VNX Storage Provisioning Using Wizards Guide

Welcome to the VNX Unified Storage Provisioning Using Wizards course.
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Revision Date: September 2013

Revision Number: MR-1WP-VNXUWIZ
Copyright 2013 EMC Corporation. Do not copy - All Rights Reserved.
VNX Storage Provisioning Using Wizards
This course is an introduction to both block and file storage provisioning on a VNX in
Windows, UNIX/Linux, and Virtualized environments using the Unisphere wizards.
This module focuses on understanding the components involved with provisioning storage
for block and using the Unisphere LUN Provisioning Wizard to provision storage for block
systems.
Some general guidelines should be followed to optimize and enable good performance on a
VNX Unified storage system.
Matching the drive type to the expected workload is primary in achieving expected results.
When creating storage pools, drives in a storage pool are divided into three tiers based on
performance characteristics , Extreme Performance Tier (Flash), Performance Tier (SAS) and
Capacity Tier (NL-SAS).
Basic rules of thumb to determine the required number of drives used to support the
workload can be found in the EMC VNX Unified Best Practices for Performance guide found
on Powerlink.
For best performance from the least amount of drives, ensure the correct RAID level is
selected to accommodate the expected workload.
RAID 1/0 is appropriate for heavy transactional workloads with a high rate of random writes.
(greater than 25%)
RAID 5 is appropriate for medium-high performance, general workloads, and sequential I/O.
RAID 6 is appropriate for NL-SAS read-based workloads and archives, this protection provides
RAID protection to cover the longer rebuild times of large drives.
Before provisioning LUNs, it will need to be decided if the LUNs will be built from a Pool or
from a RAID group.
The left side of this slide shows an example of a Pool. A Pool is made up of tiers of storage.
Each tier uses different types of disks and can have a different RAID type, keep in mind that
all disks in the tier must be in the same configuration (in this example, all disks in the
Performance Tier are in a RAID 5 (8+1) configuration).
Pools may include Solid-State-Disk (SSD), also called Flash drives, for the extreme
performance tier, SAS drives for the performance tier, and Near-Line SAS drives for the
capacity tier. Pools support both thick and thin LUNs, as well as support for features such as
Fully Automated Storage Tiering (FAST) which enables the hottest data to be stored on the
highest performing drives without administrator intervention.
Pools give the administrator maximum flexibility and are easiest to manage, therefore, they
are recommended.
The right side of the slide shows RAID group examples. Each RAID group has an automatically
assigned name beginning with RAID Group 0 (the RAID Group ID can defined by the user
thus affecting the RAID group name for example if a RAID group ID of 2 is chosen then the
RAID Group Name would be set to RAID Group 2). RAID groups can also contain Flash, SAS,
and NL-SAS drives and can be configured for different RAID configurations based on the
needs of the host being attached to the storage.
Storage pools are dedicated for use by pool LUNS (thick or thin), and can contain a few or hundreds
of disks. Best practice is to create the pool with the maximum number of drives that can initially be
placed in the pool at creation time based on the model of the array (refer to the VNX Pocket
References guide for details on the model limits). Because a large number of disks can be configured,
workloads running on pool LUNs will be spread across many more resources than RAID groups
requiring less planning and management. Use homogeneous pools for predictable applications with
similar and expected performance requirements, use heterogeneous pools to take advantage of the
VNX FAST VP feature with facilitates the automatic movement of data to the appropriate tier.
The RAID configuration for drives within a pool is performed at the tier level. Within each tier, users
can select from five recommended RAID configurations using three RAID types that provide an
optimal balance of protection, capacity and performance to the pool. Mixing RAID types within a pool
is supported and allows for using best practice RAID types for the tiered drive types in a pool. Keep in
mind that once the tier is created, the RAID Configuration for that tier in that pool cannot be
changed.
Multiple Pools can be created to accommodate separate workloads based on different I/O profiles
enabling an administrator to dedicate resources to various hosts based on different performance
goals.
RAID groups are limited to a single drive type and a maximum limit of 16 drives. For parity
RAID levels, the higher the drive count, the higher the capacity utilization as well as a higher
risk to availability. With RAID groups, administrators need to carefully create storage since
there is a tendency to over provision and underutilize the resources.
When creating RAID groups, select drives from the same bus if possible, there is little or no
boost in performance when creating RAID groups across DAEs (vertical). There are of course
exceptions typically in the case where FAST Cache drives are used (see the EMC VNX Unified
Best Practices for Performance guide for details).
RAID5 4+1 RAID groups have an advanced setting to select a larger element size of 1024
blocks. This setting is used to take advantage of workloads consisting of predominantly largeblock random read I/O profiles, such as data warehousing.
The capacity of a thick LUN, like the capacity of a RAID group LUN, is distributed equally
across all the disks in the Pool on which the LUN was created. This behavior is exactly the
same as when data is added from hosts and when additional disks are added to the Pool.
When this happens, data is distributed equally across all the disks in the Pool
The amount of physical space allocated to a thick LUN, is the same as the user capacity that
is seen by the servers operating system and is allocated entirely at the time of creation. A
thick LUN uses slightly more capacity than the amount of user data written to it due to the
metadata required to reference the data.
The primary difference between a thin LUN and a thick LUN is that thin LUNs present more
storage to a host than is physically allocated. Thin LUNs incrementally add to their in-use
capacity and compete with other LUNs in the pool for the pools available storage. Thin LUNs
can run out of disk space if the underlying Pool to which it belongs runs out of physical
space. As with thick LUNs, thin LUNs use slightly more capacity than the amount of user data
due to the metadata required to reference the data.
Classic LUNs are created on RAID groups and like thick LUNs, the entire space consumed by
the LUN is allocated at the time of creation. Unlike Pool LUNs, the Classic LUNs LBAs (Logical
Block Addresses) are physically contiguous. This gives the Classic LUN predictable
performance and data layout.
Classic LUNs can be seen and accessed through either SP equally. If a path or SP should fail,
there is no delay in I/O to the LUN. This dual SP access also results in up to a 2X boost in
performance.
VNX Storage Provisioning Using Wizards 10
Before assigning new LUNs to a host, you should view the Host Properties and details to see
what storage is currently assigned to that host. One way to do this is to navigate to Hosts ->
Host List then highlight the host. In this example we see in the details pane that there is
currently no storage assigned to the Win-6 host. Alternately, you can highlight the host and
click the properties button. This brings up the host properties window. Then click on the
LUNs tab to view the current LUNs assigned to the host. Again as you can see in this example
there are currently no LUNs assigned to the WIN-6 host.
Before assigning storage, you must verify that there is adequate free storage capacity to
assign to your host based on your servers needs. If there is not enough capacity in an
existing storage pool, the pool may need to be expanded or a new storage pool may need to
be created. To view the current storage capacity available, navigate to Storage -> Storage
Configuration -> Storage Pools. There are two types of storage pools: pools and RAID groups.
In this example you can see that both currently configured pools have free capacity to create
LUNs. LUNs can only be created from disks that are in storage pools.
This demonstration covers provisioning block storage and assigning LUNs to a Windows
virtual host using the Unisphere LUN Provisioning Wizard. Also covered are reviewing the
host properties in Unisphere, initializing and mounting drives to a Windows virtual host as
well as updating host information and reviewing drive information using Unisphere.
Click the Launch button to view this demonstration.
When the demonstration is complete, return to the course and advance to the next slide.
During the presentation portion of this module, we covered the components and
considerations of block storage provisioning needed to prepare you for provisioning block
storage using the Unisphere LUN Provisioning Wizard. During the demonstration portion of
this course we demonstrated provisioning block storage and assigning LUNs to a Windows
virtual host using the Unisphere LUN Provisioning Wizard. We also covered initializing and
mounting drives to a Windows virtual host and updating and reviewing host properties and
drive information using Unisphere.
Module 2 covers the components needed to be able to provision storage for file and
provisioning storage for file using the Unisphere Disk Provisioning Wizard.
This table contains information regarding the RAID types (RAID 1/0, RAID 5, and RAID 6)
supported for each mode combination (Capacity, Protection, and Performance) available in
the Provisioning Wizard. Please take a moment to review the different RAID type and mode
combinations.
The Storage Provisioning Wizard provides a breakdown of the allocated and un-allocated
disks in the array. It allows you to configure only the disks you need to, reserving the
remaining disks for future use. Reserving disks for future use is important if you want to
provision disks to other hosts now or in the future. This allows you the flexibility to assign
additional disks for File as well as allow other hosts to connect to the storage through Fibre
Channel in a unified environment.
Note that if the mode of provisioning and the combination of available drives is insufficient,
you will be unable to provision those drives without changing the combination of drives or
the type of provisioning being attempted.
This wizard only performs RAID group-based provisioning for file; pool-based provisioning for
file requires manual configuration. RAID configurations are optimized according to the disk
type and storage mode combinations.
RAID 5 for Capacity

RAID 6 for Protection
RAID 1/0 for Performance
The disks are provisioned for use in system-defined storage pools for file. The storage pool
names that appear on this configuration page are the system-defined storage pools for file
from which CIFS shares and NFS exports are created (in this example there are currently no
storage pools defined).
For new VNX storage system installs, storage protocol licenses should have been enabled
during the Install portion of the VNX Installation Assistant. If licenses are not enabled, the
tasks related to the creation of NFS exports and CIFS shares cannot be completed.
To enable licenses for file, navigate to Settings -> Manage Licenses for File. Enable the
licenses that were purchased with the VNX by clicking the check box next to the appropriate
license and hitting apply. Licenses must be enabled one at a time. When finished, log out of
Unisphere and then log back in. The appropriate licenses are now applied and the tasks
related to each license are now available.
Before any NFS exports or CIFS shares can be created, network interfaces must be created. To
launch the Network Interface Configuration wizard navigate to Settings -> Interface Wizard.
To configure a Data Mover network interface you will need to provide the wizard with the
following information:
Data Mover The Data Mover to create the interface on
Data Mover Network Device The physical port or virtual device to create the interface on.
Data Mover Interface IP Address - The IP address and the netmask address desired for the
interface that the physical port belongs to.
Data Mover Interface MTU (Optional) - The MTU is an optional field. By leaving the MTU field
blank, it defaults to the recommended value of 1500
Data Mover VLAN ID (Optional) - The VLAN ID is an optional field. The VLAN ID is important
only if multiple VLANs are configured on a trunk port.
When you test the newly created Data Mover network interface with the ping command and
test fails a network route between the data mover interface and the subnet the host is part
of is probably the issue. In this case a new route must be registered. To create a new network
route, launch the route wizard from Unisphere by navigating to Settings -> Route Wizard. To
configure a new route, you will need to provide the wizard with the following information:
Data Mover - The Data Mover to create the route on
Destination IP Address - The destination IP address and the netmask address to establish the
route
Gateway IP Address The default gateway IP address for the new static route
The VNX NFS solution is relatively simple. The VNX components created for the NFS
implementation are the IP interface and a file system that is exported for NFS. When the file
system is exported, you can grant an NFS host root access. This allows the root users at that
host to administer permissions to the allocated storage to other users.
The primary component in the CIFS implementation is the CIFS server. The CIFS Server
created on a VNX can be thought of as a virtual Windows computer. For the CIFS server to be
able to communicate with the environment, there must be an IP interface. The IP interface is
a combination of a physical network port (such as CGE-0) along with a set of logical IP
configuration values, such as the address and netmask. The physical port must be connected
to the customers IP network for the implementation to be successful. Finally, there is the
CIFS share. The CIFS share is the object that is presented to the Windows network as a
location to store data. The CIFS share is associated with a file system created on the VNX.
When the VNX tries to join the CIFS server to the Windows domain, it contacts the DNS
server to locate the closest Domain Controller. For the join to be successful, the blades clock
must be synchronized with the time in the domain. Therefore, the networks NTP servers are
also an essential resource.
Once the CIFS server has been joined to the domain and the CIFS share has been created, the
CIFS client is able to access the storage on the VNX blade.
This demonstration shows you how to provision storage for file using the Disk Provisioning
Wizard. Also covered are creating Data Mover network interfaces and static Routes using
their respective wizards in Unisphere. After provisioning and setup is completed we will be
creating file systems and exporting them for use by NFS and CIFS clients.
Click the Launch button to view this demonstration.
When the demonstration is complete, return to the course and advance to the next slide.
During the presentation portion of this module, we covered the components and
considerations of file storage provisioning needed to prepare you for provisioning file storage
using the Unisphere Disk Provisioning Wizard. During the demonstration portion of this
course we demonstrated provisioning file storage using the Unisphere Disk Provisioning
Wizard. We also showed you how to create Data Mover network interfaces and static Routes
using their respective wizards in Unisphere. Once that was completed we created file
systems and exported them to both NFS (Linux) and CIFS (Windows) clients.
The presentation portion of this course covered the concepts and considerations needed for
provisioning both block and file storage using their respective wizards within Unisphere.
During the course demonstrations both block based storage and file based storage were
configured and presented to Windows, Linux, an Virtual hosts using the various wizards
contained in Unisphere.
This concludes the training.

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Welcome to the VNX Unified Storage Provisioning Using Wizards course.

Revision Date: September 2013

Copyright 2013 EMC Corporation. Do not copy - All Rights Reserved.