Dell PowerStore Importing External Storage to PowerStore Guide

Import network overview

Import from source volume to PowerStore depends on several components. One of the most important components is network connections. These connections are:

1. SAN path1: The front-end from the host to the PowerStore cluster. The PowerStore cluster is the destination and good and steady network connectivity from the host to the destination is mandatory. Both Fibre Channel (FC) and iSCSI are options for this segment and must be the same as what the host has towards the source system.
2. SAN path2: The back-end from the PowerStore cluster to the source system. This connection is used for data transfer between the source volume and the PowerStore cluster. Here again, good and steady network connectivity is mandatory. Both Fibre Channel (FC) and iSCSI are options for this segment and must be the same as what the host has towards the source system and PowerStore cluster.
3. SAN path3: The front-end connection from the host to the source system. For this segment, both FC and iSCSI are options and the protocol must be the same as what the host has towards the PowerStore cluster. This connection can be removed from the source system once all the volumes for this host have been imported.
4. Control path1 (IP): PowerStore must have a management path connection to the source system for the management commands.
5. (For non-disruptive import only) Control path2 (IP): the PowerStore cluster must have a management path connection to the host or hosts involved. The PowerStore cluster import orchestrator uses this connection to communicate with the host or hosts.

All these network connections must be established before starting the import and they must be working well for import and cancel to be successful. Also, it is highly recommended that the connection from the PowerStore cluster to the source array be a high-speed network with redundant connections. Also, both systems should be within a short distance of each other to minimize network latency issues.