Implementing IBM FlashSystem 900 Model AE3

Implementing IBM FlashSystem 900 Model AE3

by Jim Cioffi Detlef Helmbrecht Jon Herd, Jeffrey Irving, Christian Karpp, Volker Kiemes, Carsten Larsen, Adrian Orban
Released June 2018
Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
ISBN: 9780738442907

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Book description

Abstract

Today’s global organizations depend on being able to unlock business insights from massive volumes of data. Now, with IBM® FlashSystem 900 Model AE3, powered by IBM FlashCore® technology, they can make faster decisions based on real-time insights and unleash the power of the most demanding applications, including online transaction processing (OLTP) and analytics databases, virtual desktop infrastructures (VDIs), technical computing applications, and cloud environments.

This IBM Redbooks® publication introduces clients to the IBM FlashSystem® 900 Model AE3. It provides in-depth knowledge of the product architecture, software and hardware, implementation, and hints and tips. Also illustrated are use cases that show real-world solutions for tiering, flash-only, and preferred-read, and also examples of the benefits gained by integrating the FlashSystem storage into business environments.

This book is intended for pre-sales and post-sales technical support professionals and storage administrators, and for anyone who wants to understand how to implement this new and 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. Introduction to FlashSystem
    1. 1.1 FlashSystem storage overview
    2. 1.2 IBM FlashCore technology
      1. 1.2.1 IBM Piece of Mind Initiative
    3. 1.3 Why flash technology matters
    4. 1.4 IBM FlashSystem family product differentiation
    5. 1.5 Technology and architectural design overview
      1. 1.5.1 Hardware-only data path
      2. 1.5.2 3DTLC flash memory chips
      3. 1.5.3 Flash module capacities
      4. 1.5.4 Gateway interface FPGA
      5. 1.5.5 Flash controller FPGA
      6. 1.5.6 IBM Variable Stripe RAID and 2D Flash RAID overview
      7. 1.5.7 Inline hardware data compression
      8. 1.5.8 Encryption
    6. 1.6 Usability plus reliability, availability, and serviceability enhancements
      1. 1.6.1 Automatic battery reconditioning
      2. 1.6.2 Remote Support Assistance
      3. 1.6.3 Enhanced Thermal Management
      4. 1.6.4 A/C Power Line Monitoring
      5. 1.6.5 Enhanced Call Home Data
      6. 1.6.6 GUI enhancements
  5. Chapter 2. IBM FlashSystem 900 Model AE3 architecture
    1. 2.1 IBM FlashSystem 900 Model AE3 architecture overview
      1. 2.1.1 Capacity
      2. 2.1.2 Performance and capacity considerations
      3. 2.1.3 In-line Hardware Data Compression
      4. 2.1.4 Physical and effective capacity based on compression rates
      5. 2.1.5 Out Of Physical Space
      6. 2.1.6 Performance and latency
      7. 2.1.7 Power requirements
      8. 2.1.8 Physical specifications
      9. 2.1.9 FlashCore technology
      10. 2.1.10 Scalability
      11. 2.1.11 Protocol support
      12. 2.1.12 Encryption support
      13. 2.1.13 IBM FlashSystem Model 900 AE2 and Model 900 AE3 differences
      14. 2.1.14 Management
    2. 2.2 Architecture of IBM FlashSystem 900 Model AE3
      1. 2.2.1 Overview
      2. 2.2.2 Hardware components
      3. 2.2.3 Canisters
      4. 2.2.4 Interface cards
      5. 2.2.5 MicroLatency modules
      6. 2.2.6 Battery modules
      7. 2.2.7 Power supply units
      8. 2.2.8 Fan modules
    3. 2.3 Administration and maintenance
      1. 2.3.1 Serviceability and software enhancements
      2. 2.3.2 System management
    4. 2.4 Support matrix
    5. 2.5 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 DB2 database environments
      4. 2.5.4 IBM Spectrum Scale
      5. 2.5.5 VMware with IBM Spectrum control Base
  6. Chapter 3. Planning
    1. 3.1 Prerequisites to installation
      1. 3.1.1 Contact information and checklist
      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 Configuration planning
    5. 3.5 Call Home configuration
    6. 3.6 Remote Support Assistance
    7. 3.7 TCP/IP requirements
    8. 3.8 Planning for encryption
    9. 3.9 Planning for compression
    10. 3.10 Checking web browser settings for the management GUI
    11. 3.11 Licensing
    12. 3.12 Supported hosts and operating system considerations
  7. 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 QDR InfiniBand
      3. 4.2.3 FC cable type
      4. 4.2.4 Ethernet management cabling
      5. 4.2.5 Power requirements
      6. 4.2.6 Cooling requirements
      7. 4.2.7 Cable connector locations
    3. 4.3 Initializing the system
      1. 4.3.1 Using the InitTool
      2. 4.3.2 Initializing the system by using the web management interface
      3. 4.3.3 Service Assistant Tool
    4. 4.4 RAID storage 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
  8. Chapter 5. IBM FlashSystem 900 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 FC attachment rules
    3. 5.3 Operating system connectivity and preferred practices
      1. 5.3.1 FlashSystem 900 sector size
      2. 5.3.2 File alignment for the best RAID performance
      3. 5.3.3 IBM AIX and FlashSystem 900
      4. 5.3.4 IBM i and FlashSystem 900 AE3
      5. 5.3.5 FlashSystem 900 AE3 and Linux client hosts
      6. 5.3.6 FlashSystem 900 and Microsoft Windows client hosts
      7. 5.3.7 FlashSystem 900 and client VMware ESX hosts
      8. 5.3.8 FlashSystem 900 and IBM SAN Volume Controller or Storwize V7000
    4. 5.4 Miscellaneous host attachment
    5. 5.5 FlashSystem 900 preferred read and configuration examples
      1. 5.5.1 FlashSystem 900 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 900 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
  9. Chapter 6. Using IBM FlashSystem 900
    1. 6.1 IBM FlashSystem 900 AE3 management tools overview
      1. 6.1.1 GUI access
      2. 6.1.2 GUI layout
      3. 6.1.3 Navigation
      4. 6.1.4 Selecting multiple items
      5. 6.1.5 Performance indicators
    2. 6.2 Dashboard window
    3. 6.3 Monitoring menu
      1. 6.3.1 Monitoring System menu
      2. 6.3.2 Monitoring Network Neighborhood
      3. 6.3.3 Monitoring events
      4. 6.3.4 Monitoring performance menu
      5. 6.3.5 Monitoring performance with events
    4. 6.4 Volumes menu
      1. 6.4.1 Volumes by Host
    5. 6.5 Hosts menu
      1. 6.5.1 Navigating to the Hosts menu
      2. 6.5.2 Volumes by Host
    6. 6.6 Access menu
      1. 6.6.1 Browsing to the Access menu
      2. 6.6.2 User’s window
      3. 6.6.3 Accessing CLI by using PuTTY
      4. 6.6.4 User groups
      5. 6.6.5 Audit log menu
  10. Chapter 7. Configuring settings
    1. 7.1 Settings menu
      1. 7.1.1 Notifications menu
      2. 7.1.2 Network menu
      3. 7.1.3 Security menu
      4. 7.1.4 System menu
      5. 7.1.5 Support menu
      6. 7.1.6 GUI preferences
    2. 7.2 Service Assistant Tool
      1. 7.2.1 Accessing Service Assistant Tool
      2. 7.2.2 Logging in to Service Assistant Tool
  11. Chapter 8. Product integration
    1. 8.1 FlashSystem 900 with IBM 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
      5. 8.1.5 Reserving space to solve an out of space condition
    2. 8.2 SAN Volume Controller connectivity to FlashSystem 900
      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 designations
      4. 8.2.4 Verifying FlashSystem 900 connectivity in SAN Volume Controller
      5. 8.2.5 Import and export
    3. 8.3 Integration considerations: FlashSystem 900 and SAN Volume Controller
    4. 8.4 Integration considerations: FlashSystem 900 and IBM Storwize V7000
  12. Chapter 9. Use cases and solutions
    1. 9.1 Use cases introduction
    2. 9.2 Tiering
      1. 9.2.1 Easy Tier or block-level tiering
      2. 9.2.2 Information Lifecycle 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 Solution comparison
  13. Chapter 10. Hints and tips
    1. 10.1 Encryption hints
      1. 10.1.1 Enabling or disabling encryption
      2. 10.1.2 Encryption rekey
    2. 10.2 Setting up IBM Call Home
    3. 10.3 Setting up remote support
      1. 10.3.1 Using Remote Support direct
      2. 10.3.2 Locating the Remote Support Proxy Server
    4. 10.4 Encryption
      1. 10.4.1 SKLM servers not available
    5. 10.5 System check
      1. 10.5.1 Checking the FC connections
    6. 10.6 Host attachment hints
      1. 10.6.1 FC link speed
      2. 10.6.2 Host is in a degraded state
      3. 10.6.3 FlashSystem port status
      4. 10.6.4 AIX multipathing
      5. 10.6.5 Direct attach hints
      6. 10.6.6 Save the default configuration
      7. 10.6.7 Test scenarios
      8. 10.6.8 Supported system configurations
      9. 10.6.9 Secure erase of data
      10. 10.6.10 Performance data gathering basics
    7. 10.7 Troubleshooting
      1. 10.7.1 Troubleshooting prerequisites and information to record
      2. 10.7.2 User interfaces for servicing your system
      3. 10.7.3 Event reporting
      4. 10.7.4 Resolving a problem
    8. 10.8 IBM System Storage Interoperation Center
  14. Related publications
    1. IBM Redbooks
    2. Online resources
    3. Help from IBM
  15. Back cover

Product information

  • Title: Implementing IBM FlashSystem 900 Model AE3
  • Author(s): Jim Cioffi Detlef Helmbrecht Jon Herd, Jeffrey Irving, Christian Karpp, Volker Kiemes, Carsten Larsen, Adrian Orban
  • Release date: June 2018
  • Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
  • ISBN: 9780738442907