Dell PowerStore Importing External Storage to PowerStore Guide

Configure an agentless import

1. Log in to PowerStore Manager.
2. If the intended hosts associated with the import do not appear under Compute > Host Information > Hosts & Host Groups, select Add Host as needed and specify the relevant information for the hosts. Otherwise, go to the next step.
3. Under Migration, select Import External Storage.
   The Import External Storage page appears.
4. If the intended source system does not appear in the list of Remote Systems, select Add Remote System and specify the relevant information for the remote system. Otherwise, go to the next step.
   NOTE:When an invalid, unreachable, or down group management IP address is added to a PowerStore cluster for any Dell PS Series remote system, the following error notification appears: Addition of PS remote system failed due to error in connecting PS Group as Unknown error 0 returned by the server.

   Verify that the IP address is correct and reachable.

   NOTE:Also, after you attempt to add a Dell PS Series remote system to the PowerStore cluster, the initial data connection state will appear as No Targets Discovered. However, you can proceed to create the import session and the state will be updated to OK after the import session moves to the In Progress state. This behavior is only specific to a Dell PS Series remote system and it is expected.

   NOTE:While adding a remote system to PowerStore, you must provide the iSCSI IP address of the remote system along with other details. As part of the operation, PowerStore discovers the iSCSI portal of the remote system and tries to log in to all the targets listed in that portal. If anyone of those targets are unreachable, the associated Data Connection status appears as Partial Data Connections Loss in PowerStore Manager.
5. To configure an import session, select a source system from the list of remote systems on your network that you have previously entered manually in to PowerStore Manager.
6. Select Import Volume.
   The Import Volumes from Source Array wizard appears.
7. Step through the wizard and specify the relevant information.
   NOTE:Only source volumes and consistency groups that have a status of Ready for Agentless Import can be imported. Ready for Agentless Import is applicable only when the version of the source system is earlier than the version that is supported for non-disruptive import. However, if the version of the source system supports non-disruptive import and the host plugin is not installed, volumes or consistency group member volumes will have status The host or host(s) have not been added.. In such cases, you can choose to do non-disruptive or agentless import. Depending on the type of import you choose, you need to either install the host plugin or select the PowerStore host, respectively.

   NOTE:An XtremIO source volume is assigned a World Wide Name (WWN) when it is mapped to a host. Only such volumes with a WWN are discovered by PowerStore for import.

   NOTE:Consistency Group is not supported in the Dell PS Series systems; therefore, consistency group import from these systems is not possible.
   Once you have specified the necessary information, the system generates a summary of the import session information.
8. Verify that the import session information in the summary is accurate and complete.
9. Click Begin Import to create and start the import session.
   The Import External Storage page appears and shows the Block Imports information once the operation is started.
10. After the destination volume reaches the Ready To Enable Destination Volume state, shut down the host application accessing the source volume.
    NOTE:When importing VMware datastores, do the following from vCenter to unmount the datastore before proceeding to enable the destination:

    1. Power off the Virtual Machines (VMs).
    2. Unregister the VMs by right clicking and selecting Remove from inventory on each VM in the datastore.
    3. Right click the datastore and select Unmount datastore.
11. When the volume in the import session is in the Ready To Enable Destination Volume state, select the volume and then select Import Actions > Enable Destination Volume.
    The Enable Destination Volume dialog box appears.
12. Select the checkbox to confirm that you have shut down or taken offline the host application that is using the source volume.
13. Select whether to have the orchestrator automatically remove the host mappings during the enable destination volume process.
    NOTE:It is recommended to remove the source volume's host mapping during the enable destination volume process to prevent the host from accidentally accessing the source volume. If the host mappings from the source volume in the source system are not selected to be removed by the orchestrator, remove them manually. If the source volume's host mappings are not removed either by the orchestrator or manually, those mappings remain even after cutover of the import session. Also, if import fails or is cancelled, these host mappings must be restored to the source volume manually. They are not restored automatically.

    NOTE:(For a PowerMax to PowerStore import only) If multiple LUNs exist in the storage group being imported, all the LUNs in the storage group are unmapped immediately when you select Enable Destination Volume and select the option to unmap the volumes from the host for import. The source volumes will not be visible to the host and the host will not be able to access the source volumes. However, this action does not affect the relationship between the source volumes and their existing snapshots and clones.

    NOTE:In the case of VMAX3 import, the recommended unmap volumes option deletes the LUN masking views of a volume, which is actually defined at the storage group level, so hosts cannot access data in the volume through the VMAX3 system. VMAX3 systems allow LUN masking views at the storage group level since the storage group is a container for all volumes that are used by a single application. When the recommended unmap volumes option is selected, the LUN masking view of the storage group is deleted. As all volumes from a single storage group are imported together and the application using these volumes is stopped until all the volumes are reconfigured, this should not affect the migration process.

    NOTE:For Dell PS Series systems, if the source volume is setup using access control lists (ACLs) that are based on Basic Access Point or Access Policy Group, the automated removal of host to source volume mapping does not work. You must manually remove the host mapping and log out. Also, when the Dell PS Series source volume is setup using ACLs based on Access Policy, the automated removal of host to source volume mapping removes the host mapping from the source volume. However, the iSCSI connections between the host and the source volume must be manually disconnected by logging out.
14. Select Enable Destination Volume.
    The volume should progress to the Ready to start copy state.
15. When the import session changes to the Ready to start copy state, rescan the volumes at the host.
    NOTE:The rescan at the host may take up to approximately 3 minutes to complete depending on the size of the volumes.
    The destination volumes should be visible to the host after the rescan and those volumes can be mounted immediately.
16. Ensure that the host application has been reconfigured to access the applicable destination PowerStore volumes, then bring up the host application.
    NOTE:When importing VMware datastores, do the following from vCenter:

    1. Rescan the ESX storage adapter on which LUNs are visible.
    2. Add the datastore back and select the Keep existing Signature for VMFS option.
    3. Register the VMs by right clicking on the datastore and selecting Register VM…. Do this operation for each VM that is in the datastore.
    4. Power on the VMs.
17. When the volume in the import session is in the Ready to start copy state, select the volume and then select Import Actions > Start Copy.
    The volume should progress to the Copy in progress state.
18. To view the progress of ongoing import sessions, under Migration, select Imports.
19. To view the progress details of a specific ongoing import session, click the state of that import session.
    The Import Session Progress Details slide out for that import session appears.