EVA 5000/ Securepath / New to HPUX

[Mike Smith_33]

I have an EVA 5000 that is currently serving storage to several VMS clusters. I just got a couple of rp3440s that I am trying to setup. I understand that I need Securepath and the cd is currently in the drive waiting to be installed. What I want to know is, can I put all my file systems on the EVA. I do not use any internal storage on my VMS servers, they boot from the EVA. I have the base O/S installed on HPUX but I was thinking that I would like to follow a similar strategy. I think this would work as long as securepath is updating some type of firmware in the hba. This would not do me any good if it is only updating files on the internal disk.

My other question concerns the disk group in the EVA. I have one group setup now with luns carved out and presented to the appropriate nodes. I added 8 new 72gb drives in for HPUX which I have not added to a group. Is it ok to add them in with group 1 and then just carve out and present as I did with the rest of the drives or does HPUX not want to play with VMS in this case?

I am new to HPUX and I would appreciate help with these questions.

Mike Smith

[Uwe Zessin]

Haven't tried a SAN boot with HP-UX, but it doesn't seem that easy like on VMS. I'd use a local boot.

You can safely put Vdisks for HP-UX and VMS in one disk group. They are isolated as long as you don't present a Vdisk to both server types at the same time. Of course, I/Os fom HP-UX and VMS go to the same physical disks now, but that is no different than multiple servers accessing Vdisks from one disk group.

Our customers are running several OS mixes without problems,
e.g.: VMS + Tru64 Unix, Linux + NetWare + Tru64 Unix.

[Mike Smith_33]

Uwe, as many times as I have seen your name in the forums I can't believe you would settle for a local boot. :')

All kidding aside, I did not order MirrorUX or whatever the software is called because I fully intended to boot from the SAN.

For the life of me I can't figure out why we would pay what we pay for these EVAs and then still pay for local mirroring. Maybe I am missing something but if I boot locally I either need hardware raid in the server or some type of software raid like mirrorux.

[Sameer_Nirmal · Accepted solution]

Secure Path 3.0D,VCS 3020 and compatible HBAs supports bootup from EVA . Now SP 3.0F version support HP-UX 11.23 as well.
You just need to ensure latest patch level of OS and SP to make it smooth.
There is migration procedure notes available on SP CD for EVA bootup.
Well , SP doesn't update firmware on the HBAs.But it requires the compatible firmware be available on the HBAs . Refer the SP CD Release notes.

You can add those new disks in the existing group and take out LUNs from it for HP-UX.
Have zoning done at SAN switch level for HP-UX nodes as well, like you might have done for other nodes.

[Uwe Zessin]

:-)

Yes, I agree with you, but unfortunately, I don't have any personal experience with HP-UX servers booting from SAN. I've just remembered some threads from the HP-UX forums and it did not sound that easy, because Secure Path is a layered product, not embedded in the operating system.

On the other hand - there's a good chance that it has become less complicated with today's software versions. Please keep us informed on your progress - it's a great way for us to learn.

[Mike Smith_33]

Ok, here is the update on this project. I followed the instructions in the securepath manual. I added the host to the EVA, completed the zoning, configured virtual drives and presented the drives to the node while it was down. I booted the node did a make_tape_recovery of the internal drive and shutdown so that I could boot from tape.

I recovered from tape to the San drive so that I would have a bootable SAN drive. I booted from the SAN drive and installed about a gb of patches in preparation for securepath. Finally, I installed Securepath 3.0F and rebooted. The system came up but not on the EVA boot disk I had just set up, it came up on the internal drive. After calling support and going up a couple levels, I was told I had encountered a known problem. After installing Securepath, your San boot drive is no longer bootable. The system fails on the primary and alternate boot paths and finally finds the internal and boots from it.


There is supposedly a fix involving you starting from below scratch. You have to boot from the cd and install the OS from CD directly to the EVA disk, apparently make_tape_recovery is insufficient. There are a few more steps involving removing ports and adding them back later that make it quite complex. Plus, all your factory installed software and patches of course are gone so all that would need to be done as well.

Funny, with VMS, it just works.

[Uwe Zessin]

VMS is not Unix and it doesn't have a registry ;-)
Well, it has one, but the base OS does not need it.

What makes this task easier for VMS is that the multipathing is part of the OS and VMS receives help by the storage array, because it provides data for consistent device names.

[Ranjith_5]

Hi Mike Smith,

Eventhough the EVA service and support guide ( HP-RESTRICTED) says HP-UX doesnt support booting from EVA products, As per thr HP SAN Design guide ( updated on 15th Aug 2005), SAN boot is supported for Open VMS Clusters for the following products
EVA5000/EVA3000, EMA/ESA12000, EMA16000, MA/RA8000, MA6000,
MSA1000,
It also says that
EVA5000/3000 Requires Secure Path v3.0d or later, for the boot support in HP-UX11iv1 and 11iv2.

This guide also mention that it is OS booting is available for a few supported HBAs. You may need to contact HP for getting the support matrix. The supportted HBAs are not mentioned in the guide.

Regards,
Syam