Purpose

This guide provides instructions for configuring IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller Software to work with Infinidat InfiniBox.

Supported InfiniBox Models

InfiniBox F-series models are supported for use with the IBM SVC.

Supported Firmware Levels

For latest details on supported versions, please consult:

• http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/support/storage/ssic/interoperability.wss 
• http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ssg1S1003658

Related Documentation

Review the information contained within this guide in conjunction with the available documentation:

• SVC Information Center
• Redbooks documentation. 

Additional SVC Documentation

• IBM System Storage Interoperation Center (SSIC) 
• Support Information for SAN Volume Controller 
• V7.4.x Supported Hardware List, Device Driver, Firmware and Recommended Software 
• Levels for SAN Volume Controller 

Visit the INFINIDAT web page to learn the newest information about InfiniBox versions, features and best practices.

InfiniBox Storage Overview

Infinidat features high-end, hyperscale storage with highly-dense capacity, high performance, and infinite use cases. Infinidat offers you an environment-friendly system with low power consumption, low CapEx & OpEx and unmatched TCO.
With more than 90 patent applications (many of which are approved), Infinidat is a global leader in the areas of data protection, performance, automation, energy savings, ease of management, and scaling.
InfiniBox has been designed in order to comply with the following requirements:

• Cost - Low CapEx and OpEx.
• Reliability - Multiple data protection layers.
• Performance – Load is balanced across all hardware components to achieve optimal utilization.
• Redundancy - Three nodes in Active-Active-Active configuration, each node has constant access to all of the drives.
• Availability:
  • No single point of failure
  • Protection against double disk failure 
  • Fast rebuild in case of drive failure

Technical Information and Best Practices

InfiniBox offers several ways of management, all available from a web browser.

Configuring InfiniBox to Work with SVC

There are several steps that must be performed to set up InfiniBox with SVC

1. Setup zoning between the InfiniBox and SVC
2. Create SVC as a host on InfiniBox
3. Create SVC as a cluster on InfiniBox
4. Create a pool (optional)
5. Creating volumes for SVC to use as mdisks
6. Mapping the volumes to the SVC host/cluster

General:

Settings are default unless specified.

The instructions apply to the InfiniBox GUI.

1 - Zoning:

1. Zone SVC to the InfiniBox system, and verify that the SVC can see all the expected InfiniBox ports as controllers (svcinfo detectmdisk, svcinfo lscontroller).
2. When zoning is set, SVC detects the InfiniBox storage array automatically.

2 -  Defining SVC Nodes on InfiniBox

All the SVC nodes have to be defined on the InfiniBox system.

1. Select Hosts from left hand side of the main GUI.
   The Hosts screen opens.

2. Click Create. The Host Create dialog screen opens.

   Leave the Host option selected.
   Name the host and manually provide a WWPN. Click Add More Ports to set additional FC ports to the SVC host.

   Note: SVC ports are generally of the form: 5005076801ppxxxx
where pp is port 10,20,30,40… and xxxx is a nodespecific identifier.

3. Repeat the above steps and define all the SVC nodes as hosts on the InfiniBox system

3 -  Defining SVC Cluster on InfiniBox

All SVC nodes that belong to same SVC cluster have to be grouped as a cluster on the InfiniBox system. This is not mandatory but it prevents LUN mapping mismatches. 

To create a cluster:

1. Select Hosts from left hand side of the main GUI.
   The Hosts screen opens.

2. Click Create. The Host Create dialog screen opens.
   Select the Cluster option-button.
   Name the cluster.
   Click Create.
   The created cluster is displayed on screen.

3. Add all the SVC nodes to the cluster by clicking the Add Host button and choosing all the SVC nodes from the list.

4 - Creating a Pool 

Define a storage pool for the SVC volumes.
NB. If there is already a pool defined on the system which can be used for SVC you can skip this step.

1. Select Pools from the left hand side of the main GUI.
   The Pools screen opens.
2. Click Create. The Pool Create dialog screen opens.
   

   The screen provides an indication of how much free space there is on InfiniBox.
   Enter the pool’s details: pool name, physical and virtual capacity.
   Click the link icon to allow over provisioning for this pool.
   Optionally, click Advanced to set the emergency buffer, thresholds and pool admins.
   Click Create.
   The pool is created and can be viewed from the Pools screen.

   Note: If over-allocating the storage capacity, care should be taken to monitor the systems remaining capacity to avoid taking related SVC mdiskgroups offline. 
   
   

5 - Creating a Volume (or Volumes) for SVC to Use

Creating a Volume for SVC

1. Select Volumes from the left hand side of the main GUI.
   The Volumes screen opens.
2. Click Create. The Volume Create dialog screen opens.
   Set the volume's name, size and whether it is thin provisioned.
   Select a pool from the Pool drop-down list. Consult the physical and virtual capacity indicators.
   Optionally, click Advanced.
   Optionally, enhance volume performance by using SSD cache – by checking Enable SSD , the volume will be able to use SSD cache (only available on systems that has SSD drives). 
   Optionally create multiple volumes - by adding a numerical value for Series field. That number of volumes will be created.
   Click Create.
   The volume is created and can be viewed from the Volumes screen. 

6 - Mapping the Volumes to SVC

1. Select Hosts from left hand side of the main GUI. 
   The Hosts screen opens.
2. Click the SVC cluster to open its page.
3. Click Map Volume. The volumes that are available for mapping are displayed on screen.

4. Select volumes and click Map.
   Optionally: manually assign LUN IDs.
   Note: LUNs are exported through all the zoned InfiniBox ports

5. Go to SVC and verify that all volumes are displayed as expected and no errors corrected (svctask detectmdisk, svcinfo lsdiscoverystatus)

Example:

InfiniBox Best Practices with SVC

Due to the nature of InfiniBox there are very few best practices that need to be followed.

• If managing multiple InfiniBox arrays beneath a single SVC cluster consider using an SVC Extent Size larger than the default (1GB), as this limits the managed storage capacity to 4PB. An Extent Size of 2GB increases this to 8PB, equivalent to four InfiniBox arrays utilizing 6TB drives or eight arrays utilizing 3TB drives.
• Because InfiniBox virtualizes and protects internally the usual approach of one RAID = one LUN does not apply. To calculate the number and size of the volumes that should be mapped to SVC use following formula:
  M= ((P x C) / N) / Q where:
  • M is the number of volumes that should be created. 
  • P is the number of InfiniBox node ports that are zoned to SVC. 
  • C is the maximum queue depth SVC uses for each InfiniBox port (this depth is set internally in the SVC code to 1000).
  • N is the number of nodes in the SVC cluster.
  • Q is the maximum queue depth for each MDisk (this depth is set internally in SVC code to 60). 

For example, for a two-node SVC cluster and an InfiniBox system with 12 host ports that are zoned to SVC has the following calculation:

M = ((12 x 1000) / 2 / 60 = 100

Therefore create 100 volumes on the InfiniBox array, the size of which being determined by the array size, e.g. 13.8TB for an array using 4TB drives.

Example – Identify InfiniBox System and LUNs from SVC

See the InfiniBox target ports from SVC:

See LUNs provisioned from InfiniBox to the SVC: