EMC Ax150i - Using it

Without a lun mounted to the server PowerPath has nothing to manage.  It may be installed, but without a lun PowerPath will show nothing for Paths, Disks or Adapters.  Once you have mounted luns to the Windows server PowerPath will populate with this info and you will be allowed to see the luns in Disk Manager.  I suggest reviewing the Windows Host Connectivity Guide.  There is a section on Clariion and another on iSCSI.  There should also be a Help page in the Navisphere utility to manage the AX on how to manage hosts, luns and storage groups.

Hope this helps.

Hi,

1. We have the lun created, but as far as mounting it to a specified sever, we haven't done that.
2. Yes it is.
3. Currently, I'm using Windows Server 2003, but in the future, there will be servers running Windows server 2008.

Apologies on the lack of detail beforehand.

-Paul

Hello,

3 questions:

1. Do you have luns from the AX150i mounted to servers yet?

2. is PowerPath managing the paths/disks/adapters?

3. What is the operating system of your servers where PowerPath is installed?

Hi,

    So we do have everything mounted on our test host server now.      However, the documentation just ends and I frankly don't know where to go from here.   Apologies on bothering people, I just feel a bit lost with this.

-Paul

No need to apologise thats what these forums are for.

Since you have the luns mounted to your test server please explain what your intentions are?  What else do you wish to do?  Please be specific.

Thank you

What I want to do is be able to do live back-ups of four of our servers.    Whenever something changes, the EMC will take a snapshot of the data and store it in the appropriate folder.   

What you are referring to is the backup and recovery features of your Clariion AX array.  If you didn't find the guides on how to use the AX backup and recovery features in either of the following locations on Powerlink then you may want to post questions regarding that topic in the Clariion forums so it gets proper visibility. 

Home > Support > Technical Documentation and Advisories > Hardware/Platforms Documentation > CLARiiON AX Series Systems > CLARiiON AX150

Home > Support > Technical Documentation and Advisories > Software ~ J-O ~ Documentation > Navisphere Management Suite > Maintenance/Administration

Hope that helps

Thanks so much!    If I could just ask one more thing:

Another thing is making sure we can actually access our system, like opening up a fileshare on a system in Windows.    Like I said before, I never could find anything in the documentation about this.    Is there a simple way of doing this?

-Paul

Of course.   I didn't properly word that.    If I use UNC pathing, how would I actually get access to the SAN?   I've tried using the actual name of the SAN, which didn't get me anywhere.   I also saw that there was different pathing for the disk that was set up.

-Paul

Like mapping a drive?  It sounds to me like a function of the Microsoft OS when the disk is mounted to the server as opposed to a function of the SAN.  Can you clarify?

That is done on the Windows Server OS.  When the disk from the Clariion AX is formated and mounted to the server using either a drive letter or mount point you will then have your volume.  From Windows, the disk won't look any different then an internal disk and you access it the same way. 

I figured as much.   This means that I'm still running into mounting problems.   I've managed to get everything actually detected, but I can't actually access the disk.    I do know that its not in my domain, so it could be a visibility problem.    That's the only real thing I can think of off the top of my head.

-Paul

Make sure to use the Host Connectivity Guide for Windows to ensure you are logging in your iSCSI initators correctly using the right settings.  Also, make sure you are not trying to access a LUNZ device. 

Another useful resource for the AX-150 is at the below link:

http://www.emc.com/microsites/clariion-support/ax150/support.esp?redirect=true&redirect=true

glen