Simplified SAN Deployment and Management

Todd OwensOEM Technical Marketing ManagerQLogic CorporationSimplified SAN Deployment and Management Virtual Connect, Simple SAN Connection Manager and the HP StorageWorks H-series Switches

#July 201030 June 2010For QLogic, HP and HP Partner Use Only1SAN Management Administration ChallengesImpact to Server, Network and Storage environmentRequires cross-discipline coordination among IT resourcesTime consuming, utilizing multiple applications toolsets Different tools for each element in the SAN infrastructure; HBA, Switch, StorageComplexityMultiple steps, more opportunity for configuration errorsHow can HP help IT staff to simplify deployment and ongoing management and reduce the time it takes to build and grow storage networks?

#July 2010Today, in the traditional IT environment, any change to the storage area network (SAN) infrastructure can create a huge administrative burden across the entire IT organization. Systems Administrators, Network and Storage Administrators all must be involved in one aspect or another as it relates to changes in the SAN, as each owns different elements of the ecosystem that could be impacted. This approach is time consuming and a sub-optimal use of precious IT resources. Additionally, the complexity that arises with all these resources involved can lead to unfavorable results.

So what is HP doing to address these complexities and simplify how SAN infrastructure is managed in the future? Lets find out.30 June 2010For QLogic, HP and HP Partner Use Only2Todays SAN Deployment and Management ProcessesInstall servers, HBAs and storageCable servers, switches, storageAssign LANs/SANs to installed serversLater, when neededAdd new storageCreate SAN connection/zoningProvision Storage on hostCreate new LUNsGet SAN connection/create ZoningProvision Storage on hostAdd virtual machineProvision hostGet SAN connection/create ZoningGet SAN connectionCreate LUNs on Storage systemProvision LUN on host system

System AdministratorStorage AdministratorSAN AdministratorSSMTTWF

Project planningmeetingsAnd moremeetings

Change controlapprovals

Re-cable andmove into productioninventory4-6 weeks havepassed by

Adding to /upgrading environment

#July 2010Presentation TitleFor QLogic, HP and HP Partner Use Only3Lets start by looking at the typical process used today. When changes are proposed to the SAN infrastructure, all the administrators need to meet to discuss the proposed change and prepare a checklist of activities that each need to perform. Does the System Administrator need to update HBA firmware or bios? Does the Networking Administrator need to install new switches or assign new IP addresses? Does the Storage Administrator need to configure new storage systems or add LUNs to the existing system?The answers to these questions is typically yes, and the number of applications involved to get the work done typically leads to more complexity and more meetings. Then there are change control processes that need to be created and resource identified to ensure there are no errors or incompatibilities resulting from the changes made. Lots of resources and time involved.

So what is HP doing to change the playing field for SAN Management?A New Paradigm HP Simple SAN Connection ManagerOne meeting to define storage management tasksAdd/update?LAN addressingConfiguration requirements

Use SSCM from a single management console to;Manage HBA tasksManage SAN configuration/ZoningProvision StorageLUN creationPartitioning

Project planningmeetingsSingle Administrator canDeploy, Manage, Maintain with SSCM

inventory

SSCMs single pane of glass management of HBA, Switch and Storage resources provides optimal consolidation of the SAN infrastructure and associated management tasks.

#July 2010Presentation TitleFor QLogic, HP and HP Partner Use Only4HP has created a new paradigm in SAN Management with the introduction of Simple SAN Connection Manager, or SSCM. SSCM and H-series switches provide a single pane of glass approach to managing the SAN infrastructure and are a proof point for how HP is converging elements of the IT infrastructure.With SSCM, a single administrator can manage HBAs, Switches and Storage resources. All this from a single application. By integrating the functionality into a single application (SSCM), HP has automated many of the manual tasks associated with changing SAN infrastructure. This greatly reduces the amount of resources and time involved in managing SAN infrastructure and provisioning storage resources. This allows customers to have their IT resources spend time on more productive tasks and can save hundreds of IT man-hours per year.

Solution with HP BladeSystem - Traditional approachBarrier to Converged InfrastructureHP BladeSystem C7000

integrated SAN Switch

..

SANChallenge:Increasing available storage with converged infastructure solutions.Justifying Virtual ConnectPerception:Virtual Connect delivers unique value, but price is too high. Tactical solution:Take out virtual connect, replace with lower cost SAN. Level the price position lose the HP value.HP solution now similar to IBM and Dell

#July 2010The advent of server virtualization is driving the demand for more server and more storage resources. This in turn has led to increased complexity in server to storage connectivity, which HP addresses with Virtual Connect. However, Virtual Connect is perceived by many to be expensive, and thus they take the traditional approach to connecting servers and storage together in a traditional SAN. In this traditional approach, servers are connected to storage subsystems via managed fibre channel switches.

While this approach may appear to level the price perception, there are hidden costs that the customer must bear, and removing Virtual Connect actually increases the overall cost to customers and eliminate this key differentiator for HP BladeSystem that HP can provide to its customers. And furthermore, removing Virtual Connect eliminates HPs differentiation when compared to blade solutions from competitors like IBM or Dell.

So there has to be a better way, right?

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ESS Solution with HP BladeSystem - Traditional approachHP Converged InfrastructureHP BladeSystem C7000

Standard FC Switchintegrated SAN Switch BladeSystem with Integrated and external fabric switches Perceived low acquisition costs, but; licensing costs application management costs

Trunking LTU required for each switchDifferent applications for managing Adapters, Switches and Storage

Is there a better way?

#July 2010Lets further examine the traditional low cost approach. Servers are connected to storage subsystems via fibre channel switches. The challenge with this approach relates to hidden costs relating to optimizing the data flow and the number of resources involved in the overall management of the environment.

For example, with typical FC switches, traffic flow must be optimized via trunking. The cost of these licenses can vary but list price typically exceeds $5K per switch. So in this example, that $30K, just for trunking licenses. Additional software must be purchased as well to provide the ability to monitor the fabric, manage the switches and provide other needed capability, and this can run from $7-30K in additional costs.

And from a management perspective, the customer needs experts to manage the HBAs in the server, to manage the switch application and to deploy, manage and provision the storage. There is a significant manpower cost associated with this.

So there has to be a better way, right?

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Converged Management HP Virtual Connect, H-series SANHP Converged Infrastructure Best ApproachHP StorageWorks EVA HP StorageWorks MSA

HP BladeSystem C7000

HP Simple SAN Connection Manager(SSCM)

HP SN6000 SwitchHP VC FC

Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager (VCEM)

Trunking LTU not required Trunking included in switch price Single application for managing Adapters, Switches and Storage

#July 2010With the c7000 HP has taken huge steps to converge and simplify server management as well as simplified network and SAN interfacing with the addition of Virtual Connect. By integrating Virtual Connect into System Insight Manager (SIM), the customer is provide as single management platform for all aspects of server management. And with Virtual Connect, the complexity relating to cabling and server infrastructure management are greatly simplified.

Many customers think that Virtual Connect is expensive. Well VC is not expensive when looking at the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of the entire solution.

And with HP StorageWorks Simple SAN Connection Manager and H-series switches, HP simplifies SAN deployment and management. The H-series switches bring a huge new benefit by converging the day to day management of the HBAs, SAN and storage to one screen from three with HP StorageWorks Simple SAN Connection Manager.

This end to end HP solution provides two screens to manage all of the infrastructure:SIM and VCEM for the c Class BladesSSCM for the Mezzanine cards, fibre channel switches and the MSAs and EVAs

HP StorageWorks Simple SAN Connection Manager (SSCM) ships with every HP-series switch and has a number of capabilities: SSCM integrates with HP StorageWorks EVA and MSAs, HP-series FC Switches QLogic and Emulex FC HBAs SSCM allows to install, configure, monitor, maintain and scale the total SAN solution The converged management provided means that through an intuitive interface jobs that may have taken hours can now be accomplished in just a few minutes. SSCM allows staff to be far more efficient and productive as well as significantly reducing the chance of human error

7Practical Example with Simple SAN Connection ManagerHP Converged Infrastructure Host creationLUN CreationLUN MountingTotal Effort*Typical Disk Mgmt Application3-4 h3.5-4h2.5-3hUp to 11 hoursHP SSCM0 h~60 min0 h~ 1 hInitial installation & configurationCreation of 64x LUNs for 32x BladeSystem servers in total* Keyboard time Administration work during operation:Creation of additional 10x LUNs for new applicationsHost creationBuild of the LUNsLUN MountingTotal Effort*Typical Disk Mgmt Application-0.5-1h0.5-1hUp to 2 hoursHP SSCM-~10 min0 h