Tag Archives: cx4

EMC – Basics – Accessing RemotelyAnywhere on VNX with MCx

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Many moons ago I wrote a brief article about accessing RemotelyAnywhere on the CX4. This was prompted by changes in Release 29 of FLARE that changed the access mechanism for remote console access on the SPs. I’ve been working on some VNX2s recently (or VNX with MCx – as EMC really would like them to be known), and I was curious as to whether the process was the same.

Pretty much, yep.

 

Overview

Nowadays there are a few ways to access RemotelyAnywhere on the VNX SP. There are a few different ports on the array that can be used, depending on your circumstances. In some environments, where you’re not allowed to touch the customer’s network with your own gear, the service port may be more appropriate. Here’s an image of the ports from EMC. The model of VNX you’re using will dictate the layout of the ports.

SP_mgmt_ports

You can go via:

  • the SP’s management port: http://<SP IP address>:9519;
  • the SP’s service port: https://128.221.1.250:9519 (SP A) or https://128.221.1.251:9519 (SP B); and
  • the SP’s serial port: https://192.168.1.1:9519 (this assumes you’re connected via serial already – more on that below).

 

Management Port

This is fairly straightforward, and you’ll need to be on a network that has access to the management ports.

 

Service Port

So, you’re probably already aware that the best way to connect to the service port is to set your laptop TCP/IP settings as follows:

  • IP Address – 128.221.1.249 or 128.221.1.254
  • Subnet Mask – 255.255.255.248
  • Default Gateway – leave blank
  • DNS server entries – leave blank

 

Serial Cable

If you want to connect via the serial cable, you’ll need to setup a PPP connection on your laptop. The following steps assume that you’ve got a USB to serial adapter and you’re using a Windows 7 machine.

Device Manager

  • Right Click on your Computer icon and Select Manage
  • Click on Device Manager
  • Expand Ports (COM & LPT)
  • Look for the USB-to-Serial Comm Port (COM##)
  • The COMM number will be the one you will select during the configuration of your PPP connection.

 

Create the COM Port

  • Click Start -> Control Panel -> Phone and Modem.
  • Click the “modem tab” and click Add.
  • On the Install new Modem Pane, select the Don’t detect my modem box, then click Next.
  • Select Communications cable between two computers, then click Next.
  • Select the COM port from the previous step, then click Next.
  • Click Finish.
  • Highlight the new modem and click Properties.
  • Select the “modem tab”  and adjust the max speed to 115200 then click OK.
  • Click OK again to exit the Phone and Modem screen.
  • In the Computer Management window, disable and then re-enable the USB Serial connection in Device Manager. Do this by right-clicking on it.

 

Setting Up the PPP Connection

  • Click Start -> Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Center, click Set up a new connection or network (at the bottom).
  • Click Next, select Set up a dial-up connection and click Next.
  • This screen should list modems and select the Communications cable between two computers created above.
  • On the next screen put in a random phone number.  This is required in order to complete this step. You need at least one digit, but you’ll remove it later.  Next put in the username and password and give it a name. Then click on Connect. This connection will fail displaying: Connection Failed with error 777. Click on Set up the connection anyway.
  • You will get: “The connection to the Internet is ready to use”. Select Close.
  • The above connection should now appear in Network Connections. Open Control Panel and select Change Adapter Settings.
  • Right-click on your new Modem connection and select Cancel as Default Connection.
  • Right Click on your new Modem connection again and select Properties.

 

Modify the Settings

  • In the General tab, remove the phone number entry and leave it blank.
  • In the General tab, click configure and set Max speed to 115200 and select enable hardware flow control.
  • In the Options tab, click PPP settings and check that the top two boxes are selected (LCP extensions and SW compression).
  • In the Security tab, check Data Encryption is Optional Encryption (connect even if no encryption) is set.
    In the Networking tab, check Internet Protocol Version 4 is selected and click on Properties.
  • In the Networking tab, choose Internet Protocol Properties, then the Advanced button. Uncheck Use default gateway on remote network.
  • Click OK.
  • Click OK.
  • Click OK.

 

Conclusion

Here’s what it looks like when you log in – enjoy.

screenshot2

EMC – VNX Pool LUN Allocation vs Default Owner

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I had a question about this come up this week and thought I’d already posted something about it. Seems I was lazy and didn’t. If you have access, have a look at Primus article emc311319 on EMC’s support site. If you don’t, here’s the rough guide to what it’s all about.

When a Storage Pool is created, a large number of private LUNs are bound on all the Pool drives and these are divided up between SP A and B. When a Pool LUN is created, it uses the allocation owner to determine which SP private LUNs should be used to store the Pool LUN slices. If the default and current owner are not the same as the allocation owner, the I/O will have to be passed over the CMI bus between SP, to reach the Pool Private FLARE LUNs. This is a bad thing, and can lead to higher response times and general I/O bottlenecks.

OMG, I might have this issue, what should I do? You can change the default owner of a LUN by accessing the LUN properties in Unisphere. You can also change the default owner of a LUN thusly.

naviseccli -h <SP A or B> chglun -l <metalun> -d owner <0|1>

where

-d owner 0 = SP A
-d owner 1 = SP B

But what if you have too many LUNs where the allocation owner sits on one SP? And when did I start writing blog posts in the form of a series of questions? I don’t know the answer to the latter question. But for the first, the simplest remedy is to create a LUN on the alternate SP and use EMC’s LUN migration tool to get the LUN to the other SP. Finally, to match the current owner of a LUN to the default owner, simply trespass the LUN to the default owner SP.

Note that this is a problem from CX4 arrays through to VNX2 arrays. It does not apply to traditional RAID Group FLARE LUNs though, only Pool LUNs.

EMC – Go home Unisphere, you’re drunk

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Mat forwarded this one through to me this morning. Seems one of his CX4s is feeling a bit odd :)

unisphere

EMC – VNX / CX4 LUN Allocation Owner and Default Owner

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Mat’s been doing some useful scripting again. This time it’s a small PERL script that identifies the allocation owner and default owner of a pool LUN on a CX4 or VNX and lets you know whether the LUN is “non-optimal” or not. For those of you playing along at home, I found the following information on this (but can’t remember where I found it). “Allocation owner of a pool LUN is the SP that owns and maintains the metadata for that LUN. It is not advised to trespass the LUNs to an SP that is not the allocation owner. This introduces lag. The SP that provides the best performance for the pool LUN. The allocation owner SP is set by the system to match the default SP owner when you create the LUN. You cannot change the allocation owner after the LUN is created. If you change the default owner for the LUN, the software will display a warning that a performance penalty will occur if you continue.”

There’s a useful article by Jithin Nadukandathil on the ECN site, as well as a most excellent writeup by fellow EMC Elect member Jon Klaus here. In short, if you identify NonOptimal LUN ownership, your best option is to create a new LUN and migrate the data to that LUN via the LUN Migration tool. You can download a copy of the script here. Feel free to look at the other scripts that are on offer as well. Here’s what the output looks like.

 output1

 

 

Stormons Professional Edition Available

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Disclaimer: I don’t work for Stormons, and I’ve not been compensated for this post. I just think it’s a cool product that is worth checking out.

Didier from Stormons recently got in touch to let me know there’s now a Professional version of the software available now as part of a subscription deal. I’ve previously covered Stormons here and here and think it’s pretty good stuff – and definitely worth checking out – particularly if you have a large environment to work with. Apparently EMC in Bangalore are heavy users of the product as well. The Professional Edition is offered on a subscription basis, and they’re running a discounted rate until May to celebrate the release. Find out more about it here. You can also still access the free edition from the downloads page.

EMC – Some new scripts

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Mat has come up with a few new scripts – FlipFASTTiering and ReplicationCapacity. They’re PERL scripts that you can use to list / modify FAST Tiering scheduling and report on MirrorView replication data respectively. Hopefully you’ll find them of some use. Further information can be found on the Utilities page.

EMC – DIY Heatmaps – Updated Version

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I’ve patched the DIY Heatmaps script, fixing a problem with the table names generated in the database files. You can download it from the Utilities page.

 

Thanks

Mat.

EMC – My dog ate my SPS but I still need to use write cache

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Someone contacted me via my About page a little while ago to ask how to use write cache on their CX without having an SPS. It’s worth noting that doing this outside of a lab environment is a really bad idea, as the point of the SPS is that you’ll have sufficient time to flush cache to disk prior to losing power to the array. But anyway, in case you missed it, here’s what to do.

Use EMCRemote to access the console of the SP. If you’re using a CX4, you can get some instructions on how to do that here. Fire up a command prompt, then run flarecons d f a (to access SP A). Then run setcache -nosps (to override the SPS state). You should then be able to enable write cache.

EMC – DIY Heatmaps – Updated Version

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Mat has patched the DIY Heatmaps script, fixing a problem with current model VNXs and updated naviseccli whereby using the –get_drive_type –display_drive_type options of the heatmap script would cause a JavaScript error in the resulting heatmap HTML file. You can download it from the Utilities page.

EMC – DIY Heatmaps – Updated Version

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Mat has updated the DIY Heatmaps script to support SAS-type Flash drives. Download it from here, take it for a spin and let us know what you think. And tell your friends.