Raid Virtual Architecture (RVA)

Today we will discuss one of the Vmax feature. Its called RAID Virtual Architecture
(RVA).Before going to RVA, first lets have a look into mirror positions available for a device in
symmetrix series products.
Mirror position indicates the number of protection (data protection )available for a device. In
symmetrix for all devices, we have 4 mirror position available.
This mirror position details can be checked from symdev show command
emcsaninfo@root# symdev -sid 1234 show 333
Device Physical Name

: Not Visible

Device Symmetrix Name

Device Serial ID
Symmetrix ID

: 0333
: N/A
: 00019012345

Attached BCV Device

: N/A

Attached VDEV TGT Device : N/A

Vendor ID
:
Product ID
:
Product Revision
:
Device WWN
:
Device Emulation Type
:
Device Defined Label Type:
Device Defined Label
:
Device Sub System Id
:
Cache Partition Name
:
Device Block Size
Device Capacity
{
Cylinders
Tracks
512-byte Blocks
MegaBytes
KiloBytes
}

EMC
SYMMETRIX
5771
60060234000019010038853303033333
FBA
N/A
N/A
0x0003
N/A

: 512

:
:
:
:
:

37136
557040
71301120
34815
35650560

Device External Identity

{
Device WWN
: 60060480000190100388533030333333
Front Director Paths (4):
{
----------------------------------DIRECTOR
PORT
LUN

---------- ---- -------- --------Type Num

Sts VBUS TID SYMM Host
----------------------------------FA
08B:1 RW
000 00 023 N/A
FA
09B:1 RW
000 00 023 N/A
FA
08D:0 RW
000 00 010 N/A
FA
09D:0 RW
000 00 010 N/A
}
Geometry
{
Sectors/Track
Tracks/Cylinder
Cylinders
512-byte Blocks
MegaBytes
KiloBytes
}
}
Device Configuration

: Native
:
:
:
:
:
:

128
15
37136
71301120
34815
35650560

: RAID-5

(Meta Head,
Non-Exclusive Access)

Device is WORM Enabled

: No
Device is WORM Protected : No
SCSI-3 Persistent Reserve: Disabled
Dynamic Spare Invoked

: No

Dynamic RDF Capability

: None

STAR Mode
: No
STAR Recovery Capability : None
STAR Recovery State
: NA
Device Service State

: Normal

Device Status
Device SA Status
Device User Pinned
Host Access Mode

:
:
:
:

Extent Based Clone

: N/A

Ready
Ready
False
Active

(RW)
(RW)

Front Director Paths (4):

{
---------------------------------------------------------------------POWERPATH DIRECTOR
PORT
LUN
--------- ---------- ---- -------- --------PdevName
Type
Type Num
Sts VBUS TID SYMM Host
---------------------------------------------------------------------Not Visible
N/A
FA
08B:1 RW
000 00 023 N/A
Not Visible
N/A
FA
09B:1 RW
000 00 023 N/A
Not Visible
N/A
FA
08D:0 RW
000 00 010 N/A
Not Visible
N/A
FA
09D:0 RW
000 00 010 N/A
}

Meta Configuration
: Striped
Meta Stripe Size
: 960k
(1 Cylinders)
Meta Device Members (4) :
{
---------------------------------------------------------------------BCV DATA
RDF DATA
---------------------------- -------------------------Sym
Cap
Std Inv BCV Inv Pair
R1 Inv R2 Inv Pair
Dev
(MB)
Tracks Tracks State
Tracks Tracks State
-----------------------------------------------------------------------> 0333
8704
- N/A
- N/A
0334
8704
- N/A
- N/A
0335
8704
- N/A
- N/A
0336
8704
- N/A
- N/A
---------------------------------------------------------------------34815
}
Mirror Set Type

: [RAID-5,RAID-5,N/A,N/A]

Mirror Set DA Status

: [RW,RW,N/A,N/A]

Mirror Set Inv. Tracks

: [0,0,0,0]

Back End Disk Director Information

{
Hyper Type
Hyper Status
Disk [Director, Interface, TID]
Disk Director Volume Number
Hyper Number
Mirror Number
Disk Group Number
Disk Group Name
Hyper Type
Hyper Status
Disk [Director, Interface, TID]
Disk Director Volume Number
Hyper Number
Mirror Number
Disk Group Number
Disk Group Name
}

:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:

RAID-5
Ready
[N/A,N/A,N/A]
N/A
N/A
1
0
DISK_GROUP_000

:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:

RAID-5
Ready
[N/A,N/A,N/A]
N/A
N/A
2
0
DISK_GROUP_000

RAID-5 Device Information

{
Number of Tracks in a Stripe
Overall Ready State of RAID-5 Device
Overall WriteProtect State of RAID-5 Device
Member Number of the Failing Device
Member Number that Invoked the Spare
Disk Director (DA) that Owns the Spare
Copy Direction
RAID-5 Hyper Devices (3+1):
{

:
:
:
:
:
:
:

(RW)

(RW)

4
ReadyNoOtherMirror
EnabledNoOtherMirror
None
None
None
N/A

Device : 0333 (M)

{
-------------------------------------------------------------Disk
DA
Hyper
Member
Spare
Disk
DA :IT
Vol#
Num Cap(MB) Num Status Status Grp# Cap(MB)
-------------------------------------------------------------01A:C4
73
1
2905
1 RW
N/A
0
140014
15A:C4
73
1
2905
3 RW
N/A
0
140014
02D:C4
73
1
2905
2 RW
N/A
0
140014
16D:C4
73
1
2905
4 RW
N/A
0
140014
}
Device : 0334 (m)
{
-------------------------------------------------------------Disk
DA
Hyper
Member
Spare
Disk
DA :IT
Vol#
Num Cap(MB) Num Status Status Grp# Cap(MB)
-------------------------------------------------------------01B:D4
544
1
2905
4 RW
N/A
0
140014
15B:D4
541
1
2905
2 RW
N/A
0
140014
02C:D4
544
1
2905
1 RW
N/A
0
140014
16C:D4
621
1
2905
3 RW
N/A
0
140014
}
Device : 0335 (m)
{
-------------------------------------------------------------Disk
DA
Hyper
Member
Spare
Disk
DA :IT
Vol#
Num Cap(MB) Num Status Status Grp# Cap(MB)
-------------------------------------------------------------02A:D4
599
1
2905
1 RW
N/A
0
140014
16A:D4
596
1
2905
3 RW
N/A
0
140014
01D:D4
600
1
2905
4 RW
N/A
0
140014
15D:D4
650
1
2905
2 RW
N/A
0
140014
}
Device : 0336 (m)
{
-------------------------------------------------------------Disk
DA
Hyper
Member
Spare
Disk
DA :IT
Vol#
Num Cap(MB) Num Status Status Grp# Cap(MB)
-------------------------------------------------------------02B:C4
71
1
2905
2 RW
N/A
0
140014
16B:C4
71
1
2905
4 RW
N/A
0
140014
01C:C4
71
1
2905
1 RW
N/A
0
140014
15C:C4
71
1
2905
3 RW
N/A
0
140014
}
}

In 5773 and below code levels, all RAID groups(except RAID 6) takes 2 mirror positions.For a
RAID 5 device it occupies two mirror positions and will have 2 free mirror positions. If we add a
SRDF protection to this same device it will occupy one more mirror positions. The remaining
one mirror position will be occupied by TimeFinder/Mirror or hot sparing which ever is used.If
we are configuring a concurrent RAID 5 SRDF device, it will occupy all four available mirror
positions.In such scenarios, if drives fails, device cant be protected by a hotspare due to lack of
mirror positions.

When EMC introduced RAID 6 devices, they have used an architecture which will occupy only
one mirror position for RAID 6 devices. EMC utilized this future in their next model, Vmax, to
represent the mirror position of all device types. This new RAID architecture representation is
called RAID Virtual Architecture (RVA). RVA is available from Vmax starting enginuity 5784.In
RVA, a mirror position holds a logical representation of a RAID group rather than a device
resulting in additional free mirror positions.
Now lets check our previous example. In RVA a RAID 5 devices no longer takes two mirror
position, it will occupy only one. Lets take a look at how this new architecture will change our
concurrent SRDF example. Again, the two data devices are replaced by the RAID group
representation with each SRDF device occupying additional mirror positions. This frees up 1
mirror position giving more flexibility to the customer.This free mirror positions can be utilized
for hotsparing.
Virtualizing the RAID Architecture is an enabling technology for Enginuity 5874 to implement
other features, such as Enhanced Virtual LUN Technology.
Keep in mind that RVA does not introduce new RAID protection levels. With RVA, all RAID
types use the same I/O execution engine. The optimizer swap process now uses the RAID
Virtual Architecture for swap operations.Now lets take some examples
Mirror Positions Consumed
In Vmax(5784 and
Device Configuration
In DMX (5773 and below)
above)
RAID -1 (Mirrored)
2
1
RAID-5
2
1
RAID-6
1
1
RAID-1 with SRDF
3
2
RAID-5 with SRDF
3
2
RAID-5 with concurrent SRDF
4
3
RAID-5 with SRDF and hotspare
4
3
invoked
RAID-5 with SRDF and
4
2
Timefinder\Mirror
RAID-5 with SRDF and
3
2
Timefinder\Clone
RAID-5 with concurrent SRDF and
NOT POSSIBLE (Comsumes
3
hotspare invoked
more than 4)
Please findout the screenshot on how these mirror positions are occupied on both DMX and
Vmax ModelsThe DMX mentioned below is 5773 code level and Vmax models is 5784 and
above
DMX Models:
Mirrored (RAID 1 ) Device

RAID-5 Devices:

RAID-5 with SRDF protection:

Vmax Models:
Mirrored (RAID-1) Device:

RAID-5 Device:

RAID-5 SRDF Protected Device:

- See more at: http://www.emcsaninfo.com/2013/06/raid-virtual-architecturerva.html#sthash.UfZ4vVKA.dpuf