Dell EMC VMAX3 Auto Provisioning Explained

The VMAX3 arrays are virtually provisioned. The VMAX3 arrays is delivered factory pre -configured where Data Pools and RAID protection levels,
SLO are already created. With HYPERMAX OS 5977, Fully Automated Storage Tiering (FAST) eliminates all of the admin istrative overhead previously
required to create a FAST environment.

Auto-provisioning groups are used to allocate VMAX3 storage to hosts. VMAX3 arrays are 100% virtually provisioned and thus Thin De vices are
presented to the hosts.

An Auto Provisioning consists of Storage Group, Port Group, Initiator Group and associated together to form a Masking View

1. Storage Group: A storage group is a logical collection of VMAX thin devices that are to be managed together, typically constituting a single
application.

 Storage group will have the group of devices which needs to be presented to the host.
 Storage groups can only contain devices or other storage groups
 Devices volume may belong to more than one storage group
 Each storage group can have 16K storage groups
 Each storage group can contain up to 4000 devices.
 Each parent storage group can have up to 32 child storage groups
 Devices can be moved between Child storage groups non-disruptively

2. Port Group: A port group is a logical collection of VMAX front end ports where luns are mapped & through which luns are masked with host from
storage.

 Port group is the grouping of the front–end ports.

 A Port Group may contain a maximum of 32 front -end ports
 A port can belong to more than one port group.
 Ports must have access-logix bit enabled.
 A mix combination of Fibre and Gig-E ports in a same port group are not supported.

3. Initiator Group: A initiator group is a logical collection of HBA WWNs or iSCSI name of a host initiator.

 In Initiator group the server initiators are grouped together.

 Port flag can be set on initiator group level
 Contains HBA WWNs or iSCSI name of a host initiator
 An Initiator Group contains the world wide name (WWN) or iSCSI name of a host initiator, also referred to as an HBA (host bus adapter).
 An initiator group may contain a maximum of 64 initiator addresses or 64 child initiator group names.
 Initiator groups cannot contain a mixture of host initiators and child IG names or types.

4. Masking View: Masking view is a container that consists of st orage group, port group, and initiator group.

 One of each type of group(SG,PG & IG) is associated together to form a Masking View
 Masking is not permitted for a child storage group which is contained by a parent storage group already part of a masking vie w.

End user tools for VMAX3 Configuration & Management:

 Solutions Enabler version 8.x

 Unisphere for VMAX version 8.x
VMAX3 Auto Provisioning steps for New host: Solutions
Enabler

1. Verify if the Symmetrix is ready for configuration changes

symconfigure –sid xx verify

2. Check Storage Resource Pools utilization

symcfg sid xx list –srp –detail –tb

3. Display Storage Resource Pool with disk group information

symcfg -sid xx show -srp <srp_name> -tb

4. Create thin devices

symconfigure -sid –xx –f file.txt prepare

Example: file.txt contain below command which will create 2 x 200 GB LUN

create dev count=2, emulation=FBA, config=TDEV, size=200 GB,

dynamic_capability=DYN_RDF, device_attr=SCSI3_PERSIST_RESERV;

symconfigure -sid –xx –f file.txt commit

create dev count=2, emulation=FBA, config=TDEV, size=200 GB,

dynamic_capability=DYN_RDF, device_attr=SCSI3_PERSIST_RESERV;

OR

symconfigure -sid -xx –cmd “create dev count=2, emulation=FBA,

config=TDEV, size=200 GB, dynamic_capability=DYN_RDF,
device_attr=SCSI3_PERSIST_RESERV;” prepare -nop
symconfigure -sid -xx –cmd “create dev count=2, emulation=FBA,
config=TDEV, size=200 GB, dynamic_capability=DYN_RDF,
device_attr=SCSI3_PERSIST_RESERV;” commit

5. Verify newly created thin devices

symdev list -sid xx –noport

6. Verify server zoning with storage, HBA’s should be loggedIn to Front

end ports

symaccess -sid xx list logins -dirport dir:port

7. Create Initiator group

# Creating a new initiator group

symaccess -sid xx create -name <IG_NAME> -type init

symaccess -sid xx add -name <IG_NAME> -type init -wwn <hba pwwn>

symaccess -sid xx add -name <IG_NAME> -type init -wwn <hba pwwn>

# Creating new parent initiator group and add child group to parent

symaccess -sid xx create -name <PIG_NAME> -type init

symaccess -sid xx add -name <PIG_NAME> -type init -ig <IG_NAME>

8. Create Storage group

# Creating a new storage group

symsg -sid xx create <SG_NAME>

# Add LUNs to storage group

symsg -sid xx –name <SG_NAME> add devs <dev>

# Creating parent storage group and add child group to parent

symaccess -sid xx -name <PSG_NAME> -type stor -sg <SG_NAME>

Other Storage group operation commands:

#Move devices between Child storage groups

symsg -sid xx -sg <Source_SG> move dev xx <Target_SG>

# Create storage group with SRP & SLO

symsg -sid xx create <SG_NAME> -srp <SRP_NAME> -slo <SLO>

#List storage groups with SLO

symcfg -sid xx -by_slo –detail

#Set slo and workload profile to the Storage group

symsg -sid xx -sg <SG_NAME> set -slo <SLO> -wl <workload_type>

#Convert standalone storage group to cascaded SG’s

symsg –sid xx convert –cascaded <parent SG name> <Child SG name>

9. Create Port Group

symaccess -sid xx -name <PG_NAME> -type port -create

symaccess -sid xx -name <PG_NAME> -type port add –dirport <DIR_PORTS>

Example:

symaccess -sid xx -name PG_UNIX -type port add -dirport

1D:24,2D:25,3D:24,4D:25,5D:24,6D:25,7D:24,8D:25

10. Create Masking View

symaccess -sid xx create view -name MV_NAME -ig IG_NAME -sg SG_NAME -pg
PG_NAME

OR

#Creating Masking view for cascaded storage or initiator group.

symaccess -sid xx create view -name MV_NAME -ig PIG_NAME -sg PSG_NAME -pg
PG_NAME

VMAX3 Auto Provisioning steps for existing host:

Solutions Enabler

1. Create thin devices

symconfigure -sid –xx –f file.txt commit

Example: file.txt contain below command which will create 2 x 200 GB LUN

create dev count=2, emulation=FBA, config=TDEV, size=200 GB,

dynamic_capability=DYN_RDF, device_attr=SCSI3_PERSIST_RESERV;

OR
symconfigure -sid -xx –cmd “create dev count=2, emulation=FBA,
config=TDEV, size=200 GB, dynamic_capability=DYN_RDF,
device_attr=SCSI3_PERSIST_RESERV;” commit -nop

2. Identify storage group

symsg –sid xxx list | grep –i <SG_NAME> #Unix Management

symsg –sid xxx list | findstr <SG_NAME> #Windows Management

3. Add LUNs to storage group

symsg -sid xx –name <SG_NAME> add devs <dev>