IBM Support

8.3.x Recommended Software Levels for IBM Storwize V7000/V5000

Preventive Service Planning


Abstract

The documents titled Recommended Software levels provides supported levels of applications and tools that work if conjunction with IBM Storwize V7000/V5000.

While these levels are not mandatory levels for a customer to be supported by IBM, they are the recommended levels. There may be known operational issues with older firmware and BIOS levels and, in these cases, a customer working with the IBM Support centre may be directed to upgrade a component to a recommended level.

As of the 1st January 2017 all Host/Controllers/Switches/HBA configuration information is now provided by SSIC.
http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/support/storage/ssic/interoperability.wss

Content

Whilst IBM recommends these levels based upon the most recent testing, the following levels were tested against previous versions of Storwize V7000/V5000 and IBM will support the use of these levels with Storwize V7000/V5000 V8.1.x

If you have Interoperability requirements which are not listed in this document please contact your IBM Account Representative

16Gbps Fibre Channel Canister Connection

Please see SSIC for supported 16Gbps Fibre Channel configurations supported with 16Gbps node hardware. Note 16Gbps Node hardware is supported when connected to Brocade and Cisco 8Gbps or 16Gbps fabrics only.
Direct connections to 2Gbps or 4Gbps SAN or direct host attachment to 2Gbps or 4Gbps ports is not supported.
Other configured switches which are not directly connected to the16Gbps Node hardware can be any supported fabric switch as currently listed in SSIC.

Additional Links
Last Updated
Previously Supported Levels
26 Jun 2019
Supported Drive Types
26 Apr 2012
Easy Tier Function Supported Configurations
26 Sep 2017
Storwize V7000/V5000 Code Compatibility
26 Sep 2017
Non Disruptive Volume Move
26 Jun 2019
Transparent Cloud Tiering
26 Sep 2017
IP Quorum
26 Sep 2017
Supported Key Servers
1 Nov 2018
Other Hardware & Software
Inter Cluster Fibre Extenders
13 Feb 2013
Inter Cluster SAN Routers
09 Aug 2016
VSS
26 Jun 2019
Management GUI
26 Jun 2019
GPFS / IBM Spectrum Scale
11 Mar 2016
IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager (FCM) / IBM Spectrum Protect Snapshot
01 Jul 2016
Oracle
26 Jun 2019
Openstack
26 Sep 2017

Additional Links

Previously Supported Levels

Storwize Version
Previous Support Levels
8.1.x 8.1.x Recommended Software Levels for IBM Storwize V7000/V5000
7.8.x
V7.8 Supported Hardware List, Device Driver, Firmware and Recommended Software Levels for IBM Storwize V7000
7.7.x
V7.7 Supported Hardware List, Device Driver, Firmware and Recommended Software Levels for IBM Storwize V7000
7.6.x
V7.6 Supported Hardware List, Device Driver, Firmware and Recommended Software Levels for IBM Storwize V7000
7.5.x
V7.5 Supported Hardware List, Device Driver, Firmware and Recommended Software Levels for IBM Storwize V7000
7.4.x
V7.4 Supported Hardware List, Device Driver, Firmware and Recommended Software Levels for IBM Storwize V7000
7.3.x
V7.3 Supported Hardware List, Device Driver, Firmware and Recommended Software Levels for IBM Storwize V7000
7.2.x
V7.2 Supported Hardware List, Device Driver, Firmware and Recommended Software Levels for IBM Storwize V7000
7.1.x
V7.1 Supported Hardware List, Device Driver, Firmware and Recommended Software Levels for IBM Storwize V7000

Storwize V7000/V5000 Supported Drive Types

Storwize V7000/V5000 Supported Drive Types
Please follow this link for details on Supported Drive Types and Firmware Levels for Storwize V7000
Please follow this link for details on Supported Drive Types and Firmware Levels for Storwize V5000

Storwize V7000 Easy Tier Function Supported Configurations

Tier 0 Storage Tier 1 Storage Tier 2 Storage Notes
Internal or externally virtualized flash storage Internal or externally virtualized enterprise HDDs (10k/15k rpm) Internal or externally virtualized nearline HDDs Easy Tier is not supported in any configuration where flash storage is not exclusively being used as the Tier 0 storage.
If there are no enterprise HDDs in the pool: Internal or externally virtualized nearline HDDs

Storwize V7000/V5000 Code Compatibility

Storwize Version 

Storwize V7000 Non Disruptive Volume Move ( NDVM )

The following Fibre Channel attached host types are supported for non-disruptively moving a volume between I/O groups (control enclosures)

OS Version Multipathing Clustering Notes
AIX7.2TL0SP2 SDDPCM 2.6.4.0 Non Disruptive Volume Move may leave the same Volume mapped to different hosts in the same host cluster using different SCSI IDs. If the host cluster cannot tolerate this configuration then non disruptive move cannot be used. In SDDPCM 2.6.4.0, a new command "changeprefcntl" is introduced to solve the host limitation - "Preferred paths are not detected after moving a volume to a new I/O group. " in SDDPCM 2.6.3.2
SDDPCM 2.6.5.1
SDDPCM 2.6.6.0 For Host Clusters which cannot tolerate this condition users should quiesce their hosts, perform the NVDM steps to move the volumes to another IO group, reassign the SCSI IDs manually, then reconfigure and restart the hosts. SAN Boot is supported. 
SDDPCM 2.6.7.0 NPIV is supported
SDDPCM 2.6.8.0
AIX7.1 with VIOS 2.2.x(vSCSI) AIXPCM with APAR IV42360 PowerHA 7.1 Supported In NPIV configuration when RAW I/O is running over a disk, some enabled paths of that disk may get failed/invalid during NDVM. The failed/invalid paths will be recovered automatically by AIX path health check hence application I/O will not be impacted. Disks used by filesystem do not have such issue.
SVC host type should be changed to "TPGS"
data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhEAABAPAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAEALAAAAAAQAAEAQAIEjI8ZBQA7
AIX7.1TL5    
AIXPCM data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhEAABAPAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAEALAAAAAAQAAEAQAIEjI8ZBQA7
AIX7.1 TL3 SP03 AIXPCM Non Disruptive Volume Move may leave the same Volume mapped to different hosts in the same host cluster using different SCSI IDs. If the host cluster cannot tolerate this configuration then non disruptive move cannot be used.
Windows 2016
MSDSM Hyper-V Failover Cluster SAN Boot is supported
Windows 2012 SDDDSM Hyper-V Failover Cluster Step4: Remove the original IO group
Windows 2008 SDDDSM Procedures for a Windows cluster NDVM:
For Host Clusters which cannot tolerate this condition users should quiesce their hosts, perform the NVDM steps to move the volumes to another IO group, reassign the SCSI IDs manually, then reconfigure and restart the hosts.
Hyper-V Failover Cluster
RHEL7.4 DMMP
SLES12 SP3 DMMP data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhEAABAPAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAEALAAAAAAQAAEAQAIEjI8ZBQA7
SLES11 SP1 DMMP
VMware ESxi6.5 Native VAAI is supported using NDVM with SVC
VMware ESXi6.0 Native data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhEAABAPAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAEALAAAAAAQAAEAQAIEjI8ZBQA7
VMware ESXi5.5 Native
Solaris 11.3 SPARC MPxIO SAN Boot is supported
Solaris 11.1 SPARC Veritas DMP SAN Boot is supported
Solaris10u11 MPxIO SFHA 6.1
Hewlett Packard B.11.31.1303 Native Service Guard 11.20 SAN Boot is supported

For all other host types, I/O should be quiesced when moving a volume.

Transparent Cloud Tiering

With the inclusion of transparent cloud tiering in SVC 7.8, you can configure a cloud account on the system to be able to create and restore cloud snapshots of system volumes. Please click the link for details:

http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/ST3FR7_8.1.0/com.ibm.storwize.v7000.810.doc/svc_transcloudtiering_config.html

IP Quorum

From IBM Spectrum Virtualize Software V7.6, IP quorum is supported to enable the use of a lower cost IP network-attached host as quorum disk to cope with tie-break situation.

Please refer to below table for OS support matrix

OS version Oracle Java 7 Oracle Java 8 IBM Java 7 IBM Java 8 Open JDK 7 Open JDK 8
Windows Server 2016
Windows Server 2012R2
Windows Server 2012
Windows Server 2008R2
Windows Server 2008
RHEL 7.x
RHEL 6.x
SLES 12.x
SLES 11.x
CentOS 7.x
CentOS 6.x
AIX 7.x

Supported Key Servers

Supported level are available at http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ibm10738187

Other Hardware & Software

Technologies for extending the distance between two IBM Storwize V7000 clusters can be broadly divided into the following two categories.

Inter Cluster Fibre Channel Extenders

Fibre channel extenders simply extend a fibre channel link by transmitting fibre channel packets across long links without changing the contents of those packets. IBM has tested a number of such fibre channel extender technologies with IBM Storwize V7000 and will support fibre channel extenders of all types provided that they are planned, installed and operated as described in the Configuration Guide document.

Inter Cluster SAN Routers

SAN routers extend the scope of a SAN by providing "virtual nPorts" on two or more SANs. The router arranges that traffic at one virtual nPort is propagated to the other virtual nPort but the two fibre channel fabrics are independent of one another. Thus nPorts on each of the fabrics cannot directly log into each other. There are distance restrictions imposed due to latency. The amount of latency which can be tolerated depends on the type of copy services being used (Metro Mirror or Global Mirror). Details of the maximum latencies supported can be found in the Software Installation and Configuration Guide.

Due to the more complex interactions involved, IBM explicitly tests products of this class for interoperability with IBM Storwize V7000.

The following SAN Routers are supported for use with IBM Storwize V7000 when planned, installed and operated as described in the Configuration Guide document.

Inter Cluster SAN Routers
Firmware
AKA
Notes
IBM# for IBM Badged Switch
SAN16B-R SAN Router
Brocade AP7420
SAN Router
7.4.1d
2109-A16
SAN18B-R
Silkworm 7500
6.3.1b
6.3.2a
6.4.0b
6.4.0c
6.4.2a
2005-R18
SAN04B-R
Silkworm 7500E
6.3.1b
6.3.2a
6.4.0a
6.4.2a
2005-R04
SAN06B-R
Silkworm 7800
6.3.1a
6.3.1b
6.4.2a
6.4.3b
6.4.3c
7.0.1b
7.0.0c
7.0.0d
7.0.1b
7.0.2a
7.0.2.c
7.1.0c
7.1.1
7.1.1b
7.1.1c
7.1.1c1
7.1.2
7.1.2a
7.1.2b
7.2.0d
7.2.1a
7.2.1b
7.2.1c
7.2.1c1
7.2.1d
7.2.1e
7.2.1f
7.2.1g
7.3.0b
7.3.0c
7.3.1a
7.3.1b
7.3.1c
7.3.1d
7.3.1e
7.3.2
7.3.2a
7.3.2b
7.4.0a
7.4.0b
7.4.1
7.4.1a
7.4.1b
7.4.1c
7.4.1d
2498-R06
SAN42B-R
Brocade 7840
7.3.0b
7.3.0c
7.3.1a
7.3.1b
7.3.1c
7.3.1d
7.3.1e
7.3.2
7.3.2a
7.3.2b
7.4.0a
7.4.0b
7.4.1
7.4.1a
7.4.1b
7.4.1c
7.4.1d
2498-R42
M48 FC3450 Blade
Silkworm 48000 director blade FR4-18i
6.3.1b
6.3.2a
6.4.0a
6.4.0b
6.4.0c
6.4.1b
6.4.2a
N/A
SAN384B
SAN768B 
FC3890
FX8-24 
Router Blade
6.4.1b
6.4.2a
6.4.3b
6.4.3c
7.0.1b
7.0.0c
2499-192
2499-384
SAN384B-2
SAN768B-2 
FC3890
FX8-24 
Router Blade
6.4.1b
6.4.2a
6.4.3b
6.4.3c
7.0.1b
7.0.0c
2499-416
2499-816
Cisco MDS 9000 Series Inter VSAN Routing
QLogic 6142
2.4.4.3

VSS

VSS support can be found at:

https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSEPFA/landing/css_lifecycle_support_matrix_vssvds.html

Management GUI

To access the management GUI, you must ensure that your web browser is supported and has the appropriate settings enabled.

Support link
For information on supported browsers & configuring you browser to work with the IBM Storwize V7000 management GUI please visit the
IBM Storwize V7000 Information Center

GPFS / IBM Spectrum Scale Versions

AIX Level
GPFS / IBM Spectrum Scale Version
Note
6.1
3.5
4.1
Please see the following link for GPFS / IBM Spectrum ScaleDocumentation
7.1
3.5
4.1

RHEL Level
GPFS / IBM Spectrum Scale Version
Note
5.6 and above
3.5
Please see the following link for GPFS / IBM Spectrum ScaleDocumentation
6.2 & above
4.1
4.1.1
6.4 & above
4.2
7
3.5.0.21 & above
4.1.0.4 & above

IBM Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager (FCM) / IBM Spectrum Protect Snapshot

FlashCopy Manager / Spectrum Protect Snapshot Level
FlashCopy Manager / Spectrum Protect Snapshot Information
Notes
4.1.6
8.1.0

Oracle

*Oracle Server Release
Minimum Operating System
Minimum IBM Storwize V7000 Level
Clustering Support
ASM
Note
11gR2 64bit
AIX 7.1
RHEL6.10
SLES11
HPUX11iV3
Windows 2012
V6.1.x
Yes
Yes
AIX 5.3 and AIX 6.1 are now end of service and as such no further fixes will be made available. Should you have an issue please upgrade to a supported version of AIX.

Please visit the IBM Storwize V7000 v8.1 Restrictions
Please visit the IBM Storwize V5000 v8.1 Restrictions

Please visit this Flash if using Oracle ASM with HPUX

On Linux servers running Oracle RAC 11GR2 set Parameter ”_asm_hbeatiowait ” to 65s or larger.
12c
AIX 7.1 TL3
RHEL6.10
RHEL7
HPUX11.31
Windows 2008 R2
Windows 2012 R2
Solaris 11.2
V7.3.x
Yes
Yes
RHEL6.10
V7.5.x

Openstack

Please link the following link for Openstack support.

https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/STPVGU_8.3.0/com.ibm.storage.svc.console.830.doc/storwize_openstack_matrix.html

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Document Information

Modified date:
28 March 2023

UID

ibm10957101