Primary Storage

Originally posted by: AlanDeegan

In the latest release of IBM Spectrum Control, V5.2.14, there is improved granularity in IBM SAN Volume Controllers (SVC) support, including both Stretched Clusters (SVC only) and HyperSwap (SVC, IBM Storwize and V9000).

The following scenario gives an insight on how the new functionality works.

Bob the System Administrator is auditing his storage requirements in preparation for next year’s budget. He wants to know what systems are configured as Stretched Clusters or HyperSwap and where they are physically located.

He opens the Block Storage Systems screen in IBM Spectrum Control and can immediately identify a HyperSwap system in the Topology column along with the locations of the HyperSwap nodes in the Location column.

Bob knows that the Casa Grande node was recently moved to San Jose, so he selects View Properties for the storage system and in the General tab selects Edit. He updates the location from Casa Grande to San Jose.

At the same time he updates the second node from Phoenix to Anaheim due to the fact that Phoenix is the location of the Active Quorum.

Bob also checks the physical location site of the back-end controllers to ensure that his Hyperswap environment is set up correctly.

Bob wants to check on the health of the Quorum Disk  by selecting the Managed Disks option for the server, activating the Active Quorum column (which is hidden by default) and then sorting by that column.

Finally, Bob wants to see what exposure he has in the HyperSwap by seeing what volumes are not protected by a Copy Data relationship. He selects the Copy Data option in the General pane and selects the Unprotected Volumes tab.

So Bob can now confidently create a realistic budget for his storage requirements for the next year. He knows he needs more capacity to ensure he minimises the risk of having too many unprotected volumes. But at the same time he can make savings by phasing out some of the older servers as he expands the use of the Hyperswap environment.

Joining the IBM Spectrum Control or IBM Spectrum Control Storage Insights BETA program

IBM Spectrum Control and the cloud offering, IBM Spectrum Control Storage Insights, is looking for new #BETA testers to use, and explore new #storage functionality while having a voice in future updates. Get onboard today and become part of the #BETA program! Contact Mary Anne Filosa at mfilosa@us.ibm.com for more details and to register.

You can try IBM Spectrum Control Storage Insights for a free 30-day trial and see what it can do for your business.

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