6 Configure Storage

Overview of actions for storage in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

Topics

• Introduction to Storage

• Roles for Storage

• Actions Available for Storage

• Location of Storage Information in the User Interface

• Storage Libraries

• Types of Storage for Libraries

• About Oracle VM Storage Connect Plug-ins

• Storage Hardware

• About Opaque Storage and Opaque Filesystems

• Storage Profiles

• About Multipath Storage for Logical Domains

• High Availability for Storage Resources

• Related Resources for Storage

Introduction to Storage

Overview of the role and purpose of storage libraries in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center and how it manages storage as both an asset and its resource.

Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center discover, manages, and monitors storage servers and appliances, discovers and provisions storage capacity through Storage Connect plug-in software, and makes storage resources available to virtual assets through storage libraries.

Storage libraries are the storage resources for Oracle Solaris Zones, Oracle VM Servers for SPARC, Oracle VM Servers for x86, their server pools, and virtual datacenters. These virtualization hosts and server pools store their metadata and their operational data in storage libraries. The metadata and data for Oracle Solaris zones are stored in a storage library associated with the global zone or server pool. A storage library that supports an Oracle VM Server for x86 is an Oracle VM Storage Repository.

Roles for Storage

List of required roles for storage tasks in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

Table -7 lists the tasks and the role required to complete the task. Contact your administrator if you do not have the necessary role or privilege to complete a task. See the Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center Administration for information about the different roles and the permissions they grant.

Table 6-1 Storage Tasks and Roles

Task	Role
Create a new storage library	Storage Admin
Remove a storage library	Storage Admin
Edit attributes of a storage library	Storage Admin
Add storage capacity	Storage Admin
Update a storage appliance	Update Admin

Actions Available for Storage

List of available operations in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

You can perform the following actions, depending on the requirements.

• Create new storage libraries, either as a file system or as block storage.

• Modify existing storage libraries. You can change the library's attributes or add capacity.

• Update storage appliances.

The set of available actions depends on what you have selected:

• When you select a physical asset, you can launch the asset's user interface and view information about the hardware's state and configuration.

• When you choose an asset in the File Server group, the Filesystems tab in the center pane lists all of the file systems with the Add a Backing Device icon, the Edit icon, and the Delete icon.

• When you choose an asset in the Storage Array group, the Logical Units tab gives you access to the Create Logical Unit icon, the Resize LUN icon, the Delete LUN icon, and the Clone LUN icon.

Location of Storage Information in the User Interface

Lists the navigation instructions to locate storage information in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

Table 6-2 shows where to find information.

Table 6-2 Location of Library Information in the BUI

Object	Location
To see the storage libraries	Expand Libraries in the Navigation pane, then expand Storage Libraries.
To see storage hardware information	Expand All Assets in the Navigation pane, then scroll to the Storage section. Select a physical asset to see information about it in the center pane.
To see groups of storage arrays or file servers	Expand All Assets in the Navigation pane, then Storage in the Resource Management Views section.
To see storage profiles	Expand Plan Management in the Navigation pane, then click Profiles and Policies. The Discovery, RAID Controller, and Update Storage Appliance categories contain profiles.
To see the virtual host that is using a LUN	Expand Libraries in the Navigation pane, then expand Storage Libraries. Select the storage library to view the LUNs table in the center pane. The Allocated To field displays the virtual host's identifier.
To see the virtualization host that is using a storage library	Expand Libraries in the Navigation pane, then expand Storage Libraries. Select the storage library to view the Summary tab in the center pane. The IP address of the virtualization host is in the Allocated To field.
To see incidents for a storage library	Expand the Message Center in the Navigation pane. For more information about recovering from incidents, see the Oracle Enterprise Manager Operations Reference.

Storage Libraries

Describes the role of storage libraries in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

• About Storage Libraries for Virtualization Hosts

• About Storage Libraries for Server Pools

• Storage Libraries for a Virtual Datacenter

• Storage Libraries for Oracle Solaris Zones

• Storage Libraries for Oracle VM Server for SPARC

• About Storage Libraries and Repositories for Oracle VM Server for x86

A storage library stores metadata for each virtualization host in the server pool that is associated with the storage library. Metadata is a virtualization host's image or identity: the configuration for its operating system, CPU, memory, and network. The virtualization host's data, which results from its use, can reside in the same storage library or in a different storage library. A storage library can be a local, that is, a file system on the virtualization host's server, or it can be accessed through an NFS server or SAN network.

When you create a virtual host, you assign it to one of the storage libraries associated with its virtualization host so that its metadata can be stored.

• For the metadata of its local virtual hosts, virtualization hosts (Oracle VM Server for SPARC, Oracle VM Server for x86, and global zones) can use a local storage library. However, storing metadata in a local storage library limits the management of the virtual host because this virtual host cannot be migrated to another server and cannot be recovered on another server if it fails.

• For the metadata of all virtual hosts, virtualization hosts must use a Network Attached Storage (NAS) storage library.

• For data, Oracle VM Server for SPARC and Oracle VM Server for x86 can use either NAS shares or SAN LUNs for itself and for its virtual hosts. A global zone can use SAN LUNs for itself and for its non-global zones. The storage library must be associated with the virtualization host.

The diagram in Figure 6-1 shows how the NAS and SAN storage libraries and virtualization hosts interact with LUNs.

• SAN storage libraries expose data as virtual disks (LUNs), identified by their LUN GUIDs. A control domain makes raw partitions available to its logical domains using Fibre Channel or iSCSI, as described in About Block Storage

• NAS storage libraries expose data as raw files and files in VMDK format. All types of virtualization hosts store metadata using NFS services, as described in About Storage Libraries for Virtualization Hosts

Figure 6-1 SAN and NAS Storage Libraries

Description of "Figure 6-1 SAN and NAS Storage Libraries"

The LUNs, raw files, and raw volumes store data and metadata for the virtual hosts. Figure 6-1 expands the previous figure to show that the metadata for NAS virtual disks are stored in the NAS storage library. Metadata for SAN virtual disks is persisted in the SAN Storage Library.

Figure 6-2 Storage Library Metadata

Description of "Figure 6-2 Storage Library Metadata"

Ensure that the LUNs used by a Brownfield guest are not allocated to another guest. If the Brownfield guest discovery is done in a very close proximity to a network outage or iSCSI discovery or any other action that might cause the disks to be invisible to Ops Center, the disks coming from Brownfield guests might be detected as opaque and could be allocated to another guest.

About Storage Libraries for Virtualization Hosts

Describes NAS storage libraries using NFS services in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

Network-attached-storage (NAS) libraries are storage libraries for NFS storage device mount points. Virtualization hosts use NFS services to attach to the storage libraries and get access to their data and metadata.

You can store metadata for all virtual hosts in one NAS storage library or you can create separate storage libraries for each virtual host. Use separate storage libraries to increase ease of access, to increase capacity, and to increase performance.

If a NAS storage library becomes unavailable, the virtual hosts associated with the library are affected in the following ways:

• If the storage library is used for the virtual hosts' metadata, a virtual host continues to function but Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center can no longer manage the virtual host. Because Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center relies on its interaction with the metadata in the storage library, jobs that must read or modify the metadata fail. You must manage the virtual host manually.

• If the storage library is used for NFS large files that support virtual disks, the virtual host does not function.

• If the boot disk is on the NFS share, the virtual host cannot be rebooted.

• The virtual host cannot be migrated.

About Storage Libraries for Server Pools

Describes the use of storage libraries in server pools in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

You group virtualization hosts to create a server pool. The virtualization hosts share all the storage and networks associated with the server pool. When you add a virtualization host to a server pool, the libraries associated with that virtualization host become available to all the other hosts in the server pool.

To delete a storage library or the storage hardware asset that supports the storage library, you must remove its associations. Use the Disassociate Library icon in the Libraries tab to disassociate the library from the server pool.

A server pool must use a NAS storage library. Figure 6-3 shows how virtualization hosts in a server pool get access to storage resources through the storage libraries.

Figure 6-3 External Storage

Description of "Figure 6-3 External Storage"

Storage Libraries for a Virtual Datacenter

Description of the role and purpose of storage libraries and repositories in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

The vDC inherits the storage resources allocated for the server pool, as described in Setting Up Storage Resources. For each account, the amount of storage used by the guests is shown on the Account's Dashboard tab. In the Resource Allocation section of the dashboard, the Storage graph shows the number of guests and the used space in gigabytes. The scale for the x-axis of the graph is adjusted according to amount of space allocated to guests. In Figure 6-4, one guest is allocated 14 GB of space so Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center uses 14 as the midpoint of the x-axis.

Figure 6-4 Graph of Guest Storage Resource Allocation

Description of "Figure 6-4 Graph of Guest Storage Resource Allocation"

Storage Libraries for Oracle Solaris Zones

Description of the role and purpose of storage libraries and repositories in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

A global zone provides storage resources to its non-global zones. The Oracle Solaris Zone must be associated with a storage library. See “Associating a Storage Library with a Global Zone” in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center Virtualization Reference.

Storage Libraries for Oracle VM Server for SPARC

Description of the role and purpose of storage libraries and repositories in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

The control domain provides storage resources to its logical domain. The control domain must be associated with a storage library. See “Associating Storage Library with the Domains” in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center Virtualization Reference.

About Storage Libraries and Repositories for Oracle VM Server for x86

Description of the role and purpose of storage libraries and repositories in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center provides option to create Oracle VM Storage Repositories. This type of storage library stores virtual machine metadata, templates, assemblies, ISO images, and virtual disks for the Oracle VM Server for x86.

When you create the storage repository on a LUN, it is a block-based repository. When you create the storage repository on a NFS file server, it is a NFS-based storage repository.

Creating an Oracle VM Storage Repository

Procedure for creating the repository for Oracle VM templates in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

1. Expand Libraries in the Navigation pane.
2. Select Storage Libraries.
3. Click New Oracle VM Storage Repository.
4. Enter a name and description for the repository and choose either the NFS or OCFS protocol. Click Next.
5. From the drop-down lists, choose the Oracle VM Manager and the Oracle VM Server for x86 that use the storage repository, and the NFS File Server that supports the storage repository.
6. Choose the file system on the NFS file server for the storage repository and specify the share name. Click Next.
7. Choose the server pool to associate with the storage repository. Click Next.
8. Review the configuration and then click Finish to submit the job.

Uploading Templates and Assemblies to an Oracle VM Storage Repository

Procedure for adding content to the Oracle VM Storage Repository in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

1. Expand Libraries in the Navigation pane.
2. Select Storage Libraries.
3. Select the Oracle VM Storage Repository.
4. Click Import Image in the Actions pane.

   The Import Image window is displayed.

   Figure 6-5 Import Image

   
   Description of "Figure 6-5 Import Image"
5. Identify the type of format for the image, either Assembly Template or Oracle VM Template.
6. Identify the current location of the image file. If the image file is located in an accessible location, enter the name of the directory or use the Browse button to navigate to the location.
7. Select the image you want to import.
8. Enter a name for the image and a description. Image names must be unique, can consist of up to 100 characters, and can include numbers, letters, and some special symbols. The following special symbols are prohibited: comma, asterisk, single quote, double quote, parenthesis, question mark, equal sign, and newline.
9. Click Import Image to copy the image to the library.

Types of Storage for Libraries

List types of storage in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

Topics for Filesystem Storage Libraries

• About File Systems Libraries

• Viewing Local Libraries

• Editing the Attributes of a Local Library

• Creating a Local Library

• Deleting a Local Library

Topics for Block Storage Libraries

• About Block Storage

• About Dynamic Block Storage

• About Static Block Storage

• Comparison of Actions in Static and Dynamic Libraries

• LUN Identification

• Selecting LUNs

• Adding Capacity to Dynamic Block Storage Libraries

• Adding LUNs to a Block Storage Library Manually

• Adding Storage to a Logical Domain

• Moving a LUN

• Creating a LUN

• Cloning a LUN

About File Systems Libraries

Describes local libraries in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

Each virtualization host has a default local library named /guests where data and metadata for each virtual host is stored. For the purposes of storage efficiency and your site's organization, you can create and maintain other local libraries.

If the storage library becomes unavailable, the local library remains available. However, any guest with metadata in a local library cannot be migrated.

Viewing Local Libraries

Procedure displaying the local libraries used by virtualization hosts and their guests in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

Use this procedure to see the local libraries for a virtual host and the contents of a library. You can also see details of the local disks that support the local libraries.

1. Expand Assets in the Navigation pane.
2. Select the virtual host.
3. Click the Libraries tab in the center pane. The Associated Libraries table's Type column identifies the libraries of the Local type.
4. Select a library of the Local type. The Usage table shows all the guests that use that local library.
5. In the Usage table, select a guest.
6. Click the Contents tab to see the Library Contents table with all of the images, sorted by type.
7. To see details of the local disks, return to the Associated Libraries table and click Local Devices. Then select the local device library.

When you add new disks, use the Refresh icon to include them in the table of disks.

Editing the Attributes of a Local Library

Procedure for changing the characteristics of a local library in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

You can rename a local library and you can change its description. You cannot change the file system defined for the local library.

1. Expand Assets in the Navigation pane.
2. Select the asset.
3. Click the Libraries tab in the center pane. The asset's associated libraries and the guests that are stored in the libraries are listed.
4. Click the Edit Local Library icon.
5. In the Edit Local Library pane, enter the new name or description for the library. The maximum number of characters for the library name is 30.
6. Click the Update button. When the job is completed, the edited local library is listed in the Associated Libraries table.

Creating a Local Library

Procedure for creating a storage library on the Enterprise Controller in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

Each virtual host has a local library, located at file: ///guests. In addition to the default local library, you can create other local libraries to use your storage resources efficiently or organize your images.

Note:

To use the Boot Environment feature of Oracle Solaris 11, the local library must be located in its own ZFS file system.

1. Create a file system with read/write permissions for only the root user.
2. Expand Assets in the Navigation pane.
3. Select the asset.
4. Click the Libraries tab in the center pane. The asset's associated libraries and the guests that are stored in the libraries are listed.
5. Click the New Local Library icon.
6. In the Create Local Library pane, type a name and description for the library. The maximum number of characters for the library name is 30.
7. In the URL field, enter the directory name for the location where you want to store images and metadata.
8. Click Create Local Library. When the job is completed, the new local library is listed in the Associated Libraries table.

Deleting a Local Library

Procedure for removing a local library in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

The default local library, /guests, cannot be deleted.

Use the Remove Local Software Library action to delete a local library. If the library was associated with a virtual host, the virtual host does not have any access to the directory defined for the local library or its contents. When you delete a library, the directory is not deleted.

1. Expand Libraries in the Navigation pane.
2. Select the library you want to delete.
3. Click Remove Local Software Library in the Action pane.

About Block Storage

Describes a LUN, a slice of a storage volume.

Block storage libraries are used in SAN networks and define storage by Logical Units or LUNs, which are backed by either Fibre Channel disks or iSCSI disks. You can associate block storage libraries with server pools, Oracle VM Servers, or global zones to store their data.

A LUN (Logical Unit Number) is a slice of a storage volume, as defined by the following terms:

• Disk: Physical storage media. A set of disks is a disk array.

• Volume: An aggregation of storage space provided by several disks.

• Slice: A partition of a volume that is exposed to the servers connected to the disk array.

• LUN (Logical Unit Number): The representation of a slice.

• GUID: The Global Unique Identifier for a LUN.

If the storage array is a managed asset, the LUNs can provide dynamic storage. See “External Storage” compares static block storage libraries and dynamic block storage libraries.

About Dynamic Block Storage

Describes what makes a block storage library dynamic.

When Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center can create, resize, delete, and clone LUNs, the block storage library is dynamic. When you add more virtual hosts to a server pool, you create LUNs in the storage library in the same action. When you discover a storage device with LUNs backed by iSCSI disks, a dynamic block storage library is created.

About Static Block Storage

Describes what makes a storage library static in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

When Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center manages a storage device with existing LUNs, it can use the LUNs but cannot change or delete them, or create new LUNs. These operations must be done through the storage device's user interface. A static block storage library supports storage devices that were discovered and configured in previous product software versions. Each LUN is for the exclusive use of its assigned virtual host. Because a LUN has a fixed size and cannot be shared, you must plan how to optimize the available storage in the storage library and assign a LUN of the appropriate size.

Comparison of Actions in Static and Dynamic Libraries

Compares and contrasts the types of block storage library in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

Table 6-3 Comparison of Static and Dynamic Libraries

	Dynamic Block Storage Library	Static Block Storage Library
Protocol	iSCSI	iSCSI Fibre Channel
To create a storage library	The storage library is created implicitly when you discover storage hardware and its target groups.	You create LUNs and then create the storage library. You assign existing LUNs to the library.
To manage a storage library	When you add a virtual host, you can create a LUN for it. When a virtual host needs more storage, you can increase the size of the LUN. Any changes made through the storage server's user interface are reflected in the Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center's user interface.	The number of LUNs in the storage library determines the number of virtual hosts that can use the storage library. Changes made through the storage server's user interface are not updated in the Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center's user interface. Some information, such as a LUN's GUID can be obtained only from the storage server's user interface.
Add LUN icon	Create a new LUN.	Select an existing LUN or enter the GUID of an existing LUN.
Edit LUN Details icon	Increase the size of the LUN.	Renames the LUN in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center
Delete LUN icon	Deletes the LUN and deletes the data. You are deleting the LUN on the storage server.	Deletes the LUN from the library but does not delete data.

LUN Identification

Lists the attributes that can be viewed or configured for LUNs in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

You select LUNs from a list of available LUNs when you change the configuration of a storage library. Figure 6-6 shows an Available LUNs table, which lists all of the LUNs that the current virtualization hosts can access. For each LUN, the following information is displayed:

• LUN GUID – The unique 32-digit identifier for the LUN.

• Host information for the LUN:

  • Hostname – Name or IP address of the host that can access the LUN.

  • Controller Number – The host's identifier for the HBA port, which is the physical interface to the Fibre Channel disk array.

  • LUN Number – The host's identifier for the LUN.

• Size (GB) – Size of each LUN in gigabytes.

Figure 6-6 List of Available LUNs

Description of "Figure 6-6 List of Available LUNs"

Selecting LUNs

List of ways to select a LUN in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

You select LUNs when you perform the following procedures:

• You are creating a new SAN storage library and have associated the new library with a virtualization host or server pool immediately.

• You are increasing the storage capacity of an existing SAN storage library and chose to select LUNs from the available LUNs.

You can select LUNs in the following ways:

• Enter the LUN GUID.

• Select a storage server and then select LUNs from a table of its available LUNs, that is, LUNs backed by that storage device.

• Select a storage library and then select LUNs from a table of available LUNs, that is, LUNs backed by storage assets that contribute to that storage library.

When you use a procedure that provides a table of Available LUNs, you can select more than one LUN.

Adding Capacity to Dynamic Block Storage Libraries

Procedure for adding LUNs to a storage library in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

If the block storage library is not associated with a server pool or virtualization host, you add storage capacity by specifying new LUNs by name. If the storage library is associated, you can also select new LUNs from a list of the LUNs available to the server pool or virtual host.

1. Expand Libraries in the Navigation pane.
2. Click Block Storage in Storage Libraries.
3. Click one of the available storage libraries.
4. Click Add LUN in the Actions pane.
5. Choose the method for adding LUNs:

   • To add LUNs to the library manually, accept the default option: Manually enter the GUID/WWN of the LUNs to be added. See Adding LUNs to a Block Storage Library Manually to complete the procedure.

   • To select LUNs from the available LUNs, click the Select from available LUNs option. The Available LUNs table, shown in Figure 6-6, lists all of the LUNs that the selected virtualization hosts can access.

6. Select one or more LUNs.

Adding LUNs to a Block Storage Library Manually

Procedure for selecting LUNs to add to a storage library in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

You use this procedure in the following situations:

• You are creating a new SAN storage library and have accepted the default action of adding LUNs later. You must add at least one LUN to create the storage library.

• You are adding a LUN to an existing SAN storage library. You selected the library and then the Add LUN action. The default option is to specify each new LUN by name.

The table shown in Figure 6-7 is displayed:

1. Click in the GUID/WWN field and type the GUID or WWN for the LUN. The GUID is the Global Unique Identifier associated with each LUN, which is a hexadecimal number of 32 digits. If your site uses SCSI initiators and targets, you can enter the WWN for the LUN.

   Figure 6-7 Specifying a LUN

   
   Description of "Figure 6-7 Specifying a LUN"
2. Click the first Add icon to include additional LUNs.
3. If you do not have the GUID or WWN, select a LUN from the list of available LUNs. Click the second Add icon to see a list of managed storage assets as shown in Figure 6-8.

   Figure 6-8 Specifying an Exported LUN

   
   Description of "Figure 6-8 Specifying an Exported LUN"
4. Select one of the storage assets to populate the list of exported LUNs on that device.
5. Select the LUNs to use in the library. Use the Search box to locate a specific LUN.
6. Click Add Selected LUNs.

   If you are adding a LUN to an existing storage library, a new job starts. If you are creating a SAN storage library, review the details of the LUNs you have configured in the Summary pane and click Finish.

Adding Storage to a Logical Domain

Procedure for in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

When a logical domain is created, it is assigned storage resources for its metadata and operational data. You can add storage for the use of the logical domain by selecting additional virtual disks or LUNs from the storage library.

1. In the Asset section of the Navigation pane, select the logical domain.

2. In the center pane, click the Storage tab.

3. In the table of virtual disks or LUNs, click the Add Storage icon.

   The Add Storage wizard opens. The list of libraries includes all storage libraries that are available to the logical domain.

   Figure 6-9 Adding LUNs

   
   Description of "Figure 6-9 Adding LUNs"

4. Select the library. For a filesystem storage library, you can create a new virtual disk with the size you specify. For a static block storage library, choose a LUN from the list of available LUNs. The size of the LUN is fixed. For a dynamic block storage library, select one of the existing LUNs of a fixed size or create a new LUN with the size you specify.

5. Select the LUN or virtual disk. As you select them, the value in the Additional Storage Specified field increases.

   If you have many LUNs to manage, you can click the Add Multiple SAN LUNs icon, as show in Figure 6-10.

6. You have the recommended option of enabling multipathing by specifying an alternate path to the virtual disk or LUN. Select at least two service domains.

7. Click one of the paths as the Active Path. This is the default path.

8. Click in the Domain Name field for each path to create a name or allow Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center to create one.

9. Click Finish. When the job is complete, the additional LUNs are listed in the table on the Storage tab of the logical domain.

The Add Multiple SAN LUNs action provides a convenient way to manage many LUNs or virtual disks.

1. Select a logical domain and the Add Storage action, as you did in the previous procedure. Then click the Add Multiple SAN LUNs icon.

   Figure 6-10 Adding Multiple SAN LUNs

   
   Description of "Figure 6-10 Adding Multiple SAN LUNs"
2. In the Select SAN LUNs window, select a SAN storage library to show its available LUNs. This example shows that the test1 library has been selected. You can use the Search field to limit the list of LUNs.

   Figure 6-11 Adding Multiple SAN LUNs

   
   Description of "Figure 6-11 Adding Multiple SAN LUNs"
3. In the Available LUNs table, select a series of LUNs and then click the right-arrow button to display them in the Selected LUNs table. To select all of the LUNs, click the double-right-arrow button.

   As you select LUNs, the Selected LUNs counter increases. As you specify LUNs by clicking the arrow button, the Additional Storage counter and the Additional Number of LUNs counter increase.

4. You can configure multipathing on all the selected LUNs at the same time. Select one or more paths to these LUNs by selecting multiple service domains. Identify one path as the Active Path, the default path.
5. Click Finish. When the job is complete, the additional LUNs are listed in the table on the Storage tab of the logical domain.

Moving a LUN

Procedure for moving a LUN to another library in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

In the course of managing LUNs and creating libraries, it can become convenient to move a LUN from one storage library to another storage library. This change can be made without interrupting the assets that are associated with storage library if the assets are able to access both the source and the target library.

1. Expand Libraries in the Navigation pane.
2. Click Block Storage in Storage Libraries.
3. Click the storage library that contains the LUN.
4. In the center pane, select the LUN to move.
5. Click Move LUN icon.

   Figure 6-12 Move LUN Icon

   
   Description of "Figure 6-12 Move LUN Icon"
6. The Move LUN window shows the selected LUN and the guests that use it. In the Library to move list, select the target storage library.

   Figure 6-13 Move LUN Icon

   
   Description of "Figure 6-13 Move LUN Icon"
7. Click Move.

Creating a LUN

Procedure for creating a LUN from a storage volume in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

In a dynamic block storage library, you can create a new LUN.

1. In the Asset section of the Navigation pane, select an asset in the Storage Array Group.
2. In the center pane, click the Logical Units tab.
3. Click the Create Logical Unit icon.

   Figure 6-14 Creating a LUN

   
   Description of "Figure 6-14 Creating a LUN"
4. Enter the name and size for the new LUN.
5. Click Create.

Cloning a LUN

Procedure for copying a LUN from an existing LUN in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

In a dynamic block storage library, you can make a copy of a LUN.

1. In the Asset section of the Navigation pane, select an asset in the Storage Array Group.
2. In the center pane, click the Logical Units tab.
3. Select the LUN to copy.
4. Click the Clone LUN icon.

   Figure 6-15 Cloning a LUN

   
   Description of "Figure 6-15 Cloning a LUN"
5. Enter the name and size for the new LUN.
6. Click Clone.

Deleting LUNs

Procedure for removing one or more LUNs from a library in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

1. Expand Libraries in the Navigation pane.
2. Click Block Storage in Storage Libraries.
3. Click the storage library that contains the LUN.
4. In the center pane, select the LUN to delete.
   • You can click on the Allocated To title to sort the list of LUNs to see the unallocated LUNs.
   • Use Ctrl+Click to select more than one LUN.
5. Click Delete button.
6. In the Delete Logical Unit window, review your selections and click the Delete button to confirm.
   The selected LUNs are removed from the library.

About Oracle VM Storage Connect Plug-ins

Description of plug-ins used to get access to storage devices in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center shares the capability of Oracle VM Manager to manage storage devices of various vendors. Oracle VM Storage Connect is an application programming interface (API) that exposes the storage device's features and attributes to Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

Displaying Storage Connect Plugins

Procedure for viewing the Storage Connect plugin software in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

After the plugin is installed on the Proxy Controller that supports the storage device, the storage device can be managed through the Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center's user interface. When you create a discovery profile for storage, the Targets step lists the plug-ins installed on the Proxy Controller.

Use the following procedure to see the plug-ins that have been installed:

1. Expand Administration in the Assets pane.
2. Select Enterprise Controller.
3. Click the Proxy Controllers tab in the center pane.
4. Select one of the Proxy Controllers.
5. Click the down-arrow icon, located in the title bar of the display and shown in Figure 6-16.

   Figure 6-16 Proxy Controllers

   
   Description of "Figure 6-16 Proxy Controllers"

   The center pane displays the Installed Storage Connect Plugins table, as shown in

   Figure 6-17 Storage Connect Plugins

   
   Description of "Figure 6-17 Storage Connect Plugins"
6. For information about one of the plugins, select the plugin and the click View Plugin Details icon

Adding a Storage Connect Plugin

Describes the purpose of the Storage Connect Plugin software.

Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center uses the same plugins as Oracle VM Manager. The plug-in software is available from the vendor and from Oracle's site, http://www.oracle.com/us/technologies/virtualization/storage-connect-partner-program/overview/index.html.

Install the plug-in in Oracle VM Manager software, according to the vendor documentation.

Storage Hardware

Overview of types of storage hardware.

The storage features are supported by various types of storage devices. The tabs in the center pane contain specific information about each type.

Topics

• RAID Controller

• About NAS Storage Appliance

• File Server

• Storage Array

• Storage Server: Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance

• Storage Server: Exadata

RAID Controller

Lists the information that RAID Controllers report to Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

RAID Controllers embedded in other types of storage report the following in addition to the hardware information:

• RAID Volumes

• RAID Levels

• Stripe size

• Number of disks

About NAS Storage Appliance

Description of the supported NFS service in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

Software and Storage Libraries can reside on the shares of an NFS server. Because the Enterprise Controller does not mount the NFS share, use an NFS server on a system that is close to the systems where the NFS share must be used, that is, the systems on which the virtualization hosts reside. The systems on which the Enterprise Controller and virtualization hosts reside must be able to write to the NAS shares as root and the files must be owned by root.

The procedure for setting up the share for a library depends on several site-specific factors such as the version of NFS protocol and name service management. The example in this section provides one method of configuring the share on an NFS server running on the Oracle Solaris 10 operating system. See Managing Network File Systems at http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E26502_01/html/E28997/index.html for the information about the Oracle Solaris 11.1 procedure.

Setting Up a Share on an NFS Server

Procedure for configuring an NFS share for use by a library in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

1. On the NFS server, edit the /etc/dfs/dfstab file.
2. Add an entry to share the directory with share options that enable the NFS clients to have read and write root-level access to the share, such as:

   share -F nfs -o rw,root=<access_list> -d "<description>" /<directory>
   

   where <access_list> specifies the clients that can access the share as the root user, <description> is text to identify the purpose of the share, and </directory> identifies the directory that you want to share on the NFS server. For example, to allow root access to the /export/lib/libX directory for all systems on the 192.168.1 subnet, add the following entry:

   share -F nfs -o rw,root=@192.168.1 -d "Share 0" /export/lib/libX
   

   See the share_nfs(1M) man page for information about NFS share options, and how to specify the access list.

3. Share the directory and verify that the directory is shared. For example:

   # share export/lib/libX   
   # share
   -               /export/lib/libX   rw,root=@192.168.1 "Share 0"
   

After setting up a share on the NFS server, prepare the NFS client to mount the share.

Setting Up an NFS Client

Procedure for preparing an NFS share for use by a library in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

1. On each NFS client, edit the /etc/default/nfs file.
2. Locate the NFSMAPID_DOMAIN variable and change the variable value to the domain name.
3. Verify the NFS share is visible on the client.

   # showmount -e <server-name>
   export list for <server-name>:
   /export/virtlib/lib0 (everyone)
   

To create a storage library, see the Configuring NAS Libraries How To document.

File Server

Lists the information about file servers that is collected in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

For file-based storage devices such as NAS appliances and other NFS devices, Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center reports the following in addition to hardware information:

• File systems – The location in the file system hierarchy that is presented as a physical device. For example, an NAS share.

• Backing Devices – The physical device that supports a file system. For example, a RAID disk.

Storage Array

Describes the requirements for discovering and using a storage array’s storage volumes and LUNs in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

For block-based storage such as iSCSI SAN and Fibre Channel SAN devices, the storage array assets include the following tabs in the center pane:

• Volume Groups – Indicates a collection of physical disks or portions of physical disks.

• Logical Units (LUN) – Virtual disks created from the volume groups.

For a storage server and Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center to identify each other as eligible initiators and targets, each one's Fibre Channel World Wide Number (WWN) or iSCSI IQN must be registered with the other one. To create LUNs and make them available to Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center, see the storage server's documentation for instructions and Oracle Solaris 11.1 Administration: SAN Configuration and Multipathing at http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E26502_01/html/E29008/index.html for the procedures to perform the following:

• Configure the initiator and the targets. The initiator (Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center) must be able to recognize the targets (LUNs) and the targets must be able to recognize the initiator. Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center recognizes the targets because the WWNs of the storage server are recorded when the storage server is discovered. Any LUNs that have been assigned to that WWN are eligible to be used in a storage library. On the storage server, you must specify Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center's WWN as an initiator and assign LUNs to that initiator.

• Enable multipathing on the Fibre Channel ports.To use LUNs backed by Fibre Channel disks, you must enable multipathing on the Fibre Channel storage device or on its individual ports. Multipathed I/O (MPxIO) allows I/O devices to be accessed through multiple host controller interfaces. Multipathing is enabled by default on Oracle Solaris x86-based systems, but is disabled by default on Oracle Solaris SPARC-based systems. Use the stmsboot -e command to enable multipathing.

• Create new LUNs. It can take several hours for a new LUN to be displayed in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center's user interface.

Storage Server: Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance

Describes Oracle’s ZFS storage appliance in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

See the Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance documentation for specific information about the storage appliance. To view the Sun ZFS Storage 7000 System Administration Guide, log in to the Unified Storage System software interface and click Help in the top right corner of any screen.

This type of storage appliance contains a service processor, which must also be discovered. See “About the Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance” for this procedure.

Actions for the Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance

Lists the device-specific actions that can be performed for the Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

After the storage appliance is discovered, you can manage it as you do other assets with the additional capabilities that the Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance provides. From the Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center UI, you can launch the storage appliance's UI. Use the following commands in the Action pane, to launch a specific page of the appliance's user interface. For each one, enter the credentials for the appliance and then perform the appliance tasks.

• Launch Appliance UI opens a new browser window or tab for the main page.

• Launch Detailed Dashboard opens a new browser window or tab for the status page.

• Launch Analytics opens a new browser window or tab for the dynamic analysis page.

• Manage Shares opens a new browser window or tab for the share configuration page.

• Manage Services opens a new browser window or tab for the data services configuration page.

Volume Capacity

Lists the attributes of a storage volume in Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance that can be viewed in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

The Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance product uses the term project to indicate a volume group. The Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance reports its current capacity to Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center, where it is displayed on the Dashboard.

• Allocated Size is the sum of all allocated space to LUNs and files systems in the select project or volume group.

• Total Size is the quota of the project or volume group. If no quota has been specified, the Total Size is the same as the Total Storage Space, which is all space reserved for other project/volume group quotas.

• Free Size is the Total Size - Allocated Size

• Used Size is the sum of the used space in all LUNs/files systems in the selected project/volume group

Auto Service Requests for the Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance

Description of the special case of the Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance for ASR in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

Oracle ZFS Storage Appliances have the capability to contact My Oracle Support, to provide analytic data, and to generate Oracle Auto Service Requests (ASR). The capability does not conflict with Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center's capability to create ASRs. If you prefer, exclude an Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance from Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center's communication with My Oracle Support by using the blacklisting option described in the Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center Administration.

Provisioning and Updating an Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance

Procedures for upgrading and downgrading the firmware of an Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance using Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

Note:

You update the storage appliance using a provisioning profile and deployment plan. The Update Firmware action is not available.

1. Download the appliance update from My Oracle Support and uncompress the file to obtain the image for the appliance update.

2. Upload/import the appliance update image into a software library and accept the default action of creating a profile for this image.

3. Create a plan from the Update Storage Appliances plan template. Select the software library and then select the profile for the image.

4. To apply the deployment plan, select the plan and then select the storage appliances to update.

If it is necessary to downgrade a storage appliance, use the following procedure:

1. Expand Assets and then Storage in the Navigation pane.
2. Select the storage appliance.
3. Click the System Details tab in the center pane.
4. In the Appliance Updates table, select the update to remove.
5. Click the Rollback Appliance Software icon.
6. Confirm the action to submit the job.

Storage Server: Exadata

Describes discovery of the Exadata Storage Server in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

The Oracle Exadata Storage Server is a fast, high-capacity storage server. Each server has 12 disks connected to a storage controller. Exadata has three disk groups that span all of the disks so that each physical disk is in each disk group. Having all physical disks participating in data retrieval and storage maximizes performance.

In addition to discovering standalone systems, Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center discovers the Exadata Storage Server and its disks when it manages an Oracle SPARC SuperCluster. See Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center Operations for Oracle SuperCluster Reference for more information.

About Opaque Storage and Opaque Filesystems

Description of storage that is in use but not managed by Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

When a virtual host, managed by Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center, uses storage resources that are not managed, Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center cannot retrieve information about the storage resources. The storage is opaque.

In versions before Release 12.2.0.0, Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center could not monitor opaque storage or filesystems and no operations could be performed. In this release, when Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center discovers a virtualization host or virtual host, the product software can also identify the virtual disks in use. For Oracle VM Server for SPARC and Oracle VM Server for x86, the storage remains opaque until you perform one of the following:

• You enable sharing on the virtual disk in a shared storage library. The opaque disk or filesystem can be shared among Oracle VM Servers.

• If the virtual host gets access to storage through a SAN, you can add the opaque LUN to the virtualization host's SAN storage library. Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center manages the LUN as a raw disk.

Note:

Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center makes a distinction between "shared storage" and "sharable storage."

• Shared storage: You inform Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center that the opaque disk is accessible through the storage library. You declare the disk as shared, using the Enable Sharing action.

• Sharable storage: You can attach the same disk to more than one virtual host. The disk is sharable storage.

Declaring a Logical Domain's Opaque Storage as Shared

Procedure enabling shared storage for a logical domain in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

1. Select the Oracle VM Server for SPARC in the Assets tree.
2. Select the logical domain that uses the opaque disk.
3. Click the Storage tab. For each opaque disk, the entry in the Disk Type column is opaque and the entry in the Shared column is empty.
4. Select the disk.
5. Click the Enable Sharing icon and then confirm that you want the storage to be shared.

   Figure 6-18 Enable Sharing on a Virtual Disk

   
   Description of "Figure 6-18 Enable Sharing on a Virtual Disk"

When the job is completed, the entry for the virtual disk's Shared column has a check symbol.

Figure 6-19 Shared Virtual Disk

Description of "Figure 6-19 Shared Virtual Disk"

Storage Profiles

List of default profiles for maintaining or configuring storage devices in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center provides default profiles for the following operations:

• Configuring RAID Controllers

• Updating the Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance

About Multipath Storage for Logical Domains

Describes redundant paths to storage for logical domains in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

Logical domains use storage libraries to store their metadata and their operational data. The path to the storage consists of the following:

• Name of virtual disk

• Name of the backing device such as the LUN or raw file.

Creating more than one path from a logical domain to its storage ensures that the logical domain can continue to operate if one path is not accessible. Using multiple I/O Domains provides this redundant access. The path to the storage then consists of the following:

• Name of I/O Domain

• Name of virtual disk

• Name of the backing device such as the LUN or raw file.

The control domain and the I/O Domain must have access to the same LUNs. The operation requires Oracle Solaris MPxIO.

To create multipathed storage for a logical domain, select the logical domain's Storage tab and click the Add Storage icon. To add a path to a logical domain's existing storage, click the Edit Storage icon.

When you create a SAN storage library, you have the option to enable multipathed storage for guests of Oracle VM Servers. The Identify Library Associations step of the New SAN Storage Library wizard includes the LUNs sharing to LDOMs option.

Figure 6-20 Sharing Option in SAN Storage Library

Description of "Figure 6-20 Sharing Option in SAN Storage Library"

When you click the LUNs sharing to LDOMs option, each logical domain can get access to its storage through any of the domains in the server pool. If you do not enable multipath storage, the logical domain gets access to storage through its primary domain.

Configuring a Logical Domain for Multipath Storage

Procedure for setting up a logical domain’s storage as shared and multipathed in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center.

Use the following procedure to set up multipath storage:

1. Select the Oracle VM Server for SPARC in the Assets tree.
2. Select the logical domain.
3. Click the Storage tab. For virtual disk, the entry in the Multipathing column is empty.
4. Select the disk.
5. Click the Enable Sharing icon.

   Figure 6-21 Enabling Multipath Storage on a Virtual Disk

   
   Description of "Figure 6-21 Enabling Multipath Storage on a Virtual Disk"
6. Enter the path to the storage in the Multipathing Group field.

High Availability for Storage Resources

Lists therequirements for high availability storage.

Storage devices for an HA configuration must meet these requirements:

• Storage must be transferable between the primary and secondary Enterprise Controller systems. Do not attempt to use local file systems for high-availability storage.

• Storage must offer data redundancy capability, such as mirroring or RAID 5.

• Storage must offer performance that is sufficient to support operations.

• Storage must have the capacity to hold the data that the Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center software stores in the /var/opt/sun/xvm directory structure.

A variety of storage solutions meet these criteria, including NAS appliances, hardware RAID arrays and external JBODs. Storage can be attached directly to the Enterprise Controllers or through Storage Area Networks.

You must determine what storage solution offers the required capacity, performance, connectivity, and redundancy capabilities. Configuration procedures vary greatly among the available storage solutions, and among operating systems.

You must determine the specific failover procedures to use for the HA storage solution. Contact My Oracle Support to determine the procedures to use for your particular installation.

Related Resources for Storage

List of Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center documents with additional information.

For instructions in performing actions or to learn more about the role of this feature, go to one of the following resources.

• Oracle Solaris 11.1 Administration: SAN Configuration and Multipathing at http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E26502_01/html/E29008/index.html

• To create a storage library, see Configuring NAS Libraries.

• To manage network file systems, see http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E26502_01/html/E28997/index.html

• The plug-in software is available from the vendor and from Oracle's site, http://www.oracle.com/us/technologies/virtualization/storage-connect-partner-program/overview/index.html

• To exclude an Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance from Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center's communication with My Oracle Support, use the blacklisting option described in the Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center Administration

• See Associating Storage Library with the Domains in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center Virtualization Reference.

• See Associating a Storage Library with a Global Zone in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center Virtualization Reference.

• See Setting Up Storage Resources and Storage Virtualization in Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center Virtualization Reference for information on how virtual assets use storage resources.

• See Manage Assets for information discovering storage hardware.

• Deploy Storage Workflow in the library at http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E59957_01/nav/deploy.htm

• To view the Sun ZFS Storage 7000 System Administration Guide, log in to the Unified Storage System software interface and click Help in the top right corner of any screen. You can also access this guide at the host name or IP address of the storage system:

  • https://hostname:215/wiki

  • https://ipaddress:215/wiki

  See the Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance Software product information page at http://www.oracle.com/us/products/servers-storage/storage/unified-storage/sun-storage-7000-uss-103104.html for links to more information.