Whitepaper. StorTrends Testing Guide: 3400i Controller Failover

Transcription

1 Whitepaper StorTrends Testing Guide: 3400i Controller Failover

2 2012 Copyright American Megatrends, Inc. All rights reserved. American Megatrends, Inc Oakbrook Parkway, Building 200 Norcross, GA TRADEMARK AND COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This publication contains proprietary information that is protected by copyright. No part of this publication can be reproduced, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, translated into any language or computer language, or transmitted in any form whatsoever without the prior written consent of the publisher, American Megatrends, Inc. Trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. American Megatrends, Inc. disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Call American Megatrends at for additional information. You can also visit us online at ami.com. LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY In no event shall American Megatrends be held liable for any loss, expenses, or damages of any kind whatsoever, whether direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential, arising from the design or use of this product or the support materials provided with the product. LIMITED WARRANTY No warranties are made, either express or implied, with regard to the contents of this work, its merchantability, or fitness for a particular use. American Megatrends assumes no responsibility for errors and omissions or for the uses made of the material contained herein or reader decisions based on such use. DISCLAIMER: Although efforts have been made to assure the accuracy of the information contained here, American Megatrends expressly disclaims liability for any error in this information, and for damages, whether direct, indirect, special, exemplary, consequential or otherwise, that may result from such error, including but not limited to the loss of profits resulting from the use or misuse of the information contained herein (even if American Megatrends has been advised of the possibility of such damages). Any questions or comments regarding this document or its contents should be addressed to American Megatrends at the address shown on the back cover of this document. American Megatrends provides this publication as is without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a specific purpose. Some states do not allow disclaimer of express or implied warranties or the limitation or exclusion of liability for indirect, special, exemplary, incidental or consequential damages in certain transactions; therefore, this statement may not apply to you. Also, you may have other rights that vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. This publication could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made to the information herein; these changes will be incorporated in new editions of the publication. American Megatrends may make improvements and/or revisions in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this publication at any time. 2

3 Table of Contents A Brief Introduction to StorTrends itx i Configurations [Active/Active] i Configurations [Active/ Passive] i Failover 6 Requirements and Best Practices 7 3

4 A Brief Introduction to StorTrends itx American Megatrends would like to thank you for taking the time to evaluate this StorTrends appliance. The dual controller StorTrends 3400i that you are evaluating represents the pinnacle of AMI s StorTrends storage technology. It is powered by the latest version of our flagship StorTrends itx Network Storage Software StorTrends itx which is optimized for this dual controller platform. StorTrends itx 2.8 is a full-featured storage management suite designed to leverage the power of dual controller SAN appliances for peak performance and reliability. This new, 64-bit version of StorTrends itx network storage software is intended to be equally at home in a datacenter or server room as front-line storage for high-volume transactions or as part of a tiered storage solution. Once again, AMI greatly appreciates your valued feedback and contributions in helping us make the StorTrends 3400i an even better, more robust product. Throughout the evaluation process, should you have any questions, comments or concerns, AMI would like to hear from you, as your opinion is of the utmost importance; please feel free to contact us by phone or at any time. StorTrends 3400i Dual Controller Storage Appliance 3400i Configurations [Active/Active] Because of the expanding customer demand for different requirements, the StorTrends itx dual-controller unit has multiple combinations to maximize the end-user s I/O or throughput. No matter what the configuration is, any controller failure will result in the other controller handling the additional I/O load to ensure that there is no downtime for the connected servers (each server s network must be accessible to both controllers). The first setup shown is the Active / Active configuration. This configuration gives the user the most bandwidth possible for their configuration. Each controller comes by default with 2 network interfaces giving a maximum of 2 separate I/O paths to 2 separate volumes if both controllers are used simultaneously as in the configuration on the following page. 4

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6 3400i Configurations [Active/Passive] The second configuration available for the StorTrends itx SBB unit is an Active / Passive configuration. This configuration has all I/O going directly to a single controller and, in the event of a failure, the second (or passive) controller picks up right where the other left off. This configuration is for I/O intensive installations giving the maximum possible IOPS per system. The throughput is halved because only a single controller s network interfaces are at work. The SBB unit can support up to 6 Gbe or 2-10 Gbe interfaces per controller in the scenario that both throughput and IOPS are deemed necessary. The figure below depicts an active / passive configuration. 3400i Failover The major advantages of the StorTrends 3400i is its internal ability to easily handle common failures that occur in the field. The inherent difference between the active / active versus the active / passive configurations is that in the active / active there is the ability of each controller to failover to the other while both are in use. The active / passive mode only keeps the secondary controller available for failover purposes. There are a number of tests that can be completed to evaluate the controller failover capabilities of the StorTrends 3400i. Below are the common failures that the 3400i is designed to handle and failover from. The 6

7 user should configure the following necessary settings in the page named failover requirements : Networking: The StorTrends 3400i can not only team network interfaces together for physical path redundancy to the switch, but it can also failover in the event of the following failures: NIC port(s) LAN cable (s) Switch port(s) Switch To test the failover capability artificially, the following items can be disconnected or powered off while running I/O to the StorTrends 3400i from an initiator: NIC port(s) Powered off: ifconfig eth <0,1> down ; where eth0 is NIC-1, etc. LAN cable(s) Disconnected: pull the network cable from either the switch port or the StorTrends 3400i network interface port. Switch port(s) Powered off: Login to the managed switch and disable the port that is connected to the StorTrends 3400i. Switch Powered off: (This requires redundant switches from the initiator to the controllers of the StorTrends 3400i) Power cycle (or reset) the switch that is connected to the primary controller of the StorTrends 3400i Pull the power cable from the switch Hardware Failures: The StorTrends 3400i comes standard with 2 separate controllers to give full system redundancy from common hardware failures. Hardware failures that can be overcome with zero I/O downtime are: CPU Memory Controller Motherboard Fans To test these failures without harming the system are by disabling the controller that you intend on testing. This can be mainly done by two different methods while running I/O from the initiator. Physical Test: Disconnect Controller From the back of the StorTrends 3400i, unscrew the controller handle and pull the controller out from the 3400i unit Software Test: Power-off Controller Login to the console or ManageTrends of the active controller that you would like to power down. Console -> Select System -> Power off CLI -> cli shutdown (or reboot) system ManageTrends -> Control Panel -> System -> Power off Requirements & Best Practices There are many ways to get deceptive results when configuring a unit for testing. This means that there are rules to keep in mind that are constant bottlenecks and notes for every configuration that must be made clear. Networking: Teaming of all types overcome individual NIC port failures, therefore, 2 are recommended to be teamed together unless switch redundancy is possible. ** This requires that the controller s interfaces are on the same switch. Each controller can be on its own switch for redundancy. Static IPs should be set on the interfaces for teaming to be configured. Multipathing (utilizing Microsoft s MPIO) can be used to have I/O cross redundant switches covering network failures from end-to-end. 7

8 Disk: Write-back caching should be enabled to get the best performance. StorTrends itx can enable caching on the disk level in the storage pool and on the volume level (ACM). Force Write-back caching should only be used in a production environment when there is a site UPS that the storage unit is power protected by. In the case that the whole 3400i has abruptly lost power, it is best to have a smart UPS connected to have Write-back caching automatically disable and for the 3400i to gracefully shutdown in the event that the UPS battery becomes low. Initiator: Requirements (Server 2003 system settings) o Srbtimeoutdelta: 120 o DelayBetweenReconnect: 15 o MaxReqHoldTime: 120 o LinkDownTime: 120 o Firstburstlength: 2,048,000 o MaxRecvDataSegmentLength: 2,048,000 Requirements (Server 2008 and later): o HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/ Services/Disk/TimeOutValue: 120 8

9 Whitepaper This publication contains proprietary information that is protected by copyright. No part of this publication can be reproduced, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, translated into any language or computer language, or transmitted in any form whatsoever without the prior written consent of the publisher, American Megatrends, Inc American Megatrends, Inc. All Rights Reserved American Megatrends Inc Oakbrook Parkway, Building 200 Norcross GA t: Sales & Product Information sales@ami.com t: Technical Support stortrends-support@ami.com t: