PowerPath and IBM SDD Driver

Question

I'm migrating from and IBM 2105 Shark to a CX3-80 system, the Host system is an IBM9117-p570 AIX 5.3 system with several HBA's. My question... is it possible to have IBM's SDD Driver and EMC's PowerPath on the same AIX system at the same time? I would like to have the Shark and the CX3-80 connected at the same time and move the data from one system to the other and then remove the SDD Drivers. I'm sure I asking for the moon but I have to ask? Or is there another way that it could be done without having to backup and restore the data, it's only a couple of TB's but I have a short window to complete the whole thing.

Any help is appreciated!

dynamox · Answer

no experience with SDD driver but what if you present only one path from CX3 just for migration, once migration is complete, remove SDD and install PowerPath and zone/register other paths ?

Allen Ward · Answer

One of my guys at another site is working on a similar project right now. I'm not sure how far he is into the testing but I'll let you know what he has run into after I talk to him.

Kiran3 · Answer

can you remove SDD and use native MPIO for accessing both controllers?

The Bearded-Czech · Answer

I haven't given that a thought at this point, I'll have to look into it!Thanks,Dave C.

The Bearded-Czech · Answer

I would appreciate any assistance or insite on how I can proceed. I'm doing this, one way or another, this weekend! Many Thanks,Dave C.

The Bearded-Czech · Answer

I'm not sure if that would work, it's kind of what I'm trying figure out. I'm going to have a limited amount of time (this weekend - 6 hours) to get the migration completed so I don't have much time to experiment. I was kinda hoping someone who has gone though this might have a suggestion but I'll look into what you suggested!

Thanks,

Dave C.

ruroruro · Answer

I'm kinda late for this reply...one of my client has using ESS800 with SDD.and I had to add CX300 to that server.I heard if you want to use sdd and powerpath at same time. you have to ask EMC for RPQ. My case was rejected, so that server has using 2 paths for CX300 but without powerpath.

The Bearded-Czech · Answer

I finally found a couple of articles on the internet where this was accomplished with EMC's approval. It seem's EMC supports connectivity between the Shark and Clariion on the same host provided they are using separate HBA's. In other word, the Shark needs it own HBA's and the EMC needs it's own HBA's. EMC has the ODM drivers for AIX which must be downloaded and installed on the AIX system in order to correctly identify the Clariion. I have the Shark and the Clariion connected to an AIX server and have successfully migrated from the Shark to the Clariion CX3-80 with no apparent problems. I plan to remove the Shark once we are sure everything migrated properly and so far everything looks good.

Thanks for everyone's help in this ah.... project!

CLARiiON

PowerPath and IBM SDD Driver

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