Defining more than 120 LUNs on an XP256 disk array port

[Fedon Kadifeli]

I am using an XP256 disk array connected to HP-UX 11.00 hosts. There is no SAN; only one-to-one connection of the FC interface on host to XP256 port.

In the LUN Management section of the XP256 Remote Control software (in the "SCSI Path Parameter" window) it looks like I can define from LUN 0 up to LUN 77(octal). This means that I can define only 120 LUNs on a single port; the SCSI ID is fixed to "F" (on this window).

In the previous window ("LDEV Configuration - Without Shutdown") there is a "Free SCSI ID" section ranging from "0" to "E". How can I use these additional SCSI IDs to add more LUNs? Is it possible to define more than 120 LUNs on a single port of XP256?

[S.Arunkumar · Accepted solution]

Hi Fedon


You can find the required details in th following doc.


Regards
S.Arunkumar

[Fedon Kadifeli]

That's bad news for XP256 users. :(

Thank you for your reply.

[Fedon Kadifeli]

I checked this with HP RC. They also confirmed that 120 LUNs is the limit.

I will try the LUSE ("Open Volume") feature of XP256 to consolidate the smaller LUNs into larger LUNs.

[generic_1]

How many ports do you have on the back of your XP256. You should have more than one port on the back. You should really consider fiber switches. So you can share with redundancy.

[Florian Heigl (new acc)]

Also take care to read up on FCP_LARGE_CONFIG if You want to present more than 127 LUNs to the HP-UX host.

But raising the LUN sizes should prove helpful in my opinion, as it will shorten VG activation times.

I wouldn't put in switches if the host is direct attached now, because this will raise management overhead and risks of hardware/human failures.

Rather add two more HBAs, unless You see need for a SAN withhin the next two years or so.
(assuming You run securepath anyway *g*)