Chapter 8. Administration - Subsystem Management

8.1 DS Storage Manager - Subsystem Manger window

The IBM System Storage DS Storage Manager Subsystem Management window has four

main areas as shown in Figure 8-1.

We cover these areas in four sections:

8.2, “Pull-Down Menu” on page 189

8.3, “Toolbar” on page 212

8.4, “Status bar” on page 215

8.5, “Tabs” on page 216



Pull-Down Menu

Toolbar



Tabs



Status bar

Figure 8-1 Subsystem Manger window and Enter Password window



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8.2 Pull-Down Menu

The area at the top of Subsystem Management window is the pull-down menu bar. Although it

is possible to do almost all configuration tasks from this menu, sometimes it is necessary to

select the logical or physical components in Tab area first before you can perform the desired

task. Another option is to configure the storage subsystem directly in the Tab area. We

describe configuration tasks that are the easiest to execute from the pull-down menu in this

section, Other configuration tasks are described in chapters dedicated to a specific Tab in

sections.

In this section we cover the following pull-down menus:

8.2.1, “Storage Subsystem Menu” on page 189

8.2.2, “View menu” on page 205

8.2.3, “Mappings menu” on page 207

8.2.4, “Array menu” on page 208

8.2.5, “Logical Drive menu” on page 208

8.2.6, “Controller menu” on page 208

8.2.7, “Drive menu” on page 209

8.2.8, “Advanced menu” on page 209

8.2.9, “Help menu” on page 209



8.2.1 Storage Subsystem Menu

This menu is used to display or configure the general properties and features of the managed

storage subsystem. It is used often and is independent of the tab that is currently selected in

the Tab area.

Many items can be seen in this menu:

“View” on page 190

“Locate” on page 192

“Configuration” on page 192

“Premium Features” on page 194

“Remote Logical Drive Mirroring” on page 197

“iSCSI” on page 198

“Drive Security” on page 198

“Recovery Guru” on page 198

“Monitor Performance” on page 198

“Change” on page 198

“Synchronize Controller Clocks” on page 203

“Manage Enclosure Alarm” on page 204

“Rename Subsystem” on page 204

“Set Password” on page 204

“Exit” - to close the Subsystem Manger window

Click Storage Subsystem to open the associated menu items as shown in Figure 8-2 on

page 190. If you select items with the small right arrow on the right side of the menu item, it

opens another sub-menu. The other items (with three dot characters on the end of menu text)

directly open a window with requested task.



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Figure 8-2 Storage Subsystem Menu



Here we describe the most common items of this pull-down menu. The others (iSCSI, Drive

Security, Recovery Guru, and Monitor Performance) advanced options are covered in

separate chapters of this book.



View

Click Storage Subsystem  View This menu item offers several option for configuration

view and detailed information about the storage subsystem.



View  Profile

This opens a window with a Storage Subsystem Profile. More detailed explanation of

subsystem profile content is in Chapter 14, “Administration - Support” on page 329.

Note: All the information and views offered by Storage Manager originate from the

subsystem profile. Usually all the component properties windows in Storage Manager just

show information from the subsystem profile more comfortably.



View  Enclosure Components  Controller Enclosure

Because the DS3500 only has Controller/Drive Enclosures and Drive Enclosures, this item is

not available for DS3500.



View  Enclosure Components  Controller/Drive Enclosure

This shows properties of the DS3500 Controller Enclosure (Figure 8-3 on page 191). All

displayed information is taken from the subsystem profile. You can also change Enclosure ID

here or locate enclosure in the rack by blinking its blue LED diodes on the left side of the

DS3500 enclosure.



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Figure 8-3 View Controller/Drive Enclosure



View  Enclosure Components  Drive Enclosure

Almost the same type of information can also be displayed for EXP3500 Drive Enclosures

connected to the managed DS3500 subsystem.



View  Connections

This opens a window with information about the attachment of expansion enclosures (their

ESM boards) to controllers of storage subsystem as shown in Figure 8-4.



Figure 8-4 Connections of ESM



View  Unassociated Host Port Identifiers

It shows the list of ports (HBA) or iSCSI Initiators on servers that are available, and can be

attached to DS3500 subsystem (Figure 8-5 on page 192). It shows only port identifiers

(WWPN or iSCSI Initiators) and the type of interface: it does not show names of hosts.

Association can be done in Mapping Tab of Subsystem Manager as described in 11.2,

“Defining Host” on page 277. You can define a name of the host and assign host ports.



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Figure 8-5 Unassociated Ports - FC and SAS HBA's and iSCSI Initiator



Locate

This menu item helps you to find the DS3500 subsystem in rack. When Storage

Subsystem  Locate  Storage Subsystem is activated, blue LED diodes on the

controller enclosure and on all expansion enclosures attached to this DS3500 subsystem

start to flash.



Configuration

Click Storage Subsystem  Configuration. This menu item offers two tasks. You can start

the wizard for Automatic configuration of available unconfigured disk drives in managed

subsystem, and Save the current logical configuration of storage subsystem in form of a

script file.



Automatic Configuration

This option creates arrays and logical drives on all unconfigured disk drives of subsystem.

Generally, do not use this fully automatic configuration of DS3500 (by selecting the Choose a

suggested configuration option) because the results are not optimal for most cases. A

slightly better result can be achieved if you select semi-automatic mode (Create your own

configuration option) as shown in Figure 8-6 on page 193. Here you will have a choice to set

RAID level, number of arrays, number of disk drive per array, and number of logical drives.

You will still have no control over the size of the logical drive and selection of disks for array

because this is set by subsystem automatically. Even in this semi-automatic mode, the results

still can be slightly different than what you expect. For most environments, configure DS3500

subsystem using manual configuration in the Logical tab as documented in Chapter 9,

“Administration - Logical Tab” on page 219. Using this option you can set all parameters for

created arrays and logical drives there.



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Figure 8-6 Automatic configuration



Detailed description of automatic configuration of unconfigured disk drives on DS3500

Storage Subsystem is in 12.6.1, “Automatic configuration” on page 302.



Save Configuration

Use the Storage Subsystem  Configuration  Save Configuration option (Figure 8-7

on page 194) to save the logical configuration settings of a storage subsystem to a script file.

Later, you can select Tools  Load Storage Subsystem Configuration in the Enterprise

Management window to copy the configuration data back from the saved file to a storage

subsystem with the same hardware configuration. For more information about the Load

Storage Subsystem Configuration option, refer to Chapter 6, “Administration - Enterprise

Management” on page 157.



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Figure 8-7 Save Configuration



The Configuration  Save option lets you save storage subsystem settings, logical drive

configuration, topology, and mappings to the text file in form of a script file that can also be

used by SMcli command line interface. If there are individual topology items or logical drives

that you do not want to include in the saved configuration, you can edit the script file after it is

saved. You can also modify certain SMcli commands from this file and use them in another

script that can create a new logical devices in your storage subsystem. For more information

about SMcli, see Chapter 17, “Command-Line Interface (CLI)” on page 519.

The Configuration  Save option does not save these settings:

The age of the battery

The controller time of day

The nonvolatile static random access memory (NVSRAM) settings

Any premium features

The storage subsystem password

The operating status and states of the hardware components

The operating status (except Optimal) and states of the arrays



Premium Features

This is the task used for viewing or activation of software licenses - Premium Features. You

might have some of them already activated because certain basic licenses are delivered with

each DS3500 as a standard, and you can buy more as needed. Types of licenses are

described in 3.4, “Planning for premium features” on page 70.



Obtaining the license *.key file

You need a special license *.key file to activate additional Premium Features in this step. This

file must be downloaded from the IBM feature activation web site (Figure 8-8 on page 195),

where each Premium Feature is registered based on the serial number of your DS3500

enclosure and Feature Enable Identifier.

The IBM activation website is located at the following URL:

http://www-912.ibm.com/PremiumFeatures/

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Figure 8-8 Premium Feature activation web site



The following Premium Features can be delivered with your DS3500 Storage Subsystem or

you can buy these as optional (additional charge) Premium Features:

More than four Storage Partitions

More than two FlashCopies

VolumeCopy

Enhanced Remote Mirroring

Encryption

High Performance Tier

You can find instructions and the actual procedure to get the license *.key file in the Premium

Feature Certificate, which is included in the license envelope and is part of your DS3500

Premium Feature delivery. You can also find a unique access code for the IBM activation

website where the *.key file must be registered, generated, and downloaded.

Warning: Store the paper document from the license envelope in safe place if you want to

postpone your Premium Feature *.key file download. If you lose the access code for the

IBM activation web site, it will be difficult to get it again from IBM in a short time frame. You

will need a proof of purchase when you contact an authorized IBM Support

Representative.

Note: If you lose the downloaded *.key file, you can download it again (without the access

code from the license envelope) from the same IBM activation website because it was

already registered and generated. You will only need the serial number of the DS3500.



View/Enable Premium Feature

Select Storage Subsystem  Premium Feature in pull-down menu to open a window

where the list of possible features is displayed in the first pane as shown in Figure 8-9 on

page 196. Some features are enabled at the plant, whereas some are disabled and can be

enabled/activated by a *.key file that has to be downloaded from IBM web site (Figure 8-8).



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The Feature Enable Identifier displayed at the bottom of this window is necessary (together

with DS3500 enclosure serial number) during *.key file generation at IBM activation web site.



Figure 8-9 Premium Feature window



Depending on the selected Premium Feature, you can Enable a disabled feature, or Disable

an enabled feature. To enable a feature, select Enable button and a window for selecting the

*.key file on your management station opens. When key file is accepted, a window with

additional information as in Figure 8-10 appears.



Figure 8-10 Premium Feature Enable - information



To disable a feature, select that feature and click Disable. A warning window displays as

shown in Figure 8-11 on page 197.



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Figure 8-11 Disable Premium Feature



Feature Pack

The second pane in the Premium Feature window (Figure 8-9 on page 196) is Feature Pack.

It is not possible to change the Feature Pack on any DS3500 subsystem.

Note: Starting February 2008, the Feature Pack has been incorporated into all base

DS3000 and DS3500 models, and is no longer needed as a prerequisite for the additional

Premium Feature activation.



Remote Logical Drive Mirroring

By selecting the Storage Subsystem Remote Logical Drive Mirroring option, you can

Activate or Deactivate this functionality. The Remote Logical Drive Mirroring Premium

Feature must already be enabled (see “Premium Features” on page 194) to activate mirroring

in this step. Only DS3500 with optional FC daughter cards can be used for remote mirroring

because mirrored subsystems can mirror only on FC links. Activation of remote mirroring will

create two special Repository logical drives dedicated to internal use of remote mirroring. The

“Free capacity” on an existing array or the “Unconfigured capacity” must be selected in the

window shown in Figure 8-12. The mirroring repository logical drives will be placed there.



Figure 8-12 Activation of Remote Mirroring



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The array containing the mirror repositories must not be deleted until the remote mirroring is

deactivated again. These two repositories are automatically deleted during deactivation of

Remote Logical Drive Mirroring.



Figure 8-13 Mirror Repositories



All details about remote mirroring are fully described in IBM Midrange System Storage Copy

Services Guide, SG24-7822.



iSCSI

This option in the Storage Subsystem pull-down menu is available and visible only if iSCSI

daughter cards are installed in DS3500 subsystem. For a detailed description of how to set

attachment to iSCSI hosts, see Chapter 13, “Administration - iSCSI” on page 309.



Drive Security

This option in the Storage Subsystem pull-down menu is available and visible only if Full

Disk Encryption premium feature is enabled (see “Premium Features” on page 194) and the

SED disk drives are installed. Details on how to configure encrypted disk drives are covered

in Chapter 15, “Disk Security with Full Disk Encryption drives” on page 439.



Recovery Guru

The Recovery Guru option in the Storage Subsystem pull-down menu opens the same

window just like if you click the Recovery Guru icon in the Toolbar area. More details about

Recovery Guru can be found in Chapter 14, “Administration - Support” on page 329.



Monitor Performance

The Monitor Performance option in the Storage Subsystem pull-down menu opens the

same window just like if you click the Monitor Performance icon in Toolbar area. More details

about Monitor Performance can be found in Chapter 14, “Administration - Support” on

page 329.



Change

The Change menu item in Storage Subsystem menu is one of the most important for setting

global parameters of the DS3500 storage subsystem. Many changes done by this menu can

also be done directly in tabs, but we describe most of them in this section.

Click Storage Subsystem  Change. The menu as shown in Figure 8-14 on page 199

offers several options to configure:

Battery Settings

Cache Settings

Default Host Type

Failover Alert Delay

Time-out Setting

Enclosure ID

Enclosure Order



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