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SVC and Storwize V7000 Release 6.3: WWPN limits
IBM recently released a new version of firmware for the SAN Volume Controller and Storwize V7000. This is known as release 6.3 and continues the tradition of two major updates per year, each adding significant new functions. So the 6.3 release notes for both Storwize V7000 and SVC listed the following new feature: Support for 4096 host WWPNs Since I blithely listed this feature in a recent post... [More]
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SVC and Storwize V7000 Release 6.3: Performance Monitor Panel
With the 6.3 release of the Storwize V7000 and SVC code (which I blogged about here ), there are so many new features and functions that I have plenty more to blog about! The first new feature I blogged about was LDAP support, but an existing feature that has been enhanced is the performance monitor (brought in with release 6.2). When this first came out I put a video on You Tube showing what... [More]
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How to simplify your SAN zoning
Lets imagine a new rack server or a new blade server has been added to your Fibre Channel SAN. The first job for the SAN administrator is to zone it to the storage it requires access to. The task normally runs something like this: Identify the WWPNs for the new server HBA. We can do this using Qlogic SAN Surfer or Emulex HBAnywhere, or by looking at the WWPNs reported by the Fibre Channel... [More]
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SVC and Storwize V7000 Release 6.3: Configuring LDAP
Once your SVC or Storwize V7000 is upgraded to version 6.3 you can start using LDAP for authentication. This means that when you logon, you authenticate with your domain user-id and password rather than a locally created user-id and password. So why is this important? It saves you having to configure every user on every SVC or Storwize V7000. If you have multiple machines this makes it far... [More]
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Storwize V7000 and SVC Code release 6.3 is now available
The latest release of SVC and Storwize V7000 firmware is now available for download. The major new features that are added with this release are: Global Mirror with Change Volumes Native LDAP Authentication Extended distance split clusters (for SVC) Support for 4096 host WWPNs These are some great new features. The ability to use Global Mirror with Change Volumes means clients can now mirror... [More]
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Google isn't helping! What went wrong?
Wordpress (where I mirror this blog) as a blogging platform has some very nice features. One of them is that you can find out what search terms led people to your blog. I have noticed that searches like these have become very common: ibm_vaaip_module XIV GUI and XIV GUI V3 or version 3 IBM vcenter plugin This suggest to me that people are having trouble finding these files, or more... [More]
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Updating Storwize V7000 drive code
************************************************************************** Update 17/12/2011: A flash reporting a possible issue that could occur if a drive fails during drive firmware update can be found here . Until the flash is updated showing how to avoid this issue, only update drive firmware when installing a new machine or if all hosts are offline.... [More]
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Some tips for using the SVC and Storwize V7000 Command Line Interface
The SVC and Storwize V7000 offers a command line interface that you access via SSH. You start your favorite SSH client (such as PuTTY or Mindterm ) and then logon as admin or as your own user-id. Right now to do this you need to generate a private/public key pair , although with release 6.3 (which will be available November 2011), you will be able to logon via SSH using just a user-id and... [More]
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Virtualizing a Storwize V7000 with an IBM SVC
IBM have offered Enterprise Storage Virtualization since June 2003 with the IBM SAN Volume Controller (SVC). October 2010 saw IBM releasing the Storwize V7000, taking the SVC code and packaging it into a midrange disk product. So now you have four possible choices: Use SVC to virtualize your storage. Use Storwize V7000 to provide internal SAS drives plus virtualize your storage. Use Storwize... [More]
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100 Petabytes of wise storage
It seems like only yesterday that it was November 2010. IBM started shipping a new product, and yet a product with an 8 year heritage: The Storwize V7000. It was a very clever decision, taking the mature and very popular SAN Volume Controller (SVC) and packaging it with the latest SAS enclosure technology and offering it as a midrange storage product. Since IBM started shipping the Storwize V7000,... [More]
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Do you trust your VMware administrator?
I know the walls are coming down... but there are still many organizational barriers that can exist in IT. How about: The Networking team (who may possibly be allied to or at war with the firewall/security team) The Storage admin team (possibly split between open and System z) The Systems admin teams (possibly split between System z and open and then split again into Windows and Unix or VMware... [More]
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Mostly keeping it simple
One of the things I like about creating host definitions on XIV, Storwize V7000 or SVC is that for the vast majority of host types, the default choice is the correct choice. This saves me having to specifically tell the storage what operating system each host is running. However in recent times more and more choices have snuck in. For instance in 6.2.0.3 code the Storwize V7000 and SVC had... [More]
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Does PuTTY record your every move?
I love PuTTY , it is one of my favourite pieces of open source software. For those who don't know what PuTTY is, it is a free implementation of Telnet and SSH for Windows and Unix platforms. Personally I use PuTTY for connecting to Storwize V7000s, SVCs, SAN switches and Unix servers in my lab and at clients. Being someone who does implementation services, I want to always be sure about what... [More]
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At the heart of IBM storage beats a UNIX Operating System
An interesting article at DrunkenData.Com (met with an equally interesting response from Storagebod ) got me thinking about what is at the core of every IBM Storage System. The answer? Unix. IBM embraced server based storage back in the 1990s when they announced the Enterprise Storage Server (better known as The Shark). At it's heart were two Power Servers running AIX. By using AIX on... [More]
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Storwize V7000 Batteries are not going away!
The Storwize V7000 is a modular storage system. This means you buy it in enclosures that are two rack units (2U) in size. The first enclosure you buy is a control enclosure which contains two node canisters and two power supplies (with integrated batteries). The purpose of the batteries (that are only found in the control enclosure) is to protect the node canisters from brown-outs (so they... [More]
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