DS8000 Transparent Cloud Tiering

Hello Experts,

Please, I would like to ask help / support to validate some information related to the implementation of Transparent Cloud Tiering.

To the hardware side, customer already have the ethernet ports in the DS8K (FC 3603) and they also have TS7700 Advanced Object Store (FC 5283, 8083 and FC 3479).

To the software side, I attached a PDF where I list the corrections/PTFs necessaries to implement the TCT, based in a Redbook (SG24-8381).

To the network / connectivity side, I understood that are necessary ethernet connections between:

• Mainframe and DS8K
• DS8K and TS7700
• Mainframe and TS7700 (use case of OAM)

According to the Redbook (SG24-8381) and implementations of object storage on-prem (COS) that my customers bought, looks like a requirement the utilization of a Load Balancer, for performance and availability.

Please, do I need something additional of what was described here?

Other doubt, although few object storage solutions were homologated to be an object repository of TCT (IBM COS on-prem, IBM Cloud - COS, TS7700, RStor and AWS), customer would like to know if other solutions can be used, like Hitachi HCP, Dell ECS, Cloudian and Ceph. Please, does these solutions can be used as an object storage target of our TCT implementation?

Many thanks in advance.

Hey Denis, 

Some answers to your questions: 

To the network / connectivity side, I understood that are necessary ethernet connections between:

• Mainframe and DS8K
  
• DS8K and TS7700
• Mainframe and TS7700 (use case of OAM)

Mainframe and DS8K :  Correct, some connection and configuration is required between the Mainframe and DS8k HMC to use TCT.  

DS8K and TS7700 : DS8k Ethernet ports will need to be cabled into the customer network.  Customer network team will need to set up a network path between Ds8k subnet/VLANs and the TS7700 Grid network.   On the DS8K side, the Ethernet ports need to be configured to the routing table lsnetworkports/setnetworkports.  If the TS7700 is a stand-alone system, it may also need to be cabled since the grid links are not being used so were not previously configured.  The DS8k CEC IP Addresses will also need to be configured in the TS7700 to be allowed access through the firewall.  

Mainframe and TS7700 :  OAM uses an S3 interface to the cloud.  This is not supported by TS7700 at this time. 

According to the Redbook (SG24-8381) and implementations of object storage on-prem (COS) that my customers bought, looks like a requirement the utilization of a Load Balancer, for performance and availability.

A load balancers are not required but recommended to an IBM COS to balance between COS accessor nodes.  Assuming you would always have more than one accessor node, the load balancing is primarily for performance more than availability.  Note:  a load balancer is not needed if the TS7700 is the object store as there are built-in load balancing capabilities across the TS7700 grid links as long as you configured them in the mkcloudserver command. 

Another important place for a load balancer is between DFSMS and DS8k since this path can only be configured to one connection (one HMC).  If you lose that path, TCT transactions fail regardless of which object store you choose (including a TS7700).  To avoid this a load balancer can be introduced as a virtual layer to connect to both HMCs.  See chapter 5.2 Host to HMC Connection.   

Other doubt, although few object storage solutions were homologated to be an object repository of TCT (IBM COS on-prem, IBM Cloud - COS, TS7700, RStor and AWS), customer would like to know if other solutions can be used, like Hitachi HCP, Dell ECS, Cloudian and Ceph. Please, does these solutions can be used as an object storage target of our TCT implementation?

Only the ones specified in the latest Redbooks are supported.  If you are looking to support an additional object store not mentioned you can submit an IBM Ideas for the DS8k team to review: 

https://ideas.ibm.com/new-idea

Hello Experts,

Please, I would like to ask help / support to validate some information related to the implementation of Transparent Cloud Tiering.

To the hardware side, customer already have the ethernet ports in the DS8K (FC 3603) and they also have TS7700 Advanced Object Store (FC 5283, 8083 and FC 3479).

To the software side, I attached a PDF where I list the corrections/PTFs necessaries to implement the TCT, based in a Redbook (SG24-8381).

To the network / connectivity side, I understood that are necessary ethernet connections between:

• Mainframe and DS8K
• DS8K and TS7700
• Mainframe and TS7700 (use case of OAM)

According to the Redbook (SG24-8381) and implementations of object storage on-prem (COS) that my customers bought, looks like a requirement the utilization of a Load Balancer, for performance and availability.

Please, do I need something additional of what was described here?

Other doubt, although few object storage solutions were homologated to be an object repository of TCT (IBM COS on-prem, IBM Cloud - COS, TS7700, RStor and AWS), customer would like to know if other solutions can be used, like Hitachi HCP, Dell ECS, Cloudian and Ceph. Please, does these solutions can be used as an object storage target of our TCT implementation?

Many thanks in advance.

Hello Experts,

Please, I would like to ask help / support to validate some information related to the implementation of Transparent Cloud Tiering.

To the hardware side, customer already have the ethernet ports in the DS8K (FC 3603) and they also have TS7700 Advanced Object Store (FC 5283, 8083 and FC 3479).

To the software side, I attached a PDF where I list the corrections/PTFs necessaries to implement the TCT, based in a Redbook (SG24-8381).

To the network / connectivity side, I understood that are necessary ethernet connections between:

• Mainframe and DS8K
• DS8K and TS7700
• Mainframe and TS7700 (use case of OAM)

According to the Redbook (SG24-8381) and implementations of object storage on-prem (COS) that my customers bought, looks like a requirement the utilization of a Load Balancer, for performance and availability.

Please, do I need something additional of what was described here?

Other doubt, although few object storage solutions were homologated to be an object repository of TCT (IBM COS on-prem, IBM Cloud - COS, TS7700, RStor and AWS), customer would like to know if other solutions can be used, like Hitachi HCP, Dell ECS, Cloudian and Ceph. Please, does these solutions can be used as an object storage target of our TCT implementation?

Many thanks in advance.

Hi Denis, hope that all is well!

For the DS8K ethernet links, we recommend that they upgrade to the 10Gb links, if they have not done so.

For the DFSMS support, they should apply all current maintenance for TCT, using the following FIXCAT category: IBM.Function.DFSMSCloudStorage and DFSMSCS/K

For TCT, they need ethernet between Mainframe <> DS8K <> TS7700 and/or Object Storage.  
For OAM cloud support, they need ethernet from Mainframe to Object Storage.  (OAM cannot write to the object store of the TS7700).

The Redbook is downlevel.  A Load Balancer for the ethernet shouldn't be utilized.

TCT / OAM support S3 protocols.  Object Storage providers that support standard S3 protocols are supported.

Hello Experts,

Please, I would like to ask help / support to validate some information related to the implementation of Transparent Cloud Tiering.

To the hardware side, customer already have the ethernet ports in the DS8K (FC 3603) and they also have TS7700 Advanced Object Store (FC 5283, 8083 and FC 3479).

To the software side, I attached a PDF where I list the corrections/PTFs necessaries to implement the TCT, based in a Redbook (SG24-8381).

To the network / connectivity side, I understood that are necessary ethernet connections between:

• Mainframe and DS8K
• DS8K and TS7700
• Mainframe and TS7700 (use case of OAM)

According to the Redbook (SG24-8381) and implementations of object storage on-prem (COS) that my customers bought, looks like a requirement the utilization of a Load Balancer, for performance and availability.

Please, do I need something additional of what was described here?

Other doubt, although few object storage solutions were homologated to be an object repository of TCT (IBM COS on-prem, IBM Cloud - COS, TS7700, RStor and AWS), customer would like to know if other solutions can be used, like Hitachi HCP, Dell ECS, Cloudian and Ceph. Please, does these solutions can be used as an object storage target of our TCT implementation?

Many thanks in advance.

Hi Denis, hope that all is well!

For the DS8K ethernet links, we recommend that they upgrade to the 10Gb links, if they have not done so.

For the DFSMS support, they should apply all current maintenance for TCT, using the following FIXCAT category: IBM.Function.DFSMSCloudStorage and DFSMSCS/K

For TCT, they need ethernet between Mainframe <> DS8K <> TS7700 and/or Object Storage.  
For OAM cloud support, they need ethernet from Mainframe to Object Storage.  (OAM cannot write to the object store of the TS7700).

The Redbook is downlevel.  A Load Balancer for the ethernet shouldn't be utilized.

TCT / OAM support S3 protocols.  Object Storage providers that support standard S3 protocols are supported.

Hello Experts,

Please, I would like to ask help / support to validate some information related to the implementation of Transparent Cloud Tiering.

To the hardware side, customer already have the ethernet ports in the DS8K (FC 3603) and they also have TS7700 Advanced Object Store (FC 5283, 8083 and FC 3479).

To the software side, I attached a PDF where I list the corrections/PTFs necessaries to implement the TCT, based in a Redbook (SG24-8381).

To the network / connectivity side, I understood that are necessary ethernet connections between:

• Mainframe and DS8K
• DS8K and TS7700
• Mainframe and TS7700 (use case of OAM)

According to the Redbook (SG24-8381) and implementations of object storage on-prem (COS) that my customers bought, looks like a requirement the utilization of a Load Balancer, for performance and availability.

Please, do I need something additional of what was described here?

Other doubt, although few object storage solutions were homologated to be an object repository of TCT (IBM COS on-prem, IBM Cloud - COS, TS7700, RStor and AWS), customer would like to know if other solutions can be used, like Hitachi HCP, Dell ECS, Cloudian and Ceph. Please, does these solutions can be used as an object storage target of our TCT implementation?

Many thanks in advance.

Hi Denis, 

For the load balancer, DFSMS authenticates with an HMC and gets a token that it then uses for requests.  Each HMC has a unique token.  A load balancer does not know which requests go to which HMC.  So, you would get authentication failures because the load balancer would not know to direct a specific request to a specific HMC based on which HMC provided the token.  If there is a failure with an HMC, the client has to manually change to another HMC.  It's in the backlog to have a more resilient solution.

Hi Denis, hope that all is well!

For the DS8K ethernet links, we recommend that they upgrade to the 10Gb links, if they have not done so.

For the DFSMS support, they should apply all current maintenance for TCT, using the following FIXCAT category: IBM.Function.DFSMSCloudStorage and DFSMSCS/K

For TCT, they need ethernet between Mainframe <> DS8K <> TS7700 and/or Object Storage.  
For OAM cloud support, they need ethernet from Mainframe to Object Storage.  (OAM cannot write to the object store of the TS7700).

The Redbook is downlevel.  A Load Balancer for the ethernet shouldn't be utilized.

TCT / OAM support S3 protocols.  Object Storage providers that support standard S3 protocols are supported.

Hello Experts,

Please, I would like to ask help / support to validate some information related to the implementation of Transparent Cloud Tiering.

To the hardware side, customer already have the ethernet ports in the DS8K (FC 3603) and they also have TS7700 Advanced Object Store (FC 5283, 8083 and FC 3479).

To the software side, I attached a PDF where I list the corrections/PTFs necessaries to implement the TCT, based in a Redbook (SG24-8381).

To the network / connectivity side, I understood that are necessary ethernet connections between:

• Mainframe and DS8K
• DS8K and TS7700
• Mainframe and TS7700 (use case of OAM)

According to the Redbook (SG24-8381) and implementations of object storage on-prem (COS) that my customers bought, looks like a requirement the utilization of a Load Balancer, for performance and availability.

Please, do I need something additional of what was described here?

Other doubt, although few object storage solutions were homologated to be an object repository of TCT (IBM COS on-prem, IBM Cloud - COS, TS7700, RStor and AWS), customer would like to know if other solutions can be used, like Hitachi HCP, Dell ECS, Cloudian and Ceph. Please, does these solutions can be used as an object storage target of our TCT implementation?

Many thanks in advance.

Glenn, Lourie,
Please, can you evaluate if the topology below is correct?

The network blocks are just a representation, probably will be necessary routers, switches, firewalls, etc.
If I understood correctly, the solution need just one active connection between Mainframe and DS8K, then connection of each DS8K CEC to the TS7700 / Hydra and no need of Load balancer, and lastly, if customer would like to explore other object storage solution, it is recommended to implement a load balancer.
Feel free to correct!
Thanks.

Hi Denis, 

For the load balancer, DFSMS authenticates with an HMC and gets a token that it then uses for requests.  Each HMC has a unique token.  A load balancer does not know which requests go to which HMC.  So, you would get authentication failures because the load balancer would not know to direct a specific request to a specific HMC based on which HMC provided the token.  If there is a failure with an HMC, the client has to manually change to another HMC.  It's in the backlog to have a more resilient solution.

Hi Denis, hope that all is well!

For the DS8K ethernet links, we recommend that they upgrade to the 10Gb links, if they have not done so.

For the DFSMS support, they should apply all current maintenance for TCT, using the following FIXCAT category: IBM.Function.DFSMSCloudStorage and DFSMSCS/K

For TCT, they need ethernet between Mainframe <> DS8K <> TS7700 and/or Object Storage.  
For OAM cloud support, they need ethernet from Mainframe to Object Storage.  (OAM cannot write to the object store of the TS7700).

The Redbook is downlevel.  A Load Balancer for the ethernet shouldn't be utilized.

TCT / OAM support S3 protocols.  Object Storage providers that support standard S3 protocols are supported.

Hello Experts,

Please, I would like to ask help / support to validate some information related to the implementation of Transparent Cloud Tiering.

To the hardware side, customer already have the ethernet ports in the DS8K (FC 3603) and they also have TS7700 Advanced Object Store (FC 5283, 8083 and FC 3479).

To the software side, I attached a PDF where I list the corrections/PTFs necessaries to implement the TCT, based in a Redbook (SG24-8381).

To the network / connectivity side, I understood that are necessary ethernet connections between:

• Mainframe and DS8K
• DS8K and TS7700
• Mainframe and TS7700 (use case of OAM)

According to the Redbook (SG24-8381) and implementations of object storage on-prem (COS) that my customers bought, looks like a requirement the utilization of a Load Balancer, for performance and availability.

Please, do I need something additional of what was described here?

Other doubt, although few object storage solutions were homologated to be an object repository of TCT (IBM COS on-prem, IBM Cloud - COS, TS7700, RStor and AWS), customer would like to know if other solutions can be used, like Hitachi HCP, Dell ECS, Cloudian and Ceph. Please, does these solutions can be used as an object storage target of our TCT implementation?

Many thanks in advance.

Hey Denis, 

That looks about right.  Only other comment is if they have the ability to include a second TS7700 under the same Cloud Network Connection Construct connection.   They can additionally load balance between two TS7700s in the grid but, more importantly, if they lose the one cluster then they have no other entry point into the grid.  The second cluster allows them to access if one cluster is down. 

Glenn, Lourie,
Please, can you evaluate if the topology below is correct?

The network blocks are just a representation, probably will be necessary routers, switches, firewalls, etc.
If I understood correctly, the solution need just one active connection between Mainframe and DS8K, then connection of each DS8K CEC to the TS7700 / Hydra and no need of Load balancer, and lastly, if customer would like to explore other object storage solution, it is recommended to implement a load balancer.
Feel free to correct!
Thanks.

Hi Denis, 

For the load balancer, DFSMS authenticates with an HMC and gets a token that it then uses for requests.  Each HMC has a unique token.  A load balancer does not know which requests go to which HMC.  So, you would get authentication failures because the load balancer would not know to direct a specific request to a specific HMC based on which HMC provided the token.  If there is a failure with an HMC, the client has to manually change to another HMC.  It's in the backlog to have a more resilient solution.

Hi Denis, hope that all is well!

For the DS8K ethernet links, we recommend that they upgrade to the 10Gb links, if they have not done so.

For the DFSMS support, they should apply all current maintenance for TCT, using the following FIXCAT category: IBM.Function.DFSMSCloudStorage and DFSMSCS/K

For TCT, they need ethernet between Mainframe <> DS8K <> TS7700 and/or Object Storage.  
For OAM cloud support, they need ethernet from Mainframe to Object Storage.  (OAM cannot write to the object store of the TS7700).

The Redbook is downlevel.  A Load Balancer for the ethernet shouldn't be utilized.

TCT / OAM support S3 protocols.  Object Storage providers that support standard S3 protocols are supported.

Hello Experts,

Please, I would like to ask help / support to validate some information related to the implementation of Transparent Cloud Tiering.

To the hardware side, customer already have the ethernet ports in the DS8K (FC 3603) and they also have TS7700 Advanced Object Store (FC 5283, 8083 and FC 3479).

To the software side, I attached a PDF where I list the corrections/PTFs necessaries to implement the TCT, based in a Redbook (SG24-8381).

To the network / connectivity side, I understood that are necessary ethernet connections between:

• Mainframe and DS8K
• DS8K and TS7700
• Mainframe and TS7700 (use case of OAM)

According to the Redbook (SG24-8381) and implementations of object storage on-prem (COS) that my customers bought, looks like a requirement the utilization of a Load Balancer, for performance and availability.

Please, do I need something additional of what was described here?

Other doubt, although few object storage solutions were homologated to be an object repository of TCT (IBM COS on-prem, IBM Cloud - COS, TS7700, RStor and AWS), customer would like to know if other solutions can be used, like Hitachi HCP, Dell ECS, Cloudian and Ceph. Please, does these solutions can be used as an object storage target of our TCT implementation?

Many thanks in advance.

Hi Lourie,

You're right and yesterday I create the topology below, where the TCT data will be stored in 2 TS7770 near and the 3rd will only receive the objects by replication of cluster 1 or cluster 2. Please, take a look:

I will propose to the customer use a load balancer between Z and DS8K, if they do not have or do not want to implement in this way, I understood that is possible to register only one HMC. This is a kind of SPOF, since any unavailability results in an outage to the TCT, correct?

Other point, we'll start with only one Grid, but, probably we'll explore the possibility to store TCT data in 2 different grids, in a crossed way (DS8K A to the Grids 01 and 11, DS8K B to the Grids 01 and 11 too). In this topology, does will be possible to implement like my drawing above? I mean, write/store data in more than one cluster of each Grid?

Sorry for a lot of questions and doubts, it is my first TCT project, probably the first one here (Brazil) and I would like to avoid problems.

Thanks in advance.

Hey Denis, 

That looks about right.  Only other comment is if they have the ability to include a second TS7700 under the same Cloud Network Connection Construct connection.   They can additionally load balance between two TS7700s in the grid but, more importantly, if they lose the one cluster then they have no other entry point into the grid.  The second cluster allows them to access if one cluster is down. 

Glenn, Lourie,
Please, can you evaluate if the topology below is correct?

The network blocks are just a representation, probably will be necessary routers, switches, firewalls, etc.
If I understood correctly, the solution need just one active connection between Mainframe and DS8K, then connection of each DS8K CEC to the TS7700 / Hydra and no need of Load balancer, and lastly, if customer would like to explore other object storage solution, it is recommended to implement a load balancer.
Feel free to correct!
Thanks.

Hi Denis, 

For the load balancer, DFSMS authenticates with an HMC and gets a token that it then uses for requests.  Each HMC has a unique token.  A load balancer does not know which requests go to which HMC.  So, you would get authentication failures because the load balancer would not know to direct a specific request to a specific HMC based on which HMC provided the token.  If there is a failure with an HMC, the client has to manually change to another HMC.  It's in the backlog to have a more resilient solution.

Hi Denis, hope that all is well!

For the DS8K ethernet links, we recommend that they upgrade to the 10Gb links, if they have not done so.

For the DFSMS support, they should apply all current maintenance for TCT, using the following FIXCAT category: IBM.Function.DFSMSCloudStorage and DFSMSCS/K

For TCT, they need ethernet between Mainframe <> DS8K <> TS7700 and/or Object Storage.  
For OAM cloud support, they need ethernet from Mainframe to Object Storage.  (OAM cannot write to the object store of the TS7700).

The Redbook is downlevel.  A Load Balancer for the ethernet shouldn't be utilized.

TCT / OAM support S3 protocols.  Object Storage providers that support standard S3 protocols are supported.

Hello Experts,

Please, I would like to ask help / support to validate some information related to the implementation of Transparent Cloud Tiering.

To the hardware side, customer already have the ethernet ports in the DS8K (FC 3603) and they also have TS7700 Advanced Object Store (FC 5283, 8083 and FC 3479).

To the software side, I attached a PDF where I list the corrections/PTFs necessaries to implement the TCT, based in a Redbook (SG24-8381).

To the network / connectivity side, I understood that are necessary ethernet connections between:

• Mainframe and DS8K
• DS8K and TS7700
• Mainframe and TS7700 (use case of OAM)

According to the Redbook (SG24-8381) and implementations of object storage on-prem (COS) that my customers bought, looks like a requirement the utilization of a Load Balancer, for performance and availability.

Please, do I need something additional of what was described here?

Other doubt, although few object storage solutions were homologated to be an object repository of TCT (IBM COS on-prem, IBM Cloud - COS, TS7700, RStor and AWS), customer would like to know if other solutions can be used, like Hitachi HCP, Dell ECS, Cloudian and Ceph. Please, does these solutions can be used as an object storage target of our TCT implementation?

Many thanks in advance.

Sounds good....and as Glenn stated, sounds like the Redbook is incorrect and a load balancer should not be used between Z and the HMCs.  They will need to correct that in the book.

Yes, you can target up to 8 grids from one DS8K by using DS8k multi-cloud...so you would create a different Cloud Network Connection Construct in the ISMF panel and when you configure on the DS8k using mkcloudserver, you run mkcloudserver twice...one for each construct with the IP addresses for the clusters in each grid. 

Hi Lourie,

You're right and yesterday I create the topology below, where the TCT data will be stored in 2 TS7770 near and the 3rd will only receive the objects by replication of cluster 1 or cluster 2. Please, take a look:

I will propose to the customer use a load balancer between Z and DS8K, if they do not have or do not want to implement in this way, I understood that is possible to register only one HMC. This is a kind of SPOF, since any unavailability results in an outage to the TCT, correct?

Other point, we'll start with only one Grid, but, probably we'll explore the possibility to store TCT data in 2 different grids, in a crossed way (DS8K A to the Grids 01 and 11, DS8K B to the Grids 01 and 11 too). In this topology, does will be possible to implement like my drawing above? I mean, write/store data in more than one cluster of each Grid?

Sorry for a lot of questions and doubts, it is my first TCT project, probably the first one here (Brazil) and I would like to avoid problems.

Thanks in advance.

Hey Denis, 

That looks about right.  Only other comment is if they have the ability to include a second TS7700 under the same Cloud Network Connection Construct connection.   They can additionally load balance between two TS7700s in the grid but, more importantly, if they lose the one cluster then they have no other entry point into the grid.  The second cluster allows them to access if one cluster is down. 

Glenn, Lourie,
Please, can you evaluate if the topology below is correct?

The network blocks are just a representation, probably will be necessary routers, switches, firewalls, etc.
If I understood correctly, the solution need just one active connection between Mainframe and DS8K, then connection of each DS8K CEC to the TS7700 / Hydra and no need of Load balancer, and lastly, if customer would like to explore other object storage solution, it is recommended to implement a load balancer.
Feel free to correct!
Thanks.

Hi Denis, 

For the load balancer, DFSMS authenticates with an HMC and gets a token that it then uses for requests.  Each HMC has a unique token.  A load balancer does not know which requests go to which HMC.  So, you would get authentication failures because the load balancer would not know to direct a specific request to a specific HMC based on which HMC provided the token.  If there is a failure with an HMC, the client has to manually change to another HMC.  It's in the backlog to have a more resilient solution.

Hi Denis, hope that all is well!

For the DS8K ethernet links, we recommend that they upgrade to the 10Gb links, if they have not done so.

For the DFSMS support, they should apply all current maintenance for TCT, using the following FIXCAT category: IBM.Function.DFSMSCloudStorage and DFSMSCS/K

For TCT, they need ethernet between Mainframe <> DS8K <> TS7700 and/or Object Storage.  
For OAM cloud support, they need ethernet from Mainframe to Object Storage.  (OAM cannot write to the object store of the TS7700).

The Redbook is downlevel.  A Load Balancer for the ethernet shouldn't be utilized.

TCT / OAM support S3 protocols.  Object Storage providers that support standard S3 protocols are supported.

Hello Experts,

Please, I would like to ask help / support to validate some information related to the implementation of Transparent Cloud Tiering.

To the hardware side, customer already have the ethernet ports in the DS8K (FC 3603) and they also have TS7700 Advanced Object Store (FC 5283, 8083 and FC 3479).

To the software side, I attached a PDF where I list the corrections/PTFs necessaries to implement the TCT, based in a Redbook (SG24-8381).

To the network / connectivity side, I understood that are necessary ethernet connections between:

• Mainframe and DS8K
• DS8K and TS7700
• Mainframe and TS7700 (use case of OAM)

According to the Redbook (SG24-8381) and implementations of object storage on-prem (COS) that my customers bought, looks like a requirement the utilization of a Load Balancer, for performance and availability.

Please, do I need something additional of what was described here?

Other doubt, although few object storage solutions were homologated to be an object repository of TCT (IBM COS on-prem, IBM Cloud - COS, TS7700, RStor and AWS), customer would like to know if other solutions can be used, like Hitachi HCP, Dell ECS, Cloudian and Ceph. Please, does these solutions can be used as an object storage target of our TCT implementation?

Many thanks in advance.

Lourie and Team,

As discussed here and a small part in parallel, I did an adjust in the topology, removing Load Balancer between Z and Storage HMCs and adding the second grid, since it will be the final architecture. Please, again, can you take a look?

Topology:

Appreciate any comments, corrections and interactions.

Happy Friday to all. Thanks in advance.

Sounds good....and as Glenn stated, sounds like the Redbook is incorrect and a load balancer should not be used between Z and the HMCs.  They will need to correct that in the book.

Yes, you can target up to 8 grids from one DS8K by using DS8k multi-cloud...so you would create a different Cloud Network Connection Construct in the ISMF panel and when you configure on the DS8k using mkcloudserver, you run mkcloudserver twice...one for each construct with the IP addresses for the clusters in each grid. 

Hi Lourie,

You're right and yesterday I create the topology below, where the TCT data will be stored in 2 TS7770 near and the 3rd will only receive the objects by replication of cluster 1 or cluster 2. Please, take a look:

I will propose to the customer use a load balancer between Z and DS8K, if they do not have or do not want to implement in this way, I understood that is possible to register only one HMC. This is a kind of SPOF, since any unavailability results in an outage to the TCT, correct?

Other point, we'll start with only one Grid, but, probably we'll explore the possibility to store TCT data in 2 different grids, in a crossed way (DS8K A to the Grids 01 and 11, DS8K B to the Grids 01 and 11 too). In this topology, does will be possible to implement like my drawing above? I mean, write/store data in more than one cluster of each Grid?

Sorry for a lot of questions and doubts, it is my first TCT project, probably the first one here (Brazil) and I would like to avoid problems.

Thanks in advance.

Hey Denis, 

That looks about right.  Only other comment is if they have the ability to include a second TS7700 under the same Cloud Network Connection Construct connection.   They can additionally load balance between two TS7700s in the grid but, more importantly, if they lose the one cluster then they have no other entry point into the grid.  The second cluster allows them to access if one cluster is down. 

Glenn, Lourie,
Please, can you evaluate if the topology below is correct?

The network blocks are just a representation, probably will be necessary routers, switches, firewalls, etc.
If I understood correctly, the solution need just one active connection between Mainframe and DS8K, then connection of each DS8K CEC to the TS7700 / Hydra and no need of Load balancer, and lastly, if customer would like to explore other object storage solution, it is recommended to implement a load balancer.
Feel free to correct!
Thanks.

Hi Denis, 

For the load balancer, DFSMS authenticates with an HMC and gets a token that it then uses for requests.  Each HMC has a unique token.  A load balancer does not know which requests go to which HMC.  So, you would get authentication failures because the load balancer would not know to direct a specific request to a specific HMC based on which HMC provided the token.  If there is a failure with an HMC, the client has to manually change to another HMC.  It's in the backlog to have a more resilient solution.

Hi Denis, hope that all is well!

For the DS8K ethernet links, we recommend that they upgrade to the 10Gb links, if they have not done so.

For the DFSMS support, they should apply all current maintenance for TCT, using the following FIXCAT category: IBM.Function.DFSMSCloudStorage and DFSMSCS/K

For TCT, they need ethernet between Mainframe <> DS8K <> TS7700 and/or Object Storage.  
For OAM cloud support, they need ethernet from Mainframe to Object Storage.  (OAM cannot write to the object store of the TS7700).

The Redbook is downlevel.  A Load Balancer for the ethernet shouldn't be utilized.

TCT / OAM support S3 protocols.  Object Storage providers that support standard S3 protocols are supported.

Hello Experts,

Please, I would like to ask help / support to validate some information related to the implementation of Transparent Cloud Tiering.

To the hardware side, customer already have the ethernet ports in the DS8K (FC 3603) and they also have TS7700 Advanced Object Store (FC 5283, 8083 and FC 3479).

To the software side, I attached a PDF where I list the corrections/PTFs necessaries to implement the TCT, based in a Redbook (SG24-8381).

To the network / connectivity side, I understood that are necessary ethernet connections between:

• Mainframe and DS8K
• DS8K and TS7700
• Mainframe and TS7700 (use case of OAM)

According to the Redbook (SG24-8381) and implementations of object storage on-prem (COS) that my customers bought, looks like a requirement the utilization of a Load Balancer, for performance and availability.

Please, do I need something additional of what was described here?

Other doubt, although few object storage solutions were homologated to be an object repository of TCT (IBM COS on-prem, IBM Cloud - COS, TS7700, RStor and AWS), customer would like to know if other solutions can be used, like Hitachi HCP, Dell ECS, Cloudian and Ceph. Please, does these solutions can be used as an object storage target of our TCT implementation?

Many thanks in advance.

Yes, and if you really want to get fancy you could show the coorelation between the cloud constructs and how the data would be routed to reach respective cluster through that cluster's grid links: 

Z sends the command to the DS8k including the cloud construct name (Cloudname1 or Cloudname2) using the same route.  DS8k knows the target object store IP Address ranges by the construct name and routes to the respective cluster's grid link IP addresses.

Lourie and Team,

As discussed here and a small part in parallel, I did an adjust in the topology, removing Load Balancer between Z and Storage HMCs and adding the second grid, since it will be the final architecture. Please, again, can you take a look?

Topology:

Appreciate any comments, corrections and interactions.

Happy Friday to all. Thanks in advance.

Sounds good....and as Glenn stated, sounds like the Redbook is incorrect and a load balancer should not be used between Z and the HMCs.  They will need to correct that in the book.

Yes, you can target up to 8 grids from one DS8K by using DS8k multi-cloud...so you would create a different Cloud Network Connection Construct in the ISMF panel and when you configure on the DS8k using mkcloudserver, you run mkcloudserver twice...one for each construct with the IP addresses for the clusters in each grid. 

Hi Lourie,

You're right and yesterday I create the topology below, where the TCT data will be stored in 2 TS7770 near and the 3rd will only receive the objects by replication of cluster 1 or cluster 2. Please, take a look:

I will propose to the customer use a load balancer between Z and DS8K, if they do not have or do not want to implement in this way, I understood that is possible to register only one HMC. This is a kind of SPOF, since any unavailability results in an outage to the TCT, correct?

Other point, we'll start with only one Grid, but, probably we'll explore the possibility to store TCT data in 2 different grids, in a crossed way (DS8K A to the Grids 01 and 11, DS8K B to the Grids 01 and 11 too). In this topology, does will be possible to implement like my drawing above? I mean, write/store data in more than one cluster of each Grid?

Sorry for a lot of questions and doubts, it is my first TCT project, probably the first one here (Brazil) and I would like to avoid problems.

Thanks in advance.

Hey Denis, 

That looks about right.  Only other comment is if they have the ability to include a second TS7700 under the same Cloud Network Connection Construct connection.   They can additionally load balance between two TS7700s in the grid but, more importantly, if they lose the one cluster then they have no other entry point into the grid.  The second cluster allows them to access if one cluster is down. 

Glenn, Lourie,
Please, can you evaluate if the topology below is correct?

The network blocks are just a representation, probably will be necessary routers, switches, firewalls, etc.
If I understood correctly, the solution need just one active connection between Mainframe and DS8K, then connection of each DS8K CEC to the TS7700 / Hydra and no need of Load balancer, and lastly, if customer would like to explore other object storage solution, it is recommended to implement a load balancer.
Feel free to correct!
Thanks.

Hi Denis, 

For the load balancer, DFSMS authenticates with an HMC and gets a token that it then uses for requests.  Each HMC has a unique token.  A load balancer does not know which requests go to which HMC.  So, you would get authentication failures because the load balancer would not know to direct a specific request to a specific HMC based on which HMC provided the token.  If there is a failure with an HMC, the client has to manually change to another HMC.  It's in the backlog to have a more resilient solution.

Hi Denis, hope that all is well!

For the DS8K ethernet links, we recommend that they upgrade to the 10Gb links, if they have not done so.

For the DFSMS support, they should apply all current maintenance for TCT, using the following FIXCAT category: IBM.Function.DFSMSCloudStorage and DFSMSCS/K

For TCT, they need ethernet between Mainframe <> DS8K <> TS7700 and/or Object Storage.  
For OAM cloud support, they need ethernet from Mainframe to Object Storage.  (OAM cannot write to the object store of the TS7700).

The Redbook is downlevel.  A Load Balancer for the ethernet shouldn't be utilized.

TCT / OAM support S3 protocols.  Object Storage providers that support standard S3 protocols are supported.

Hello Experts,

Please, I would like to ask help / support to validate some information related to the implementation of Transparent Cloud Tiering.

To the hardware side, customer already have the ethernet ports in the DS8K (FC 3603) and they also have TS7700 Advanced Object Store (FC 5283, 8083 and FC 3479).

To the software side, I attached a PDF where I list the corrections/PTFs necessaries to implement the TCT, based in a Redbook (SG24-8381).

To the network / connectivity side, I understood that are necessary ethernet connections between:

• Mainframe and DS8K
• DS8K and TS7700
• Mainframe and TS7700 (use case of OAM)

According to the Redbook (SG24-8381) and implementations of object storage on-prem (COS) that my customers bought, looks like a requirement the utilization of a Load Balancer, for performance and availability.

Please, do I need something additional of what was described here?

Other doubt, although few object storage solutions were homologated to be an object repository of TCT (IBM COS on-prem, IBM Cloud - COS, TS7700, RStor and AWS), customer would like to know if other solutions can be used, like Hitachi HCP, Dell ECS, Cloudian and Ceph. Please, does these solutions can be used as an object storage target of our TCT implementation?

Many thanks in advance.

Yes, and if you really want to get fancy you could show the coorelation between the cloud constructs and how the data would be routed to reach respective cluster through that cluster's grid links: 

Z sends the command to the DS8k including the cloud construct name (Cloudname1 or Cloudname2) using the same route.  DS8k knows the target object store IP Address ranges by the construct name and routes to the respective cluster's grid link IP addresses.

Lourie and Team,

As discussed here and a small part in parallel, I did an adjust in the topology, removing Load Balancer between Z and Storage HMCs and adding the second grid, since it will be the final architecture. Please, again, can you take a look?

Topology:

Appreciate any comments, corrections and interactions.

Happy Friday to all. Thanks in advance.

Sounds good....and as Glenn stated, sounds like the Redbook is incorrect and a load balancer should not be used between Z and the HMCs.  They will need to correct that in the book.

Yes, you can target up to 8 grids from one DS8K by using DS8k multi-cloud...so you would create a different Cloud Network Connection Construct in the ISMF panel and when you configure on the DS8k using mkcloudserver, you run mkcloudserver twice...one for each construct with the IP addresses for the clusters in each grid. 

Hi Lourie,

You're right and yesterday I create the topology below, where the TCT data will be stored in 2 TS7770 near and the 3rd will only receive the objects by replication of cluster 1 or cluster 2. Please, take a look:

I will propose to the customer use a load balancer between Z and DS8K, if they do not have or do not want to implement in this way, I understood that is possible to register only one HMC. This is a kind of SPOF, since any unavailability results in an outage to the TCT, correct?

Other point, we'll start with only one Grid, but, probably we'll explore the possibility to store TCT data in 2 different grids, in a crossed way (DS8K A to the Grids 01 and 11, DS8K B to the Grids 01 and 11 too). In this topology, does will be possible to implement like my drawing above? I mean, write/store data in more than one cluster of each Grid?

Sorry for a lot of questions and doubts, it is my first TCT project, probably the first one here (Brazil) and I would like to avoid problems.

Thanks in advance.

Hey Denis, 

That looks about right.  Only other comment is if they have the ability to include a second TS7700 under the same Cloud Network Connection Construct connection.   They can additionally load balance between two TS7700s in the grid but, more importantly, if they lose the one cluster then they have no other entry point into the grid.  The second cluster allows them to access if one cluster is down. 

Glenn, Lourie,
Please, can you evaluate if the topology below is correct?

The network blocks are just a representation, probably will be necessary routers, switches, firewalls, etc.
If I understood correctly, the solution need just one active connection between Mainframe and DS8K, then connection of each DS8K CEC to the TS7700 / Hydra and no need of Load balancer, and lastly, if customer would like to explore other object storage solution, it is recommended to implement a load balancer.
Feel free to correct!
Thanks.

Hi Denis, 

For the load balancer, DFSMS authenticates with an HMC and gets a token that it then uses for requests.  Each HMC has a unique token.  A load balancer does not know which requests go to which HMC.  So, you would get authentication failures because the load balancer would not know to direct a specific request to a specific HMC based on which HMC provided the token.  If there is a failure with an HMC, the client has to manually change to another HMC.  It's in the backlog to have a more resilient solution.

Hi Denis, hope that all is well!

For the DS8K ethernet links, we recommend that they upgrade to the 10Gb links, if they have not done so.

For the DFSMS support, they should apply all current maintenance for TCT, using the following FIXCAT category: IBM.Function.DFSMSCloudStorage and DFSMSCS/K

For TCT, they need ethernet between Mainframe <> DS8K <> TS7700 and/or Object Storage.  
For OAM cloud support, they need ethernet from Mainframe to Object Storage.  (OAM cannot write to the object store of the TS7700).

The Redbook is downlevel.  A Load Balancer for the ethernet shouldn't be utilized.

TCT / OAM support S3 protocols.  Object Storage providers that support standard S3 protocols are supported.

Hello Experts,

Please, I would like to ask help / support to validate some information related to the implementation of Transparent Cloud Tiering.

To the hardware side, customer already have the ethernet ports in the DS8K (FC 3603) and they also have TS7700 Advanced Object Store (FC 5283, 8083 and FC 3479).

To the software side, I attached a PDF where I list the corrections/PTFs necessaries to implement the TCT, based in a Redbook (SG24-8381).

To the network / connectivity side, I understood that are necessary ethernet connections between:

• Mainframe and DS8K
• DS8K and TS7700
• Mainframe and TS7700 (use case of OAM)

According to the Redbook (SG24-8381) and implementations of object storage on-prem (COS) that my customers bought, looks like a requirement the utilization of a Load Balancer, for performance and availability.

Please, do I need something additional of what was described here?

Other doubt, although few object storage solutions were homologated to be an object repository of TCT (IBM COS on-prem, IBM Cloud - COS, TS7700, RStor and AWS), customer would like to know if other solutions can be used, like Hitachi HCP, Dell ECS, Cloudian and Ceph. Please, does these solutions can be used as an object storage target of our TCT implementation?

Many thanks in advance.

Can you tell me if this includes both A and B dasd or just the A dasd?  We have attempted the mkcldserver command on our A dasd and had success, however when we try the same command on our B dasd we have gotten errors, but haven't tried after some recent fixes.

Yes, and if you really want to get fancy you could show the coorelation between the cloud constructs and how the data would be routed to reach respective cluster through that cluster's grid links: 

Z sends the command to the DS8k including the cloud construct name (Cloudname1 or Cloudname2) using the same route.  DS8k knows the target object store IP Address ranges by the construct name and routes to the respective cluster's grid link IP addresses.

Lourie and Team,

As discussed here and a small part in parallel, I did an adjust in the topology, removing Load Balancer between Z and Storage HMCs and adding the second grid, since it will be the final architecture. Please, again, can you take a look?

Topology:

Appreciate any comments, corrections and interactions.

Happy Friday to all. Thanks in advance.

Sounds good....and as Glenn stated, sounds like the Redbook is incorrect and a load balancer should not be used between Z and the HMCs.  They will need to correct that in the book.

Yes, you can target up to 8 grids from one DS8K by using DS8k multi-cloud...so you would create a different Cloud Network Connection Construct in the ISMF panel and when you configure on the DS8k using mkcloudserver, you run mkcloudserver twice...one for each construct with the IP addresses for the clusters in each grid. 

Hi Lourie,

You're right and yesterday I create the topology below, where the TCT data will be stored in 2 TS7770 near and the 3rd will only receive the objects by replication of cluster 1 or cluster 2. Please, take a look:

I will propose to the customer use a load balancer between Z and DS8K, if they do not have or do not want to implement in this way, I understood that is possible to register only one HMC. This is a kind of SPOF, since any unavailability results in an outage to the TCT, correct?

Other point, we'll start with only one Grid, but, probably we'll explore the possibility to store TCT data in 2 different grids, in a crossed way (DS8K A to the Grids 01 and 11, DS8K B to the Grids 01 and 11 too). In this topology, does will be possible to implement like my drawing above? I mean, write/store data in more than one cluster of each Grid?

Sorry for a lot of questions and doubts, it is my first TCT project, probably the first one here (Brazil) and I would like to avoid problems.

Thanks in advance.

Hey Denis, 

That looks about right.  Only other comment is if they have the ability to include a second TS7700 under the same Cloud Network Connection Construct connection.   They can additionally load balance between two TS7700s in the grid but, more importantly, if they lose the one cluster then they have no other entry point into the grid.  The second cluster allows them to access if one cluster is down. 

Glenn, Lourie,
Please, can you evaluate if the topology below is correct?

The network blocks are just a representation, probably will be necessary routers, switches, firewalls, etc.
If I understood correctly, the solution need just one active connection between Mainframe and DS8K, then connection of each DS8K CEC to the TS7700 / Hydra and no need of Load balancer, and lastly, if customer would like to explore other object storage solution, it is recommended to implement a load balancer.
Feel free to correct!
Thanks.

Hi Denis, 

For the load balancer, DFSMS authenticates with an HMC and gets a token that it then uses for requests.  Each HMC has a unique token.  A load balancer does not know which requests go to which HMC.  So, you would get authentication failures because the load balancer would not know to direct a specific request to a specific HMC based on which HMC provided the token.  If there is a failure with an HMC, the client has to manually change to another HMC.  It's in the backlog to have a more resilient solution.

Hi Denis, hope that all is well!

For the DS8K ethernet links, we recommend that they upgrade to the 10Gb links, if they have not done so.

For the DFSMS support, they should apply all current maintenance for TCT, using the following FIXCAT category: IBM.Function.DFSMSCloudStorage and DFSMSCS/K

For TCT, they need ethernet between Mainframe <> DS8K <> TS7700 and/or Object Storage.  
For OAM cloud support, they need ethernet from Mainframe to Object Storage.  (OAM cannot write to the object store of the TS7700).

The Redbook is downlevel.  A Load Balancer for the ethernet shouldn't be utilized.

TCT / OAM support S3 protocols.  Object Storage providers that support standard S3 protocols are supported.

Hello Experts,

Please, I would like to ask help / support to validate some information related to the implementation of Transparent Cloud Tiering.

To the hardware side, customer already have the ethernet ports in the DS8K (FC 3603) and they also have TS7700 Advanced Object Store (FC 5283, 8083 and FC 3479).

To the software side, I attached a PDF where I list the corrections/PTFs necessaries to implement the TCT, based in a Redbook (SG24-8381).

To the network / connectivity side, I understood that are necessary ethernet connections between:

• Mainframe and DS8K
• DS8K and TS7700
• Mainframe and TS7700 (use case of OAM)

According to the Redbook (SG24-8381) and implementations of object storage on-prem (COS) that my customers bought, looks like a requirement the utilization of a Load Balancer, for performance and availability.

Please, do I need something additional of what was described here?

Other doubt, although few object storage solutions were homologated to be an object repository of TCT (IBM COS on-prem, IBM Cloud - COS, TS7700, RStor and AWS), customer would like to know if other solutions can be used, like Hitachi HCP, Dell ECS, Cloudian and Ceph. Please, does these solutions can be used as an object storage target of our TCT implementation?

Many thanks in advance.

Hello John, 

When you say A and B...are you referring to primary vs metro mirror? 

If so, you went through the same setup steps as you did on your primary...configuring the Ethernet ports, setting up the routing table and entering the metro mirror DS8K CEC IP Addresses to the TS7700 (SSR activity)? 

If you think you have all the steps completed and the network is good between the MM system and TS7700 then you may have to open a ticket to have this analyzed.  The number one reason we see issues during the initial set up is typically due to a network issue or configuration step missing. 

Can you tell me if this includes both A and B dasd or just the A dasd?  We have attempted the mkcldserver command on our A dasd and had success, however when we try the same command on our B dasd we have gotten errors, but haven't tried after some recent fixes.

Yes, and if you really want to get fancy you could show the coorelation between the cloud constructs and how the data would be routed to reach respective cluster through that cluster's grid links: 

Z sends the command to the DS8k including the cloud construct name (Cloudname1 or Cloudname2) using the same route.  DS8k knows the target object store IP Address ranges by the construct name and routes to the respective cluster's grid link IP addresses.

Lourie and Team,

As discussed here and a small part in parallel, I did an adjust in the topology, removing Load Balancer between Z and Storage HMCs and adding the second grid, since it will be the final architecture. Please, again, can you take a look?

Topology:

Appreciate any comments, corrections and interactions.

Happy Friday to all. Thanks in advance.

Sounds good....and as Glenn stated, sounds like the Redbook is incorrect and a load balancer should not be used between Z and the HMCs.  They will need to correct that in the book.

Yes, you can target up to 8 grids from one DS8K by using DS8k multi-cloud...so you would create a different Cloud Network Connection Construct in the ISMF panel and when you configure on the DS8k using mkcloudserver, you run mkcloudserver twice...one for each construct with the IP addresses for the clusters in each grid. 

Hi Lourie,

You're right and yesterday I create the topology below, where the TCT data will be stored in 2 TS7770 near and the 3rd will only receive the objects by replication of cluster 1 or cluster 2. Please, take a look:

I will propose to the customer use a load balancer between Z and DS8K, if they do not have or do not want to implement in this way, I understood that is possible to register only one HMC. This is a kind of SPOF, since any unavailability results in an outage to the TCT, correct?

Other point, we'll start with only one Grid, but, probably we'll explore the possibility to store TCT data in 2 different grids, in a crossed way (DS8K A to the Grids 01 and 11, DS8K B to the Grids 01 and 11 too). In this topology, does will be possible to implement like my drawing above? I mean, write/store data in more than one cluster of each Grid?

Sorry for a lot of questions and doubts, it is my first TCT project, probably the first one here (Brazil) and I would like to avoid problems.

Thanks in advance.

Hey Denis, 

That looks about right.  Only other comment is if they have the ability to include a second TS7700 under the same Cloud Network Connection Construct connection.   They can additionally load balance between two TS7700s in the grid but, more importantly, if they lose the one cluster then they have no other entry point into the grid.  The second cluster allows them to access if one cluster is down. 

Glenn, Lourie,
Please, can you evaluate if the topology below is correct?

The network blocks are just a representation, probably will be necessary routers, switches, firewalls, etc.
If I understood correctly, the solution need just one active connection between Mainframe and DS8K, then connection of each DS8K CEC to the TS7700 / Hydra and no need of Load balancer, and lastly, if customer would like to explore other object storage solution, it is recommended to implement a load balancer.
Feel free to correct!
Thanks.

Hi Denis, 

For the load balancer, DFSMS authenticates with an HMC and gets a token that it then uses for requests.  Each HMC has a unique token.  A load balancer does not know which requests go to which HMC.  So, you would get authentication failures because the load balancer would not know to direct a specific request to a specific HMC based on which HMC provided the token.  If there is a failure with an HMC, the client has to manually change to another HMC.  It's in the backlog to have a more resilient solution.

Hi Denis, hope that all is well!

For the DS8K ethernet links, we recommend that they upgrade to the 10Gb links, if they have not done so.

For the DFSMS support, they should apply all current maintenance for TCT, using the following FIXCAT category: IBM.Function.DFSMSCloudStorage and DFSMSCS/K

For TCT, they need ethernet between Mainframe <> DS8K <> TS7700 and/or Object Storage.  
For OAM cloud support, they need ethernet from Mainframe to Object Storage.  (OAM cannot write to the object store of the TS7700).

The Redbook is downlevel.  A Load Balancer for the ethernet shouldn't be utilized.

TCT / OAM support S3 protocols.  Object Storage providers that support standard S3 protocols are supported.

Hello Experts,

Please, I would like to ask help / support to validate some information related to the implementation of Transparent Cloud Tiering.

To the hardware side, customer already have the ethernet ports in the DS8K (FC 3603) and they also have TS7700 Advanced Object Store (FC 5283, 8083 and FC 3479).

To the software side, I attached a PDF where I list the corrections/PTFs necessaries to implement the TCT, based in a Redbook (SG24-8381).

To the network / connectivity side, I understood that are necessary ethernet connections between:

• Mainframe and DS8K
• DS8K and TS7700
• Mainframe and TS7700 (use case of OAM)

According to the Redbook (SG24-8381) and implementations of object storage on-prem (COS) that my customers bought, looks like a requirement the utilization of a Load Balancer, for performance and availability.

Please, do I need something additional of what was described here?

Other doubt, although few object storage solutions were homologated to be an object repository of TCT (IBM COS on-prem, IBM Cloud - COS, TS7700, RStor and AWS), customer would like to know if other solutions can be used, like Hitachi HCP, Dell ECS, Cloudian and Ceph. Please, does these solutions can be used as an object storage target of our TCT implementation?

Many thanks in advance.

Hi Lourie:

       Yes that is what I am referring to The B dasd or metro mirror copy.  we are getting this error.  


We do have a ticket open, and I have also been trying to open a new discussion on this and not having any luck.    

I'll reach out to support again on that.  A question did come up the other day and I don't believe we tried it yet.  Once successful on the A or primary dasd with the MKCLDSERVER we do a removal and then attempt it on the B dasd.  Does it need to stay in place?  If so it would stand to reason that when we attempt our C or global mirror copy should also leave A and B in place or at a minimum the A dasd since that's the primary.

Hello John, 

When you say A and B...are you referring to primary vs metro mirror? 

If so, you went through the same setup steps as you did on your primary...configuring the Ethernet ports, setting up the routing table and entering the metro mirror DS8K CEC IP Addresses to the TS7700 (SSR activity)? 

If you think you have all the steps completed and the network is good between the MM system and TS7700 then you may have to open a ticket to have this analyzed.  The number one reason we see issues during the initial set up is typically due to a network issue or configuration step missing. 

Can you tell me if this includes both A and B dasd or just the A dasd?  We have attempted the mkcldserver command on our A dasd and had success, however when we try the same command on our B dasd we have gotten errors, but haven't tried after some recent fixes.

Yes, and if you really want to get fancy you could show the coorelation between the cloud constructs and how the data would be routed to reach respective cluster through that cluster's grid links: 

Z sends the command to the DS8k including the cloud construct name (Cloudname1 or Cloudname2) using the same route.  DS8k knows the target object store IP Address ranges by the construct name and routes to the respective cluster's grid link IP addresses.

Lourie and Team,

As discussed here and a small part in parallel, I did an adjust in the topology, removing Load Balancer between Z and Storage HMCs and adding the second grid, since it will be the final architecture. Please, again, can you take a look?

Topology:

Appreciate any comments, corrections and interactions.

Happy Friday to all. Thanks in advance.

Sounds good....and as Glenn stated, sounds like the Redbook is incorrect and a load balancer should not be used between Z and the HMCs.  They will need to correct that in the book.

Yes, you can target up to 8 grids from one DS8K by using DS8k multi-cloud...so you would create a different Cloud Network Connection Construct in the ISMF panel and when you configure on the DS8k using mkcloudserver, you run mkcloudserver twice...one for each construct with the IP addresses for the clusters in each grid. 

Hi Lourie,

You're right and yesterday I create the topology below, where the TCT data will be stored in 2 TS7770 near and the 3rd will only receive the objects by replication of cluster 1 or cluster 2. Please, take a look:

I will propose to the customer use a load balancer between Z and DS8K, if they do not have or do not want to implement in this way, I understood that is possible to register only one HMC. This is a kind of SPOF, since any unavailability results in an outage to the TCT, correct?

Other point, we'll start with only one Grid, but, probably we'll explore the possibility to store TCT data in 2 different grids, in a crossed way (DS8K A to the Grids 01 and 11, DS8K B to the Grids 01 and 11 too). In this topology, does will be possible to implement like my drawing above? I mean, write/store data in more than one cluster of each Grid?

Sorry for a lot of questions and doubts, it is my first TCT project, probably the first one here (Brazil) and I would like to avoid problems.

Thanks in advance.

Hey Denis, 

That looks about right.  Only other comment is if they have the ability to include a second TS7700 under the same Cloud Network Connection Construct connection.   They can additionally load balance between two TS7700s in the grid but, more importantly, if they lose the one cluster then they have no other entry point into the grid.  The second cluster allows them to access if one cluster is down. 

Glenn, Lourie,
Please, can you evaluate if the topology below is correct?

The network blocks are just a representation, probably will be necessary routers, switches, firewalls, etc.
If I understood correctly, the solution need just one active connection between Mainframe and DS8K, then connection of each DS8K CEC to the TS7700 / Hydra and no need of Load balancer, and lastly, if customer would like to explore other object storage solution, it is recommended to implement a load balancer.
Feel free to correct!
Thanks.

Hi Denis, 

For the load balancer, DFSMS authenticates with an HMC and gets a token that it then uses for requests.  Each HMC has a unique token.  A load balancer does not know which requests go to which HMC.  So, you would get authentication failures because the load balancer would not know to direct a specific request to a specific HMC based on which HMC provided the token.  If there is a failure with an HMC, the client has to manually change to another HMC.  It's in the backlog to have a more resilient solution.

Hi Denis, hope that all is well!

For the DS8K ethernet links, we recommend that they upgrade to the 10Gb links, if they have not done so.

For the DFSMS support, they should apply all current maintenance for TCT, using the following FIXCAT category: IBM.Function.DFSMSCloudStorage and DFSMSCS/K

For TCT, they need ethernet between Mainframe <> DS8K <> TS7700 and/or Object Storage.  
For OAM cloud support, they need ethernet from Mainframe to Object Storage.  (OAM cannot write to the object store of the TS7700).

The Redbook is downlevel.  A Load Balancer for the ethernet shouldn't be utilized.

TCT / OAM support S3 protocols.  Object Storage providers that support standard S3 protocols are supported.

Hello Experts,

Please, I would like to ask help / support to validate some information related to the implementation of Transparent Cloud Tiering.

To the hardware side, customer already have the ethernet ports in the DS8K (FC 3603) and they also have TS7700 Advanced Object Store (FC 5283, 8083 and FC 3479).

To the software side, I attached a PDF where I list the corrections/PTFs necessaries to implement the TCT, based in a Redbook (SG24-8381).

To the network / connectivity side, I understood that are necessary ethernet connections between:

• Mainframe and DS8K
• DS8K and TS7700
• Mainframe and TS7700 (use case of OAM)

According to the Redbook (SG24-8381) and implementations of object storage on-prem (COS) that my customers bought, looks like a requirement the utilization of a Load Balancer, for performance and availability.

Please, do I need something additional of what was described here?

Other doubt, although few object storage solutions were homologated to be an object repository of TCT (IBM COS on-prem, IBM Cloud - COS, TS7700, RStor and AWS), customer would like to know if other solutions can be used, like Hitachi HCP, Dell ECS, Cloudian and Ceph. Please, does these solutions can be used as an object storage target of our TCT implementation?

Many thanks in advance.

Yes, will definitely need support to help as it may be due to a number of things. 

It does not matter whether you left your primary DASD configured or not configured to the object store.  Each DS8k is independent and not aware of the other's connection.  When you hyperswap, it simply starts using the new 'primary' DS8k to route the commands through.  Although, it would be best practice to leave them configured so that TCT seamlessly continues to operate after a hyperswap.  This is true for your Global Mirror as well.  

Depending on how you set up your TS7700 grid, you would normally target your primary and MM to the same TS7700 clusters on your local site and your GM is usually configured to TS7700 at that local site. 

Just to ensure I understand your configuration...you are targeting TS7700s and are those TS7700s using FC5283 Advanced Object Store or are you using the older FC5282? 

I would follow what your support is asking you to do but a couple of things you could try is if you are running mkcloudserver to two TS7700s, you should try to target just one and see if that works.  Second, it looks like you are already doing it but use -nossl in the command for now.  That takes out any certificate issues. 

Hi Lourie:

       Yes that is what I am referring to The B dasd or metro mirror copy.  we are getting this error.  


We do have a ticket open, and I have also been trying to open a new discussion on this and not having any luck.    

I'll reach out to support again on that.  A question did come up the other day and I don't believe we tried it yet.  Once successful on the A or primary dasd with the MKCLDSERVER we do a removal and then attempt it on the B dasd.  Does it need to stay in place?  If so it would stand to reason that when we attempt our C or global mirror copy should also leave A and B in place or at a minimum the A dasd since that's the primary.

Hello John, 

When you say A and B...are you referring to primary vs metro mirror? 

If so, you went through the same setup steps as you did on your primary...configuring the Ethernet ports, setting up the routing table and entering the metro mirror DS8K CEC IP Addresses to the TS7700 (SSR activity)? 

If you think you have all the steps completed and the network is good between the MM system and TS7700 then you may have to open a ticket to have this analyzed.  The number one reason we see issues during the initial set up is typically due to a network issue or configuration step missing. 

Can you tell me if this includes both A and B dasd or just the A dasd?  We have attempted the mkcldserver command on our A dasd and had success, however when we try the same command on our B dasd we have gotten errors, but haven't tried after some recent fixes.

Yes, and if you really want to get fancy you could show the coorelation between the cloud constructs and how the data would be routed to reach respective cluster through that cluster's grid links: 

Z sends the command to the DS8k including the cloud construct name (Cloudname1 or Cloudname2) using the same route.  DS8k knows the target object store IP Address ranges by the construct name and routes to the respective cluster's grid link IP addresses.

Lourie and Team,

As discussed here and a small part in parallel, I did an adjust in the topology, removing Load Balancer between Z and Storage HMCs and adding the second grid, since it will be the final architecture. Please, again, can you take a look?

Topology:

Appreciate any comments, corrections and interactions.

Happy Friday to all. Thanks in advance.

Sounds good....and as Glenn stated, sounds like the Redbook is incorrect and a load balancer should not be used between Z and the HMCs.  They will need to correct that in the book.

Yes, you can target up to 8 grids from one DS8K by using DS8k multi-cloud...so you would create a different Cloud Network Connection Construct in the ISMF panel and when you configure on the DS8k using mkcloudserver, you run mkcloudserver twice...one for each construct with the IP addresses for the clusters in each grid. 

Hi Lourie,

You're right and yesterday I create the topology below, where the TCT data will be stored in 2 TS7770 near and the 3rd will only receive the objects by replication of cluster 1 or cluster 2. Please, take a look:

I will propose to the customer use a load balancer between Z and DS8K, if they do not have or do not want to implement in this way, I understood that is possible to register only one HMC. This is a kind of SPOF, since any unavailability results in an outage to the TCT, correct?

Other point, we'll start with only one Grid, but, probably we'll explore the possibility to store TCT data in 2 different grids, in a crossed way (DS8K A to the Grids 01 and 11, DS8K B to the Grids 01 and 11 too). In this topology, does will be possible to implement like my drawing above? I mean, write/store data in more than one cluster of each Grid?

Sorry for a lot of questions and doubts, it is my first TCT project, probably the first one here (Brazil) and I would like to avoid problems.

Thanks in advance.

Hey Denis, 

That looks about right.  Only other comment is if they have the ability to include a second TS7700 under the same Cloud Network Connection Construct connection.   They can additionally load balance between two TS7700s in the grid but, more importantly, if they lose the one cluster then they have no other entry point into the grid.  The second cluster allows them to access if one cluster is down. 

Glenn, Lourie,
Please, can you evaluate if the topology below is correct?

The network blocks are just a representation, probably will be necessary routers, switches, firewalls, etc.
If I understood correctly, the solution need just one active connection between Mainframe and DS8K, then connection of each DS8K CEC to the TS7700 / Hydra and no need of Load balancer, and lastly, if customer would like to explore other object storage solution, it is recommended to implement a load balancer.
Feel free to correct!
Thanks.

Hi Denis, 

For the load balancer, DFSMS authenticates with an HMC and gets a token that it then uses for requests.  Each HMC has a unique token.  A load balancer does not know which requests go to which HMC.  So, you would get authentication failures because the load balancer would not know to direct a specific request to a specific HMC based on which HMC provided the token.  If there is a failure with an HMC, the client has to manually change to another HMC.  It's in the backlog to have a more resilient solution.

Hi Denis, hope that all is well!

For the DS8K ethernet links, we recommend that they upgrade to the 10Gb links, if they have not done so.

For the DFSMS support, they should apply all current maintenance for TCT, using the following FIXCAT category: IBM.Function.DFSMSCloudStorage and DFSMSCS/K

For TCT, they need ethernet between Mainframe <> DS8K <> TS7700 and/or Object Storage.  
For OAM cloud support, they need ethernet from Mainframe to Object Storage.  (OAM cannot write to the object store of the TS7700).

The Redbook is downlevel.  A Load Balancer for the ethernet shouldn't be utilized.

TCT / OAM support S3 protocols.  Object Storage providers that support standard S3 protocols are supported.

Hello Experts,

Please, I would like to ask help / support to validate some information related to the implementation of Transparent Cloud Tiering.

To the hardware side, customer already have the ethernet ports in the DS8K (FC 3603) and they also have TS7700 Advanced Object Store (FC 5283, 8083 and FC 3479).

To the software side, I attached a PDF where I list the corrections/PTFs necessaries to implement the TCT, based in a Redbook (SG24-8381).

To the network / connectivity side, I understood that are necessary ethernet connections between:

• Mainframe and DS8K
• DS8K and TS7700
• Mainframe and TS7700 (use case of OAM)

According to the Redbook (SG24-8381) and implementations of object storage on-prem (COS) that my customers bought, looks like a requirement the utilization of a Load Balancer, for performance and availability.

Please, do I need something additional of what was described here?

Other doubt, although few object storage solutions were homologated to be an object repository of TCT (IBM COS on-prem, IBM Cloud - COS, TS7700, RStor and AWS), customer would like to know if other solutions can be used, like Hitachi HCP, Dell ECS, Cloudian and Ceph. Please, does these solutions can be used as an object storage target of our TCT implementation?

Many thanks in advance.

Hi Denis, hope that all is well!

For the DS8K ethernet links, we recommend that they upgrade to the 10Gb links, if they have not done so.

For the DFSMS support, they should apply all current maintenance for TCT, using the following FIXCAT category: IBM.Function.DFSMSCloudStorage and DFSMSCS/K

For TCT, they need ethernet between Mainframe <> DS8K <> TS7700 and/or Object Storage.  
For OAM cloud support, they need ethernet from Mainframe to Object Storage.  (OAM cannot write to the object store of the TS7700).

The Redbook is downlevel.  A Load Balancer for the ethernet shouldn't be utilized.

TCT / OAM support S3 protocols.  Object Storage providers that support standard S3 protocols are supported.

Hello Experts,

Please, I would like to ask help / support to validate some information related to the implementation of Transparent Cloud Tiering.

To the hardware side, customer already have the ethernet ports in the DS8K (FC 3603) and they also have TS7700 Advanced Object Store (FC 5283, 8083 and FC 3479).

To the software side, I attached a PDF where I list the corrections/PTFs necessaries to implement the TCT, based in a Redbook (SG24-8381).

To the network / connectivity side, I understood that are necessary ethernet connections between:

• Mainframe and DS8K
• DS8K and TS7700
• Mainframe and TS7700 (use case of OAM)

According to the Redbook (SG24-8381) and implementations of object storage on-prem (COS) that my customers bought, looks like a requirement the utilization of a Load Balancer, for performance and availability.

Please, do I need something additional of what was described here?

Other doubt, although few object storage solutions were homologated to be an object repository of TCT (IBM COS on-prem, IBM Cloud - COS, TS7700, RStor and AWS), customer would like to know if other solutions can be used, like Hitachi HCP, Dell ECS, Cloudian and Ceph. Please, does these solutions can be used as an object storage target of our TCT implementation?

Many thanks in advance.

Hello Experts,

Please, I would like to ask help / support to validate some information related to the implementation of Transparent Cloud Tiering.

To the hardware side, customer already have the ethernet ports in the DS8K (FC 3603) and they also have TS7700 Advanced Object Store (FC 5283, 8083 and FC 3479).

To the software side, I attached a PDF where I list the corrections/PTFs necessaries to implement the TCT, based in a Redbook (SG24-8381).

To the network / connectivity side, I understood that are necessary ethernet connections between:

• Mainframe and DS8K
• DS8K and TS7700
• Mainframe and TS7700 (use case of OAM)

According to the Redbook (SG24-8381) and implementations of object storage on-prem (COS) that my customers bought, looks like a requirement the utilization of a Load Balancer, for performance and availability.

Please, do I need something additional of what was described here?

Other doubt, although few object storage solutions were homologated to be an object repository of TCT (IBM COS on-prem, IBM Cloud - COS, TS7700, RStor and AWS), customer would like to know if other solutions can be used, like Hitachi HCP, Dell ECS, Cloudian and Ceph. Please, does these solutions can be used as an object storage target of our TCT implementation?

Many thanks in advance.