C H A P T E R 4 - Connecting the Management Host and Data Hosts

C H A P T E R 4

Connecting the Management Host and Data Hosts

This chapter describes Sun StorageTek 6140 Array cable connections for hosts. It contains the following sections:

Connecting the Management Host

Connecting Data Hosts

Next Steps

Connecting the Management Host

The management host directly manages Sun StorageTek 6140 Arrays over an out-of-band network. This section describes how to setup a connection between the Ethernet port of a controller (FIGURE 4-1) and the management host.

FIGURE 4-1 Ethernet Ports for Controller A and Controller B

Note - Before you begin, ensure that the two required Ethernet cables are available. These requirements are outlined in the StorageTek 6140 Array Site Preparation Guide.

There are three ways to establish a connection between the management host and Ethernet port 1 of an array controller:

Attaching the Ethernet Ports to the LAN of the Management Host

Attaching the Ethernet Ports to the LAN Using an Ethernet Hub

Attaching the Ethernet Ports Directly to the Management Host With a Cross-Over Cable

Attaching the Ethernet Ports to the LAN of the Management Host

To attach the Ethernet ports to the local area network (LAN) of the management host:

1. Locate the Ethernet port 1 for Controller A and Controller B at the back of the controller tray (FIGURE 4-1).

2. Connect an Ethernet cable to Ethernet port 1 of each controller.

3. Connect the other end of each Ethernet cable to the LAN that on which your management host resides (preferably on the same subnet).

Attaching the Ethernet Ports to the LAN Using an Ethernet Hub

To attach the Ethernet ports and the management port Ethernet interface to an Ethernet hub on a private subnet:

1. Locate Ethernet port 1 on Controller A and Controller B at the back of the controller tray (FIGURE 4-1).

2. Connect an Ethernet cable to Ethernet port 1 of each controller.

3. Connect the other end of each Ethernet cable to an Ethernet hub.

4. Connect an Ethernet port on the management host to the Ethernet hub.

Attaching the Ethernet Ports Directly to the Management Host With a Cross-Over Cable

Note - This method would typically be used only to establish temporary IP connectivity between the management host and the controller's Ethernet ports.

To attach the Ethernet ports to directly to the management host using a cross-over cable:

1. Locate the Ethernet port 1 for Controller A and Controller B at the back of the controller tray (FIGURE 4-1).

2. Obtain and connect an Ethernet cross-over cable to Ethernet port 1 of each controller.

3. Connect the other end of each Ethernet cable to the LAN that on which your management host resides (preferably on the same subnet).

Connecting Data Hosts

You can connect data hosts to access the Sun StorageTek 6140 Array through Fibre Channel (FC) switches to the array or directly to the array.

The Sun StorageTek 6140 Array has eight host connections, four per controller. To maintain redundancy, connect two data paths from each host, one to each controller.

Note - If using the Remote Replication premium feature, do not use Data host port 4 on both Controller A and Controller B, as it is reserved for that feature.

Connecting Data Hosts Through External Fibre Channel Switches

You can connect the array to data hosts through external FC switches.

Before you connect data hosts, check that the following prerequisites have been met:

The FC switch has been installed and configured as described in the vendor's installation documentation. (See the Sun StorageTek 6140 Array Release Notes for a list of supported switches.)

Interface cables are connected and routed between the host bus adapters (HBAs), switches, and installation site.

Fiber-optic cables (2-meter or required length) are available to connect the array to the FC switch.

1. Locate the data host ports (Small Form-factor Plug-in (SFP) transceivers) at the back of the controller tray (FIGURE 4-2).

FIGURE 4-2 Host Connections

2. Connect each fiber-optic cable to the host ports of Controller A and Controller B.

Caution - Fiber-optic cables are fragile. Do not bend, twist, fold, pinch, or step on the fiber-optic cables. Doing so can degrade performance or cause data loss.

3. Connect the other end of each cable to the external switch as shown in the graphics that follow.

FIGURE 4-3 shows the data hosts connected through switches with direct connections.

FIGURE 4-4 shows the data hosts connected through switches with cross-connections.

Note - The configuration in FIGURE 4-4 is not supported for use in a Sun Cluster environment.

Figure showing two data hosts connected to the array through two fibre-channel switches.

FIGURE 4-3 Connecting Data Hosts Through a Switch

Figure showing two data hosts connected to the array through two fibre-channel switches.

FIGURE 4-4 Connecting Data Hosts Through a Switch With Cross-Connections

4. Connect the cables from the switch to the HBAs for each data host.

Connecting Data Hosts Directly

A direct point-to-point connection is a physical connection in which the HBAs are cabled directly to the array's host ports.

Before you connect data hosts directly to the array, check that the following prerequisites have been met:

Interface cables are connected and routed between the HBAs and the installation site.

Fiber-optic cables (2-meter or required length) are available to connect the array host ports to the data host HBAs.

1. Locate the host ports at the back of the controller tray (FIGURE 4-2).

2. Connect a fiber-optic cable to each host port on Controller A and Controller B that you intend to use.

Caution - Fiber-optic cables are fragile. Do not bend, twist, fold, pinch, or step on the fiber-optic cables. Doing so can degrade performance or cause data loss.

3. Connect the other end of each fiber-optic cable to a data host HBA.

FIGURE 4-5 shows an example of a direct host connection of two data hosts with dual HBAs.

FIGURE 4-6 shows an example of a direct host connection of three data hosts with dual HBAs.

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

FIGURE 4-5 Direct Connection to Two Hosts With Dual HBAs

Figure showing two data hosts each with two host bus adapters. Figure showing two data hosts each with two host bus adapters. Connections for host 1 are between the host bus adapters and port 1 of RAID Controller A and port 1 of RAID Controller B. Connections for host 2 are between the host bus adapters and port 2 of RAID Controller A and port 2 of RAID Controller B.

FIGURE 4-6 Direct Connection to Three Hosts With Dual HBAs

Next Steps

After you have connected the management host and data hosts, you are ready to install the management and data host software as described in Chapter 5.