setup MSA2050

[RAID0]

Hi Dears

i have 2 * MSA2050 with 18 * 1.2sas10K and 9*400SSD and 9*2TB 7.2K------2*g10dl380 and 1*blade(620c*2 and 420c*1 with 8TB configured alredy with esx5.5)

i want them for virtualization infrastructure with esx 6.7 .unfortunetly i have no performance licence.

what's the best way to align then. in what kind of pool?(linear,virtual)

how many in witch pool?how many volume in each pool?

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if i could buy some HDD in feature?how to setup them.

thank you

[giladzzz]

Hi

as you have no performance license and with MSA2050 you can only configure virtual pools

this means you should configure a pool with the same disk drives. you have 18 drives of 1.2TB

so you can create two disk groups of 9 drives raid 5 in the same pool or leave one or more drives

for spare. the same you can do with the other drive type. as for the SSD drives you can use them in

a separate pool or use them as SSD Read Cache extension that does nor require a license.

Regards

Give a KUDO if this helps

[HPSDMike]

Without a performance tiering license you cannot have SSD in any pool if there is also a spinning disk in any pool. Putting SSD in one pool and non SSD in another will not get you around the license requirement.

If you have spinning disks in either pool then the only way you can use the SSD is as a read cache.


So, you can start that way by adding your spinning disks into your pools and setting up SSD as read cache but you can have a max of 2 x read cache SSD per pool.

I think you are going to want to purchase the license for best use of what you have.

[RAID0]

hi thank you for your answer  giladzzz 

you mean i use 18 1.2 in first 2050 and ssd in second one so it should be like this:

1- msa(1) -> (9*1.2+1ssdRC)+(9*1.2+1ssdRC)  all raid 5--->ramaining slot=4 

so now i have 9*2TBSAS and 7*400ssd

2-msa(2) -> (7*400ssd) raid 5---> remaining slot = 17

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now what you advise?

1-add (3*2TB+1*400ssdRC) to msa(1) raid5 or add (3*2TB+1*2TB spare) ?as i understood from msa2050 best practice block size is 4MB and use 8*512KB data in raids. in 9 hdd it's good because use 1 fo parity and 8 use for data strips.i think it's ok for 3 hdd in raid 5 so isn't it?

2-isit safe or in better way is it usual to use raid 5 in SAN?i am  using this for virtualization with esxi 6.7?

3-do you have any bether idea?

thank you again for spending time on my problem

[RAID0]

thank you 

do you know how much is the licence

[HPSDMike]

Hello

The license for tiering is PN Q0H99A "HPE MSA Advanced Data Services Suite LTU". There is also a support component (cost) that goes along with that license. The part number for support differs depending on what you purchased for support on the base unit (what type of service and how many years). The cost for these items will vary depending on currency. I would suggest engaging with an HPE Partner in your region and ask them for assistance in quoting the license part number and associate support SKU.

The slotting on the MSA doesn't really matter. It is suggested that you try to keep your SSD drives in the base shelf as it will slightly help performance potential of those drives but it's not a hard and fast requirement. Other than that, you can put whatever drives in whatever slots. Some suggest trying to spread members of your virtual disk group across shelves as a sort of additional fault tolerance but, if you are using hot spare drives, it will be impossible to maintain that layout over the long run without intensive micro managing.

My suggestion is that you study the best practice guide. This will give you the reasoning behind what is being suggested to you on this forum so that you'll understand the "why" and be able to better manage the unit long term.
https://h20195.www2.hpe.com/v2/getdocument.aspx?docname=a00015961enw

Take time now to set up your disk groups to mimic how you are planning on growing the system. You could create a disk group of 9 x SSD drives because you have them now. However, if you're not going to add them in increments of 9 later then it doesn't make sense. You want to plan your growth strategy and set the system up in a way that is going to support that.

[RAID0]

hi dear  HPSDMike. thank you for your informative reply that was so usefull for me.and i appreciate your time and afford.

i had to set 9*1.2 10k(raid5)+1ssd RC in controller B and 9*1.2 10k(raid5)+3*2TB7.2(raid5) +2ssd RC in controller A in first MSA2050 and  5*400ssd in MSA2050 second .beacuse of my licence roblem i coudnot put spined and ssd together in second one. i have 2 g10 server each has 2port HBA

server-01 HBA-p1 connect to MSA-01 controller A and  port second to  hpe SANswitch 8/24.

.server-02 HBA-p1 connect to MSA-02 controller A and  port second to  hpe SANswitch 8/24.

and there is a connection from sanswitch to controller A of both MSA01 and MSA02

Q1: are connection OK?or i can use better way?

Q2: could i have a path from port2 server-01 that connected to sanswitch to MSA-02 controller B that directly connected to SANSWITCH ?i need path when i add lun in esx storage.? do i need them?

Q3: do more connecion use for load balancing or is just for redundancy?

what is the standard?

what i have is :

MSA-01 -> 9.5TB(create 1 volume no affinity) controller B drive and 13.5TB(include both 1.210k and 2T 7.2k)(create 2 volume 1*9.5TB noaffinity and 4TB archive ) controller A

MSA-02 -> 1.5TB controller A ssd(coreate 1 volume performance)

Q4 :does MSA knows where to take 4 TB drive or may choose 1.2 10k drive as archive volume instead of 7.2K HDD?there were no way to seprate them.

Q5: when i attempt to map volume to host there are a lot of connection.via wwn, via group name, via all initiator,nd lots of PLUS signe.what are these?which one is better?