Guidelines for Configuring HPE 3PAR Stor Serv Storage Systems with SAN Volume Controller and Storwize

Content

Who should use this guide

This erratum should be used by anyone using the IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller Software Installation and Configuration Guide. You should review the errata contained within this guide and note the details with respect to the copy of the Software Installation and Configuration Guide supplied with your SAN Volume Controller.

Last Update

This document was last updated: August 15, 2016

Change History

The following revisions have been made to this document:

Revision Date	Sections Modified
August 15, 2016	Round Robin Update

Table 1: Change History

Configuring the HPE 3PAR Stor Serv Storage Systems

Configuring the HPE 3PAR Storage System

This portion of the document covers the necessary configuration for using an HPE 3PAR Storage System with an IBM SAN Volume Controller cluster.

Support models of HPE 3PAR Storage Systems

The HPE 3PAR Stor Serv (Models 7000, 10000) the HPE, Stor Serv (Models 8000 and 20000) are supported for use with the IBM SVC. These systems will be referred to as HPE 3PAR storage arrays.

Round Robin SVC MPIO is supported from these levels; 7.5.0.10, 7.6.1.6, 7.7.0.5
and 7.7.1.3.
Note; Also requires HPE 3PAR OS 3.2.1 or later and Host Option 2 Generic - ALUA).

Support firmware levels of HPE 3PAR storage arrays

Firmware revision HPE InForm Operating System 3.1.1 (or later) is the supported level of firmware for use with IBM SVC. For support on later versions, consult http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ssg1S1003658

Concurrent maintenance on HPE 3PAR storage arrays

Concurrent Firmware upgrades (“online upgrades”) are supported as per HPE procedures.

HPE 3PAR user interfaces

Users may configure an HPE 3PAR storage array with the 3PAR Management Console or HPE 3PAR Command Line Interface (CLI).

HPE 3PAR Management Console

The Management Console accesses the array via the IP address of the HPE 3PAR storage array. All configuration and monitoring steps are intuitively available through this interface.

HPE 3PAR Command Line Interface (CLI)

The CLI may be installed locally on a windows or Linux host. The CLI is also available through SSH.

Logical units and target ports on HPE 3PAR storage arrays

For clarification, partitions in the HPE 3PAR storage array are exported as Virtual Volumes with a Virtual Logical Unit Number (VLUN) either manually or automatically assigned to the partition.

LUNs

HPE 3PAR storage arrays have highly developed thin provisioning capabilities. The HPE 3PAR storage array has a maximum Virtual Volume size of 16TB. A partition Virtual Volume is referenced by the ID of the VLUN.

HPE 3PAR storage arrays can export up to 4096 LUNs to the SVC Controller (SVC’s maximum limit).

LUN IDs

HPE 3PAR storage arrays will identify exported Logical Units through
SCSI Identification Descriptor type 3.
The 64-bit IEEE Registered Identifier Extended (NAA=6) for the Logical Unit is in the form;
6-OUI-VSID .
The HPE 3PAR IEEE Company ID of 0020ACh, the rest is a vendor specific ID.

Example of HPE 3PAR Volume on SVC

MdiskGroup Balanced

Round Robin Enabled

# lsmdisk 4 id 4 name mdisk4 status online mode managed mdisk_grp_id 0 mdisk_grp_name HPEe7200-3Pr-grp capacity 250.0GB quorum_index 0 block_size 512 controller_name controller2 ctrl_type 4 ctrl_WWNN 2FF70002AC00C202 controller_id 2 path_count 2 max_path_count 2 ctrl_LUN_# 0000000000000001 UID60002ac000000000000000080000c20200000000000000000000000000000000 preferred_WWPN active_WWPN 20110002AC00C202 ← MDG Balancing fast_write_state empty raid_status raid_level redundancy strip_size spare_goal spare_protection_min balanced tier enterprise slow_write_priority fabric_type fc site_id site_name easy_tier_load medium encrypt no

# lsmdisk 4 id 4 name mdisk4 status online mode managed mdisk_grp_id 0 mdisk_grp_name HPEe7200-3Pr-grp capacity 250.0GB quorum_index 0 block_size 512 controller_name controller2 ctrl_type 4 ctrl_WWNN 2FF70002AC00C202 controller_id 2 path_count 8 max_path_count 8 ctrl_LUN_# 0000000000000001 UID 60002ac000000000000000080000c20200000000000000000000000000000000 preferred_WWPN active_WWPN many ←Round Robin Enabled fast_write_state empty raid_status raid_level redundancy strip_size spare_goal spare_protection_min balanced tier enterprise slow_write_priority fabric_type fc site_id site_name easy_tier_load medium encrypt no

LUN creation and deletion

Virtual Volumes (VVs) and their corresponding Logical Units (VLUN's) are created, modified, or deleted through the provisioning option in the Management Console or through the CLI commands. VVs are formatted to all zeros upon creation.

To create a VLUN, highlight the Provisioning Menu and select the Create Virtual Volume option. To modify, resize, or destroy a VLUN, select the appropriate Virtual Volume from the window, right click when the specific VLUN is highlighted.

*** Note: Delete the mdisk on the SVC Cluster before deleting the LUN on the HPE 3PAR storage array.

LUN Presentation

VLUNs are exported through the HPE 3PAR storage array’s available FC ports by the export options on Virtual Volumes. The Ports are designated at setup and configured separately as either Host or Target (Storage connection). Ports being identified by a node : slot : port representation.
There are no constraints on which ports or hosts a logical unit may be addressable.
To apply Export to a logical unit, highlight the specific Virtual Volume associated with the Logical Unit in the GUI and right click and select Export.

Special LUNs

There are no special considerations to a Logical Unit numbering. LUN 0 may be exported where necessary.


Target Ports

A HPE 3PAR storage array may contain dual and/or quad ported FC cards. Each WWPN is identified with the pattern 2N:SP:00:20:AC:MM:MM:MM where N is the node, S is the slot and P is the port number on the controller and N is the controller’s address. The MMMMMM represents the systems serial number.

Port 2 in slot 1 of controller 0 would have the WWPN of 20:11:00:02:AC:00:0C:02 The last 4 digits of serial number 1649666 in hex (49666=0x0C02).
This system has a WWNN for all ports of 2F:F7:00:02:AC:00:0C:02.

Example of HPE 3PAR controller on SVC
# lscontroller 2
id 2
controller_name controller2
WWNN 2FF70002AC00C202
mdisk_link_count 5
max_mdisk_link_count 5
degraded no
vendor_id 3PARdata
product_id_low VV
product_id_high
product_revision 3213
ctrl_s/n 00090000C20200003PAR
allow_quorum yes
fabric_type fc
site_id
site_name
WWPN 20110002AC00C202
path_count 10
max_path_count 10
WWPN 20120002AC00C202
path_count 10
max_path_count 10
WWPN 21110002AC00C202
path_count 10
max_path_count 10
WWPN 21120002AC00C202
path_count 10
max_path_count 10
LU access model

All controllers are Active/Active. In all conditions, it is recommended to multipath across FC controller cards to avoid an outage from controller failure. All HPE 3PAR controllers are equal in priority so there is no benefit to using an exclusive set for a specific LU.

LU grouping

LU grouping does not apply to HPE 3PAR storage arrays.

LU preferred access port

There are no preferred access ports on the HPE 3PAR storage arrays as all ports are Active/Active across all controllers.

Detecting Ownership

Detecting Ownership does not apply to HPE 3PAR storage arrays.


Switch zoning limitations for HPE 3PAR storage arrays

There are no zoning limitations for HPE 3PAR storage arrays.

Fabric zoning

When zoning an HPE 3PAR storage array to the SVC backend ports, be sure there are multiple zones or multiple HPE 3PAR storage array and SVC ports per zone to enable multipathing.

Target port sharing

The HPE 3PAR storage array may support LUN masking to enable multiple servers to access separate LUNs through a common controller port. There are no issues with mixing workloads or server types in this setup.

Host splitting

There are no issues with host splitting on an HPE 3PAR storage array.

Controller splitting

HPE 3PAR storage array LUNs that are mapped to the SAN Volume Controller cluster cannot be mapped to other hosts. LUNs that are not presented to SVC may be mapped to other hosts.

Configuration settings for HPE 3PAR storage array

The management console enables the intuitive setup of the HPE 3PAR storage array LUNs and export to the SAN Volume Controller cluster.

Logical unit options and settings for HPE 3PAR storage array

From the HPE 3PAR storage array Management Console the following dialog of options are involved in setting up of Logical Units.

- Creation of CPG
The set up of Common Provisioning Groups (CPGs).
It is not good practice to mix different performance LUNs in the same SVC mdiskgrp, unless intending to use the SVC easytier function.

Action → Provisioning → Create CPG (Common Actions)

- Set up of Ports
Each designated Host ports should be set to Mode; point.
Connection Mode: Host
Connection Type: Point

Action → System → Configure FC Port (Common Actions)
- Setup of Host

Host Persona should be either: 6 – Generic - legacy.
Or 2 – Generic - ALUA (for Round Robin mdisk MPIO)
All SVC ports need to be included.

Actions → Hosts → Create Host (Common Actions)
Options required; Name , OS RedHat Linux and Host persona as above.

- LUN creation

Size limitations: 256 MiB minimum
2TB maximum (SVC limit)
Provisioning: Fully Provision from CPG
Thinly Provisioned
CPG: Choose provisioning group for new LUN, usually R1,R5,R6 or drive specific.
Allocation Warning: Level at which warning is given, optional [%]
Allocation Limit: Level at which TP allocation is stopped, optional [%]
Grouping: For creating multiple sequential LUNs in a set [integer values, 1-999]

Actions->Provisioning->Create Virtual Volumes (Common Actions)


- Exporting LUNs to SVC

Host selection: choose host definition created for SVC

Actions->Provisioning->Virtual Volumes->Unexported (Select VV and right click)

Host options and settings for HPE 3PAR storage array

The host options required to present the HPE 3PAR storage array to SAN Volume Controller clusters is
either
“6 Generic – legacy “ as for F-Class and T-Class HPE 3PAR Controllers,
this uses SVC's Mdisk Balancing MPIO
or
“2 Generic - ALUA”.

Note; for SVC Mdisk Round Robin MPIO to be enabled;
use “2 ALUA” together with HPE 3PAR firmware O.S. 3.2.1. or later

Quorum disks on HPE 3PAR storage arrays

The SAN volume Controller cluster selects disks that are presented by the HPE 3PAR storage array as quorum disks. To maintain availability with the cluster, ideally each quorum disk should reside on a separate disk subsystem.

Clearing SCSI reservations and registrations

You must not use the HPE 3PAR storage array to clear SCSI reservations and registrations on volumes that are managed by SAN Volume Controller. The option is not available on the GUI.
Note; the following CLI command should only be used under qualified supervision,
“setvv –clrrsv”.

Copy functions for HPE 3PAR storage array

The HPE 3PARs copy/replicate/snapshot features are not supported under SVC.

Thin Provisioning for HPE 3PAR storage array

The HPE 3PAR storage array provides extensive thin provisioning features. The use of these thin provisioned LUNs is supported by SVC.

The user should take notice of any warning limits from the Array system, to maintain the integrity of the SVC mdisks and mdiskgrps. An mdisk will go offline and take its mdiskgroup offline if the ultimate limits are exceeded. Restoration will involve provisioning the 3PAR Array LUN, then including the mdisk and restoring any slandered paths.

Encryption functions for HPE 3PAR storage array

If using encrypted luns from the 3Par, from SVC 7.6.0.0 with 2145-DH8 nodes on you can change "3rd Party Controller" mdisk before adding to pool.
chmdisk -encrypt yes mdisk<x>
This will save SVC CPU resource.

IBM Knowledge Center "chmdisk"