EMC Symmetrix SAN Storage Provisioning – Allocating, Unallocating and Zoning

Basically, if you are working on EMC Symmetrix DMX series, you have to understand the 17 rules of the FA (Front Adapter), understand the load balance on how much you had currently utilized on the Storage FA assignment.

Adding Storage

1.     Lists all the external locks held in Symmetrix array 1234.

     # symcfg -sid 1234 list -lockn all

 2.     List all the available devices (hypers) on the EMC Symmetrix

      # symdev -noport list

      Backup the VCM database
      # symmaskdb backup

3.     Create a Meta volume

      # cat metafile.cmd
      form meta from dev 5B2 config=striped, stripe_size = 2 cyl;
      add dev 5B3:5B6 to meta 5B2;

4.      preview, prepare and commit the changes

            # symconfigure -f metafile.cmd preview -nop
            # symconfigure -f metafile.cmd prepare -nop
            # symconfigure -f metafile.cmd commit -nop

            Check the configuration
            # symdev show 5B2

      Note: -nop known as no prompt, which will execute the command without asking Yes / No

5.     Map meta volume to front-end directors

            # cat mapfile.cmd
            map dev 5B2 to dir 3d:0 target=0, lun=5;
       map dev 5B2 to dir 14d:0 target=0, lun=5;

6.     Show the device detail

       # symdev -sid 1234 show 5B2 |more

7.     preview, prepare and commit the changes

            # symconfigure -f mapfile.cmd preview -nop
            # symconfigure -f mapfile.cmd prepare -nop
            # symconfigure -f mapfile.cmd commit -nop

            Check the configuration 
            # symdev -sa 3d -p 0 -fibre list
            # symdev -sa 14d -p 0  -fibre list

8.     Mask the meta volume

            # symmask -wwn <WWPN> -dir 3d -p 0 add devs 5B2
            # symmask -wwn <WWPN> -dir 14d -p 0 add devs 5B2
           

      Note: the wwn are the WWPN’s of the host HBA’s which you obtain from the server.

9.      update the VCM database

            # symmask –sid 1234 refresh -nop

10.  Display the device assignment by FA.

      # symmaskdb -sid 1234 list assignment –dev 5B2

      Note: You should see this message if your device is newly create and yet allocate to the host. “No device masking database records could  be found for the specified input parameters”

11.  Display the device detail in WWN

      # symmaskdb -sid 1234 list devs -wwn 10000000c9693d53

12.  To rename the wwn of the host to HOSTNAME/PORTNUMBER

            # symmask -sid 1234 -wwn 10000000c9693d53 rename HOSTNAME01/HBA0

13.  To list out the overall capacity of the host

      # symmaskdb -sid 1234 list capacity –host HOSTNAME01

---

 Removing Storage

1.     Display the devices by the HOST WWN

       # symmaskdb -sid 1195 list devs -wwn 10000000c9693d53

Symmetrix ID        : 000287461234

Originator Port wwn : 10000000c9693d53

User-generated Name : HOSTNAME01/10000000c9693d53

Sym Dev                                               LUN

Name    Dir:P  Physical Device Name     VBUS  TID  SYMM HOST  Attr  Cap(MB)

——  —–  ———————–  —-  —  —- —-  —-  ——-

05B2     3d:0     Not Visible                                  0    0     1  N/A  (M)     20478

            14d:0    Not Visible                                  0    0     1  N/A  (M)     20478

 

2.      Remove the LUN masking configuration

            # symmask -wwn <WWPN> -dir 3d -p 0 remove devs 5B2
            # symmask -wwn <WWPN> -dir 14d -p 0 remove devs 5B2
  

        Note: the wwn are the WWPN’s of the host HBA’s which you obtain from the server. Update the VCM database
        # symmask refresh –nop

3.     offline the volume 5B2

            # symdev -sid 056 not_ready 5B2 -nop

      Check the configuration
            # symdev show 5B2

4.     Unmap the meta volume from Front-end directors

            # cat unmapfile.cmd
            unmap dev 5B2 from dir 3d:0;
            unmap dev 5B2 from dir 14d:0;

5.     Remove the volume from the VCM database

            # symconfigure -f unmapfile.cmd preview -nop
            # symconfigure -f unmapfile.cmd prepare -nop
            # symconfigure -f unmapfile.cmd commit -nop

            Check the configuration 
            # symdev -sa 3d -p 0 -fibre list
            # symdev -sa 14d -p 0 -fibre list

---

Zoning

It’s recommended that the switch port to be disabled when not in used, whenever there is new host would like to hook up to SAN storage. To enable the port, eg: portenable 0

1.      telnet to the brocade switches and login as user admin

            switch 1 – fabric A (SWITCH_1) 
            switch 2 – fabric B (SWITCH_2)

2.     Create aliases for the hosts HBA’s on each switch

            switch_1> alicreate ” HOSTNAME01_HBA_0″,”10:00:00:c9:69:3d:53″ 
            switch_2> alicreate ” HOSTNAME01_HBA_1″,”10:00:00:c9:69:ae:4e”

      Tips: Do a switchshow to capture the WWN before start the aliases creation.

3.     Create the storage zones using the aliases on each switch

            switch_1> zonecreate “Z_HOSTNAME01_A”, “HOSTNAME01_HBA_0″
            switch_2> zonecreate “Z_HOSTNAME01_B”, “HOSTNAME01_HBA_1″

            Check the configuration
            switch_1> zoneshow Z_HOSTNAME01_A
            switch_2> zoneshow Z_HOSTNAME01_B

4.     Add the zones to the fabrics on each switch

            switch_1> cfgshow SWITCH_A 
            switch_1> cfgadd “SWITCH_A”,”Z_ HOSTNAME01_A”
            switch_1> cfgsave
            switch_1> cfgenable SWITCH_A

            Check the configuration
            switch_1> zoneshow

            switch_2> cfgshow SWITCH_B
            switch_2> cfgadd ” SWITCH_B”,”Z_ HOSTNAME01_B”
            switch_2> cfgsave
            switch_2> cfgenable SWITCH_A

            Check the configuration
            switch_2> zoneshow