EMC & EVA on HPUX

[Ahmed BH]

hi all,
can I connect one hpux 11.11 to EVA & EMC storages at the same time?
how can I have two multipathing softwares??

[Michal Kapalka (mikap)]

hi,

yes you can connect the storages at the same time to the server

but the multipath sw should be only one.


mikap

[Don Mallory]

EMC PowerPath supports EVA arrays, and is better than AutoPath anyways.

[Don Mallory]

Just remember that it is best practice to use single initiator - single target zoning for your host / storage.

This will help reduce fabric boradcasts in the same zone, as well, it will help you to diagnose issues by limiting specific device paths.

Also remember to ensure that the drivers/firmware and multipath s/w version you are using for your FibrChanl-XX HBAs are in both storage systems support matrices.

[chris huys_4]

Hi Ahmed,

For the EVA diskarray, there is no requirement to use the securepath multipathing solution, pvlinks works fine with it. For eva3000 and eva5000 diskarrays this requires however that they have the 4.x fw installed to make it a "active/active" diskarray.

See also.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00956317&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

and "spock", the hp website that shows what HP storages are supported with what kind of servers/OS and the like, will show the same..

http://h20272.www2.hp.com/Pages/spock2Html.aspx?htmlFile=array-os.html#os_labels

For the emc storage. Its dependent on the EMC storage if the Powerpath multipath solution is needed or not, or, if pvlinks is also supported.

From HP's site on
http://www.hp.com/products1/serverconnectivity/mass_storage_devices.html

pvlinks looks to be supported for the high end EMC DMX diskarrays, no need their for powerpath, for the EMC clariion diskarrays, powerpath seems the only solution, however the definitive answer should be given by EMC.

As a personal opinion, hardware vendor multipathing solutions, be it securepath for the EVA diskarray or powerpath for the EMC diskarray is a less desirable solution, then a solution that is tied into the volumemanager, like pvlinks (alternate links) for LVM or veritas DMP for VxVM, as the hardware vendor multipathing solutions, just adds a extra layer , instead of vxfs -> LVM (with pvlinks) -> scsi driver it becomes vxfs -> LVM -> Powerpath -> scsi driver, even if that means giving up some of the features that the hw vendor multipathing solutions offers. (unless offcourse their is no other option)

Greetz,
Chris