Configuring VMAX for AIX boot devices

Question

Greetings, I am wondering if anyone out there is booting AIX servers from a VMAX.  If so, I am curious what the best practices are (if any). We are running  AIX 6.1 and VIO servers with some LPARs using NPIV and some with dedicated HBAs.  So far, I've been creating the boot devices from a RAID6+2 fiber channel 300 GB drive storage pool.  I need a better plan for these boot devices.... My question is: Should I consider creating a storage pool of SATA drives for boot devices?  At first glance, the answer is 'why not?  I could save money'. But I'm talking about 100 + LPARS.  Now if an issue occurs within that storage pool, I could lose my *entire* unix environment at once.   Maybe that's not likely, but it would be catastrophic, as you can imagine,  In this case, it's not the odds but rather the stakes that drive the concern. Whether SATA or not, I still have the issue of how to protect my boot devices. Since the majority of the LPARs are clustered, I'm thinking of two scenarios: 1.)  Creating two pools of disk, RAID6+2 protection.  Then for each clustered LPAR I could have cluster node A boot the first storage pools and cluster node B of the cluster booting from the second storage pool.  That way, even if I lose an entire storage pool - the cluster could fail over reducing the impact. 2.)  Creating two pools of disk, RAID6+2 protection.  Allocate two devices to each LPAR, one from each pool.  Then use mirroring at the LPAR (similar to how internal boot devices are configured).  This is more costly, but less impact should a storage pool fail - the cluster would not need to fail over. 3.)  Any other ideas out there?  What are you doing in your similar environment? Thanks In Advance! Julianne Quinn Sr. Storage Engineer IT Infrastructure Services Portland General Electric

Nollaig1 · Answer

Hello Julianne,

There are a few documents that might help you from an EMC side.

The host connectivity guide details what is required to set up an Aix server boot from SAN.

This can be accessed on powerlink at Home -> Support -> Technical Documentation and Advisories -> Host Connectivity/HBAs -> Installation/Configuration

Also have a browse through some other solutions:

Home -> Solutions -> Application Solutions -> IBM.

Hope this helps,

Nollaig

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Booyah2 · Answer

Hello Julianne,

Here's a document (connectivity guide) that may also add some additional insight.

Booting from storage is outlined on page 42.

http://powerlink.emc.com/km/live1//en_US/Offering_Technical/Technical_Documentation/300-000-608.pdf

Hope this helps...

Thom

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Booyah2 · Answer

Ooops, I see that Nollaig has already pointed you in the direction of the connectivity guide...

Anyways, just thinking out load... if you decide to go with two storage pools for the cluster, you may want to consider putting each pool on different storage arrays adding an additional layer of reduncy.

Symmetrix

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