HP StoreVirtual Storage VSA Installation and Configuration Guide Abstract This guide provides information about installing and configuring the HP StoreVirtual VSA for VMware vSphere and the HP StoreVirtual VSA for Microsoft Hyper-V. Included are network configuration best practices to ensure the best performance for the SAN using the StoreVirtual VSAs. The intended audience is system administrators responsible for managing HP StoreVirtual Storage using StoreVirtual VSAs.
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Contents 1 Planning for the HP StoreVirtual VSA.............................................................4 Configuration requirements........................................................................................................5 Best practices...........................................................................................................................6 Unsupported configurations.......................................................................................................
1 Planning for the HP StoreVirtual VSA HP StoreVirtual VSA software is a Virtual Storage Appliance that provides complete array functionality of HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage for VMware vSphere or Microsoft Hyper-V environments without external array hardware. The HP StoreVirtual VSA uses scale-out, distributed clustering to provide a pool of storage with enterprise storage features and simple management.
Configuration requirements The following configuration requirements are prerequisites for HP to support your virtual storage pool for production use. • Available drive space of up to 32 GB for StoreVirtual VSA plus up to 50 TB of storage which should be virtualized. HP recommends installing vSphere Server or Hyper-V Server on top of a redundant RAID configuration. Do not use RAID 0. • Dedicated RAID set for StoreVirtual VSA. • Reserved memory based on total disk capacity, as listed in Table 2 (page 5).
• • Virtual network environment with 1 GbE connectivity or higher, including the following: ◦ A host name for the StoreVirtual VSA ◦ A network configuration plan, including reserved IP addresses, subnet mask, and gateway for the StoreVirtual VSA. If you use DHCP, be sure to reserve statically assigned IP addresses for all storage systems on the DHCP server. Reserved IP addresses are required.
For additional information about unsupported configurations and best practices, see the HP StoreVirtual Storage User Guide. Hardware design for the StoreVirtual VSA The hardware platform used for a virtual storage pool affects the capacity, performance, and reliability of that virtual storage pool. The hardware features listed below affect the StoreVirtual VSA configuration.
Network adapters The number of network adapters available in a platform affects your options for configuring virtual switches. StoreVirtual VSAs that will have a dedicated server platform only need two ethernet (minimum 1 GbE) network adapters. Platforms that will host StoreVirtual VSAs and other virtual machines should have at least four ethernet (minimum 1 GbE) network adapters so that two adapters can be dedicated to the StoreVirtual VSA and iSCSI traffic.
Two-storage system configuration A two-system configuration is the smallest possible redundant configuration. Automatic failover between storage systems requires a Failover Manager. A two-storage system configuration contains the following elements.
Figure 3 Three-storage system-plus configuration 10 Planning for the HP StoreVirtual VSA
2 Installing the HP StoreVirtual VSA for VMware vSphere The StoreVirtual VSA is pre-formatted for use with HP StoreVirtual VSA for VMware vSphere. If you are using an evaluation copy, and want to continue using the fully-featured StoreVirtual VSA after the trial period has ended, you must purchase a license key. After you apply the license key, your configuration can be used as is in a production environment, or reconfigured if necessary. Supported versions of VMware VMware vSphere 5 for LeftHand OS 9.
Table 3 Minimum and maximum heap sizes (continued) Version/build Minimum heap value Maximum heap value Maximum open VMDK storage per host ESXi 5.1 Build 914609 and earlier N/A 256 MB 25 TB ESXi 5.1 Build 1065491 and later 256 MB 640 MB 60 TB Best practices for VSA for vSphere • Configure the VSA for vSphere to start automatically and first, and before any other virtual machines, when the vSphere Server on which it resides is started.
NOTE: • If a prior version CMC is installed on a management computer on the network, the VSA for vSphere installer updates the CMC to the current version in the same location. The user-specified location entered in the installer wizard is ignored. After the installation is complete, open the CMC and find the StoreVirtual VSAs as storage systems in the CMC. You can then set up the clustered storage for the SAN, as described in “Getting started with HP StoreVirtual Storage” (page 21).
Table 4 Configuring the VSA for vSphere using the installer wizard (continued) Installer step Definition If configuring tiered storage, assign a tier to each drive. Tier 0 is the fastest tier. Raw Disk window Select up to 7 raw disks that you have prepared, and which are available. These drives must have no partitions or volumes on them, or the installer will not list them. If configuring tiered storage, assign a tier to each drive. Tier 0 is the fastest tier.
Configuring a data disk 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. In the vSphere Client, navigate to the Inventory Panel. Click Add at the bottom of the Hardware tab. Select Hard Disk as the type of device to add and click Next. Select Create a new virtual disk and click Next. In the Disk Capacity section, designate a capacity that is suitable for the amount of storage available on your vSphere Server. In the Location section, select Store with Virtual Machine, and click Next.
Troubleshooting the VSA for vSphere Table 5 Troubleshooting the VSA for vSphere Problem Solution You want to reinstall the StoreVirtual VSA. 1. 2. 3. 4. You cannot find the HP StoreVirtual VSA for VMware vSphere with the CMC, and cannot recall its IP address. In the VMware Console, open theConfiguration Interface. Navigate to the Network Settings window to verify the IP address. You cannot configure RAID.
3 Installing the HP StoreVirtual VSA for Microsoft Hyper-V The HP StoreVirtual VSA for Microsoft Hyper-V is pre-formatted for use with Microsoft® Windows® Server. Install the VSA for Hyper-V on a Windows server configured with redundant RAID. If you are using an evaluation copy and want to continue using the fully-featured VSA for Hyper-V after the trial period has ended, you must purchase a license key.
• • On Windows Server 2008 R2, ensure the following hotfixes are applied before beginning the installation: KB 979711, KB 975530, KB 981836. See the following Microsoft KnowledgeBase articles: ◦ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/979711 ◦ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/975530 ◦ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/981836 If using physical disks for the VSA for Hyper-V, ensure that: ◦ The disks are completely clean of any partitions or any other remnants prior to running the VSA for Hyper-V installer.
Table 6 Configuring the VSA for Hyper-V using the installer wizard Installer Step Definition Hotfix required One or more Microsoft hotfixes that must be installed before installing the VSA for Hyper-V. Type The type of virtual machine to install. Choices include the StoreVirtual VSA or the Failover Manager (FOM). The Virtual Storage Appliance (StoreVirtual VSA) is the storage system.
1. 2. 3. Begin the installer one of the following ways: • Unzip the files if you downloaded a .zip file, and then double-click the executable to start the installation. • Double-click the downloaded executable to start the installation. • If you downloaded the HP StoreVirtual VSA Software .iso image, either mount the .iso to a virtual drive, or use a DVD created from the .iso image, and navigate to autorun.exe. Accept the terms of the License Agreement.
4 Getting started with HP StoreVirtual Storage Installing the CMC Install the CMC on the computer or virtual machine that you use to administer the HP StoreVirtual Storage. You administer the entire network of StoreVirtual VSAs from this CMC. To obtain the CMC, download the CMC installer from the following website: http://www.hp.com/go/StoreVirtualDownloads Prerequisite The CMC installation requires 63 MB disk space and 64 MB RAM during runtime. Installing the CMC in Microsoft Windows 1. 2. 3.
2. Click Find Systems on the Getting Started Launch Pad. In the Find Systems window, use these features to control the list of storage systems: • Clear Auto Discover by Broadcast to prevent the entire subnet of storage systems from appearing in the Navigation pane. • If your storage systems are on another subnet, add individual IP addresses of storage systems that you want to appear in the Navigation pane. Figure 4 Editing Find Systems to control the storage systems displayed 1.
Figure 5 Configuring the hardware 1. Configure RAID and the network from these categories Creating your first StoreVirtual cluster Use the Management Groups, Clusters, and Volumes wizard to create your storage pool. For information about using the wizards, see the HP StoreVirtual Storage User Guide or the HP StoreVirtual Storage Online Help.
Create additional disks Create up to 6 additional disks for a StoreVirtual VSA. The additional disks can be added to the StoreVirtual VSA in the CMC, while the StoreVirtual VSA is powered on. IMPORTANT: Hot-addition of disks is not supported in VMware configurations where the storage controller is LSI Logic SCSI. Hot-add is supported on StoreVirtual VSAs which run LeftHand OS 11.0 and higher with Paravirtual SCSI (PVSCSI) adapters.
3. Select the disk to add to RAID. Disks must be added to RAID sequentially. For example, you cannot add disk 3 to RAID if disk 2 has not been added. 4. Right-click and select Add Disk to RAID. Documentation available For detailed instructions about using the CMC and the StoreVirtual VSA, see the following resources. You can find these documents on the HP StoreVirtual Management Software DVD and on the following website: http://www.hp.
5 Using the VMware StoreVirtual VSA laptop demo The StoreVirtual VSA laptop demo is the smallest and most portable version of the LeftHand OS software virtual appliance. It is intended to demonstrate all the capabilities of HP StoreVirtual Storage (physical storage appliances as well as StoreVirtual VSA), including storage clustering and data protection features on VMware Workstation or Player. When using advanced features, it will run for a limited time of 60 days. NOTE: Server.
Installing the StoreVirtual VSA To install the laptop demo of the StoreVirtual VSA, you will: • Unzip to the prepared directory and start the virtual machine. • Direct the Ethernet port to NAT (default), Host-only, or bridged. • Set the IP address and host name of the StoreVirtual VSA. You only need to configure each virtual machine once. 1. Copy or download the StoreVirtual VSA .zip file. 2. Copy or unzip the StoreVirtual VSA files to the virtual machine directory.
6 Support and other resources Contacting HP For worldwide technical support information, see the HP support website: http://www.hp.com/support Before contacting HP, collect the following information: • Product model names and numbers • Technical support registration number (if applicable) • Product serial numbers • Error messages • Operating system type and revision level • Detailed questions Subscription service HP recommends that you register your product for HP Support Alerts at: http://www.
HP websites For additional information, see the following HP websites: • http://www.hp.com • http://www.hp.com/go/storage • http://www.hp.com/service_locator • http://www.hp.com/go/StoreVirtualDownloads • http://www.hp.com/go/storevirtualcompatibility • http://www.hp.
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