virtual storage integrator 5.1 overview

Welcome to Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI) 5.1 Overview.

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1 Copyright © 2012 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

This course describes the features, benefits, and functionality of Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI) in a VMware vSphere 5.x environment. This course covers client interfaces, supported architectures, and enhanced manageability.

This course is intended for individuals who will: position, plan and design, install, and support VSI as part of an integrated solution with EMC storage.

Copyright © 2012 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved. 2

This module provides an in-depth overview of the Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI) product including customer benefits, architecture details, and associated plug-in components in a vSphere – EMC environment.


There are three basic approaches when it comes to managing today’s virtualized and

dynamic private cloud environments. Traditionally, large organizations have disparate IT

teams. The teams are siloed by technology such as storage, compute/virtualization, network,

applications, security, etc. The individual teams have their own specific skill set and area of

operational responsibility. Configuration changes to the environment required inter-team

communication and standard procedures.

The other approach is utilized by a lot of smaller organizations that usually have fewer

resources to manage their entire environment. In this type of environment, there is a single

team responsible for managing the entire infrastructure. Each of the members has to be

knowledgeable across the different technology disciplines.

The third approach is a hybrid where there is some consolidation across several technology

disciplines. For example, compute/virtualization and storage can consolidate into a single

area, with network and security as distinct areas.


When it comes to managing storage in a virtualized environment, there are specific tasks that

need to be performed from the both the storage and virtualization layers. The storage needs

to be configured from the array platform depending on protocol choice: Fibre Channel, iSCSI

or NFS, and then presented to the ESX/ESXi hosts. Once the vSphere environment has

visibility and access to the storage objects, VMFS datastores and RDM volumes can then be

created.


As organizations progress through the journey to the private cloud, there are several management challenges that need to be addressed:

- For standard provisioning, there are separate element managers for the storage and for the virtual tiers.

- There exists an informational gap between the storage and virtual tiers. What is needed is a complete understanding how the vCenter objects are mapped to the storage components. Having this information will assist in planning, layout and troubleshooting activities.

- As IT organizations transform to an IT-as-a-Service model, the traditional silos of management are beginning to converge.

- With more focus shifting to services delivery, the day-to-day operational tasks need to be simplified.

- Security and control is always a requirement that needs to be addressed.


Operations management disciplines are starting to converge in the dynamic cloud computing environment. This transformation will require:

- Simplified manageability through key integration which will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the IT team.

- With the dynamic nature of the infrastructure, understanding the logical mapping across the virtual and storage tiers is vital.

- Operational efficiency by providing the flexibility for virtualization teams to self-provision and leverage storage optimization features will lead to shorter provisioning cycles and more streamlined procedures.

- Security mechanisms need to be in place to ensure that only individuals or groups with the proper rights can provision against specified pools within a storage platform(s).


Through integration, storage provisioning and configuration across the storage and virtualization tiers is simpler and more efficient.

EMC Unisphere and Symmetrix Management Console (SMC) provide storage administrators a view into the VMware environment and how it relates to storage infrastructure, further enabling better collaboration and communication among data center staff. EMC Unisphere and SMC discover the ESX/ESXi hosts and virtual machines managed under VMware vCenter Server, and provide storage administrators with end-to-end mapping of the virtual environment.

VMware administrators typically have access to detailed information on the virtual server environment and virtual machines, but lack visibility into the storage system. The EMC Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI) plug-in framework for VMware vCenter resolves this by providing the capability to provision, monitor and manage storage without having to learn a new interface.

EMC Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI) for VMware vSphere is a plug-in framework to VMware’s

vSphere’s vSphere Client that provides a single management interface used for managing

EMC storage within the vSphere environment. Features can be added and removed from VSI

independently, providing flexibility for customizing VSI user environments.

Virtual Storage Integrator gives virtual server administrators access to storage resources to

provision and manage storage in the virtualized realm. VSI creates an environment with

greater efficiency, scale, and security throughout the stack when using VMware and EMC

storage platforms together.

VSI features can be added and removed from the VSI framework independently providing

flexibility for customizing VSI user environments. Features as listed install separately.

Features are managed using the VSI Feature Manager from within the vSphere client.

Listed are the VSI plug-ins, feature description, and supported products which work with VSI.


Some key benefits to VSI storage management include simplified storage management and provisioning from the VM administrator’s perspective. With VSI, administrators are able to configure, provision, and manage storage presented to their environments as they see fit for the workloads in the virtualized data center. Additionally, they can dynamically choose multipath options, monitor performance, and extend or reclaim space in the environment as needed.

Remember, VSI is free and available on Powerlink. Users may choose which part of the VSI framework is required and either install all components, or just the plug-in which they require to manage their environment.


Shown here is a typical deployment of VSI with VMware vSphere. The vSphere client connects to the vCenter server via IP and subsequently connects to the elements in the environment in a variety of different ways- either FC or IP.

In environments where storage pool management is going to be used, the vSphere client connecting to the vCenter server, will need to be configured and communicate with a server which has SMC installed. In environments with VSI SRA, the SRA Utilities should be installed on the vCenter server and directly interact with Site Recovery Manager.


Shown is a logical diagram of what VSI looks like as a plug-in architecture. VSI is installed in

the vSphere client and each additional feature is a plug-in to the VSI framework. vSphere and

VSI connect over IP to the vCenter server and some components, such as Storage Viewer

and Storage Pool Management (SPM) will require FC connectivity to various components in

the environment. SPM will require a connection to Symmetrix Management Console which

will enable it to manage storage pools from the array's virtualization domain.


Let's take a moment to discuss what connectivity looks like in a vSphere VSI environment. This should

provide an insight as to what components connect to each other and where. We'll discuss how these

APIs and components work in our demos.

• vSphere client Connects to vCenter Server, port 443

• VSI installed on vSphere client, could include the following plug-ins:

• Path Management

• Storage Viewer

• Unified Storage Management

• Storage Pool Management

• SRA utilities


Shown here are the connectivity options for VSI Storage Viewer.

The option to discover and view VMAX arrays requires Solutions Enabler 7.3.0 or later and

allows Storage Viewer native FC discovery and viewing of VMAX arrays. VSI comes bundled

with Solutions Enabler 7.3.x. In this scenario, Solutions Enabler can be installed either locally

or on a remote host.

Another option: for Storage Viewer discovery and viewing of Unified arrays via IP, grant the VSI client the credentials to connect to the unified arrays.


Shown here is VSI Path Management discovery and management for PowerPath/VE service

running on the ESX server via the CIM port. In this type of environment, vSphere with VSI

connects to vCenter Server and the ESX host has PowerPath/VE loaded, has the PowerPath

CIM port enabled where it has the PowerPath services running, and has provisioned LUNs

from the FC arrays. So, in this environment PowerPath/VE is required on the ESX host as are

rtools on the VSI Client. This allows for discovery and management of the native Fibre

Channel devices—all viewable from VSI. VSI also discovers and manages NMP devices, which

are native multi-path devices in a VMware environment.


In this environment, we are looking at VSI Storage Pool connectivity. Storage Pool Management for VMAX arrays allows native FC management via Symmetrix Management Console (SMC) to VSI. SMC connects to arrays via a native Fibre Channel SAN environment. The vSphere client connects to the vCenter server over IP. The vCenter server has a storage server (storsrvd) connected and configured, which is essentially the SMC server. So, via that interface and that API over port 8443, VSI is able to talk to SMC, gather details about the environment, and also effect changes to storage pools via that connectivity.


VSI Unified Storage Management (USM) connectivity has essentially the logical constructs depicted in this diagram. The vSphere client with VSI connects to the vCenter Server over IP, which in turn is configured to gather data and configuration information about the Unified arrays over IP. So, VSI Unified Storage management allows native IP discovery and management of Unified arrays. In this scenario, where you are using VSI with Unified Storage Management plug-in it will require both Navisphere and VNX CLI.


VSI SRA (Storage Replication Adapter) Utilities allows for VSI discovery and management of Site Recovery Manager (SRM) environments. This feature helps users to more efficiently manage SRM configurations in SRDF environments. It provides SRM diagnostic tools that help user to easily identify configuration errors. This will require IP connectivity between sites/environments. In this scenario, the vSphere client with VSI connects to the vCenter Server (which also has SRM) over IP. That vCenter Server with SRM connects to and communicates with another vCenter Server with SRM over some undisclosed, in this case, distance over IP. Meanwhile, there is SRDF replication happening for devices that may have been served to a local host and/or cluster in the ESX environment at the local site. SRM understands the group devices, the group and pairings of devices, and VSI provides the virtual administrator the ability to have a perspective at looking at the gold copies and failover plans of that particular environment.


Let’s talk about general software requirements for VSI 5.1:

• VSI 5.1 requires VMware vSphere client v4.0 update 1 or later and is a pre-requisite for installing and using VSI.

For operating environments:

• VSI is currently only supported on the operating environments supported to run the VMware vSphere client natively—at this time only Microsoft Windows.

vCenter Server:

• VSI 5.1 is supported with VMware vCenter Server 4.0 update 1 or later

VMware ESX and ESXi:

• VSI 5.1 is supported on both ESX and ESXi version 4.0 update 1 and later. Our testing was with ESXi 5.0.

PowerPath:

• VSI currently supports PowerPath/VE, PowerPath remote tools version 5.4 SP2, also known as version 5.4.2. Remote tools must be installed on the client where VSI is running.

Installation:

• Installation can only occur when client is closed. Installation order of plug-ins can be in any order which is preferred by the operator/customer:

• Storage Viewer

Requires Solutions Enabler connectivity, local or remote, port 2707. VSI 5.1 is packaged with Solutions Enabler 7.3.0 and must be installed to use the browsing abilities of Symmetrix, CLARiiON, and VNX block devices.

• Unified Storage Management, requires Unisphere CLI 1.5 or later on the vSphere Client host.

• Storage Pool Management, requires Symmetrix Management Console, port 8443 (configurable). Additionally requires setup of storage pools on array and SPM connectivity (account on SMC)

• Path Management, requires PowerPath/VE license

• Site Recovery Adapter, requires Site Recovery Manager, Solutions Enabler, and SRDF

Please refer to the VSI release notes for any further clarification on requirements.


Our first demo will include the following:

• Environment overview

• Software installation process and procedure

• First time environment discovery

• Feature demonstration and UI overview


This module takes look at the core sub-components of the VSI product suite. These include: Storage Viewer, Unified Storage Management, Storage Pool Management, and Path Management


Shown here is a high-level architecture view of the data / information path of a client running VSI with storage viewer and it’s requirements in order to report on storage.

vSphere client and VSI connect to the vCenter server over IP. Storage Viewer requires a TCP/IP connection to a Solutions Enabler server either running on the local or remote host, running the storsrvd process. So that the host, with FC connectivity, can communicate back to Storage Viewer what it discovers for the array(s) configuration. Take a moment to consider the API connections in the environment – vSphere with VSI to vCenter, and SV to SE via IP, while SE communicates with the array via gatekeepers in a FC SAN environment.


Storage Pool Management has like connection requirements but also requires IP connectivity to a SMC server which in turn is connected FC to the arrays requiring to be managed. We discuss and explore these options more in our demos, and in the Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI) 5.1 for VMAX Management course.


VSI's Path Management plug-in communicates to the LUNs/arrays over the FC connections

of the ESX host. Via VSI, this information is reported back in the vSphere console which is

being viewed and managed by an administrator on IP. Path Management will use IP

connections for native VMware NMP or function calls to PP/VE remote tools to manage FC

disks via CIM port on the ESX host and communicating with the PowerPath/VE service

running on that host. Path Management will not use native FC connections for

communications.


VSI has Integrated Performance Monitoring for LUNs assigned to hosts, and to LUNs provisioned to virtual machines. Here are some of the attributes available with performance monitoring:

• Displays storage stats overlaid with vSphere stats

• Supports VNX, VNXe, VMAX and VMAXe

• Monitors VM virtual disks, VMFS, RDM, and NFS datastores

• Typical stats are total IOPS, read latency, and write latency

• % busy is used if latency is not available (e.g. with VNX pool LUNs)

• vSphere stats require VMware vCenter 4.1 or later

• Storage stats require Solutions Enabler 7.3 or later

VSI Storage Viewer has VM latency alarms. These alarms are useful when LUNs assigned to

VMs are not performing or are reaching a period of unacceptable latency for response. Here

is how to enable these alarms within VSI:

• When a VM is selected

• A latency alarm will be configured for that VM only

•When a host is selected

• A latency alarm will be configured for all VMs on that host Note: Selection of a

datastore in the host's datastore list will not affect which VMs are configured with

the alarm

•When a datastore is selected

• A latency alarm will be configured for all VMs on that datastore within the

current virtual datacenter. Note: If a VM exists on this datastore, but in a different

virtual center then it will not have an alarm configured

The USM plug-in for VSI allows the VMware administrator to provision, and manage storage from the vSphere console with ease and simplicity. For each host connected to a CLARiiON, VNX, or VNXe in the environment, the administrator will be able to manage LUNs and datastores for the environment, specifically performing the following actions: compress/decompress storage, refreshing storage view of VMware View desktops, provision storage directly from the array, and view in-depth properties of the storage within the arrays.

Unified Storage Management will be covered in more detail in the Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI) for VNX Management course


SPM (Storage Pool Management) is a VSI plug-in which allows VMware administrators the

ability to directly manage storage from VMAX and VMAXe arrays. Storage which has been

provisioned into pools and made available to the VDC from the arrays can be managed by

the virtual administrator. Practically most operations can be performed via VSI, including:

provisioning and reclamation, creation and removal of datastores, creation of physical (RDM)

LUNs and setting various policies for storage usage within the ESX environment.


VSI Storage Viewer also provides a display into LUNs and path assignments. Prior to VSI, administrators would not be able to finely look at path assignment and configuration from the vSphere console. VSI provides the admin the ability to check assignment, performance, and to change the multi-path policy as needed in a real-time fashion. Storage Viewer supports both NMP and PowerPath/VE paths.


In our next demo, we show VSI's ability to perform the following tasks:

• Various storage management tasks/functions

• Path management functions


Listed are some resources to access additional detail.

VSI is a free download for existing customers and users with Powerlink accounts.

VSI Software: http://powerlink.emc.com/km/appmanager/km/secureDesktop?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=servicesDownloadsTemplatePg&internalId=0b0140668056443c&_irrt=true

Documentation:

http://powerlink.emc.com/km/appmanager/km/secureDesktop?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=freeformlinks2&internalId=0b014066804e2f41&_irrt=true


http://powerlink.emc.com/km/appmanager/km/secureDesktop?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=servicesDownloadsTemplatePg&internalId=0b0140668056443c&_irrt=true

http://powerlink.emc.com/km/appmanager/km/secureDesktop?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=servicesDownloadsTemplatePg&internalId=0b0140668056443c&_irrt=true



This VSI acronym glossary may be useful in learning the terms and acronyms frequently used while discussing the product. Please take a moment to review these items.


Listed are the key points covered in this course. This concludes the instruction, please proceed to the course assessment.


virtual storage integrator 5.1 overview

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