Configuring MSA1000 (active/active) with MPIO

[Luciano Avelino_2]

Hi all,

Follow the enviroment specifications:

1 MSA1000 (active/active mode)
1 DL380 with one HBA model FCA2214
1 SAN Switch 2/8 (the optional kit of MSA1000)

Questions :

How can I do the zone to this configuration ?

If I do the HBA zone to both ports of MSA1000 I need the MPIO (basic mode)?

How the failover process work ?

tks in advance

[Jefferson Humber]

Luciano,

You can't currently do Active/Active with the MSA1000..... unless you are running some special beta firmware there ?

Jeff

[Luk Vandenbussche]

You don't need zoning if you have only one server connected to you MSA.

[Uwe Zessin]

> If I do the HBA zone to both ports of MSA1000
> I need the MPIO (basic mode)?

That would be an invalid configuration.

A single Fibre Channel adapter port must not have access to both MSA controllers and a single MSA controller must not be accessed by multiple Fibre Channel adapter ports from a single server.

[Luciano Avelino_2]

Uwe Zessin,

I don´t understood the issues about MSA x SAN, so how can I do a valide configuration ?

tks in advance

[Uwe Zessin]

Luciano,

according to your description, you have:
- one MSA1000 with two controllers
- one DL380 with a single-port Fibre Channel adapter (FCA)
- one Fibre Channel switch
-- I assume this is an external switch which
-- does not plug into the rear of the MSA box

You can:
1) run single path by connecting the FCA and the MSA's controller-1 (right one if you are looking at the front) to the Fibre Channel switch. By default, controller-1 is the active one.

or
2) add another FCA to the server and connect both FCAs and both MSA controllers to the same switch, but you need to set up zoning in the switch so that the rules are met.

or
3) add another FCA and a second Fibre Channel switch. Connect one FCA and one MSA controller to one switch; the other FCA and MSA controller to the second switch.
In this case you don't need to set up zoning and you have the highest availability.

In case 2) and 3) you are using a multipath environment so you need a multipath filter in the operating system. For Windows, you can download the "basic MPIO for MSA" for free.

[Luciano Avelino_2]

Uwe Zessin,

tks for your explanations.

I have a doubt :

In example 1 ---

I will have just one path from HBA to MSA (controller 1 on right position). If I lost this controller, I will lost the connection to LUN ?

tks in advance

[Uwe Zessin · Accepted solution]

Yes. Single-path is only suggested for non-critical environments where some downtime does not matter.

[Luciano Avelino_2]

very, very tks

My doubt was resolved.