3PAR Simulator Self Encrypted Drives (SED)

[MarkA123]

Hi all,

Is it possible to add SEDs to the 3PAR simulator for the purpose of validating EKM configuration?

Thanks!

[veeyarvi]

Hi MarkA123,

I do not think the Simulator has this feature. Also the simulator is no more in use and development stopped. 

I would leave your question for any users still.

Regards,

Veeyarvi

[MarkA123]

Thanks for the reply, Veeyarvi.

The simulator at least allows the 3PAR to EKM configuration (servers, certificate, ekmuser etc.) to be validated, but would have been nice to have been able to just validate the configuration 'end to end' in a lab environment.

For context, we are needing to migrate a bunch of remaining 3PAR arrays to new EKM devices with the intention of migrating the existing encryption key, and it was this activity that we ideally wanted to validate offline.

Could anyone advise whether the controlencryption checkekm command validates connectivity and availability of the encryption key as well communication between the 3PAR and EKM server as indicated in the cli command reference?

Thanks!

[veeyarvi]

Hi MarkA123,

Yes, the command 'controlencryption checkekm' will test the full connectivity stack. 

Regards,

Veeyaarvi

[MarkA123]

@veeyarvi Hi Veeyaarvi,

Thanks again for your reply. Sorry, can I please just clarify that the 'controlencryption checkekm' command will also validate that the authorisation/encryption key is valid and accessible?

Cheers,

Mark

[veeyarvi]

Hi MarkA123

'controlencryption checkekm' only checks the connectivity between the EKM server and it will not check anything related to the key validity. 

Regards,
Veeyaarvi

[MarkA123]

Hi Veeyaarvi,

Thanks, that was our understanding.

Is there any way to validate that the array can access /use the authorisation /encryption key from the configured ekm servers?

Can this be achieved by running the controlencryption status -d | showencryption -d command(s)? Or is there any other command /action /activity that can be performed?

Regards,

Mark

[veeyarvi]

Hi MarkA123,

I believe 'controlencryption validate' periodically check this in background. You may try this commnad and see what it says.

Regards,
Veeyaarvi

[rileymuk]

Hi
the 3PAR simulator does not support the addition of Self-Encrypting Drives (SEDs) for validating Enterprise Key Manager (EKM) configuration.

[roundrobin]

Hello MarkA123,

Just trying my luck. Did you manage to create any SED drives or was there a work around? I'm also in the midst of a testing which is quite similiar to your situation. I couldn't enable encryption due to "non sed drives" in the simulator. Cheers!

[MarkA123]

Unfortunately it is not possible to add SED drives to the 3PAR simulator. We ended up having to a use a prod array, and have since completed the successful migration of 18 3PAR arrays to a new EKM platform with no issues

If you have further questions, be happy to try and answer.