IBM V7000 Unified vSphere5 v7

7/29/2019 IBM V7000 Unified vSphere5 v7

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Copyright IBM Corporation, 2011

IBM Storwize V7000 Unified:A feature-rich environment for

VMware vSphere 5.0

Rawley Burbridge

Benton Gallun

IBM Systems and Technology Group ISV Enablement

January 2012


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IBM Storwize V7000 Unified: A feature-rich environment for VMware vSphere 5.01

Table of contentsTable of contents ..................................................................................................................................... 1

Abst ract ..................................................................................................................................... 2

Introduction to IBM Storw ize V7000 Unified ........................................................................... 2

Storwize V7000 Unified overview ............................................................................................................ 3

Block hardware and concepts ........................................................................................... 3

File hardware and concepts .............................................................................................. 5

Introduction to VMware vSphere ............................................................................................. 9

Infrastructure services ....................................................................................................... 9

Application services ........................................................................................................... 9

VMware vCenter Server .................................................................................................. 10

New in VMware vSphere 5 .................................................................................................................... 10

Increases scalability and performance ............................................................................ 10

Converged Hypervisor ..................................................................................................... 11

Storage management enhancements ............................................................................. 11Provisioning Storw ize V7000 Unified for vSphere 5.0.......................................................... 12

Initial Storwize V7000 Unified configuration .......................................................................................... 12

Attaching the Storwize V7000 Unified block storage to vSphere hosts ................................................. 15

Creating FC hosts from the Storwize V7000 Unified GUI ............................................... 15

Creating Storwize V7000 Unified block volume .............................................................. 19

Mapping a volume to a vSphere host .............................................................................. 22

Setting vSphere host multi-pathing ................................................................................. 22

IBM Storw ize V7000U vSphere 5 f ile use cases ................................................................... 25

V7000U NFS Storage provisioning and vSphere attachment ............................................................... 25

Using block and file storage, View VDI use case .................................................................................. 36

VMware vSphere / View backup ............................................................................................................ 37

Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 39

Resources ............................................................................................................................... 40

About the authors ................................................................................................................... 40

Trademarks and special not ices ........................................................................................... 41


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Abstract

This white paper provides insight into the value proposition of the IBM Storwize V7000 Unifiedstorage system for a VMware vSphere 5.0 environment, including simplified management, highperformance, and the flexibility of deployment by offering both file and block storage devices.The paper outlines a plan for deployment, configuration, and management of the environment

and provides best practice recommendations.

Introduction to IBM Storwize V7000 Unified

The IBM Storwize V7000 Unified builds upon the proven IBM Storwize V7000 storage system

released in the fall of 2010 to offer both Block and File storage services in a single unified storage array. It

has been certified for virtualization using VMware vSphere 5.0 for comprehensive server and storage

virtualization. The highly scalable storage capacity of V7000U can be used to start with smaller capacities

and then grow to consolidate data from multiple servers and storage systems for more efficient

infrastructure utilization (particularly storage efficiency) and ease of management and administration.

You can find certification information about Storwize V7000 (block) and V7000 Unified (NFS) on the

VMware Storage HCL at the following links:

Block:

http://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/detail.php?deviceCategory=san&productid=18864&vcl=true

NFS:

http://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/detail.php?deviceCategory=san&productid=20569&vcl=true

The Storwize V7000 is a modular storage system built from the IBM System Storage SAN Volume

Controller technology base and utilizing Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) technology from

the IBM System Storage DS8000 family to deliver a virtualized, enterprise-ready, mid-range storage

solution. The IBM Storwize V7000 storage system enables customers to improve application flexibility,

responsiveness, and availability, while reducing storage usage and complexity through storagevirtualization and the following features:

Metro Mirror and Global Mirror perform synchronous and asynchronous data replication between

IBM Storwize V7000 systems at varying distances to protect data and keep services online in

downtime situations.

IBM FlashCopy functionality enables for the creation of instant volume copies for data

protection and flexibility

Virtualization enables volume migration and mirroring to any storage managed by the IBM

Storwize V7000 system.

IBM System Storage Easy Tier automatically manages the efficient usage of solid state disk(SSD) drives and increases application performance by promoting frequently-accessed data to

SSD drives.

The IBM Storwize V7000 Unified storage system builds upon the proven IBM Storwize V7000 storage

system by including two file modules, which adds the following features and functions:

File replication and file-level snapshots for business continuity and disaster recovery.


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Support for Network File System (NFS), Common Internet File System (CIFS), File Transfer

Protocol (FTP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and Secure Copy Protocol (SCP) file

protocols in addition to the existing Fibre Channel (FC) and iSCSI block functions provided by the

Storwize V7000 system.

Intuitive, easy to use GUI which tightly integrates management for block and file capabilities.

IBM Active Cloud Engine technology delivers automated storage efficiency capabilities

including user-definable policy-based file management.

Integrated IBM Tivoli Storage Manager Client for simplified backup to Tivoli Storage Manager

Servers and support for other third-party NDMP backup clients.

The subsequent sections describe the IBM Storwize V7000 Unified hardware and concepts.

Storwize V7000 Unified overviewThe IBM Storwize V7000 Unified is the first IBM-developed midrange unified storage offering that

presents both file and block interfaces from the same storage system. It is built on the proven Storwize

V7000 storage system and therefore all block storage features and functions are available.

Block hardware and concepts

A Storwize V7000 system is made up of 2U drive enclosures. One control enclosure with the option to

add up to nine expansion controllers is required for additional capacity. All enclosures have the option

of 12-drive slots (as shown in Figure 1) or 24-drive slots (as shown in Figure 2).

Figure 1: Storwize V7000 12-disk enclosure

Figure 2: Storwize V7000 24-disk enclosure

Within the control enclosure are two node canisters, also known as an I/O group (which form an

active-active processing unit), act as the management point for the storage system and service all I/O

to host systems.

Storwize V7000 can have between one to nine expansion enclosures, which are connected to the

control enclosure through redundant serial-attached SCSI (SAS) connections and form the systems

internal storage capacity. The control and expansion controllers support a wide range of drives:

2.5-inch dr ive support


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146 GB, 300 GB 15,000 rpm SAS disk

300 GB, 450 GB, 600 GB 10,000 rpm SAS disk

200 GB, 300 GB, 400 GB enterprise-grade multilevel cell (E-MLC) SSD

1 TB 7,200 rpm NearLine SAS disk

3.5-inch dr ive support

2 TB, 3 TB 7,200 rpm NearLine SAS disk

Drive types can be intermixed between enclosures. The maximum number of internal drives

supported by the Storwize V7000 system is 240. Figure 3 shows a Storwize V7000 system with

mixed enclosure and drive types.

Figure 3: Storwize V7000 with 10 enclosures

In addition to managing internal storage, one major feature of the Storwize V7000 system is the ability

to manage storage provided by external storage systems. The Storwize V7000 system acts as the

virtualization layer between the host and external storage system. Up to 32 PB of external storage

can be managed by a single Storwize V7000 system, and as the storage is virtualized, volumes can

be non-disruptively moved between external and internal storage capacity. Figure 4 shows a

representation of this technology.


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Figure 4: IBM Storwize V7000 virtualizing external and internal storage

File hardware and concepts

A Storwize V7000 Unified system is made up of a Storwize V7000 storage system and two Storwize

V7000 file modules. The Storwize V7000 storage system provides block storage volumes to hosts

and is also utilized by the Storwize V7000 file modules, which in turn provides file storage to hosts.

Because of this architecture, the Storwize V7000 Unified provides the proven block storage

capabilities of the Storwize V7000, including all features and functions mentioned in the Block

hardware and concepts section, but also adds file storage capabilities.

The Storwize V7000 Unified file modules are built upon the IBM System x3650 M3 server, and

include the following specifications:

Processor Single Six Core Intel Xeon X5650, 2.66 GHz, 8 MB L2 cache, 80W

Memory 72 GB DDR3 RAM

Storage Two 500 GB 10K SAS disk drives

Network interfaces: Four 1 GbE ports, two for host access and two for management

Two 10 GbE ports for host access

Host bus adapter (HBA) Two 8 Gbps FC ports, for disk access only


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The minimum footprint of a Storwize V7000 Unified system is 6U. Figure 5 shows the minimum

Storwize 7000 Unified configuration consisting of the two file modules and the Storwize V7000 contro

enclosure.

asdf

The Storwize V7000 Unified File Modules run a common IBM network-attached storage (NAS)

software stack which originates from the IBM Scale Out NAS (SONAS) product. Data can be

accessed using a variety of protocols, including: CIFS, NFS, FTP, HTTPS, and SCP. Internally, the

Storwize V7000 Unified uses the IBM General Parallel File System (IBM GPFS) to store data.

GPFS is an IBM developed file system that has been in development since 1995 and is highly

scalable while providing the simplicity of a single flat file system. The GPFS file system spans multiple

physical disks, also known as Network Shared Disks (NSDs). In the case of Storwize V7000 Unified,

the NSDs that are visible to GPFS are Storwize V7000 volumes.

Inherited in GPFS is the ability to perform policy-based snapshots of the file system. There can be a

maximum of 256 snapshots per file system. Thirty two snapshots are reserved for services such as

Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP), which leaves 224 snapshots for customer use.

Snapshots can be named and scheduled, and policies can be defined, which control retention of

snapshots. Figure 6 shows a screen capture of the snapshot rules from the Storwize V7000 Unified

GUI.

7

7

Figure 5: Minimum footprint of a Storwize V7000 Unified system


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Figure 6: Examples of snapshot rules from the Storwize GUI

The Storwize V7000 Unified system also includes the IBM Active Cloud Engine, which is a

policy-driven engine that helps improve storage efficiency by automatically:

Placing files when they are created on the appropriate storage.

Moving files during their life to the right tier of storage, including tape in an IBM Tivoli StorageManager hierarchy.

Deleting expired or unwanted files.

Identifying files for backup or replication to a DR location.

IBM Active Cloud Engine is designed for high performance and can scan a large number of files very

rapidly. Figure 7 shows an example of the IBM Active Cloud Engine, migrating a file between

different tiers of storage based on time policies.


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Figure 7: Example of IBM Active Cloud Engine file migration

The Storwize V7000 Unified system also has the ability to asynchronous replicate one or more filesystems through file-based replication to a secondary site. Replication is performed by the rsync tool

which efficiently replicates only the changed portions of files to the destination, and utilizes Secure

Shell (SSH) to provide an encryption mechanism to replicated data.

The well-received Storwize V7000 management GUI was updated to include the management of file

objects, which means customers utilize a unified management GUI to administer both block and file

storage, as shown in Figure 8.

Figure 8: IBM Storwize V7000 Unified user interface


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Introduction to VMware vSphere

VMware vSphere is a virtualization platform capable of transforming a traditional data center and industry

standard hardware into a shared mainframe-like environment. Hardware resources can be pooled

together to run varying workloads and applications with different service-level needs and performance

requirements. VMware vSphere is the enabling technology to build a private or public cloud infrastructure.The components of VMware vSphere fall into three categories: Infrastructure services, application

services, and the VMware vCenter Server. Figure 9 shows a representation of the VMware vSphere

platform.

Figure 9: VMware vSphere platform

Infrastructure services

Infrastructure services perform the virtualization of server hardware, storage, and network resources.

The services within the infrastructure services category are the foundation of the VMware vSphere

platform.

Appl ication services

The components categorized as application services address availability, security, and scalability

concerns for all applications running on the vSphere platform, regardless of complexity of the

application.


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VMware vCenter Server

VMware vCenter Server, formerly known as VMware VirtualCenter, provides the foundation for

management of the vSphere platform. VMware vCenter Server provides centralized management of

configurations as well as aggregated performance statics for clusters, hosts, virtual machines,

storage, and guest operating systems. VMware vCenter Server scales to provide management of

large enterprises, granting administrators the ability to manage more than 1,000 hosts and up to

10,000 virtual machines from a single console.

VMware vCenter Server is also an extensible management platform. The open plug-in architecture

allows VMware and its partners to directly integrate with vCenter Server, extending the capabilities of

the vCenter platform, and adding additional functionality.

Figure 10 shows the main pillars of functionality provided by VMware vCenter Server.

Figure 10: Pillars of VMware vCenter Server

New in VMware vSphere 5VMware vSphere 5 introduced many new features to the vSphere platform as well as enhancing many

existing features.

Increases scalability and performance

A new virtual-machine format (Version 8) has been introduced in vSphere 5. Virtual machine

version 8 includes enhancements to 3D graphics with support for Windows Aero graphics, and

support for USB 3.0 devices. Scalability improvements were also added to virtual machine version 8.

Virtual machines can now grow four times larger than any previous release, with support for up to 32

virtual processors and 1 TB of RAM.


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VMware vSphere 5.0 includes a new version of the vSphere File System (VMFS5). Existing VMFS4

data stores can be upgraded to VMFS5 non-disruptively. VMFS5 has a unified 1 MB block size, and

the maximum size of single extent data stores has been increased to 64 TB, up from the previous

maximum size of 2 TB. Along with greater capacity also comes better performance with

enhancements to the vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) providing better lock handling on

more VMware events.

Converged Hypervisor

VMware hasbeen preparing customers for the retirement of ESX since the vSphere 4.0 platform was

released. In vSphere 5.0, that retirement becomes a reality. ESX full is no longer available as a

deployment choice. ESXi must now be deployed as the vSphere hypervisor. VMware has built upon

the host profile feature to now include vSphere Auto Deploy. VMware vCenter can now automatically

deploy a new build of ESXi to hosts upon boot up. This feature can be used to ensure that all hosts

have compliant configurations and are running the appropriate patch levels, and remediation can be

performed very quickly by rebooting the host server.

Storage management enhancements

A major feature to be included in vSphere 5.0 is Storage Distributed Resource Scheduler (Storage

DRS). Virtual machine disk performance is now monitored in addition to processor and RAM, and if

needed Storage DRS can perform a Storage VMotion of virtual machine disks to appropriate data

stores automatically.

A new set of VMware vStorage APIs have been included in vSphere 5.0, called VMware vStorage

APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA). This new set of APIs permit storage arrays to integrate with

VMware vCenter for management functionality. VASA can display the features of the physical storage

devices through the vCenter interfaces to VMware administrators. Figure 11 shows a diagram of the

components that enable this communication to occur.

Figure 11: Example diagram of VASA communication


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The combination of Storage DRS and VASA contribute to another major storage feature in vSphere

5.0, and that is Profile Driven storage. VM Storage Profiles, which define the capabilities of the

physical storage, can be inherited automatically from VASA, or the VMware administrator can

manually create them. After a VM Storage Profile is defined, it is associated with a VMware data

store. When new virtual machines are deployed, rather than selecting a specific VMware data store to

use for placement, the VM Storage Profile can be selected and Storage DRS will automate theplacement of the virtual machine to a data store which is associated with the selected VM Storage

Profile. Storage DRS can migrate the virtual machine to other data stores, but only if they are

associated with the same VM Storage Profile. Profile Driven storage simplifies the management of

virtual machines by automating initial placement, and ensuring compliance.

Provisioning Storwize V7000 Unified for vSphere 5.0

IBM Storwize V7000 Unified system is certified and can provide block storage devices over iSCSI and

FC, and NFS mount points for VMware vSphere 5.0. The subsequent sections describe how to provision

Storwize V7000 Unified storage to be used for VMware vSphere, and how to attach vSphere hosts for

storage access.

Initial Storwize V7000 Unified configurationThe Storwize V7000 Unified GUI has been built with ease of use in mind. Wizards are provided for many

tasks and presets default to best practice recommendations. Prior to provisioning storage it is important to

understand the arrangement of storage components in the Storwize V7000 Unified system. There are

essentially five levels of storage component management which must be run to provision the Storwize

V7000 Unified system from a non-configured powered on hardware to a fully-functional storage system.

These levels are:

Internal drives or external storage systems These components are the disk drives from

which RAID arrays are configured to become MDisks.

Managed disks (MDisks) MDisks are either RAID arrays from internal storage or a volumefrom an external storage system which is managed by the system as a MDisk.

Storage pools A storage pool is a collection of one or more MDisks and provides the

capacity from which volumes are created.

Volumes Volumes are the virtual units that are presented to hosts for reading and writing

data.

Hosts Hosts access volumes from the Storwize V7000 Unified block function. The Storwize

V7000 Unified File Modules also access volumes presented by the Storwize Unified block

function as the building block for file-based storage.

Figure 12 shows the Suggested Tasks window which is available on the home page of the Storwize

V7000 Unified GUI. This window provides a walkthrough of the major components that must be

configured on the Storwize V7000 Unified system. Clicking an icon displays the description of the item

and a link to manage it.

VASA provider is available for Storwize V7000 Unified block storage and does not support NFS shares. NFS Storage profiles mustbe manually created.


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Figure 12: Storwize V7000 Unified suggested tasks window

Clicking Pools, for example, displays the Internal Storage management window, which is nested within

the Pools section in the GUI. You can configure storage from disk drive to storage pool from this

management window. You need to perform the following steps to configure a storage pool.

1. Click ConfigureStorage. A specific drive class can be selected, or multiple drive classes can be

used.

Figure 13 Configuring Internal Storage

2. A page providing guidance on creating RAID arrays is displayed. There are two options: Use the

recommended configuration and Select a different configu ration . The wizard includes presetbest practices for array width, spare selection, and optimizing for capacity or performance. The

recommended configuration automatically creates a new storage pool on clicking Finish, as

shown in Figure 14.


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Figure 14: Using the recommended configuration for internal storage configuration

If a custom configuration is chosen, an additional step is needed.

3. The custom configuration provides the option to expand or create new storage pools. It is

generally not a best practice to expand existing storage pools unless SSDs are being used to

create a hybrid, Easy Tier enabled storage pool. A name must be given for the storage pool and a

custom icon is available, as shown in Figure 15. Click Finish, so that the Storwize V7000 Unified

creates the RAID arrays and storage pool. The storage pool is immediately available for access

due to the RAID array code that the Storwize V7000 Unified inherits from the IBM DS8000

storage system.


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Figure 15: Creating a custom storage pool

Attaching the Storwize V7000 Unified block storage to vSphere hostsPrior to attaching the Storwize V7000 Unified block storage volumes to vSphere hosts, you need to

complete the following steps.

Install HBA or HBAs on the vSphere host.

Verify that the vSphere host is at the latest firmware levels.

Update and configure HBAs for hosts running vSphere.

Connect the FC host adapter ports to the switches.

Configure the switches and create the appropriate SAN zoning.

Install VMware vSphere and load additional drivers if required.

Specific guidance for completing those steps is available in IBM Redbooks Implementing the IBM

Storwize V7000 at ibm.com/redbooks/abstracts/sg247938.html

Creating FC hosts f rom the Storwize V7000 Unified GUI

This section describes how to create FC hosts using the IBM Storwize V7000 Unified GUI. Perform

the following steps to create a new host.

1. Click Hosts to open the host configuration window, as shown in Figure 16.


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Figure 16: Launching the host configuration window

2. To create a new host, click New Host to start the host creation wizard, as shown in Figure 17.

Figure 17: Launching the new host wizard

3. Select the type of host to be created, as shown in Figure 18.


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Figure 18: Selecting the host type

The Fibre Channel Host creation screen is shown in Figure 19. You can find the instructions for

creating iSCSI hosts in the Implementing IBM Storwize V7000 guide in IBM Redbooks.

Figure 19: Fibre Channel host creation

4. Enter a host name and open the Fibre Channel Ports list to view all known worldwide port names

(WWPNs) for the vSphere host, as shown in Figure 20.


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Figure 20: Select Fibre Channel Ports

The IBM Storwize V7000 Unified has the host port WWPNs available if the host(s) is

appropriately zoned to the Storwize V7000 Unified system.

5. Select the WWPN for the vSphere host and clickAdd Port to L is t, as shown in Figure 21.

Figure 21: Adding WWPN to the host object

6. Click Create Host and the wizard creates the host, as shown in Figure 22.


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Figure 22: Details showing the completion of the Fibre Channel host

Creating Storwize V7000 Unified block volume

Perform the following steps to create volumes and make them accessible from the vSphere host.

1. In the IBM Storwize V7000 Unified GUI, click Volumes (as shown in Figure 23) to start the

process of creating new volumes.

Figure 23: The Volumes option that enables new volume creation

2. Click New Volume to start the New Volume wizard.


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Figure 24: New Volume wizard

3. Select a preset volume type. The description is each option is as follows:

Generic: A striped volume that is fully provisioned

Thin provision: A striped volume that is space efficient, meaning, the volume grows with the

data consumed

Mirror: A striped volume consisting of two striped copies and synchronized to protect against

loss of data if the underlying storage pool of one copy is lost

Thin Mirror: Two synchronized copies, both thin provisioned


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A destination storage pool must also be selected. After selecting a storage pool, the options to

specify the volume name and size (as shown in Figure 25) is displayed.

Figure 25: Create a generic volume

4. Enter a volume name and size and click Create and Map to Host , as shown in Figure 26. The

map host wizard will be displayed.

Figure 26: Create and map to host


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Mapping a volume to a vSphere host

To map the volume to a vSphere host complete the following steps:

1. Select a host to which the new volume should be attached, as shown in Figure 27.

Figure 27: Selecting a host

2. The Modify Host Mappings window opens, and your host and newly created volume are already

selected. Click OK and the volume is mapped to the host, as shown in Figure 28.

Figure 28: Modify Host Mappings window

Setting vSphere host multi-pathing

To add the Storwize V7000 Unified block storage volume to the vSphere host, first establish a

connection between the VMware vSphere client and the vSphere vCenter server or vSphere host.

1. Navigate to the Configuration tab of the vSphere host, and select Storage Adapters.

2. Click Rescan All, select the default options, and click OK (as shown in Figure 29).


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Figure 29: Specifying the options for rescan

3. Select the Storage tab and click theAdd Storage link.

4. The Add Storage wizard is displayed. Click Select Disk/LUN and then click Next.The IBM

Storwize V7000 Unified block storage volume is displayed in the Add Storage window, as shown

in Figure 30. Select the volume and click Next.

Figure 30: Storwize V7000 Unified block volume displayed in the Add Storage window

5. Complete the remaining steps in the Add Storage wizard to create the VMware data store. After

clicking Finish, the new volume gets displayed in the Storage view.

6. Select the new VMware data store and click Properties. The data store properties, are displayed

as shown in Figure 31.


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Figure 31: VMware data store properties

7. Click Manage Paths to customize the multipath settings.

8. From the Path Selection list, select Round Robin (as shown in Figure 32), and click Change.

Figure 32: Changing VMware data store mulitpath setting

The Storwize V7000 Unified block storage volume is ready for use by the vSphere host using FC

attachment.


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IBM Storwize V7000U vSphere 5 file use cases

IBM Storwize V7000 Unified can store vSphere virtual machines on block through iSCSI or FCAL (Fibre

Channel) or on NFS through Ethernet.

In many cases, when you want to decide between block and file, either will prove advantageous. While

there is no clear theoretical advantage to one virtual disk storage mechanism compared to the other,administrators are likely to decide on the basis of the available hardware and the storage networking

solutions that they have the maximum experience and comfort with.

Some customers may wish to use both block and file for the storage of virtual disks in order to benchmark

performance differences for their specific use cases and consider technology specific features such as

incremental infrastructure cost per server, available feature sets, and ease of administration.

Here is a list of features of the Storwize V7000 Unified NFS-based storage for storage of VMware virtual

disks and storage leveraged by virtual machines.

Large data store support: A single Storwize V7000 Unified NFS data store can span all

available storage internal to the Storwize V7000 system for a data store of 720 TB, which is

more than ten times the maximum size of a VMFS data store

NFS data stores do not have SCSI reservation performance issues. As a result, using large

NFS data stores is much more practical. Although SCSI reservation performance

optimizations in VAAI have reduced SCSI reservation impact, best practices for block-based

storage still include minimizing data store size and number of virtual machines (VMs) per

block data store where possible.

Storwize V7000 Unified leverages 1 Gb / 10 Gb Ethernet infrastructure which is more

commonly understood, less expensive to implement, and easier for most system

administration professionals to leverage. 10 Gb Ethernet is faster than most todays 4Gb and

8Gb FCAL implementations.

Data sharing between multiple VMs or multiple operating systems is less complicated when

shared through CIFS or NFS. This includes home directories for Virtual Desktop

Infrastructure (VDI) which are generally best shared through Active Directory authenticated

CIFS share.

Data shared through CIFS or NFS can scale gracefully without being bound by 2 TB VMware

Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK) limitation. NAS shares are as scalable as your Storwize V7000

Unified (up to 720 TB per cluster).

NAS share maximum capacity can be dynamically increased without requiring any

client/vSphere side interaction or downtime.

V7000U NFS Storage provisioning and vSphere attachmentIBM Storwize V7000 Unified NFS storage supports large volumes and is a great fit for customers whowant to avoid SCSI reservation conflict issues in large block data stores. The Storwize V7000 Unified

system supports single vSphere NFS data stores up to 360 TB Storwize V7000Unified system also

supports multiple NFS shares from a single file system allowing administrators to logically partition data

stores and share aggregate storage and I/O capacity from a single file system


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Preparing an NFS share on the Storwize V7000 Unified system

Perform the following steps to prepare an NFS share on the Stowize V7000 Unified system.

1. Log in to the Storwize V7000 Unified GUI as an administrator or with equivalent rights.

Figure 33: Storwize V7000 Unified logon screen


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2. Navigate to file systems menu and click New File System.

Figure 34: IBM Storwize V7000 Unfiied Files menu


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3. In the File system name field, enter a name for the file system and then click Custom.

4. From the Storage Pool list, select the necessary storage pool, move the Size slider to the

necessary size, from the Block size list, select a block size, and then click OK.

Note: Larger block sizes will generally result in improved performance.

Figure 35: Specifying file system name and pool settings


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5. After the file system is created, click Close.

Figure 36: Details indicating the successful completion of a new file system

Note: In addition to allowing larger vSphere NFS data stores, the Storwize V7000 Unified system allows

dynamic NFS volume growth with no required storage interruption, reconfiguration, or down time on

vSphere. Multiple NFS shares can be carved out of a single file system.


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Creating an NFS share for your vSphere ESX servers

Perform the following steps to create an NFS share for a vSphere ESX server:

1. Navigate to the Files menu and click Shares.

Figure 37: Creating a new file share

2. Click New Share.

Figure 38: Option to create a new share


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3. Click NFS and then select the file system you want to export. Click OK when the desired path to

export is displayed correctly in the GUI.

Figure 39: Specifying the path to export


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4. Click NFS. In the Path field, add a slash and enter the directory name to the path; in the Share

name field, enter the same name as the directory.

5. Clear the Read only access, Root Squash, and Secure check boxes.

6. In the Client name or ID field, enter the ESX server VMkernel (VMK) DNS name or VMK IP.

7. Click the plus (+) sign and repeat client permissions for each ESX server which will mount the

share.

Figure 40: New Share NFS permissions dialog


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Note: The DNS resolvable hostname or IP entered in the client ID field should resolve to the IP address

assigned to the VMkernel interface which will be mounting the share. If multiple VMK IPs exist on an ESX

server, all VMK IPs need permissions.

Figure 41: Create share task completed


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Mounting the created share on the vSphere ESX server

Perform the following steps to mount the created share on the vSphere ESX server.

1. In the vSphere client Hosts and Clusters view, click the ESX server that you need to add to the

data store.

2. Click the Configuration tab and then clickAdd Storage.

Figure 42: vSphere Client Configuration:Storage View

3. In theAdd Storage window, in the Storage Type section, select Network File System.

Figure 43: Specifying the storage type

4. On the Network File System page, enter the NFS target IP and the path to the exported directory.


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5. In the Datastore Name field, enter the name you will use to refer to the data store in vSphere.

Figure 44: Entering the name for the data store


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6. On the Ready to Complete page, after reviewing the summary, click OK.

Figure 45: Ready to Complete page displaying the summaryAfter mounting your new NFS data store, it is ready for previously aligned virtual machines to be

transferred to it through Storage VMotion or for new virtual machines and virtual disks to be provisioned.

Be sure to align disk partitions correctly for your storage and OS before beginning installation to maximize

storage efficiency. The alignment information in this IBM SONAS paper is also applicable to the Storwize

V7000 Unified system.

Refer to the IBM SONAS VMware Disk Alignment V1.0 at:

ibm.com/partnerworld/wps/servlet/ContentHandler/stg_ast_sys_wp_sonas_vmware_disk_alignment

Using block and file storage, View VDI use case

Brief overview of VMware View

VMware View is VMwares VDI connection broker solution allowing the provisioning of desktop operating

systems on vSphere in a centrally-managed model which provides benefits in security, manageability,

reduced system downtime, improved geographic accessibility, reduced energy consumption, improved


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worker productivity, desktop checkout and portability, overall user experience, and total cost of ownership

(TCO) improvements.

VMware View is a versatile connection broker solution offering diverse OS support and superior flexibility

in connecting users to desktop computing sessions.

Connection options include: Connection to existing dedicated physical resources

Connection to shared OS Microsoft Terminal Services-based solutions

Dynamically-deployed template-based desktop pools

Individually-assigned desktop operating systems

The flexibility of VMware View makes it an excellent accompaniment for the Storwize V7000 Unified

system in supporting an array of centralized desktop computing services for thin client and

work-portability solutions. Large organizations can have pools of individually assigned VDI desktops for

flexibility as well as pools directing users to more resource-efficient solutions. VMware View leverages

Active Directory to authenticate users to their VDI desktops. IBM Storwize V7000 Unified system can alsoleverage Active Directory or another LDAP solution to authenticate users to home directory shares and

departmental or organizational file shares, which can be leveraged across multiple vSphere and

physically-hosted OS solutions.

Provide alternative of deploying user data to CIFS using Storwize V7000 Unified including benefits (such

as data backup, virus scan, and so on), make case of why it is beneficial.

VMware vSphere / View backupVMware vSphere virtual machine backup is best performed with a backup tool designed specifically for

use with vSphere virtual machines.

IBM has qualified the following solutions for use with Storwize V7000 Unified and vSphere virtualmachines.

Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments

Symantec NetBackup

Veeam


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Home directory backups are best performed with a backup solution intended for backing up regular f iles.

The following have been specifically qualified for use with the Storwize V7000 Unified system:

Tivoli Storage Manager

Symantec NetBackup

For many customers, a single solution such as Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments that

supports both file share and VM backups works best. You can contact your IBM sales representative for

more information on Tivoli Storage Manager solutions. Tivoli Storage Manager can also take advantage

of the Storwize V7000 Unified system internal scan engine to identify changed files more rapidly,

shortening the time required for incremental backup in order to meet more stringent backup windows.

For more information on the Storwize V7000 Unified backup, refer to the IBM Systems Storage ISV

Solutions Resource Library at: ibm.com/systems/storage/solutions/isv/index.html


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Conclusion

IBM Storwize V7000 Unified is an efficient, scalable, performance storage solution for mixed block and

file workloads on Ethernet and FC networks. Storwize V7000 Unified vSphere certification makes it an

ideal platform for workloads, which require the benefits of block-based storage with VMware VAAI or SRM

(VMware Site Recovery Manager) features and large NAS volume support. The versatility andexpandability of the Storwize V7000 Unified system can make it an excellent choice for migration of

existing end-of-life legacy storage and for organizations with growing storage needs.


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Resources

The following websites provide useful references to supplement the information contained in this white

paper:

IBM Systems on PartnerWorld

ibm.com/partnerworld/systems

IBM Storwize V7000 on PartnerWorld

ibm.com/partnerworld/wps/pub/overview/HW26Z

IBM Publications Center

www.elink.ibmlink.ibm.com/public/applications/publications/cgibin/pbi.cgi?CTY=US

IBM Storwize V7000

ibm.com/storage/storwizev7000

IBM Redbooks

ibm.com/redbooks

IBM System Storage Interoperation Center (SSIC)

ibm.com/systems/support/storage/config/ssic/displayesssearchwithoutjs.wss?start_over=yes

IBM TechDocs Library

ibm.com/support/techdocs/atsmastr.nsf/Web/TechDocs

VMware vSphere 5 Documentation Center

pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/index.jsp?topic=/com.vmware.vsphere.install.doc_50/GUID-

7C9A1E23-7FCD-4295-9CB1-C932F2423C63.html

About the authors

Rawley Burbridge is a technical consultant in the IBM Systems and Technology Group ISV Storage

Enablement Organization. He has more than 5 years experience working with the IBM System X and

System Storage platforms, and over three years as a certified VMware professional. You can reach

Rawley [email protected]

Benton Gallun is a Systems Architect in the IBM SONAS ISV Enablement Group. He has more than 15

years experience working with thin client, virtualization, and storage technologies. His focus is on storage,

server virtualization, VDI, and cloud solutions from ISVs that leverage the power of scale out NAS.You

can contact Benton at [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Performance is based on measurements and projections using standard IBM benchmarks in a controlled

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Documents

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