Unsolved
15 Posts
0
1164
Convert to switched FC backend
Hi,
Does anyone know of the least disruptive procedure to migrate from a non-switched (i.e. directly connected backend SAN) environment into a standard FC switched environment? This is for single engine VPLEX VS2 Metro configuration and Unity storage.
I currenty have 2 spare back-end ports free on each director and no-free ports on the storage and the process will need replicating at each site.
Any ideas appreciated - had a look thorough SolveOnline but didn't immediately find a suitable process.
Thanks
Gal
ankur.patel
286 Posts
1
February 8th, 2022 10:00
Hi Gal,
What I would do is remove 1 cable from each Unity SP and plug it into the switch. Zone the hosts with those ports. Do a rediscover and make sure the paths show up, then do the other Unity ports
I’d definitely do one “fabric/port group” at a time and run an array re-discover any changes. The most reliable way would be to check the ITLs for a sample of storage-volumes to the Unity. To do this, CD into the storage-volume and list out the details w/ the --full flag
Example:
VPlexcli:/clusters/cluster-2/storage-elements/storage-volumes/C2_CLARiiON1539_LUN_00005> ll --full
Name Value
----------------------------- ------------------------------------------------
application-consistent false
block-count 262144
block-size 4K
capacity 1G
description -
free-chunks []
health-indications []
health-state ok
io-error-status ok
io-status alive
itls 0x5000144260072010/0x500601643de0084b/5,
0x5000144260072010/0x500601653de0084b/5,
0x5000144260072010/0x5006016c3de0084b/5,
0x5000144260072010/0x5006016d3de0084b/5,
0x5000144260072011/0x500601643de0084b/5,
0x5000144260072011/0x500601653de0084b/5,
0x5000144260072011/0x5006016c3de0084b/5,
0x5000144260072011/0x5006016d3de0084b/5,
0x5000144270072010/0x500601643de0084b/5,
0x5000144270072010/0x500601653de0084b/5,
0x5000144270072010/0x5006016c3de0084b/5,
0x5000144270072010/0x5006016d3de0084b/5,
0x5000144270072011/0x500601643de0084b/5,
0x5000144270072011/0x500601653de0084b/5,
0x5000144270072011/0x5006016c3de0084b/5,
0x5000144270072011/0x5006016d3de0084b/5
largest-free-chunk 0B
locality -
operational-status ok
provision-type legacy
storage-array-family clariion
storage-array-name EMC-CLARiiON-APM00111501539
storage-volumetype normal
system-id VPD83T3:60060160c9c02c0020e02328f69be811
thin-capable true
thin-rebuild true
total-free-space 0B
underlying-storage-block-size 512
use used
used-by [extent_C2_CLARiiON1539_LUN_00005_1]
vendor-specific-name DGC
The highlighted section are the ITLs. The first column are the VPLEX initiator ports and the second column are the array target ports. For the VPLEX ports ending in 1 are in PG1/”odd fabric” and the ports ending in 0 are in the PG0/”even fabric”. Once the first set of back-end paths are moved over, do an array re-discover and re-check this output. The number of ITLs should remain the same and you should see logins on both PG/fabrics.
galcomm
15 Posts
0
February 8th, 2022 11:00
Hi Anker,
Many thanks for your reply.
I have a couple more comments/queries please.
1) When you mentioned hosts - It is purely the back-end connections that are changing as the front-end connections are in a different fabric switches.
2) Currently Unity is connected in b/e ports 2 and 3 on each director - would it be recommended to re-run the connections from 2 and 3 or just build the new fabric using connections from 0 and 1?
3) Can all of this be done whilst the system is operational with no disruption?
Thanks
Gal
ankur.patel
286 Posts
1
February 8th, 2022 12:00
1) got it, then nothing has to be done there
2) either way works should work. Since its already logged into 2/3 it *might* be quicker to pick up those paths, but with rescans it should work fine with using connections 0/1
3) yes, this is why we are doing only one cable per SP and not both. Just ensure the ITLs are logged in via the commands above. Though as in all things storage, might be best to do it during low IO periods
galcomm
15 Posts
0
February 8th, 2022 17:00
Thats great, thank you for clearing things up - I will be doing this out-of-hours and at-risk period.
If you could bare with me for a couple of mins more just so I can finalise the order in my head...
Currently I have both Port 4's on the storage connected to Port 2's on the VPLEX backend.
1) FC-PORT-GROUP-2 is made up of A1-FC02 and B1-FC02.
2) Therefore, my first action will be to physically relocate the Port 4 SAN connections to FC Fabric A
3) Followed by the FC02 connections from each director's backend ports to FC Fabric A
4) Zoning would be along the lines of each director's FC02 ports to both storage controllers Port 4 ports (this would lead to a doubling of initiator to target relationships)
5) Run a rediscover array
6) Check ITL's on virtual volumes
7) If all okay then repeat process for FC-PORT-GROUP-3 and array targets on Port 5.
Welcome any comments or suggestions,
Thanks,
Gal
ankur.patel
286 Posts
0
February 9th, 2022 08:00
Looks good to me!