Hi all,

How can I configure DS4300 (with storage partitions)
to allow a logical drive to be accesible by all hosts in the SAN ?
We are going to use Sanergy with TSM for LAN-free backup purposes.

Thanks in advance.
--
Marek

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>>> How can I configure DS4300 (with storage partitions) 
>
> I have already some host-groups configured.
> If I map this logical drive to the host-group, it would be accessible by
> this host-group only.
> I want this LUN to be available to all hosts in the SAN.

So why don't you create a host group covering all your hosts (with their
associated host-ports) and map this LUN to it?

Piotr

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On Tue, 23 May 2006 09:13:11 +0200, Piotr wrote:
 
>
> So why don't you create a host group covering all your hosts (with their
> associated host-ports) and map this LUN to it?
>
> Piotr

So why use storage partitioning ?
If I would like to have all hosts in one host-group I wouldn't configure
storage partitions at all - and leave all the hosts in the Default host
group.
I don't want AIX disks being accesible by Windows hosts. So I don't
want to put Windows and AIX hosts in one host-group.

Best regards,
--
Marek

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

> On Tue, 23 May 2006 09:13:11 +0200, Piotr wrote:
> 
>
> So why use storage partitioning ?
> If I would like to have all hosts in one host-group I wouldn't configure
> storage partitions at all - and leave all the hosts in the Default host
> group.
> I don't want AIX disks being accesible by Windows hosts. So I don't
> want to put Windows and AIX hosts in one host-group.
>
> Best regards,
> --
> Marek
>

Marek,

If you want to use your DS4300 storage resources in a heterogeneous
environment and prevent Windows boxes from accessing your AIX data there is
probably no easier method then to use built-in partitioning feature.

However, if you want a logical LUN to be accessible by all hosts in your SAN
you have no other way but mapping them together and moving data access
mechanism (ensuring data integrity in a shared storage environment) from the
raid controller based storage partitioning level to the upper layer.

From your initial post I assume that you want to use SANergy for a DTD
lan-free backup and the only LUN you need to be accessible by all SAN hosts
is to be a so called File Library shared by using SANergy software. SANergy
(originally developed by Mercury Computer System) is that particular piece
that supports file-level and byte-level locking across all systems on a SAN
preventing corruption of your backup data.

Piotr

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

On Tue, 23 May 2006 11:37:21 +0200, Piotr wrote:

[...]
>
> Marek,
>
> If you want to use your DS4300 storage resources in a heterogeneous
> environment and prevent Windows boxes from accessing your AIX data there i
s
> probably no easier method then to use built-in partitioning feature.
>
> However, if you want a logical LUN to be accessible by all hosts in your S
AN
> you have no other way but mapping them together and moving data access
> mechanism (ensuring data integrity in a shared storage environment) from t
he
> raid controller based storage partitioning level to the upper layer.
>
> From your initial post I assume that you want to use SANergy for a DTD
> lan-free backup and the only LUN you need to be accessible by all SAN host
s
> is to be a so called File Library shared by using SANergy software. SANerg
y
> (originally developed by Mercury Computer System) is that particular piece
> that supports file-level and byte-level locking across all systems on a SA
N
> preventing corruption of your backup data.
>
> Piotr

Piotr,

Thanks for Your help. Now I'm convinced that there's now way to do what I
want just with storage partitioning.
Your assumption about Sanergy was correct - that's why I need this
LUN to be accessible by all hosts.

What are those upper layer mechanisms You mentioned that could help
solving my problem ?

Best regards,
--
Marek

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

>
> [...] 
>
> Piotr,
>
> Thanks for Your help. Now I'm convinced that there's now way to do what I
> want just with storage partitioning.
> Your assumption about Sanergy was correct - that's why I need this
> LUN to be accessible by all hosts.
>
> What are those upper layer mechanisms You mentioned that could help
> solving my problem ?
>
> Best regards,
> --
> Marek
>

Marek,

The answer is SANergy. This is the upper layer I have mentioned in my post.
You don't need anything else.

Good luck,
Piotr

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

On Tue, 23 May 2006 13:46:07 +0200, Piotr wrote:
 
>
> Marek,
>
> The answer is SANergy. This is the upper layer I have mentioned in my post
.
> You don't need anything else.
>
> Good luck,
> Piotr

Piotr,

As You wrote in previous post SANergy allow "multi-platform" access to TSM
File Library - that's why we want to use it in our heterogenous
environment. We want to share LUN (using SANergy) to all hosts in the SAN
(AIX, Windows, etc.).

My concern is :

SANergy MDC will run on Windows.
How can I prevent this Windows host from accessing AIX luns (and
probably destroing them by writing it's own signatures).

From "IBM TotalStorage FAStT Best Practices" :
"It is a good practice to do your storage partitioning prior to connecting
to multiple hosts. Operating systems such as AIX or Windows 2000 may write
their signatures to any device they can access."

Best regards,
--
Marek

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Hmm I'm getting confused by this thread.

I think you are describing the very reason the DS4300 provides storage
partitioning.
The DS4300 uses host groups, allowing you to group hosts that need to
see a certain set of volumes together. By restricting what hosts are
allowed to see on the DS4300, you don't need to rely on host-side
drivers doing the right thing, or agreeing on things. Nomatter what
driver you have in your windows or AIX hosts, they simply can not
access the forbidden volumes because they can not see them.

Now, it sounds like you already have host groups in place, and now you
want an extra volume visible to all hosts, right ? Just create a new
host group (named "all" or whatever), and put both windows and AIX
hosts in there. Then export the volumes you want to be visible to all
in that host group.

It's the responsibility of the cluster software (SANergy ?) to not have
all OS in the "all" host group to go scribble all over each other.
There's nothing your storage array can do for you there.

Arne

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On Tue, 23 May 2006 07:44:03 -0700, Arne Joris wrote:

> Hmm I'm getting confused by this thread.
>
> I think you are describing the very reason the DS4300 provides storage
> partitioning.
> The DS4300 uses host groups, allowing you to group hosts that need to
> see a certain set of volumes together. By restricting what hosts are
> allowed to see on the DS4300, you don't need to rely on host-side
> drivers doing the right thing, or agreeing on things. Nomatter what
> driver you have in your windows or AIX hosts, they simply can not
> access the forbidden volumes because they can not see them.
>

I totally agree.

> Now, it sounds like you already have host groups in place, and now you
> want an extra volume visible to all hosts, right ? Just create a new
> host group (named "all" or whatever), and put both windows and AIX
> hosts in there. Then export the volumes you want to be visible to all
> in that host group.

I turns out that some simple (?) setups are impossible with
Storage Partitioning.

My situation :

Hosts :	AIX1, AIX2, W2K3.
Luns  : LUN1, LUN2, TSM

I want LUN1 and LUN2 being accessible by AIX1 and AIX2 _ONLY_.
I want TSM being accessible by ALL hosts.

>
> It's the responsibility of the cluster software (SANergy ?) to not have
> all OS in the "all" host group to go scribble all over each other.
> There's nothing your storage array can do for you there.
>

To share TSM lun through SANergy to all the hosts, all the hosts must
have access to TSM lun. SANergy allows _proper_ access.

Thanks for Your comments.

Best Regards,
--
Marek

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

> Hosts : AIX1, AIX2, W2K3.
> Luns  : LUN1, LUN2, TSM
>
> I want LUN1 and LUN2 being accessible by AIX1 and AIX2 _ONLY_.
> I want TSM being accessible by ALL hosts.

You can't assign a host to more than one host group, but couldn't you
do this :

1. host group "aix", type AIX with hosts AIX1 and AIX2, volumes LUN1
and LUN2,
2. host group "default group" with TSM

Volumes in the "default group" should be visible to all hosts.

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