In this video, I will demonstrate attaching a Windows 2016 host to a Storage Center array with Fibre Channel I/O cards. One of the first prerequisites for attaching a Windows 2016 host is to install MPIO. If using Windows 2012, this step can be skipped as Dell Storage Manager will install it for you.
To install MPIO, right-click the Windows icon. Click on "Programs and Features". Click on "Turn Windows features on or off". When the wizard opens up, click "Next". Click "Next". Click "Next". Click "Next". Scroll down to "Multipath I/O", select it, and click "Next". Select the auto restart option, then click "Yes" and "Install". Launch the "Dell Storage Manager Client". Click on "Configure this host to access a Storage Center".
Provide the credentials and log in to the Storage Center the host will be connecting to. Review the prerequisites and click "Next". The Storage Center we are connecting to supports both "Fibre Channel" and "iSCSI". The DSM Client didn't find any existing "Fibre Channel" connections to the array, so it's asking if you want to use "iSCSI". If we had zoned the host to the array prior to starting this wizard, this screen would not be displayed. Click "No".
The server has a two-port Fibre Channel HBA. The wizard will provide you with information on what zones need to be created, but it can't tell what switch the HBA is connected to. Document the HBA's World Wide Name then log in to one of the switches. We'll start with "Fault Domain 1". Click "Configure", Zone Admin. Scroll down to the port number that the server HBA is plugged into. Our server is connected to port 20 on both switches.
Expand out the World Wide Name to see the World Wide Port Name, which is underneath the World Wide Node Name. If you don't see the same World Wide Name that is displayed in DSM, log in to the other switch. Highlight the World Wide Port Name, then click on "Create New Alias". Enter a name.
Typically, this is a server name. If the server has multiple connections to each switch, you would want to also identify the different HBAs. We only have one connection to each switch. Click "OK", then the right arrow to move the World Wide Name over. Next, click on the "Zone" tab. Click "New Zone". Enter a name for the zone. It is typically descriptive of what is in the zone.
In this case, we'll use the server name and the array name. Expand out "Aliases" and locate the newly created server alias and the aliases for the virtual ports of the Storage Center. Highlight all three of them or one at a time and click on the right arrow. Next, click on the "Zone Config" tab. Expand out "Zones". Find the newly created zone, highlight it, and click the right arrow. Click on "Save Config". Click on "Yes".
Wait for the changes to be completed, then click on "Enable Config". Click "OK". Click "Yes". After it has completed, you can close the "Zoning" wizard. Open DSM and select the appropriate fault domain. In our case, it was "Fault Domain 1". Click "OK". The wizard now displays the other HBA port's World Wide Name.
Document and open the "Zoning" wizard on the other switch for the other fault domain. Just like the other switch, we create an alias for the HBA and create a zone and then add it to the Config and enable it. When zoning is complete, we continue with the DSM wizard. We select the appropriate fault domain, and click "OK".
The wizard will show connectivity as "Not Connected". Click on "Refresh". The status should change to "Fully Connected". If it doesn't, troubleshoot prior to continuing. Click "Next" to continue. For Windows server 2016 if you didn't install MPIO prior to running this wizard, you will see this error.
Just cancel out of the wizard and reboot. Rerun the wizard, and it will succeed. If MPIO was installed prior to running the wizard, you will see this screen. You can use the "Copy to clipboard" feature to document what best practices were applied. Click on "Launch wizard to create a volume for this host", then click "Finish".
Update the "Volume" "Name" and click "Next". Update the "Capacity" and click "Next". Make any modifications necessary for the "Storage Options" and click "Next". Adjust the "Snapshot Profiles" for the volume and click "Next". Click "Next" then "Finish". Restart the server. After the server has rebooted, open "Disk Management".
Locate the new disk. Right-click it and bring it "Online". Right-click again and choose "Initialize Disk". Choose the partition style and click "OK". Right-click the partition and then "New Simple Volume". Click "Next", "Next", Next, Next, then "Finish". The volume can now be accessed.
