IBM XIV Storage System: Host Attachment and Interoperability

IBM XIV Storage System: Host Attachment and Interoperability

Released March 2013
Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
ISBN: 9780738437774

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Book description

This IBM® Redbooks® publication provides information for attaching the IBM XIV® Storage System to various host operating system platforms, including IBM i.

The book provides information and references for combining the XIV Storage System with other storage platforms, host servers, or gateways, including IBM N Series, and IBM ProtecTIER®. It is intended for administrators and architects of enterprise storage systems.

The book also addresses using the XIV storage with databases and other storage-oriented application software that include:

  • IBM DB2®

  • VMware ESX

  • Microsoft HyperV

  • SAP


The goal is to give an overview of the versatility and compatibility of the XIV Storage System with various platforms and environments.

The information that is presented here is not meant as a replacement or substitute for the Host Attachment kit publications. It is meant as a complement and to provide readers with usage guidance and practical illustrations.

Table of contents

  1. Front cover
  2. Notices
    1. Trademarks
  3. Preface
    1. The team who wrote this book
    2. Now you can become a published author, too!
    3. Comments welcome
    4. Stay connected to IBM Redbooks
  4. Summary of changes
    1. March 2013, Third Edition
  5. Chapter 1. Host connectivity
    1. 1.1 Overview
      1. 1.1.1 Module, patch panel, and host connectivity
      2. 1.1.2 Host operating system support
      3. 1.1.3 Downloading the entire XIV support matrix by using the SSIC
      4. 1.1.4 Host Attachment Kits
      5. 1.1.5 Fibre Channel versus iSCSI access
    2. 1.2 Fibre Channel connectivity
      1. 1.2.1 Preparation steps
      2. 1.2.2 Fibre Channel configurations
      3. 1.2.3 Zoning
      4. 1.2.4 Identification of FC ports (initiator/target)
      5. 1.2.5 Boot from SAN on x86/x64 based architecture
    3. 1.3 iSCSI connectivity
      1. 1.3.1 Preparation steps
      2. 1.3.2 iSCSI configurations
      3. 1.3.3 Network configuration
      4. 1.3.4 IBM XIV Storage System iSCSI setup
      5. 1.3.5 Identifying iSCSI ports
      6. 1.3.6 iSCSI and CHAP authentication
      7. 1.3.7 iSCSI boot from XIV LUN
    4. 1.4 Logical configuration for host connectivity
      1. 1.4.1 Host configuration preparation
      2. 1.4.2 Assigning LUNs to a host by using the GUI
      3. 1.4.3 Assigning LUNs to a host by using the XCLI
    5. 1.5 Troubleshooting
  6. Chapter 2. XIV and Windows host connectivity
    1. 2.1 Attaching a Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 host to XIV
      1. 2.1.1 Prerequisites
      2. 2.1.2 Windows host FC configuration
      3. 2.1.3 Windows host iSCSI configuration
      4. 2.1.4 Host Attachment Kit utilities
    2. 2.2 Attaching a Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 cluster to XIV
      1. 2.2.1 Prerequisites
      2. 2.2.2 Installing Cluster Services
      3. 2.2.3 Configuring the IBM Storage Enabler for Windows Failover Clustering
    3. 2.3 Attaching a Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 to XIV
    4. 2.4 Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 Storage Automation
      1. 2.4.1 The XIV Open API overview
      2. 2.4.2 System Center Virtual Machine Manager overview
  7. Chapter 3. XIV and Linux host connectivity
    1. 3.1 IBM XIV Storage System and Linux support overview
      1. 3.1.1 Issues that distinguish Linux from other operating systems
      2. 3.1.2 Reference material
      3. 3.1.3 Recent storage-related improvements to Linux
    2. 3.2 Basic host attachment
      1. 3.2.1 Platform-specific remarks
      2. 3.2.2 Configuring for Fibre Channel attachment
      3. 3.2.3 Determining the WWPN of the installed HBAs
      4. 3.2.4 Attaching XIV volumes to an Intel x86 host using the Host Attachment Kit
      5. 3.2.5 Checking attached volumes
      6. 3.2.6 Setting up Device Mapper Multipathing
      7. 3.2.7 Special considerations for XIV attachment
    3. 3.3 Non-disruptive SCSI reconfiguration
      1. 3.3.1 Adding and removing XIV volumes dynamically
      2. 3.3.2 Adding and removing XIV volumes in Linux on System z
      3. 3.3.3 Adding new XIV host ports to Linux on System z
      4. 3.3.4 Resizing XIV volumes dynamically
      5. 3.3.5 Using snapshots and remote replication targets
    4. 3.4 Troubleshooting and monitoring
      1. 3.4.1 Linux Host Attachment Kit utilities
      2. 3.4.2 Multipath diagnosis
      3. 3.4.3 Other ways to check SCSI devices
      4. 3.4.4 Performance monitoring with iostat
      5. 3.4.5 Generic SCSI tools
    5. 3.5 Boot Linux from XIV volumes
      1. 3.5.1 The Linux boot process
      2. 3.5.2 Configuring the QLogic BIOS to boot from an XIV volume
      3. 3.5.3 OS loader considerations for other platforms
      4. 3.5.4 Installing SLES11 SP1 on an XIV volume
  8. Chapter 4. XIV and AIX host connectivity
    1. 4.1 Attaching XIV to AIX hosts
      1. 4.1.1 Prerequisites
      2. 4.1.2 AIX host FC configuration
      3. 4.1.3 AIX host iSCSI configuration
      4. 4.1.4 Management volume LUN 0
      5. 4.1.5 Host Attachment Kit utilities
    2. 4.2 SAN boot in AIX
      1. 4.2.1 Creating a SAN boot disk by mirroring
      2. 4.2.2 Installation on external storage from bootable AIX CD-ROM
      3. 4.2.3 AIX SAN installation with NIM
  9. Chapter 5. XIV and HP-UX host connectivity
    1. 5.1 Attaching XIV to an HP-UX host
    2. 5.2 HP-UX multi-pathing solutions
    3. 5.3 Veritas Volume Manager on HP-UX
      1. 5.3.1 Array Support Library for an IBM XIV Storage System
    4. 5.4 HP-UX SAN boot
      1. 5.4.1 Installing HP-UX on external storage
      2. 5.4.2 Creating a SAN boot disk by mirroring
  10. Chapter 6. XIV and Solaris host connectivity
    1. 6.1 Attaching a Solaris host to XIV
    2. 6.2 Solaris host configuration for Fibre Channel
      1. 6.2.1 Obtaining WWPN for XIV volume mapping
      2. 6.2.2 Installing the Host Attachment Kit
      3. 6.2.3 Configuring the host
    3. 6.3 Solaris host configuration for iSCSI
    4. 6.4 Solaris Host Attachment Kit utilities
    5. 6.5 Creating partitions and file systems with UFS
  11. Chapter 7. XIV and Symantec Storage Foundation
    1. 7.1 Introduction
    2. 7.2 Prerequisites
      1. 7.2.1 Checking ASL availability and installation
      2. 7.2.2 Installing the XIV Host Attachment Kit
      3. 7.2.3 Configuring the host
    3. 7.3 Placing XIV LUNs under VxVM control
    4. 7.4 Configuring multipathing with DMP
    5. 7.5 Working with snapshots
  12. Chapter 8. IBM i and AIX clients connecting to XIV through VIOS
    1. 8.1 Introduction to IBM PowerVM
      1. 8.1.1 IBM PowerVM overview
      2. 8.1.2 Virtual I/O Server
      3. 8.1.3 Node Port ID Virtualization
    2. 8.2 Planning for VIOS and IBM i
      1. 8.2.1 Requirements
      2. 8.2.2 Supported SAN switches
      3. 8.2.3 Physical Fibre Channel adapters and virtual SCSI adapters
      4. 8.2.4 Queue depth in the IBM i operating system and Virtual I/O Server
      5. 8.2.5 Multipath with two Virtual I/O Servers
      6. 8.2.6 General guidelines
    3. 8.3 Connecting an PowerVM IBM i client to XIV
      1. 8.3.1 Creating the Virtual I/O Server and IBM i partitions
      2. 8.3.2 Installing the Virtual I/O Server
      3. 8.3.3 IBM i multipath capability with two Virtual I/O Servers
      4. 8.3.4 Virtual SCSI adapters in multipath with two Virtual I/O Servers
    4. 8.4 Mapping XIV volumes in the Virtual I/O Server
    5. 8.5 Matching XIV volume to IBM i disk unit
    6. 8.6 Performance considerations for IBM i with XIV
      1. 8.6.1 Testing environment
      2. 8.6.2 Testing workload
      3. 8.6.3 Test with 154-GB volumes on XIV generation 2
      4. 8.6.4 Test with 1-TB volumes on XIV generation 2
      5. 8.6.5 Test with 154-GB volumes on XIV Gen 3
      6. 8.6.6 Test with 1-TB volumes on XIV Gen 3
      7. 8.6.7 Test with doubled workload on XIV Gen 3
      8. 8.6.8 Testing conclusions
  13. Chapter 9. XIV Storage System and VMware connectivity
    1. 9.1 Integration concepts and implementation guidelines
      1. 9.1.1 vSphere storage architectural overview
      2. 9.1.2 XIV and VMware general connectivity guidelines
      3. 9.1.3 XIV and VMware guidelines for quality of service
    2. 9.2 VMware ESX 3.5 and XIV
      1. 9.2.1 Installing HBA drivers
      2. 9.2.2 Scanning for new LUNs
      3. 9.2.3 Assigning paths from an ESX 3.5 host to XIV
    3. 9.3 VMware Multi-Pathing architecture overview
    4. 9.4 VMware ESX and ESXi 4.x and XIV
      1. 9.4.1 Installing HBA drivers
      2. 9.4.2 Identifying ESX host port WWN
      3. 9.4.3 Scanning for new LUNs
      4. 9.4.4 Attaching an ESX/ESXi 4.x host to XIV
      5. 9.4.5 Configuring ESX/ESXi 4.x host for multipathing with XIV
      6. 9.4.6 Performance tuning tips for ESX/ESXi 4.x hosts with XIV
      7. 9.4.7 VMware vStorage API Array Integration (VAAI)
    5. 9.5 VMware ESXi 5.0/5.1 and XIV
      1. 9.5.1 ESXi 5.0/5.1 Fibre Channel configuration
      2. 9.5.2 Performance tuning tips for ESXi 5 hosts with XIV
      3. 9.5.3 Creating datastore that are larger than 2 TiB in size
    6. 9.6 VMware vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI)
      1. 9.6.1 Software prerequisites to use VAAI
      2. 9.6.2 Installing the IBM VAAI device driver on an ESXi 4.1 server
  14. Chapter 10. XIV and Citrix XenServer connectivity
    1. 10.1 Introduction
    2. 10.2 Attaching a XenServer host to XIV
      1. 10.2.1 Prerequisites
      2. 10.2.2 Multi-path support and configuration
      3. 10.2.3 Attachment tasks
  15. Chapter 11. XIV and N series Gateway connectivity
    1. 11.1 Overview of N series Gateway
    2. 11.2 Attaching N series Gateway to XIV
      1. 11.2.1 Supported versions
      2. 11.2.2 Other considerations
    3. 11.3 Cabling
      1. 11.3.1 Cabling example for single N series Gateway with XIV
      2. 11.3.2 Cabling example for N series Gateway cluster with XIV
    4. 11.4 Zoning
      1. 11.4.1 Zoning example for single N series Gateway attachment to XIV
      2. 11.4.2 Zoning example for clustered N series Gateway attachment to XIV
    5. 11.5 Configuring the XIV for N series Gateway
      1. 11.5.1 Creating a Storage Pool in XIV
      2. 11.5.2 Creating the root volume in XIV
      3. 11.5.3 Creating the N series Gateway host in XIV
      4. 11.5.4 Adding the WWPN to the host in XIV
      5. 11.5.5 Mapping the root volume to the N series host in XIV GUI
    6. 11.6 Installing Data ONTAP
      1. 11.6.1 Assigning the root volume to N series Gateway
      2. 11.6.2 Installing Data ONTAP
      3. 11.6.3 Updating Data ONTAP
      4. 11.6.4 Adding data LUNs to N series Gateway
  16. Chapter 12. ProtecTIER Deduplication Gateway connectivity
    1. 12.1 Overview
    2. 12.2 Preparing an XIV for ProtecTIER Deduplication Gateway
      1. 12.2.1 Supported versions and prerequisites
      2. 12.2.2 Fibre Channel switch cabling
      3. 12.2.3 Zoning configuration
      4. 12.2.4 Configuring XIV Storage System for ProtecTIER Deduplication Gateway
    3. 12.3 IBM SSR installs the ProtecTIER software
  17. Chapter 13. XIV in database and SAP application environments
    1. 13.1 XIV volume layout for database applications
      1. 13.1.1 Common guidelines
      2. 13.1.2 Oracle database
      3. 13.1.3 Oracle ASM
      4. 13.1.4 IBM DB2
      5. 13.1.5 DB2 parallelism options for Linux, UNIX, and Windows
      6. 13.1.6 Microsoft SQL Server
    2. 13.2 Guidelines for SAP
      1. 13.2.1 Number of volumes
      2. 13.2.2 Separation of database logs and data files
      3. 13.2.3 Storage pools
    3. 13.3 Database Snapshot backup considerations
      1. 13.3.1 Snapshot backup processing for Oracle and DB2 databases
      2. 13.3.2 Snapshot restore
  18. Related publications
    1. IBM Redbooks
    2. Other publications
    3. Online resources
    4. How to get Redbooks
    5. Help from IBM
  19. Back cover

Product information

  • Title: IBM XIV Storage System: Host Attachment and Interoperability
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: March 2013
  • Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
  • ISBN: 9780738437774