Dell POWERVAULT MD3600I User Manual

Dell Computer Accessories

This manual is related to the following products:

PowerVault MD3220i PowerVault MD3200i POWERVAULT MD3620I POWERVAULT MD3620F PowerVault MD3260 PowerVault MD3200 PowerVault MD3660i PowerVault MD3260i POWERVAULT MD3600F PowerVault MD3220

Table of contents

Document Outline

Dell PowerVault MD Series Storage Arrays Administrator's Guide
Introduction
- Dell PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager
- User Interface
- Enterprise Management Window
  - Inheriting The System Settings
- Array Management Window
- Dell PowerVault Modular Disk Configuration Utility
- Other Information You May Need
About Your MD Series Storage Array
- Physical Disks, Virtual Disks, And Disk Groups
- Disk Pools
- Thin Virtual Disks
- RAID Levels
- Segment Size
- Virtual Disk Operations
- Disk Group Operations
- RAID Background Operations Priority
- Virtual Disk Migration And Disk Roaming
- Advanced Features
- Multi-Path Software
  - Preferred And Alternate Controllers And Paths
  - Virtual Disk Ownership
- Load Balancing
- Monitoring System Performance
  - Monitoring Performance Using The Tabular View
  - Monitoring Performance Using The Graphical View
Discovering And Managing Your Storage Array
- Out-Of-Band Management
- In-Band Management
  - Access Virtual Disk
- Storage Arrays
  - Automatic Discovery Of Storage Arrays
  - Manual Addition Of A Storage Array
- Setting Up Your Storage Array
- Configuring Alert Notifications
  - Configuring E-mail Alerts
  - Configuring SNMP Alerts
- Battery Settings
  - Changing The Battery Settings
- Setting The Storage Array RAID Controller Module Clocks
Using iSCSI
- Changing The iSCSI Target Authentication
- Entering Mutual Authentication Permissions
- Creating CHAP Secrets
- Changing The iSCSI Target Identification
- Changing The iSCSI Target Discovery Settings
- Configuring The iSCSI Host Ports
- Advanced iSCSI Host Port Settings
- Viewing Or Ending An iSCSI Session
- Viewing iSCSI Statistics And Setting Baseline Statistics
- Edit, Remove, Or Rename Host Topology
Event Monitor
- Enabling Or Disabling The Event Monitor
  - Windows
  - Linux
About Your Host
- Configuring Host Access
- Using The Host Mappings Tab
  - Defining A Host
- Removing Host Access
- Managing Host Groups
- Creating A Host Group
- I/O Data Path Protection
- Managing Host Port Identifiers
Disk Groups, Standard Virtual Disks, And Thin Virtual Disks
- Creating Disk Groups And Virtual Disks
- Thin Virtual Disks
- Choosing An Appropriate Physical Disk Type
- Physical Disk Security With Self Encrypting Disk
- Configuring Hot Spare Physical Disks
- Enclosure Loss Protection
- Drawer Loss Protection
- Host-To-Virtual Disk Mapping
- Restricted Mappings
- Storage Partitioning
- Disk Group And Virtual Disk Expansion
- Disk Group Migration
  - Export Disk Group
  - Import Disk Group
- Storage Array Media Scan
  - Changing Media Scan Settings
  - Suspending The Media Scan
Disk Pools And Disk Pool Virtual Disks
- Difference Between Disk Groups And Disk Pools
- Disk Pool Restrictions
- Creating A Disk Pool Manually
- Automatically Managing The Unconfigured Capacity In Disk Pools
- Locating Physical Disks In A Disk Pool
- Renaming A Disk Pool
- Configuring Alert Notifications For A Disk Pool
- Adding Unassigned Physical Disks To A Disk Pool
- Configuring The Preservation Capacity Of A Disk Pool
- Changing The Modification Priority Of A Disk Pool
- Changing The RAID Controller Module Ownership Of A Disk Pool
- Checking Data Consistency
- Deleting A Disk Pool
- Viewing Storage Array Logical Components And Associated Physical Components
- Secure Disk Pools
- Changing Capacity On Existing Thin Virtual Disks
- Creating A Thin Virtual Disk From A Disk Pool
Using SSD Cache
- How SSD Cache Works
- Benefits Of SSD Cache
- Choosing SSD Cache Parameters
- SSD Cache Restrictions
- Creating An SSD Cache
- Viewing Physical Components Associated With An SSD Cache
- Locating Physical Disks In An SSD Cache
- Adding Physical Disks To An SSD Cache
- Removing Physical Disks From An SSD Cache
- Suspending Or Resuming SSD Caching
- Changing I/O Type In An SSD Cache
- Renaming An SSD Cache
- Deleting An SSD Cache
- Using The Performance Modeling Tool
Premium Feature—Snapshot Virtual Disk
- Snapshot Virtual Disk Vs. Snapshot Virtual Disk (Legacy)
- Snapshot Images And Groups
- Snapshot Virtual Disk Read/Write Properties
- Snapshot Groups And Consistency Groups
  - Snapshot Groups
  - Snapshot Consistency Groups
- Understanding Snapshot Repositories
- Creating Snapshot Images
- Scheduling Snapshot Images
  - Creating A Snapshot Schedule
  - Editing A Snapshot Schedule
- Performing Snapshot Rollbacks
- Creating A Snapshot Group
- Converting Snapshots (Legacy) To A Snapshot Group
  - Conversion Limitations
  - Converting Snapshots (Legacy)
- Converting A Snapshot Virtual Disk To Read-Write
- Viewing Associated Physical Components Of An Individual Repository Virtual Disk
- Creating A Consistency Group
- Creating A Snapshot Virtual Disk Of A Snapshot Image
- Creating A Consistency Group Snapshot Virtual Disk
Premium Feature—Snapshot Virtual Disks (Legacy)
- Scheduling A Snapshot Virtual Disk
  - Common Reasons For Scheduling A Snapshot Virtual Disk
  - Guidelines for Creating Snapshot Schedules
- Creating A Snapshot Virtual Disk Using The Simple Path
  - About The Simple Path
  - Preparing Host Servers To Create The Snapshot Using The Simple Path
- Creating A Snapshot Virtual Disk Using The Advanced Path
- Specifying Snapshot Virtual Disk Names
- Snapshot Repository Capacity
- Re-Creating Snapshot Virtual Disks
- Disabling A Snapshot Virtual Disk
  - Preparing Host Servers To Re-Create A Snapshot Virtual Disk
- Re-Creating A Snapshot Virtual Disk
Premium Feature—Virtual Disk Copy
- Using Virtual Disk Copy With Snapshot Or Snapshot (Legacy) Premium Feature
- Types Of Virtual Disk Copies
  - Offline Copy
  - Online Copy
- Creating A Virtual Disk Copy For An MSCS Shared Disk
- Virtual Disk Read/Write Permissions
- Virtual Disk Copy Restrictions
- Creating A Virtual Disk Copy
- Preferred RAID Controller Module Ownership
- Failed RAID Controller Module
- Copy Manager
- Copying The Virtual Disk
- Storage Array Performance During Virtual Disk Copy
- Setting Copy Priority
- Stopping A Virtual Disk Copy
- Recopying A Virtual Disk
  - Preparing Host Servers To Recopy A Virtual Disk
  - Recopying The Virtual Disk
- Removing Copy Pairs
Device Mapper Multipath For Linux
- Overview
- Using DM Multipathing Devices
  - Prerequisites
- Device Mapper Configuration Steps
- Linux Host Server Reboot Best Practices
- Important Information About Special Partitions
- Limitations And Known Issues
- Troubleshooting
Configuring Asymmetric Logical Unit Access
- ALUA Performance Considerations
- Automatic Transfer Of Ownership
- Native ALUA Support On Microsoft Windows And Linux
- Enabling ALUA On VMware ESX/ESXi
  - Manually Adding SATP Rule In ESX 4.1 (Update 1 And Update 2)
  - Manually Adding SATP Rule In ESX/ESXi 5.0
- Verifying ALUA On VMware ESX/ESXi
- Verifying If Host Server Is Using ALUA For MD Storage Array
- Setting Round-Robin Load Balancing Policy On ESX/ESXi-Based Storage Arrays
Premium Feature—Remote Replication
- About Asynchronous Remote Replication
- Remote Replicated Pairs And Replication Repositories
- Types Of Remote Replication
  - Differences Between Remote Replication Features
  - Upgrading To Asynchronous Remote Replication From Remote Replication (Legacy)
- Remote Replication Requirements And Restrictions
  - Restrictions On Using Remote Replication
- Setting Up Remote Replication
- Activating Remote Replication Premium Features
- Deactivating Remote Replication
- Remote Replication Groups
- Replicated Pairs
Premium Feature—Remote Replication (Legacy)
- Overview
- Switchable Host Access Configuration Required With Remote Replication (Legacy)
- Activating Remote Replication (Legacy)
- Replication Repository Virtual Disks
- RAID Levels For Replication Repository Virtual Disks
- Primary And Secondary Virtual Disk Pairs
- Using Remote Replication (Legacy) With Other Features
- Storage Partitioning With Remote Replication (Legacy)
- Snapshot Virtual Disk With Remote Replication (Legacy)
- Virtual Disk Copy With Remote Replication (Legacy)
- Virtual Disk Expansion With Remote Replication (Legacy)
- Required Switch Zoning Configurations
- Zoning Guidelines for Remote Replication (Legacy)
- Switch Cascading
- Journaling File Systems And Remote Replication (Legacy)
- Prerequisites For Setting Up And Managing Remote Replication (Legacy)
- Activating The Remote Replication (Legacy) Premium Feature And Creating Replication Virtual Disks
- Activating And Creating Replication Repository Virtual Disks From The Storage Array
- Activating And Creating Replication Repository Virtual Disks From An Existing Disk Group
- Creating A Remote Replication (Legacy)
- Selecting The Secondary Virtual Disk
- Setting The Write Mode
- Setting Synchronization Priority And Synchronization Method
- Completing The Remote Replication (Legacy)
- RAID Controller Module Ownership/Preferred Path
- Viewing Information About A Remote Replication (Legacy) Or Replication Repository (Legacy) Virtual Disk
  - Viewing The Storage Array Profile
  - Viewing The Properties Pane
  - Viewing Logical Elements Of The Secondary Virtual Disk
  - Viewing The Physical Components Or Logical Elements Of The Primary Virtual Disk
  - Virtual Disk Status Icons
  - Changing Write Mode And Consistency Group Membership
  - Resynchronizing Virtual Disks
  - Normally Synchronized Virtual Disks
  - Changing Synchronization Priority And Method
  - Unsynchronized Virtual Disks
  - Automatically Resynchronizing Virtual Disks
  - Manually Resynchronizing Virtual Disks
  - Reversing Roles Between The Primary And Secondary Virtual Disks
  - Promoting The Secondary Virtual Disk Or Demoting The Primary Virtual Disk
  - Suspending A Remote Replication (Legacy)
  - Resuming A Remote Replication (Legacy)
  - About Resumed Remote Replications
  - Testing Communication Between The Primary And Secondary Virtual Disks
  - Deleting A Virtual Disk From A Replicated Pair In A Storage Array
Management Firmware Downloads
- Downloading RAID Controller And NVSRAM Packages
- Downloading Both RAID Controller And NVSRAM Firmware
- Downloading Only NVSRAM Firmware
- Downloading Physical Disk Firmware
- Downloading MD3060e Series Expansion Module EMM Firmware
- Self-Monitoring Analysis And Reporting Technology (SMART)
- Media Errors And Unreadable Sectors
Firmware Inventory
- Viewing The Firmware Inventory
System Interfaces
- Virtual Disk Service
- Volume Shadow-Copy Service
Storage Array Software
- Start-Up Routine
- Device Health Conditions
- Trace Buffers
  - Retrieving Trace Buffers
- Collecting Physical Disk Data
- Event Log
  - Viewing The Event Log
- Recovery Guru
- Storage Array Profile
- Viewing The Physical Associations
- Recovering From An Unresponsive Storage Array Condition
- Locating A Physical Disk
- Locating An Expansion Enclosure
- Capturing The State Information
- SMrepassist Utility
- Unidentified Devices
- Recovering From An Unidentified Storage Array
- Starting Or Restarting The Host Context Agent Software
  - Starting The SMagent Software In Windows
  - Starting The SMagent Software In Linux
Getting Help
- Contacting Dell