscount' parameter to a bigger one to allow SDD to do path failover first. The default miscount setting 60s is too short for SDD. We recommend to set it 90s or 120s. Command to use: crsctl set css misscount 90
Priority Flow Control for iSCSI
Priority Flow Control for iSCSI is supported on Brocade VDX 10-gigabit Ethernet switches only.
SCSI LUN ID 0
SAS Hosts running Linux or Vmware operating systems.
Removal of LUN's mapped to SCSI ID 0 is not supported and may result in a loss of access to the remaining LUNs.
Easy Tier balancing
Pre V7.3 to V7.3 or above upgrade may disable balancing with EasyTier.
Easy Tier balancing is disabled on a 4GB V3700 system if there are more than 700,000 extents. Event 02008 will be logged until either the RAM is upgraded to 8GB, some Mdisks are deleted or CLI action is taken to turn off balancing and Easy Tier for some pools.
Maximum Configurations
Configuration limits for Storwize V3700:
Maximum WWPNs per host Object and iSCSI Names
The maximum number of FC/SAS/FCoE hosts ports supported per host object is 32.
The maximum number of iSCSI names supported per host object is 8.
Please see the following document
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ssg1S1005261
| Property |
Maximum Number
|
Comments |
|
System (Cluster) Properties
|
||
| Control enclosures per system (cluster) |
1
|
Each control enclosure contains two node canisters |
| Nodes per system |
2
|
Arranged as one I/O group |
| Nodes per fabric |
64
|
Maximum number of maximum number of SVC or Storwize family system nodes that can be present on the same Fibre Channel fabric, with visibility of each other |
| Fabrics per system |
4
|
The number of counterpart Fibre Channel SANs which are supported - Up to 4 fabrics using the Fibre Channel HIC - Up to 2 fabrics using FCoE ports |
| Inter-cluster partnerships per system |
3
|
A system may be partnered with up to three remote systems. No more than four systems may be in the same connected set |
| USB ports |
2
|
|
| IP Quorum devices per system |
5
|
|
|
Node Properties
|
||
| Logins per node Fibre Channel port |
512
|
Includes logins from server HBAs, disk controller ports, node ports within the same system and node ports from remote systems |
| iSCSI sessions per node |
1024
|
2048 in IP failover mode (when partner node is unavailable) |
|
Managed Disk Properties
|
||
| Managed disks (MDisks) per system |
4096
|
The maximum number of logical units which can be managed by a system Internal distributed arrays consume 16 logical units. This number also includes external MDisks which are in use as image mode migration candidates |
| Managed disks per storage pool (managed disk group) |
128
|
Internal distributed arrays consume 16 logical units. |
| Storage pools per system |
1024
|
|
| Parent pools per system |
128
|
|
| Child pools per system |
1023
|
|
| Managed disk extent size |
8192 MB
|
|
| Capacity for an individual internal managed disk (array) |
1 PB
|
No limit is imposed beyond the maximum number of drives per array limits. Maximum size is dependent on the extent size of the Storage Pool. Comparison Table: Maximum Volume, MDisk and System capacity for each extent size. |
| Capacity for an individual external managed disk |
1 PB
|
External managed disks may only be used for image mode migration purposes Comparison Table: Maximum Volume, MDisk and System capacity for each extent size. |
| Total storage capacity manageable per system |
32 PB
|
Maximum requires an extent size of 8192 MB to be used This limit represents the per system maximum of 2^22 extents. Comparison Table: Maximum Volume, MDisk and System capacity for each extent size. |
|
Volume (Virtual Disk) Properties
|
||
| Basic Volumes (VDisks) per system |
2048
|
Each Basic Volume uses 1 VDisk, each with one copy. |
| Thin-provisioned (space-efficient) volume copies per system |
2048
|
No limit is imposed here beyond the volume copies per system limit. |
| Volumes per storage pool |
-
|
No limit is imposed beyond the volumes per system limit |
| Fully-allocated volume capacity |
256 TB
|
Maximum size for an individual fully-allocated volume. Maximum size is dependent on the extent size of the Storage Pool. Comparison Table: Maximum Volume, MDisk and System capacity for each extent size. |
| Thin-provisioned (space-efficient) volume capacity |
256 TB
|
Maximum size for an individual thin-provisioned volume. Maximum size is dependent on the extent size of the Storage Pool. Comparison Table: Maximum Volume, MDisk and System capacity for each extent size. |
| Host mappings per system |
20,000
|
See also - volume mappings per host object below |
|
Mirrored Volume (Virtual Disk) Properties
|
||
| Copies per volume |
2
|
|
| Volume copies per system |
2048
|
|
| Total mirrored volume capacity per I/O group |
256 TB
|
|
|
Generic Host Properties
|
||
| Host objects (IDs) per system |
256
|
A host object may contain both Fibre Channel ports and iSCSI names |
| Host objects (IDs) per I/O group |
256
|
Refer to the additional Fibre Channel and iSCSI host limits below |
| Volume mappings per host object |
512
|
|
| Total Fibre Channel ports and iSCSI names per system |
2048
|
|
| Total Fibre Channel ports and iSCSI names per host object |
32
|
|
| iSCSI names per host object (ID) |
8
|
|
|
Fibre Channel Host Properties
|
||
| Fibre Channel hosts per system |
256
|
Requires the Fibre Channel HIC |
| Fibre Channel host ports per system |
2048
|
Requires the Fibre Channel HIC |
| Fibre Channel hosts ports per host object (ID) |
32
|
Requires the Fibre Channel HIC |
|
FCoE Host Properties
|
||
| Fibre Channel hosts per system |
256
|
Requires the 10 Gb HIC |
| Fibre Channel host ports per system |
2048
|
Requires the 10 Gb HIC |
| Fibre Channel hosts ports per host object (ID) |
32
|
Requires the 10 Gb HIC |
|
iSCSI Host Properties
|
||
| iSCSI hosts per system |
256
|
|
| iSCSI names per host object (ID) |
8
|
|
| iSCSI (SCSI 3) registrations per VDisk |
512
|
|
|
Copy Services Properties
|
||
|
Flash Copy and Metro/Global Mirror are Licensed Functions
|
||
| Remote Copy (Metro Mirror and Global Mirror) relationships per system |
2048
|
This can be any mix of Metro Mirror and Global Mirror relationships. |
| Remote Copy relationships per consistency group |
-
|
No limit is imposed beyond the Remote Copy relationships per system limit |
| Remote Copy consistency groups per system |
256
|
|
| Total Metro Mirror and Global Mirror volume capacity per I/O group |
1024 TB
|
This limit is the total capacity for all master and auxiliary volumes in the I/O group. |
| Total number of Global Mirror with Change Volumes relationships per system |
256
|
|
| FlashCopy mappings per system |
4096
|
|
| FlashCopy targets per source |
256
|
|
| FlashCopy mappings per consistency group |
512
|
|
| FlashCopy consistency groups per system |
255
|
|
| Total FlashCopy volume capacity per I/O group |
1024 TB
|
|
|
IP Partnership Properties
|
||
| Inter-cluster IP partnerships per system |
1
|
A system may be partnered with up to three remote systems. A maximum of one of those can be IP and the other two FC. |
| Inter site links per IP partnership |
2
|
A maximum of two inter site links can be used between two IP partnership sites. |
| Ports per node |
1
|
A maximum of one port per node can be used for IP partnership. |
|
Internal Storage Properties
|
||
| SAS chains per control enclosure |
1
|
|
| Expansion enclosures per SAS chain |
9
|
|
| Expansion enclosures per control enclosure |
9
|
|
| Drives per system |
240
|
Maximum requires a system containing one control enclosure with the maximum number of expansion enclosures. |
| Min-Max drives per enclosure |
0-12
or 0-24 |
Limit depends on the enclosure model |
| Simultaneous autosparing |
Drives per system
|
|
|
Non-Distributed RAID Array Properties
|
||
| RAID arrays per system |
128
|
Limit depends on the number of drives in the system |
| Drives per array |
16
|
|
| Min-Max member drives per RAID-0 array |
1-8
|
|
| Min-Max member drives per RAID-1 array |
2-2
|
|
| Min-Max member drives per RAID-5 array |
3-16
|
|
| Min-Max member drives per RAID-6 array |
5-16
|
|
| Min-Max member drives per RAID-10 array |
2-16
|
|
| Hot spare drives |
-
|
No limit is imposed |
|
Distributed RAID Array Properties
|
||
| Arrays per system |
10
|
The presence of non-DRAID arrays will reduce this limit |
| Drives per array |
128
|
|
| Min-Max member drives per RAID-5 array |
4-128
|
|
| Min-Max member drives per RAID-6 array |
6-128
|
|
| Rebuild areas per array |
1-4
|
|
| Min-Max stripe width for RAID-5 array |
3-16
|
|
| Min-Max stripe width for RAID-6 array |
5-16
|
|
| Max drive capacity for RAID-5 array |
6 TB
|
|
|
System and User Management Properties
|
||
| User accounts per system |
400
|
Includes the default user accounts |
| User groups per system |
256
|
Includes the default user groups |
| Authentication servers per system |
1
|
|
| NTP servers per system |
1
|
|
| iSNS servers per system |
1
|
|
| Concurrent open SSH sessions per system |
32
|
|
|
Event Notification Properties
|
||
| SNMP servers per system |
6
|
|
| Syslog servers per system |
6
|
|
| Email (SMTP) servers per system |
6
|
Email servers are used in turn until the email is successfully sent |
| Email users (recipients) per system |
12
|
|
| LDAP servers per system |
6
|
|
Extents
The following table compares the maximum volume, MDisk and system capacity for each extent size.
|
Extent size (MB)
|
Maximum non thin-provisioned volume capacity in GB
|
Maximum thin-provisioned volume capacity in GB
|
Maximum MDisk capacity in GB
|
Maximum DRAID Mdisk capacity in TB
|
Total storage capacity manageable per system*
|
|
16
|
2048 (2 TB)
|
2000
|
2048 (2 TB)
|
32
|
64 TB
|
|
32
|
4096 (4 TB)
|
4000
|
4096 (4 TB)
|
64
|
128 TB
|
|
64
|
8192 (8 TB)
|
8000
|
8192 (8 TB)
|
128
|
256 TB
|
|
128
|
16,384 (16 TB)
|
16,000
|
16,384 (16 TB)
|
256
|
512 TB
|
|
256
|
32,768 (32 TB)
|
32,000
|
32,768 (32 TB)
|
512
|
1 PB
|
|
512
|
65,536 (64 TB)
|
65,000
|
65,536 (64 TB)
|
1024 (1 PB)
|
2 PB
|
|
1024
|
131,072 (128 TB)
|
130,000
|
131,072 (128 TB)
|
2048 (2 PB)
|
4 PB
|
|
2048
|
262,144 (256 TB)
|
260,000
|
262,144 (256 TB)
|
4096 (4 PB)
|
8 PB
|
|
4096
|
262,144 (256 TB)
|
262,144
|
524,288 (512 TB)
|
8192 (8 PB)
|
16 PB
|
|
8192
|
262,144 (256 TB)
|
262,144
|
1,048,576 (1024 TB)
|
16384 (16 PB)
|
32 PB
|
* The total capacity values assumes that all of the storage pools in the system use the same extent size.
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Document Information
Modified date:
20 March 2019
UID
ssg1S1005421