HP StoreVirtual VSA 2014 + VMware maintenance

[barjolu]

Hi,

We have three vsphere 5.5 hosts with local storage, each running HP VSA:s.

Now, we need to do some maintenance on the esxi hosts.

VSA1 is running on Host1

VSA2 is running on Host2

VSA3 is running on Host3

VSA1 has the status "Lefthand OS connection" and also the iscsi target virtual IP.

VSA2 is the "Coordinating manager" for the management group.

What is the correct way to shut down one host to do maintenance? Do we need to do any action in the CMC or is it safe to put the esxi host in maintenance mode and let VMware handle the shutdown of the VSA?

Also, how do we change which VSA having the roles "Lefthand OS connection" and "Coordinating manager"?

[oikjn]

as long as you have the correct number of managers running and you have configured your iSCSI initiators correctly with MPIO, you can safely shut down any node without an issue.

If I'm doing an extended shutdown on a node or something where I think that node MIGHT not come back online, I generally stop the manager on the node before I shut it down so the task of removing/replacing it from the group becomes easier and I don't have to worry about the missing quorum vote causing a problem.

[barjolu]

Thank you!

So, I'll shut down the VSA node from within the CMC and then take the vmware host in maintenance mode.

When I shut down the node who has the icsci target virtual ip, I guess the virtual ip moves to another node automatically?

Is there a way to manually move the virtual ip to another node? (Lefthand OS connection)

[oikjn · Accepted solution]

I do not believe there is a way to specify which node will pick it up.  It will be one of the nodes with a running manager on it.

To help make things go a little smoother, you can always stop the manager on the node you are going to shut down before you shut the node down on.

Shutting down the node or even shutting down the manager IS going to test your configuration to make sure you have your MPIO setup correctly.  If it is setup according to the manual it will failover without an issue, if it doesn't, then you have to examine your configuration to see why that initiator didn't failover correctly.

[barjolu]

Thank you oikjn!

I have now done my maintenance on all vmware hosts without any issues.