Help Anyone familiar with HP SAN controllers?

[Jupitus]

Hi folks - I have a project at work where we are dependant on a 3rd party provider to set up a new SAN installation. I know very little about this tech so I was wondering if anyone might have some experience of this stuff.

We have 3 systems writing currently to an old SAN array, creating 3 logical volumes of about 15Tb each. We need to maintain the contents of at least one of these 3 logical drives and copy it into the new setup... it could then be cloned for the other 2 systems.

The new hardware will be using HP MSA 2040s... 1 with the controller and 2 slaved from it. Here is the nub of the matter: Is there some kind of utility within the controller which would enable the cloning of 1 volume to 2 others? In other words, is it possible to copy just 1 archive from the old SAN onto the new, and then clone that logical drive twice?

I hope that's enough info, but pls ask if you are able to help with more input. Thanks!

 

[caLLous]

So you basically want us to do your homework for you?

I have no idea about SAN stuff but it would be well worth asking in /r/datahoarder on reddit. Storage systems is what the sub is about and there are lots of very knowledgeable storage-minded folks there.

 

[Zarjazz]

So you basically want us to do your homework for you?

Not homework, looks more like he doesn't want to pay the 3rd party provider to do the work

I hope that's enough info, but pls ask if you are able to help with more input. Thanks!

Never used a HP but most modern SAN's have some sort of snapshot functionality. So once the data is on the array you can usually take a snapshot then use that to create a new LUN/vdisk/whatever. There may even be a simply copy method in the management interface, not uncommon.

As for getting the data onto the new SAN ... What kind of connectivity are you using, iSCSI or Fibre Channel? Hopefully not FC as that would be a bitch to work with.

 

[Jupitus]

Not homework, looks more like he doesn't want to pay the 3rd party provider to do the work



Never used a HP but most modern SAN's have some sort of snapshot functionality. So once the data is on the array you can usually take a snapshot then use that to create a new LUN/vdisk/whatever. There may even be a simply copy method in the management interface, not uncommon.

As for getting the data onto the new SAN ... What kind of connectivity are you using, iSCSI or Fibre Channel? Hopefully not FC as that would be a bitch to work with.

Thanks Zarjazz, very useful. It is fibre channel so we know we may need to do stuff in stages, but knowing there is likely to be a suitable utility helps me when talking to the 3rd party.

@caLLous - stop bitching I told you it's beyond my expertise already! I just wanted a bit of guidance as to whether the feature is likely to be there or not.

You come up with a financial market data question and I'll nail it for you

 

[Ch3tan]

The msa 2000 series are not really enterprise, they are small business. The ones we still have in our estate are a few generations old now but they don't have any of the options you'd expect. No snapshot, cloning etc. You might be able to do more via command line but from my experience hp purposefully curtail the feature set of this line.

 

[Ch3tan]

Looks like the newer generations do have what you need.. From hpe:

The MSA 2040 Storage ships standard with 64 Snapshots and Volume Copy enabled for increased data protection and allow replication with optional Remote Snap software between arrays (FC or iSCSI only).

https://www.hpe.com/uk/en/product-c...verview.hpe-msa-2040-san-storage.5386548.html

 

[Jupitus]

Looks like the newer generations do have what you need.. From hpe:

The MSA 2040 Storage ships standard with 64 Snapshots and Volume Copy enabled for increased data protection and allow replication with optional Remote Snap software between arrays (FC or iSCSI only).

HPE MSA 2040 SAN Storage | HPE™ United Kingdom

Hey fella, thanks very much indeed! Sorry for the tardy response - I was actually not doing anything work-related this weekend.... for once !