Implementing IBM FlashSystem V9000 AE3

Implementing IBM FlashSystem V9000 AE3

by Detlef Helmbrecht, James Cioffi, Jon Herd, Jeffrey Irving, Christian Karpp, Volker Kiemes, Carsten Larsen, Adrian Orban
Released April 2018
Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
ISBN: 9780738442990

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Book description

Abstract

The success or failure of businesses often depends on how well organizations use their data assets for competitive advantage. Deeper insights from data require better information technology.

As organizations modernize their IT infrastructure to boost innovation rather than limit it, they need a data storage system that can keep pace with several areas that affect your business:


  • Highly virtualized environments

  • Cloud computing

  • Mobile and social systems of engagement

  • In-depth, real-time analytics


    • Making the correct decision on storage investment is critical. Organizations must have enough storage performance and agility to innovate when they need to implement cloud-based IT services, deploy virtual desktop infrastructure, enhance fraud detection, and use new analytics capabilities. At the same time, future storage investments must lower IT infrastructure costs while helping organizations to derive the greatest possible value from their data assets.

    The IBM® FlashSystem V9000 is the premier, fully integrated, Tier 1, all-flash offering from IBM. It has changed the economics of today's data center by eliminating storage bottlenecks. Its software-defined storage features simplify data management, improve data security, and preserve your investments in storage. The IBM FlashSystem® V9000 SAS expansion enclosures provide new tiering options with read-intensive SSDs or nearline SAS HDDs.

    IBM FlashSystem V9000 includes IBM FlashCore® technology and advanced software-defined storage available in one solution in a compact 6U form factor. IBM FlashSystem V9000 improves business application availability. It delivers greater resource utilization so you can get the most from your storage resources, and achieve a simpler, more scalable, and cost-efficient IT Infrastructure.

    This IBM Redbooks® publication provides information about IBM FlashSystem V9000 Software V8.1. It describes the core product architecture, software, hardware, and implementation, and provides hints and tips.

    The underlying basic hardware and software architecture and features of the IBM FlashSystem V9000 AC3 control enclosure and on IBM Spectrum Virtualize 8.1 software are described in these publications:
    Implementing IBM FlashSystem 900 Model AE3, SG24-8414
    Implementing the IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller V7.4, SG24-7933
    Using IBM FlashSystem V9000 software functions, management tools, and interoperability combines the performance of IBM FlashSystem architecture with the advanced functions of software-defined storage to deliver performance, efficiency, and functions that meet the needs of enterprise workloads that demand IBM MicroLatency® response time.

    This book offers IBM FlashSystem V9000 scalability concepts and guidelines for planning, installing, and configuring, which can help environments scale up and out to add more flash capacity and expand virtualized systems. Port utilization methodologies are provided to help you maximize the full potential of IBM FlashSystem V9000 performance and low latency in your scalable environment.

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

    Table of contents

    1. Front cover
    2. Notices
      1. Trademarks
    3. Preface
      1. Authors
      2. Now you can become a published author, too
      3. Comments welcome
      4. Stay connected to IBM Redbooks
    4. Chapter 1. IBM FlashSystem V9000 introduction
      1. 1.1 IBM FlashSystem V9000 overview
        1. 1.1.1 Hardware components
        2. 1.1.2 Power requirements
        3. 1.1.3 Physical specifications
      2. 1.2 IBM FlashSystem family
        1. 1.2.1 Why flash matters
        2. 1.2.2 Product differentiation
        3. 1.2.3 The IBM Piece of Mind Initiative
      3. 1.3 FlashSystem V9000 architecture
        1. 1.3.1 Overview of architecture
        2. 1.3.2 IBM FlashSystem V9000 building blocks
        3. 1.3.3 IBM FlashSystem V9000 expansion enclosures
        4. 1.3.4 IBM FlashSystem V9000 AE3 storage enclosure
        5. 1.3.5 Fixed and scalable configurations
        6. 1.3.6 Scale-up and scale-out solutions
      4. 1.4 Advanced software features
    5. Chapter 2. Planning
      1. 2.1 General planning introduction
      2. 2.2 Physical planning
        1. 2.2.1 Racking considerations
        2. 2.2.2 Power requirements
        3. 2.2.3 Network cable connections
        4. 2.2.4 SAS expansion enclosures
      3. 2.3 Logical planning
        1. 2.3.1 Management IP addressing plan
        2. 2.3.2 SAN zoning and SAN connections
        3. 2.3.3 Call home option
        4. 2.3.4 Remote Support Assistance
        5. 2.3.5 IBM FlashSystem V9000 system configuration
        6. 2.3.6 EasyTier
        7. 2.3.7 Volume configuration
        8. 2.3.8 SAN boot support
      4. 2.4 License features
        1. 2.4.1 Encryption feature
        2. 2.4.2 Compression
      5. 2.5 IBM FlashSystem V9000 configuration backup procedure
    6. Chapter 3. Scalability
      1. 3.1 Overview
      2. 3.2 Building block for scaling
        1. 3.2.1 Scaling concepts
        2. 3.2.2 Scale up for capacity
        3. 3.2.3 Scale out for performance
        4. 3.2.4 SAS expansion enclosures intermix
      3. 3.3 Adding an IBM FlashSystem V9000 AE3 storage enclosure
      4. 3.4 Adding a second IBM FlashSystem V9000 building block
      5. 3.5 Adding an IBM FlashSystem V9000 expansion enclosure
      6. 3.6 Planning
      7. 3.7 Installing
      8. 3.8 Operations
      9. 3.9 Concurrent code load in a scaled-out system
    7. Chapter 4. Installation and configuration
      1. 4.1 Installation overview
        1. 4.1.1 Tasks for the IBM SSR or IBM lab-based services
        2. 4.1.2 First customer involvement
      2. 4.2 IBM FlashSystem V9000 physical specifications
      3. 4.3 Installing the hardware
      4. 4.4 Connecting the components
        1. 4.4.1 Connecting the components in a fixed building block
        2. 4.4.2 Connecting the components in a scalable building block
        3. 4.4.3 Ethernet cabling
        4. 4.4.4 Scaling from one to two, three, or four building blocks
      5. 4.5 Initial customer setup
        1. 4.5.1 FlashSystem V9000 AE3 Setup Confirmation
        2. 4.5.2 FlashSystem V9000 AC3 Setup Wizard
        3. 4.5.3 Configure FlashSystem V9000 AC3 Controllers with AE3 Storage
    8. Chapter 5. Configuring settings
      1. 5.1 Settings menu
        1. 5.1.1 FlashSystem AE3 storage enclosure settings
        2. 5.1.2 V9000 control enclosure and internal storage settings
        3. 5.1.3 Notifications menu
      2. 5.2 Network menu
      3. 5.3 Security menu
        1. 5.3.1 Remote authentication with LDAP
        2. 5.3.2 Encryption provided by the V9000 control enclosure
        3. 5.3.3 Encryption provided by the FlashSystem AE3 storage enclosure
      4. 5.4 System menu
        1. 5.4.1 V9000 control enclosure and internal storage firmware update
        2. 5.4.2 FlashSystem 900 AE3 storage firmware update
        3. 5.4.3 Some rules of thumb apply for V9000 firmware updates
      5. 5.5 Support menu
        1. 5.5.1 Remote Support Assistance
        2. 5.5.2 Support package, V9000 control enclosure support logs
        3. 5.5.3 Support package, FlashSystem V9000 AE3 storage enclosure support logs
        4. 5.5.4 PMR creation, FlashSystem V9000 AE3 storage enclosure GUI
      6. 5.6 GUI preference
    9. Chapter 6. IBM HyperSwap
      1. 6.1 Overview
        1. 6.1.1 HyperSwap implementations
      2. 6.2 HyperSwap design
      3. 6.3 Comparison with Enhanced Stretched Cluster
        1. 6.3.1 Disaster recovery
        2. 6.3.2 Consistency Groups
        3. 6.3.3 HyperSwap restrictions for software version 8.1
      4. 6.4 Planning
      5. 6.5 Configuration
        1. 6.5.1 SAN Configuration
        2. 6.5.2 Defining the sites
        3. 6.5.3 Control enclosures
        4. 6.5.4 Configuring the AE3 enclosures and external storage controllers
        5. 6.5.5 Configuring the IBM FlashSystem V9000 storage enclosures
        6. 6.5.6 Define quorum device
        7. 6.5.7 Configuring the hosts
        8. 6.5.8 Configuring the HyperSwap topology
        9. 6.5.9 Configuring synchronization rates
        10. 6.5.10 HyperSwap configuration using the GUI wizard
        11. 6.5.11 SAN environment for low latency
        12. 6.5.12 Creating HyperSwap volumes
        13. 6.5.13 Creating a HyperSwap volume from a basic volume
        14. 6.5.14 Mapping HyperSwap volumes to a host
      6. 6.6 Operations
        1. 6.6.1 Site failure
        2. 6.6.2 Converting a HyperSwap volume to a basic volume
        3. 6.6.3 Deleting HyperSwap volumes
        4. 6.6.4 FlashCopy with HyperSwap volumes
      7. 6.7 HyperSwap with SAS attached expansion enclosures
      8. 6.8 Disaster recovery with HyperSwap
        1. 6.8.1 Using the VDisk that the hosts are currently accessing
        2. 6.8.2 Going back to the up-to-date copy
      9. 6.9 Disaster recovery with consistency groups
      10. 6.10 The overridequorum command
      11. 6.11 HyperSwap Failure scenarios
      12. 6.12 Unconfiguring HyperSwap
        1. 6.12.1 Removing HyperSwap volumes completely
        2. 6.12.2 Converting to basic volumes, while retaining access through themaster VDisk
        3. 6.12.3 Converting to basic volumes, while retaining access through theauxiliary VDisk
        4. 6.12.4 Converting to system topology standard
      13. 6.13 Summary of interesting object states for HyperSwap
        1. 6.13.1 The lsvdisk command
        2. 6.13.2 The lsvdiskcopy command
        3. 6.13.3 The lsrcrelationship or lsrcconsistgrp commands
        4. 6.13.4 The lsfcmap command
      14. 6.14 Naming conventions
    10. Chapter 7. Hints and tips
      1. 7.1 Performance data and statistics gathering
        1. 7.1.1 IBM FlashSystem V9000 controller performance overview
        2. 7.1.2 Performance monitoring
      2. 7.2 Estimating compression savings
        1. 7.2.1 IBM Comprestimator: Built-in GUI version
        2. 7.2.2 IBM Comprestimator utility: Host-installed version
      3. 7.3 Command-line hints
        1. 7.3.1 Running commands on the IBM FlashSystem V9000
        2. 7.3.2 Creating connections
        3. 7.3.3 IBM FlashSystem V9000 command-line scripting
        4. 7.3.4 Sample commands of mirrored VDisks
        5. 7.3.5 Recover lost superuser password
        6. 7.3.6 Internal Fibre Channel switch maintenance
        7. 7.3.7 Back up IBM FlashSystem V9000 configuration
        8. 7.3.8 Using the IBM FlashSystem V9000 Software Upgrade Test Utility
        9. 7.3.9 Secure erase of data
      4. 7.4 Call Home process
        1. 7.4.1 Call Home details
        2. 7.4.2 Email alert
        3. 7.4.3 Inventory
      5. 7.5 Service support
        1. 7.5.1 IBM Storage Technical Advisor
        2. 7.5.2 Enterprise Class Support
        3. 7.5.3 How an IBM FlashSystem V9000 is entitled for support
        4. 7.5.4 Providing logs to IBM ECuRep
        5. 7.5.5 Downloading from IBM Fix Central
    11. Appendix A. Guidelines: Port utilization in an IBM FlashSystem V9000 scalable environment
      1. A.1 Overview
      2. A.2 Comparison of port utilization methods
      3. A.3 Guidelines: The performance method
      4. A.4 Guidelines: The infrastructure savings method
      5. A.5 Guidelines: Zoning and pathing
      6. A.6 Summary
      7. A.7 Supported environments
    12. Related publications
      1. IBM Redbooks
      2. Other publications
      3. Online resources
      4. Help from IBM
    13. Back cover

    Product information

    • Title: Implementing IBM FlashSystem V9000 AE3
    • Author(s): Detlef Helmbrecht, James Cioffi, Jon Herd, Jeffrey Irving, Christian Karpp, Volker Kiemes, Carsten Larsen, Adrian Orban
    • Release date: April 2018
    • Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
    • ISBN: 9780738442990