Prerequisites
NOTE:The information that is presented here is applicable to importing external storage to
PowerStore from the following remote system types:
- Dell Peer Storage (PS) Series
- Dell Storage Center (SC) Series
- Dell Unity Series
- Dell VNX2 Series
- Dell XtremIO X1 or
Dell XtremIO X2
- Dell PowerMax and VMAX3
- NetApp AFF A-Series
For information about importing external storage to
PowerStore from a Universal type of remote system, see
Configure an agentless import for a Universal type remote system.
Ensure that the following conditions exist on the
PowerStore cluster before running import:
- The global storage IP address for the
PowerStore cluster is configured.
- The
PowerStore cluster and its nodes are in a healthy state.
Ensure that the following connections exist:
- For either a
Dell SC Series,
Dell Unity Series,
Dell VNX2 Series,
Dell XtremIO X1 or XtremIO X2, or a NetApp AFF A-Series source system, a Fibre Channel (FC) or iSCSI connection between the source system and each associated host system, and a matching FC or iSCSI connection between each associated host system and the
PowerStore cluster.
NOTE:These connections to each host system should be of the same type, either all FC or all iSCSI.
- For a
Dell PS Series source system, an iSCSI connection between the source system and each associated host system, and a matching iSCSI connection between each associated host system and the
PowerStore cluster.
- For a
Dell PowerMax or VMAX3 source system, an FC connection between the source system and each associated host system, and a matching FC connection between each associated host system and the
PowerStore cluster.
- Only an iSCSI connection is supported between
Dell PS Series source systems and the
PowerStore cluster.
NOTE:For an iSCSI connection, the purpose of the storage network that will be used for import must be set for both
Storage (iSCSI) and
Replication. You can set the purpose on the
Network Details step of the
Create Storage Network wizard ( ). To view the mapped storage networks of a port and their purposes, select
. See the
PowerStore Manager online help and the
PowerStore Protecting Your Data Guide for more information about creating a storage network and setting the purpose of a remote system.
- Only an FC connection is supported between a
Dell PowerMax or VMAX3 source system and the
PowerStore cluster.
- Either an iSCSI connection or an FC connection is supported between a
Dell SC Series,
Dell Unity Series,
Dell VNX2 Series,
Dell XtremIO X1 or XtremIO X2 source system, or a NetApp AFF A-Series source system and the
PowerStore cluster.
NOTE:For an iSCSI connection, the purpose of the storage network that will be used for import must be set for both
Storage (iSCSI) and
Replication. You can set the purpose on the
Network Details step of the
Create Storage Network wizard ( ). To view the mapped storage networks of a port and their purposes, select
. See the
PowerStore Manager online help and the
PowerStore Protecting Your Data Guide for more information about creating a storage network and setting the purpose of a remote system.
NOTE: When the connections between the source system and the
PowerStore cluster are all over iSCSI, the connections between the hosts and a source system and between the hosts and the
PowerStore cluster can be either all over iSCSI or all over FC. However, when the connections between the source system and the
PowerStore cluster are all over FC, the connections between the hosts and a source system and between the hosts and the
PowerStore cluster must also be all over FC.
- Importing data from an external source system into
PowerStore with FC connectivity requires that ports 0 and 1 of
PowerStore I/O Module0 are enabled as Dual (as both initiator and target).
NOTE:To view the list of FC import capable ports on a
PowerStore appliance in
PowerStore Manager, select the appliance under
Hardware, and then select
Fibre Channel on the
Ports card.
- For FC connections, it is recommended to configure FC zoning in such a way that
PowerStore can connect to at least two distinct targets on each remote system controller from a
PowerStore node.
It is recommended that the same NTP server is used on the source system, which hosts the source storage resource, and the destination
PowerStore cluster. This configuration should provide the proper time synchronization between the source system and the destination
PowerStore cluster.
Determine the following for the source system:
NOTE:Ensure that the health of the remote system is OK before adding it. If the health of that source system is not OK, the operation to add any of the following remote systems may fail:
- Dell Peer Storage (PS) Series
- Dell Storage Center (SC) Series
- Dell Unity Series
- Dell VNX2 Series
- Dell XtremIO X1 or
Dell XtremIO X2
- NetApp AFF A-Series
- The type of source system for the import
- The name of the source system (applicable only to
Dell XtremIO X1 or XtremIO X2, PowerMax, VMAX3 systems, and NetApp AFF A-Series systems)
NOTE:For
Dell PowerMax and VMAX3 systems, the name is the Symmetrix ID. For NetApp AFF A-Series systems, the name is the Storage Virtual Machine (SVM) name.
- The management cluster IP address or FQDN. The IP address is one of the following:
- For the
Dell PS Series, the group management IP address, if the management network is configured. Otherwise, it is the group IP address.
- For the
Dell SC Series and
Dell Unity Series systems, the management IP address of the system.
- For
Dell VNX2 Series, the IP address of either SPA or SPB; however, the IP address of SPA is recommended.
- For
Dell XtremIO X1 and XtremIO X2 systems, the IP address of the XMS.
- For
Dell PowerMax and VMAX3, the Unisphere IP address and associated port number.
- The iSCSI IP address of the source system, which is one of the following:
- For
Dell PS Series, the group IP address.
- For
Dell SC Series, the IP address of the fault domain.
- For
Dell Unity Series,
Dell VNX2,
Dell XtremIO X1 and XtremIO X2 source systems, one of the IP addresses of the iSCSI front-end ports. For NetApp AFF A-Series systems, the iSCSI IP address (Logical Interface (LIF)) of the SVM.
- The administrative username and password credentials to access the source system.
- The session CHAP mode.
- The names of the volumes or consistency groups, or both, or LUNs, or storage group.
NOTE:A volume group is automatically created for each consistency group or storage group that is selected for import. They cannot be combined with any other volumes or volume group, or storage group.
- Which protection policy to use for the volume or volume group, or both, or LUN, or storage group.
NOTE:PowerStore automatically creates the host and its initiator records on the remote system as part of the import operation. However,
PowerStore cannot differentiate whether the user or the import operation creates the initiator records on a
Dell Unity Series system. If the
PowerStore initiators exist in the Unity system, the addition of a
Dell Unity Series system always fails. For example, during the delete operation of a Unity remote system, the connections from
PowerStore to Unity are logged out and an attempt is made to remove the host/initiator that was automatically created. Since Unity is dual mode, the connection from
PowerStore to Unity is logged out, but the connection from Unity to
PowerStore is not logged out. Unity does not log out the connection to
PowerStore. Only those initiators that are used for import must be manually removed from the FC zone by doing the following:
- Temporarily remove the
PowerStore appliance from the FC zone.
- Remove the initiator on the Unity side.
- Add
PowerStore back into the FC zone.
- Add the Unity remote system to
PowerStore.
Determine which hosts should be mapped to the
PowerStore volumes.
Determine the schedule of the import:
Determine which protection policy to assign to the import volume.