topic Re: eva ca structure in HPE EVA Storage

eva ca structure

singvey — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 08:44:30 GMT

1.I have two sites (site-a,site-b)
site-a has the following hardware:
2 compaq gs80 with two hba fc cards
one san switch 2/8v
one eva4000
one dl380 storage server
the two gs80 alpha servers with true64 configured with trueclusture

site-b has the follwing hardware:
one san switch 2/8v
one eva4000
one dl380 storage server
I have configure software T3687b(HP CA EVA v2.1 Media kit
),and license

2.I just want to use ca and bc backup my eva4000
at data level no application level

3. so I want to ask :
Is it right install ca eva (rsm software) on dl380 storage server on the twon sites???
what is the function of software ca host agent ????
should the ca eva host agent must be installed ????
HP CA EVA v2.1 Media kit each software componet install on which server ????????

thanks a lot

Re: eva ca structure

Uwe Zessin — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 09:14:12 GMT

RSM is a framework that allows scripting of BC and CA-EVA management tasks.

> Is it right install ca eva (rsm software) on dl380 storage server on the twon sites???

You can have on (active) RSM management server on one DL380 and a second (standby) RSM management server on the second DL380.

> what is the function of software ca host agent ????

It is called the RSM HA, because it is used for CA and BC.
It communicates the host's disk configuration to the RSM management server and receives commands from the RSM management server to configure, mount and unmount disks.

> should the ca eva host agent must be installed ????

As far as I can tell, there is no RSM HA for Tru64 Unix available, right now.

> HP CA EVA v2.1 Media kit each software componet install on which server ????????

RSM server on DL380, no RSM HA available for Tru64 Unix yet, JREserver on DL380.

Re: eva ca structure

singvey — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 09:42:04 GMT

hey,Uwe Zessin
thank you very much

so I search my cd ,and I can not find rsm hostagent on my true64 unix.
1.I can only backup my eva4000 data through DR group on the two eva4000 ????

2.I also can install BC software on my site-b
dl380 storage server , make a snapclone of my DR group ,beacause my running data center is site-a, So I have to install BC eva on site-b dl380??????

Re: eva ca structure

Uwe Zessin — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 10:25:40 GMT

singvey,

Right, I know that HP is working on it, but it is not ready, yet (not even in RSM V2.0).

You can still use the RSM server to create a BC snapshot or snapclone and present it to your Tru64 Unix host - that is possible, because the RSM server directly talks to the CV-EVA agent on the EVA management server. What you can't do is initiate the 'new hardware scan' and the mount of the volume from the RSM server. You do need to use Tru64 Unix's own tools.

1) I am not sure I understand you correctly: a DRgroup is just a high-level mechanism to organize so-called 'copy-sets' and a 'copy-set' describes the replication between two virtual disks. Data replication is for desaster tolerance, but it is not meant as a data backup mechanism.

Imagine somebody deletes an important file - the change is immediately replicated to the destination EVA in site-b, so the data is 'deleted' on both sites (a + b) !!

2) Wait a moment, I think there is a trerminology problem:
you cannot create a snapclone from a DR group, because a DRgroup is just a high-level mechanism...(please see above ;-)

I think what you are asking is whether you can create a snapclone of a virtual disk that is a replication destination? Yes, you can do that.

You can install the RSM server software on both DL380 servers, but only one should actively manage both EVAs. What you could do is: install the RSM server on the second DL380 as well and make configuration copies to this server in regular intervals so that you are ready to take over in case the 'primary' DL380 fails.

Re: eva ca structure

singvey — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 11:59:07 GMT

hey,Uwe Zessin
thank you
the following is my configure request
1. I have to install my oracle database on true64 with truecluster
2. I used the eva4000(site-a) raw disk to contain my oracle datafile
3. I want to tolerate my site-a eva4000 with site-b eva4000
4. when the site-a eva4000 works normally , I just use the site-b eva4000 make a synchronization replication
5. when the site-a eva4000 fault, the true64 system will use site-b eva4000 to access oracle data
6. when the site-a eva4000 be avaible again,
the true64 will use the site-a eva4000 again.

How to configure my RSM and my eva4000 of the site-a and site-b????
what is the steps ???
should I configure three zones:
zone-1: dl380(site-a),eva4000(site-a),eva4000(site-b)
zone-2: dl380(site-b),eva4000(site-a)
zone-3: true64 hosts(site-a),dl380(both sites), eva4000(both sites)????

thank you !!!!!!!

Re: eva ca structure

Uwe Zessin — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 12:16:57 GMT

Let's see...

1. I assume the Tru64 Unix cluster is stored on the EVA4000 in site-a (let's call it EVA-A).

2. OK

3. I am not sure what you mean by "tolerate", sorry.

4. So you replicate all data (Oracle and the Tru64 Unix disks) from EVA-A to EVA-B.

5. From your description it is not clear to me where the servers are located. Both AlphaServer GS80 in SITE-A or one in SITE-A and the other in SITE-B?

6. OK, but if the oracle database was active on SITE-B, you first need to replicate the data from SITE-B to SITE-A to make sure it is current, right?

---

I would make the zoning like this:
z1: DL380-A, EVA-A
z2: DL380-A, EVA-B
z3: DL380-B, EVA-A
z4: DL380-B, EVA-B
z5: TRU64, EVA-A
z6: TRU64, EVA-B
z7: EVA-A, EVA-B

it is a bit more work, but gives greater flexiblity, because you can control the data flow better.

I suggest you make an initial setup with one management server where CV-EVA is installed and making sure you can manage both EVAs.
It allows you to make yourself familiar with the basic management and you can easily expand everything.

Re: eva ca structure

singvey — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 20:49:23 GMT

hey,Uwe Zessin
thanks for your answer

my two alpha gs80 (true64 unix server) are only on site-a.
site-b just has a eva4000,san switch2/8v, site-b is just a bakcup center, do not have gs80(true64 server)

the following is my configure request
1. I have to install my oracle database on true64 with truecluster
2. I used the eva4000(site-a) raw disk to contain my oracle datafile
3. I want to backup my site-a eva4000 with site-b eva4000
4. when the site-a eva4000 works normally , I just use the site-b eva4000 make a synchronization replication
5. when the site-a eva4000 fault, the true64 system will use site-b eva4000 to access oracle data
6. when the site-a eva4000 be avaible again,
the true64 will use the site-a eva4000 again.

7.How to configure my RSM and my eva4000 of the site-a and site-b????
8.what is the steps ???
9.should I configure three zones:
zone-1: dl380(site-a),eva4000(site-a),eva4000(site-b)
zone-2: dl380(site-b),eva4000(site-a)
zone-3: true64 hosts(site-a),dl380(both sites), eva4000(both sites)????

thank you !!!!!!!

Re: eva ca structure

Uwe Zessin — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 11:52:52 GMT

Ah, OK, thanks for the clarification.

So in case EVA-A goes down, you do a CA failover to EVA-B. Then you need to boot the TruCluster from EVA-B.
There are 2 challenges:

- you need to change the boot configuration on the AlphaServers - that's quite easy with the WWIDMGR

- I think you have to change the LUN-WWN of all virtual disks on EVA-B to match the value on EVA-A

The reason is that Tru64 Unix uses this value for a persistent LUN binding, so that a virtuall disk is always accessible through the same name.

As far as I can tell, it is also possible to recover the cluster from changed LUN WWNs. I am not a Tru64 administrator, but it is my understanding that it involves quite some work.