addingthindevicesusingautoprovisioninggroups_smc

8/3/2019 AddingThinDevicesUsingAutoProvisioningGroups_smc

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Adding Thin Devices Using Auto-provisioning Groups_smc

Adding Thin Devices Using Auto-provisioning GroupsOverviewSymmetrix Virtual Provisioning greatly simplifies storage management and at the same timeimproves utilization and performance. The fundamental concept of Virtual Provisioning is thinprovisioning, which is the ability to create thin devices and only allocate capacity as storage is

consumed. This makes it practical to present a host with much larger devices than is neededinitially, eliminating the need to incrementally add storage as application capacity requirementsincrease with time.

This procedure is based on content from the following EMC manual:

EMC Symmetrix Virtual Provisioning Implementation and Best Practices Technical Note

Done

1. Log in to the Symmetrix Management Console

You should see the EMC Symmetrix Management Console login screen, which looks

something like this:

Enter the appropriate user name in the User Name field and the corresponding password in the

Password field. When finished, left-click Login to complete the login process.

2. Identify one or more private devices that are not currently part of a thinpoolUsing the Navigation tree of the Symmetrix Management Console, expand both the objectrepresenting your Symmetrix array and the Private Devices folder. Then, left-click the DataDevices folder to display a list of data devices available in the Properties view.

Using the information presented in the Properties view, identify one or more devices (not



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currently part of an existing pool) that are to be used to create a new thin pool. (Refer to thefollowing screen.)

Note: Thin pools typically contain multiple data devices (usually eight or more). To maximize thebenefit of wide-striping when space is allocated, generally more data devices are better thanfewer. Like other devices, data devices are configured using appropriate disk types and dataprotection schemes. What makes data devices different is that they are private devices with anattribute that allows them to be added as members of a thin pool.

Record the device number and device configuration of each device chosen.

3. Open the Device Pool Management Create dialogUsing the Navigation tree of the Symmetrix Management Console, right-click on the objectrepresenting your Symmetrix array and select Device Pool Management, Create DevicePool from the menus presented. (Refer to the following screen.)

4. Create a thin pool and add data devices to the new poolWhen the Device Pool Management Create dialog is presented, perform the following tasks inthe order shown:

a) Specify a descriptive name for the thin pool to be created in the Pool Name field.b) Select Thin from the drop-down list provided with the Pool Type field.c) Select the devices you identified in step 2 from the devices shown in the Available list

by left-clicking on them (hold the Ctrl key down and left-click to select multiple devices).d) Left-click Add to move the devices selected to the Target list. If every device shown in

the Available list is to be added to the pool, left-click Add All instead. This will cause alldevices shown in the Available list to be moved to the Target list.

e) Check the Max Subscription checkbox and specify a value in the Max Subscription %



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entry field. This will limit the total capacity of all thin devices that are bound to the pool tono more than the specified percentage of the total capacity of the pool. (This parameterallows you to specify the risk tolerance for oversubscription. To prevent oversubscription,set this parameter to 100%.)

f) Check the Enable New Pool Membercheckbox. This allows the data devices specifiedto be used immediately.

g) Left-click OK to create the thin pool and exit the Device Pool Management Createdialog.

(Refer to the following screen.)

5. Verify that the pool was created

From the Symmetrix Management Console, both the object representing your Symmetrix arrayand the Pools folder. Then, expand the Thin Pools folders and locate the thin pool you justcreated. Left-click that object and examine the information presented in the Properties view. Ifyou selected eight devices in the previous step, the Properties view should show that the newthin pool has eight devices in it. (Refer to the following screen.)



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6. Verify that no tracks are used at this timeLeft-click the Data Devices tab. There should be no Used Tracks at this time as there are nobound thin devices.

7. Open the Device Configuration Create dialogA thin device must be bound to a thin pool before it can be read/write enabled. The task ofcreating a thin device and binding it to a thin pool can be performed separately, but in thisprocedure both steps will be performed in a single operation.

Using the Navigation tree of the Symmetrix Management Console, right-click on the objectrepresenting your Symmetrix array and select Device Creation, Create Device from themenus presented. (Refer to the following screen.)

8. Create one or more thin devices (TDEVs) and bind them to the thin pooljust createdWhen the Device Configuration Create dialog is presented, perform the following tasks in theorder shown:

a) Left-click the Thin Device tab.b) Specify the number of thin devices to create in the Number of Devices field.c) Select the desired configuration from the drop-down list provided with the Configuration

field.d) Select the desired emulation from the drop-down list provided with the Emulation field.e) Specify the desired capacity for each thin device from the drop-down list provided with

the Capacity field.f) Enter the name of the thin pool created in step 4 in the Bind to Pool field or left-click the

corresponding Select... button to display a list of thin pools and select the thin poolcreated in step 4 from the list presented.

g) Left-click Add to Config Session List to queue the task needed to create the desiredthin device(s) and exit the Device Configuration Create dialog.



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When the Add to Config Session List button is selected, the Config Session screen should

appear and the task to create the desired thin devices should be displayed on the My ActiveTasks page.

9. Commit the configuration changeIf the Config Session screen is not automatically displayed, left-click on the object representingyour Symmetrix array (using the Navigation tree of the Symmetrix Management Console) andthen left-click the Config Session tab. Verify that the task to create the desired thin devices isdisplayed on the My Active Tasks page and left-click Commit All to execute the task andcommit the results. (Refer to the following screen.)

When asked whether or not to continue, left-clickYes and wait for the process to complete. Thiswill create the desired thin devices and bind them to the appropriate thin pool. (This does nottake long as no disk space is actually allocated when thin devices are created.)

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Verify that the thin devices were created and bound to the appropriate thin

poolFrom the Symmetrix Management Console, open the Properties view and expand both theobject representing your Symmetrix array and the Pools folder. Then, expand the Thin Poolsfolder and locate the thin pool you created in step 4. Left-click that object, then left-click the DataDevices tab in the Properties view and examine the Used Tracks for the data devicesdisplayed. You should see that one extent (12 tracks) has been allocated for each thin devicecreated. (Refer to the following screen.)



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11.

Obtain the device number of each bound thin deviceLeft-click the Bound Thin Devices tab of the Properties view to obtain the device numbers foreach bound thin device. (Refer to the following screen.)

Record the device numbers shown.

12.

Present the bound thin devices to the hostA thin device is made available to a host like any other device and must be mapped to a front-end director and masked to one or more host bus adapters. Because we are using a SymmetrixVMAX system, we can perform these steps by simply adding the thin devices to an existingStorage Group that has been associated with a Masking View.

Using the Navigation tree of the Symmetrix Management Console, expand both the objectrepresenting your Symmetrix array and the Symmetrix Masking folder. Then, left-click theStorage Groups folder to display a list of Storage Groups available in the Properties view.

From the Properties view, right-click on the object representing the Storage Group that thebound thin devices identified in the previous step are to be added to and select Device Maskingand Mapping, Storage Group Maintenance, Modify Storage Group from the menuspresented. (Refer to the following screen.)



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13.

Add the bound thin devices to the Storage GroupWhen the Storage Group Management Modify dialog is presented, perform the followingtasks in the order shown:

a) Select the thin devices you identified in step 11 from the devices shown in the AvailableDevices list by left-clicking on them (hold the Ctrl key down and left-click to selectmultiple devices).

b) Left-click Add to move the devices selected to the Group Members list. If every deviceshown in the Available Devices list is to be added, left-click Add All instead. This willcause all devices shown in the AvailableDevices list to be moved to the GroupMembers list.

c) Left-click OK to add the selected devices to the Storage Group and exit the StorageGroup Management Create dialog.


If the Storage Group used is associated with a mapping view, the mapping and masking neededto make the devices added available to your host will be performed automatically.



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14.

Verify that the bound thin devices were added to the Storage GroupFrom the Symmetrix Management Console, expand both the Symmetrix Masking and theStorage Groups folders and locate the object representing the Storage Group you just addedthin devices to. Left-click that object and examine the information presented in the Propertiesview. The Properties view should show the number of devices that are associated with theStorage Group and this number should have increased by the number of devices that were

added in the previous step.

15.

Run the appropriate configuration method on the host or reboot the hostAdding the thin devices to the Storage Group is all that needs to be done to make the thin deviceavailable to the host. However, before the host will see the new device, the host configurationutility must be run.

Many host operating systems provide a utility that can be used to automatically configure devicesthat have been made available to a system. For example, in Windows you can use the DeviceManager to scan for hardware changes; with AIX you can execute the cfgmgr command. Beforethe devices associated with the masking group will be made visible to a host, this utility must berun on the host. If no such utility exists, the affected hosts should be rebooted.

Refer to the online help available with each host operating system for information on how toperform online configuration changes or a reboot operation.

16.

Verify that the devices are available to the hostVerify that the devices added in step 11 can be accessed by the host by executing the syminqcommand.

When this command is executed, you should see output that looks something like this:

Device Product Device

-------------------------- --------------------------- --------------------- Name Type Vendor ID Rev Ser Num Cap (KB)

-------------------------- --------------------------- ---------------------\\.\PHYSICALDRIVE0 Dell VIRTUAL DISK 1028 N/A N/A

\\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1 EMC SYMMETRIX 5874 690011C000 919680\\.\PHYSICALDRIVE2 EMC SYMMETRIX 5874 690011D000 919680

\\.\PHYSICALDRIVE3 EMC SYMMETRIX 5874 690011E000 919680\\.\PHYSICALDRIVE4 EMC SYMMETRIX 5874 690011F000 919680\\.\PHYSICALDRIVE5 EMC SYMMETRIX 5874 6900179000 15360000

(In the output produced by the syminq command, device serial numbers Ser Num are

displayed in the format XX YYYYY 000 where XX is the last two digits of the Symmetrix serialnumber and YYYYY is the Symmetrix device number.)

Note: In this example, a Windows host was used.

The thin devices that you added to the Storage Group should now be available to your host.


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