emc vsi for vmware vsphere web client · deploying the emc vsi solutions integration ... vcenter...

EMC® VSI for VMware vSphereWeb ClientVersion 6.0

Product GuideP/N 302-000-051REV 01

EMC VSI for VMware vSphere Web Client 6.0 Product Guide2

Copyright © 2013 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Published in the USA.

Published September 2013

EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. The information is subject to change without notice.

The information in this publication is provided as is. EMC Corporation makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the information in this publication, and specifically disclaims implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in this publication requires an applicable software license.

EMC2, EMC, and the EMC logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.

For the most up-to-date regulatory document for your product line, go to EMC Online Support (https://support.emc.com).

http://support.emc.com

CONTENTS

Chapter 1 EMC VSI for VMware vSphere Web Client 6.0

Overview....................................................................................................... 8VSI storage.............................................................................................. 9

Software prerequisites .................................................................................. 9Key terms ................................................................................................ 9

Chapter 2 Installing and Configuring the VSI Environment

Configuration overview ............................................................................... 12 Identifying the parameters of your installation environment ........................ 12 Installing VMware components ................................................................... 13 Deploying the EMC VSI Solutions Integration Service................................... 14 Registering the VSI plug-in .......................................................................... 17

Chapter 3 Solutions Integration Service Administrative Interface

Administrative summary ............................................................................. 22 First time login ............................................................................................ 22 Showing log files......................................................................................... 23 Registering the VSI plug-in .......................................................................... 24 Maintaining the Solutions Integration Service database .............................. 24 Resetting the Solutions Integration Service password.................................. 25

Chapter 4 Accessing the VSI Plug-in Functions

Overview..................................................................................................... 28 Configuring the EMC Solutions Integration Service ...................................... 28

Register/Add the Solutions Integration Service ..................................... 28Unregister or Rescan EMC Solutions Integration Service ........................ 29Viewing EMC Solutions Integration Service system details..................... 30

Accessing storage systems.......................................................................... 31Add/Register ViPR storage system......................................................... 31List the user’s storage systems.............................................................. 32

Chapter 5 Managing ViPR Storage Systems Using VSI

ViPR storage systems .................................................................................. 34 Viewing properties of a ViPR storage system................................................ 34 Viewing properties of a ViPR NFS or VMFS data store ................................... 34 Provisioning a ViPR NFS data store .............................................................. 35 Provisioning a ViPR VMFS data store............................................................ 38 Creating a ViPR-hosted RDM attached to a VM ............................................. 40 Viewing Properties for a ViPR RDM volume .................................................. 43

Chapter 6 Troubleshooting and Log Files

Log files ...................................................................................................... 46Viewing VSI service log files with the web client .................................... 46Accessing log files when the VSI plug-in is inaccessible ........................ 46

Product Guide 3

Contents

4

PREFACE

As part of an effort to improve its product lines, EMC periodically releases revisions of its software and hardware. Therefore, some functions described in this document might not be supported by all versions of the software or hardware currently in use. The product release notes provide the most up-to-date information on product features.

Contact your EMC technical support professional if a product does not function properly or does not function as described in this document.

Note: This document was accurate at publication time. Go to EMC Online Support (https://support.emc.com) to ensure that you are using the latest version of this document.

PurposeThis document describes how to configure and use EMC Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI) for VMware vSphere Web Client 6.0.

AudienceThis solution was designed for VMware administrators who manage shared NFS or VMFS storage through a web interface.

After the storage administrator has planned and implemented the storage environment, the VMware administrator sets up the VMware virtual environment and loads EMC VSI for VMware vSphere Web Client 6.0. Using this feature, VMware administrators can reduce storage consumption for virtual machines as they grow and allocate NFS and VMFS data stores, and provision virtual machines without the direct involvement of the storage administrator.

Related documentationThe following documents contain additional information that may be helpful and is available on EMC Online Support (https://support.emc.com):

• ViPR Concepts Guide • ViPR Installation Guide • ViPR Command Line Reference• ViPR REST API Reference • ViPR Administrator Guide • ViPR User Guide • ViPR Security Configuration Guide• ViPR Release notes• ViPR Analytics Pack for VMware vCenter Operations Management Suite Installation

and Configuration Guide • ViPR Plug-in for VMware vCenter Orchestrator Installation and Configuration Guide• ViPR Add-in for Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager Installation and

Configuration Guide• ViPR Storage Provider for VMware vCenter Server Configuration and Usage Guide • EMC ViPR Overview: Software-Defined Storage White Paper

Preface 5



Preface

Conventions used in this document

NOTICE is used to address practices not related to personal injury.

Note: A note presents information that is important, but not hazard-related.

IMPORTANT

An important notice contains information essential to software or hardware operation.

Typographical conventions

EMC uses the following type style conventions in this document:

Where to get helpEMC support, product, and licensing information can be obtained as follows:

Product information — For documentation, release notes, software updates, or information about EMC products, go to EMC Online Support at:

https://support.emc.com

Technical support — Go to EMC Online Support and click Service Center. You will see several options for contacting EMC Technical Support. Note that to open a service request, you must have a valid support agreement. Contact your EMC sales representative for details about obtaining a valid support agreement or with questions about your account.

Your commentsYour suggestions will help us continue to improve the accuracy, organization, and overall quality of the user publications. Send your opinions of this document to:

[email protected]

Bold Use for names of interface elements, such as names of windows, dialog boxes, buttons, fields, tab names, key names, and menu paths (what the user specifically selects or clicks)

Italic Use for full titles of publications referenced in text

Monospace Use for:• System output, such as an error message or script• System code• Pathnames, filenames, prompts, and syntax• Commands and options

Monospace italic Use for variables.

Monospace bold Use for user input.

[ ] Square brackets enclose optional values

| Vertical bar indicates alternate selections — the bar means “or”

{ } Braces enclose content that the user must specify, such as x or y or z

... Ellipses indicate nonessential information omitted from the example

6


CHAPTER 1EMC VSI for VMware vSphere Web Client 6.0

This chapter includes the following topics:

◆ Overview................................................................................................................... 8◆ Software prerequisites .............................................................................................. 9

EMC VSI for VMware vSphere Web Client 6.0 7

EMC VSI for VMware vSphere Web Client 6.0

OverviewVirtual Storage Integrator (VSI) allows you to easily provision and manage EMC ViPR software-defined storage for ESX/ESXi hosts.

VSI is an architecture that enables the features and functionality of EMC ViPR™ software-defined storage. Tasks that you can perform with VSI include storage provisioning, storage mapping, and viewing information such as capacity utilization.

VSI consists of a graphical user interface and the EMC Solutions Integration Service code (the programming interface within VSI that provides the communications to the storage systems). VSI interacts with:

• A web browser• vSphere Web Client Server • vCenter Server• ESX/ESXi hosts • EMC Solutions Integration Service • EMC ViPR

The administrator uses the vCenter to manage and provision storage. VSI interfaces within the vCenter to access the ViPR storage.

Figure 1 depicts the architecture of a VSI deployment, including the various components with which VSI interacts:

Figure 1 VSI configuration diagram

8 EMC VSI for VMware vSphere Web Client 6.0 Product Guide


b rer,

VSI storage

VSI accesses EMC ViPR software-defined storage.

The EMC ViPR storage platform allows developers and storage/cloud administrators to access all of the heterogeneous storage resources within a data center and manage them as if they were a single large storage system. This platform provides a single storage control point within a data center.

EMC ViPR is a logical storage management platform that virtualizes a data center's physical storage infrastructure into shared pools of storage. ViPR uses software-defined storage to enable policy-based management of virtual storage pools, allowing you to automate and leverage the capabilities of the existing arrays without any disruption. Shared virtual storage pools enable the delivery of block, file, and object store data services across heterogeneous arrays with self-service provisioning.

Software prerequisitesThe prerequisites software versions that are needed for the VSI Web Client are:

Key terms

◆ Cluster: A group of hosts that share resources and have a common management interface. Changes made at the cluster level impact all the hosts within the cluster.

◆ Compressed: An object that uses less space on disk than it would normally occupy. In the context of EMC VSI for VMware vSphere, the compressed field value is either Yes or No, indicating whether compression has been applied.

◆ Compute resource: A managed object that represents either a single host or a cluster of hosts available for backing up virtual machines.

Table 1 Software prerequisites

Application: Version, details:

VMware vSphere Version 5.1 or 5.5

VMware vCenter Version 5.1 or 5.5

VMware vSphere Web client Version 5.1 or 5.5

VMware ESX/ESXi host Version 5.1 or 5.5(ESX version 4.x or ESXi version 4.x or later)

EMC Solutions Integration Service

Version 1.0

ViPR Version 1.0

Web browser All browser versions that are compatible with the vCenter WeClient (for example: Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet ExploGoogle Chrome, etc.) See the VMware web site www.vmware.com for the list of compatible versions.

Software prerequisites 9


◆ Disk formats:

• Thick provisioning lazy zeroed - All disk space is allocated but existing content is not deleted when the disk is created.

• Thick provisioning eager zeroed - All disk space is allocated and any previous content is deleted when the disk is created; this option may take longer than the other two disk provisioning options.

• Thin provision - Allocates only the disk space that is currently needed.

◆ ESX/ESXi: The VMware virtualization applications that abstract processor, memory, storage, and networking resources into multiple virtual machines running side-by-side on the same physical server.

◆ File system: The network file system (NFS). NFS is a network file system protocol that allows a user on a client computer to access files over a network as easily as if the network devices were attached to the client computer’s local disks.

◆ LUN: Logical unit number. A SCSI identifier used by Fibre Channel and iSCSI to identify a disk, a subset of a disk, or an array of disks that is layered beneath a VMFS data store or represented by an RDM (raw device mapping) volume.

◆ Path: The NFS path to the virtual machine.

◆ RAID group: A group of disks that presents itself as a single unit on which to bind LUNs. Each LUN stored in a RAID group is distributed equally among the disks in the RAID group.

◆ Provisioning: The process of creating a functioning virtual machine by assigning resources such as CPU, memory, and virtual hardware, and then deploying a system image.

◆ Snap: A snap is a point-in-time image of a file system that does not mirror the data on the file system, thereby using less disk space than a standard backup. Also known as a snapshot.

◆ Storage pool: An aggregation of disk storage from which you can provision data stores.

◆ Storage processor (SP): A cabinet component in an array that runs its own operating system and provides access to the data stored on the array. Each SP has its own IP address.

◆ Tiering policy: The method that the array uses to balance cost and performance by moving data between different drive types within a storage pool. Tiering is not available for RAID group-based LUNs.

◆ Virtual machine: A virtual machine is a software computer that, like a physical computer, runs an operating system and applications. An operating system installed on a virtual machine is called a guest operating system.


CHAPTER 2Installing and Configuring the VSI Environment


◆ Configuration overview ........................................................................................... 12◆ Identifying the parameters of your installation environment .................................... 12◆ Installing VMware components ............................................................................... 13◆ Deploying the EMC VSI Solutions Integration Service............................................... 14◆ Registering the VSI plug-in ...................................................................................... 17

Installing and Configuring the VSI Environment 11

Installing and Configuring the VSI Environment

Configuration overviewVSI uses existing VMware components and VSI-specific components to manage storage systems. This chapter describes the specific installation and configuration steps that you must perform to enable VSI to work properly.

Download the Solutions Integration Service OVA file and refer to the following sections as listed:

emc_solutions_integration_service_x86_64_OVF10.ova from https://support.emc.com.

1. “Identifying the parameters of your installation environment” on page 12

2. “Installing VMware components” on page 13

3. “Deploying the EMC VSI Solutions Integration Service” on page 14

4. “Registering the VSI plug-in” on page 17

5. “First time login” on page 22

Identifying the parameters of your installation environmentBefore you start to install or configure, gather the following information for your environment:

1. vSphere Web Client: Determine the following specifications (required for step 1 on page 14 ). You will use the web client with your browser to perform the deployment:

• URL/IP address and port number for the VMware vSphere Web Server. For example, https://192.168.0.1:9443

• Login credentials (username and password). You must have administrative privileges.

2. vCenter to which the OVF/OVA should be deployed: For the vSphere Web Client login step, you will need the:

• vCenter IP address (for example, 192.168.0.2)• vCenter login credentials (username and password).

3. Location of the Solutions Integration Service OVF/OVA from which to deploy the OVF/OVA: Determine the URL or a folder location on your local drive (required for step 7 on page 14 ), for example:



4. Destination name and location to where you want to deploy the OVF/OVA: Required for step 11 on page 15 ). For example, Ryan’s folder:

5. Compute resource: Identify a cluster or host or resource pool (required for step 12 on page 15 ).

6. Source network: Determine the name to which to deploy the OVA/OVF and the IP address format of the network (required for step 14 on page 16 ).

7. Custom properties / IP addresses: Obtain the following specifications (required for step 15 on page 16 ).

• Public network IP address• Default gateway• DNS servers (if needed)• Netmask IP address

Installing VMware components Install the VMware vSphere Web Client Server using the VMware documentation at www.vmware.com.

(See “Software prerequisites” on page 9 for a list of valid versions that are required.)

Installing VMware components 13


Deploying the EMC VSI Solutions Integration Service1. Log in to the vSphere Web Client using the specifications from step 1 on page 12 .

2. Go to vCenter.

3. Select VMs and Templates or Hosts and Clusters.

4. Expand the directory if you want to select a specific folder or data store.

5. Right-click the vCenter, cluster, or host storage device.

6. Select Deploy OVF Template.

• If you receive an error regarding the missing vSphere Web Client plug-in, install the plug-in.

The next time that you open the browser for the vSphere Web Client, select the option to allow the plug-in to run.

• If you receive the following message, click Allow.

This site is using the VMware Client integration Plug-In. Do you want to allow it to access your operating system?

OVF/OVA Source Location setup:

7. For Select source, enter the URL or a folder location on your local drive for the EMC Solutions Integration Service OVF/OVA (using the specifications from step 3 on page 12 ), and click Next to continue. For example:

8. On the Review details screen, review the information and click Next.

9. For the End User License Agreement (EULA), click Accept, and then click Next.



OVF/OVA Destination Location setup:

10. For the Select name and folder, enter the name for the destination folder, or leave it as the default.

11. Select the folder or datacenter location (using the specifications from step 4 on page 13 ) into which you want to put the OVF/OVA of the new Solutions Integration Service, and click Next to continue.

12. For Select a resource, select the compute resource that you specified in Step 5 on page 13. Then click Next to continue.

13. For the Select storage:

a. Select an appropriate disk format for your environment.

b. Select the data store that you want to use for the deployed OVF/OVA for the project.

c. Click Next to continue.

Deploying the EMC VSI Solutions Integration Service 15


14. For Select network, use the specifications from step 6 on page 13 to:

a. Select one network to use.

b. Select the IP address format IPV4 that you want to use for the Solutions Integration Service.

15. For the Customize Template properties, enter the following details using the specifications from step 7 on page 13 , and click Next:

a. Public network IP address

b. Default Gateway

c. DNS Servers

d. Netmask IP address

16. Click Next to continue.

17. For the Ready to Complete:

a. Verify the details.

b. If you want the Solutions Integration Service to power on immediately after the OVF/OVA deployment, select the checkbox on the Ready to Complete. Otherwise, you can power it on manually (see step 19 on page 16 ).

c. Click Finish.

Power On:

18. Right-click the VM that contains the newly deployed EMC Solutions Integration Service.

19. Select Power On.

20. Wait for the deployment to finish and for the Solutions Integration Service to be operational.



21. Verify the REST web service as follows:

a. Log in using the URL: https://<Solutions_Integration_Service_IP_Address>:8443/vsi_usm/

For example:

https://192.168.0.3:8443/vsi_usm/

b. Accept all certificates or add them to exceptions. You should see the Welcome to the EMC VSI Solutions Integration Service screen.

The EMC VSI Solutions Integration Service is ready for use.

Registering the VSI plug-inTo enable the VSI plug-in extensions:

1. If you have not done so yet, deploy the Solutions Integration Service (see “Deploying the EMC VSI Solutions Integration Service” on page 14).

2. Using a browser, go to the Solutions Integration Service administrator web page. Log in with the Solutions Integration Service credentials using the URL: https://<Solutions_Integration_Service_IP_Address>:8443/vsi_usm/admin

For example:

https://192.168.0.3:8443/vsi_usm/admin

Registering the VSI plug-in 17


Note: If this is the first time that you are logging in, see “First time login” on page 22.

3. Select Register VSI Plug-in.

4. Enter the specifications for the following and click Register.

• vCenter IP/Hostname: The IP address that contains the VSI plug-in package.(The is the IP address of the vCenter to which you are registering the VSI plug-in).

• vCenter Username: The username that has administrative privileges.

• vCenter Password: The administrator’s password.

• Admin Email (Optional): The email address to which notifications should be sent.

5. Browse to the vSphere Web Client address using the information from step 4 on page 13 . When you log in, the VSI plug-in will be downloaded and deployed.

Note: The download will take several minutes.



6. In the vSphere Web Client window, select vCenter in the left navigation pane. If the VSI plug-in was successfully installed, you will see the category EMC VSI in the bottom of the left pane.

Registering the VSI plug-in 19

CHAPTER 3Solutions Integration Service Administrative Interface


◆ Administrative summary ......................................................................................... 22◆ Showing log files..................................................................................................... 23◆ Resetting the Solutions Integration Service password.............................................. 25

Solutions Integration Service Administrative Interface 21

Solutions Integration Service Administrative Interface

Administrative summaryFrom the Solutions Integration Service, you can perform the following administrative tasks:

◆ Backup a configuration

◆ Restore a configuration

◆ View a list of backups

First time loginUse the following login ID and password the first time that you log in:

Login ID: admin

Password: ChangeMe

The Solutions Integration Service requires that you change your password the first time that you log in.

1. Log in to the Solutions Integration Service Administration interface using the IP address that was defined in “Configuration overview” on page 12. For example: https://10.110.44.126:8443/vsi_usm

2. Click Administration and enter the first time login ID and password.

3. Change your password and document it securely so that you can retrieve the password in the future. Click Change.

Note: If the password is lost, you must redeploy the Solutions Integration Service. Use the default login ID and password to login.



After successful login, you will see the message stating that you have changed your login password:

• Version Number: The version of the Solutions Integration Service.

• Installation Timestamp: The time at which the Solutions Integration Service was deployed.

• Local Timestamp: The current time on the Solutions Integration Service server.

Showing log filesUse Show Log to display Solutions Integration Service log files.

1. Select the filter options that you require and click Submit.

Showing log files 23


To show the logs, specify the parameters for the following and click Submit:

Line Number: Select the number of lines that you want to display.

String: Enter specific information that you want to find.

Search Archive: Search all the previous logs.

Change Log Level: Change the type of logging that you want to keep in the Solutions Integration Service log file. (For example, you can specify the parameters to save for the controller logs, service logs, domain class logs, grails logs, 3rd party logs.)

Registering the VSI plug-inThe VSI plug-in is contained in the Solutions Integration Service OVA package. To upgrade to a newer version of the VSI plugin, download the latest OVA package from https://support.emc.com.

Use Register VSI Plug-in to activate the connections for the Solutions Integration Service. See “Registering the VSI plug-in” on page 17.

Maintaining the Solutions Integration Service databaseUse Maintain Database to view a list of Solutions Integration Service backup filenames, to create backups of the Solutions Integration Service, and to restore backups of the Solutions Integration Service configuration.

Backups of the Solutions Integration Service contain the active configurations, system information, and user setup information.

Specify the type of backup operation that you want to perform, choose one of the options and click Submit:

• Do nothing: No action will be taken.

• View Backup Files: Shows a list of backups that were created.



• Take Backup: Creates a backup of the Solutions Integration Service that is saved on the server and that can be saved to your local system location. For example:

• Restore from Backup: Restores the database from the local copy on your computer.

To choose the file to restore, look for files named similar to:

hercules_db_backup_v1-0-0-52_2013-08-08_15-16-17.sql

Resetting the Solutions Integration Service passwordAfter the Solutions Integration Service password is changed, it cannot be modified. If you need to reset the password, you must redeploy the Solutions Integration Service. See“Deploying the EMC VSI Solutions Integration Service” on page 14.

Resetting the Solutions Integration Service password 25

CHAPTER 4Accessing the VSI Plug-in Functions


◆ Overview................................................................................................................. 28◆ Accessing storage systems...................................................................................... 31

Accessing the VSI Plug-in Functions 27

Accessing the VSI Plug-in Functions

OverviewBefore you can use VSI to access storage systems, you must configure the EMC Solutions Integration Service. This chapter provides the following information:

◆ How to configure the EMC Solutions Integration Service

◆ How to use the VSI plug-in to access storage systems.

Multiple paths in the user interface allow access to the VSI plug-in functions. This document describes only some of the paths that allow access to the VSI functions.

Configuring the EMC Solutions Integration Service The Solutions Integration Service provides the communication between the storage system and VMware vSphere (see Figure 1 on page 8.) Before you can use VSI, you must configure access to the Solutions Integration Service. To configure access, you add the appropriate credentials to the Solutions Integration Service.

You add or remove the Solutions Integration Service as follows:

Register - Enables access to the Solutions Integration Service.

Unregister - Removes access to the Solutions Integration Service.

Register/Add the Solutions Integration Service

Registering the server enables communication between the vCenter Server and the Solutions Integration Service server.

1. Log in to the vSphere Web Client with the ipAddress:Port# (for example, https://192.168.0.1:9443/vsphere-client).

You can register only one Solutions Integration Service. If you decide to use a different Solutions Integration Service, you must unregister the existing service.

2. Go to Home > vCenter > EMC VSI > Solutions Integration Service.

3. Select Actions > Register EMC Solutions Integration Service.

Figure 2 Register Solutions Integration Service

28


4. Enter the required credentials for the EMC Solutions Integration Service server.

Figure 3 Solutions Integration Service specifications

The parameters are as follows:

• EMC Solutions Integration Service IP: Enter the location that contains the deployed Solutions Integration Service.

• EMC Solutions Integration Service User Name: System supplied. (Cannot be modified).

• EMC Solutions Integration Service Password: Enter the password to access the Solutions Integration Service.

• Confirm Solutions Integration Service Password: Re-enter the password to verify it.

• vCenter IP: The address that you used to access the web client. (Cannot be modified).

• vCenter User Name: The username that you used to access the vCenter. (Cannot be modified).

• vCenter Password: Enter the password that is used to access the specified vCenter User Name.

After you have registered the EMC Solutions Integration Service server, you can register storage systems. See “Add/Register ViPR storage system” on page 31.

Unregister or Rescan EMC Solutions Integration Service

You can register only one Solutions Integration Service. If you want to use a different Solutions Integration Service, you must unregister the current service. To unregister a Solutions Integration Service:


2. Select Actions > Unregister EMC Solutions Integration Service.

Configuring the EMC Solutions Integration Service 29


Use Unregister to disable communication with the Solutions Integration Service, or select Rescan to refresh the Solutions Integration Service pane.

Viewing EMC Solutions Integration Service system details

To view Solutions Integration Service system details:


2. Click VSI Server to see the specifications for Name, Status, IP address, and the Version level.

The status can be:

• Online: Indicates that the Solutions Integration Service is connected and functional.

• Unreachable: Indicates that the Solutions Integration Service is unreachable or shut down.

• Unable to Login: Indicates that the Solutions Integration Service is not connected.

Unregister and then register the Solutions Integration Service orRescan for the Solutions Integration Service to activate it. See “Unregister or Rescan EMC Solutions Integration Service” on page 29.

Figure 4 Solutions Integration Service summary

30


Accessing storage systems The VSI plug-in can access a storage system such as a ViPR software-defined storage system. Before you can access the storage system, you must enable the Solutions Integration Service (see “Register/Add the Solutions Integration Service” on page 28 and add/register the Solutions Integration Service).

Add/Register ViPR storage system

To add a ViPR storage system:

1. Go to Home > vCenter > EMC VSI > Storage Systems.

The list shows the ViPR storage systems that are accessible from the Solutions Integration Service.

2. Select Actions > Register Storage Systems to add a new array.

3. In the Register EMC Storage System window, enter the parameters for the following and click OK:

• Storage System type: Select from the available arrays.

• Hostname or IP address: Type the name or IP address of the array that you want.

• Username: Type the account username.

• Password: Type the account password.

Accessing storage systems 31


List the user’s storage systems

1. Go to Home > vCenter >.

2. In the left pane, select EMC VSI > Storage Systems.Wait until the navigation pane is refreshed (progress indicator stops spinning).

32

CHAPTER 5Managing ViPR Storage Systems Using VSI


◆ Viewing properties of a ViPR storage system............................................................ 34◆ Viewing properties of a ViPR NFS or VMFS data store ............................................... 34◆ Provisioning a ViPR NFS data store .......................................................................... 35◆ Provisioning a ViPR VMFS data store........................................................................ 38◆ Creating a ViPR-hosted RDM attached to a VM ......................................................... 40◆ Viewing Properties for a ViPR RDM volume .............................................................. 43

Managing ViPR Storage Systems Using VSI 33

Managing ViPR Storage Systems Using VSI

ViPR storage systemsFor ViPR software-defined storage systems, you do not need to know the brand or type of the underlying storage hardware. You only need to access the ViPR storage environment.

Viewing properties of a ViPR storage systemTo view properties of a ViPR storage system:

1. Go to Home > vCenter > EMC VSI > Storage Systems.Wait until the navigation pane is refreshed (progress indicator stops spinning).

2. Select a storage system from the list of storage systems.

The following details of the ViPR storage system are displayed:

• Name: The fully qualified domain name.

• Model: The type of storage system. In this example it is a ViPR storage system.

• Management IP: The IP address for the ViPR storage system.

Figure 5 ViPR virtual array details

Viewing properties of a ViPR NFS or VMFS data storeTo view properties of a ViPR data store:

1. Go to Home > vCenter > Inventory List > Datastores.Wait until the navigation pane is refreshed (progress indicator stops spinning).

2. Click once on the Datastore-Name.



3. Click the Summary tab in the center pane to see the Storage Device and the Storage System details panes.

Figure 6 View ViPR storage system details - VMFS example

Provisioning a ViPR NFS data storeTo provision a ViPR NFS data store:

1. Go to Home > vCenter > Inventory List > Hosts (or Clusters).

2. Right-click the hostname or cluster-name. Wait until the actions list is completely loaded (progress indicator stops spinning).

Provisioning a ViPR NFS data store 35


3. Select All EMC Actions > New EMC Datastore.

The New EMC Datastore wizard appears.

4. Specify the parameter for each of the following items, and click Next:

• Name and location: Specify a name for the data store.

• Type: Select NFS.

• Array Selection: Select from the list of file-capable arrays that are accessible to this VSI client.

• Project Selection:

– Project: Select from the list of projects that are available on the array.

– Virtual Array: Select from the list of virtual arrays.

– Select the hosts that require access to the datastore: Select at least one of the host IP addresses that are listed.



Note: The host must be configured properly with an export group. The host checkbox that is next to the host cannot be checked when the host is not configured properly with an export group. Please contact your administrator to correct the export group settings.

• Virtual Pool: Select the virtual pool that provides the level of access that you require.

• NFS Export Properties: Specify the details related to the virtual pool:

– Capacity: The maximum allowed capacity is the available capacity in the virtual pool. If the virtual pool does not specify the available capacity, Max: unknown will be displayed.

5. Ready to Complete: Displays a summary of your selections.

6. Click Finish to create the export and the data store.The data store is created using the parameters that you specified. You can see the status of the task running in the task frame to the right. When the tasks are completed, a checkmark appears next to the Create NAS datastore.

Note: You must manually refresh the task frame by clicking My Tasks; then select All Users Tasks.

Provisioning a ViPR NFS data store 37


7. To see your new data store, go to Home > vCenter > Inventory List > Datastores > Summary.

Provisioning a ViPR VMFS data storeTo create a VMFS block data store:

1. Go to Home > vCenter > Inventory List > Hosts (or Clusters).

2. Right-click the hostname or cluster name. Wait until the actions list is completely loaded (progress indicator stops spinning).

3. Select All EMC Actions > New EMC Datastore.

Figure 7 Create a ViPR VMFS data store

The New EMC Datastore wizard appears.



4. Specify the parameter for each of the following items, and click Next:

• Name and location: Specify a name for the data store.

• Type: Select VMFS.

• Array Selection: Select from the list of block-capable arrays that are accessible to this client.


– Project: Select from the list of projects that are available on the array.

– Virtual Array: Select from the list of virtual arrays.

– Select the hosts that require access to the datastore: Select at least one of the host IP addresses that are listed.

Note: The host must be configured properly with an export group. The host checkbox that is next to the host cannot be checked when the host is not configured properly with an export group. Please contact your administrator to correct the export group settings.


• VMFS Version: Choose from VMFS-5 or VMFS-3.

• Volume Properties:

Provisioning a ViPR VMFS data store 39


Capacity: The maximum allowed capacity for new export is the available capacity in the virtual pool. If the virtual pool does not specify the available capacity, Max: unknown will be displayed.

• Ready to Complete: Displays a summary of your selections.

5. Click Finish to create the data store.The data store is created using the details that you specified. You can see the status of the task running in the task frame to the right. When the tasks are completed, a checkmark appears next to the new data store.

6. To see your new data store, go to Home > vCenter > Datastores.

Creating a ViPR-hosted RDM attached to a VMTo create a ViPR-hosted RDM attached to a VM:

1. Go to Home > vCenter > Inventory Trees > VMs and Templates.

2. Expand the directory to find the desired server.

3. Right-click the desired virtual machine name. Wait until the actions list is completely loaded (progress indicator stops spinning).



4. Select All EMC Actions > New EMC RDM Disk.

Figure 8 Create RDM disk attached to a VM

The New EMC RDM Disk wizard appears.

5. Specify the parameters for each of the following items, and click Next:

• Array Selection: Select a ViPR storage system from the list of arrays that are accessible to this client.


Project: The name that identifies the application’s storage resources.Select from the list of projects that are available on the array.

Virtual Array: The area of the network cloud to which my project is a member. Select from the list of accessible virtual arrays.


Creating a ViPR-hosted RDM attached to a VM 41


Note: The virtual pool dictates the storage service capabilities associated with ViPR data services (file, block, and object stores). Each virtual pool in the file, block, and object stores has a name (for example, "GOLD") and a set of capabilities that describe the storage services that it offers.

• Hard Disk Settings:

– Location: Select the location that you want for the new RDM.

Note: If the VM is a VMFS data store, you cannot choose to store it with the VM. Select a different VM that is an NFS data store.

– Compatibility mode: Select either:Physical (default) — Allows the guest operating system to access the hardware directly. Physical compatibility is useful if you are using SAN-aware applications on the virtual machine. However, a virtual machine with a physically compatibility RDM cannot be cloned, made into a template, or migrated if the migration involves copying the disk.Virtual — Allows the RDM to behave as if it were a virtual disk, so that you can use such features as taking snapshots, creating clones, and so on. When you clone the disk or make a template out of it, the contents of the LUN are copied into a .vmdk virtual disk file. Migrating a virtual compatibility mode RDM allows you to migrate the mapping file or copy the contents of the LUN into a virtual disk.

– Shares — Select the shares value. The shares value represents the relative metric for controlling disk bandwidth. The values Low, Normal, High, and Custom are relative to the sum of all shares on all the virtual machines that are on the host.

– Limit - IOPs: Enter the upper limit of storage resources that you want to allocate to the virtual machine, or select Unlimited.This value is the upper limit of I/O operations per second allocated to the virtual disk.

– Virtual Device Node: Select any node that is unassigned.



– Disk Mode: If you selected Virtual for the Compatibility mode, select the desired disk mode:

Dependent - Disks are included in snapshots

Independent - persistent - Disks in persistent mode behave like conventional disks on your physical computer (that is, all data that is written to a disk is permanently on the disk).

Independent - nonpersistent - Changes to disks in nonpersistent mode are discarded when you turn off or reset the virtual machine. With nonpersistent mode, you can restart the virtual machine with a virtual disk in the same state every time. Changes to the disk are written to and read from a redo log file that is deleted when you turn off or reset the virtual machine.

• Volume Properties:

Capacity: Specify the amount of storage.The maximum allowed capacity for a new RDM is the available capacity in the virtual pool. If the virtual pool does not specify the available capacity, a message Max: unknown is displayed.

6. Ready to Complete: Displays a summary of your selections.

7. Click Finish to create the data store.The data store is created using the details that you specified. You can see the status of the task running in the task frame to the right.

Viewing Properties for a ViPR RDM volumeTo see the details of a ViPR RDM volume:

1. Go to Home > vCenter > VMs and Templates.

2. Expand the directory to find the desired VM.

3. Click the desired virtual machine name from the directory.

Viewing Properties for a ViPR RDM volume 43


4. Click on Monitor.

5. Select EMC Storage Viewer.


CHAPTER 6Troubleshooting and Log Files


◆ Viewing VSI service log files with the web client ...................................................... 46◆ Accessing log files when the VSI plug-in is inaccessible........................................... 46

Troubleshooting and Log Files 45

Troubleshooting and Log Files

Log filesUse the log files to help determine the cause of failures. You can use two distinct procedures to view the log files. Use the procedure that best meets your situation.

Viewing VSI service log files with the web client

To view VSI or Solutions Integration Service system log files:


2. Click VSI Server.

3. Click the Monitor tab.

4. Click VSI log browser or Solutions Integration Service browser.

5. Click Refresh to view the log entries.

6. To save the log file, click Export.

Accessing log files when the VSI plug-in is inaccessible

If the VSI plug-in is unavailable, access the log files for the EMC Solutions Integration Service and VSI plug-in as follows.

To access EMC Solutions Integration Service log files:

1. Log in to the vSphere Windows client (for example, 192.168.0.3).

2. Navigate to: Home > VMs and Templates.

3. Expand the navigation tree in the left pane until you reach a particular Solutions Interface Service build. For example:



FlexDataCenter > FlexCluster1 > Hercules Pool > <Build #2.0.0.251>

4. Click the build number (for example, build #2.0.0.251).

5. Select the Console tab to the right.

Note: To release the cursor from the Console window, press CTRL+ALT.

6. Click in the console window and press Enter.

7. Enter your user ID and password (for example, root/emc).

8. After you are logged in, use cd to change to the /var/log/ folder.

9. Open the Hercules log file vsi_usm.log file. (For example, use the vi editor. Typevi vsi_usm.log).

To access VSI log files:

1. Using Remote Desktop, log in to the Windows VM that is hosting the vSphere Web Client web service.

2. Open Windows Explorer and change to the C:\ProgramData\VMware\vSphere Web Client\serviceability\logs\ folder.

Log files 47


3. Open the vsphere_client_virgo.log file.


emc vsi for vmware vsphere web client · deploying the emc vsi solutions integration ... vcenter...

Documents