Adding Application Servers to the SAN

Application servers are consumers of SANmelody-managed storage resources.

In this topic, you will (1) define application servers and (2) assign or associate available I/O channels to application servers. Follow the instructions below to define application servers which will be allocated storage later, then associate I/O channels with application server names.

Before you begin:

  • Please refer to the DataCore Technical Support Web site (http://www.datacore.com/support/support_home.asp) for Technical Bulletins and FAQs pertaining to the specific operating system of the application servers added. Technical bulletins and FAQs can contain important configuration information.

  • Have your list of application server port information handy, refer to Gathering Application Server Port Information, if necessary.

  • Consider using Soft WWNs for Fibre Channels. The Soft WWN feature and allows you to replace a Fibre Channel HBA without having to remap to the new WWN. In the event of a card failure, this feature makes the channel replacement quick and simple and we highly recommend its use. Refer to Using Soft WWNs for Fibre Channels and follow the instructions, if desired.

  • If you change the default channel name, channel names must be unique within a partnership.

Defining Application Servers

  1. Open the Application Servers snap-in by clicking the Application Servers node in the console tree.

  2. Click the New Application Server button SANmelody applicationserver Adding Application Servers to the SAN on the toolbar. (Alternatively, you can right-click Application Servers and choose New Application Server in the shortcut menu.)

  3. In the New Application Server dialog box, enter the name of the application server to add.  This name must be 15 characters or less and follow the naming conventions of DataCore software.

  4. In the Type box, select the operating system of the application server from the list. The list is not version specific, with the exception of Windows and IBM AIX (see below). The type selected determines the kind of SCSI responses that we send to the application server when certain failures happen. Most application server types are self-explanatory with these exceptions:

    • For HPUX application servers, there are two options:

      • For HP HBAs, select HP HPUX.  

      • For Emulex HBAs, select HP HPUX 8 LUNS.

    • For IBM AIX application servers:

      • For AIX servers using Native MPIO:

        • If your server is AIX Version 5.3 or later and Technology Level 6 (TL6) or later, select IBM AIX Native MPIO TL6+.

        • Otherwise, select IBM AIX Native MPIO Legacy.

      • For AIX servers using DataCore AIX Path Failover, select IBM AIX with DataCore AP.

    • If your operating system is not listed, select Other.

  1. Click OK. The new application server appears in the upper-right pane with a red icon until the configuration is applied.

Assigning Channels

CAUTION:  For application servers with non-Windows operating systems using iSCSI:

Most non-Windows operating systems will log out of an iSCSI target if they do not see a served LUN, or are not doing any I/O to that LUN. If your application server operating system behaves in this manner, iSCSI channels will not be automatically discovered and those channels must be manually added. (For instructions on manually adding channels, refer to Add New Channel.)

  1. Right-click on the application server name which now appears in the top pane of the display and select Properties.

  2. On the Properties dialog box, click on the Channels tab and select a Port Name/Address for the Fibre Channel or ISCSI channel installed in your application server in the Available Channels box.

  3. Click on the green up arrow to add the channel to the application server by adding them to the Assigned Channels list.

  4. Repeat steps 6 and 7 for any other channels that are connected to this application server. Click OK.

  5. Repeat all instructions in this topic to add additional application servers.

  6. Click the Configuration Apply button SANmelody applyicon Adding Application Servers to the SAN on the toolbar to make the changes to your configuration. Any application server icons that were added change from red to gray after the configuration has been applied.

  7. If you have two storage servers in your configuration, applying the configuration will send the configuration information to the partner server.

 

Back to Getting Started.

Adding Application Servers to the SAN