StoreVirtual Storage
1745788 Members
3446 Online
108722 Solutions
New Discussion

Re: Reclaiming Space from a thin provisioned netword raid-5 volume

 
SOLVED
Go to solution
oikjn
Honored Contributor

Re: Reclaiming Space from a thin provisioned netword raid-5 volume

Valid question...  v11 was a relatively minor update over v10.5 considering its classified as a new version.  I wanted to upgrade to support windows server 2012R2 hosts?  Or SMI-S support (not that I found it really worked with MS VMM)?

 

Here is the running joke of reasons courtesy of the CMC notifications page:

 

 

             In October 2013, all currently supported HP StoreVirtual platforms will receive an update to the best version of LeftHand OS yet. LeftHand OS 11.0 will offer a variety of improvements for the existing features as well as introduce new capabilities to the platform.

The upgrade to LeftHand OS 11.0 is available for the following platforms:

  • HP StoreVirtual VSA/HP LeftHand VSA

  • HP StoreVirtual 4000 Storage

  • HP P4000 G2 Storage

LeftHand OS 11.0 comes with a large number of new features and enhancements including:

  • Sub-volume auto-tiering with Adaptive Optimization (Exclusive feature for HP StoreVirtual VSA)

  • Support for Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager

  • Smarter Centralized Management Console and Online Upgrades

  • Easier configuration and more granular control of application-managed snapshots with Application Aware Snapshot Manager for Microsoft and VMware environments

The benefit to you, if you are selected to participate in the Controlled Release program, is early access to the new production-ready software. You will receive direct access to HP Engineering Support (Level 3) for any issues or assistance you need during the Controlled Release Program. By participating, you are able to help HP meet your needs and determine what is most important to you as a customer for future releases. We want to work more closely with our customers to understand what their needs are so that we can drive our products to meet those needs in a more timely manner. We hope that you will choose to participate in this program.

If you are interested in joining our 11.0 Controlled Release Program, please click the link below and you will be taken to a survey site where you will be asked a few questions about your StoreVirtual environment. Submit those question and we will get back to you sometime after September 1 with a response.

HP StoreVirtual 11.0 CR Survey

Thank you for continuing to be a valued HP customer.

HP StoreVirtual Team           

 

a_o
Valued Contributor

Re: Reclaiming Space from a thin provisioned netword raid-5 volume

As someone who applied to be included in the Controlled Release Program in August of 2013, it was frustrating to see v.11 just show up one morning on the StoreVirtual download pages without support for existing NSMs and VSAs.

I was really looking forward to Windows 2012 R2 support and taking advantange of SCVMM integration - whatever that entailed.

What's really bothersome is that there is no published roadmap from HP regarding UNMAP/TRIM support.
My recollection was that my survey responses put that feature at the top of my list of features.

 

I dare say that I will take UNMAP/TRIM over Adaptive optimization. This is because I've personally implemented all SSD VSAs with very good performance. (Hint it's all in the hardware specs -i.e 10GBe).

 

With all due respect to Bart, it's been years since I saw the first hints about this feature coming 'soon' on this boards.

We chose HP Lefthand because they 'promised' Thin Provisioning. But we have now is not Thin Provisioning.

It's some facsimile of it, but it's not it. 

Case in point, I have a 8TB Cluster (used for SQL backups) that I have to 'purge' every now and then because a LUN that was Thin Provisioned for 2TB, uses up to 6-7TB within months even though there's never more than 2TB of data on the LUN at any given time.

Bart_Heungens
Honored Contributor

Re: Reclaiming Space from a thin provisioned netword raid-5 volume

Hi,

 

I am running VSA's in my 'datacenter' from the week before HP acquired Lefthand... It must have been version 7.5 or 8.0...

Meanwhile I upgraded to every new version including somewhere around 9.5 or 10.0 where I was also in the Beta group...

Also I upgraded my underlying VMware environment to all versions from 3.x to 5.5 now...

Well I can tell you that my SAN volume on top of the VSA's have an uptime of 100%. No not 99,999 something but always online.

And that is why I love the Lefthand technology... Because it allows to do some nice things with it.

 

Well I have already some 2012 R2 servers connected to my Lefthand, don't need even 11.0 for that...

And yes I upgraded my VSA's already to 11.0, only not through the online update process that everyone prefers. But with a little workaround it works. You can also contact HP Support so they will provide you a FTP link so that you can do the online update. But I understand HP (not that I feel OK with all their decisions but that is outside this topic - I do not work for HP BTW) in this particular case that they do not release the update code specific for updates, since there is 1 known issue somewhere that they want to have removed.

 

Just my idea, it remains nice and easy technology, knowing that the unmap will be there soon... Too late but it will be there...

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If my post was useful, clik on my KUDOS! "White Star" !
oikjn
Honored Contributor

Re: Reclaiming Space from a thin provisioned netword raid-5 volume

Bart, for the money, the VSA line definitely provides the best uptime at the lowest upfront cost.  I've been running since v8.5 and other than shutting down my server room for sandy, we haven't had any measurable downtime either.  That said, I've yet to see any official roadmap or timeline or even just an employee blog post or anything other than the page that gives a v11 release date that just keeps extending backwards and as far as availability goes, the VSA solution is losing its advantage as other options are increasing their availability capabilities.  Give it another year and there will be little reason to stick with this line unless they get back on par with the basic features other SANs are including these days.

Bart_Heungens
Honored Contributor

Re: Reclaiming Space from a thin provisioned netword raid-5 volume

Well I have seen the roadmap but I am not allowed to talk about it since I have signed a NDA for that...
I know there are HP people on these forums but they are not allowed either to talk about this on this place either...
If you really need the roadmap, contact the HP product manager in your country.
BTW the 11.0 code is released... Since November downloadable and delivered on all new appliances. Like I said HP discovered an issue after an upgrade of a G2 appliance with a 10Gb card in it, which resulted in 'not-normal' network performance... HP wants to have that one cleared out before the release to anyone... The 11.0 code as such is there and is OK...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If my post was useful, clik on my KUDOS! "White Star" !
oikjn
Honored Contributor

Re: Reclaiming Space from a thin provisioned netword raid-5 volume

Who cares about a confidential roadmap?  Why should one be confidential unless its just a goal list and not a real roadmap that will be lived to (or close to at least).  And I get that HP might not want every employee posting on this forum, but how can they not have a rep or someone with a connection to the inside here?  The only "person" they have is Prakash Singh_1 http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/550815 who I"m not sure is either an automated Bot they turn on every once and a while to post a link to the help page or a sweatshop employee with about the same level of knowledge of that bot.  

 

That information about the problem is more information that anybody else has stated, but if thats really the case and they have now delayed the relase of upgrades for everybody else because of one model w/ an optional card on it, it seems like they should at least find a way to update people who's systems don't fall into that narrow bug category.  Its only been about four months since the start of november....  how long are they going to take?

 

Internal Roadmap or not, secret watchers of the forums or not, there is virtually no communication from the product team to the general public at all and that is never a good thing.

 

 

 

 

 

Bart_Heungens
Honored Contributor

Re: Reclaiming Space from a thin provisioned netword raid-5 volume

Everyone is allowed to have his opinion here, I have mine too... Get your point but it is not that simple as you present.

Since I am not representing HP here (just try to help people in my free time) I cannot tell you more... Check with your local HP representative.

 

I have heard about some cases where a customer wanted 11.0, not having these G2 appliciances with 10Gb cards, where HP delivered a special FTP link to use inside CMC to help that customer upgrade to 11.0.

Maybe you can try that way...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If my post was useful, clik on my KUDOS! "White Star" !
oikjn
Honored Contributor

Re: Reclaiming Space from a thin provisioned netword raid-5 volume

I'm running all VSAs. I upgraded around new-years simply by setting up new v11 nodes and doing a bunch of node swaps. Once the last node (and FOM) was exchanged I got the v11 features. Everything there is working fine, but its bit coocoo for those who are paying for support and upgrades to see a new release but not have access to it for potentially the entire extent of your support contract without having to call up support and ask for special permission to get access to an update you should have access to. Anyway... I'll quit on the subject because I feel like I've beaten a dead horse, but IF anybody from HP actually follows this forum it would be nice if SOMEONE official was able to post here to answer some questions or give some inside advice/information. I'm sure most people would understand if there were times where they respond with "I can't say here, open a support request for more information".
a_o
Valued Contributor

Re: Reclaiming Space from a thin provisioned netword raid-5 volume

I also am running mostly VSAs @ V11. However, I have a bunch of NSMs that I would love to bring up to date.

 

WRT G2 NSMs with 10GBe cards and V11, IMO there must be more to this issue than what has been mentioned.

Which card excatly is this problem with: the NC550SFP cards, the NC552SFP or the original CX4 based cards?

 

Regardless, I don't understand why they would just not update the upgrade scripts to detect the specific combination of G2s and 10GbE, and refuse to run the upgrade. The've already updated the iso a few times already since V11 was originally released.

 

Also, there are tons of other cases like this where HP put out advisories right away, but the offending software/firmware is still available for downloading.

 

I'm seriously contemplating re-installing the OS on one of my G2s just to see how it would go.

 

Does anyone have any experience using HP_StoreVirtual_Quick_Restore_DVD_AX694-11011.iso to install V11 on a G2?

Per HP instructions, using the offline (rompaq) upgrade process, it should be done in the follwoing steps:

•Motherboard Firmware

•ILO Firmware

•10gbE Card Firmware
• LeftHand OS

 

Has anyone done this?

 

Patrick Neuner
Regular Advisor

Re: Reclaiming Space from a thin provisioned netword raid-5 volume


Bart_Heungens wrote:

Hi,

 

Cannot tell you anything in detail but 2014 will be a good year! ;-)

 

Kr,

Bart


Hi Bart,

 

I'm curious where you got that ominous Info from. I just had a Phone Call from HP Support (DAMIAN IVANOV) because of a Support Request regarding DESCARD Functionality on P4000 System. (Case ID: #4647850281)

 

HP Support Rep. (DAMIAN IVANOV) told me clearly that Lefthand Engeneering !!! IS CURRENTLY NOT !!! working on DISCARD funtionality nor will it come in the foreseeable future ... !!!

 

He logged this Line in the Case:

---------
*** PHONE LOG 3/24/2014 (M/D/Y) 2:23 PM CET-1CEST AT [UTC +1:00] WIDEN_DAMIAN_IVANOV Action Type: Outgoing call

Talked to the customer. There is no official info on this if he got that info from 3rd party / sales team he should contact them.
---------

He suggested to move to 3PAR Storage ...

Seems like we're left out in the rain!!

Andreas Schnederle-Wagner