VSP and SSMC shutdown impact

[kestrel_48]

I'm quite new to 3Par management and due to circumstance am briefly responsible for maintaining a StoreServ 8000 series.  Does shutting down the virtual service processor and SSMC appliance have any impact to the operation of the storage array (i.e. do these affect the 3Par's ability to serve its volumes)?  I understand vMotioning these VMs is not supported and against recommendations.  I'm hoping to shut both of these appliances down for some due VMware maintenance.  These are hosted on non-3Par datastores.

Cursory searching shows that these are both management-plane devices for things like reporting, call-home, and simpler daily array administration but I've struggled to find an outright yes/no through available documentation.

[Satish04 · Accepted solution]

Hi kestrel_48,

Shutting down the Virtual Service Processor (VSP) and StoreServ Management Console (SSMC) appliance should not have any impact on the operation of the HPE StoreServ 8000 series storage array in terms of serving its volumes.
The VSP and SSMC are primarily management components that provide administrative functionality, reporting, and monitoring capabilities for the storage array.

The storage array itself handles the core data serving operations independently of the VSP and SSMC. As long as the storage array is powered on and functioning properly, it should continue serving its volumes and maintaining data availability even if the VSP and SSMC are temporarily shut down.

Please refer to the below URL for HPE 3PAR SSMS and Service processor user guide.

URL -  https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/km/search#q=HPE%203PAR%20administrator%20guide&t=All&sort=relevancy&numberOfResults=25

Do get back to us, if you need further help.

Regards,
Satish

[kestrel_48]

Thanks very much for the insight, Satish.  Greatly appreciated!

[Satish04]

You are most welcome, kestrel_48.

Regards,

Satish

[WafaA]

Dear Satish 

Is this applicable to Primera as well ?

My cy has 

4 virtualized service processors (running on VMWARE) for our 3PAR 8400, 8440, Primera C630 and A630. I need to shut them down (one at a time by logging into each SP > Actions > Shutdown or for SSMC login using SSH and then Shutdown) and move them to a new cluster of VCENTER.

Are you aware if this will disrupt anything on the storage when the Service Processor / SSMC is down for at most 5 minutes?

As per your previous answer i assume not ? same for primera ?

Thanks

[Satish04]

Hi WafaA,

Yes, HPE Primera storage systems also follow the same general principles as the HPE 3PAR general principles.
Like HPE 3PAR, HPE Primera User Interface (HPE Primera UI) provides management interfaces and services but is not directly responsible for storing data.
And there is no Service Processor for HPE Primera, HPE 3PAR Service Processor is only for managing HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage.
To Manage HPE Primera Storage, we have SSMC, HPE Primera UI, and CLI.
Any management interface like VSP and SSMC is primarily used to provide administrative functionality, reporting, and monitoring.

Note:: The Storage controllers handle data path and storage operations, not the Service Processor and SSMC.
Access to data and I/O operations should not be affected as long as the storage controllers are operational and healthy.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Satish

[WafaA]

Thanks Satish highly appreciated

[Satish04]

You are most welcome, WafaA.

Regards,

Satish