h8173 Migrating Clariion VNX San Copy WP

White Paper
Abstract
This white paper provides best practices for migrating data from
an EMC block-storage array (such as a CLARiiON
AX or CX
array) to one of EMCs new VNX arrays. It includes simple step-
by-step instructions on how to use EMC
SAN Copy to perform

the migration. If you wish to migrate data from an EMC file-
storage array (such as a Celerra
NS array), please refer to the

white paper Migrating Data from an EMC Celerra Array to a VNX
Platform Using Celerra Replicator.

February 2011

MIGRATING DATA FROM AN EMC CLARiiON
ARRAY TO A VNX PLATFORM USING SAN COPY
A how-to guide featuring best practices

2 Migrating Data from an EMC CLARiiON Array to a VNX Array Using SAN Copy

Copyright 2011 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate of
its publication date. The information is subject to change
without notice.

The information in this publication is provided as is. EMC
Corporation makes no representations or warranties of any kind
with respect to the information in this publication, and
specifically disclaims implied warranties of merchantability or
fitness for a particular purpose.

Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in
this publication requires an applicable software license.
For the most up-to-date listing of EMC product names, see EMC
Corporation Trademarks on EMC.com.

All other trademarks used herein are the property of their
respective owners.

Part Number h8173

Table of Contents
Executive summary.................................................................................................. 4
Audience ............................................................................................................................ 4
Overview ................................................................................................................. 4
The difference between a push and pull migration ......................................................... 4
How to use SAN Copy to perform a push migration from a CLARiiON to a VNX ............ 5
What you need to know before using this procedure .......................................................... 5
The step-by-step procedure ................................................................................................ 6
Other SAN Copy best practices and considerations ................................................. 20
Speeds ......................................................................................................................... 20
LUN technologies and mobility considerations ............................................................. 21
Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 25
References ............................................................................................................ 25

Executive summary
EMCs new VNX series of midrange storage arrays features major architectural
innovations such as the new SAS back end. The point-to-point architecture of the SAS
back end offers higher availability and better performance than older architectures
such as Fibre Channel.
This white paper serves as a migration guide to help you move data from an EMC
midrange block-storage array (such as a CLARiiON
CX or AX model) to a VNX
storage array. It provides simple step-by-step best practices that show you how to use
EMCs SAN Copy software to perform a low/no-cost migration of data to your VNX,
so that you can start taking advantage of the VNX technology as quickly as possible. If
you wish to change existing traditional LUNs to thin pool LUNs, you may use data
migration as an opportunity to do so. Table 5, Table 6, and Table 7 starting on page
23 provide rules on allowable destination LUN types.
If you need to migrate data from one of EMCs file-storage arrays (such as a Celerra

NS model), please refer to Migrating Data from an EMC Celerra Array to a VNX Platform
Using Celerra Replicator.
Audience
This white paper is for customers who have purchased an EMC VNX series array and
wish to migrate their data from a previous-generation EMC block-storage array to the
VNX series hardware. It also serves as a guide for EMC field services and customer
service employees. While familiarity with SAN Copy is a plus, it is not required.
Overview
To help ensure a smooth transition for customers who wish to migrate their data from
older EMC midrange arrays to the powerful new VNX platforms, EMC supports a wide
range of data migration tools and techniques. EMC recently performed numerous
tests to pinpoint the most efficient way to use these tools to migrate data to a VNX
platform. After careful testing, EMC concluded that the most effective way to migrate
data from a file-based array (such as a Celerra NX model) is to utilize Celerra
Replicator, which is described in Migrating Data from an EMC Celerra Array to a VNX
Platform Using Celerra Replicator.
On the other hand, our tests showed that when migrating from a block-based array
(such as a CLARiiON AX or CX model), the most effective tool is EMCs SAN Copy. The
rest of this white paper provides a step-by-step procedure, including best practices,
to help you make a smooth transition to your new VNX platform.
The difference between a push and pull migration
SAN Copy is a software tool that is pre-loaded on EMC midrange storage arrays. You
must install SAN Copy Enabler before using SAN Copy. While this is usually a

chargeable product, the enabler is free for VNX customers who wish to perform a data
migration from an older-generation array (such as a CLARiiON) to a VNX storage array.
Before installing the enabler, you should decide whether you are going to use SAN
Copy to push or pull the data. The advantages of each method are explained next
and summarized in Table 1.
In the pull method, the SAN Copy Enabler is installed on the VNX platform, and the
SAN Copy software on the VNX performs the migration by pulling the data from the
older CLARiiON array and storing it on the VNX. This method allows SAN Copy to run
on VNXs more powerful processor. Another advantage of the pull method is that the
VNX is likely to have less data and host I/O traffic, which the SAN Copy operation
could impact.
In the push method, the SAN Copy Enabler is installed on the CLARiiON array, and the
CLARiiON SAN Copy software pushes the data onto the VNX platform. The push
method is usually faster than the pull method. Also, unlike a pull, the push supports
incremental copies. This allows the LUN(s) to remain online during most of the
migration; the migrating LUN only needs to be brought offline for the final
synchronization and cutover from the source LUN to the new destination LUN on the
VNX platform. Because of these advantages, EMC recommends that you use the push
method to perform a migration to your new VNX platform.
Table 1. SAN Copy push migration versus SAN Copy pull migration

A step-by-step procedure for using SAN Copy for a push migration is provided next.
How to use SAN Copy to perform a push migration from a
CLARiiON to a VNX
What you need to know before using this procedure
NOTE: The volume of data and the number of attached hosts can dramatically impact
the complexity of a data migration. The following SAN Copy data migration procedure
is intended for CLARiiON arrays that have less than 10 TB of data, and fewer than 20
attached hosts. If your CLARiiON array has more than 10 TB of data, and/or more than
20 attached hosts, EMC strongly recommend you engage Professional Services from
EMC, or an EMC partner, to execute your data migration to VNX.
SAN Copy push SAN Copy pull
Migration speed Faster Slower
Greater CPU burden Higher CPU burden on
source array
Higher CPU burden on
destination array
Supports incremental Yes No
Can LUNs be online during
initial sync/migration?
Yes No

Most steps in this procedure use the Unisphere GUI or the SAN Copy Wizard.
However, in a few cases, where this is either not possible or advantageous, the steps
are performed using a naviseccli command.
This procedure starts by installing the SAN Copy Enabler on your CLARiiON array. It
then uses SAN Copy to perform incremental push operations to migrate existing
(source) LUNs on your CLARiiON to destination LUNs on your new VNX series array.
The step-by-step procedure
Back up your data
Before you perform any operation that involves manipulating your data, including this
migration procedure, EMC highly recommends that you perform a full backup of your
data.
Step 1
Using the new Unisphere Service Manager (USM) or the older Navisphere
Service
Taskbar (NST), install the appropriate SAN Copy Enabler on your CLARiiON array. The
SAN Copy Enabler is going to be included for free on VNX platforms. There will be a
zero-cost SAN Copy Enabler available for older-generation arrays (CLARiiON CX4
series, for example) for customers who wish to perform data migrations to the VNX
platform.
Step 2
Configure at least one path between a CLARiiON SP port and VNX SP port. You can do
this using the native switch-management tools to zone CLARiiON SP port(s) to VNX SP
port(s), or by installing direct connections between the CLARiiON SP port(s) and VNX
SP port(s). One advantage to configuring multiple paths is that SAN Copy will spread
out concurrent SAN Copy operations among available paths, making the migration
faster.

For more recommendations on SAN Copy zoning best practices, see the Chapter 2
section SAN Copy zoning requirements and recommendations in the EMC SAN Copy
for Navisphere Administrators Guide. Powerlink
access is required to access this

guide.
Step 3
On the CLARiiON array, click the Replicas tab, and then click Update SAN Copy
Connections. You should get successful update messages for both SP-A and SP-B,
as shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2.


Figure 1. SAN Copy LUNs: Source and destination


Figure 2. SAN Copy LUNs: Source and destination update message
Step 4
On the VNX platform, create destination LUN(s) for the source LUNs that you wish to
migrate from the CLARiiON. The destination LUNs must be at least the same size as
their source LUNs, but the RAID types do not have to match the RAID types of the
source LUNs. It is often useful to use the same LUN numbering on the source and
destination LUNs to reduce confusion.
Step 5
On the VNX platform, you will need to have a storage group that will be used to
present the destination LUNs to the older array for the purposes of the data migration.
Create or identify a storage group for this purpose. Put the destination LUNs into the
storage group by clicking yes when Unisphere asks if you wish to connect LUNs to the
storage group immediately after storage group creation, or by selecting Connect LUNs
on an existing storage group.

Step 6
Connect the CLARiiON system ports to the storage group in the VNX in which the
destination LUNs reside; this makes the destination LUNs available to the CLARiiON
array. To do this:
Right-click the SAN Copy storage group on the VNX platform.
Click the SAN Copy Connections tab.
In the pull-down menu, select the appropriate CLARiiON. At least one port
should appear under Ports to connect.
Highlight the desired port.
Click the Advanced button to display all available potential connection paths
that are present/zoned.
Select the desired paths as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Selecting SAN Copy connections

Step 7
Determine the WWN of your destination LUN by clicking LUNs from the Storage tab on
the VNX platform; highlighting the destination LUN; and clicking Properties. In the
LUN Properties window, the WWN of the LUN will be its Unique ID. Write this Unique
ID down. This is shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Determining the WWN of the destination LUN
Step 8
Since we will be doing an incremental copy migration, you need to create and add
LUNs to a reserved LUN pool on the source CLARiiON array. You need at least one
reserved LUN for each incremental SAN Copy source LUN. The LUNs can be smaller
than the LUN(s) to be migrated, as they are used for tracking changes to the source
LUN during the incremental copy. Best practice is to create two LUNs for each LUN to
be migrated, each 10 percent of the size of the LUN to be migrated. Create the
required number of LUNs and then add them to the reserved LUN pool.
To add LUNs to the reserved LUN pool, click the Replicas tab on the VNX platform, and
click Configure Reserved LUN Pool. Add LUN(s) to the reserved LUN pool, as shown in
Figure 5.


Figure 5. Adding LUNs to the reserved LUN pool
Step 9
Click the Replicas tab on the VNX platform, and click SAN Copy Wizard to open the
SAN Copy Wizard, as shown in Figure 6.


Figure 6. Opening the SAN Copy Wizard
Step 10
Click Next In the Welcome screen to open a list of arrays in the domain that have SAN
Copy installed, and select the desired VNX platform. In our case, this is the VNX
platform that has the destination LUN(s).
Step 11
The wizards next screen asks if you desire a full or incremental session. Select
Incremental to minimize the amount the downtime during the migration. Click Next.
Step 12
Select the source LUN(s) from the list of available LUNs. You can select multiple
LUNs by holding down the Control key while you select LUNs. You can sort this list on
any of the column headers. Once the LUN(s) have been selected, click Next.

Step 13
The next screen displays the LUN(s) you selected for the migration, and asks you to
right-click each source LUN to choose its destination LUN. Select the destination LUNs
for the source LUNs as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7. Selecting storage destinations
Step 14
In the SAN Copy Select Destination Storage window, your VNX platform will probably
not appear in the pull-down list of available systems. This is because the array needs
to be in the same domain, and in the initial release of VNX we are not supporting
multiple arrays in the same domain. To select the correct destination LUN, you must
click the Enter WWN button on the bottom left of the window, and enter the
destination LUNs WWN that you noted in step 7. This is shown in Figure 8.


Figure 8. Selecting the destination LUN
Step 15
After you enter the WWN of the destination LUN and click OK, select the Verify
Connections checkbox and click Next, as shown in Figure 9.


Figure 9. Verifying connections
Step 16
Select a Link Bandwidth value and click Next.

Some older arrays may only support a maximum bandwidth of 2048. Here is a best
practices excerpt from the SAN Copy release notes:
Performance notes
For best performance of incremental copies on a Fibre Channel connection, enter a
bandwidth of 4096 on CX4 storage systems and modify the latency to 0.5 ms in
the session properties.
For sessions on a 10 Gb iSCSI connection, data digest and header digest should
be disabled in the iSCSI connection set options.
Step 17
Select a throttle value. This value ranges from 1 to 10, with 10 being the fastest. It
defaults to 6. If you experience poor host I/O performance on the source array during

SAN Copy migration sessions, then you may select a lower throttle value, but this will
result in much longer SAN Copy migration durations.
Step 18
Review your choices and click Finish to create your SAN Copy session.
Step 19
By default, the number of concurrent SAN Copy sessions per SP is limited to 4. This
value can be changed for each storage processor under the Replicas tab by clicking
Configure SAN Copy Settings as shown in Figure 10. Increasing the number of
concurrent SAN Copy sessions per SP will allow more SAN Copy sessions to run at the
same time, which may make the migration process faster if you plan to migrate
multiple LUNs. But increasing the number of concurrent SAN Copy sessions per SP
will also increase the utilization on each SP, and that can potentially negatively
impact your I/O response time during the data migration. Keep this trade-off in mind
when considering how many concurrent SAN Copy sessions to allow.

Figure 10. Selecting the number of concurrent SAN Copy sessions per SP

Step 20
Although a SAN Copy session can be started from the GUI, you can make an
incremental SAN Copy session run faster if you start it using the Naviseccli CLI. This
also reduces performance impact to production data during the bulk copy, because it
does not execute any copy-on-first-writes, which can be costly in terms of
performance.
When you use this method, you need to be aware that the session will not be fully in
sync at the end of the copy. As a result, more areas of data will need to be synced
during the follow-up sync operation that occurs during an offline cutover window.
However, this is generally not a problem, and this command line option for starting a
session is the most commonly used method in the field because of its performance
benefits. The Naviseccli command line alternative to using the GUI to start the
incremental session is as follows:
Naviseccli h <sp_ip_address_of_sancopy_source_array> -user <user> -password
<password> -scope 0 sancopy start name sessionName copywholelun nomark
all

Step 21
After successfully starting the incremental SAN Copy session, go to SAN Copy
Sessions under the Replicas tab; click the Sessions sub-tab and highlight the started
session, then click Status to monitor the status of the copy, as shown in Figure 11.


Figure 11. Monitoring the status of the SAN Copy session
Step 22
When the status changes to Completed, as shown in Figure 12, the incremental SAN
Copy migration is done. However, the destination may not be fully in sync with the
source LUN, because after an incremental copy all changes to the source LUN are
tracked but not automatically updated to the destination.


Figure 12. Completed status
Step 23
Schedule a brief offline window to cut over production from the source LUN on the
CLARiiON array to the destination LUN on the VNX platform. Before switching over,
you must prepare the source LUN by quiescing I/O and flushing buffers as required by
your hosts operating system
Step 24
During the offline window, remove the source LUN from the storage group on the
source CLARiiON array. This causes temporary data unavailability to the host(s) but is
a necessary action when preparing to cut over to the newly copied LUN on the VNX.
Step 25
On the VNX platform, synchronize the SAN Copy incremental copy session by clicking
SAN Copy Sessions under the Replicas tab, selecting the appropriate SAN Copy
session, and clicking the Start button.

You may monitor the status of this incremental sync through the Status button. This
is similar to steps 21 and 22, except that since this operation only needs to
synchronize the data that has changed since the first incremental copy operation, this
should complete much faster than the original sync.
Step 26
When this is completed, delete the SAN Copy session.
Step 27
The SAN Copy destination LUNs on the VNX need to be accessible to your host(s).
Ensure that your hosts are properly cabled/zoned to the VNX platform. On the VNX
platform, remove the SAN Copy destination LUNs from the storage group that they
were in during the SAN Copy migration operation, and put these LUNs as well as the
desired hosts into a new storage group.
Step 28
Ensure that the production host can see the new LUN, and that it is mounted/mapped
as desired.
Step 29
The data migration to the new VNX platform is completed. You may bring the
production host back online and resume normal operations with your LUN(s) now
residing on the new VNX platform.
Other SAN Copy best practices and considerations
Speeds
There are many factors and caveats that come into play when stating maximum
achievable SAN Copy bandwidth numbers, such as hardware model; FLARE
revision;
disk type and speed; throttle settings; write aside value; caching; number of
concurrent sessions; workload; and so forth. Table 2 lists the maximum-achievable
SAN Copy bandwidth numbers as measured in FLARE release 29 (not expected to
have changed much for release 30) on the various CX4 models. These numbers are
for a single 8 Gb Fibre Channel connection to a destination array using incremental
SAN Copy, initial sync, bulk copy, local connection, max concurrent sessions, and a
throttle setting of 10.

Table 2. Achievable capacity

*WA = your write aside setting (that is, the largest size data that will get mirrored across SP cache)

Your two-SP bandwidth is approximately 2x the single-SP bandwidth when bypassing
cache, and about 1.8x the single SP bandwidth when using cache. The local
connection bandwidth measured over 10 Gb iSCSI maxed out at 300-350 MB/s using
a CX4-960 array. In general, the initialization bandwidth for iSCSI was about .6 to .8
that of 8 Gigabit Ethernet Fibre Channel.
These numbers are provided only for general guidance, and are examples of
maximums using arrays that were dedicated to nothing other than SAN Copy
migrations using maximum available CPU utilization. Many factors, including
customer workload, may result in significantly slower rates when used on production
arrays. Please consult an EMC CSPEED guru for more details.
LUN technologies and mobility considerations
The EMC white paper EMC SAN Copy - A Detailed Review provides a detailed
discussion on LUN technologies and mobility considerations and a review of SAN
Copy in general. The following tables are excerpts from this white paper and are
provided for your quick reference with regard to SAN Copy limits, as well as LUN
mobility rules and considerations.

Table 3. CX4 series SAN Copy limits
Storage system CX4-960, CX4-480 CX4-240, CX4-120
Maximum concurrent
sessions
16 8
Maximum destinations
per session
100 50
Maximum incremental
source LUNs
512 (Release 29)
100 (Release 28)
256 (Release 29)
50 (Release 28)
Maximum defined
incremental sessions
1

912 (Release 30)
300 (Releases 28-29)
512 (Release 30)
150 (Releases 28-29)
Maximum incremental
sessions per source
LUN
2

8 8

Table 4. CX3, CX, and AX series SAN Copy limits
Storage system
CX3-80, CX3-40,
CX3-40c, CX700, CX600
CX3-20, CX3-20c,
CX3-10, CX500, CX400
AX4-5,
AX4-5F8
Maximum concurrent
sessions
3
16 8 4
Maximum destinations
per session 100 50 50
Maximum incremental
source LUNs
4
100 50 64
Maximum defined
incremental sessions 300 150 25

1
These limits include MirrorView/A images and SnapView snapshot source LUNs in addition to the incremental SAN Copy
logical units. The maximum number of source LUNs assumes one reserved LUN assigned to each source LUN.
2
These limits include MirrorView/A images and SnapView sessions in addition to the incremental SAN Copy sessions.
3
Running multiple SAN Copy sessions can improve the overall transfer rate; however, it can also slow down other active host
I/O during the copy session.
4
This total is shared with MirrorView/Asynchronous and SnapView. Each source LUN for these applications requires at least
one LUN from the reserved LUN pool. This number is actually the total number of LUNs that can be allocated to the reserved
LUN pool.

Table 5. Remote SAN Copy session summary to a thin LUN destination
Copy Direction Source Destination Result
Push
Thick or RAID group LUN R29, R30 thin Full
R29, R30 thin LUN R29, R30 thin Thin
Thin, thick, RAID group LUN Third-party thin Full
Thin, thick, or RAID group R28.5 thin LUN Full
Pull
Thick, RAID group, third-party LUN R30 thin LUN Thin
Thick, RAID group, third-party LUN R29 thin LUN Full

Table 6. Local SAN Copy session summary to a thin LUN destination
Release Source Destination Result
R30 Thick or RAID group LUN Thin LUN Thin
R29 RAID group LUN Thin LUN Full
R29 or later Thin LUN Thin LUN Thin

Table 7. LUN Migration rules for SAN Copy
LUN type Migrate to same size LUN Migrate to larger LUN
Source LUN on SAN Copy CLARiiON (push) Can be migrated
*
Destroy session before
migration
Destination LUN on remote CLARiiON (push) Can be migrated
*
No restriction
Destination LUN on SAN Copy CLARiiON (pull) Can be migrated
*
Destroy session before
migration
Source LUN on remote CLARiiON (pull) Can be migrated
*
No restriction
Reserved LUN (incremental SAN Copy) Cannot be migrated
*A session cannot be created on a LUN that is migrating.

Table 8. Valid VNX LUNs
LUN type Valid source for a full SAN Copy
session?
Valid source for an incremental
SAN Copy session?
LUN, metaLUN, thick, or thin
LUN is not in use with any
replication software. (Release
29 required for thin LUNs.
Release 30 required for thick
LUNs.)
Yes (Caution source LUN
should not change during the
copy)
Yes
SnapView snapshot Yes No (Incremental sessions use
snapshots internally)
SnapView clone Yes (Caution source clone
copy)
Yes
MirrorView source LUN Yes (Caution source LUN
copy)
Yes
MirrorView destination LUN No (A snapshot of the LUN may
be used as a SAN Copy source)
Yes
Symmetrix TimeFinder
BCV Yes (Caution source should

not change during the copy)
No
Symmetrix TimeFinder snap Yes (Caution source should
not change during the copy)
No

If MirrorView (meaning MirrorView/Synchronous and/or MirrorView/Asynchronous) is
installed on the storage system, then SAN Copy cannot use the MirrorView port.
However, if MirrorView is not installed on the storage system, then SAN Copy can use
all of the ports.

Conclusion
EMC recommends using EMC SAN Copy as the preferred tool for migrating block data
from AX and CX series CLARiiON arrays to the new VNX series platform. This white
paper provides a no-cost, step-by-step procedure for customers to migrate existing
block data using an incremental push operation with SAN Copy. Documenting the
SAN Copy operation as an incremental push was done to both optimize performance
and minimize downtime. Users wishing to migrate file data from a Celerra to a VNX
series platform should consult the peer white paper Migrating Data from an EMC
Celerra Array to a VNX Platform Using Celerra Replicator available on Powerlink.
References
The following documents are available on EMC.com and Powerlink except where
noted:
EMC SAN Copy - A Detailed Review white paper
EMC SAN Copy for Navisphere Administrators Guide (Powerlink only)
Migrating Data from an EMC Celerra Array to a VNX Platform Using Celerra
Replicator white paper

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