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SAN Boot Implementation and Best Practices Guide ... - IBM Redbooks

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► Host zone: Create a host zone for each server accessing storage from the Storwize V7000<br />

cluster.<br />

► Storage zone: Create one storage zone for each storage subsystem that is virtualized by<br />

the Storwize V7000.<br />

Each node has four ports <strong>and</strong> each I/O group has two nodes. Therefore, without any zoning in<br />

a dual <strong>SAN</strong> environment, the number of paths to a volume is four (4) multiplied by the number<br />

of host-ports. This rule exists to limit the number of paths that must be resolved by the<br />

multipathing device driver.<br />

For optimal performance, limit a host with two Fibre Channel ports to only four paths: one<br />

path to each node on each <strong>SAN</strong>.<br />

Support: The number of paths through the network from the <strong>IBM</strong> Storwize V7000 nodes to<br />

a host must not exceed eight. Configurations in which this number is exceeded are not<br />

supported.<br />

If you want to restrict the number of paths to a host, zone the switches so that each host bus<br />

adapter (HBA) port is zoned with one <strong>IBM</strong> Storwize V7000 port for each node in the cluster. If<br />

a host has multiple HBA ports, zone each port to a different set of <strong>IBM</strong> Storwize V7000 ports<br />

to maximize performance <strong>and</strong> redundancy.<br />

<strong>IBM</strong> Storwize V7000 requires single-initiator zoning for all large configurations that contain<br />

more than 64 host objects. Each server Fibre Channel port must be in its own zone, which<br />

contains the Fibre Channel port <strong>and</strong> <strong>IBM</strong> Storwize V7000 ports. In configurations of less than<br />

64 hosts, you can have up to 40 Fibre Channel ports in a host zone if the zone contains<br />

similar HBAs <strong>and</strong> operating systems.<br />

Tip: 512 logins are allowed per node Fibre Channel port. They include logins from server<br />

HBAs, disk controller ports, node ports within the same cluster, <strong>and</strong> node ports from<br />

remote clusters.<br />

Regarding connectivity with external storage, in an environment where you have a fabric with<br />

multiple speed switches, best practice is to connect the Storwize V7000 <strong>and</strong> the disk<br />

subsystem to the switch operating at the highest speed.<br />

For <strong>SAN</strong> Configuration <strong>and</strong> Zoning Rules, see the following website:<br />

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/storwize/ic/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.stor<br />

wize.v7000.doc/svc_configrulessummary_02171530.html<br />

5.3.4 <strong>Best</strong> practices in <strong>SAN</strong> <strong>Boot</strong> implementations<br />

The following general guidelines are intended to help employ best practices with <strong>SAN</strong> <strong>Boot</strong><br />

implementations. These are by no means conclusive, <strong>and</strong> you must adhere to the best<br />

practice guidelines specified by the hardware <strong>and</strong> software vendors of all components in your<br />

<strong>SAN</strong> environment.<br />

Avoiding a single point-of-failure<br />

One of the major benefits of <strong>SAN</strong> adoption is high availability. Configure the following <strong>SAN</strong><br />

components redundantly to avoid any single point of failure.<br />

288 <strong>SAN</strong> <strong>Boot</strong> <strong>Implementation</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Best</strong> <strong>Practices</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> for <strong>IBM</strong> System Storage

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