SANnet II® 200 FC and SATA Array Best Practices Manual July 2005 83-00003263, Revision C Copyright Copyright 2001-2005 Dot Hill Systems Corp. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, translated, transcribed, or transmitted, in any form or by any means – manual, electric, electronic, electromechanical, chemical, optical, or otherwise – without prior explicit written permission of Dot Hill Systems Corp., 6305 El Camino Real, P.O. Box 9000, Carlsbad, CA., 92009-1606. Trademarks Dot Hill Systems, the Dot Hill logo, SANscape, SANnet, and SANpath are registered trademarks of Dot Hill Systems Corp. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are proprietary to their respective owners. Changes The material in this document is for information only and is subject to change without notice. While reasonable efforts have been made in the preparation of this document to assure its accuracy, Dot Hill Systems Corp., assumes no liability resulting from errors or omissions in this document, or from the use of the information contained herein. Dot Hill Systems Corp., reserves the right to make changes in the product design without reservation and without notification to its users. Contents Preface . xi 1. Overview . .1 2. Underlying Concepts and Practices . .3 Fibre Channel Protocols . .3 Supported RAID Levels . .4 Logical Drives . .4 Maximum Drive Configurations per Array . .5 Maximum Number of Disks and Maximum Usable Capacity per Logical Drive 6 Cache Optimization . .8 Configuring an Array’s RCCOM Channel . .9 Using Four DRV + RCCOM Channels . .9 Using Channels 4 and 5 as RCCOM Channels . .10 Array Management Tools . .10 Saving and Restoring Configuration Information . .11 3. Planning Your Storage Architecture . .13 Direct-Attached Storage . .14 Storage Area Networking . .15 Scaling Capacity . .16 First Steps in Designing a Solution . .17 Designing a Storage Solution for an Existing Environment . .17 Designing a New Storage Solution . .17 General Configuration Considerations . .18 iii 4. DAS Configurations . .21 Single-Controller DAS Configurations . .21 Single-Controller DAS Tips and Techniques . .22 Single-Controller DAS Setup Details . .23 Dual-Controller Multipath DAS Configurations . .25 Dual-Controller Multipath DAS Tips and Techniques . .25 Sample Dual-Controller Multipath DAS Setup Details . .26 5. SAN Configurations . .29 Full-Duplex SAN Configurations . .29 Full-Duplex SAN Tips and Techniques . .30 Sample Full-Duplex SAN Setup Details . .30 Redundant Point-to-Point SAN Configurations . .33 Redundant Point-to-Point Tips and Techniques . .33 Redundant Point-to-Point Setup Details . .34 6. Using Multiple Expansion Units in High Capacity Configurations . .37 SANnet II 200 FC Array High-Capacity Configurations . .37 Limitations . .38 Connecting One Expansion Unit . .38 Connecting Two Expansion Units . .39 Connecting Three Expansion Units . .40 Connecting Four Expansion Units . .41 Connecting Five Expansion Units . .41 Connecting Six Expansion Units . .42 Connecting Seven Expansion Units . .43 Connecting Eight Expansion Units . .44 7. SANnet II 200 SATA Array High-Capacity Configurations . .47 Connecting One Expansion Unit . .48 Connecting Two Expansion Units . .49 Connecting Three Expansion Units . .50 Connecting Four Expansion Units . .51 iv SANnet II 200 FC and SATA Array Best Practices Manual • July 2005 Connecting Five Expansion Units . .51 8. Combining SANnet II 200 FC Arrays and SANnet II 200 SATA Expansion Units . .53 Restrictions on the Use of Expansion-Unit Combinations . .53 Connecting Three FC Expansion Units and Two SATA Expansion Units to a SANnet II 200 FC RAID Array . .54 Contents v vi SANnet II 200 FC and SATA Array Best Practices Manual • July 2005 Figures FIGURE 3-1 DAS and SAN Storage Architectures . 13 FIGURE 3-2 Two DAS Configurations . 14 FIGURE 4-1 Three Single-Controller DAS Configurations . 22 FIGURE 4-2 Sample Single-Controller SANnet II 200 FC DAS Connections . 23 FIGURE 4-3 Sample Single-Controller SANnet II 200 SATA DAS Connections . 23 FIGURE 4-4 Sample Dual-Controller Multipath DAS Configurations . 25 FIGURE 4-5 Sample Dual-Controller Multipath SANnet II 200 DAS Connections . 26 FIGURE 4-6 Sample Dual-Controller Multipath SANnet II 200 SATA DAS Connections . 27 FIGURE 5-1 Typical Full-Fabric SAN Configuration . 29 FIGURE 5-2 Sample SANnet II 200 FC Full-Duplex SAN Connections . 30 FIGURE 5-3 Sample SANnet II 200 SATA Full-Duplex SAN Connections . 31 FIGURE 5-4 Sample Redundant Point-to-Point SAN Configuration . 33 FIGURE 5-5 Sample Redundant Point-to-Point SANnet II 200 FC SAN Connections . 34 FIGURE 5-6 Sample Redundant Point-to-Point SANnet II 200 SATA SAN Connections . 35 FIGURE 6-1 SANnet II 200 FC Array Configuration with One Expansion Unit . 38 FIGURE 6-2 SANnet II 200 FC Array Configuration with Two Expansion Units . 39 FIGURE 6-3 SANnet II 200 FC Array Configuration with Three Expansion Units . 40 FIGURE 6-4 SANnet II 200 FC Array Configuration with Four Expansion Units . 41 FIGURE 6-5 SANnet II 200 FC Array Configuration with Five Expansion Units . 42 FIGURE 6-6 SANnet II 200 FC Array Configuration with Six Expansion Units . 43 FIGURE 6-7 SANnet II 200 FC Array Configuration with Seven Expansion Units . 44 FIGURE 6-8 SANnet II 200 FC Array Configuration with Eight Expansion Units . 45 FIGURE 7-1 SANnet II 200 SATA Array Configuration with One Expansion Unit . 48 FIGURE 7-2 SANnet II 200 SATA Array Configuration with Two Expansion Units . 49 vii FIGURE 7-3 SANnet II 200 SATA Array Configuration with Three Expansion Units . .50 FIGURE 7-4 SANnet II 200 SATA Array Configuration with Four Expansion Units . .51 FIGURE 7-5 SANnet II 200 SATA Array Configuration with Five Expansion Units . .52 FIGURE 8-1 SANnet II 200 FC Array Configuration with Three FC Expansion Units and Two SATA Expansion Units . .55 viii SANnet II 200 FC and SATA Array Best Practices Manual • July 2005 Tables TABLE 2-1 Maximum Number of Disks per Logical Drive . 5 TABLE 2-2 Maximum Number of Supported Physical and Logical Drives, Partitions, and LUN Assignments . 6 TABLE 2-3 Actual Capacities per Drive . 7 TABLE 2-4 Maximum Usable Storage Capacity Determined by RAID level . 7 TABLE 2-5 Default Stripe Size Per Optimization Mode (Kbyte) . 9 TABLE 4-1 Sample Setup Summary for Single-Controller DAS Configurations . 24 TABLE 4-2 Sample Setup Summary for Dual-Controller Multipath SANnet II 200 SATA DAS Configurations . 27 TABLE 5-1 Setup Summary for Full Fabric SAN . 31 TABLE 5-2 Setup Summary for a Redundant Point-to-Point Configuration . 35 ix x SANnet II 200 FC and SATA Array Best Practices Manual • July 2005 Preface This manual gives an overview of SANnet II 200 FC arrays and SANnet II 200 SATA arrays, and presents several sample storage solutions for entry-level, mid-range, and enterprise servers. Caution – You should read the SANnet II Family Safety, Regulatory, and Compliance Manual before beginning any procedure in this manual. How This Book Is Organized This book includes the following topics: Chapter 1 provides an overview of the SANnet II 200 FC array and SATA array. Chapter 2 provides an overview of important concepts and practices that underly the configurations you can use. Chapter 3 helps you determine which direct-attached storage (DAS) and storage area network (SAN) configurations are most appropriate for your requirements. Chapter 4 presents several sample DAS configurations you can use. Chapter 5 presents several sample SAN configurations you can use. Chapter 6 describes high-capacity configurations involving multiple expansion units and presents sample SANnet II 200 FC configurations that maximize reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS). Chapter 7 presents sample high-capacity SANnet II 200 SATA configurations that maximize reliability, availability, and serviceability. Chapter 8 describes a sample high-capacity configuration that includes both SANnet II 200 FC expansion units and SANnet II 200 SATA expansion units connected to a SANnet II 200 FC RAID array in a way that maximizes reliability, availability, and serviceability. xi Typographic Conventions Typeface1 Meaning Examples AaBbCc123 The names of commands, Edit your.login file. files, and directories; onscreen Use ls -a to list all files. computer output sccli> about AaBbCc123 Book titles, new words or Read Chapter 6 in the User’s Guide. terms, words to be These are called class options. emphasized, command-line You must be a superuser to do this. variables. To delete a file, type rm filename. 1 The settings on your browser might differ from these settings. Related Documentation Title Part Number SANnet II 200 FC, SATA, and SATA SE Array Installation, 83-00003261 Operations, and Service Manual SANnet II Family RAID Firmware 4.1x User’s Guide 83-00003435 SANscape 4.0 User’s Guide 83-00003431 SANscape Alert 4.0 User’s Guide 83-00003432 SANscape CLI 2.0 User’s Guide 83-00003433 SANnet II Family Rack Installation Guide for 2U Arrays 83-00002365 SANnet II Family Safety, Regulatory, and Compliance Manual 83-00002666 SANnet.