Dell PowerStore Importing External Storage to PowerStore Guide

Importing file-based external storage to PowerStore overview

Importing file-based external storage to PowerStore is a migration solution that imports a Virtual Data Mover (VDM) (file data) from a Dell VNX2 Series platform to a PowerStore cluster. The file import feature allows you to migrate a VDM with its configuration and data from an existing source VNX2 storage system to a destination PowerStore appliance. This feature provides a built-in capability for NFS-only VDM imports with minimal or no disruption to clients. It also provides a built-in capability for SMB (CIFS)-only VDM imports. However, cutting over of an SMB-only VDM import session can be a disruptive process.

For a file-based VDM import, after cutover completes, the import process does an incremental copy automatically but you must complete the import manually.

An import is always conducted from the PowerStore appliance. The destination system makes a remote call to the VNX2 storage system and instigates a pull (for file-based import) of the source storage resources to the destination system.

VDM import operations support only:

• Import of VDM with only NFSV3 protocol enabled (VDMs with NFSV4 protocol enabled are not supported)
• Import of VDM with only SMB (CIFS) protocol enabled