EVA - Terminlogies - Clarification Required

[Karthik S S]

Hi Orrin,

Thanks a lot for those useful information.

-Karthik S S

[Orrin]

HI Karthik,

Sorry missed something...

The snapshots have two types of space allocation policies,
allocation on Demand - The amount of space used for the snapshot increases with an increase in the changes made to the original vdisk.
Fully allocated - The entire space used by the vdisk is reserved for the snapshot.

There are obvious advantages and disadvantages to both types. Another limitation is each vdisk family can have only one type of allocation, i.e. if the first snapshot is " allocation on Demand" then all the consequent snapshots must be "Allocation on Demand"

The snapclone on the other hand is similar to the fully allocated snapshot, in space requirements only, they are implemented differently.

Regards,
Orrin.

[Karthik S S]

Hi Orrin,

Thanks again. By the way do you have any kind of write-ups or notes on setting up a EVA SAN?? We will be receiving an new EVA in couple of days.

Thanks,
Karthik S S

[Orrin]

Hi karthik,

Sorry Karthik, no notes in Particular, in fact we got our EVA last saturday, and the inofrmation I have is from going through the notes here is the link.
http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/storageworks/san/documentation.html

As far as I can see the gotchas are with the firmware versions and different OS's that need to access the same EVA, We have a multiple OS SAN, i.e we will be accessing the SAN from TRU64, VMS and WIN , and with different databases.

All I can say is plan ahead, with the amount of disk available and the vraid setups, the performance on a vraid1 and a vraid5 are on par, only the vraid1 seems to have more redundancy. Best of Luck.

Regards,
Orrin.

[Uwe Zessin]

Current EVAs are supposed to have the installation and startup service bundled with the array. It is carried out by HP or an authorized partner.

Command View EVA is now bundled with the Storage Node Manager from the Storage Area Manager Product.
http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/storage/software/sam/index.html

The bundle is called the Storage Operations Manager (SOM) and installation and startup is included, too.
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/storage/software/som/index.html

Beginning with VCS V3.010 there is no longer
a VCS base license needed which makes deployment a bit easier - you only need to do license fulfilment for the BC and CA licenses sould you have bought them.

CV-EVA requires that the Storage Management Appliance be at Version 2.1 (OSM - the Open SAN Manager, which is just the framework for all applications running on the SMA). You might have to order an upgrade or restore CD-ROM through the SMA's web pages at:
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/sanworks/managementappliance/index.html

because the SMA comes with an old CD. If you are lucky the person who is doing the work has his own copy with him as it can take some time to receive the CDs through the oder process.

Make sure you meet the power requirements for the box. I often see that there is a communication problem and it is not fun to abort an installation just due to a missing cable or wrong connector.

Anyway, I wish you much fun with the box. I have been working with EVAs since VCS V1.002 and it was a long way...

[Karthik S S]

Hi Orrin,

We received a new EVA and are trying to configure the same. As per the document we have input the WWN number through the OCP. After entering we are getting a Flashing message on the OCP saying,

WWN: xyz zyz ..


The connectivity between the HSV100s and the Disk enclosure seems to be OK ( it came pre wired).

As per the doc. we are supposed get some Storage System name once we enter the WWN.

How do I proceed?? Pl. help.

Thanks,
-Karthik S S

[Karthik S S]

I have posted this at,

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=449471

-Karthik S S

[Uwe Zessin]

You are missing an important step, Karthik.

A new EVA is coming without any meta data on the disks. You must first 'initialize' your storage system. That process will give the storage cell its name, too.

You cannot do that step through the OPC. There is an 'uninitialize' option, but that will ERASE all metadata!

Please get hold of the documentation for CV-EVA. It should be in the OSM package I have already described.

Otherwise follow the 'technical documents' link on the right side of this page:
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/storage/software/som/index.html

Fire up your Storage Management Appliance and make sure that Command View EVA Version 3.1 is installed. The CD-ROM is in the OSM package. Login to the SMA and fire up CV-EVA - you should see an entry on the left side that says something like 'uninitialized storage system'.

Select that option and you will see more details about your box. Now, make sure that your EVA is already running firmware V3.010 - if not have someone upgrade it before you initialize your system.

The reason is that previous firmware versions required a VCS base license, but current EVAs done come with one. Finally hit [Initialize] and fill out all fields. You need at least 8 disks for the first disk group. I don't recall right now if it is now enforced by CV-EVA, but previous versions did not and they defaulted to a 4-disk group which could result in problems.

Aren't you entitled to a 'free' installation and startup or are you just too eager to play with it? ;-)

[Karthik S S]

Hi,

Thanks for those inputs. Yeah I am too eagar to play with EVA :-)) ... that is the reason I am taking help of you folks without calling HP Support.

The VCS version I have is 3.010. And the CV EVA version is 2.1. When I tried doing a discovery of devices it gave me a error message saying that No controllers could be found. Is it due to the version problem?? Is it must to have CV EVA 3.1 to configure EVA3000/VCS 3.010??

Pl. Clarify,

Thanks
Karthik S S

[Uwe Zessin]

When you say 'And the CV EVA version is 2.1.' are you by chance talking about the software level (OSM - Open SAN manager) of the SMA? (There never was a V2.1 of CV-EVA, however there was a V2.1 of its predecessor 'HSV element manager').

Yes, you need CV-EVA V3.1 and it is not by default on the SMA. Please check your OSM package - it should contain a CD-ROM with CV-EVA V3.1.

It still could be a different error that no array is seen. Did you connect both ports of the SMA to both fabrics and all 4 ports of the EVA correctly? Is the zoning correct?

When I got the first EVA 2 years ago I was stringing one long cable through our whole shop to the temporary position of the EVA, but I couldn't initialize either. Problem: I connected the wrong controller. If the EVA boots up one of the controllers becomes the 'master' and the SMA must be able to connect to this one to initialize the cell.

I see you're going to learn a lot, don't you?