Hitachi Command Suite 8 User Guide

							5
Provisioning storage
This module describes provisioning storage.
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Creating a storage operating environment
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Allocating storage
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Creating and deleting parity groups
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Creating and deleting volumes
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Virtualizing external storage
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Virtualizing storage capacity (HDP/HDT)
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Virtualizing storage tiers (HDT)
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Allocating and unallocating volumes
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Configuring Fibre Channel ports
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Managing LUN paths
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Managing Hitachi NAS Platform file systems and shares
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Managing Hitachi NAS Platform F and Hitachi Data Ingestor file systems
and shares
Provisioning storage131Hitachi Command Suite User Guide 
						

							Creating a storage operating environmentTo be able to use volumes of a storage system from hosts or file servers,
configure the operating environment beforehand. The workflow for
configuring the environment differs depending on the scale and operation
method of the storage systems.
For example, you can create parity groups for supported mid-range storage,
then create and allocate volumes. When the volumes are allocated, file
systems can be created and mounted. For enterprise storage, the parity groups will already exist as a result of installation. You can allocate volumes for registered hosts and file servers.
In some environments, you can virtualize storage devices so that multiple,
different storage systems can be used as a single storage system.
If your storage system supports DP pools, you can create DP pools such that
virtual volumes can be allocated to hosts. By virtualizing storage devices and
storage capacity, you can decrease both management and operational costs
by more effectively using physical resources.
The following figure shows an example flow for building an environment for
performing operations with virtualized storage devices or volumes, when
using storage systems such as the VSP G1000, VSP, and HUS VM.
Related concepts
•
About creating parity groups  on page 134
•
About creating volumes  on page 139
•
About virtualizing and unvirtualizing volumes  on page 149
•
About virtualizing storage capacity  on page 160
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About virtualizing storage tiers  on page 175
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Allocating storage  on page 133
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							Allocating storageVolumes are allocated to hosts for applications needing storage.
A variety of methods for allocating volumes is available. For example, you
can select one or more hosts, then identify and allocate existing volumes. You
can also select one or more volumes, then identify the host that needs the
volumes. You can also establish I/O paths between hosts and volumes when
you allocate volumes.
To prepare for loss of data caused by disk failure, disasters, or other issues, you can manage the redundancy of important operational data by creating areplication environment for volumes within a storage system or betweenstorage systems, as necessary.
Note:  Replication services apply to host and file server volumes, but not file
server file systems.
Related concepts
•
About allocating volumes  on page 188
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About managing Hitachi NAS Platform file systems and shares  on page
231
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About managing Hitachi NAS Platform F and Hitachi Data Ingestor file
systems and shares  on page 254
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About replicating volumes (pair management)  on page 307
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Creating a storage operating environment  on page 132
Provisioning storage133Hitachi Command Suite User Guide 
						

							Creating and deleting parity groupsThis module describes how to create and delete parity groups on HitachiUnified Storage (HUS) 100 and Adaptable Modular Storage (AMS) 2000
family of storage systems.
About creating parity groups Creating parity groups is necessary for specific mid-range storage
requirements. Hitachi Command Suite supports parity group management only for Hitachi Unified Storage (HUS) 100 and Adaptable Modular Storage
(AMS) 2000 family of storage systems.
You must first create parity groups before you can create and then allocate
the basic volumes of a storage system to a host. A parity group is created from multiple drives. For example, users create parity groups in the followingcases:
• When introducing a new storage system (in the HUS 100 or AMS 2000 family of storage systems) with installed drives.
• When allocating volumes to a host or creating a volume and the displayed list of parity groups indicates that there is not enough capacity, and drivesare added.
• When creating a parity group for use in a Hitachi NAS platform storage pool.
The following graphic illustrates the relationship between parity groups, volumes, and drives:
Related concepts
•
About deleting parity groups  on page 137
•
Creating a storage operating environment  on page 132
Related tasks
•
Creating parity groups  on page 135
134Provisioning storageHitachi Command Suite User Guide 
						

							Related references
•
Create parity groups dialog box  on page 136
•
Conditions for parity groups that are used in storage pools  on page 236
Creating parity groups You can create parity groups for Hitachi Unified Storage (HUS) 100 and
Adaptable Modular Storage (AMS) 2000 family of storage systems. Hitachi Command Suite supports parity group management only for HUS 100 andAMS 2000 family of storage systems.
Prerequisites
• Register the target storage system • Identify the target storage system name• Identify the required number of parity groups, and related capacities
• Identify desired RAID levels, drive types and speeds (RPM)
Procedure 1. On the  Resources  tab, choose one of the following options to create
parity groups:
• From  General Tasks , select Create Parity Groups .
• Select a supported storage system and from the  Actions menu,
choose  Create Parity Groups .
• Select a supported storage system, list existing parity groups, and click  Create Parity Groups .
• Right-click on a supported storage system and choose  Create Parity
Groups .
2. In the  Create Parity Groups  dialog box, select a storage system, drive
types, RAID level, and parity group options.
3. Click  Show Plan  and confirm that the information in the plan summary
is correct. If changes are required, click  Back.
4. (Optional) Update the task name and provide a description.
5. (Optional) Expand  Schedule to specify the task schedule.
You can schedule the task to run immediately or later. The default setting is  Now . If the task is scheduled to run immediately, you can select  View
task status  to monitor the task after it is submitted.
6. Click  Submit.
If the task is scheduled to run immediately, the process begins.
7. (Optional) Check the progress and result of the task on the  Tasks &
Alerts  tab. Click the task name to view details of the task.
Result
Created parity groups are added to the target storage system parity group
list.
Provisioning storage135Hitachi Command Suite User Guide 
						

							Related concepts
•
About creating parity groups  on page 134
•
About deleting parity groups  on page 137
Related references
•
Create parity groups dialog box  on page 136
Create parity groups dialog box Creating parity groups is necessary for storage systems such as HitachiUnified Storage (HUS) 100 and Adaptable Modular Storage (AMS) 2000
family of storage systems that have been configured with additional physical disk capacity, but still require parity group RAID configuration before creating and allocating volumes.
When you enter the minimum required information in this dialog box, the Show Plan button activates to allow you to review the plan. Click the Back
button to modify the plan to meet your requirements.
The following table describes the dialog box fields, subfields, and field
groups. A  field group  is a collection of fields that are related to a specific
action or configuration. You can minimize and expand field groups by clicking
the double-arrow symbol (>>).
As you enter information in a dialog box, if the information is incorrect, errors
that include a description of the problem appear at the top of the box.
Table 5-1  Create parity groups dialog box
FieldSubfieldDescriptionStorage System-This field will either display the selected storage system
name, or prompt the user to select the storage system from
a list.Available Drive
Types-Available drives are displayed, including drive type, drive
speed, form factor, the number of available drives (which
influences configurable RAID levels for a given set of
drives), and total capacity.RAID LevelRAIDValid RAID levels are displayed for the selected drive type
and count. For example, RAID 0, 1, 1+0, 5 and 6 are valid
RAID configurations when 6 drives are available (for example, HUS 100). With 2 drives, only RAID 0 and 1 would
be valid. These changes are reflected in the dialog box
based on the selected storage system (and supported RAID
levels), and selected drive type and count.DriveAdditionally, valid drive combinations are displayed for a
given RAID level. For example, with 6 available drives, RAID
5 can be configured as 2D+1P, 3D+1P, 4D+1P, or 5D+1P
(for example, HUS 100). Using 2D+1P an administrator
could create two parity groups instead of one, and use them
for different requirements, or the administrator could create a single large 5D+1P parity group using all available drives.136Provisioning storageHitachi Command Suite User Guide 
						

							FieldSubfieldDescriptionParity Group
capacity-This displays the usable capacity of the selected RAID level
and drive configuration, and the size of the physical drives.No. of Parity
Groups-Specify the number of parity groups to create. The maximum is determined by the selected RAID configuration
and the total number of available drives.>> Advanced
OptionsParity Group
Number:
Auto
ManualAuto parity group number assignments are made by the
system, and start at 1 by default.
Manual parity group number assignments are made by the
administrator.Drive Selection:
Automatic
ManualAutomatic drive selection means the drives needed for the
parity group will be chosen by the system.
Manual drive selection allows the administrator to determine
which physical drives will be used for a parity group. For
example, for a RAID 5, 2D+1P parity group, the system will typically select the first three (3) drives seen. Clicking
Select Drives allows the administrator to list all drives, and select the desired drives for the parity group.Selected DrivesThis panel displays the automatically or manually selected
drives for parity group creation, as discussed above. The
display includes drive number, tray number, HDU number,
drive model and related firmware.
Related concepts
•
About creating parity groups  on page 134
Related tasks
•
Creating parity groups  on page 135
About deleting parity groups Deleting parity groups is one of the parity group management tasks you canperform. Hitachi Command Suite supports parity group management only for
Hitachi Unified Storage (HUS) 100 and Adaptable Modular Storage (AMS)
2000 family of storage systems.
Free drives are necessary to create and use DP pools in HUS 100 and AMS
2000 family of storage systems. If there are not enough free drives when
creating a DP pool, users can delete unnecessary parity groups to increase
the number of free drives.
Caution:  When a parity group is deleted, the data in the parity group
volumes is deleted.
Related tasks
•
Deleting parity groups  on page 138
Provisioning storage137Hitachi Command Suite User Guide 
						

							Deleting parity groupsYou can delete parity groups only from Hitachi Unified Storage (HUS) 100 andAdaptable Modular Storage (AMS) 2000 family of storage systems.Note:  When you remove an encrypted parity group in HUS 150 systems, this
cancels the encryption for all drives that make up the target parity group,
and releases the encryption on all volumes in the parity group.
Prerequisites
• Identify the target storage system that is associated with the parity groups you want to delete.
• Identify the target parity groups to delete. • Unallocate all volumes in the target parity groups.
Procedure 1. On the  Resources  tab, select  Storage Systems .
2. Expand the tree, select the target storage system, and select  Parity
Groups .
3. From the list of parity groups, select one or more target parity groups to
delete, and click  Delete Parity Groups .
Note: 
The Delete Parity Groups  button is supported only on the HUS
100 and AMS 2000 family of storage systems.
4. In the  Delete Parity Groups  dialog box, confirm that the information
displayed is correct.
Optionally, update the task name and provide a description.
5. Expand  Schedule  to specify the task schedule.
The task can be run immediately or scheduled for later. The default
setting is  Now.
6. Click  Submit .
If you selected  Now, the delete parity groups process begins.
7. You can check the progress and the result of the delete parity groups
task on the  Tasks & Alerts  tab.
Verify the results for each task by viewing the details of the task.
Result
The deleted parity group no longer appears in the parity groups list for the target storage system.
Related concepts
•
About deleting parity groups  on page 137
138Provisioning storageHitachi Command Suite User Guide 
						

							Creating and deleting volumesThis module describes how to create volumes and delete unallocated
volumes.
About creating volumes You create volumes, then allocate them to a host.
You create volumes by using the available space in a DP pool or parity group. You can then access the volumes when you are ready to allocate them to a
host. If, while allocating volumes to a host, no volumes match the specified
requirements, volumes are automatically created using the available space.
Note that when a basic volume is created, the volume is also formatted at
the same time.
Newly created volumes are included in the list of Open-Unallocated volumes until you allocate them to a host.
Because creating volumes takes time, you should create volumes in advance.
Tip:  For Virtual Storage Platform G1000 storage systems, you can block
volumes separated from parity groups, recover parity groups from errors,
and format volumes by using the windows available by clicking the System GUI link. To access the System GUI link, on the Resources tab, right-click
Parity Groups for the target storage system, and then select System GUI
from the menu. Or, click Parity Groups for the target storage system, and
then click the System GUI link that appears in the application pane.
Additionally, you can format, block, and restore volumes, configure command
devices, edit command devices, assign MP blades, and force delete copy pairs (TC, UR, and GAD) by using the windows available by clicking the SystemGUI link. To access these windows, on the Resources tab, right-click Volumesfor the target storage system, and then select System GUI from the menu.
For information about how to perform tasks that are available by clicking
System GUI, see the Help for the appropriate window, or see the  Hitachi
Virtual Storage Platform G1000 Provisioning Guide for Open Systems .
When you are linking with Hitachi NAS Platform v11.3 or later and volumes
are created for creating or expanding storage pools, it is recommended that
you create volumes using the Create Storage Pool or Expand Storage Pool dialog boxes. Device Manager can automatically specify the number ofvolumes and capacity, and create volumes following the best practices for
configuring storage pools.
Related concepts •
About deleting unallocated volumes  on page 145
Provisioning storage139Hitachi Command Suite User Guide 
						

							•Creating a storage operating environment on page 132
Related tasks
•
Creating volumes  on page 140
Related references •
Notes on performing quick formats  on page 140
•
Create Volumes dialog box  on page 141
Notes on performing quick formats A quick format might impose a heavy workload on some components andlower I/O performance of all hosts running in the target storage system.
We recommend running a quick format when system activity is low and major system operations are not running.
We also recommend running a quick format on a maximum of eight volumes at first, and then confirming that the quick format has not lowered host I/Operformance. After that, when you perform a quick format on other volumes,
we recommend increasing the number of volumes to be formatted in
increments of four.
In particular, if the storage system components are configured as follows, the
host I/O performance is likely to be lowered when a quick format is performed:
• Components such as cache memory, CHAs (channel adapters), and DKAs (disk adapters) are in the minimum configuration.
• The number of installed components is extremely different among DKCs (controller chassis) or modules within a single storage system.
In these configurations, run a quick format on only one volume at first,
review the host I/O performance, and then continue to run a quick format on other volumes one by one.
Related concepts
•
About creating volumes  on page 139
Related tasks •
Creating volumes  on page 140
•
Creating HNAS F or HDI file systems (HFSM v3.2 or later)  on page 257
Related references
•
Create Volumes dialog box  on page 141
•
Allocate Volumes dialog box  on page 200
Creating volumes For registered storage systems, volumes are created so they can be allocatedto hosts.
140Provisioning storageHitachi Command Suite User Guide