TOOLS (HIT) KIT 3.4.1/3.4.2 — - Dell

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EqualLogic HIT Kit 3.4.1/3.4.2 — New Features to Enhance Microsoft Failover Clustering Support Clustered Shared Volume (CSV) Support CSV is a new failover clustering feature in Windows Server 2008 R2 that allows concurrent access to a shared disk by multiple cluster nodes. When used with Hyper-V, CSV provides the following benefits: • Implements transparency regarding which node owns each volume. • Uses disk space required for Virtual Machines (VMs) more efficiently by placing multiple Virtual Hard Disks (VHDs) on a single CSV volume. • Reduces the time and chance of disconnection for VMs during Live Migration, since the cluster disk does not have to be taken offline on one node and brought online on another. • Provides consistent and single namespace. • Makes the VM the smallest unit for failover, so that the physical disk and all cluster resources in a group do not failover together The Auto-Snapshot Manager supports the following operations for CSV environments: • Smart copy and smart copy schedule creation for any VM on a CSV • Selective restore of VMs on CSVs • Moving the coordination node to the local/current node The following constraints apply to Auto-Snapshot Manager support for CSVs: • In a CSV-enabled failover cluster, you cannot create a Smart Copy (or a Smart Copy Schedule) for a CSV from any node, including the coordination node. • You cannot add a CSV or any VMs that reside on a CSV to a collection. • ASM/ME does not permit in-place restores of CSVs, because every copy of a CSV is a torn smart copy. Dynamic Allocation of iSCSI Connections EHCM monitors and manages iSCSI sessions on an EqualLogic volume, ensuring that there are paths available to each member hosting the volume so that I/O can send directly to that member. In previous HIT Kit releases, EHCM established two connections to each PS Series array member hosting the volume by default, up to a maximum of six connections. This approach ensured maximum availability and performance, but was inefficient in the Microsoft Failover Clustering environment. Because the non-CSV volume only accessed one cluster node any point in time, only the active node that owned the volume made use of iSCSI sessions; the connections from other passive node(s) remained idle but consumed resources on the PS Series group. Page 4
EqualLogic HIT Kit 3.4.1/3.4.2 — New Features to Enhance Microsoft Failover Clustering Support To reduce the overhead of idling connections from passive nodes while still maintaining desired performance and availability, EHCM in HIT Kit 3.4.1/3.4.2 adds an intelligent algorithm to dynamically allocate iSCSI connections as follows: • If the volume is a CSV volume that can be simultaneously accessed from different cluster nodes, EHCM establishes two connections per PS Series array member. • If the volume is not a CSV volume: o If the node owns the volume, then EHCM establishes two connections per PS Series array member, up to six connections for that volume. o If the node does not own the volume, then EHCM only establishes two connections, regardless of the number of array members in the group. If the volume resides on multiple PS Series array members, one or two array members may not have an iSCSI connection. • EHCM actively monitors the state of the volume. If the state changes, the number of connections adjusts accordingly. For example, if a volume with three members moves from node A to node B, then EHCM will reduce the number of connections on node A from six to two, and increase the number of connections on node B from two to six. Users will no longer see behavior in which each volume has the same number of connections from each cluster node. The number of connections on the volume depends on how the volume is used in the cluster node, and can vary among the nodes. This new feature works with all PS-Series arrays supported in the Dell Failover Cluster and helps maintain the desirable performance/availability while reducing the excess iSCSI connections. Information on Dell Failover Cluster Solutions For more information on Dell Failover Cluster Solutions, see: Cluster documentation: http://docs.us.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/clusters/ Cluster Configuration Support Matrices: http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/sitelets/solutions/cluster_grid/clustering_ha?c=us&cs=555 &l=en&s=biz&~page=3&~tab=4 Page 5
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TOOLS (HIT) KIT 3.4.1/3.4.2 — - Dell

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