SCv3020 and SAS attachments with VMware questions

In the past 6-7 years we setup around 30-40 of these SAS storage system starting with PowerVault MD3 (32xx, 34xx) and than moving to SCv2020,3020 and even 5020 for customer who never have a need for more than 4 Hosts.  vSphere supports this kind of setups[1] for ages now.

Yes the 12G is slighly more than 8G FC and also lower latency.

Also on a modern SAS storage the LUNs are mapped to all connected Hosts so vMotion ,HA are working as expected. There is no different compared to FC or iSCSI and the way how to configure is the same and on SC its named "mapping".

Yes we use async. replication with SCv2020 and 5020 and both are running on SAS. A SAS version never can use sync. replication or live volume. Keep also in mind than RIRA licenses are needed and when speaking about 3020/5020 you need the mezz. card options because there are no dedicated Repl. ports anymore (like on SCv2020).

I think that we never go for the encryp. options because of the limited drive options. Also mixing encryp. and standard drives is not supportet. So think about if you would go this way.

A SC will try to write a stripe over 5 or 9 disks so this is why its called Raid5.5 or 5.9. The later one gives better space efficiency. If you select Double Redundancy (allows up to survive 2 disk failures at once)  than the system use RAID6 with stripes over 6 or 10 disks.

The SC dont use fixed diskgroups like older  storage systems. Instead it groups "similar" diskstypes into diskfolders (like a pool) and every volume(LUN) can use a different policy which can change as often and when ever you want.  Also the SC used dyn. RAID level with RAID tiering based on the policy it starts with RAID10 and converts than to RAID5/6 with the option to migrate data (data progression) from Tier1 over Tier2 into Tier3.

[1] right now there is no way that a vSphere 6.5/7 together with a SAS SC works out of the box. The right driver needs to select manually and also a special command line option needs to be set.  Yes, they have  updated their vSphere Bestpractices guide a couple of weeks ago. But we had a hard time in the past months.

We and our customers like the SC with SAS!

Regards
Joerg

Thanks for the information!

So is the SCv3020 a compellant or EMC solution? I can't find it on the vmware comparability list but I can find compellant storage center and I can find EMC similar sounding products

Hehehhehe..... right now the company is DellEMC and maybe in the near Feature Dell Technology.   DellEMC renamed the brand "Compellent" to  "SC" (StorageCenter) a long time ago. Dell bought Compellent in early 2011 and with the launch of Compellent SC8000 and SC4020 or shortly after they renamed Compellent to SC. Our SC220 bezels are labeld with Compellent :)

So for the VMware HCL select both Dell and DellEMC as company name and search for the term "Center". You will see different entries based on frontend connectivity like FC, iSCSI and SAS.  They always certified a Storage Center OS Version like 6.6, 7.2,7.3 rather than a modells like SCv2020 or SCv3020. So when SCOS7.3 is available on SCv3020 than its good for vSphere.

Regards
Joerg

Ah, now I see what I am looking for..

btw. You said vSphere works with SAS, we're still tripping over the fact that the deployment guide said vSphere is not supported with SAS attachment. 

Do you have any documents that you know of that show this deployment setup with vSphere or articles that show how to configure it? I now the SAS driver issue is one of the big problems, which is easily fixed. We just need some documentation to back up that it works before we make this move.. after many years of fiber channel this is a new path for us.

Just take a look into VMware HCL for Storage Center SAS

Right now the latest best practice Guide https://downloads.dell.com/manuals/all-products/esuprt_solutions_int/esuprt_solutions_int_solutions_resources/general-solution-resources_white-papers8_en-us.pdf

Take a look to chapter 6.12 and D1.

How to setup a SAS SC for VMware
https://downloads.dell.com/solutions/storage-solution-resources/VMware-with-SAS-FE%20Solutions-Guide-SC-Series-Dell-EMC-2017-(3027-CD-VM).pdf

The question about the right driver

https://www.dell.com/support/article/de/de/debsdt1/how11081/preparing-vmware-esxi-hosts-to-attach-to-scv20x0-scv30x0-sc4020-sc5020-sas-arrays?lang=en

and the new setting for vSphere 6.7
https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/67006 together with 4.2.3 from the BP Guide.

Regards
Joerg

Thank you! This is a big help

Test

We have a HP cluster node what is going into this new cluster, we aren't 100% switched over to Dell yet... it's been a long process...

Is there any compatibility issues with using a HP 12Gbit SAS dual port card with this SAN? I believe it's just a re-branded LSI SAS 9300-8e SGL.. being SAS it should be able to talk since it's a standard even if it has custom HP firmware on the SAS card right?

Great!

Be sure that you use the latest Dell SC vSphere Best Practice Guide because it contains the latest how to configure SC SAS with vSphere 6.7 informations.

The upcoming SCOS 7.4 is around the corner and bring full vSphere 6.7 support. You can hold your breath.

Regards
Joerg