Upgrade of MSA1000 from SAN Switch 6 to HP SAN Switch 4/8

[Peter Sachs]

Hello Community, I was wondering if anyone could provide some advise or guidance on the following.

My MSA1000 has been running FW 7.00 since it was installed. I have just updated my HP SAN Switch 4/8 units (Brocade 200E) to Firmware 6.2.0d which is the latest version at this time.

I will be migrating my MSA1000 Dual Controller SAN with Dual MSA SAN Switch 6 embedded Switches (old Gadzookz for Compaq) equipment to a new configuration. I will be doing the following:

Disable HA in the Advanced Features Tab of VM-Ware VirtualCenter

Power Everything down

Replace the two MSA SAN Switch 6 (Embedded Gadzookz) switches with a pair of 218960-B21 HP MSA Fibre Channel I/O Module for MSA1000 modules.

Plug the fiber optic cable from the new Fiber Channel I/O Module into the HP SAN Switch 4/8 into port 0 (first Port) EACH CABLE TO A SEPARATE 4/8 SWITCH

Configure Both Switches for Standard Zoning

On Each or my three ESX 3.5 Update 4 DL380-G5 Server, cable the primary SAN HBA (1 of 2) into the First 4/8 Switch into either ports 3,4,5,6,7 or 8 (Since Default Zoning in in effect)

On Each or my three ESX 3.5 Update 4 DL380-G5 Server, cable the secondary SAN HBA (2 of 2) into the Second 4/8 Switch into either ports 3,4,5,6,7 or 8 (Since Default Zoning in in effect)

Since this switch does not have ISL being a 4/8 Base Model Switch I do not need to be concerned with interconnecting switches in any way (correct?)

Lock down each port on the Switch 4/8 from 4Gb or Auto to 2Gb/sec since we have legacy 2Gb SAN equipment in the mix.

Power Up the SAN Switches, Power Up the MSA1000 SAN, Power Up the Servers.

Could anyone please let me know if you see anything missing or absent in my plan that could cause a problem.

My ESX Servers and SAN are as follows:

(3) Proliant DL380-G5 32GB of Memory Each with Two LP952 2Gb Emulex by HP/Compaq HBAs per server.

Thirty VM's in production.
(1) MSA1000 with two almost fully populated MSA30 Units Attached.

Thanks in advance any advise is appreciated.

Peter Sachs
Senior LAN Administrator Wellesley, MA USA

[Uwe Zessin]

There is no problem if you can't link the switches - at least in the past, SAN environments with MSAs have acted strange when a hosts FC port was seen by both MSA controllers so you would have to 'fix' this by zoning anyway.

As you use Emulex adapters it is a requirement that you use single-initiator zoning (one zone that includes an MSA port and exactly one host port) on the Brocade switches.

[Peter Sachs]

Thanks Uwe,

I have to admit that I am kind of new to SAN Switches and especially zoning. I would like to perform this upgrade this Sunday during our monthly planned maintainance. While I plan to teach myself more about Zoning in particular over the next few days, I would like to at least be switched over to the new 4/8 Switch on Monday Morning.

Would switching over without configuring the zoning in the manner you speak of for three or four days be a risky venture in your opinion? In other words, while this is not a best practice, would it at least work?