IBM DS3500 - Zoning Considerations; SAN Boot Implementation Possibilities

Chapter 21. AIX 6.1 configuration guide 645
Draft Document for Review March 28, 2011 12:24 pm AIX.fm
Physical Location: U78A5.001.WIH1752-P1-C10-T1
Example 21-2 WWN from AIX
# lscfg -vl fcs0
fcs0 U78A5.001.WIH1752-P1-C10-T1 FC Adapter
Network Address.............2100001B3208E0AB
ROS Level and ID............49535020
Device Specific.(Z0)........0004001B
Device Specific.(Z1)........02040083
Device Specific.(Z2)........49535020
Device Specific.(Z3)........00002422
Device Specific.(Z4)........000E0002
Device Specific.(Z5)........00010009
Device Specific.(Z6)........00010002
Device Specific.(Z7)........00000000
Device Specific.(Z8)........2100001B3208E0AB
Device Specific.(Z9)........ISP
Hardware Location Code......U78A5.001.WIH1752-P1-C10-T1
򐂰 Unlike System x (enable HBA BIOS), Power Systems do not require any particular
configuration to be able to discovery the logical drive.
21.1.1 Zoning considerations
A zone is a group of fabric-connected devices arranged into a specified grouping. Zones can
vary in size depending on the number of fabric-connected devices, and devices can belong to
more than one zone.
Without zoning, failing devices that are no longer following the defined rules of fabric behavior
might attempt to interact with other devices in the fabric. This type of event is similar to an
Ethernet device causing broadcast storms or collisions on the whole network, instead of
being restricted to one single segment or switch port. With zoning, these failing devices
cannot affect devices outside of their zone.
A best practice is to create a zone for the connection between the host bus adapter (HBA1)
and controller A and a separate zone that contains the other HBA2 to controller B, and then
create additional zones for access to other resources. For a single HBA server, use a
separate zone to controller A and a separate zone to controller B.
21.1.2 SAN Boot implementation possibilities
Implementations of SAN boot with AIX include the following possibilities:
򐂰 To implement SAN boot on a system with an already installed AIX operating system, you
can:
– Use the alt_disk_install system utility.
– Mirror an existing SAN Installation to several other LUNs using Volume Copy.
Note: Utilizing zoning is always a good idea with SANs that include more than one host.
With SANs that include more than one operating system, or SANs that contain both tape
and disk devices, it is mandatory.