3PAR StoreServ 7000 Hardware – Part 1

This is the first in a series of blog posts as I work towards the HP ASE – Storage Solutions Architect

One of the issues I have had when learning the new range of HP products is the naming convention, so below is my ‘dummies guide’.   If I have gotten any of these wrong, please let me know.

Old 3PAR New StoreServ

Old LeftHand New StoreVirtual

Old ‘X’ NAS Range New StoreEasy

Old P2000 New StoreSure

Old Storage Networking New StoreFabric

Old Tape Drives New StoreEver

Old IBRIX New StoreAll

Old DataProtector New StoreOnce

StoreServ 7000

Essentially this is a replacement for the F200 and F400, it is meant to be customer installable, but as you can see from the issues that Justin Vashisht had when installing a StoreServ 7200, I think this is a work in progress whilst HP get to grips with the ‘SmartStart’.

The StoreServ 7000 comes with a Virtual Appliance (OVF) aptly named the ‘Virtual Service Processor’ which runs on ESXi5 or above.  It is recommended not to install the Service Processor on the StoreServ rather on either local drives.  Note you can obtain a Physical Service Processor if required.  The Service Processor used to come as a 1U server and is used to send remote error detection and reporting to ‘HP 3PAR Central’

The StoreServ 7000 can use SAS and SATA drives in both SFF and LFF.  For both hard drive type SSD are available.  Note that no Fiber Channel drives are available.

StoreServ likes to use ‘0’ alot, so you need to remember that Nodes start with 0 same with Drive Bays!

The StoreServ 7000 comes in two flavors:

7200 – Two Node Chassis

The base enclosure comes with:

• 2 Nodes
• 4 FC Ports
• 24 SFF Slots
• 24GB Cache (8GB Control Cache & 4GB Data Cache Per Node)
• 1.8 GHz Quad Core CPU
• 2 x 1 Gb ports for Management & Remote Copy

For extra storage capacity upto five additional disk cages can be added either SFF or LFF giving a total of 144 drives.

7400 – Two Node Chassis

The base enclosure comes with:

• 2 Nodes
• 4 FC Ports
• 24 SFF Slots
• 32GB Cache (8GB Control Cache & 8GB Data Cache Per Node)
• 1.8 GHz Hexa Core CPU
• 2 x 1 Gb ports for Management & Remote Copy

For extra storage capacity upto nine additional disk cages can be added either SFF or LFF giving a total of 240 drives.

Can be upgraded to four node configuration.

For HBA’s you can add an optional:

• 4 Port 8 Gb/s FC which can be used for SAN connectivity or Remote Copy.
• 2 Port 10 Gb/s iSCSI/FCoE, note that FCoE isn’t yet supported.

Sometimes a picture speaks a thousand words, the picture below shows the connectivity at the back of each StoreServ node

7400 4 Node Interconnect

When deploying a 7400 4 Node we need to follow the correct cabling schema.  HP have been quite smart and introduced a ‘black to white’ and ‘white to black’ chema, however it’s not clearly labelled, so for the avoidance of doubt.

Controller A, Node 0, Interconnect 0 >> Controller B, Node 2, Interconnect 1

Controller A, Node 0, Interconnect 1 >> Controller B, Node 3, Interconnect 0

Controller A, Node 1, Interconnect 0 >> Controller B, Node 3, Interconnect 1

Controller A, Node 1, Interconnect 1 >> Controller B, Node 2, Interconnect 0

Disk Shelves

Disk Shelves comes in two flavors:

H6710 which is a  2U 24 Bay SFF Drive Chassis.

Drives should be installed left to right with a minimum of two drive increments.

H6720 which is a 4U 24 Bay LFF Drive Chassis

Drives should be installed bottom to top with a minimum of two drive increments.  Note that all columns should contain the same drive type e.g. 600GB 15K SAS

On both disk shelves, DP-1 is IN and connects to the original Nodes.  DP-2 is OUT and connects to additional disk shelves.

One of the slightly tricky parts is the disk shelf cabling.  Some rules to follow:

• Event Nodes go to Even Controllers
• Odd Nodes go to Odd Controllers
• Odd Nodes connect to the highest Disk Shelf first
• Even Nodes connect to the lowest Disk Shelf first