This is about Merging pools in Equallogic
When Equallogic was introduced back in 2004 we had no pools to divide all the arrays in to. Back then all arrays was filled with SATA drives, and it was only with the introduction of the PS3000 series we got SAS drives. I do still believe most of the pressure was from the Exchange guys back then to get the SAS drives, when they had a terrifying demand for Raid-10 and SAS 15.000 rpm.
Then we needed to divide all the storage arrays into different pools, and separating the disk spindle types into each compartement. This worked well for a number of years, and customers were happy to upgrade to a max of 16 arrays in each SAN, which after the PS5500 surfaced could be extended to 768 diskdrives in each SAN. Today we can do 1.5 Petabyte, and in the near future with certification of the 3TB SATA drives, Equallogic reaches even higher to 2.1 Petabyte.
Then everything changed with the introduction of the 5.1 firmware with the new autotiering feature, doing a whole lot to both existing installations, but also when selling SAN’s to new customers. Now we place all arrays back into the same pool with a maximum of 8 arrays in each pool and still a total of 16 arrays. This placed customers in an awkward situation where they needed to buy additional arrays (or loan a demo from Dell), to be able to move the existing arrays into a single pool.
Only a few customers are aware of the Merging Pool feature which has been integrated into the Group manager (browser). With this feature you can migrate two pools into one, and then get all the benefits of the auto tiering feature, which by far is the most sexy thing Equallogic has introduced since 2004 (My believe).
So please do migrate all the arrays online into one pool, I will do an test next week to actually see this work in real life, a not only in the virtual Equallogic I’m running.
Category: English
The blog written in english, usually stuff about servers and storage
-
Going to a new world
-
Equallogic past and new present
A good colleague of mine pointed out a very interesting feature in the new PS6100 arrays, recently announced by Dell, the vertical port failover. But this is indeed an old feature…..When we worked with the old Type-1 and 2 controllers (the grey and the blue), you actually didn’t care where the ethernet connection where.
You simply looked at the switch and looked after the 3 connecting lights out of 6 possible.
I cant remember what it was called back then, I worked for a Equallogic reseller, and all my material is lost.But you could fail over a single networking port, to the other controller, which did cause some funny situations in the datacentres when an administrator wanted to have all the connections on a single controller “because it did look better”, and then he plugged out a cable to move the connection to the other controller. I did have some calls at that point from customers who couldn’t understand why the “passive” controller had all the connections. It did take some explaining to tell them, there was nothing wrong, and this was all part off the Equallogic virtualization.
From type 3 I believe it was, until the type 10 controllers, we only had the controller failover, where the whole controller was failed over to the secondary.
BUT now it’s back to basics, Dell has re-introduced the “Vertical Port Failover” on type 11 and 12 controllers. This is a significant gain, as you can fail a single network cable, and still be sure you have maximum throughput. As an old Equallogic guy this sweetens my heart.
By the way, Dell has also introduced some new arrays with the type 11 and 12 controllers. The type 11 is actually for the new PS6100 series 1Gbit arrays, and besides 4 x 1Gbit ports this also feature a separate management port. The PS6100 comes in different flavours, the 4U 24×3.5″ disk SATA based, and the 2U 12×3.5″ or 24×2.5″ disks in SAS or nearline SAS drives.
The type 12 controllers is the PS4100 with same configuration options as the bigbrother, but still the 4000 departemental arrays still has 2x1Gbit networking ports, and a management port.
-
The Cloud
Looking back in the mirror we need to realise that cloud systems have been available for some years now. Not always adressed as cloud system.
In 2007 Sun had a system codenamed Honeycomb, an intriguing setup with several nodes sharing the data across the installation. What makes it an cloud solution and an private cloud, is the open interface to other applications. Customers could buy consultancy to integrate it into the Honeycomb API, or do it by them self. I was designed towards the public and health industry, especially for the Hospital sector, and all the scanning equipment they have. (Remember to read more) -
ISCSI vs Fibrechannel
Where is the world going ?
For the last 5 years I have been heavily involved in spreading the message of ISCSI for the enterprise. It has not been a easy stroll down the road in those 5 years. At the beginning no one knew anything about ISCSI, and only the brave on the edge of the wave dared to take it onboard.
I’m coming from a fibre-channel background, eduacating customers and sales people about it for more than 13 years, it was a big change involving my self into world of ISCSI. For a couple of years I did both technologies in sync, but was heavily focused on the ISCSI as my engagement with upcomer Equallogic grew. The demand for ISCSI has been steadily growing, but for large organizations it was not the most easy stuff to implement. When the windows ISCSI initiator was in the early stages (Ver.1.05a) it was a buggy ride, and when you combined it with e.g Adaptec ISCSI HBA’s things could be a nightmare to sort out. But it could also be the most sweet and enlightened heaven. Servers booting directly from the storage as everybody has been used to on fibre-channel. Remember to read more —>> (more…)
-
2 Sides to the same Storage, with an 3rd angle
In recent years Dell has bought a few compagnies, starting with Equallogic and then some of the most interesting in the industry. I do not know why we had to bid for 3Par, we’ve got Compellent which is actually a nice fit to the Dell storage IP.
Equallogic is a fascinating product, I’ve been working with the PS-series since beginning of 2005, and the story has never changed. I had the pleasure to meet the founders back in 2006 in Nashua, NH, and I then found my call for Equallogic. The idea behind, which I usually call a “good-old collective” from the 60’s. All arrays work together, but they are also independent in their own rights. Some are the skinny ones with SSD and SAS disks, the fatter arrays are the PS65xx’s with 48-disks, and divided in to different departements (called Pools in EQL). With all arrays placed in up to 4 pools, it’s like working in a company with different departments, and all are working for the same goal