Enabling/Disabling Proxy Mode

Refer to About Proxied Volumes for an overview of the Proxy Mode option.

Proxy Mode is used for data migration purposes and supports all kinds of existing operating system formats, such as Windows, Unix, AIX, and so on. When a volume with an existing file system and data is proxied, the existing file systems and data are preserved and can be managed by SANmelody software.

The DataCore Disk Manager tool is the interface you will use to configure volumes as Proxied Volumes.  You must place the storage server in Proxy Mode in order to configure individual volumes as Proxied Volumes.  While all logical volumes (non-proxy volumes) managed by SANmelody software are automatically assigned a SANmelody volume label, Proxied Volumes are not automatically tagged with this label.  Thus, a storage server running in Proxy Mode can discover these volumes and serve them to an application server without altering the live data on the volumes.

WARNING: It is crucial to enable Proxy Mode on the storage server before attaching the original host volumes to the storage server.  If the storage server is not in Proxy Mode, it will discover the original host volumes and write data to the disk, possibly corrupting the file system and/or data. If data is written to the disk, the original partition table would be damaged, rendering the disk unreadable by the host. Thus, when you configure a volume as a Proxied Volume, SANmelody software sees the disk simply as a sequence of disk blocks and does not try to impose its own format on the device.  When Proxy Mode is enabled, the storage server will automatically restart.   

Special Notes

  • While SANmelody software supports standard SCSI disk commands (open, read, write, etc.), it does not process proprietary extended SCSI commands for Proxied Volumes.

  • Proxy mode is not supported for dual path volumes, as these volumes are visible from more than one source.

  • You must disable LUN Distribution on all channels before enabling Proxy Mode on the storage server. Refer to Enabling/Disabling LUN Distribution.

To enable Proxy Mode on a storage server:

  1. In the SANmelody snap-in, select Disk Manager in the console tree, and choose Enable Proxy Mode from the context menu.  

  2. A warning appears that the system will restart if you enable Proxy Mode. Click Yes to enable Proxy Mode and automatically restart the storage server. (If you click No, Proxy Mode will not be enabled.)

  3. After your system restarts, the storage server will be in Proxy Mode.

  4. Attach the volume to proxy to the storage server.

Note: When Proxy Mode is enabled on the storage server:

  • SANmelody software automatically hides all newly-attached volumes with non-Windows file systems from Windows Disk Management, preventing modification of the data.

  • Windows Disk Management will still be able to recognize newly-attached disks with Windows file systems.

  • All newly-attached volumes will not be automatically labeled and managed by SANmelody software; they will be visible in the Physical Disks component of the DataCore Disk Manager tool, where they will be identified as candidates to be proxied.

  1. If the volume has a Windows file system, use Windows to discover and identify the volume to proxy. All drive letters must be removed from the disk in order to be identified by Disk Manager. Before doing so, make note of the disk number and any partition information in order to return the volume to its original state at a later time.

  2. Now, refer to Identifying and Creating Proxied Volumes for instructions to create Proxied Volumes.

 

Disabling Proxy Mode on a Storage Server

To disable Proxy Mode, perform step 1 above, except choose Disable Proxy Mode. The storage server will automatically restart.

Enabling/Disabling Proxy Mode