IBM DS3500 Series Storage SAS upgrade FC note

DS3500 Series storage is an entry-level product, the device is a SAS connection by default, we use three physical servers, each two SAS card form with the storage of dual controller to connect, to achieve the most basic storage architecture for the construction of virtualized server platform. Due to the limited budget and tentative purpose of storage procurement, 10t space was purchased and divided into data area and backup area, which made the available space smaller. The use of the past two years, but also make us realize the advantages of virtualization, the need for the rest of the space will not be able to meet the actual needs of the storage of the upgrade is also put on the agenda.

The expansion of a single storage has the following problems:

The storage is currently the largest equipment in the physical equipment, the alignment of the expansion must be the replacement of the hard disk, it is necessary to back up data, backup requirements at least less than the existing storage data space size of another physical storage device, currently no;

From the storage itself to expand the space is a certain limitation, the maximum space for a single drive is limited, and still have to face the problem of space;

The existing DS3500 storage itself is an entry-level product, performance in general, space expansion is bound to be in the future to bear more data exchange work, the future of the storage itself will become a bottleneck in processing capacity;

In conclusion, it is the best solution to replace the existing storage with a higher specification storage and upgrade the whole architecture, so that the original storage can be fully utilized and the technical support for the future re-upgrade is provided.

Problems with SAS connectivity:

servers, storage are connected by the SAS interface, the number of interfaces provided by the device is limited, and the devices that can be connected are limited. (currently DS3500 with a dual controller, four SAS ports per controller are connected to the physical server, so up to four physical servers)

The DS3500 uses SAS2.0 to provide up to 6gb/s read and write speeds (although lower than FC, but not much lower, but a lot less than the officially declared iSCSI 10Gb)

SAS wiring in the management is also a problem, its line diameter hardness makes the cable finishing also become a problem, occupy space is also relatively large (this may not be a problem)

Although there are SAS switches now, this device is relatively small and belongs to "non-mainstream" devices.

After the technical parameters of the DS3500, the storage support FC module upgrade, for this query can really mind, Baidu's information is very few, the local agent is "idiot", unexpectedly directly told me not to support, at the same time said DS3500 has been discontinued. In the communication to a number of agents finally found a force in Shenyang, clearly told me that there are FC modules sold, its understanding of the IBM product line layer greatly increased my confidence, the engineer, DS3500 products are not discontinued products, but by the current mainstream products replaced, However, due to some of its technical indicators are still higher than the new product, it is still in production and sales; At the same time, the DS3500 FC module upgrade is relatively easy, as long as the controller is removed, replace the SAS module can be, the upgrade will not affect the data (this is not absolute), so the upgrade is very difficult. And clearly can supply all the original new accessories.

After the above pre-work, this upgrade is also clear for the first to carry out the storage architecture upgrade to the FC San architecture, the use of redundant form, each server dual Fc-hba card (the original scheme uses a dual-port single Fc-hba card, which is obviously not for redundancy purposes), storage dual controller upgrade to the FC module and interface, Two FC switches (fibre switch, note, non-Ethernet fibre switch) are used between the server and the storage to build a redundant architecture.

The device details are as follows:

IBM Fchba Card 6 blocks (3 servers, 2 blocks per server)

IBM DS3500 Controller FC Module 2 (each quad port with two optical modules)

FC switch 2 units, each 8-port authorization (FC switch to purchase authorization by port, purchase the authorized optical module, the unauthorized interface does not supply modules)

LC-LC multimode Fiber 10 pair

Process diagram for upgrading the FC module for the DS3500 controller

650) this.width=650; "src=" http://s5.51cto.com/wyfs02/M02/7B/10/wKioL1bFtNiB3TlsAAXBm6W0FU0025.jpg "title=" 1_ sizing. jpg "style=" float:none; "alt=" wkiol1bftnib3tlsaaxbm6w0fu0025.jpg "/>

IBM DS3500 Original FC module, this thing on the internet few physical pictures

650) this.width=650; "src=" http://s1.51cto.com/wyfs02/M02/7B/10/wKiom1bFtHjhFCi8AAJ2OJWAjHY432.jpg "title=" 4_ sizing. jpg "style=" float:none; "alt=" wkiom1bfthjhfci8aaj2ojwajhy432.jpg "/>

650) this.width=650; "src=" http://s2.51cto.com/wyfs02/M02/7B/10/wKioL1bFtNyh4y2fAAJug6OGsvg042.jpg "title=" 3_ sizing. jpg "style=" float:none; "alt=" wkiol1bftnyh4y2faajug6ogsvg042.jpg "/>

650) this.width=650; "src=" http://s3.51cto.com/wyfs02/M00/7B/10/wKiom1bFtHSSoO3JAAJ2KmJkMkU130.jpg "title=" 2_ sizing. jpg "style=" float:none; "alt=" wkiom1bfthssoo3jaaj2kmjkmku130.jpg "/>

Each interface has a light (green, after the installation is complete, the connection of the fiber should be long-lit, if not lit, swap a pair of fiber per interface order)

650) this.width=650; "src=" http://s3.51cto.com/wyfs02/M02/7B/10/wKiom1bFtHqTKiBKAAIUYiAK4Ds824.jpg "title=" 5_ sizing. jpg "style=" float:none; "alt=" wkiom1bfthqtkibkaaiuyiak4ds824.jpg "/>

Brocade 300 Fiber switch, this should be a monopoly of products, the basic domestic is all brocade OEM

650) this.width=650; "src=" http://s4.51cto.com/wyfs02/M00/7B/10/wKioL1bFtOHQVf3fAAIORzzYNSo286.jpg "title=" 6_ sizing. jpg "style=" float:none; "alt=" wkiol1bftohqvf3faaiorzzynso286.jpg "/>

Remove the original controller

650) this.width=650; "src=" http://s4.51cto.com/wyfs02/M00/7B/10/wKiom1bFtH7AGkTdAALedcKuxZ8381.jpg "title=" 7_ sizing. jpg "style=" float:none; "alt=" wkiom1bfth7agktdaaledckuxz8381.jpg "/>

Storage Backplane, dual controller has been completely removed

650) this.width=650; "src=" http://s5.51cto.com/wyfs02/M01/7B/10/wKioL1bFtOaCBrD0AAKT2rGubWw371.jpg "title=" 8_ sizing. jpg "style=" float:none; "alt=" wkiol1bftoacbrd0aakt2rgubww371.jpg "/>

Press and hold two blue dots to push the controller back panel

650) this.width=650; "src=" http://s1.51cto.com/wyfs02/M01/7B/10/wKioL1bFtOjyqbaqAAJawDk3EeU838.jpg "title=" 9_ sizing. jpg "style=" float:none; "alt=" wkiol1bftojyqbaqaajawdk3eeu838.jpg "/>

Remove the original module by removing the four blue screws (regular maintenance of the IBM server should be familiar with this form)

650) this.width=650; "src=" http://s4.51cto.com/wyfs02/M01/7B/10/wKiom1bFtITCwte0AAHr0vBcwnQ432.jpg "title=" 10_ sizing. jpg "style=" float:none; "alt=" wkiom1bftitcwte0aahr0vbcwnq432.jpg "/>

650) this.width=650; "src=" http://s5.51cto.com/wyfs02/M02/7B/10/wKioL1bFtOvRpCncAAIWp4eVwUE827.jpg "title=" 11_ sizing. jpg "style=" float:none; "alt=" wkiol1bftovrpcncaaiwp4evwue827.jpg "/>

Finished, but it is recommended to plug in the controller and then plug in the fiber, note that the fiber is in order, if the interface above the indicator light does not light can exchange two fiber sequence test

DS3500 Related documents:

Http://www.andovercg.com/datasheets/ibm-ds3512-ds3524.pdf

Http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redbooks/pdfs/sg247914.pdf

IBM DS3500 Series storage SAS upgrade FC note