HP MSA 2040 Storage Configuration And Best Practices For .

Technical white paperHP MSA 2040 StorageConfiguration and BestPractices for VMware vSphereTable of contentsIntended Audience. 3Executive summary. 3Product Overview. 3HP MSA 2040 Storage. 3Solution Overview. 5HP Storage Networking. 6HP MSA Storage Concepts and VMware vSphere. 7Virtual disk (vdisk). 7Volumes. 8Default Mappings (Volumes). 8Unified LUN Presentation (ULP). 8Unified LUN Presentation (ULP) Failover. 10RAID Level Considerations. 11VMware vSphere Storage Integration. 12VAAI Integration. 12VAAI Benefits and Use Cases. 13HP Insight Control Storage Module for VMware vCenter Server. 13Disaster Recovery with vCenter Site Recovery Manager and HP MSA 2040 Storage . 14Use Cases for vSphere and HP MSA 2040 Storage. 15Mixed Physical and Virtual Computing Environment. 15Multiple vSphere clusters on HP MSA Storage. 16ROBO deployments for distributed vSphere environments. 17Data Protection with HP MSA Remote Snap. 18Multi-Site Disaster Recovery. 19Click here to verify the latest version of this document.

Technical white paper HP MSA 2040 Storage Configuration and Best Practices for VMware vSphereMSA Storage Installation for VMware vSphere.20Additional VMware vSphere Storage Configuration Guides.20Storage Network Connectivity.20Cabling the MSA Storage Array.20Best Practices: MSA Initial Configuration. 21Storage Administration.23MSA Storage Best Practices.26Maximize capacity and disk usage.26Using multiple enclosures.26Selecting the controller ownership for the vdisk.26Storage configurations with several disks.26RAID levels.26Changing the default name of the volumes.26Volume mapping.27Naming hosts.27Boot from SAN support/considerations.28Multipath Considerations for vSphere.28Changing LUN Response before LUN Creation.30Additional VMware considerations. 31VMware Storage I/O Control. 31Setting HP MSA 2040 Storage MSA active-active arrays. 32Using vCenter Site Recovery Manager with HP MSA Remote Snap.33Configuring VMware vCenter SRM with HP MSA 2040 SRA.34Best Practices for MSA 2000 SRA and Remote Snap with VMware SRM. 35Summary and Benefits. 35Appendix A: Firmware Update Best Practices for 2040 MSA.36P2000 MSA Array Controller Firmware Update Best Practices.36Disk Drive Firmware Update Best Practices.36Appendix B: Array/Volume Replication and Remote Snap Best Practices. 37Appendix C: HP MSA 2040 Disk Background Scrub.38For more information.39VMware.39

Technical white paper HP MSA 2040 Storage Configuration and Best Practices for VMware vSphereIntended AudienceTarget audience: IT Administrators, VMware vSphere Administrators, and Solution Architects planning a servervirtualization deployment with HP MSA 2040 storage. This and other documents pertaining to virtualization with HP andVMware are available at hp.com/go/vmware and at hp.com/go/storage.If you are a VMware vSphere/ESXi administrator planning to set up hosts to work with Storage Area Networks (SANs),you should have a working knowledge of SAN concepts. You can find information about SANs in print and on theInternet. Because this industry changes constantly, check these resources frequently. If you are new to SAN technology,familiarize yourself with the basic terminology.Executive summaryWhen supported with the correct underlying storage platform, server virtualization delivers increased infrastructureconsolidation, administrative efficiency, business continuity, and cost savings. As a result, server virtualization is notonly transforming the data center, but also the businesses that those data centers fuel. However, these transformativeresults depend on enterprise class storage to deliver the performance, availability, and flexibility to keep up with thedynamic and consolidated nature of virtualized server environments.Storage is a critical component of the virtualization infrastructure. The storage platform must deliver high performance,use its capacity efficiently and scaling easily. Storage must also be modular and scalable to enable purchasing only whatis needed, when it is needed. No single point of failure should exist, and failed components must be replaceable withoutinterruption of service.The latest generation of HP MSA Storage is designed and built to exceed the economic and operational requirementsof virtual data centers by providing the storage performance, scalability, availability, and simplified managementneeded by small and midsize businesses with growing storage needs. In this paper, we explore the unique capabilitiesand integration of HP MSA Storage with VMware vSphere. In addition, the paper covers the best practice settings andconfigurations needed to optimize HP MSA Storage for deployment with VMware vSphere.When deployed together, HP MSA Storage with VMware vSphere provides small and midsize businesses the benefits ofincreased consolidation savings by increasing virtual machine density, lowering storage costs, and realizing time savingsfrom simplified storage management and provisioning.Product OverviewClustered, fault-tolerant, virtualization environments such as VMware vSphere rely heavily upon centrally-managed,scalable, storage area network (SAN) resources. The HP MSA 2040 Storage system provides a versatile entry-level SANsolution for vSphere host clusters. The following section provides an overview on the HP MSA 2040 Storage system.HP MSA 2040 StorageThe HP MSA 2040 Storage array delivers cost-effective, consolidated storage solutions to meet departmental and smallto-midsized business (SMB) requirements. The HP MSA 2040 delivers 8Gb and 16 Gb Fiber Channel (FC) host connectivityand accommodates large form factor (LFF) and small form factor (SFF) SAS, SAS Midline (SAS MDL), and Solid State drives(SSD). The arrays ship standard with 64 Snapshots and Volume Copy enabled, which can be upgraded to 512 snaps.The HP MSA 2000 array family helps customers with growing storage requirements across multiple servers to easilymanage a versatile storage solution for their vSphere environment.3

Technical white paper HP MSA 2040 Storage Configuration and Best Practices for VMware vSphereFigure 1. The HP MSA 2040 Storage arrayAll HP MSA Storage models offer a common set of features listed in Table 1.Table 1. Common features of HP MSA modelsFeaturesMSA familyHost protocols8 Gb FC, 16 Gb FC, 1 GbE, 10 GbE, SASMax host ports8 (4xFC, 4xFC 4x1 GbE, 8x1 GbE, 4x10 GbE, 8xSAS)Cache support4 GB standard (2 GB/controller)Max LUNs512RAID supported0, 1, 3, 5, 6, 10, 50Rack/Physical2U (for controllers and expansions)Snapshots64 Snapshots standardVolume CopyBundledvSphere SupportVAAI, VASA, SRMFor more in-depth information on MSA storage system models, visit the HP MSA Storage webpage.4

Technical white paper HP MSA 2040 Storage Configuration and Best Practices for VMware vSphereSolution OverviewVirtualization enables IT organizations to manage escalating demands on infrastructure and diminishing budgets.Server virtualization allows a business to run several server computing environments and operating systems on a singlehardware platform. This approach results in a smaller physical footprint with reduced power and cooling costs.The following diagram (Figure 2) illustrates a recommended configuration for a fault-tolerant HP MSA 2040 Storagesystem supporting a VMware vSphere environment. In this configuration, two HP 16 GB FC switches are used in thestorage fabric for redundancy. Two 16 GB HBA FC adapters in each HP DL560 server—deployed as VMware vSpherehosts—provide redundant paths to the HP MSA Storage. This configuration, with multiple paths to storage, improves I/Operformance and eliminates a single point of failure between the vSphere hosts and the HP MSA Storage.Figure 2. Example of a typical configuration with HP MSA 2040 Storage and HP ProLiant servers. Direct connection of host servers toFC host ports also possible, without the need for a FC switchHP MSA 2040 - BackHP MSA 2040 - FrontHP 16GB SAN switches (FC)HP DL ProLiant DL360 Gen 8 server vCenter Server and ManagementHP ProLiant DL560 - FrontHP ProLiant DL560 Gen8VMware vSphere hosts5

Technical white paper HP MSA 2040 Storage Configuration and Best Practices for VMware vSphereHP Storage NetworkingWhile this paper focuses on the best practices for deploying HP MSA Storage for vSphere, it is important to ensure thatthe proper networking infrastructure exists to complement the server and storage requirements. HP offers a full set ofnetwork solutions to complete your infrastructure.A typical complement to an HP MSA Storage and VMware vSphere deployment is the HP SN6000B Fiber ChannelSwitch, which offers the features necessary to meet the demands of hyper-scale, private cloud storage environmentsby delivering market-leading 16 Gb/sec Fiber Channel technology and capabilities that support highly virtualizedenvironments. Designed to enable maximum flexibility and investment protection, the SN6000B Switch is configurable in24, 36, or 48 ports and supports 4, 8, 10, or 16 Gb/sec Fiber Channel speeds in an efficiently designed 1U package. It alsoprovides a simplified deployment process and a point-and-click user interface, making it both powerful and easy to use.HP Switch Highlights Ports-on-Demand capabilities for fast, easy, and cost-effective scaling from 24 to 48 ports in a 12-port increment. 16 Gb/sec performance with up to 24 ports in an energy-efficient, 1U form factor, providing maximum flexibility fordiverse deployment and cooling strategies. Best-in-class port density and scalability for entry and mid-range SAN switches, along with hot-pluggable componentsand non-disruptive software upgrades. Exceptional price and performance value, exceeding comparable Ethernet storage-based alternatives.HP 16Gb Host Bus Adapters (HBAs)The HP SN1000E 16Gb single-port and dual-port Fiber Channel Host Bust Adapters are a step into the 16Gbit/secenvironment with greater performance and advanced, embedded support for virtualized environments. The HP SN1000E16Gb Fiber Channel HBA purchased today is backward compatible with 8Gb and 4Gb storage networks and will protectfuture investments. When using storage intensive applications, such as backup, database transactions, virtualization,and rich media, the increased performance of the HP SN1000E 16Gb FC HBA enables more rapid storage and retrieval ofcritical information. Designed for environments with greater virtual machine density and bandwidth requirements , theHP SN1000 16Gb Host Bus Adapters enable more applications and virtual machines to run on a single server and port,resulting in reduced cabling and higher return on IT investment.Product Highlights Enhances datacenter productivity by delivering twice the data throughput of 8Gb FC HBAs Meets the needs of larger server virtualization deployments, cloud applications and advanced server architectures Enables more applications and VMs to run on a single server and Fiber Channel port, resulting in reduced cabling and ahigher return on IT investment Includes PCIe 2.0 – Gen2 x8 lanesFor more information about HP Storage Networking solutions and products, visit hp.com/go/san.6