Data migration from EMC CX500 to HP P4000G2

[IvanForceville]

I'm looking for scenario's to migrate data from an EMC CX500 to a HP P4000G2;

We we're looking at EMC SANCopy which has the ability to copy data from EMC CX to HP EVA.
Unfortunately there is no information in relation to the P4000.

Several scenario's are possible but the all incorporate serious downtime
- backup/restore from EMC to P4000
- host based mirroring
- fresh install onto P4000
-...

Any ideas?

[Peter Mattei · Accepted solution]

EMC SAN Copy only supports FC storage.

A very elegant method is using the HP MPX200 router. Beside iSCSI, FCoE, FCIP it also allows offline and online Data Migration.
The Data Migration feature allows migrating LUNs from FC to FC arrays as well as from FC to iSCSI arrays.

You find the MPX description here: http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/storageworks/mpx200mr/index.html

and the MPX200 Data Migration User Guide here:
http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c02256724/c02256724.pdf

You can also request the migration as a service from HP. Contact your HP representative.

Cheers
Pete

[IvanForceville]

Are you sure the P4000G2 is a supported target array?

This is from the MPX200 quickspecs:

Destination Arrays: All MPX200 supported EVA models
Source Arrays: All MPX200 supported EVA models, EVA3000/5000, MSA; IBM - DS4000, DS5000 Series; EMC CX Series, AX Series; HDS - AMS Family, WMS Family

[Peter Mattei]

Ivan

You are right, it is not yet documented!
I will investigate and come back with the appropriate information.

Cheers
Pete

[jason andrade]

out of curiousity, why do your scenarios involve downtime ? can you provide a bit more information ?

where possible, migrating data between different vendor arrays i'd almost always prefer host based mirroring myself, e.g

mount the p4k volume up on the host with the san presented storage - rsync or equivalent to the new storage.

what benefit are you getting from a san based software to migrating the data (as i assume it pretty much has downtime also associated with cutting over luns?)

regards,

-jason

[Peter Mattei]

Well, server based migrations are good and often used methods.

But remember that most DM (data migration) scenarios may require require downtime.
Even host base methods may require installation of new drivers or multipathing software or plug-ins that require a reboot or an unmap and map of a LUN.

When doing online DM with the MPX200 you only need to remap the LUN or reboot the server at the very end of the migration.
This can be planned ahead.

The advantages of MPX200 based migrations are:
- very same method for all operating systems
- jobs can be pre-defined and scheduled
- no additional load on the servers
- migration speed can be specified
- very high migration rates of up to 4TB/hour

Cheers
Pete

[IvanForceville]

Some background:

This is part of a presales process to replace a few end of life EMC CX500 boxes.

We offered 2 scenario's: The first one was a migration to an EVA where we could use EMC SANcopy to pick up the LUNS from the EMC, copy them to the EVA and attach it to the servers.

The second scenario was a move to P4000G2 but since the technology was not fibre we need to try to make the migration as smooth as possible. No paintpoints. Several methods possible as explained in my first post but we we're looking for something similar as the EMC SANCopy procedure. Downtime, as always, is very limited..

[jason andrade]

G'day Ivan,

For me, you're moving from block storage (FC) to block storage (iSCSI) so i'd still figure that connecting both to a high powered host should still be the fastest way to move the blocks, whether you use rsync at a file level (which is really a block mover anyway, just traversing over a filesystem) or even dd ?

the advantage as i see using rsync is that you can simultaneously keep systems going, pick up changes on a 2nd/3rd pass and even 'expand' on the fly to a new filesystem.

i'd assume SANcopy or equivalent tools pretty much give you the same sized lun on both sides ?

[Peter Mattei]

Migration one or two servers is no big deal.

Assume we were talking about 100 or more servers and 5 or more different operating systems.
This could be a reason for using a uniform SAN based solution.

Pete

[IvanForceville]

We're talking about ~50 servers but the issus is indeed some very different flavors of OS's.

In the end it's just a limitation of cost. Using a 1-1 tool migration we can dramatically decrease project costs.

Another issue is that we're competing againts Netapp and EMC. Nevertheless the customer is convinced about P4000...the cost of migrating to it should be taken into account.

Can I presume the MPX200 Migration is not an option since it's not supported, as well as the EMC SAN copy methodolgy?