I should also add we are using Clariion SANs and would rather not use SAN Copy.

It sounds as if there are only 2 fc ports on the VNX and that those are connected to another switch where RecoverPoint is in place as well. Do you have an FC module on the VNX array or do you just have 2 FC ports per SP that comes with the VNX?

so what's changing in your infrastructure, just the storage array ?  What's stopping you from connecting VNX5300 to the same Brocade switch, zone ESX hosts tot he new array, present new LUNs and perform storage vMotion ?

I agree with Dynamox, vMotion should be better and safer.

Thanks for the replies guys :-)

In answer to your questions:

Q:  So what's changing in your infrastructure, just the storage array ?

A:  We are migrating to a vBlock 320 System.

Q:  What's stopping you from connecting VNX5300 to the same Brocade switch, zone ESX hosts tot he new array, present new LUNs and perform storage vMotion ?

A:  This is what I am trying to achieve, just unsure how to configure it and implications of doing this.

Q: It sounds as if there are only 2 fc ports on the VNX and that those are connected to another switch where RecoverPoint is in place as well.  Do you have an FC module on the VNX array or do you just have 2 FC ports per SP that comes with the VNX?

A:  On the VNX 5300 Storage Processor (TRPE) there are 8 FC Ports (4 for A0 and 4 for B0).  4 of these are already being used - they go to the Disk Processor Enclosure (which then goes to the Cisco MDS 9148).  We do have Recoverpoint but this is not configured as yet.

My question is - is it as simple as running fibre from one of the free FC Ports on the TRPE to the Brocade Switch and then doing the zoning?  Is there any other configuration that needs to be done on the VNX side of things?

Thanks again.

yes, connect free FC ports to Brocade switch, create new zones, ESXi will auto-register in VNX Initiators. Create new LUNs, present to ESXi servers, create new datastores and sVMotion away.

Now i assume at some point you will connect Cisco UCS servers in vBlock to the same ESX cluster and vMotion off the old servers to Vblock servers ?

Hi Dynamox,

Thanks again for the reply.

So... I have now connected the free FC from VNX to the Brocade Switch.  I then created a new Zone on the Brocade side but had to manually register the VNX Initiator.  I was planning on using the existing LUNs to present to the ESXi Servers but I cannot see them when trying to add new storage.  Also worth mentioning that within the new vBlock  environment vCenter is 5.5 whilst our current environment is vCenter 5.0 (hosts also 5.0).

As another test I tried adding a 5.0 Host into my new vCenter 5.5 environment and this was fine with the exception that it could only see the SAN Storage presented on the old environment and not the vBlock storage but this is what I expected as I didn't Zone this direction.

Hi Guys, if my zoning is setup correctly (which I believe it is), why can't my old environment see my new VNX Storage? Am I missing a step?

It sounds like the VNX ports have logged in to the switch. After you created the zones, added them to the zoneset and activated it do you see the hosts in Unisphere?

Hi Ernes,

No, I can't see any of my Vblock Hosts, I was only trying to allow my old Hosts see the Vblock Storage.

I have Unisphere installed in both my old and new environments.  I did all of the Zoning on my old environment (non Vblock) and added in the HBA Adapter for the VNX.  Have I done this right? Thanks