MSA2050 disable automatic tiering

[Gwendling]

Hello,

I want to add a seconf SAS diskgroup on an MSA2050 but the system is asking for a performance license.

I have a fist SSD disgroup (says "performance") and i don't want to use tiering

i want to disable automatic tiering. How can this be done ?

thanks in advance.

Gérard

[SUBHAJIT KHANBARMAN_1]

It looks to me you already had SSD drives present in the system and you have created Virtual Disk Group with the same as well. The VDG named as "performance" and this doesn't mean you have Performance tier enabled.

The moment you tried to add another Virtual DIsk Group with different type of drive (here SAS drives) system will look for Tiering license. This is as per design.

You can't use SSD and SAS in same system without Tiering enabled or licensed.

Only way to use SSD in the presence of SAS drives is to use SSD as read cache. For this there is no license required. A maximum of two SSD drives per pool can be added for Read Cache. Hewlett Packard Enterprise recommends beginning with one SSD assigned per Storage Pool for Read Cache. Monitor the performance of the Read Cache and add more SSDs as needed. There is a 4 TB maximum limit per pool for Read Cache. 

You can have SSDs in a fault-tolerant Disk Group as a Performance Tier or as a non-fault-tolerant (up to two disks) Disk Group as Read Cache. However, neither pool can have both a Performance Tier and a Read Cache.

HPE Advanced Data Services (ADS) Software Suite include:
• Performance Tiering and Archive Tiering Software
• 512 Snapshots and Volume Copy Software
• Remote Snap Software

Hope this helps!
Regards
Subhajit

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[Gwendling]

Tank's for this answer Subhajit,

But we want to create a new virtual pool ( B) , the SSd's virtual pool is A. So we don't want to use SSD ans SAS drives in the same virtual pool.

We want just to create a new  capacity pool/disg group without tiering.

If we create a new disk group (on pool A or B) the systems asks for a performance license.

[SUBHAJIT KHANBARMAN_1 · Accepted solution]

You can refer MSA2050 SMU guide and it says below information,

"Virtual disk groups that contain SSDs can only be created with a Performance Tier license when other HDD disk groups exist in the system. If the system contains only SSDs, then virtual disk groups can be created without a Performance Tier license. This restriction does not apply to read-cache disk groups."

So this is the primary reason why system allowed you to create "performance" VDG without having any license. Later the moment you try to install SAS drives it's asking for Performance Tier license. This is as per design.

Hope this helps!
Regards
Subhajit

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[Gwendling]

OK Subhajit thank's.

Do you know if (and where) we could get a trall license for the MSA2050 ?

[Shawn_K]

Hello,

You will need to talk to your sales or account team for a trial license.

Cheers,

Shawn

[Gwendling]

Hello,

It looks like there is no trial ADS license for MSA, we bought a license ( 2800€ gloup !)

So know we have :

1 pool /diskgroup/volume A with 9 SSDs 800Gb. The volume is flagged as "performance"

1 pool/diksgroup/volume B with 11 SAS 12TB drives and a spare

and we have a performance licence ( gloup ! again )

My understand is that tiering cannot be done as my diskgroup are on different pools.

So what will happen if i create another SAS diskgroup in pool A:

will tiering automaticly start for my existing volume ?

how can tiering been disabled ?

Thank's for all your clear and quick answers.

Gérard

[SUBHAJIT KHANBARMAN_1]

I will try to answer as below,

Q> So what will happen if i create another SAS diskgroup in pool A:

Ans: Tiering will work the moment you add another SAS VDG in Pool A as already SSD VDG exists

Q> will tiering automaticly start for my existing volume ?

Ans: Yes Tiering will start automatically if you add new SAS VDG to the Pool where you have SSD VDG exists

Q> how can tiering been disabled ?

Ans: There is no way to disable Tiering until you un-install the license as this is Automatic feature the moment you install ADS license and it detects different type drive VDG present in the system. Another Option is to configure SSD cache.

Hope this helps!
Regards
Subhajit

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[Gwendling]

Perfectly clear !

Thank's again Subhajit !