DS8000 storage system

CIM server

Starting with DS8000 R4.1 the Common Information Model (CIM) server is embedded with the storage device. It is not necessary to install and configure the CIM server separately. For earlier releases of DS8000, a proxy CIM server is required and must be configured to manage the necessary storage clusters. For more information about configuring a proxy CIM server, see the DS8000 documentation.

IBM Storage Protect Snapshot requires that FlashCopy® backup target volumes be created in advance on DS8000. To provide a target set definition to IBM Storage Protect Snapshot, organize target volumes into target sets, where each target set represents one backup generation.

IBM Storage Protect Snapshot automatically matches source volumes to suitable target volumes. However, each target set must contain at least one suitable target volume for each source volume to be backed up. Additional target volumes in a target set are allowed, but these target volumes are ignored.

Support for LVM mirroring (AIX® only)

If AIX Logical Volume Manager (LVM) mirroring is used in the environment, IBM Storage Protect Snapshot can create separate FlashCopy images of either mirror.

DS8000 allows one incremental FlashCopy per source volume. When production volumes are mirrored by using Logical Volume Manager (LVM) mirroring, only one FlashCopy backup of this type per volume mirror is created. For incremental snapshots with DS8000 storage, only one target set can be specified in the target volumes file (.fct).

Support for virtual I/O (AIX only)

DS8000 logical unit numbers (LUNs) can be attached to a host directly or by using Virtual I/O (VIO). Both setups are supported, when there is a 1-1 relation between VIO logical volumes and storage LUNs on the storage subsystem.

A VIO is a logical partition (LPAR) on a pSeries® system that is controlled by the IBM Hardware Management Console (HMC) or IBM Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM). It owns the hardware adapters and allows access for other logical partitions. This feature allows the device to be shared. The LPAR associated with the resources is the VIO Server and the logical partitions that use it are VIO Clients. For example, they can share one disk on the VIO Server instead of rebooting each logical partition from a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) adapter and SCSI disk. This function eliminates the number of required adapters, adapter slots, and disks.

IBM Storage Protect Snapshot uses virtual SCSI adapters to map disks from a VIO to a client LPAR. Physical volumes are required to be mapped from the VIO to the client. However, mapping logical volumes or storage pools is not supported. On the production server, IBM Storage Protect Snapshot supports virtual I/O with N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) and Virtual I/O Server (VIOS). There is a one to one relationship between the virtual I/O logical volume and the storage LUN. On the backup server, IBM Storage Protect Snapshot supports virtual I/O with NPIV. In addition, VIOS is supported when you configure the BACKUP_HOST_NAME parameter to use the PREASSIGNED_VOLUMES in the IBM Storage Protect Snapshot profile file.

More details about supported combinations of operating system and storage subsystem levels, are available in the Pre-installation Checklist that is available at this URL https://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21427692. From this technote, select the required software version and then select the required component link. The hardware and software requirement page contains the Pre-installation Checklist and an installation planning worksheet.

Remote access to FlashCopy images

IBM Storage Protect Snapshot allows mounting a FlashCopy backup image to another host. This image is writable and any changes that are made on that image are reflected in the backup and are included in the subsequent restore.