Implementing IBM FlashSystem 840

Book description

Almost all technological components in the data center are getting faster: central processing units, networks, storage area networks (SANs), and memory. All of them have improved their speed by a minimum of 10X; some of them by 100X, for example, data networks. However, spinning disk performance has only increased by 1.2 times.

IBM® FlashSystem™ 840 version 1.3 closes this gap. The FlashSystem 840 is optimized for the data center to enable organizations of all sizes to strategically harness the value of stored data. It provides flexible capacity and extreme performance for the most demanding applications, including virtualized or bare-metal online transaction processing (OLTP) and online analytical processing (OLAP) databases, virtual desktop infrastructures (VDI), technical computing applications, and cloud environments. The system accelerates response times with IBM MicroLatency® access times as low as 90 µs write latency and 135 µs read latency to enable faster decision making.

The introduction of a low capacity 1 TB flash module allows the FlashSystem 840 to be configured in capacity points as low as 2 TB in protected RAID 5 mode. Coupled with 10 GB iSCSI, the FlashSystem is positioned to bring extreme performance to small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) and growth markets.

Implementing the IBM FlashSystem® 840 provides value that goes beyond those benefits that are seen on disk-based arrays. These benefits include better user experience, server and application consolidation, development cycle reduction, application scalability, data center footprint savings, and improved price performance economics.

This IBM Redbooks® publication discusses IBM FlashSystem 840 version 1.3. It provides in-depth knowledge of the product architecture, software and hardware, its implementation, and hints and tips. Also illustrated are use cases that show real-world solutions for tiering, flash-only, and preferred read, as well as examples of the benefits gained by integrating the FlashSystem storage into business environments.

Also described are product integration scenarios running the IBM FlashSystem 840 with the IBM SAN Volume Controller, and the IBM Storwize® family of products such V7000, V5000, and the V3700, as well as considerations when integrating with the IBM FlashSystem 840. The preferred practice guidance is provided for your FlashSystem environment with IBM 16 Gbps b-type products and features, focusing on Fibre Channel design.

This book is intended for pre-sales and post-sales technical support professionals and storage administrators, and for anyone who wants to understand and learn how to implement this exciting technology.

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. Summary of changes
    1. July 2015, Third Edition
    2. September 2014, Second Edition
  6. Chapter 1. FlashSystem storage introduction
    1. 1.1 FlashSystem storage overview
    2. 1.2 Why Flash matters
    3. 1.3 IBM FlashSystem family: Product differentiation
    4. 1.4 Technology and architectural design overview
      1. 1.4.1 IBM Variable Stripe RAID and two-dimensional flash RAID overview
    5. 1.5 Variable Stripe RAID
    6. 1.6 How VSR works
    7. 1.7 Two-dimensional (2D) Flash RAID
  7. Chapter 2. IBM FlashSystem 840 architecture
    1. 2.1 Introduction to the IBM FlashSystem 840 architecture
      1. 2.1.1 IBM FlashSystem 840 capacity
      2. 2.1.2 IBM FlashSystem 840 performance and latency
      3. 2.1.3 IBM FlashSystem 840 power requirements
      4. 2.1.4 IBM FlashSystem 840 physical specifications
      5. 2.1.5 IBM FlashSystem 840 reliability and serviceability
      6. 2.1.6 IBM FlashSystem 840 scalability
      7. 2.1.7 IBM FlashSystem 840 protocol support
      8. 2.1.8 IBM FlashSystem 840 encryption support
      9. 2.1.9 IBM FlashSystem models 820 and 840 comparison
      10. 2.1.10 IBM FlashSystem 840 management
    2. 2.2 IBM FlashSystem 840 architecture
      1. 2.2.1 IBM FlashSystem 840 architecture overview
      2. 2.2.2 IBM FlashSystem 840 hardware components
      3. 2.2.3 IBM FlashSystem 840 canisters
      4. 2.2.4 IBM FlashSystem 840 interface cards
      5. 2.2.5 IBM FlashSystem 840 flash modules
      6. 2.2.6 IBM FlashSystem 840 battery modules
    3. 2.3 IBM FlashSystem 840 administration and maintenance
      1. 2.3.1 IBM FlashSystem 840 serviceability and software enhancements
      2. 2.3.2 IBM FlashSystem 840 system management
    4. 2.4 IBM FlashSystem 840 support matrix
    5. 2.5 IBM FlashSystem 840 IBM product integration overview
      1. 2.5.1 IBM Spectrum Virtualize: SAN Volume Controller
      2. 2.5.2 IBM Storwize V7000 storage array
      3. 2.5.3 IBM PureFlex System and IBM PureSystems
      4. 2.5.4 IBM DB2 database environments
      5. 2.5.5 IBM Spectrum Scale
      6. 2.5.6 IBM TS7650G ProtecTIER
  8. Chapter 3. Planning
    1. 3.1 Installation prerequisites
      1. 3.1.1 General information
      2. 3.1.2 Completing the hardware location chart
    2. 3.2 Planning cable connections
      1. 3.2.1 Management port connections
      2. 3.2.2 Interface card connections
    3. 3.3 Planning for power
    4. 3.4 Planning for configuration
    5. 3.5 Call Home option
    6. 3.6 TCP/IP requirements
    7. 3.7 Planning for encryption
    8. 3.8 Checking your web browser settings for the management GUI
    9. 3.9 Licensing
    10. 3.10 Supported hosts and operating system considerations
  9. Chapter 4. Installation and configuration
    1. 4.1 First-time installation
      1. 4.1.1 Installing the hardware
    2. 4.2 Cabling the system
      1. 4.2.1 Cabling for Fibre Channel
      2. 4.2.2 Cabling for FCoE
      3. 4.2.3 Cabling for iSCSI
      4. 4.2.4 Cabling for QDR InfiniBand
      5. 4.2.5 FC cable type
      6. 4.2.6 Ethernet management cabling
      7. 4.2.7 Power requirements
      8. 4.2.8 Cooling requirements
      9. 4.2.9 Cable connector locations
    3. 4.3 Initializing the system
      1. 4.3.1 About encryption
      2. 4.3.2 Prepare for initialization using InitTool
      3. 4.3.3 Initializing the system through the web management interface
    4. 4.4 RAID storage modes
      1. 4.4.1 Changing RAID modes
    5. 4.5 Connectivity guidelines for improved performance
      1. 4.5.1 Interface card configuration guidelines
      2. 4.5.2 Host adapter guidelines
      3. 4.5.3 Cabling guidelines
      4. 4.5.4 Zoning guidelines
  10. Chapter 5. IBM FlashSystem 840 client host attachment and implementation
    1. 5.1 Host implementation and procedures
    2. 5.2 Host connectivity
      1. 5.2.1 Fibre Channel SAN attachment
      2. 5.2.2 Fibre Channel direct attachment
      3. 5.2.3 General Fibre Channel attachment rules
    3. 5.3 Operating system connectivity and preferred practices
      1. 5.3.1 FlashSystem 840 sector size
      2. 5.3.2 File alignment for the best RAID performance
      3. 5.3.3 IBM AIX and FlashSystem 840
      4. 5.3.4 FlashSystem 840 and Linux client hosts
      5. 5.3.5 FlashSystem 840 and Microsoft Windows client hosts
      6. 5.3.6 FlashSystem 840 and client VMware ESX hosts
      7. 5.3.7 FlashSystem 840 and IBM SAN Volume Controller or Storwize V7000
      8. 5.3.8 FlashSystem iSCSI host attachment
      9. 5.3.9 FlashSystem iSCSI configuration
      10. 5.3.10 Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 2012 iSCSI attachment
      11. 5.3.11 Linux iSCSI attachment
    4. 5.4 Miscellaneous host attachment
      1. 5.4.1 FlashSystem 840 and Solaris client hosts
      2. 5.4.2 FlashSystem 840 and HP-UX client hosts
    5. 5.5 FlashSystem 840 preferred read and configuration examples
      1. 5.5.1 FlashSystem 840 deployment scenario with preferred read
      2. 5.5.2 Implementing preferred read
      3. 5.5.3 Linux configuration file multipath.conf example
      4. 5.5.4 Example of a VMWare configuration
    6. 5.6 FlashSystem 840 and Easy Tier
    7. 5.7 Troubleshooting
      1. 5.7.1 Troubleshooting Linux InfiniBand configuration issues
      2. 5.7.2 Linux fdisk error message
      3. 5.7.3 Changing FC port properties
      4. 5.7.4 Changing iSCSI port properties
  11. Chapter 6. Using the IBM FlashSystem 840
    1. 6.1 Overview of IBM FlashSystem 840 management tools
      1. 6.1.1 Access to the graphical user interface
      2. 6.1.2 Graphical user interface layout
      3. 6.1.3 Navigation
      4. 6.1.4 Multiple selections
      5. 6.1.5 Status indicators
    2. 6.2 Monitoring menu
      1. 6.2.1 Monitoring System menu
      2. 6.2.2 Monitoring events
      3. 6.2.3 Monitoring performance menu
    3. 6.3 Volumes
      1. 6.3.1 Navigating to the Volumes menu
      2. 6.3.2 Volumes menu
      3. 6.3.3 Volumes by Host menu
    4. 6.4 Hosts
      1. 6.4.1 Navigating to the Hosts menu
      2. 6.4.2 Volumes by Host
    5. 6.5 Access menu
      1. 6.5.1 Navigating to the Access menu
      2. 6.5.2 Users menu
      3. 6.5.3 Access CLI by using PuTTY
      4. 6.5.4 User groups
      5. 6.5.5 Audit log menu
  12. Chapter 7. Configuring settings
    1. 7.1 Settings menu
      1. 7.1.1 Navigating to the Settings menu
      2. 7.1.2 Notifications menu
      3. 7.1.3 Security menu
      4. 7.1.4 Network menu
      5. 7.1.5 Support menu
      6. 7.1.6 System menu
    2. 7.2 Service Assistant Tool
      1. 7.2.1 Accessing Service Assistant Tool
      2. 7.2.2 Log in to Service Assistant Tool
  13. Chapter 8. Product integration
    1. 8.1 Running the FlashSystem 840 with Spectrum Virtualize - SAN Volume Controller
      1. 8.1.1 IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller introduction
      2. 8.1.2 SAN Volume Controller architecture and components
      3. 8.1.3 SAN Volume Controller hardware options
      4. 8.1.4 IBM Spectrum Virtualize - SAN Volume Controller advanced functionality
    2. 8.2 SAN Volume Controller connectivity to FlashSystem 840
      1. 8.2.1 SAN Volume Controller FC cabling to SAN
      2. 8.2.2 SAN zoning and port designations
      3. 8.2.3 Port designation recommendations
      4. 8.2.4 Verifying FlashSystem 840 connectivity in SAN Volume Controller
      5. 8.2.5 Import/export
    3. 8.3 Integrating FlashSystem 840 and SAN Volume Controller considerations
    4. 8.4 Integrating FlashSystem 840 and IBM Storwize V7000 considerations
  14. Chapter 9. Use cases and solutions
    1. 9.1 Introduction to the usage cases
    2. 9.2 Tiering
      1. 9.2.1 Easy Tier or block-level tiering
      2. 9.2.2 Information Life Management or file-level tiering
    3. 9.3 Preferred read
      1. 9.3.1 Implementing preferred read
    4. 9.4 Flash only
    5. 9.5 Comparison
  15. Chapter 10. Hints and tips
    1. 10.1 Encryption hints
    2. 10.2 System check
      1. 10.2.1 Checking the Fibre Channel connections
    3. 10.3 Host attachment hints
      1. 10.3.1 Fibre Channel link speed
      2. 10.3.2 Host is in a degraded state
      3. 10.3.3 FlashSystem port status
      4. 10.3.4 AIX multipathing
      5. 10.3.5 Direct attach hints
    4. 10.4 General guidelines for testing a specific configuration
      1. 10.4.1 Save the default configuration
      2. 10.4.2 Test scenarios
      3. 10.4.3 Data center environment
      4. 10.4.4 Secure erase of data
      5. 10.4.5 Performance data gathering basics
    5. 10.5 Troubleshooting
      1. 10.5.1 Troubleshooting prerequisites
      2. 10.5.2 User interfaces for servicing your system
      3. 10.5.3 Event reporting
      4. 10.5.4 Resolving a problem
    6. 10.6 IBM System Storage Interoperation Center (SSIC)
  16. Appendix A. SAN preferred practices for 16 Gbps
    1. Sixteen Gbps Fibre Channel benefits
    2. IBM System Storage b-type Gen 5 SAN product overview
    3. SAN design basics
    4. Implementation
  17. Related publications
    1. IBM Redbooks
    2. Other publications
    3. Online resources
    4. Help from IBM
  18. Back cover

Product information

  • Title: Implementing IBM FlashSystem 840
  • Author(s): Karen Orlando, Detlef Helmbrecht, Jon Herd, Carsten Larsen, Matt Levan
  • Release date: July 2015
  • Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
  • ISBN: 9780738440798