Introducing and Implementing IBM FlashSystem V9000

Introducing and Implementing IBM FlashSystem V9000

by Christophe Fagiano, Detlef Helmbrecht, Jon Herd, Jeffrey Irving, Jana Jamsek, Carsten Larsen, Renato Santos, James Thompson
Released December 2016
Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
ISBN: 9780738442358

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial

Book description

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 highly virtualized environments, cloud computing, mobile and social systems of engagement, and in-depth, real-time analytics.

Making the correct decision on storage investment is critical. Organizations must have enough storage performance and agility to innovate as 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 V7.7 and introduces the recently announced V7.8. It describes the product architecture, software, hardware, and implementation, and provides hints and tips. It illustrates use cases and independent software vendor (ISV) scenarios that demonstrate real-world solutions, and also provides examples of the benefits gained by integrating the IBM FlashSystem storage into business environments.

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. IBM Spectrum Control family
      1. Authors
      2. Now you can become a published author, too
      3. Comments welcome
      4. Stay connected to IBM Redbooks
  4. Summary of changes
    1. December 2016, Third Edition
  5. Chapter 1. IBM FlashSystem V9000 introduction
    1. 1.1 IBM FlashSystem V9000 storage overview
    2. 1.2 Why flash matters
    3. 1.3 IBM FlashSystem family: Product differentiation
    4. 1.4 IBM FlashSystem V9000: IBM Tier 1 storage
    5. 1.5 IBM FlashCore technology
      1. 1.5.1 Hardware accelerated I/O
      2. 1.5.2 IBM MicroLatency module
      3. 1.5.3 Advanced flash management
      4. 1.5.4 Flash wear assurance
    6. 1.6 Architectural design overview
      1. 1.6.1 IBM FlashSystem V9000 building blocks
      2. 1.6.2 IBM FlashSystem V9000 expansion enclosures
      3. 1.6.3 IBM FlashSystem V9000 AE2 flash storage array
      4. 1.6.4 IBM Variable Stripe RAID and two-dimensional flash RAID overview
      5. 1.6.5 Fixed and scalable configurations
      6. 1.6.6 Scale-up and scale-out solutions
    7. 1.7 Advanced software features
      1. 1.7.1 Advanced functions for data reduction
      2. 1.7.2 Data migration
      3. 1.7.3 Advanced copy services
      4. 1.7.4 External virtualization
      5. 1.7.5 Easy Tier
    8. 1.8 IBM HyperSwap
    9. 1.9 Transparent cloud tiering (V7.8)
    10. 1.10 Licensing
  6. Chapter 2. FlashSystem V9000 architecture
    1. 2.1 Introduction to IBM FlashSystem V9000
      1. 2.1.1 Capacity
      2. 2.1.2 Performance and latency
      3. 2.1.3 IBM FlashCore technology
      4. 2.1.4 Overview of IBM Variable Stripe RAID and 2D Flash RAID
      5. 2.1.5 Scalability
      6. 2.1.6 Host adapter protocol support
      7. 2.1.7 Encryption support
      8. 2.1.8 Management
    2. 2.2 Architecture of IBM FlashSystem V9000
      1. 2.2.1 Overview of architecture
      2. 2.2.2 Hardware components
      3. 2.2.3 Power requirements
      4. 2.2.4 Physical specifications
    3. 2.3 Control enclosure (AC2)
      1. 2.3.1 I/O connectivity
      2. 2.3.2 Compression Acceleration Card
      3. 2.3.3 Technician port
      4. 2.3.4 Battery backup
    4. 2.4 Control enclosure (AC3)
    5. 2.5 Storage enclosure (AE2)
      1. 2.5.1 Interface cards
      2. 2.5.2 MicroLatency modules
      3. 2.5.3 Battery modules
    6. 2.6 Expansion enclosures (12F, 24F, 92F)
      1. 2.6.1 SAS expansion enclosures intermix
    7. 2.7 Administration and maintenance
      1. 2.7.1 System management
      2. 2.7.2 Software and licensing
      3. 2.7.3 Serviceability and software enhancements
    8. 2.8 Support matrix for IBM FlashSystem V9000
  7. Chapter 3. Advanced software functions
    1. 3.1 Introduction
    2. 3.2 Advanced features for storage efficiency
      1. 3.2.1 IBM Easy Tier
      2. 3.2.2 Thin provisioning
      3. 3.2.3 IBM Real-time Compression Software
      4. 3.2.4 Data reduction: pattern removal, data deduplication, and compression
    3. 3.3 Data migration
      1. 3.3.1 Migration operations
      2. 3.3.2 Migrating data from an image mode volume
    4. 3.4 Advanced copy services
      1. 3.4.1 FlashCopy
      2. 3.4.2 Volume mirroring and migration options
      3. 3.4.3 Remote Copy
    5. 3.5 Data encryption
    6. 3.6 IBM HyperSwap
      1. 3.6.1 Overview of HyperSwap
    7. 3.7 IBM Spectrum Control (formerly IBM Tivoli Storage Productivity Center)
  8. Chapter 4. Planning
    1. 4.1 General planning introduction
    2. 4.2 Physical planning
      1. 4.2.1 Racking considerations
      2. 4.2.2 Power requirements
      3. 4.2.3 Network cable connections
      4. 4.2.4 SAS expansion enclosures
    3. 4.3 Logical planning
      1. 4.3.1 Management IP addressing plan
      2. 4.3.2 SAN zoning and SAN connections
      3. 4.3.3 iSCSI IP addressing plan
      4. 4.3.4 Call home option
      5. 4.3.5 IBM FlashSystem V9000 system configuration
      6. 4.3.6 Easy Tier
      7. 4.3.7 Volume configuration
      8. 4.3.8 Host mapping (LUN masking)
      9. 4.3.9 SAN boot support
    4. 4.4 License features
      1. 4.4.1 Encryption feature
      2. 4.4.2 External virtualized storage configuration
      3. 4.4.3 Advanced copy services
      4. 4.4.4 Real-time Compression
    5. 4.5 Data migration
    6. 4.6 IBM FlashSystem V9000 configuration backup procedure
  9. Chapter 5. Scalability
    1. 5.1 Overview
    2. 5.2 Building block for scaling
    3. 5.3 Scaling concepts
      1. 5.3.1 Scale up for capacity
      2. 5.3.2 Scale out for performance
      3. 5.3.3 IBM FlashSystem V9000 scaled configurations
    4. 5.4 Adding an IBM FlashSystem V9000 storage enclosure (AE2)
    5. 5.5 Adding a second building block
    6. 5.6 Adding an IBM FlashSystem V9000 expansion enclosure
    7. 5.7 Planning
    8. 5.8 Installing
    9. 5.9 Operations
    10. 5.10 Concurrent code load in a scaled-out system
  10. Chapter 6. Installation and configuration
    1. 6.1 Installation overview
      1. 6.1.1 Tasks for the IBM SSR or IBM lab-based services
      2. 6.1.2 First customer involvement
    2. 6.2 IBM FlashSystem V9000 physical specifications
    3. 6.3 Installing the hardware
    4. 6.4 Connecting the components
      1. 6.4.1 Connecting the components in a fixed building block
      2. 6.4.2 Connecting the components in a scalable building block
      3. 6.4.3 Ethernet cabling
      4. 6.4.4 Scaling from one to two, three, or four building blocks
    5. 6.5 Initial customer setup
      1. 6.5.1 License agreement and password change
      2. 6.5.2 System Setup wizard
      3. 6.5.3 System name change
      4. 6.5.4 Licensed functions
      5. 6.5.5 Date and time setup
      6. 6.5.6 Call Home
      7. 6.5.7 Summary of changes
      8. 6.5.8 Add AE2 storage enclosure
  11. Chapter 7. Host configuration
    1. 7.1 Host attachment overview
    2. 7.2 IBM FlashSystem V9000 setup
      1. 7.2.1 Fibre Channel and SAN setup overview
      2. 7.2.2 Fibre Channel SAN attachment
      3. 7.2.3 Fibre Channel direct attachment
    3. 7.3 iSCSI
      1. 7.3.1 Initiators and targets
      2. 7.3.2 iSCSI nodes
      3. 7.3.3 iSCSI qualified name
      4. 7.3.4 iSCSI set up of IBM FlashSystem V9000 and host server
      5. 7.3.5 Volume discovery
      6. 7.3.6 Authentication
      7. 7.3.7 Target failover
      8. 7.3.8 Host failover
    4. 7.4 File alignment for the best RAID performance
    5. 7.5 AIX: Specific information
      1. 7.5.1 Optimal logical unit number configurations for AIX
      2. 7.5.2 Configuring the AIX host
      3. 7.5.3 Configuring fast fail and dynamic tracking
      4. 7.5.4 Subsystem Device Driver Path Control Module (SDDPCM)
      5. 7.5.5 Configuring the assigned volume by using SDDPCM
      6. 7.5.6 Using SDDPCM
      7. 7.5.7 Creating and preparing volumes for use with AIX and SDDPCM
      8. 7.5.8 Expanding an AIX volume
      9. 7.5.9 Running IBM FlashSystem V9000 commands from AIX host system
    6. 7.6 IBM i: Specific information
      1. 7.6.1 Connection of IBM FlashSystem V9000 to IBM i
      2. 7.6.2 Block translation
      3. 7.6.3 IBM i LUNs and capacity
      4. 7.6.4 Data layout
      5. 7.6.5 Thin provisioning and IBM Real-time Compression
      6. 7.6.6 Multipath
      7. 7.6.7 Fibre Channel adapters in IBM i partition
      8. 7.6.8 Zoning SAN switches
      9. 7.6.9 Boot from SAN
      10. 7.6.10 IBM i mirroring
      11. 7.6.11 Migration
    7. 7.7 Windows: Specific information
      1. 7.7.1 Configuring Windows Server 2008 and 2012 hosts
      2. 7.7.2 Configuring Windows
      3. 7.7.3 Hardware lists, device driver, HBAs, and firmware levels
      4. 7.7.4 Installing and configuring the host adapter
      5. 7.7.5 Changing the disk timeout on Windows Server
      6. 7.7.6 Installing the SDDDSM multipath driver on Windows
      7. 7.7.7 Attaching IBM FlashSystem V9000 volumes to Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 R2
      8. 7.7.8 Extending a volume
      9. 7.7.9 Removing a disk from Windows
      10. 7.7.10 Using IBM FlashSystem V9000 CLI from a Windows host
      11. 7.7.11 Microsoft 2012 and Offloaded Data Transfer (ODX)
      12. 7.7.12 Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy (VSS)
    8. 7.8 Linux: Specific information
      1. 7.8.1 Configuring the Linux host
      2. 7.8.2 Supported Linux distributions
      3. 7.8.3 Multipathing in Linux
    9. 7.9 VMware: Configuration information
      1. 7.9.1 Configuring VMware hosts
      2. 7.9.2 Operating system versions and maintenance levels
      3. 7.9.3 HBAs for hosts that are running VMware
      4. 7.9.4 VMware storage and zoning guidance
      5. 7.9.5 Multipathing in ESXi
      6. 7.9.6 Attaching VMware to volumes
      7. 7.9.7 Volume naming in VMware
      8. 7.9.8 Extending a VMFS volume
      9. 7.9.9 Removing a data store from an ESXi host
    10. 7.10 Oracle (Sun) Solaris: Configuration information
      1. 7.10.1 MPxIO dynamic pathing
    11. 7.11 Hewlett-Packard UNIX: Configuration information
      1. 7.11.1 Operating system versions and maintenance levels
      2. 7.11.2 Supported multipath solutions
      3. 7.11.3 Clustered-system support
      4. 7.11.4 Support for HP-UX with greater than eight LUNs
    12. 7.12 Using NPIV functionality
      1. 7.12.1 How NPIV works
    13. 7.13 Using SDDDSM, SDDPCM, and SDD web interface
    14. 7.14 More information
  12. Chapter 8. Using IBM FlashSystem V9000
    1. 8.1 Overview of FlashSystem V9000 management tool
      1. 8.1.1 Access to the GUI
      2. 8.1.2 GUI home window: Single building block system
      3. 8.1.3 GUI home window: Multiple building block system
      4. 8.1.4 Layout of GUI
      5. 8.1.5 Function icons
      6. 8.1.6 Capacity, performance, and health indicators
      7. 8.1.7 See which user is logged in, get help, and get overview information
      8. 8.1.8 System details
    2. 8.2 Actions menu
      1. 8.2.1 Rename System
      2. 8.2.2 Update System
      3. 8.2.3 Power Off
    3. 8.3 Monitoring menu
      1. 8.3.1 System
      2. 8.3.2 Events
      3. 8.3.3 Performance
    4. 8.4 Pools menu
      1. 8.4.1 Opening the Pools menu
      2. 8.4.2 Storage pools
      3. 8.4.3 Volumes by Pool
      4. 8.4.4 Creating storage pools
      5. 8.4.5 Renaming a storage pool
      6. 8.4.6 Deleting a storage pool
      7. 8.4.7 System Migration
    5. 8.5 Volumes menu
      1. 8.5.1 Opening the Volumes menu
      2. 8.5.2 Volumes window
      3. 8.5.3 Volumes by Pool
      4. 8.5.4 Volume by Host
    6. 8.6 Hosts menu
      1. 8.6.1 Opening the Hosts menu
      2. 8.6.2 Ports by Hosts
      3. 8.6.3 Host Mappings
      4. 8.6.4 Volumes by Host
    7. 8.7 Copy Services menu
      1. 8.7.1 FlashCopy
      2. 8.7.2 Consistency Groups
      3. 8.7.3 FlashCopy mappings
      4. 8.7.4 Remote copy
      5. 8.7.5 Partnerships
    8. 8.8 Access menu
      1. 8.8.1 Users
      2. 8.8.2 Audit log
  13. Chapter 9. Configuring settings
    1. 9.1 Settings menu
      1. 9.1.1 Opening the Settings menu
    2. 9.2 Notifications menu
      1. 9.2.1 Email and call home
      2. 9.2.2 SNMP
      3. 9.2.3 Syslog
    3. 9.3 Network menu
      1. 9.3.1 Management IP address
      2. 9.3.2 Service IP Addresses
      3. 9.3.3 Ethernet ports
      4. 9.3.4 iSCSI
      5. 9.3.5 Fibre Channel
      6. 9.3.6 Fibre Channel ports
    4. 9.4 Security menu
      1. 9.4.1 Remote authentication
      2. 9.4.2 Encryption
      3. 9.4.3 Secure Communications
    5. 9.5 System menu
      1. 9.5.1 Date and Time option
      2. 9.5.2 Licensed functions
      3. 9.5.3 Update software
      4. 9.5.4 VVOL
      5. 9.5.5 Resources
      6. 9.5.6 IP Quorum
      7. 9.5.7 I/OGroups: Enable and disable NPIV
    6. 9.6 Support menu
      1. 9.6.1 Download support package
      2. 9.6.2 Download individual log files
      3. 9.6.3 Deleting log files
    7. 9.7 GUI Preferences
  14. Chapter 10. Service Assistant Tool
    1. 10.1 Accessing Service Assistant Tool
    2. 10.2 Log in to Service Assistant Tool
    3. 10.3 Home page
    4. 10.4 Collect Logs page
    5. 10.5 Manage System page
    6. 10.6 Recover System page
    7. 10.7 Re-install Software page
    8. 10.8 Update Manually page
    9. 10.9 Configure Node page
    10. 10.10 Change Service IP page
    11. 10.11 Configure CLI Access page
    12. 10.12 Restart Service page
  15. Chapter 11. IBM HyperSwap
    1. 11.1 Overview
      1. 11.1.1 HyperSwap Implementations
    2. 11.2 HyperSwap design
    3. 11.3 Comparison with Enhanced Stretched Cluster
      1. 11.3.1 Disaster recovery
      2. 11.3.2 Consistency Groups
      3. 11.3.3 HyperSwap restrictions for software version 7.7.1
    4. 11.4 Planning
    5. 11.5 Configuration
      1. 11.5.1 SAN Configuration
      2. 11.5.2 Defining the sites
      3. 11.5.3 Control enclosures
      4. 11.5.4 Configuring the IBM FlashSystem V9000 storage enclosures
      5. 11.5.5 Configuring the external storage controllers
      6. 11.5.6 Define quorum device
      7. 11.5.7 Configuring the hosts
      8. 11.5.8 Configuring the HyperSwap topology
      9. 11.5.9 Configuring synchronization rates
      10. 11.5.10 HyperSwap configuration using the GUI wizard
      11. 11.5.11 SAN environment for low latency
      12. 11.5.12 Creating HyperSwap volumes
      13. 11.5.13 Creating a HyperSwap volume from a basic volume
      14. 11.5.14 Mapping HyperSwap volumes to a host
    6. 11.6 Operations
      1. 11.6.1 Site failure
      2. 11.6.2 Converting a HyperSwap volume to a basic volume
      3. 11.6.3 Deleting HyperSwap volumes
      4. 11.6.4 FlashCopy with HyperSwap volumes
    7. 11.7 HyperSwap with SAS attached expansion enclosures
    8. 11.8 Disaster recovery with HyperSwap
      1. 11.8.1 Using the VDisk that the hosts are currently accessing
      2. 11.8.2 Going back to the up-to-date copy
    9. 11.9 Disaster recovery with consistency groups
    10. 11.10 The overridequorum command
    11. 11.11 HyperSwap Failure scenarios
    12. 11.12 Unconfiguring HyperSwap
      1. 11.12.1 Removing HyperSwap volumes completely
      2. 11.12.2 Converting to basic volumes, while retaining access through themaster VDisk
      3. 11.12.3 Converting to basic volumes, while retaining access through theauxiliary VDisk
      4. 11.12.4 Converting to system topology standard
    13. 11.13 Summary of interesting object states for HyperSwap
      1. 11.13.1 The lsvdisk command
      2. 11.13.2 The lsvdiskcopy command
      3. 11.13.3 The lsrcrelationship or lsrcconsistgrp commands
      4. 11.13.4 The lsfcmap command
    14. 11.14 Naming conventions
    15. 11.15 IBM FlashSystem V9000 HyperSwap CLI commands
      1. 11.15.1 Command comparison
      2. 11.15.2 Creating HyperSwap volumes with software V7.5
      3. 11.15.3 Creating a consistency group
      4. 11.15.4 Creating the VDisks
      5. 11.15.5 HyperSwap V7.5 setup
      6. 11.15.6 Converting to basic volumes, while retaining access through theauxiliary VDisk
  16. Chapter 12. Independent software vendors and use cases
    1. 12.1 Use cases and ISV overview and considerations
    2. 12.2 VMware
    3. 12.3 Cisco VersaStack
    4. 12.4 Database acceleration
      1. 12.4.1 Oracle
      2. 12.4.2 Microsoft SQL Server
      3. 12.4.3 DB2
      4. 12.4.4 Architecture for SAP landscapes featuring IBM FlashSystem
      5. 12.4.5 Epic
    5. 12.5 IBM Spectrum Scale
      1. 12.5.1 IBM Spectrum Scale benefits
      2. 12.5.2 IBM FlashSystem benefits
      3. 12.5.3 IBM FlashSystem as a cache device with IBM Spectrum Scale
      4. 12.5.4 IBM FlashSystem for metadata acceleration for IBM Spectrum Scale
      5. 12.5.5 IBM FlashSystem as a storage tier dynamically managed byIBM Spectrum Scale
      6. 12.5.6 Use cases: Scientific and medical high-performance computing
    6. 12.6 IBM Spectrum Control Storage Insights
      1. 12.6.1 Deployment
    7. 12.7 Data deduplication
      1. 12.7.1 Atlantis USX and Atlantis ILIO
      2. 12.7.2 Permabit
      3. 12.7.3 IBM ProtecTIER
    8. 12.8 VMware vCloud integration
      1. 12.8.1 IBM FlashSystem V9000 in a VMware vCloud environment
      2. 12.8.2 IBM Spectrum Control
      3. 12.8.3 vCloud Suite
      4. 12.8.4 Use case: Provisioning IBM FlashSystem V9000 volumes using VMware
      5. 12.8.5 Single-site HA: Volume mirroring to another storage system
      6. 12.8.6 Cross-site HA: Extended distance
    9. 12.9 OpenStack Cinder driver for IBM FlashSystem V9000
    10. 12.10 Running IBM FlashSystem V9000 in a Virtual Storage Center environment
      1. 12.10.1 Licensing
  17. Chapter 13. Hints and tips
    1. 13.1 Performance data and statistics gathering
      1. 13.1.1 IBM FlashSystem V9000 controller performance overview
      2. 13.1.2 Performance monitoring
    2. 13.2 Estimating compression savings
      1. 13.2.1 IBM Comprestimator: Built-in GUI version
      2. 13.2.2 IBM Comprestimator utility: Host installed version
    3. 13.3 Command-line hints
      1. 13.3.1 Running commands on the IBM FlashSystem V9000
      2. 13.3.2 Creating connections
      3. 13.3.3 IBM FlashSystem V9000 command-line scripting
      4. 13.3.4 Sample commands of mirrored VDisks
      5. 13.3.5 Recover lost superuser password
      6. 13.3.6 Internal Fibre Channel switch maintenance
      7. 13.3.7 Backup IBM FlashSystem V9000 configuration
      8. 13.3.8 Using the IBM FlashSystem V9000 Software Upgrade Test Utility
      9. 13.3.9 Secure erase of data
    4. 13.4 Call home process
      1. 13.4.1 Call home details
      2. 13.4.2 Email alert
      3. 13.4.3 Inventory
    5. 13.5 Service support
      1. 13.5.1 IBM Storage Technical Advisor
      2. 13.5.2 Enterprise Class Support
      3. 13.5.3 How an IBM FlashSystem V9000 is entitled for support
      4. 13.5.4 Providing logs to IBM ECuRep
      5. 13.5.5 Downloading from IBM Fix Central
  18. 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
  19. Related publications
    1. IBM Redbooks
    2. Other publications
    3. Online resources
    4. Help from IBM
  20. Back cover

Product information

  • Title: Introducing and Implementing IBM FlashSystem V9000
  • Author(s): Christophe Fagiano, Detlef Helmbrecht, Jon Herd, Jeffrey Irving, Jana Jamsek, Carsten Larsen, Renato Santos, James Thompson
  • Release date: December 2016
  • Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
  • ISBN: 9780738442358