This document will be using the EMC symmetrix configuration. There
are a number of EMC Symmetrix configurations but they all use the same
architecture as detailed below.
Front End Director
A channel director (front end director) is a card that connects a host to the symmetrix, each card can have upto four ports.
Cache
Symmetrix cache memory buffers I/O transfers between the director channels and the storage devices. The cache is divided up into regions to eliminate contension.
Back End Director
A disk director (back end director) transfers data from disk to cache. Each back-end director can have upto four interfaces (C,D,E and F). Each back-end director interface can handle seven SCSI ids (0-6)
Disk Devices
The disk devices that are attached to the back-end directors could be either SCSI or FC-AL.
Interconnect
The direct matrix interconnect is a matrix of high speed connections to all componentswith bandwidth up to 64Gb/s
SAN Components
The are many components to a SAN Architecture. A host can connect to a SAN via direct connection or via a SAN switch.
SAN Login
The below table documents the various proccesses that occur when a fibre channel device is connected to a SAN
If any one of the above were to fail then the host will not be allowed to access the disks on the SAN.
VCM Database
There are three models of switchs M-series (Mcdata), B-series (Brocade) and the MDS-series (Cisco). Each of the switch offer a web interface and a CLI. The following tasks can be set on most switches:
The CLI commands can be viewed here for all switches, also a detailed view of zoning can be located here.
Host HBA's
The table below outlines which card will work with a particular O/S
The card configuration page can been seen here
Clariion configuration
The Clariion cheat sheet can be seen from this link
Symmetrix configuration
The Symmetrix cheat sheet can be seen from this link.
 |
Front End Director Ports (SA-16b:1) |
| Front End Director (SA-16b) | |
| Cache | |
| Back End Director (DA-02b) | |
| Back End Director Ports (DA-02b:c) | |
| Disk Devices |
A channel director (front end director) is a card that connects a host to the symmetrix, each card can have upto four ports.
Cache
Symmetrix cache memory buffers I/O transfers between the director channels and the storage devices. The cache is divided up into regions to eliminate contension.
Back End Director
A disk director (back end director) transfers data from disk to cache. Each back-end director can have upto four interfaces (C,D,E and F). Each back-end director interface can handle seven SCSI ids (0-6)
Disk Devices
The disk devices that are attached to the back-end directors could be either SCSI or FC-AL.
Interconnect
The direct matrix interconnect is a matrix of high speed connections to all componentswith bandwidth up to 64Gb/s
SAN Components
The are many components to a SAN Architecture. A host can connect to a SAN via direct connection or via a SAN switch.
| Host HBA | Host bus adaptor cards are used to access SAN storage systems |
| SAN Cables | There are many types of cables and connectors: Types: Multimode (<500m), single mode (>500m) and copper Connectors: ST, SC (1Gb), LC (2Gb) |
| SAN Switches | The primary function of a switch is to provide a
physical connection and logical routing of data frames between the
attached devices. Support multiple protocols: Fibre channel, iSCSI, FCIP, iFCP Type of switch: Workgroup, Directors |
| SAN Zoning | Zoning is used to partition a fibre channel
switched fabric into subsets of logical devices. Each zone contains a
set of members that are permitted to access each other. Members are
HBA's, switch ports and SAN ports. Types of zoning: hard, soft and mixed |
| Zone set s | This is a group of zones that relate to one another, only one zone set can be active at any one time. |
| Storage arrays | Storage array is were all the disk devices are located. |
| Volume access control | This is also know as LUN masking. The storage array maintains a database that contains a map of the storage volumes and WWN's that are allowed to access it. The VCM database in a symmetrix would contain the LUN masking information. |
The below table documents the various proccesses that occur when a fibre channel device is connected to a SAN
| Information/process | FLOGI (fabric login) | PLOGI (port login) | PRLI (process login) |
| What is need ? | - Link initialization - Cable - HBA and driver - Switch Port |
- FLOGI - Zoning - Persistent binding - Driver setting |
- PLOGI - Device masking (target) - Device mapping (initiator) - Driver setting (initiator) |
| What information is passed | - WWN - S_ID - Protocol - Class - Zoning |
- WWN - S_ID - ULP - Class - BB Credit |
- LUN |
| Who does the communication ? | - N_port to F_port | - N_port to N_port | - ULP( scsi-3 to scsi-3) |
| where to find the information ? | Unix - syslog - switch utilites Windows - Event viewer - Switch viewer |
Unix - Syslog - Driver Ulitities Windows - Driver utilities |
Unix - Syslog - Host based volume management Windows - Driver Utilities - Host based volume management - Device Manager |
VCM Database
The Symmetrix Volume Configuration Management (VCM) database stores access configurations that are used to grant host access to logical devices in a Symmetrix storage array.
The VCM database resides on a special system resource
logical device, referred to as the VCMDB device, on each Symmetrix
storage array.
Information stored in the VCM database includes, but is not limited to:
- Host and storage World Wide Names
- SID Lock and Volume Visibility settings
- Native logical device data, such as the front-end directors and storage ports to which they are mapped
There are three models of switchs M-series (Mcdata), B-series (Brocade) and the MDS-series (Cisco). Each of the switch offer a web interface and a CLI. The following tasks can be set on most switches:
- Configure network params
- Configure fabric params (BB Credit, R_A_TOV, E_D_TOV, switch PID format, Domain ID)
- Enable/Disable ports
- Configure port speeds
- Configure Zoning
| BB Credit | Configure the number of buffers that are available to attached devices for frame receipt default 16. Values range 1-16. |
| R_A_TOV | Resource allocation time out value. This works with the E_D_TOV to determine switch actions when presented with an error condition |
| E_D_TOV | Error detect time out value. This timer is used to flag potential error condition when an expected response is not received within the set time |
Host HBA's
The table below outlines which card will work with a particular O/S
| Solaris | Emulex PCI (lputil) Qlogic |
| HPUX | PCI-X gigabit fibre channel and ethernet card |
| AIX | FC6227/6228/6239 using IBM native drivers |
| Windows | Emulex (HBAnyware or lputilnt) |
| Linux | Emulex PCI (lputil) |
Clariion configuration
The Clariion cheat sheet can be seen from this link
Symmetrix configuration
The Symmetrix cheat sheet can be seen from this link.
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