Using an EMC AX100 SAN with Debian and a Dell 1955 blade

Fri Mar 16 16:13:58 CST 2007

Ok, so you have FC pass-throug modules in the 1955 and a single external switch.

I belive you should not zone two HBAs in the same server to the same port on the SP. 

If you have available ports in your switch and cables try to connect SPA1 and SPB1 as well to the switch.

Then Zone:

HBA1 -> SPA0, SPB1
HBA2 -> SPA1, SPB0

This will give you better redundancy as well.

--
Harald Jensas

________________________________

	From: Stephen Carr [mailto:SCarr at bastyr.edu] 
	Sent: den 16 mars 2007 21:50
	To: Jensas, Harald; linux-poweredge-Lists
	Subject: RE: Using an EMC AX100 SAN with Debian and a Dell 1955 blade

	oops, I meant to send it to the group,  sorry about that. 
	I had them zoned as follows (only using one switch and two processor ports):
	Zone 1
	HBA1 ->SPA0,SPB0

	Zone 2
	HBA2 ->SPB0,SPA0

	I was trying not to get into anything fancy. Maybe that is why I can't get the paths to "coalesce". Should I not point both HBA's to the same SP?

	I'm in the process of downloading the full Power Solutions Issue PDF to see if it is in a sidebar somewhere (they did say it accompanied the article).

	Anyway, thanks for getting back to me on this, I'm really hoping to make this work. I see this as a great solution to build a Xen virtualization infrastructure on if I can get past this point.

	Steve

________________________________

	From: Harald_Jensas at Dell.com [mailto:Harald_Jensas at Dell.com] 
	Sent: Friday, March 16, 2007 1:35 PM
	To: Stephen Carr
	Subject: RE: Using an EMC AX100 SAN with Debian and a Dell 1955 blade

	Hi,

	How did you initially zone your switches?

	I would go with single initiator zoning:

	Switch 1:
	Zone 1: Server 1 HBA1, SPA0, SPB1
	Zone 2: Server 2 HBA1, SPA0, SPB1

	Switch 2:
	Zone 1: Server 1 HBA2, SPA1, SPB0
	Zone 2: Server 2 HBA2, SPA1, SPB0

	I will try to find the link to the sample configuration for multipath and get back to you with that.

	--
	Harald Jensås

________________________________

		From: Stephen Carr [mailto:SCarr at bastyr.edu] 
		Sent: den 16 mars 2007 21:28
		To: Jensas, Harald
		Subject: RE: Using an EMC AX100 SAN with Debian and a Dell 1955 blade

		thanks for that link. It has a nice overview that shows me what I'm trying to do is possible but I can't get a version of multipath.conf that makes it work. If I change the zones on my FC switch so I just have
		HBA1 -> SPA
		HBA2 -> SPB 
		    (no redundancy per HBA)
		then I can get everything to work just fine (I get the device to show up in /dev/mapper and can format it etc) except I can't get that device to mount a startup (through fstab) because multipathd hasn't started yet (but that is my next problem).

		If I put the redundancy back in, multipath keeps giving errors and can't build a table (it tries to split the "4" devices into 2 instead seeing as one) no matter what kind of policy I set in multipath.conf for the multipaths and the devices.

		In the linked pdf there is mention of going to www.dell.com/powersolutions and getting a sample multipath.conf file for the EMC AX100 but I could not find it anywhere. So, if you can at least point me to that for starters I'd be very thankful.

		Again, thanks for the link, it is a start.

________________________________

		From: linux-poweredge-bounces at dell.com [mailto:linux-poweredge-bounces at dell.com] On Behalf Of Harald_Jensas at dell.com
		Sent: Friday, March 16, 2007 11:58 AM
		To: Stephen Carr; linux-poweredge at lists.us.dell.com
		Subject: RE: Using an EMC AX100 SAN with Debian and a Dell 1955 blade

		Assuming SPA is the owner of the LUN you are seeing i belive it is correct that the connections to SPB should see the device as inactive or passive.

		Have a look at this article regarding Multipath and Linux, maby it will help.

		http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/power/ps3q06-20060189-Michael.pdf

		--
		Harald Jensås

________________________________

			From: linux-poweredge-bounces at dell.com [mailto:linux-poweredge-bounces at dell.com] On Behalf Of Stephen Carr
			Sent: den 15 mars 2007 23:16
			To: linux-poweredge-Lists
			Subject: Using an EMC AX100 SAN with Debian and a Dell 1955 blade

			Okay, I've gotten pretty far in the process of setting up a AX100 array with a Dell 1955 blade with the Qlogic HBA's (QME2462's) by using the NaviSphere Utility but have run into a wall trying to get Multipath to work with the SAN. Has anyone had experience getting multipath to work with an EMC AX100 (or something similar). I just can't get it top see the multiple connections as one device no matter what I try. I have two HBA connections and each connection can see both Storage Processors so you get something like this

			/dev/sdb - active HBA1 to SPA (I have a partition (sdb1) that works fine stand alone 
			/dev/sdc - inactive HBA1 to SPB (fdisk doesn't see this device at it is inactive) 
			/dev/sdd - active HBA2 to SPA (it sees the sdb1 partition as sdd1 and can be mounted like sdb1) 
			/dev/sde - inactive HBA2 to SPB (fdisk doesn't see this device at it is inactive) 

			Any type of grouping I try fails so any leads would be greatly appreciated (I can post my multipath.conf file if needed)

			Thanks in advance. 

			Stephen Carr 
			Network Administrator II 
			Bastyr University 
			scarr at bastyr.edu 

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