The following article discusses the supported host-operating system for nondisruptive migration of Storage resources.
Migration functionality allows users to move storage resources (Volumes, Volume Groups, and VMware Virtual Volumes) between appliances within a PowerStore cluster without any host I/Odisruption. Supported Host operating system versions are summarized in the sections below. I/O to the storage resource must be stopped on unsupported configurations before migration. Failure to do so may result in data unavailability or I/O error within the host application.
| Vendor and or Platform |
Operating System and Version |
Host Attach Type |
|
| SCSI |
NVME |
||
| Microsoft Windows |
Windows Server 2012 |
Supported |
Not Applicable |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 U1 |
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| Windows Server 2016 |
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| Windows Server 2019 |
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| VMware |
vSphere 6.5 |
Supported |
Not Applicable |
| vSphere 6.7 |
|||
| vSphere 7.0 |
Supported |
Not Supported due to ANA group path limitations in vSphere |
|
| Linux |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux |
Supported |
Supported |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 |
|||
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.7 |
|||
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.0 |
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| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.1 |
|||
| SLES 12 SP4 |
Supported |
Supported |
|
| SLES 15 |
|||
| SLES 15 SP1 |
|||
I/O must be stopped before migrating Volumes consumed by hosts not listed above. Performing migration of LUNs consumed by unlisted hosts without first stopping I/O may lead to data impact. Internal migration of Volumes or Volume Groups that are used by Microsoft Windows Failover Cluster may result in hosts losing access to storage. Stop I/O by either powering down the host or removing host access to the volume.
In addition to the host operating system version, ensure that the Multipath I/O (MPIO) settings on the host follow the recommendations for PowerStore. This is to ensure that there are no disruptions due to the migration. See the "PowerStore Host Configuration Guide" on the Dell Support site (https://dell.com/powerstoredocs) for more information about host requirements and configuration.
PowerStore 1.x
Due to known issues with VMware’s ESXi, Virtual Volumes cannot be non-disruptively migrated within a datastore between appliances in a PowerStore T cluster running versions 1.x. In collaboration with Dell Technologies, VMware has identified a fix and is expected to be available in a future vSphere release. Until then, Virtual Volume migrations within a datastore must be done with the VM powered down. This does not impact vMotion-based migrations.
| External ESXi Hosts | Internal ESXi hosts (AppsON) | |
|---|---|---|
| PowerStore T models |
Offline only: vVol based VMs must be powered off before migration from one appliance to another in a multi-appliance cluster. |
Not Applicable |
| PowerStore X models |
Not Applicable as PowerStore X models do not support clustering in 1.x. |
Not Applicable as PowerStore X models do not support clustering in 1.x. |
PowerStore 2.x and Beyond
Starting with version 2.0.x, both PowerStore T and PowerStore X support online non-disruptive migration within a datastore between appliances in a cluster. However, due to VMware identified ESXi issues, vVols can only be non-disruptively migrated within a datastore between appliances in a PowerStore cluster starting with the ESXi versions that are identified in the table below. This does not impact vMotion-based migrations.
| External ESXi Hosts |
Internal ESXi hosts (AppsON) |
|
|---|---|---|
| PowerStore T models |
Offline: Supported |
Not Applicable |
| PowerStore X models |
Offline: Supported |
Offline: Supported |
* This is a specific hotfix that is provided by VMware which is available for download on Dell Drivers & Downloads for PowerStore X.
** Migration of vVols with SCSI-3 Persistent Reservations is not allowed on releases ESXi 7.0 Update 3c, 3d, 3e, and 3f due to known issues with VMware's ESXi software. VMs must be powered off before migration.