IBM FlashSystem A9000 and IBM FlashSystem A9000R Architecture, Implementation, and Usage

IBM FlashSystem A9000 and IBM FlashSystem A9000R Architecture, Implementation, and Usage

by Bertrand Dufrasne, Stephen Andert, Andrew Greenfield, Detlef Helmbrecht, Lisa Martinez, David Nierhoff, Jagadeesh Papaiah, Patrick Pollard, Ann Sargent, Henry Sautter, Stephen Solewin, William Wagner
Released July 2016
Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
ISBN: 9780738441771

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Book description

This IBM® Redbooks® publication presents the architecture, design, concepts, and technology that are used in IBM FlashSystem® A9000 and IBM FlashSystem A9000R.

FlashSystem A9000 and FlashSystem A9000R deliver the microsecond latency and high availability of IBM FlashCore™ technology with grid architecture, simple scalability, and industry-leading IBM software that is designed to drive your business into the cognitive era.

Comprehensive data reduction capabilities, including inline deduplication and a new compression engine, help lower total cost of ownership, while a new, highly intuitive user interface simplifies management. FlashSystem A9000 and FlashSystem A9000R transform technology infrastructure into business innovation.

From a functional standpoint, FlashSystem A9000 and FlashSystem A9000R take advantage of most of the software-defined storage features that are offered by the IBM Spectrum™ Accelerate software, including multi-tenancy and business continuity functions.

This book contains numerous illustrations about how to manage and configure the storage system, by using the new user interface.

This publication is intended for those individuals who need to plan, install, tailor, and configure FlashSystem A9000 and FlashSystem A9000R.

Table of contents

  1. Front cover
  2. Notices
    1. Trademarks
  3. IBM Redbooks promotions
  4. Preface
    1. Authors
    2. Now you can become a published author, too!
    3. Comments welcome
    4. Stay connected to IBM Redbooks
  5. Chapter 1. IBM FlashSystem A9000 and IBM FlashSystem A9000R
    1. 1.1 FlashSystem A9000 and FlashSystem A9000R overview
      1. 1.1.1 FlashSystem A9000
      2. 1.1.2 FlashSystem A9000R
    2. 1.2 Feature set
    3. 1.3 Licensing
    4. 1.4 Management tools
    5. 1.5 Product positioning
      1. 1.5.1 FlashSystem A9000
      2. 1.5.2 FlashSystem A9000R
  6. Chapter 2. Logical architecture and concepts
    1. 2.1 Overall architecture
      1. 2.1.1 Parallelism and grid architecture
      2. 2.1.2 Cache resiliency
    2. 2.2 IBM FlashCore technology
    3. 2.3 Data reduction and capacity concepts
      1. 2.3.1 Data reduction technology
    4. 2.4 Storage provisioning concepts
      1. 2.4.1 Storage pools
      2. 2.4.2 Volumes
      3. 2.4.3 Snapshots
      4. 2.4.4 Consistency groups
    5. 2.5 Multi-tenancy
      1. 2.5.1 Domains
    6. 2.6 Data security
      1. 2.6.1 Key management
    7. 2.7 User access control
  7. Chapter 3. Hardware and technology
    1. 3.1 Systems overview
      1. 3.1.1 FlashSystem A9000R
      2. 3.1.2 FlashSystem A9000
    2. 3.2 System components details
      1. 3.2.1 Grid controller
      2. 3.2.2 Flash enclosure
    3. 3.3 FlashSystem A9000R specifics
      1. 3.3.1 FlashSystem A9000R switched InfiniBand
      2. 3.3.2 InfiniBand switch battery backup unit
      3. 3.3.3 Maintenance module
      4. 3.3.4 FlashSystem A9000R rack
    4. 3.4 Scaling FlashSystem A9000R
      1. 3.4.1 Scale out with IBM Hyper-Scale Mobility
    5. 3.5 FlashSystem A9000 specifics
      1. 3.5.1 FlashSystem A9000 direct InfiniBand
    6. 3.6 Reliability, availability, and serviceability
      1. 3.6.1 Reliability
      2. 3.6.2 Availability
      3. 3.6.3 Serviceability
    7. 3.7 IBM FlashCore technology
      1. 3.7.1 Technology and architectural design overview
      2. 3.7.2 Hardware-only data path
      3. 3.7.3 The 20 nm flash card MLC memory chips
      4. 3.7.4 Flash module capacities
      5. 3.7.5 Field Programmable-Gate Array
      6. 3.7.6 Overprovisioning
      7. 3.7.7 Wear leveling
    8. 3.8 IBM Variable Stripe RAID and 2D Flash RAID protection overview
      1. 3.8.1 Variable Stripe RAID
      2. 3.8.2 Two-dimensional (2D) Flash RAID
  8. Chapter 4. Capacity planning and management
    1. 4.1 Introduction and definitions
      1. 4.1.1 System capacity specifications
      2. 4.1.2 Capacity representation in the GUI
    2. 4.2 Thin provisioning
      1. 4.2.1 Storage pools
      2. 4.2.2 Volumes
    3. 4.3 Capacity planning
      1. 4.3.1 Data reduction planning
      2. 4.3.2 Capacity planning report
  9. Chapter 5. Installation requirements
    1. 5.1 Physical space requirements
      1. 5.1.1 FlashSystem A9000
      2. 5.1.2 FlashSystem A9000R
    2. 5.2 Delivery requirements for FlashSystem A9000R
      1. 5.2.1 Delivery clearance requirements
      2. 5.2.2 Delivery weight requirements
      3. 5.2.3 Height and weight reduction features
    3. 5.3 Site requirements
      1. 5.3.1 Power supply requirements
      2. 5.3.2 Power consumption and thermal dissipation
      3. 5.3.3 Other equipment
    4. 5.4 Basic configuration
    5. 5.5 Network connections
      1. 5.5.1 Remote mirroring connectivity
      2. 5.5.2 Planning for growth
      3. 5.5.3 IPv6 addressing and planning
      4. 5.5.4 IP protocols
      5. 5.5.5 SMTP server
      6. 5.5.6 IBM service ports
    6. 5.6 Physical installation
      1. 5.6.1 Initial setup
      2. 5.6.2 Completing the physical installation
      3. 5.6.3 System shutdown/power-off and power-on
    7. 5.7 Host connections
      1. 5.7.1 Fibre Channel connections
      2. 5.7.2 iSCSI connections
      3. 5.7.3 Fibre Channel cabling and configuration
      4. 5.7.4 iSCSI cabling and configuration
      5. 5.7.5 iSCSI IP configuration
  10. Chapter 6. Management tools
    1. 6.1 Management graphical user interface
      1. 6.1.1 Working with the Storage Management GUI
      2. 6.1.2 Systems & Domains Views
      3. 6.1.3 Statistics Views
      4. 6.1.4 Pools & Volumes Views
      5. 6.1.5 Hosts & Clusters Views
      6. 6.1.6 Remote Views
      7. 6.1.7 Access Views
      8. 6.1.8 IBM Hyper-Scale Manager
    2. 6.2 Installing and configuring Hyper-Scale Manager
      1. 6.2.1 Installing Hyper-Scale Manager
      2. 6.2.2 Launching the GUI
      3. 6.2.3 Using the installation wizard
      4. 6.2.4 Log in to IBM Hyper-Scale Storage Manager after the initial setup
      5. 6.2.5 Adding a system after the initial setup
      6. 6.2.6 Removing a system or modifying a system IP address
    3. 6.3 Command-line interface (CLI)
      1. 6.3.1 Installing the CLI
      2. 6.3.2 CLI session features
      3. 6.3.3 Logging in to the CLI
  11. Chapter 7. Storage management and configuration
    1. 7.1 Storage management interfaces
      1. 7.1.1 Hyper-Scale Manager
      2. 7.1.2 Command-line interface
    2. 7.2 Pools
      1. 7.2.1 Creating pools
      2. 7.2.2 Managing storage pools with the GUI
      3. 7.2.3 Managing storage pools with the CLI
    3. 7.3 Volumes
      1. 7.3.1 Creating volumes
      2. 7.3.2 Managing volumes with the GUI
      3. 7.3.3 Managing volumes with the command-line interface
    4. 7.4 Snapshots
      1. 7.4.1 How to create a snapshot
      2. 7.4.2 Snapshot deletion priority
      3. 7.4.3 Managing snapshots with the GUI
      4. 7.4.4 Managing snapshots with the CLI
    5. 7.5 Consistency groups
      1. 7.5.1 Creating consistency groups
      2. 7.5.2 Adding volumes to a consistency group
      3. 7.5.3 Managing consistency groups with the GUI
      4. 7.5.4 Managing consistency groups with the CLI
    6. 7.6 Users and user groups
      1. 7.6.1 Creating users and user groups
      2. 7.6.2 Managing users and user groups with the GUI
      3. 7.6.3 Managing users and user groups with the CLI
  12. Chapter 8. Security
    1. 8.1 Physical access security
    2. 8.2 Native user authentication
      1. 8.2.1 Local credential repository
      2. 8.2.2 Managing user accounts
      3. 8.2.3 Security considerations for Hyper-Scale Manager
      4. 8.2.4 Managing user accounts by using the CLI
    3. 8.3 Encryption
      1. 8.3.1 Encryption architecture
      2. 8.3.2 Configuring encryption
    4. 8.4 Auditing through syslog
    5. 8.5 LDAP with FlashSystem A9000 and FlashSystem A9000R
      1. 8.5.1 Introduction to Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
      2. 8.5.2 LDAP directory components
      3. 8.5.3 LDAP product selection
      4. 8.5.4 LDAP role mapping
  13. Chapter 9. Multi-tenancy
    1. 9.1 Multi-tenancy
      1. 9.1.1 Domains
      2. 9.1.2 Domain attributes
      3. 9.1.3 Global administrators and domain administrators
      4. 9.1.4 Domain policy
    2. 9.2 Managing domains with the GUI
      1. 9.2.1 Creating domains
      2. 9.2.2 Customize the Domain view
      3. 9.2.3 Adding a user to a domain
      4. 9.2.4 Domain properties
      5. 9.2.5 Managing domains
      6. 9.2.6 Managing within a domain
      7. 9.2.7 Removing a domain
    3. 9.3 Managing domains with the command-line interface
      1. 9.3.1 Creating domains
    4. 9.4 Performance classes (quality of service)
      1. 9.4.1 Creating a performance class
      2. 9.4.2 Associating a domain with an existing performance class
  14. Chapter 10. Host attachment
    1. 10.1 Overview
      1. 10.1.1 Grid controller interface ports and host connectivity
      2. 10.1.2 Host operating system support
      3. 10.1.3 Host Attachment Kits
      4. 10.1.4 Fibre Channel versus iSCSI access
    2. 10.2 Fibre Channel connectivity
      1. 10.2.1 Preparation steps
      2. 10.2.2 Fibre Channel configurations
      3. 10.2.3 Zoning
      4. 10.2.4 Identification of FC ports (initiator/target)
    3. 10.3 iSCSI connectivity
      1. 10.3.1 Preparation steps
      2. 10.3.2 Network configuration
      3. 10.3.3 IBM XIV Storage System iSCSI setup
      4. 10.3.4 Identifying iSCSI ports
    4. 10.4 Logical configuration for host connectivity
      1. 10.4.1 Host configuration preparation
      2. 10.4.2 Assigning LUNs to a host by using the GUI
      3. 10.4.3 Assigning LUNs to a host by using the CLI
    5. 10.5 Troubleshooting
  15. Chapter 11. Performance
    1. 11.1 Performance considerations
      1. 11.1.1 Sizing
      2. 11.1.2 Multipathing considerations
    2. 11.2 Quality of service
      1. 11.2.1 Limitation by bandwidth
      2. 11.2.2 Limitation by input/output operations per second
    3. 11.3 Performance monitoring
      1. 11.3.1 Using the Storage Management GUI
      2. 11.3.2 Using the command-line interface
  16. Chapter 12. Data migration with IBM FlashSystem A9000R
    1. 12.1 Migration overview
    2. 12.2 Detailed migration steps
      1. 12.2.1 Initial connection and preparation
      2. 12.2.2 Perform pre-migration tasks for each host that is migrated
      3. 12.2.3 Define and test data migration volumes
      4. 12.2.4 Activating data migration on the migrated volumes
      5. 12.2.5 Define the host in FlashSystem A9000R and bring the host online
      6. 12.2.6 Complete the data migration on FlashSystem A9000R
  17. Chapter 13. Monitoring and troubleshooting
    1. 13.1 Monitoring
      1. 13.1.1 Monitoring events
      2. 13.1.2 Monitoring alerts and events
      3. 13.1.3 Monitoring statistics
      4. 13.1.4 Monitoring hardware
      5. 13.1.5 Simple Network Management Protocol monitoring
      6. 13.1.6 Call-home
      7. 13.1.7 Subscribe to support notifications
    2. 13.2 Troubleshooting
      1. 13.2.1 IBM Support process
      2. 13.2.2 Collecting logs
      3. 13.2.3 IBM Remote Support
  18. Related publications
    1. IBM Redbooks publications
    2. Other publications and online resources
    3. Help from IBM
  19. Back cover

Product information

  • Title: IBM FlashSystem A9000 and IBM FlashSystem A9000R Architecture, Implementation, and Usage
  • Author(s): Bertrand Dufrasne, Stephen Andert, Andrew Greenfield, Detlef Helmbrecht, Lisa Martinez, David Nierhoff, Jagadeesh Papaiah, Patrick Pollard, Ann Sargent, Henry Sautter, Stephen Solewin, William Wagner
  • Release date: July 2016
  • Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
  • ISBN: 9780738441771