Originally posted by: TonyPearson

As you can imagine, I get a lot of email from around the world. This one, from a loyal reader from overseas, was particularly interesting. Normally, I would direct them to read the fantastic manual [RTFM], but decided instead to go ahead and tackle it here in my blog.

Dear Tony,
I follow your blog for several years, it has served as a reference and training for me in my professional career and I want to thank you.

I am writing because my company has acquired a new IBM Storwize V7000 Gen2 to replace a Gen1, with 16 FC ports, 8 ports per controller node and 8-port FC FlashSystem 900. The idea is to virtualize the V7000 storage part Flash900 and other hand assign directly to the host directly. After much reading on forums and storage Redbooks I have nothing clear as it should be wiring the SAN or as zoning would be made to carry out this installation. I would appreciate if you can write on this subject as controversial as seems to be the zoning and wiring SAN and if possible be clarified by me onstage.

I will tackle this in three steps.

First, let's attach "Server 1" and the FlashSystem 900 to the SAN fabric. IBM Spectrum Virtualize can handle one, two or even four separate fabrics. Let's assume you have a dual-port Host Bus Adapter (HBA) in server 1, and two redundant fabrics. We will connect each server port to each FCP switch. Likewise, we will connect each FCP switch to the FlashSystem 900, carve up "Volume 1", and create SAN "Zone A1" and "Zone A2", which identify "Server 1" as the initiator, and "FlashSystem 900" as the target. This is all basic stuff.

For those who want to follow along, I suggest you review the full implementation guidance in the IBM Redbook [Implementing the IBM Storwize V7000 Gen2]. Here is an excerpt:

"All Storwize V7000 Gen2 nodes in the Storwize V7000 Gen2 clustered system are connected to the same SANs, and they present volumes to the hosts. These volumes are created from storage pools that are composed of mDisks presented by the disk subsystems. The fabric must have three distinct zones:

Storwize V7000 Gen2 cluster system zones

Create one cluster zone per fabric, and include any port per node that is designated for intra-cluster traffic. No more than four ports per node should be allocated to intra-cluster traffic.

Host zones

Create a host zone for each server host bus adapter (HBA) port accessing Storwize V7000 Gen2.

Storage zone

Create one Storwize V7000 Gen2 storage zone for each storage system that is virtualized by the Storwize V7000 Gen2. Some storage control systems need two separate zones (one per controller) so that they do not 'see' each other."

Second, we connect the Storwize V7000 Gen2 to the FCP switches. You don't need to connect all of the ports, but I recommend that you have each controller node to each FCP switch, requiring four cables. Add more connections for added performance bandwidth.

Carve up "Volume 2" and this will be referred to as a "managed disk", mDisk for short, and create a "storage pool" which were formerly known as a "managed disk group" which is why you often see MDG in the naming conventions and examples. Storage pools can have one or more managed disks, and you can add more dynamically as needed.

The "storage zone" indicates the Storwize V7000 Gen2 as the initiator, and the FlashSystem 900 as target. If you want to increase the performance bandwidth, consider more cables between the FCP switches and the FlashSystem 900. We create "Zone B1" and "Zone B2". I recommend a separate "storage zones" for each additional storage system that you choose to attach to the Storwize V7000 Gen2.

The "cluster zone" that connects all of the Storwize V7000 Gen2 node ports together for node-to-node (intra-cluster) communication. Storwize V7000 Gen2 ports can serve as both initiators and targets dynamically. For example, when you write to one node, the node then copies the cache block over to the second node so there are two copies stored safely on separate nodes. Since we have two fabrics, we create "Zone C1" and "Zone C2".

Third, we connect "Server 2" to FCP switches, same as we did with "Server 1". We create "Volume 3" which is a "virtual disk, or vDisk for short, from the storage pool containing Volume 2. The "host zone"indicates Server 2 as the initiator, and Storwize V7000 Gen2 as the target. We create "Zone D1" and "Zone D2". I recommend putting each additional server in its own set of host zones.

In theory, you could have a server connected to both Volume 1 and Volume 3. For example, a Windows server would have a "C:" drive connected directly to FlashSystem 900 for high-speed performance, and have a "D:" drive on Storwize V7000 Gen2 to contain data. The Storwize V7000 Gen2 introduces 60 to 100 microseconds of added latency, but provides added value such as FlashCopy, Thin Provisioning, and Real-time compression.

Of course, there are unique situations that might require special configurations, depending on the servers, operating systems, host bus adapters, FCP switches, and storage systems involved.