MSA 1000 zoning

[SchackD]

Hi all,

we have 3 ESX Server (DL585) and two MSA 1000. Each ESX Server has two HBAs and each MSA has two 2/8 Port FC switches and we want to enable zoning on all 4 FC switches, but each ESX server need access to all LUNs on both MSAs.
So my question is, are there some good manuals about zoning because this is the first time I deal with zoning.
I also attached a drawing of your environment.

Thanks for any help!

Cheers
Daniel

[VCP2005]

Zoning is a best practice for any SAN environment. You may have problem escalate to vendor while your environment not zone properly.

http://storagemagazine.techtarget.com/magLogin/1,291245,sid35_gci893539,00.html

[raadek]

First of all cable everything into two separate fabrics - i.e. 'left' HBA from Host 1 goes into 'left' switch, 'right' HBA from Host 1 goes into 'right' switch, etc.

As fabrics are physically separated anyway & all hosts require access to all LUNs, then create one zone in each fabric containing 'everything' - i.e. all switch ports used in given fabric.

Rgds.

[SchackD]

Thanks for your answer so far, don't know why my drawing is not attached :(
The problem is that we have ESX Server one and two connected to the first MSA and ESX Server three is connected to the second MSA.
Both MSAs are connected through two FC cables (msa 1 active switch (port 7) <-> msa 2 active switch (port 7) and msa 1 passive switch (port 7) <-> msa 2 passive switch (port 7))
Do I have to create an extra zone for the "cross link" ?

cheers
daniel

[raadek · Accepted solution]

Sorry, I forgot you have TWO MSA1000s :)

Anyway you need still one zone per each switch.

Zone on MSA1000/1, left switch - ports 1, 2, 7 & 8 (internal)
MSA1000/1, right switch - as left switch

MSA1000/2, left switch - ports 1, 7 & 8 (internal)
MSA1000/2, right switch - as left switch

[Uwe Zessin]

> Do I have to create an extra zone for the "cross link" ?

No, absolutely not. Fibre Channel frame routing does not care about ISLs.


> Anyway you need still one zone per each switch.

Zones are active fabric-wide and automatically stored on each switch within the fabric.

[SchackD]

Many thanks for these explanations!
But now I have one more question ;)
If I want to implement one zone for each ESX Server, how do I handle the second MSA (e.g. zone 1 = ESX Server 1 HBA1 - FC switch 1 port 1 - port 8 (internal) and?) Is port 7 from MSA1 enough that ESX Server 1 can access the LUNs on MSA2 or do I also need port 7 and port 8 (internal) from the second MSA?

Many thanks

Daniel

[Uwe Zessin]

Daniel,
the MSA1000 works only as a SCSI target - you can safely put both MSA controller ports into the same zone for one ESX server. (BTW: I think the controller is connected to switch port 0, not 8 - you can check this with the 'switchshow' command).

The zone for ESX-1 will have to following ports:
- ESX-1/FCA-0 on switch-1/port-1(?)
- MSA-1/controller-1 on switch-1/port-0
- MSA-2/controller-1 on switch-2/port-0


If you like a very fine-grained control, you can create two zones:
Zone-1:
- ESX-1/FCA-0 on switch-1/port-1(?)
- MSA-1/controller-1 on switch-1/port-0
Zone-2:
- ESX-1/FCA-0 on switch-1/port-1(?)
- MSA-2/controller-1 on switch-2/port-0

That way you can easily disconnect any server from any MSA at any time, but it is a bit more work to set up. A port can be a member of more than one zone, but it will not cause a 'leakage' of data between the zones.

[SchackD]

Hi Uwe, yes your right port 0 is the internal but raadek has written port 8 (internal) and i don't want to confuse anyone.

So I don't need to put Port7 to each zone only port0 from the other MSA?

Is the following zone really correct?
>>The zone for ESX-1 will have to following >>ports:
>>- ESX-1/FCA-0 on switch-1/port-1(?)
>>- MSA-1/controller-1 on switch-1/port-0
>>- MSA-2/controller-1 on switch-2/port-0

why did you linked the zone to switch-2 at the second MSA?
because I have a crosslink from
MSA-1/switch 1 <-> MSA-2/switch 1
MSA-1/switch 2 <-> MSA-2/switch 2

But I can't see any benefit if I create two zones?! Sorry if ask some newbie questions.

[Uwe Zessin]

> So I don't need to put Port7 to each zone only port0 from the other MSA?

If switchport7 is used to link both switches together - no. I've been doing zoning for some years now and I have NEVER put ISL ports into zones.
You can't control routing over ISLs with zoning.

> why did you linked the zone to switch-2 at the second MSA?

Because you wrote:
"each ESX server need access to all LUNs on both MSAs"

A zone needs to contain the server's port and the storage ports. If you specify the ISL port on the second switch, the MSA controller on the switch is not a member of that zone and the server cannot talk to it.

> But I can't see any benefit if I create two zones?!

That's fine. If you don't need fine-grained control, you can use one zone per server-port.

[Axelfi]

I just connected MSA1000 to two hosts. No zones defined whatsoever. Both hosts are able to see MSA1000. Why?

[raadek]

Do you have any switches in your config?
No switches, no zoning :)

Rgds.

[Axelfi]

sure... one switch. I've seen few posts where people have configured switch without zones but having SSP enabled.

[raadek]

I believe that without any zoning in place all ports on a switch see each other by default.

[Axelfi]

If SSP is being used (properly!), how vital zoning is actually. Even in mixed OS environment...

[Steven Clementi]

The MSA 2/8 SAN Switch is Brocade based. Therefore... with no zoning configured... everything can talk to everything else. (Like one big zone).



Steven

[Axelfi]

Another question: A bit side walk but anyway:

Setup:
One controller, one 2/8 switch
Two servers with two HBAs connected to switch using dual path.
Is this partial redundant setup possible or will dual path confuse the switch? In manual I can only see single or dual path examples...

[Steven Clementi]

Toni:

It would be best to start a new thread on your situation, but to quickly answer...

The MSA does not support dual connections t oa single controller, nor does it support single connections fro mONE hba to a redundant Controller Pair.

If you have 2 servers with 2 HBA's EACH, then you need to disable one or remove it.

Steven

[Axelfi]

"If SSP is being used (properly!), how vital zoning is actually. Even in mixed OS environment..."

Other words: if SSP is used, is zoning required? I have seen some posting like "SSP is HP's way for zoning"