Connecting Hosts

C H A P T E R 4

Connecting Hosts

This chapter describes how to connect a management host and data hosts to Sun Storage 2500-M2 Arrays. It contains the following sections:

Configuring Out-of-Band Management

Configuring In-Band Management

Connecting Data Hosts

Configuring Out-of-Band Management

Caution - Risk of security breach--Connect the Ethernet ports on the controller tray to a private network segment behind a firewall. If the Ethernet connection is not protected by a firewall, your storage array might be at risk of being accessed from outside of your network.

About Out-of-Band Management

Out-of-band management is a method to manage a storage array in which a storage management station sends commands to the storage array through the Ethernet connections on the controller.

The Ethernet connections are intended for out-of-band management.

Note - Ethernet port 2 on each controller is reserved for the support representative.

In limited situations in which the management host is connected directly to the controller tray, you must use an Ethernet crossover cable. An Ethernet crossover cable is a special cable that reverses the pin contacts between the two ends of the cable.

Connecting Cables for Out-of-Band Management

Perform these steps to connect Ethernet cables for out-of-band management. If you use only in-band management, skip these steps.

1. Connect one end of an Ethernet cable into the Ethernet port 1 on controller A.

Note - Use only Ethernet port 1 to connect to a management host. Ethernet port 2 is reserved for the support representative.

2. Connect the other end to the applicable network connection.

3. Repeat Step 1 and Step 2 for controller B.

Configuring In-Band Management

About In-Band Management

An in-band connection uses the data path between the array and host for management traffic. In-band communicates the management and control commands on the same path as the data being processed. You configure in-band management using a Fibre Channel (FC) connection between a data host and the array.

Connecting Cables for In-Band Management

1. Install CAM software on at least one of the network-attached hosts. See the Sun Storage Common Array Manager Installation and Setup Guide for installation instructions.

2. Connect two in-band FC cables between HBAs on the data host and the array (one cable to each controller). You can connect the data host HBAs directly to the array or through FC switches.

Note - Sun Storage Common Array Manager supports Solaris Sparc and x86, Windows, and Linux platforms for in-band management. For Red Hat Enterprise Linux OS, Release 5.1 or higher is required. Check the Sun Storage Common Array Manager Release Notes, for the latest list of packages to install.

3. Refer to “Configuring In-Band Management for RAID Arrays,” in the Sun Storage Common Array Manager Installation and Setup Guide for information about installing the RAID Proxy Agent.

Connecting Data Hosts

Data transmission between the host and the controllers in the array is through Fibre Channel (FC) or Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) cables. SAS connections from the host to the controllers are direct connections, and FC connections are direct or through a FC switch.

About Host Ports

Caution - Possible hardware damage--To prevent electrostatic discharge damage to the tray, use proper antistatic protection when you handle tray components.

Each controller tray has from four or eight host ports.

Sun Storage 2530-M2 array has four SAS-2 host ports (two per controller module) supporting 6-Gb/s data rates.

Sun Storage 2540-M2 array has eight Fibre Channel host ports (four per controller module) supporting 8-Gb/s data rates. Four SFP transceivers are provided in the ship kit.

Note - The SAS host ports on the 2540-M2 FC controller tray are not for use and not supported.

FIGURE 4-1 FC Host Ports on the Controllers--Rear View

Illustration showing locations of the standard host connectors, host interface connectors, and SAS expansion connector.

FC host ports

Expansion port

Note - The SAS host ports on the 2540-M2 FC controller tray are not for use and not supported.

FIGURE 4-2 SAS Host Ports on the Controllers--SAS

Drawaing showing the loacations of the SAS host port connectors.

SAS host ports

Expansion port

Caution - Risk of exposure to laser radiation--Do not disassemble or remove any part of a Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP) transceiver because you might be exposed to laser radiation.

Connecting Host Cables to a Controller Tray

Before Connecting the Host Cables

Be sure that you have installed the HBAs. Refer to the documentation for the HBAs for information about how to install the HBA and how to use the supplied configuration utilities.

The type of controller host interface (SAS or FC) must match the type of the host bus adapters (HBAs) to which you connect them.”

Connections for SAS use copper cables and do not require SFP transceivers.

See FIGURE 4-3 through FIGURE 4-5 for sample cabling patterns.

Connecting the Host Cables

1. Decide which of these steps to begin with:

If you have a FC interface--Go to Step 2.

If you have a SAS interface -- Go to Step 4.

2. Be sure that the appropriate type of SFP transceiver is inserted into the host channel.

3. If a black, plastic plug is in the SFP transceiver, remove it.

4. Perform one of these actions:

If you have a FC interface--Starting with the first host port of each controller, plug one end of the cable into the SFP transceiver in the host port.

If you have a SAS interface--Starting with the first host port of each controller, plug one end of the cable into the host port.

Note - The cable is either a SAS cable or a fiber-optic cable for FC connections.

Figure showing one data host connected directly to host port 2 of each RAID controller.

FIGURE 4-3 Sample Cabling for One Host, Direct Topology

Diagram showing connection between one host to a dual conroller-drive tray.Connections are from host HBA 1 to Controller A host port 1 and from host HBA 2 to Controller B host port 2.

FIGURE 4-4 Sample Cabling for Two Hosts, Direct Topology

Diagram showing connections between two hosts and a dual controller-drive tray. [ D ]

FIGURE 4-5 Sample Cabling for Two Hosts, FC Switch Topology

Diagram showing connections between two hosts through a switch to a dual controller-drive tray.

5. Plug the other end of the cable either into an HBA in the host (direct topology) or into a FC switch topology.

Note - The SAS host interface does not support a switch topology.

6. Affix a label to each end of the cable with this information. A label is important if you need to disconnect cables to service a controller. Include this information on the labels:

Host name and the HBA port (for direct topology)

Switch name and the port (for FC switch topology)

Controller ID (for example, controller A)

Host channel ID (for example, host channel 1)

Example label abbreviation: Assume that a cable is connected between port 1 in HBA 1 of a host named Engineering and host channel 1 of controller A. A label abbreviation could be as follows.

Example label for connection from host Heng , HBA1 port 1 to controller A, host channel 1.

Data Host Multipathing Software

Install data host software (including multipathing) on each data host that communicates with Sun Storage 2500-M2 Arrays. The multipathing software you need depends on the host platform, HBA, and the data transport (SAS or FC) in your storage area network. See the Sun Storage 2500-M2 Arrays Hardware Release Notes for the latest supported versions.

The data host multipathing software for Red Hat Linux, HP-UX, AIX, and Windows platforms is Sun Redundant Dual Array Controller (RDAC), also known as MPP.

Multipathing is included in the Solaris 10 OS. For Solaris 9 data hosts, you need the SAN Foundation Kit software (which includes the multipathing software).

You can download multipathing software from:

https://support.oracle.com/

For software and patch download procedures, see Sun Storage Common Array Manager Installation and Setup Guide.