sg248449-V5000-Family产品
sg248449-V5000-Family产品
sg248449-V5000-Family产品
Frank Enders
Sergey Kubin
Jon Tate
Redbooks
IBM Redbooks
February 2020
SG24-8449-00
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Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
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Chapter 1. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Related publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
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Preface ix
x IBM FlashSystem 5000 Family Products
1
Chapter 1. Introduction
This IBM Redbooks publication provides an overview of the latest models of the IBM
FlashSystem 5000 family, and describes the hardware differences and software capabilities.
All-flash and hybrid flash: This is a single family and the designation H after the machine
type, for example FlashSystem 5010H, means that is the hybrid flash version.
IBM FlashSystem models are the next-generation FlashSystem control enclosures, designed
to deliver a range of performance, scalability, and functional capabilities:
IBM FlashSystem 5010, 5030, and 5100 are a virtualized, software-defined storage
system designed to consolidate workloads into a single storage system for ease of
management, reduced costs, highly scalable capacity, high performance, and availability.
IBM FlashSystem 5010 and 5030 offer the performance, functionality, and cost-efficiency
demanded by midrange workloads.
The FlashSystem 5030 adds more CPU power and additional features, such as Data
Reduction Pools and data-at-rest Encryption. Hosts can attach via SAS, 16 Gb FCP, or
iSCSI.
IBM FlashSystem 5100 offers NVMe-accelerated performance and proven, wide-ranging
functionality in affordable storage solutions.
For the FlashSystem 5000 family they have the same functional equivalency and all that has
changed is the name.
Figure 2-2 shows the IBM Storwize® model and its new IBM FlashSystem model.
Cores 2 6 8
Table 2-2 shows the memory feature on the FlashSystem 5000 and 5100.
All of the FlashSystem 5000 control enclosures include 1 Gb Ethernet (GbE) or 10 GbE ports
as standard for iSCSI connectivity. The standard connectivity can be extended with additional
ports or enhanced with additional connectivity through an optional I/O adapter card feature.
Table 2-3 shows which configurations are available for the FlashSystem 5000 and 5100.
1 GbE 1 x 1 GbE tech port + 1 x 1 GbE dedicated tech 1 x 1 GbE dedicated tech
iSCSIa port port
1 x 1 GbE iSCSI only
Note: The IBM FlashSystem 5010 solution supports only one control enclosure and only
one SAS expansion chain.
1
Adapter cards must match between canisters.
The LFF enclosure models support up to twelve 3.5-inch drives, and the small form factor
(SFF) enclosure models support up to twenty-four 2.5-inch drives. High-performance disk
drives, high-capacity nearline disk drives, and flash (solid-state drives [SSDs]) are supported.
Drives of the same form factor can be intermixed within an enclosure, which provides the
flexibility to address performance and capacity needs in a single enclosure. You can also
intermix large form factor (LFF) and SFF expansion enclosures behind an LFF or SFF
control enclosure.
Table 2-6 shows the supported 2.5-inch drives for the FlashSystem 5000.
Table 2-7 shows the supported 3.5-inch (LFF) drives for IBM FlashSystem 5000.
Figure 2-3 shows the IBM FlashSystem 5010 SFF Control Enclosure with 24 drives.
Figure 2-5 shows the available connectors and LEDs on a single FlashSystem 5010 canister.
Figure 2-5 View of available connectors and LEDs on a FlashSystem 5010 single canister
The FlashSystem 5030 control enclosure models offer the highest level of performance,
scalability, and functionality:
Support for up to 504 drives, which allows up to 1008 drives for a two-way clustered
configuration
Data reduction pools with deduplication, compression,2 and thin provisioning for improved
storage efficiency
2
Deduplication and compression require 64 GB of system cache
Figure 2-6 shows the IBM FlashSystem 5030 SFF Control Enclosure with 24 drives.
Figure 2-7 shows the rear view of an IBM FlashSystem 5030 Control Enclosure.
Figure 2-8 describes the available connectors and LEDs on a single FlashSystem 5030
canister.
Figure 2-8 View of available connectors and LEDs on a FlashSystem 5030 single canister
The FlashSystem 5100 SFF control enclosure models 4H4, and UHB feature the following
components:
Two node canisters, each with an 8-core processor and integrated hardware-assisted
compression acceleration
64 GB cache (32 GB per canister) standard with options 192 GB - 576 GB (per system)
Eight 10 GbE ports standard for iSCSI connectivity
16 Gb or 32 Gb Fibre Channel (FC) connectivity options with FC-NVMe support
25 GbE connectivity options with iSCSI and iSER (RoCe V2 and iWARP) support
Support for up to twenty-four 2.5-inch NVMe flash drives
2U, 19-inch rack mount enclosure
The FlashSystem 5100 model 4H4 attaches to expansion enclosure models 12G, 24G, and
92G, which support SAS Flash drives and SAS HDD Drives.
IBM 2078 Model UHB is the FlashSystem 5100 hardware component to be used in the
Storage Utility Offering space. It is physically and functionally identical to the FlashSystem
5100 model 4H4 and with the exception of target configurations and variable capacity billing.
The variable capacity billing uses IBM Spectrum Control Storage Insights to monitor the
system usage, enabling allocated storage usage above a base subscription rate to be billed
per terabyte, per month.
Allocated storage is identified as storage that is allocated to a specific host (and unusable to
other hosts), whether data is written or not. For thin provisioning, the data that is actually
written is considered used. For thick provisioning, total allocated volume space is considered
used.
FlashCore Modules integrate IBM Micro Latency technology, advanced flash management,
and reliability into a 2.5-inch SFF NVMe, with built-in, performance-neutral hardware
compression and encryption.
The following 2.5-inch SFF NVMe FlashCore Modules are supported in the FlashSystem
5100 4H4, and UHB control enclosures:
4.8 TB 2.5-inch NVMe FlashCore Module
9.6 TB 2.5-inch NVMe FlashCore Module
19.2 TB 2.5-inch NVMe FlashCore Module
The following 2.5-inch SFF NVMe industry-standard drives are supported in the FlashSystem
5100 4H4, and UHB control enclosures:
800 GB 2.5-inch 3DWPD NVMe flash drive
1.92 TB 2.5-inch NVMe flash drive
3.84 TB 2.5-inch NVMe flash drive
7.68 TB 2.5-inch NVMe flash drive
15.36 TB 2.5-inch NVMe flash drive
All drives are dual-port and hot-swappable. Drives can be intermixed where applicable.
Expansion enclosures can be intermixed behind the SFF control enclosure.
0-1 2 25 Gb Ethernet 2
(iWARP)
0-1 2 25 Gb Ethernet 2
(RoCE)
1 10 GbE Management IP, Service IP, and Host I/O (iSCSI only)
Figure 2-9 shows all of the connectors of a FlashSystem 5100 control bottom canister.
Table 3-1 A comparison of the FlashSystem 5010, FlashSystem 5030, and FlashSystem 5100 systems
Feature FlashSystem 5010 FlashSystem 5030 FlashSystem 5100
External Virtualization Data migration only Data migration only Data migration and
virtualization
3.3 Licensing
All FlashSystem 5000 functional capabilities are provided through IBM Spectrum Virtualize
Licensed Machine Code.
All FlashSystem 5100 functional capabilities are provided through IBM Spectrum Virtualize
software.
The base license that is provided with the system includes its basic functions. However, there
are also extra licenses that can be purchased to expand the capabilities of the system.
Administrators are responsible for purchasing extra licenses and configuring the systems
within the license agreement, which includes configuring the settings of each licensed
function.
The FlashCopy function also requires a license to use, but it does not require any input on the
system. For auditing purposes, retain the license agreement for proof of compliance.
In addition to these enclosure-based licensed functions, the system also supports encryption
through a key-based license.
Each function is licensed to a FlashSystem 5000 control enclosure. It covers the entire
system (control enclosure and all attached expansion enclosures) if it consists of one IO
group. If FlashSystem 5030 system consists of two IO groups, two keys are required.
The following functions need a license key before they can be activated on the system:
Easy Tier
Easy Tier automatically and dynamically moves frequently accessed data to flash (solid
state) drives in the system, resulting in flash drive performance without manually creating
and managing storage tier policies. Easy Tier makes it easy and economical to deploy
flash drives in the environment. In this dynamically tiered environment, data movement is
seamless to the host application regardless of the storage tier in which the data resides.
Remote Mirroring
The Remote Mirroring (remote-copy) function enables you to set up a relationship
between two volumes, so that updates that are made by an application to one volume are
mirrored on the other volume.
The license settings only apply to the system on which you are configuring license
settings. For remote-copy partnerships, a license is also required on any remote systems
that are in the partnership.
FlashCopy Upgrade
The FlashCopy upgrade extends the base FlashCopy function that is shipped with the
product. The base version of FlashCopy limits the system to 64 target volumes. With the
FlashCopy upgrade license activated on the system, this limit is removed. If you reach the
limit imposed by the base function before activating the upgrade license, you cannot
create any more FlashCopy mappings.
If you use a trial license, the system warns you when the trial is about to expire at regular
intervals. If you do not purchase and activate the license on the system before the trial license
expires, all configuration that uses the trial licenses are suspended.
Encryption feature uses key-based license and is activated with an authorization code. The
authorization code is sent with the FlashSystem 5000 or FlashSystem 5100 Licensed
Function Authorization documents that you receive after purchasing the license.
The Encryption USB Flash Drives (Four Pack) feature or IBM Security Key Manager (SKLM)
are required for encryption keys management.
The External Virtualization feature of the FlashSystem Family systems makes the migration
of data from one storage device to another easier. It also enables you to manage other IBM or
third-party storage arrays in the same manner as the capacity on internal drives or modules.
The FlashSystem 5000 family GUI provides a storage migration wizard, which simplifies the
migration task. The wizard features intuitive steps that guide users through the entire process.
You can use FlashSystem 5100 to preserve your existing investments in storage, centralize
management, and make storage migrations easier with storage virtualization and Easy Tier.
Virtualization helps insulate applications from changes that are made to the physical storage
infrastructure.
To virtualize external storage with the FlashSystem 5100, map its LUs to the system and add
them to a storage pool as managed disks (MDisks). After that, you are able to create and
manage volumes from a capacity provisioned from external systems.
Note: The FlashSystem 5010 and FlashSystem 5030 systems do not support external
virtualization for any other purpose except data migration.
To verify if your storage is supported to be virtualized with the FlashSystem 5100, see the
SSIC.
In order to use the internal IBM FlashSystem 5000 disks in storage pools, they need to be
joined into RAID arrays to form array-type MDisks.
The IBM FlashSystem 5000 family systems support two RAID types: traditional RAID and
distributed RAID.
In a traditional RAID approach, data is spread among drives in an array. However, the spare
space is constituted by spare drives, which sit outside of the array. Spare drives are idling,
and do not share I/O load that comes to an array. When one of the drives within the array fails,
all data is read from the mirrored copy (for RAID10), or is calculated from remaining data
stripes and parity (for RAID5 or RAID6), and written to a single spare drive.
In distributed RAID, spare capacity is used instead of the idle spare drives from a traditional
RAID. The spare capacity is spread across the disk drives. Because no drives are idling, all
drives contribute to array performance. In case of drive failure, the rebuild load is distributed
across multiple drives. By this, distributed RAID addresses two main disadvantages of a
traditional RAID approach: it reduces rebuild times by eliminating the bottleneck of one drive,
and increases array performance by increasing the number of drives sharing the workload.
IBM FlashCore Modules installed in the FlashSystem 5100 can be aggregated into both
distributed RAID 6 and distributed RAID 5 arrays, but distributed RAID 6 is recommended.
IBM FlashCore Modules in the same RAID array must be of the same capacity. Traditional
RAID levels 5 and 6, as well as RAID 0, 1, and 10, are not supported on NVMe FlashCore
modules.
Industry-standard NVMe drives in FlashSystem 5100 and SAS drives in FlashSystem 5000
can be aggregated into distributed RAID 6 and distributed RAID 5 arrays, and also can form
RAID 1 and RAID 10 arrays. Traditional RAID 5 and 6 are not supported. Industry-standard
NVMe drives in the same RAID array must be of the same capacity.
RAID arrays of some levels can be created only with the system CLI, not the GUI.
Note: IBM advises using distributed RAID 6 (DRAID6) for all drive types.
Table 3-2 summarizes the supported drives, array types, and RAID levels.
Easy Tier acts to identify this skew and to automatically place data to take advantage of it. By
moving the hottest data onto the fastest tier of storage, the workload on the remainder of the
storage is significantly reduced. By servicing most of the application workload from the fastest
storage, Easy Tier acts to accelerate application performance.
Easy Tier is a performance optimization function that automatically migrates (or moves)
extents that belong to a volume between different storage tiers, based on their I/O load.
Movement of the extents is online and unnoticed from the host perspective.
As a result of extent movement, the volume no longer has all its data in one tier, but rather in
two or three tiers. Each tier provides optimal performance for the extent, as shown in
Figure 3-1.
Easy Tier monitors the I/O activity and latency of the extents on all Easy Tier enabled storage
pools to create heat maps. Based on them, it creates an extent migration plan and promotes
(moves) high activity or hot extents to a higher disk tier within the same storage pool. It also
demotes extents whose activity dropped off, or cooled, by moving them from a higher disk tier
MDisk back to a lower tier MDisk.
Storage pools that contain only one tier of storage can also benefit from Easy Tier if they have
multiple disk arrays (or MDisks). Easy Tier has a balancing mode: it moves extents from busy
disk arrays to less busy arrays of the same tier, balancing I/O load.
Easy Tier is supported on all of the FlashSystem 5100 and FlashSystem 5000 systems, but
requires the appropriate license to be installed and configured.
The most common use case, for example, is a host application, such as VMware, freeing
storage in a file system. The storage controller can then perform functions to optimize the
space, such as reorganizing the data on the volume so that space is better used.
When a host allocates storage, the data is placed in a volume. To free the allocated space
back to the storage pools, the SCSI Unmap feature is used. It enables host operating systems
to un-provision storage on the storage controller, so that the resources can automatically be
freed up in the storage pools and used for other purposes.
Data Reduction Pools (DRP) increase infrastructure capacity usage by using new efficiency
functions and reducing storage costs. By using end-to-end SCSI Unmap functionality, DRP
enable you to automatically de-allocate and reclaim capacity of thin-provisioned volumes that
contain deleted data and enable this reclaimed capacity to be reused by other volumes.
At its core, a Data Reduction Pool uses a Log Structured Array (LSA) to allocate capacity. A
Log Structured Array enables a tree-like directory to be used to define the physical placement
of data blocks independent of size and logical location. Each logical block device has a range
of Logical Block Addresses (LBAs), starting from 0 and ending with the block address that fills
the capacity.
When written, an LSA enables you to allocate data sequentially and provide a directory that
provides a lookup to match a LBA with a physical address within the array. Therefore, the
volume that you create from the pool to present to a host application consists of a directory
that stores the allocation of blocks within the capacity of the pool.
In Data Reduction Pools, the maintenance of the metadata results in I/O amplification. I/O
amplification occurs when a single host-generated read or write I/O results in more than one
back-end storage I/O request because of advanced functions. A read request from the host
results in two I/O requests: a directory lookup and a data read. A write request from the host
results in three I/O requests: a directory lookup, a directory update, and a data write. This
aspect needs to be considered when sizing and planning your data-reducing solution.
Standard pools, which make up a classic solution that is also supported with the FlashSystem
5100 and FlashSystem 5000 systems, do not use LSA. A standard pool works as a container
that receives its capacity from disk arrays (MDisks), splits it into extents of the same fixed size
and allocates extents to volumes.
Standard pools do not cause I/O amplification and require less processing resource use
compared to Data Reduction Pools. In exchange, Data Reduction Pools provide more
flexibility and storage efficiency.
This book only provides an overview of DRP aspects. For more information, see Introduction
and Implementation of Data Reduction Pools and Deduplication, SG24-8430.
In FlashSystem Family systems, each volume has virtual capacity and real capacity
parameters. Virtual capacity is the volume storage capacity that is available to a host and is
used by it to create a filesystem. Real capacity is the storage capacity that is allocated to a
volume from a pool. It shows the amount of space that is used on a physical storage volume.
Fully allocated volumes are created with the same amount of real capacity and virtual
capacity. This type uses no storage efficiency features.
When a fully allocated volume is created on DRP, it bypasses the LSA structure and works in
the same manner as in a standard pool, requiring no processing overhead and providing no
data reduction options at the pool level.
When using fully allocated volumes on the FlashSystem 5100 with FlashCore modules
(FCMs), whether a Data Reduction Pool or standard pool is used, capacity savings are
achieved by compressing data with hardware compression that runs on FCMs. Hardware
compression on FlashCore modules is always enabled. This configuration provides maximum
performance in combination with outstanding storage efficiency.
A thin-provisioned volume presents a different capacity to mapped hosts than the capacity
that the volume uses in the storage pool. Therefore, real and virtual capacities might not be
equal. The virtual capacity of a thin-provisioned volume is typically significantly larger than its
real capacity. As more information is written by the host to the volume, more of the real
capacity is used. The system identifies read operations to unwritten parts of the virtual
capacity, and returns zeros to the server without using any real capacity.
In a shared storage environment, thin provisioning is a method for optimizing the use of
available storage. It relies on the allocation of blocks of data on demand, versus the traditional
method of allocating all of the blocks up front. This method eliminates almost all white space,
which helps avoid the poor usage rates that occur in the traditional storage allocation method
where large pools of storage capacity are allocated to individual servers but remain unused
(not written to).
A thin-provisioned volume in a standard pool can’t return unused capacity back to the pool
with SCSI Unmap.
The FlashSystem family DRP compression is based on the Lempel-Ziv lossless data
compression algorithm and operates by using a real-time method. When a host sends a write
request, the request is acknowledged by the write cache of the system, and then staged to
the Data Reduction Pool.
As part of its staging, the write request passes through the compression engine and is then
stored in compressed format. Therefore, writes are acknowledged immediately after they are
received by the write cache with compression occurring as part of the staging to internal or
external physical storage. This process occurs transparently to host systems making them
unaware of the compression.
DRP compression is supported on the FlashSystem 5100. This system’s node canisters have
a compression accelerator installed that increases the throughput of I/O transfers between
nodes and compressed volumes.
The FlashSystem 5030 with the 64 GB cache feature (32 GB RAM per node canister) also
supports DRP compression. However this system does not have compression accelerator
hardware, and is using the canister’s CPU for compression and decompression. Due to this,
strict performance planning and sizing is required.
The FlashSystem 5010 and FlashSystem 5030 systems with 16 GB RAM per node canister
do not support data compression and deduplication.
The Comprestimator tool is available to check if your data is compressible. It estimates the
space savings achieved when using compressed volumes. This utility provides a quick and
easy view of showing the benefits of using compression. Comprestimator can run from the
FlashSystem Family system GUI or CLI to check data that is already stored on the system. It
is also available as a stand-alone, host-based utility that can analyze data on IBM or
third-party storage devices. It can be found here.
If the new chunk’s signature matches an existing signature, the new chunk is replaced with a
small reference that points to the stored chunk. The matches are detected when the data is
written. The same byte pattern might occur many times, resulting in the amount of data that
must be stored being greatly reduced.
To help with the profiling and analysis of existing workloads that must be migrated to a
FlashSystem 5000 family system, IBM provides the Data Reduction Estimation Tool (DRET).
DRET is a highly accurate, command-line, host-based utility for estimating the data reduction
savings on block storage devices. The tool scans target workloads on various storage arrays
(from IBM or another company), merges all scan results, and provides a data reduction
estimate.
Compression and deduplication are not mutually exclusive; one or both, or neither, features
can be enabled. If the volume is deduplicated and compressed, data is deduplicated first, and
then compressed. Therefore, deduplication references are created on the compressed data
stored on the physical domain.
Encryption is performed by the FlashSystem 5100 or FlashSystem 5030 control enclosure for
data stored within the entire FlashSystem Family system, the FlashSystem 5000 family
control enclosure, all attached expansion enclosures, and for data stored in externally
virtualized by the FlashSystem 5100 storage subsystems.
Encryption is the process of encoding data so that only authorized parties can read it. Data
encryption is protected by the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm that uses a
256-bit symmetric encryption key in XTS mode, as defined in the IEEE 1619-2007 standard
and NIST Special Publication 800-38E as XTS-AES-256.
There are two types of encryption on devices running IBM Spectrum Virtualize: hardware
encryption and software encryption. Which method is used for encryption is chosen
automatically by the system based on the placement of the data:
Hardware encryption: Data is encrypted by using serial-attached SCSI (SAS) hardware. It
is used only for internal storage (drives).
Software encryption: Data is encrypted by using the nodes’ CPU (the encryption code
uses the AES-NI CPU instruction set). It is used only for external storage, virtualized by
the FlashSystem 5100.
Note: Only data-at-rest is encrypted. Host to storage communication and data sent over
links used for Remote Mirroring are not encrypted.
The FlashSystem 5100 also supports self-encrypting drives, where data encryption is
completed in the drive itself.
Before encryption can be enabled ensure that a license was purchased and activated.
The system supports two methods of configuring encryption. You can use a centralized key
server that simplifies creating and managing encryption keys on the system. This method of
encryption key management is preferred for security and simplification of key management.
A key server is a centralized system that generates, stores, and sends encryption keys to the
system. Some key server providers support replication of keys among multiple key servers. If
multiple key servers are supported, you can specify up to four key servers that connect to the
system over both a public network or a separate private network. The system supports IBM
Security Key Lifecycle Manager or Gemalto SafeNet KeySecure key servers to handle key
management.
In addition, the system supports storing encryption keys on USB flash drives. USB flash
drive-based encryption requires physical access to the systems and is effective in
environments with a minimal number of systems. For organizations that require strict security
policies regarding USB flash drives, the system supports disabling a canister’s USB ports to
prevent unauthorized transfer of system data to portable media devices. If you have such
security requirements, use key servers to manage encryption keys.
When a host writes to a mirrored volume, the system writes the data to both copies. When a
host reads a mirrored volume, the system picks one of the copies to read. If one of the
mirrored volume copies is temporarily unavailable, the volume remains accessible to servers.
The system remembers which areas of the volume are written, and re-synchronizes these
areas when both copies are available.
You can create a volume with one or two copies, and you can convert a non-mirrored volume
into a mirrored volume by adding a copy. When a copy is added in this way, the system
synchronizes the new copy so that it is the same as the existing volume. Servers can access
the volume during this synchronization process.
Volume mirroring can be used to migrate data to or from a FlashSystem Family system. For
example, you can start with a non-mirrored image-mode volume in the migration pool, and
Volume mirroring is also used to convert fully allocated volumes to use data reduction
technologies, such as thin-provisioning, compression, or deduplication, or to migrate volumes
between storage pools. Volume mirroring is available on the FlashSystem 5100 and
FlashSystem 5000 systems without additional licenses.
3.7.2 FlashCopy
The FlashCopy, or snapshot, function creates a point-in-time copy of data that is stored on a
source volume to a target volume. FlashCopy is sometimes described as an instance of a
time-zero copy (T0). Although the copy operation takes some time to complete, the resulting
data on the target volume is presented so that the copy appears to have occurred
immediately, and all data is available immediately. Advanced functions of FlashCopy allow
operations to occur on multiple source and target volumes.
The function also supports multiple target volumes to be copied from each source volume.
This can be used to create images from different points in time for each source volume.
FlashCopy is used to create consistent backups of dynamic data and test applications, and to
create copies for auditing purposes and for data mining. It can be used to capture the data at
a particular time to create consistent backups of dynamic data. The resulting image of the
data can be backed up, for example, to a tape device. When the copied data is on tape, the
data on the FlashCopy target disks becomes redundant and can be discarded.
Another possible FlashCopy application is creating test environments. It can be used to test
an application with real business data before the existing production version of the application
is updated or replaced. With FlashCopy, a fully functional and space-efficient clone of a
volume containing real data can be created. It enables read and write access for the test
environment while keeping the real production environment data both safe and untouched.
After testing is complete, the clone volume can be discarded or retained for future use.
FlashCopy can perform a restore from any existing FlashCopy mapping. Therefore, you can
restore (or copy) from the target to the source of your regular FlashCopy relationships. When
restoring data from FlashCopy, this method can be qualified as reversing the direction of the
FlashCopy mappings. This approach can be used for various applications, such as recovering
production database application after an errant batch process that caused extensive damage.
The FlashSystem 5100 system requires a license to use the FlashCopy function. The license
is not policed by the system and does not require any input. For auditing purposes, retain the
license agreement for proof of compliance.
All FlashSystem 5000 systems include a license to use not more than 64 FlashCopy
mappings in the base package. If more than 64 FlashCopy targets are required, a FlashCopy
upgrade license is available that removes this limit.
Although data is only written to a single volume, the system maintains two copies of the data.
If the copies are separated by a significant distance, the remote copy can be used as a
backup for disaster recovery.
For a remote copy relationship, one volume is designated as the primary and the other
volume is designated as the secondary. Host applications write data to the primary volume,
and updates to the primary volume are copied to the secondary volume. Normally, host
applications do not run I/O operations to the secondary volume.
Intersystem replication is possible over Fibre Channel or Internet Protocol (IP) link. The native
IP replication feature enables replication between any SVC/FlashSystem family systems,
using the built-in networking ports of the system nodes.
Note: All three types of remote copy are supported to work over IP link, however
recommended type is Global Mirror with change volumes.
3.7.4 HyperSwap
The IBM HyperSwap function is a high availability feature that provides dual-site, active-active
access to a volume. HyperSwap functions are available on systems that can support more
than one I/O group, such as the FlashSystem 5100 and FlashSystem 5030.
With HyperSwap, a fully independent copy of the data is maintained at each site. When data
is written by hosts at either site, both copies are synchronously updated before the write
operation is completed. The HyperSwap function automatically optimizes itself to minimize
data that is transmitted between two sites, and to minimize host read and write latency.
If the nodes go offline or the storage at either site goes offline, leaving an online and
accessible up-to-date copy, the HyperSwap function can automatically fail over access to the
online copy. The HyperSwap function also automatically re-synchronizes the two copies when
possible.
The HyperSwap solution requires one FlashSystem 5100 or FlashSystem 5030 control
enclosure at each site, and it requires a third site that acts as a tie-breaking quorum device.
The third site can be implemented as FC-attached storage or IP-linked quorum application.
Because remote mirroring is used to support the HyperSwap capability, remote mirroring
licensing is a requirement for this feature on the FlashSystem 5100 and FlashSystem 5030.
Depending on the number of HyperSwap volumes, a FlashCopy upgrade license might also
be required on the FlashSystem 5030.
Virtual Volumes simplify operations through policy-driven automation that enables more agile
storage consumption for virtual machines and dynamic adjustments in real time, when they
are needed. It simplifies the delivery of storage service levels to individual applications by
providing finer control of hardware resources and native array-based data services that can
be instantiated with virtual machine granularity.
With Virtual Volumes (VVols), VMware offers a paradigm in which an individual virtual
machine and its disks, rather than a LUN, becomes a unit of storage management for a
storage system. Virtual volumes encapsulate virtual disks and other virtual machine files, and
natively store the files on the storage system.
By using a special set of APIs called vSphere APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA), the
storage system becomes aware of the virtual volumes and their associations with the relevant
virtual machines. Through VASA, vSphere and the underlying storage system establish a
two-way out-of-band communication to perform data services and offload certain virtual
For further information on VVols and actions required to implement this feature on the host
side, see the VMware website.
IBM support for VASA is provided by IBM Spectrum Connect (before version 3.4.0, IBM
Spectrum Control Base Edition, SCB). The FlashSystem family system administrator can
assign ownership of Virtual Volumes to IBM Spectrum Connect by creating a user with the
VASA Provider security role. IBM Spectrum Connect provides communication between the
VMware vSphere infrastructure and the FlashSystem Family system.
Although the system administrator can complete certain actions on volumes and pools that
are owned by the VASA Provider security role, IBM Spectrum Connect retains management
responsibility for Virtual Volumes. For more information about IBM Spectrum Connect, see
the IBM Spectrum Connect documentation.
Note: At the time of writing, VVols are not supported on Data Reduction Pools, because
they use child pool functionality, which is available with standard pools only.
The IBM FlashSystem 5100 and FlashSystem 5000 systems use a GUI with the same look
and feel as other IBM FlashSystem family solutions for a consistent management experience
across all platforms. The GUI has an improved overview dashboard that provides all
information in an easy-to-understand format, and enables visualization of effective capacity.
With the GUI, you can quickly deploy storage and manage it efficiently.
Figure 3-2 shows the IBM FlashSystem 5030 dashboard view. This is the default view that is
displayed after the user logs on to the system.
The IBM FlashSystem family systems also provides a CLI, which is useful for advanced
configuration and scripting.
The FlashSystem family systems support Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP),
email notifications that uses Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and syslog redirection for
complete enterprise management access.
If the system is entitled for support, a Problem Management Record (PMR) is automatically
created and assigned to the appropriate IBM support team. The information provided to IBM
in this case would be an excerpt from the Event Log containing the details of the error, and
client contact information from the system. This enables IBM Service Personnel to contact the
client and arrange service on the system, which can greatly improve the speed of resolution
by removing the need for the client to detect the error and raise a Support call themselves.
The system supports two methods to transmit notifications to the support center:
Call home with cloud services
Call home with cloud services sends notifications directly to a centralized file repository
that contains troubleshooting information that is gathered from customers. Support
personnel can access this repository and automatically be assigned issues as problem
reports.
This method of transmitting notifications from the system to support removes the need for
customers to create problem reports manually. Call home with cloud services also
eliminates email filters dropping notifications to and from support which can delay
resolution of problems on the system.
This method only sends notifications to the predefined support center.
IBM highly encourages all clients to take advantage of the Call home feature to enable you
and IBM to partner for your success.
When you order the FlashSystem 5100 or FlashSystem 5000 system, IBM Storage Insights is
available for free. With this version, you can monitor the basic health, status, and performance
of various storage resources.
IBM Storage Insights is a part of the monitoring and helps to ensure continued availability of
the IBM FlashSystem 5100 and FlashSystem 5000 systems.
Cloud-based IBM Storage Insights provides a single dashboard that gives you a clear view
of all of your IBM block storage. You can make better decisions by seeing trends in
performance and capacity. With storage health information, you can focus on areas that need
attention. When IBM support is needed, IBM Storage Insights simplifies uploading logs,
speeds resolution with online configuration data, and provides an overview of open tickets, all
in one place.
The following features are some of those available with IBM Storage Insights:
A unified view of IBM systems:
– Provides a single view to see all your system’s characteristics.
– See all of your IBM storage inventory.
– Provides a live event feed so that you know in real time what is going on with your
storage so that you can act fast.
IBM Storage Insights collects telemetry data and call home data and provides real-time
system reporting of capacity and performance.
In order for IBM Storage Insights to operate, a lightweight data collector is installed in your
data center to stream performance, capacity, asset, and configuration metadata to your IBM
Cloud instance. The metadata flows in one direction: from your data center to IBM Cloud over
HTTPS. Only metadata is collected. The actual application data that is stored on the storage
systems can’t be accessed by the data collector. In the IBM Cloud, your metadata is
AES256-encrypted and protected by physical, organizational, access, and security controls.
For more information about IBM Storage Insights, see the following websites:
Storage Insights Fact Sheet
Functional demonstration environment
Storage Insights security information
Storage Insights registration
The publications listed in this section are considered particularly suitable for a more detailed
discussion of the topics covered in this book.
IBM Redbooks
You can search for, view, download, or order documents and other Redbooks publications,
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