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Re: SAN boot (EVA6400 )for OpenVMS

 
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Dhananjaya Amarakoon
Regular Advisor

SAN boot (EVA6400 )for OpenVMS

I am going to implement SAN setup (EVA6400) for two OpenVMS system. Both servers are going to be implemented as SAN BOOT.

Please give me some idea from SAN side what should I consider here...

eg
for SAN BOOT is there any special configuration needed from EVA or SAN switch side ?

because of multipath concept, according to my knowledge from the server side it should display more than 1 HDD after presents the vdisk to the server. How is this involve with SAN boot concept ?

5 REPLIES 5
Rob Leadbeater
Honored Contributor

Re: SAN boot (EVA6400 )for OpenVMS

Hi,

You shouldn't need to do anything special on the EVA or SAN switch to support booting from SAN. The only thing you will need to do is to ensure that the OS Unit ID is set for each Vdisk that is presented. This is mandatory for all LUNs presented to an OpenVMS box, regardless of whether they're are used for SAN boot.

On the server side, if you're using Alpha servers then you need to run wwidmgr to set up the boot disks. Itanium boxes are a bit different, and I've not used on of those in a while, so I'm sure someone else will chip in with the details.

Cheers,

Rob
Uwe Zessin
Honored Contributor

Re: SAN boot (EVA6400 )for OpenVMS

Just a small hint that dealing with the Unit ID can be a bit of a challenge due to one of the bugs in CV-EVA:

c01849072 - ADVISORY: HP StorageWorks Command View EVA software refresh clears virtual disk operating system unit ID in user interface

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&objectID=c0184907
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Dhananjaya Amarakoon
Regular Advisor

Re: SAN boot (EVA6400 )for OpenVMS

Hi Rob,Uwe
thanks
Servers are rx6600. Still I don't know which version of OpenVMS is going to installed. may be 8.3
Still I want to clear out following parts.

1.) Normally when I present luns to windows or linux I use multipath software to visible LUNs as one unit in OS side.
Like wise are we used same kind of concept in OpenVMS also? What is the software need to do that? (After OS installed)

2.) I don't have any previous experience on SAN (EVA) boot for any OS .In this case how is the multipart concept involve here?
I believe in server side (below the OS level) there should have more than a disk for single LUN (due to multipath concept).
So which disk are we going to install OS there? Please give me more hints for that.

Hi Uwe, the link you just posted doesn't get any documents

Thanks
Dhananjaya
Uwe Zessin
Honored Contributor
Solution

Re: SAN boot (EVA6400 )for OpenVMS

OpenVMS has been able to handle Fibre Channel multipath devices from 'day one' (=when support was enabled by a patch to VMS in mid-1999).

The console subsystem on Alpha / Integrity can configure multiple paths and at least on Alpha (I'm sure it looks similar on Integrity) you can pre-configure all possible paths for booting.

The EVA-6400 is an active/active disk array, so you can boot from any path.

If you boot from the DVD for installation you are presented with a single multipathed device named $1$DGAu: where "u" is the OS UNIT ID you have assigned on the virtual disk's properties page, [presentation] tab. used for booting. Last time I checked, "0" could not be used for OpenVMS as it means 'do not supply an OS Unit ID'.

It's been some time since I installed OpenVMS on Integrity, but the DVD used to have a DCL procedure which helped to configure the boot paths:
run the procedure and enter the OpenVMS device name, e.g. $1$DGA100: - the procedure enters all paths to the boot configuration.

Sorry, cut&paste error:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&objectID=c01849072
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MichelleP_1
Advisor

Re: SAN boot (EVA6400 )for OpenVMS

Dhananjaya,

I imagine you'll want to install 8.3-1H1.

I'm curious, will the two hosts be clustered? Will they share a system disk? Will the system disk(s) be shadowed (OpenVMS Host-Based Volume Shadowing)?

Uwe's right, there is a procedure in the installation for adding and validating boot options. You can also run that procedure directly at the DCL prompt at any time. ($ @SYS$MANAGER:BOOT_OPTIONS.COM)

See pages 57-58 & 70-71 of the 8.3-1H1 Upgrade and Installation Manual - ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/openvms/doc/BA322-90077.PDF. See also Appendix D for more detail about configuring and booting Fibre Channel disks specifically.