Powerpath Foundations - SRG

Copyright © 2009 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.
PowerPath Foundations
© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
Welcome to PowerPath Foundations.
Copyright © 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

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PowerPath Foundations -1
Course Objectives
Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:
y List the members of the PowerPath family of products
y Describe PowerPath devices and concepts
y Explain how PowerPath performs load balancing and
path failover
y Discuss the features and benefits of using PowerPath in
storage environments
y Explain the basics of PowerPath Encryption with RSA,
PowerPath Migration Enabler, and PowerPath/VE
© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. PowerPath Foundations - 2
The objectives for this course are shown here. Please take a moment to read them.
PowerPath Family of Products

y PowerPath Multipathing
– Multipathing and load balancing across a SAN
y PowerPath Migration Enabler

– Allows for migration of data across a SAN
using a Host
y PowerPath Encryption with RSA

– Encrypts data traversing a SAN from the Host
using RSA Key Manager Software
y PowerPath/VE
– PowerPath Multipathing for Virtual
Environments
The PowerPath family of products is the enabler for EMC host-based solutions including multipathing,
data migration, and host-based encryption. For the purpose of this course, wherever the product is
referred to as “PowerPath” we are referring to PowerPath Multipathing.
PowerPath Multipathing is the most common product in this family and the one we will primarily
focus on in this course. It allows for maximizing application availability and performance, automation
of path management, and reduction of complexity and cost.
Use PowerPath Encryption with RSA to protect sensitive data against unauthorized access if a disk
drive or array is removed.
Use PowerPath Migration Enabler to eliminate application downtime during data migrations or
virtualization implementations by integrating EMC PowerPath Migration Enabler with other
technologies.
PowerPath/VE is used to optimize VMware vSphere and Microsoft Server 2008 Hyper-V virtual
environments with PowerPath Multipathing features.
PowerPath Theory of Operations

Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:
y Identify a PowerPath configuration and PowerPath’s
function in the I/O path
y Describe how PowerPath is licensed
The objectives for this module are shown here. Please take a moment to read them.
PowerPath Configuration
y All volumes are
Host Application(s)
accessible through
SERVER
all paths D D D D HBA
Driver
y Redundant HBA HBA HBA HBA Host Bus
Adapter
components (HBAs,
switches, SANs,
array ports, etc.) Interconnect Interconnect
Topology Topology
eliminate single
points of failure Front-end
STORAGE
Ports
Storage
This slide illustrates a PowerPath configuration. In a PowerPath configuration, there are one or more
paths from the host to a device in a storage array. Each path is unique because it has its own discrete
set of components, e.g., HBA, SAN, cable, fibre switch, and array port.
Access to the device in the storage array is accomplished by mapping as a shared device across two or
more storage interfaces. An interface is an FA (Fibre Adapter) on a Symmetrix system or an SP
(Storage Processor) on a CLARiiON system. The result is that all logical devices can be accessed
through all paths to the device. When combined with path failover and load balancing software such as
PowerPath, the ability to access devices through multiple paths increases application availability.
In order to take advantage of all array interfaces, the devices should be assigned equally among
interface cards. This ensures that the full capacity of the array interfaces is being used.
PowerPath Implementation
y PowerPath sits
between the
applications and the Applications
HBA driver Management
DBMS utilities
y Applications direct
File system
I/O to PowerPath
Logical volume manager
y PowerPath directs Open Systems HOST
I/O to an optimal PowerPath
path based on
current workload and
Host bus Host bus Host bus Host bus
path availability adapter adapter adapter adapter
Symmetrix/CLARiiON/HDS/IBM/HP
As the illustration shows, PowerPath operates between the application and the HBA driver. This
position in the I/O stack gives PowerPath the ability to intercept and manage all I/O between the
application and the array storage device.
PowerPath intelligently manages the paths to a device by sending I/O down the optimal path based on
the current PowerPath load balancing and failover policy setting for the device. PowerPath also takes
into account path usage and availability before deciding which path to send the I/O down. If a path to
the device fails, PowerPath automatically reroutes the I/O down an alternate path.
Volume Path Set

y PowerPath Application
– Keeps a table of paths “Pseudo”

– Presents a single Device
SERVER
device to the
POWERPATH
application
PowerPath
– Combines equivalent Volume Path Set
paths into a single
“Path Set” HBA HBA HBA HBA
Storage Area
Network
STORAGE
Front-end
Ports
During installation, PowerPath determines all the paths to a device and builds a table to use when
deciding how to route I/O. PowerPath references this table and drives the I/O to either a native or
pseudo device. The supported operating systems for these device types are listed on the slide.
The operating system creates native devices to represent and provide access to logical devices. A
native device is path-specific and represents a single path to a logical device. The device is “native” in
that it is provided by the operating system for use with applications. In this slide, there is a native
device for each path. The storage system is configured with two shared logical devices, each of which
can be accessed by four paths. There are eight native devices, four in white (numbered 0, 2, 4, and 6)
that represent a unique path set to logical device 0; and four in black (numbered 1, 3, 5, and 7) that
represent a unique path set to logical device 1. When PowerPath is installed, it uses the native device
to point to all the paths to the device.
Applications do not need to be reconfigured to use native devices. The idea is to use the existing disk
devices created by the operating system.
A PowerPath pseudo device represents a single logical device and the set of all paths leading to it.
There is one pseudo device per path. In the example, logical devices 0 and 1 are referred to by pseudo
device names emcpower1c and emcpower2c. Each pseudo device represents the set of paths connected
to its respective logical device: emcpower1c represents the set of paths connected to logical device 0,
and emcpower2c represents the set of paths connected to logical device 1. In most cases, the
application must be reconfigured to use pseudo devices; otherwise, PowerPath load balancing and path
failover functionality are not available.
PowerPath Array Support Concepts

Active-Active Active-Passive
Host Application(s) Host Application(s)
SERVER
SERVER
PowerPath PowerPath
HBA HBA HBA HBA HBA HBA HBA HBA
Passive
Passive
Active
Active
Active
Active
Active
Active
Storage Area Storage Area
Network Network
0 1 0 1
SP-A SP-B
STORAGE
STORAGE
Mapped to all
Front-end ports
Owned by SP-A
In an active-active storage array, if multiple interfaces exist to a LUN, they all provide equal access to the logical
device. Active-active means all interfaces to a device are active simultaneously.
In a configuration that includes an active-active array, PowerPath can spread the work load across all zoned
paths. In addition, PowerPath can failover across any zoned path to the LUN. EMC Symmetrix, IBM ESS,
Hitachi Lightning, and EMC Invista are examples of active-active arrays.
In the active-passive array, a LUN is assigned to port 0 and port 1 on Storage Processor A (SP A). In this system,
SP A is designated as the primary or active route to the device, and therefore all I/O is directed down the paths
through SP A to the device. PowerPath load balances I/O across these active paths as shown by the green arrows.
The LUN can also be accessed through Storage Processor B but only after the device has been re-assigned
(trespassed) to SP B. This path is referred to as a passive path. PowerPath does not send I/O down passive paths.
Passive paths are shown in orange.
With all active paths to the LUN unavailable, the active paths to an interface card logical device must be moved
to another storage processor. This reassignment is initiated by the other, functioning interface. When PowerPath
is installed on the host, the reassignment is initiated by PowerPath, which instructs the storage system to make
the reassignment. On a CLARiiON array, these reassignments are known as trespassing. Trespassing can take
several seconds to complete; however, I/Os do not fail during this time. After devices are trespassed, PowerPath
detects the changes and seamlessly sends data via the new route. After a trespass, logical devices can be
trespassed back to their original paths once the error is corrected.
PowerPath Multipathing Licensing

y PowerPath
– Unlocks the full load balancing and path failover capabilities of PP and
management of all EMC and non-EMC arrays
– Configures the following default load balancing policies for these array
classes
¾ Symmetrix Optimize (so) optimized for Symmetrix
¾ CLARiiON Optimize (co) optimized for CLARiiON
¾ Adaptive (ad) optimized for non-EMC arrays
y PowerPath SE
– Backend (between switch and array) failover only
– Single HBA supported only
– No load balancing available
– Up to two paths only per device
y PowerPath/VE
– Same as Full PowerPath license, but supports only Microsoft Windows
2008
Hyper-V and VMware vSphere
– Only available through Powerlink licensing
PowerPath Multipathing has three licenses available.

PowerPath: this license permits the user to take advantage of the full set of PowerPath load balancing
and path failover functionality. This license was formerly referred to as PowerPath Enterprise or
PowerPath Enterprise Plus.
PowerPath SE: this license supports back-end failover only. In other words, only paths from the
switch to storage arrays are candidates for failover. Back-end storage failover is for single HBAs that
have one path to the switch and are zoned to have a maximum of two paths to the storage array. This
license was formerly known as PowerPath Base, Unlicensed PowerPath, PowerPath Fabric Failover,
and Utility Kit PowerPath. These now all refer to the same product.
PowerPath/VE: this license enables full PowerPath multipathing in a Virtual Environment. Currently
supported environments are listed above. Check Powerlink for more up-to-date information regarding
supported environments.
Module Summary
Key points covered in this module:
y PowerPath configuration
y PowerPath’s operational location on the host
y Volume path set
y PowerPath array support concepts
y PowerPath licensing
These are the key points covered in this module. Please take a moment to review them.
PowerPath Foundations - 10
PowerPath Business Justification Benefits

y Cite three major challenges confronting business today
y Explain how PowerPath can solve business challenges
y Identify the value PowerPath adds to a business
Current Business Challenges

y Application availability
– Businesses require 24x7 access to data
y Storage manageability
– Optimize information access
– Maximize server, storage, and data path utilization
y Quality of Service (QoS)

– Diverse requirements
– Competing applications
– Tune the infrastructure performance by application
– Protect application availability
The slide lists the main business challenges that IT professionals face today. Customers need their
businesses up 24x7 in order to protect revenue streams, support new product development efforts, and
increase customer satisfaction.
Businesses need a method to manage their storage in order to maximize their technology investments.
IT professionals are searching for new and more efficient, policy-based, automated management tools
to manage and reduce the complexity of their environment. Tools must be capable of tuning the
environment in order to maximize server, storage, and data path utilization.
These management tools must have the ability to quickly respond to various and changing business
requirements, provide continuous data protection, and tune I/O of competing applications.
Impact to Business of PowerPath Features
Optimized performance and high

Automatic path failover and recovery
availability; no application disruption
Consistent and improved service

Dynamic load balancing of I/O
levels
Automated server-to-storage I/O Automated information utilization;

management optimized data movement
Optimized data management through

Policy-based management user-selectable storage allocation
policies
Online configuration and Improved manageability – saves time,

management reduces maintenance costs
Now that you understand the business challenges, let’s explain how PowerPath helps solve these
challenges. PowerPath helps by automatically tuning the storage area network when it detects
imbalances by selecting alternate paths for the data to be routed through. It also combines multiple
path I/O capabilities, automatic load balancing and path failover functions, and online path
management into one integrated package.
PowerPath’s automatic load balancing functionality guarantees maximum use of multiple paths to the
data. Critical server and array resources, such as memory and CPU, are not constrained by congested
paths to the data while other paths to the same data are under used. By maximizing resource use, server
and array investments are used to their full potential.
PowerPath’s automatic path fail-over capability guarantees application availability. When the host and
storage environment are configured with redundant paths through multiple HBAs and fabrics,
PowerPath automatically uses alternate paths to the device and continues to balance I/O load across the
remaining paths. When a path is restored, PowerPath automatically adds the path back into the
available paths list and uses it for load balancing.
All load balancing and failover policies are tunable while the host and application are online. Policies
can be changed for an array or on a device by device basis.
The Value of PowerPath

y Support for open systems
y Support for multiple storage arrays
y Improves SAN performance
y Maximizes utilization of shared SAN devices and paths
y Reduces connectivity administration overhead and
environmental downtime
y Protects against path failures
PowerPath can add value in many ways. For example, PowerPath is supported on many operating
system platforms, including Windows, Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, and AIX. PowerPath supports all EMC
arrays and several non-EMC arrays (referred to as third-party arrays).
PowerPath helps maximize SAN performance by using all the I/O processing and bus capacity of all
paths to a device. PowerPath load balances I/O on a host-by-host basis and works by equalizing I/O
load for all paths to the array from the host. PowerPath intelligently handles each I/O request and
checks current load balancing and path failover settings to choose the least-burdened available path.
PowerPath reduces management time and downtime, because administrators no longer need to
configure paths statically across logical devices. With PowerPath, no setup time is required, and paths
are always configured for optimum performance.
If there is a failure in the data path, PowerPath fails over the I/O to an alternative path. PowerPath
determines the best and optimal way to use devices and paths that are shared across the SAN.
Module Summary
y Major challenges confronting business today
y How PowerPath helps solve business challenges
y How PowerPath adds value to a business
PowerPath Features and Functionality

y Explain how PowerPath’s load balancing and path failover
functionality can help maintain and enhance application availability
and performance
y Describe how PowerPath’s automatic path testing and restore is
used to maintain I/O paths
y Cite how PowerPath’s online management can help tune an
application
y Explain how PowerPath adds value to clustered environments
y Identify the tools used to manage a PowerPath environment
Path Failure without PowerPath

y Volumes are spread Error: I/O Interrupted!
I/O
across all available Host Application(s)
SERVER
paths D D D D HBA
Driver
y Each volume has a HBA HBA HBA HBA Host Bus
single path based on Adapter
error
the device name
used
SAN
y Host adapter and
cable connections Front-end
STORAGE
Ports
are single points of
failure Storage
On this slide, an application running on a server has four paths to the storage. However, only one path
is used because the operating system running on the server only allows one path to be defined. This is
expressly done when the administrator chooses a device name to use.
Without PowerPath or another path failover software package, the loss of a channel (represented by the
“error”) means one or more applications may stop functioning. This can be caused by the loss of an
HBA, storage array front-end port, Fibre Channel switch, hub, or a failed cable. In a standard non-
PowerPath environment, these are all single points of failure. In this case, all I/O that was heading
down that path is now lost, resulting in an application failure and the potential for data loss or
corruption.
Path Failure with PowerPath

y If a path component I/O Sucessful!
fails, the device driver I/O App

returns a timeout to
SERVER
PowerPath
I/O
PowerPath
HBA
D D D D
y PowerPath responds Driver
by taking the path HBA HBA HBA HBA Host Bus
Adapter
offline and re-driving
I/O through an
alternate path SAN
y Subsequent I/Os use error

STORAGE
surviving path(s) Front-end

Ports
y Application is unaware
Storage
of the failure Ack
This illustration shows the general I/O flow on a host with PowerPath connected to an active-active array. The host has four
HBAs which are cabled to a port on a switch. There are four LUNs in the array, each configured to be visible through all
four ports. The switch is configured so that each HBA is zoned to each port in the array. Therefore, each HBA can access a
LUN through any port on the array.
The following sequence of events occurs.
1. The application creates an I/O request designated for one of the LUNs.
2. The application forwards the I/O request to the appropriate HBA driver.
3. PowerPath intercepts the I/O request while enroute to the HBA driver. PowerPath checks the volume path set for the
device and recognizes there are 16 possible paths to this device.
4. PowerPath checks load-balancing policy for the LUN and forwards the I/O to the proper driver. The driver forwards
the I/O to the HBA driver.
5. The HBA driver sends I/O over the SAN to the target port on the array.
6. A cable failure occurs while the I/O is being passed down the cable as shown by the explosion.
At this point there is an I/O timeout value that comes into play.
7. When the timeout value has expired, the HBA returns an error to the HBA driver. The driver then attempts to return
the error to the application.
8. PowerPath intercepts the error, checks the volume path set for the LUN to determine the load balancing policy, then,
9. Redirects the I/O request to another open path.
10.The I/O is completed and the acknowledgement is returned through the same path the I/O was sent, directly to the
application, PowerPath does not intercept.
PowerPath Fabric Failover

y Available for CLARiiON
and Symmetrix Application
PowerPath
y Provides back-end
failover, non-disruptive Request
upgrades, and single HBA SD

configuration support for HBA
single-attach hosts SERVER
y Included in CLARiiON Fibre Channel Switch

Utility Kit
y Non-HA environment
y No multi-pathing SP A SP-
SP-B
capabilities CLARiiON
As a special case for non-high availability environments, PowerPath Fabric Failover provides single
HBA configuration support, back-end failover support, and non-disruptive upgrade support.
Fabric failover has no multi-pathing or load balancing capabilities and therefore should not be used in
a high availability environment.
PowerPath Fabric Failover is a version of PowerPath without a license key that provides only basic
failover functionality. It protects against CLARiiON SP failures, Symmetrix FA port failures, back-end
storage system failures, and supports non-disruptive upgrade (NDU) of storage system software. While
a server is running normally, PowerPath Fabric Failover takes no action.
If a failure occurs in an SP or an FA port, PowerPath Fabric Failover attempts to fail over (transfer) the
I/Os to a different SP or FA port. PowerPath Fabric Failover does not protect against HBA, switch, or
switch port failures. To protect against such failures in storage systems, you must have multiple HBAs
connected to a storage system, and order PowerPath with the full license.
In this example, PowerPath sends an I/O down the path to SP B. A failure occurs on the back end.
PowerPath receives the error and resends the I/O down the path to SP A.
PowerPath Fabric Failover is called Utility Kit PowerPath in CLARiiON documentation.
I/O without PowerPath: Queues out of Balance

y I/O performance is Host Application(s)
partially based on
queue length Request Request
SERVER
y Optimal performance Request Request Request
cannot be achieved Request Request Request Request
unless work is balanced D D D D HBA
Driver
y I/O workload across HBA HBA HBA HBA Host Bus
Adapter
HBAs is seldom
balanced
SAN
y At any point in time,
some paths may be
STORAGE
idle while other paths

have multiple
I/O operations queued
This example illustrates how I/O throughput is unbalanced without PowerPath installed.
On the slide, several applications running on a server have four paths to the storage. However, only
one path is used due to the lack of multipathing software.
The administrator can manually configure the storage system to spread I/O load across the paths based
on snapshot measurements, guesstimates of average loading, and predictive loads. The final
configuration has some applications sharing devices down one path.
The example depicts a snapshot of the system at a moment in time when the depth of the I/O queues is
very unbalanced. Host applications sitting on top of deep queues are not getting the data they need.
In this instance, two of the applications are currently generating high I/O traffic, causing two channels
to become overloaded, as depicted by the red disks and the pending request stack. The two other
channels are lightly loaded. Eventually, the requests are handled and the system returns to a more
balanced load. In the meantime, the applications are “data starved” and the users or applications
experience less than optimal performance.
To solve the problem, the System Administrator has to once again manually configure the system to
better balance the load, requiring application downtime. In any system, there are times when the load
is unbalanced due to an application experiencing heavy I/O requirements.
PowerPath Dynamic Load Balancing

y PowerPath dynamically Host Application(s)
balances workload across
all available paths PowerPath
SERVER
y PowerPath provides
Request Request Request Request
greatest performance
improvement in Request Request Request Request
environments where the D D D D HBA
workload is not balanced Driver
– Workloads are seldom HBA HBA HBA HBA Host Bus
Adapter
balanced
– Workloads dynamically
change SAN
y Administrator can change

STORAGE
load balancing polices on

the fly
When PowerPath is installed, applications transparently access PowerPath instead of the HBA driver.
PowerPath allocates the requests across all available channels, reducing bottlenecks and improving
performance. This diagram shows a similar snapshot with PowerPath using multiple channels to
minimize the queue depth on all channels.
Since the Channel Directors or Storage Processors are writing to cache and not to disks, any Channel
Director/Storage Processor can handle any request. This allows PowerPath to constantly tune the
server to adjust to changing loads from the applications running on the server. This, in turn, improves
the performance of the server by enabling it to make better use of the storage. For every I/O, the
PowerPath filter driver looks at the volume path set and selects the path based on the load balancing
policy and failover setting for the device. The result is better application performance with fewer
operational resources spent on the care and feeding of the system, which results in more financial value
from your server investment.
PowerPath does not manage the I/O queues; it manages the placement of I/O requests in the queue.
PowerPath Load Balancing Policies

y Symm_opt / CLAR_opt / Adaptive y Request
(default) – Path failover only
– I/O requests are balanced across
multiple paths based on composition y No Redirect
of reads, writes, and user-assigned – Disable path failover and load
device / application priorities balancing
– Default policy on systems with a valid – Default for Symmetrix when there is
PowerPath license no license key
– Default on CLARiiON with base
y Round_Robin license
– I/O requests are distributed to each
available path in turn y Basic Failover
– PowerPath fabric failover functionality
y Least_I/Os
– Default for CLARiiON and Symmetrix
– I/O requests are assigned to the path when there is no license key
with the fewest number of requests in
the queue
y Least_Blocks
– I/O requests are assigned to the path
with the fewest total blocks in the
queue
The slide lists current PowerPath load balancing policies. Please take a moment to review them.
Symm_opt, CLAR_opt, or Adaptive policies choose paths based on path load and logical device priority.
Symm_opt (so) is the default on Symmetrix arrays and CLAR_opt (co) is the default for CLARiiON arrays.
Adaptive (ad) is the default priority on Invista and non-EMC arrays and performs similarly to Symm_opt and
CLAR_opt.
In Round Robin (rr) policy, I/O requests are assigned to each available path in rotation. It can be used for all
arrays that PowerPath supports.
Least I/Os (lo) policy load balance is based on the number of pending I/Os. I/O requests are routed to the path
with the fewest queued requests, regardless of total block volume. Least Blocks (lb) policy load balancing is
based on the number of blocks in pending I/Os. I/O requests are routed to the path with the fewest queued
blocks, regardless of the number of requests involved. Both policies can be set on all arrays that PowerPath
supports.
Request (re) uses the path that would have been used if PowerPath had not been installed. For pseudo devices, it
uses one arbitrary path for all I/O. For all devices, path failover is in effect, but load balancing is not. No
Redirect (nr) policy has no load balancing nor is failover in effect. This policy is valid for all arrays that
PowerPath supports. Both policies can be used on all arrays.
Basic failover policy sets load balancing not in effect. I/O routing on failure is limited to one host bus and one
port on each Storage Processor. This policy is required for a non-disruptive upgrade. It protects against Storage
Processor and back-end failures, but not against HBA or host loop failures. Basic failover is valid for Symmetrix,
CLARiiON, and HP EVA arrays.
PowerPath Automatic Path Testing and Restore

y Auto-probe: tests for dead paths
– Periodically probes inactive paths to identify failed paths before
sending user I/O to them
y Autorestore: tests for restored paths

– Periodically probes failed/closed paths to determine if they have
been repaired
The PowerPath autoprobe function periodically probes inactive paths to identify failed paths before
sending user I/O. This process allows PowerPath to proactively close paths before an application
experiences a time-out when sending I/O over failed paths.
The autoprobe function uses SCSI Inquiry commands for the probe, so that even a not-ready device
returns successfully. It tests one LUN per HBA and port connection roughly every 30 seconds and
skips LUNs that have received I/O in the last 30 seconds. If one probe fails down a path, it kicks off
error checking routines. For failed paths, these routines check every LUN down that path to
proactively close paths.
Autorestore runs every 5 minutes and probes every failed or closed path to determine if it has been
repaired. Like autoprobe, it uses SCSI Inquiry commands.
Using a combination of autoprobe and autorestore features means that if a path fails, it is marked
failed, but the application continues to run. Autorestore then tests the path’s viability and automatically
restores the connection in approximately 5 minutes. Administrators can also restore paths manually
using the PowerPath CLI or Administrator GUI.
Online Management: Performance Tuning

Host Application A Host Application B
PowerPath
Standby Paths Standby Paths
Application B Application A
Channel Request Request Request
Channel
Group Group
SERVER
Request Request Request Request Request Request

HBA Driver D D D D D D HBA Driver
Host Bus HBA HBA HBA HBA HBA HBA Host Bus
Adapter Adapter
SAN
STORAGE
Available bandwidth can be segmented per application

This example illustrates how PowerPath channel groups can be used to tune I/O performance.
PowerPath provides the flexibility to define paths to a device as “active” or “standby”. A standby path
is only used if all the active paths to a device fail. PowerPath considers active paths as available for
load balancing and failover. Paths can be dynamically added and removed by setting them to standby
or active mode. For example, you have eight paths partitioned, four for one application and four for
another. When one application needs more bandwidth (as during batch), you can add more paths
through scripts during the batch run and take them away when you're done. PowerPath calls these
dedicated paths to the application’s Channel Groups.
In this slide, there are two applications running on a server, Application A and Application B. The
server is configured for six paths to the devices. Both applications are very busy. You decide that you
don’t want the activity of one application to impact the performance of the other. You use PowerPath
to set two paths to the devices used by Application A into standby mode. These paths are shown in
yellow. Application A now has four active paths to the devices. To further isolate the I/O for both
applications, you use PowerPath to set four of the paths to the devices used by Application B to
standby mode. These paths are represented in green. Now Application A has four paths and
Application B has two paths to the devices.
PowerPath and HA Clusters

y PowerPath enhances High Application Application
Availability cluster environments
SERVER
SERVER
y Increases application availability PowerPath PowerPath
by eliminating the need to
failover when a path failure SD SD SD SD
occurs
y Tested with leading HA cluster HBA HBA HBA HBA
products
– HACMP for AIX
– HP MC/ServiceGuard
– Veritas Cluster Server SAN
– Veritas Storage Foundation
– Sun Cluster
– Oracle RAC STORAGE
– Legato AAM
– Microsoft MSCS
– Red Hat Cluster Suite
Open systems clustering technology manages application availability by detecting failures and
restarting high availability applications on a surviving cluster node.
The deployment of PowerPath in the cluster eliminates the application downtime due to a channel
failure. PowerPath detects the channel failure and uses alternate channels so the cluster software does
not have to reconfigure the cluster to keep the applications running.
PowerPath improves the availability of the applications running in the cluster.
Many clusters are deployed to provide performance scalability. PowerPath’s load balancing can help
the customer maximize performance and get the greatest value from their cluster investment.
PowerPath must work cooperatively with the cluster software. This does not require special code in the
cluster, but does require PowerPath to work with the storage management component of the cluster
software. Validating PowerPath with the cluster software systems requires extensive knowledge and
testing of the cluster software with PowerPath.
Management Interfaces – Command Line and GUI

PowerPath Administrator GUI PowerPath Command Line
powermt check
powermt check_registration
powermt config
powermt display
powermt display options
powermt display paths
powermt load
powermt remove
powermt restore
powermt save
powermt set mode
powermt set periodic_autorestore
powermt set policy
powermt set priority]
powermt set write_throttle
powermt set write_throttle_queue
powermt version
The PowerPath Administrator GUI is used to configure, monitor, and manage PowerPath devices.
This slide shows a sample of the PowerPath Administrator Console. The PowerPath Administrator has
two panes. On the left is the Scope pane, where PowerPath objects are displayed in a hierarchical list
that can be expanded or collapsed. On the right is the Results pane that provides a view of
configuration statistics for PowerPath objects selected in the Scope pane.
The CLI interface is available on all hosts. The commands are used to view or change the PowerPath
options for the HBA port and path of the device.
This slide displays a help menu for the different options, which is invoked with the powermt help
command.
Module Summary
y Path failover
y Fabric failover
y Load balancing
y Automatic path testing and restore
y Performance tuning
y PowerPath’s value in clustered environments
y PowerPath’s management tools
Other PowerPath Products

y Identify and explain PowerPath Encryption with RSA
y Identify and explain PowerPath Migration Enabler
y Identify and explain PowerPath/VE
PowerPath Encryption with RSA – Benefits

y Sensitive data protection
– Safeguard data in the event that a disk is removed from an array or
unauthorized data access
y Centralized key management

– Reduce complexity and cost in encryption deployments by centralizing the
management of encryption keys across the enterprise without managing
multiple point solutions
y Consistent encryption technology

– Standardize across EMC and nonEMC storage platforms when using
PowerPath Encryption with RSA
y Flexible encryption
– Choose the logical unit numbers (LUNs) or volumes to encrypt
y Replication support
– Use seamlessly with array replication—both local and remote
PowerPath Encryption with RSA® is a host-based data-at-rest encryption solution utilizing EMC
PowerPath and RSA Key Manager (RKM) for the Datacenter. It is flexible—choose the LUNs or
volumes that need to be encrypted.
The benefit of PowerPath Encryption with RSA is that it protects information in the event it becomes
compromised through unauthorized access or disk removal. Adding this level of protection enables
compliance with internal, private, and government standards, including the Payment Card Industry
Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) which is one of the most widely applicable compliance standards in
the market today.
PowerPath Encryption with RSA

y Host-based encryption for data-at-rest on disk
Hosts with PowerPath Encryption
IP
IP
Network
Network
Power-
Path RSA Key Manager
Appliance
SAN
SAN
Primary Storage
PowerPath Encryption with RSA incorporates flexible, easy-to-use, centralized enterprise key
management via the RSA Key Manager for the Datacenter and enables consistent encryption
methodology in heterogeneous environments.
The RSA Key Manager server manages the cryptographic keys used by the PowerPath Encryption
hosts. These keys are used to encrypt and decrypt the data. It is the responsibility of the RSA Key
Manager server to ensure that hosts have access to only the intended keys and that these keys are
stored for later retrieval.
Encryption occurs at the PowerPath level on the Host. It is encrypted using an RSA key from the RKM
server. The key is used to encrypt the data before it is sent into the SAN. The data is then stored on the
array encrypted. When the data is retrieved, PowerPath encryption decrypts the data the same way and
returns the data to the application unencrypted.
PowerPath Migration Enabler – Benefits

y Nondisruptive data migrations
– Migrate data or introduce virtualization into your environment without taking application
downtime
y Source and target synchronization
– Keep the source and target arrays in sync until commit decision when you use PowerPath
Migration Enabler
y “Tryout” of target
– Allow rollback to the source array if the data move is not beneficial to the environment
y Host and process crash recovery
– Recover to the point the failure occurred without restarting the process
y Adoption without copying
– Perform EMC Invista encapsulation without copying data or introducing additional storage
into the environment
y Common interface
– Provide a single management interface for multiple migration methods
y TimeFinder/Clone support
– Allows nondisruptive migrations between RAID types within a Symmetrix array
EMC PowerPath Migration Enabler is a solution that leverages the same underlying technology as
PowerPath, and enables other technologies, like array-based replication and virtualization, to eliminate
application downtime during data migrations or virtualization implementations. PowerPath Migration
Enabler insulates hosts from changes in the storage infrastructure and allows non-disruptive data
migrations. PowerPath Migration Enabler enables solutions such as EMC Open Replicator, EMC
TimeFinder®/Clone, and EMC Invista® to eliminate downtime during data migrations and
virtualization deployments.
PowerPath Migration Enabler Host Copy eliminates downtime by enabling data migrations through the
host in heterogeneous environments without the need for an underlying migration technology.
PowerPath Migration Enabler keeps arrays in sync during Open Replicator for bulk data moves
between Symmetrix arrays or TimeFinder/Clone for movement across data tiers within a Symmetrix
system with minimal impact to host resources.
In addition, PowerPath Migration Enabler enables seamless deployment of Invista virtualized
environments by encapsulating (or bringing under the control of) the volumes that will be virtualized.
It supports data migrations to or from any network or supported array type by enabling data migrations
through the host to support high availability and integration with existing business processes.
PowerPath Migration Enabler

y Nondisruptive data migration performance
PowerPath
Migration Enabler
SAN
SAN
PowerPath Migration Enabler is an ideal solution for eliminating planned downtime, conducting high-
performance migrations for large data sets, and for frequent upgrades to storage technology,
information consolidation, or during upgrades to lease contracts with new equipment. Whether Open
Replicator or TimeFinder/Clone for Symmetrix or Invista is deployed with PowerPath Migration
Enabler, or if the host is used as the migration point, downtime is eliminated, keeping applications up
and running.
PowerPath/VE – Benefits
y Standardized path management
– Unify management across heterogeneous physical and virtual
environments
y Optimized utilization
– Leverage all channels to provide optimal, predictable, and consistent
information access
y Dynamic load balancing

– Constantly adjust I/O path usage and respond to changes in I/O loads from
Virtual Machines
y Automatic I/O path failure detection

– Keep virtual environment and applications running in the event of failure
y Simplified management
– Eliminate the need to monitor and rebalance the dynamic environment
PowerPath for Virtual Environments (PowerPath/VE) allows customers to standardize on a single

multipathing solution across their entire environment. Customers who are standardizing on VMware®
have access to flexible and automatic I/O load balancing to manage the complexity of virtual machines
and I/O-intensive applications in hyper-consolidated environments.
Additionally, PowerPath support for VMware ESX Server and Microsoft Hyper-V virtual
environments increases the number of always-active initiators, as opposed to idle failover-standby
initiators for each path, to each LUN, resulting in newfound I/O “horsepower” from all virtual server
hosts in the form of multiple data streams per host.
PowerPath/VE on VMware
VMware NMP PowerPath/VE
ESX Server ESX Server ESX Server ESX Server
PowerPath PowerPath
Storage Ports Storage Ports
Active Channels All Channels are active

and used to load balance
Stand-by Channels
VMware Native Multipathing (NMP) is a limited path management solution. The typical deployment
provides for channel failover only, without load balancing across multiple paths. Stand-by paths are
designated for failover which cannot maximize the potential performance. Configuration of NMP is on
a LUN-by-LUN basis. The need to map the active and stand-by channels for each LUN quickly
becomes cumbersome as the number of VMs and VMware datastores on LUNs increases.
With the addition of PowerPath/VE to the environment, we have more than just simple channel
failover. In addition to automatic fail-back, PowerPath/VE brings PowerPath’s established load
balancing policies to virtual environments. Rather than designate some channels as active and others as
stand-by, PowerPath leverages all channels for I/O and can dynamically distribute traffic over them.
This gives PowerPath/VE superior and predictable performance over NMP.
PowerPath/VE – Architecture Overview
PowerPath Remote
Management Server
y PowerPath remote tools
(rpowermt) installed
y Used to remotely manage
PowerPath/VE on any number of
ESX hosts
y PowerPath software is installed
ESX Hosts
The PowerPath/VE solution consists of two major components, the PowerPath Remote Management
Server (RMS) and one or more ESX hosts. A functional TCP/IP connection is required between these
components.
The PowerPath Remote Management Server is where the PowerPath CLI, rpowermt, is installed.
From this server, you can send PowerPath commands to an ESX host via PowerPath remote tools
(rpowermt).
This server is also used to install, upgrade, or uninstall PowerPath/VE code on an ESX server after
VMware vSphere CLI (vCLI) is installed.
With this architectural change, no assumptions need be made about the ability to open a console and
execute CLI commands directly on the server running PowerPath. This is particularly relevant when
deploying embedded servers such as ESXi.
Module Summary
y PowerPath Encryption
y PowerPath Migration Enabler
y PowerPath/VE
Course Summary
Key points covered in this course:
y PowerPath configuration
y PowerPath devices and concepts
y Environments that PowerPath supports
y PowerPath licensing
y Features and benefits of using PowerPath in storage
environments
y New features included in the current release of
PowerPath
y User tools to manage PowerPath
These are the key points covered in this training. Please take a moment to review them.
This concludes the training. Please proceed to the Course Completion slide to take the assessment.

Powerpath Foundations - SRG

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Copyright © 2009 EMC Corporation. Do not Copy - All Rights Reserved.

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Welcome to PowerPath Foundations.

Copyright © 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. PowerPath Foundations - 2

PowerPath Family of Products

y PowerPath Migration Enabler

y PowerPath Encryption with RSA

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. PowerPath Foundations - 3

PowerPath Theory of Operations

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. PowerPath Foundations - 4

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. PowerPath Foundations - 5

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. PowerPath Foundations - 6

Volume Path Set

– Keeps a table of paths “Pseudo”

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. PowerPath Foundations - 7

PowerPath Array Support Concepts

HBA HBA HBA HBA HBA HBA HBA HBA

PowerPath Multipathing Licensing

PowerPath Multipathing has three licenses available.

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. PowerPath Foundations - 10

PowerPath Business Justification Benefits

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. PowerPath Foundations - 11

Current Business Challenges

y Quality of Service (QoS)

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. PowerPath Foundations - 12

Impact to Business of PowerPath Features

Optimized performance and high

Consistent and improved service

Automated server-to-storage I/O Automated information utilization;

Optimized data management through

Online configuration and Improved manageability – saves time,

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. PowerPath Foundations - 13

The Value of PowerPath

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. PowerPath Foundations - 14

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. PowerPath Foundations - 15

PowerPath Features and Functionality

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. PowerPath Foundations - 16

Path Failure without PowerPath

across all available Host Application(s)

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. PowerPath Foundations - 17

Path Failure with PowerPath

fails, the device driver I/O App

y Subsequent I/Os use error

surviving path(s) Front-end

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. PowerPath Foundations - 18

PowerPath Fabric Failover

upgrades, and single HBA SD

y Included in CLARiiON Fibre Channel Switch

I/O without PowerPath: Queues out of Balance

idle while other paths

PowerPath Dynamic Load Balancing

y Administrator can change

load balancing polices on

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. PowerPath Foundations - 21

PowerPath Load Balancing Policies

PowerPath Automatic Path Testing and Restore

y Autorestore: tests for restored paths

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. PowerPath Foundations - 23

Online Management: Performance Tuning

Request Request Request Request Request Request

Available bandwidth can be segmented per application