IBM Support

V7.5 Configuration Limits and Restrictions for IBM Storwize V3700

Preventive Service Planning


Abstract

This document lists the configuration limits and restrictions specific to IBM Storwize V3700 software version 7.5

Content

The use of WAN optimization devices such as Riverbed is not supported in native Ethernet IP partnership configurations containing Storwize V3700.


IP Partnership

Using an Ethernet Switch to convert a 10Gbps IP partnership link to 1Gbps link and vice versa is not supported. Therefore, the IP infrastructure on the two partnership sites should both be 1Gbps or 10Gbps. However, bandwidth limiting on 10Gbps and 1Gbps IP partnership between sites is supported.


NEBS / ETSI

Storwize V3500 and Storwize V3700 models conform to applicable Network Equipment Building System (NEBS) level 3 and European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) documents. This requires licensed machine code level 7.1.0.3, or later.

Conformance testing for applicable NEBS level 3 and ETSI document has been completed for all current Storwize V3500 and Storwize V3700 drive options with the exception of those below in Fig. 1.

It is a customer responsibility to review the test result documents to determine whether the testing performed on the models and options meet their requirements. Contact your IBM sales representative or business partner to obtain a copy of the test result documents.

Fig.1
Conformance testing for applicable NEBS level 3 and ETSI document has not yet been completed for the following Storwize V3500 and Storwize V3700 drive options:

3.5-Inch Drives
Feature
number
Plant Install Part Number
Field Install Part Number
Description
ACHL
00RY142
00RY141
1.8TB 10,000 rpm 6Gb SAS 3.5 Inch HDD
2.5-Inch Drives
Feature
number
Plant Install Part Number
Field Install Part Number
Description
ACLN
00RY146
00RY150
1.8TB 10,000 rpm 6Gb SAS 2.5 Inch HDD

The drive options are currently undergoing conformance testing and this page will be updated when testing has been completed.


Fabric Limitations
Only one FCF ( Fibre Channel Forwarder ) switch per fabric is supported.


Host Limitations

Microsoft Offload Data Transfer ( ODX ) and SDDDSM Requirements

Storwize V3700 version 7.5.0 introduced support for Microsft ODX. In order to utilise this function all windows hosts accessing Storwize V3700 are required to be at a minimum SDDDSM version of 2.4.5.0. Earlier versions of SDDDSM are not supported when the ODX function is activated.

Windows NTP server

The Linux NTP client used by Storwize V3700 may not always function correctly with Windows W32Time NTP Server


Windows SAN Boot Clusters (MSCS):

It is possible to SAN boot a Microsoft Cluster subject to the following restrictions imposed by Microsoft:
  • On Windows 2003, clustered disks and boot disks can be presented on the same storage bus, but ONLY if the Storport driver is being used.

These restrictions and more are described in the Microsoft White Paper: "Microsoft Windows Clustering: Storage Area Networks".

IBM have not tested, and therefore do not support, modifying the registry key as suggested on page 28 (which would allow boot disks and clustered disks on the same storage bus on Windows 2003 without the Storport driver).


TPC Restrictions

TPC Supported Versions
The minimum supported TPC version for SVC/Storwize version 7.5 is TPC 5.2.6.

Vdisk Migration
When a vdisk is migrated between a child pool and its parent, or between child pools of the same parent, it is necessary to re-probe the cluster from TPC as no event is logged on the cluster for this type of migration

Migrations between non-child pools also currently require a re-probe

These issues will be addressed in future releases of TPC and SVC/Storwize Code.


Oracle

Oracle Version and OS
Restrictions that apply:
Oracle RAC 10g on Linux Host:
1

Restriction 1: For RHEL4 set Oracle Clusterware 'misscount' parameter to a bigger one to allow SDD to do path failover first. The default miscount setting 60s is too short for SDD. We recommend to set it 90s or 120s. Command to use: crsctl set css misscount 90


Priority Flow Control for iSCSI

Priority Flow Control for iSCSI is supported on Brocade VDX 10-gigabit Ethernet switches only.


SCSI LUN ID 0
SAS Hosts running Linux or Vmware operating systems.

Removal of LUN's mapped to SCSI ID 0 is not supported and may result in a loss of access to the remaining LUNs.


Easy Tier balancing
Pre V7.3 to V7.3 or above upgrade may disable balancing with EasyTier.
Easy Tier balancing is disabled on a 4GB V3700 system if there are more than 700,000 extents. Event 02008 will be logged until either the RAM is upgraded to 8GB, some Mdisks are deleted or CLI action is taken to turn off balancing and Easy Tier for some pools.



Maximum Configurations

Configuration limits for Storwize V3700:

Maximum WWPNs per host Object and iSCSI Names

The maximum number of FC/SAS/FCoE hosts ports supported per host object is now 32 (previously 512).
The maximum number of iSCSI names supported per host object is now 8 (previously 256).

Please see the following document

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ssg1S1005261


Property
Maximum Number
Comments
System (Cluster) Properties
Control enclosures per system (cluster)
1
Each control enclosure contains two node canisters
Nodes per system
2
Arranged as one I/O group
Nodes per fabric
64
Maximum number of maximum number of SVC or Storwize family system nodes that can be present on the same Fibre Channel fabric, with visibility of each other
Fabrics per system
4
The number of counterpart Fibre Channel SANs which are supported
- Up to 4 fabrics using the Fibre Channel HIC
- Up to 2 fabrics using FCoE ports
Inter-cluster partnerships per system
3
A system may be partnered with up to three remote systems. No more than four systems may be in the same connected set
USB ports
2

Node Properties
Logins per node Fibre Channel port
512
Includes logins from server HBAs, disk controller ports, node ports within the same system and node ports from remote systems
iSCSI sessions per node
256
512 in IP failover mode (when partner node is unavailable)
Managed Disk Properties
Managed disks (MDisks) per system
4096
The maximum number of logical units which can be managed by a system

This number also includes external MDisks which are in use as image mode migration candidates
Managed disks per storage pool (managed disk group)
128

Storage pools per system
1024

Parent pools per system
128

Child pools per system
1023

Managed disk extent size
8192 MB

Capacity for an individual internal managed disk (array)
1 PB
No limit is imposed beyond the maximum number of drives per array limits.
Maximum size is dependent on the extent size of the Storage Pool.
Comparison Table: Maximum Volume, MDisk and System capacity for each extent size.
Capacity for an individual external managed disk
1 PB
External managed disks may only be used for image mode migration purposes
Comparison Table: Maximum Volume, MDisk and System capacity for each extent size.
Total storage capacity manageable per system
32 PB
Maximum requires an extent size of 8192 MB to be used

This limit represents the per system maximum of 2^22 extents.

Comparison Table: Maximum Volume, MDisk and System capacity for each extent size.
Volume (Virtual Disk) Properties
Volumes per system
2048

Thin-provisioned (space-efficient) volume copies per system
2048
No limit is imposed here beyond the volume copies per system limit.
Volumes per storage pool
-
No limit is imposed beyond the volumes per system limit
Fully-allocated volume capacity
256 TB
Maximum size for an individual fully-allocated volume.

Maximum size is dependent on the extent size of the Storage Pool.
Comparison Table: Maximum Volume, MDisk and System capacity for each extent size.
Thin-provisioned (space-efficient) volume capacity
256 TB
Maximum size for an individual thin-provisioned volume.

Maximum size is dependent on the extent size of the Storage Pool.
Comparison Table: Maximum Volume, MDisk and System capacity for each extent size.
Host mappings per system
20,000
See also - volume mappings per host object below
Mirrored Volume (Virtual Disk) Properties
Copies per volume
2

Volume copies per system
2048

Total mirrored volume capacity per I/O group
256 TB

Generic Host Properties
Host objects (IDs) per system
256
A host object may contain both Fibre Channel ports and iSCSI names
Host objects (IDs) per I/O group
256
Refer to the additional Fibre Channel and iSCSI host limits below
Volume mappings per host object
512

Total Fibre Channel ports and iSCSI names per system
2048

Total Fibre Channel ports and iSCSI names per host object
32

iSCSI names per host object (ID)
8

Fibre Channel Host Properties
Fibre Channel hosts per system
256
Requires the Fibre Channel HIC
Fibre Channel host ports per system
2048
Requires the Fibre Channel HIC
Fibre Channel hosts ports per host object (ID)
32
Requires the Fibre Channel HIC
FCoE Host Properties
Fibre Channel hosts per system
256
Requires the 10 Gb HIC
Fibre Channel host ports per system
2048
Requires the 10 Gb HIC
Fibre Channel hosts ports per host object (ID)
32
Requires the 10 Gb HIC
iSCSI Host Properties
iSCSI hosts per system
256

iSCSI names per host object (ID)
8

Copy Services Properties
Flash Copy and Metro/Global Mirror are Licensed Functions
Remote Copy (Metro Mirror and Global
Mirror) relationships per
system
2048
This can be any mix of Metro Mirror and Global Mirror relationships.
Remote Copy relationships per consistency group
-
No limit is imposed beyond the Remote Copy relationships per system limit
Remote Copy consistency
groups per system
256

Total Metro Mirror and Global Mirror volume capacity per I/O group
1024 TB
This limit is the total capacity for all master and auxiliary volumes in the I/O group.
Total number of Global Mirror with Change Volumes relationships per system
256

FlashCopy mappings per system
4096

FlashCopy targets
per source
256

FlashCopy mappings
per consistency group
512

FlashCopy consistency
groups per system
255

Total FlashCopy volume capacity per I/O group
1024 TB

IP Partnership Properties
Inter-cluster IP partnerships per system
1
A system may be partnered with up to three remote systems. A maximum of one of those can be IP and the other two FC.
Inter site links per IP partnership
2
A maximum of two inter site links can be used between two IP partnership sites.
Ports per node
1
A maximum of one port per node can be used for IP partnership.
Internal Storage Properties
SAS chains per control enclosure
1

Expansion enclosures per SAS chain
9

Expansion enclosures per control enclosure
9

Drives per system
240
Maximum requires a system containing one control enclosure with the maximum number of expansion enclosures.
Min-Max drives per enclosure
0-12
or
0-24
Limit depends on the enclosure model
Simultaneous autosparing
Drives per system

RAID Properties
RAID arrays per system
128
Limit depends on the number of drives in the system
Min-Max member drives per RAID-0 array
1-8

Min-Max member drives per RAID-1 array
2-2

Min-Max member drives per RAID-5 array
3-16

Min-Max member drives per RAID-6 array
5-16

Min-Max member drives per RAID-10 array
2-16

Hot spare drives
-
No limit is imposed
System and User Management Properties
User accounts per system
400
Includes the default user accounts
User groups per system
256
Includes the default user groups
Authentication servers per system
1

NTP servers per system
1

iSNS servers per system
1

Concurrent open SSH sessions per system
32

Event Notification Properties
SNMP servers per system
6

Syslog servers per system
6

Email (SMTP) servers per system
6
Email servers are used in turn until the email is successfully sent
Email users (recipients) per system
12

LDAP servers per system
6



Extents

The following table compares the maximum volume, mdisk and system capacity for each extent size.

Extent size (MB)
Maximum non thin-provisioned volume capacity in GB
Maximum thin-provisioned volume capacity in GB
Maximum MDisk capacity in GB
Total storage capacity manageable per system*
16
2048 (2 TB)
2000
2048 (2 TB)
64 TB
32
4096 (4 TB)
4000
4096 (4 TB)
128 TB
64
8192 (8 TB)
8000
8192 (8 TB)
256 TB
128
16,384 (16 TB)
16,000
16,384 (16 TB)
512 TB
256
32,768 (32 TB)
32,000
32,768 (32 TB)
1 PB
512
65,536 (64 TB)
65,000
65,536 (64 TB)
2 PB
1024
131,072 (128 TB)
130,000
131,072 (128 TB)
4 PB
2048
262,144 (256 TB)
260,000
262,144 (256 TB)
8 PB
4096
262,144 (256 TB)
262,144
524,288 (512 TB)
16 PB
8192
262,144 (256 TB)
262,144
1,048,576 (1024 TB)
32 PB
* The total capacity values assumes that all of the storage pools in the system use the same extent size.

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Document Information

Modified date:
17 June 2018

UID

ssg1S1005247