MSA 1040/2040: Adding additional storage to existing online systems HPE MSA 1040 and HPE MSA 2040 Storage Systems

Contents Executive summary ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 2 Differences in expansion enclosures ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2 Determining the current cabling configuration ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 3 Implementing the upgrade............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Extending the straight through cabling configuration ........................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Upgrading from straight cabling to a fault tolerant cabling configuration .......................................................................................................................... 5 Adding additional storage to an existing fault tolerant environment ....................................................................................................................................... 7 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9

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Executive summary There has been a recent increase in requests for “How to add additional storage shelves” to existing installations of the HPE MSA 1040 and HPE MSA 2040 Systems in an environment where the systems cannot be taken offline to perform this procedure. The HPE MSA 1040 and HPE MSA 2040 System Cable Configuration Guides detail the initial installation of the product along with both fault tolerant and straight through cabling configurations, but fail to address expansion of the existing storage systems after the systems are online and functioning. This paper details the necessary steps required for upgrading both fault tolerant and straight through configurations while the storage system is online and operational. This is accomplished without removing the storage from use and provides a transparent upgrade path with no disruption of service and assures customer data integrity throughout the process. Additionally, IT departments are becoming more and more sensitive to the impacts of rebooting systems and powering them on and off, as this accounts for the most probable time for additional failure scenarios such as disk drives that fail to come online, power supply issues, and loss of network connectivity. The ability to “hot swap” drives and enclosures are an integral part of nonstop and high availability (HA) computing environments.

Differences in expansion enclosures There are two different types of expansion enclosures that customers may choose for the HPE MSA 1040/2040 storage systems depending on whether they are using large or small form factor drives. The two MSA 1040/2040 expansion enclosure examples are shown in Figure 1a and Figure 1b.

Figure 1a. HPE D2700 SFF expansion enclosure

Figure 1b. HPE MSA 2040 6Gb /P2000 G3 LFF expansion enclosure

The common feature to note in these examples is that both enclosures have two SAS ports per I/O module. The left port on each module is the “In” port and the right port is the “Out” port.

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Determining the current cabling configuration If the storage system to be upgraded is an MSA 1040 or MSA 2040 single-shelf system, addition of the second shelf requires no special considerations. This document is intended to address customer upgrades where:

• The customer is moving from an MSA 1040 or MSA 2040 with one or more expansion enclosures to add additional expansion enclosures.

– The customer is moving from a straight through cabling configuration to a fault tolerant cabling design.

To determine the current cabling configuration, refer to Figure 2a and Figure 2b.

Figure 2a. Straight through cabling configuration

Figure 2b. Fault tolerant cabling configuration

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Implementing the upgrade To ensure customer data integrity, it is important to determine the type of configuration that the customer currently has implemented and what type of end configuration will be needed moving forward. The following steps will refer you to the correct section to ensure that during the upgrade, there is no risk to the customer’s data integrity.

If the customer is currently using:

• An MSA 1040 or MSA 2040 with a straight through cabling configuration (Figure 2a) and wishes to add one or more additional shelves of storage while continuing to use the same cabling configuration, refer to the section entitled “Extending the straight through cabling configuration”

• An MSA 1040 or MSA 2040 with a straight through cabling configuration (Figure 2a) and requires the system to be reconfigured into a fault tolerant cabling configuration or is adding an additional storage shelf to their current configuration and want to implement a fault tolerant configuration, refer to the section entitled “Upgrading from straight cabling to a fault tolerant cabling configuration”

• The customer has an existing MSA 1040 or MSA 2040 storage system currently configured for fault tolerant design (Figure 2b) and needs additional storage shelves for the existing configuration; refer to the section entitled “Adding additional storage to an existing fault tolerant environment”

Extending the straight through cabling configuration Use the following steps to complete the upgrade:

1. Install and mount the new enclosure with all drives installed.

2. Ensure all enclosures are powered on and functioning properly. Verify this by using the Storage Management Utility (SMU).

3. Connect the new SAS cable (Figure 3: “red” cable) from the A Port “Out” of the current MSA storage system to the A port “In” of the new storage enclosure.

4. Allow the system a few moments to initialize and recognize the addition of the new storage shelf.

5. Restart or reload the SMU for the MSA 1040 or MSA 2040 and verify that the system has recognized the new storage.

6. Connect the new SAS cable (Figure 3: “green” cable) from the B port “Out” of the current MSA storage system to the B port “In” of the new expansion enclosure.

7. Allow the system a few moments to initialize and recognize the addition of the new ports.

8. Ensure all firmware is at the latest levels for all expansion enclosures.

9. Verify proper system operation by validating all drives in the new expansion enclosure.

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Figure 3. Extended straight through cabling configuration

Upgrading from straight cabling to a fault tolerant cabling configuration Use the following steps to complete the upgrade:

1. Install and mount any new expansion enclosures, if needed, with all drives installed.

2. Ensure all expansion enclosures are powered on and functioning properly. Verify this by using SMU.

3. Using the SMU or the Command Line Interface (CLI), perform a shutdown of the B storage controller to ensure that any pending write or read requests are flushed from the controller B cache.

4. Remove existing cabling from the B channel chain as indicated in Figure 4a.

Figure 4a. Straight through cabling configuration

Remove or disconnect all B channel SAS cables after controller B has been shut down

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5. Connect a SAS interconnect cable from controller B on the MSA 1040 or an MSA 2040 to the last “In” port B channel on the expansion enclosures as indicated in Figure 4b.

Figure 4b. Initial B channel cabling configuration

6. Connect or reconnect a SAS interconnect cable from the last “Out” port B channel to the previous expansion enclosure’s B channel “In” port, as indicated in Figure 4c.

7. Using the SMU or the CLI, restart the B storage controller.

8. Allow the storage system a few moments to initialize and recognize the addition of the new ports.

9. Ensure all firmware is at the latest levels for all enclosures.

10. Verify proper system operation by validating that all drives in the new expansion enclosure are seen.

Figure 4c. Completed B channel cabling configuration

Connect a SAS cable from the B channel to the last connection point B channel “In” port in the chain

Reconnect any needed SAS cables from the B channel “Out” ports to the previous connection points B channel “In” ports in the controller chain

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Adding additional storage to an existing fault tolerant environment Use the following steps to complete the upgrade:

1. Install and mount the new expansion enclosure with all drives installed.

2. Ensure all expansion enclosures are powered on and functioning properly. Verify this by using the SMU.

3. Connect the new SAS cable (Figure 5a: “red” cable) from the A port “Out” of the current MSA storage system to the A port “In” of the new expansion enclosure.

4. Allow the system a few moments to initialize and recognize the addition of the new expansion enclosure.

5. Restart or reload the SMU for the MSA 1040 or MSA 2040 and verify that the system has recognized the new storage.

6. Using the SMU or the CLI, perform a shutdown of the B storage controller to ensure that any pending write or read requests are flushed from the controller B cache.

Figure 5a. Adding new SAS cable to extend a channel to the additional shelf

7. Disconnect the existing SAS cable (Figure 5b: “green” cable) from the B port “In” of the current MSA 1040 or MSA 2040 storage system to the B port “In” of the new expansion enclosure (Figure 5c: “green” cable).

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Figure 5b. Breaking the B channel chain to extend B channel to additional shelf

8. Connect the new SAS cable (Figure 5c: “green” cable) from the B port “Out” of the new MSA 1040 or MSA 2040 expansion enclosure to the B port “In” of the previous expansion enclosure.

9. Using the SMU or the CLI, restart the B controller.

10. Allow the system a few moments to initialize and recognize the addition of the new ports.

11. Ensure all firmware is at the latest levels for all expansion enclosures.

12. Verify proper system operation by validating that all drives in the new expansion enclosure are seen.

Figure 5c. Completing the fault tolerant chain on the B channel

Ensure B controller is shut down and then disconnect SAS cable at the last connection point in the chain

Reconnect SAS cable at the last connection point in the chain

Connect new SAS cable at the B “Out” port of the last shelf to the B “In” port of the previous shelf to complete the fault tolerant chain

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© Copyright 2014, 2016 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for Hewlett Packard Enterprise products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. Hewlett Packard Enterprise shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

4AA5-5032ENW, September 2016, Rev. 1

Conclusion Adding additional storage to existing MSA 1040/2040 systems will not present a major impact to current data center operations and should be performed during a maintenance window where I/O to the affected system(s) will be minimized. Following the steps outlined in the previous pages will allow customers to easily add the additional storage to existing MSA 1040 and MSA 2040 storage systems.

MSA 1040 arrays support up to a total of 4 enclosures or 99 drives, whichever occurs first without loss of access to existing storage and minimal impact to I/O performance as each enclosure attaches to the existing infrastructure. MSA 2040 arrays support up to a total of 8 enclosures or 199 drives. The customer’s current configuration will determine whether the customer will need to purchase longer one or two meter SAS cables to span cabling distances in high availability cabling configurations as shown in Figure 4b and Figure 5c.

Resources HPE general reference:

hpe.com/storage/msa1040

hpe.com/storage/msa2040

Learn more at hpe.com/storage/msa