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Configuring host groups

Host configuration involves creating host groups, assigning host modes and host mode options, and adding hosts to each host group, and registering the host groups. Here are some useful articles that can help you perform these operations:

Read the important rules and guidelines for LU mapping operations

Creating a host group and registering hosts in the host group (Fibre Channel)

After discovering the WWNs of the host bus adapters in a Fibre Channel environment, use this procedure to create a host group and register the hosts in the host group.

You can connect multiple server hosts of different platforms to each port of your storage system. When configuring your storage system, you should group server hosts connected to the storage system by host groups. For example, if HP-UX hosts and Windows hosts are connected to a port, create one host group for HP-UX hosts and another host group for Windows hosts, and then register the HP-UX hosts to the HP-UX host group and register the Windows hosts to the Windows host group.

NoteThis example applies to configurations in which all HP-UX hosts are on the same cluster.

Before you begin

  • The Storage Administrator (Provisioning) role is required to perform this task.
  • Before you can set LU paths, you must register the hosts in host groups. For example, if HP-UX hosts and Windows hosts are connected to a port, register HP-UX hosts and Windows hosts separately in two different host groups.
  • When registering a host, you must also specify the WWN of the host bus adapters.
  • When registering hosts in multiple host groups, set the security switch (LUN security) to enabled, and then specify the WWN of the host bus adapter.
  • When registering a host, you can assign a nickname to the host bus adapter. If you assign a nickname, you can easily identify each host bus adapter in the LUN Manager window. Although WWNs are also used to identify each host bus adapter, the nickname that you assign will be more helpful because you can name host bus adapters after the host installation site or for the host owners.

Procedure

  1. Click Storage Systems, and then expand the Storage Systems tree.

  2. Click Ports/Host Groups/iSCSI Targets.

  3. Click Create Host Groups.

  4. In the Create Host Groups window, enter the host group name in the Host Group Name box.

    • It is convenient if you name each host group after the host platform.
    • A host group name can consist of up to 32 ASCII characters (letters, numerals, and symbols). However, you cannot use the following symbols for host group names: \ / : , ; * ? " < > |
    • You cannot use space characters for the first and the last characters in host group names.
    • Host group names are case-sensitive. For example, the host group names wnt and Wnt represent different host groups.
  5. Select the resource group in which a host group is created.

    If you select Any, ports to which you may add host groups within all ports assigned to a user are displayed in the Available Ports list. If you select other than Any, ports to which you may add host groups within the ports assigned to the selected resource group are displayed in the Available Ports list.
  6. Select a host mode from the Host Mode list. When selecting a host mode, you must consider the platform and some other factors.

  7. Select hosts to be registered in a host group.

    If the desired host has ever been connected with a cable to another port in the storage system, select the desired host bus adapter from the Available Hosts list.

    If there is no host to be registered, skip this step and move to the next step. Otherwise, a host group with no host would be created.

    If the desired host has never been connected via a cable to any port in the storage system, perform the following steps:

    1. Click Add New Host under the Available Hosts list.

      The Add New Host dialog box opens.
    2. Enter the desired WWN in the HBA WWN box.

    3. If necessary, enter a nickname for the host bus adapter in the Host Name box.

    4. Click OK to close the Add New Host dialog box.

    5. Select the desired host bus adapter from the Available Hosts list.

  8. Select the port to which you want to add the host group. For details about host modes, see Host modes for host groups.

    If you select multiple ports, you may add the same host group to multiple ports by one operation.
  9. If necessary, click Option and select host mode options. For details about host mode options, see Host mode options.

    NoteWhen you click Option, the dialog box expands to display the list of host mode options. The Mode No. column indicates option numbers. Select an option you want to specify and click Enable.
  10. Click Add to add the host group.

    By repeating steps from 2 to 8, you can create multiple host groups.

    If you select a row and click Detail, the Host Group Properties window appears. If you select a row and click Remove, the message appears asking whether you want to remove the selected row or rows. If you want to remove the row, click OK.

  11. Click Finish to display the Confirm window.

    To continue to add LUN paths, click Next.
  12. Confirm the settings and enter the task name in the Task Name box.

    A task name can consist of up to 32 ASCII characters (letters, numerals, and symbols). Task names are case-sensitive. (date) - (task name) is input by default.

    If you select a row and click Detail, the Host Group Properties window appears.

  13. Click Apply in the Confirm window.

    If the Go to tasks window for status check box is selected, the Tasks window appears.

Adding a selected host to a host group

Before you begin

The Storage Administrator (Provisioning) role is required to perform this task.

Procedure

  1. Click Storage Systems, and then expand the Storage Systems tree.

  2. Click Ports/Host Groups/iSCSI Targets.

  3. Select the Hosts tab, or select a port from the tree then select the Hosts tab.

  4. Select a host that you want to add.

  5. Select Add to Host groups.

  6. Select the desired host groups from the Available Host Groups table, and then click Add.

    Selected host groups are listed in the Selected Host Groups table.

    If you select a row and click Detail, the Host Group Properties window appears.

  7. Click Finish.

    The Confirm window appears.
  8. In the Add to Host groups window, confirm the settings, in Task Name type a unique name for this task or accept the default, and then click Apply.

    If Go to tasks window for status is checked, the Tasks window opens.
  9. Click OK to close the message.

Adding a host to the selected host group

Before you begin

The Storage Administrator (Provisioning) role is required to perform this task.

Procedure

  1. Click Storage Systems, and then expand the Storage Systems tree.

  2. Click Ports/Host Groups/iSCSI Targets.

  3. Select the Host Groups tab.

  4. Select the host group for the host you want to add.

  5. Select Add to Hosts.

  6. Select the desired host from the Available Hosts table, and then click Add.

    Selected host groups are listed in the Selected Hosts table.

    If the desired host has never been connected with a cable to any port in the storage system, perform the following steps:

    1. Click Add New Host under the Available Hosts list.

      The Add New Host dialog box opens.
    2. Enter the desired WWN in the HBA WWN box.

    3. If necessary, enter a nickname for the host bus adapter in the Host Name box.

    4. Click OK to close the Add New Host dialog box.

    5. Select the desired host bus adapter from the Available Hosts list.

  7. Click Finish.

    The Confirm window appears.
  8. In the Add to Host groups window, confirm the settings, in Task Name type a unique name for this task or accept the default, and then click Apply.

    If Go to tasks window for status is checked, the Tasks window opens.
  9. Click OK to close the message.

Changing the name, host mode, or host mode options of a host group

Use this procedure to change the name, host mode, or host mode options (HMOs) of a host group.

Caution
  • Before changing the host mode of a host group, you should back up data on the port to which the host group belongs. Changing the host mode should not be destructive, but data integrity cannot be guaranteed without a backup.
  • When a port has a path defined for an LDEV with the GAD reserve attribute and you need to change the host mode, the operation might fail if you configure more than one port at a time. For ports that have a path defined for an LDEV with the GAD reserve attribute, perform this operation on one port at a time.

Before you begin

The Storage Administrator (Provisioning) role is required to perform this task.

Procedure

  1. Click Storage Systems, and then expand the Storage Systems tree.

  2. Click Ports/Host Groups/iSCSI Targets.

  3. On the Host Groups tab, select the Port ID of the host group you want to change.

  4. Click More Actions and then click Edit Host Groups.

    1. To change the name of the host group, select Host Group Name, and then enter the new host group name.

    2. To change the host mode, select Host Mode, and then select the new host mode. For details about host modes, see Host modes for host groups.

    3. To change a host mode option, select the host mode option and click Enable or Disable. For details about host mode options, see Host mode options.

  5. Click Finish.

    The Confirm window appears.
  6. In the Task Name text box, enter the task name.

    You can enter up to 32 ASCII characters and symbols, with the exception of: \ / : , ; * ? " < > |. The value "date-window name" is entered by default.
  7. Click Apply.

    If the Go to tasks window for status check box is selected, the Tasks window appears.

Initializing host group 0

Use this procedure to set host group 0 (zero) to its initial state. This removes all the WWNs from host group 0 and also removes all the LU paths related to host group 0. The procedure also changes the host mode of host group 0 to Standard and initializes the host group name. For example, if you initialize host group 0 for the port CL1-A, the name of host group 0 will change to 1A-G00.

Before you begin

The Storage Administrator (Provisioning) role is required to perform this task.

Procedure

  1. Click Storage Systems, and then expand the Storage Systems tree.

  2. Click Ports/Host Groups/iSCSI Targets.

  3. Click the link of a host group.

  4. Select the Host Groups tab.

  5. Select the host group 0 which is displayed as host group (00).

  6. Click More Actions and select Delete Host Groups.

  7. Confirm the settings and enter the task name in the Task Name box.

    A task name can consist of up to 32 ASCII characters (letters, numerals, and symbols). Task names are case-sensitive. (date) - (task name) is input by default.
  8. Click Apply in the Delete Host Groups window.

    A message appears, asking whether to delete it.

    If the Go to tasks window for status check box is selected, the Tasks window appears.

  9. Click OK to close the message.

Changing WWN or nickname of a host bus adapter

Before you begin

The Storage Administrator (Provisioning) role is required to perform this task.

In Fibre Channel environments, host bus adapters can be identified by WWNs or nicknames.

Procedure

  1. Click Storage Systems, and then expand the Storage Systems tree.

  2. Click Ports/Host Groups/iSCSI Targets.

  3. Select the Hosts tab, and then click the Port ID of the HBA WWN or Host Name you want to change.

  4. Click Edit Host.

    1. To change the WWN, select the HBA WWN check box, and then type a new WWN.

    2. To change the nickname, select a Host Name check box, and then type a new nickname.

    If you check Apply same settings to the HBA WWN in all ports, new settings affect other ports. For example, if the same host bus adapter (the same WWN) is located below ports CL1-A and CL2-A in the tree, when you select the host bus adapter (or the WWN) from below one of the ports and change the nickname to hba1, the host bus adapter below the other port will also be renamed hba1.

    However, new settings will not affect any port if:

    • The resulting nickname is already used as the nickname of a host bus adapter connected to the port.
    • The resulting WWN exists in the port.
  5. Click Finish.

    The Confirm window appears.
  6. In the Task Name text box, enter the task name.

    You can enter up to 32 ASCII characters and symbols, with the exception of: \ / : , ; * ? " < > |. The value "date-window name" is entered by default.
  7. Click Apply.

    If Apply same settings to the HBA WWN in all ports is checked, a dialog box opens listing the host bus adapter to be changed. Confirm the changes and click OK. Otherwise, click Cancel.

    If the Go to tasks window for status check box is selected, the Tasks window appears.

Deleting a host bus adapter from a host group

Before you begin

The Storage Administrator (Provisioning) role is required to perform this task.

Procedure

  1. Click Storage Systems, and then expand the Storage Systems tree.

  2. Click Ports/Host Groups/iSCSI Targets.

  3. Click the link of a host group.

  4. Select a host bus adapter.

  5. Click More Actions and Remove Hosts.

  6. If necessary, check Remove selected hosts from all host groups containing the hosts in the storage system in the Remove Hosts window.

    If the option is checked, the selected hosts are removed from all host groups containing the hosts in the storage system.
  7. Click Finish.

    The Confirm window appears.
  8. In the Task Name text box, enter the task name.

    You can enter up to 32 ASCII characters and symbols, with the exception of: \ / : , ; * ? " < > |. The value "date-window name" is entered by default.
  9. Click Apply.

    If the Go to tasks window for status check box is selected, the Tasks window appears.

Deleting WWNs from the WWN table

If you disconnect a host that has been connected with a cable to your storage system, the WWN of the host remains listed in the Login WWNs tab. Use this procedure to delete WWNs of a host that is no longer connected to your storage system from the WWN list.

Before you begin

The Storage Administrator (Provisioning) role is required to perform this task.

Procedure

  1. Click Storage Systems, and then expand the Storage Systems tree.

  2. Click Ports/Host Groups/iSCSI Targets.

  3. Select the Login WWNs/iSCSI Names tab.

    To confirm the statuses of WWNs, click View Login WWN Statuses window.
  4. In the Login WWNs tab, select the WWNs you want to delete.

  5. Click Delete Login WWNs.

  6. Click Finish.

    The Confirm window appears.
  7. In the Task Name text box, enter the task name.

    You can enter up to 32 ASCII characters and symbols, with the exception of: \ / : , ; * ? " < > |. The value "date-window name" is entered by default.
  8. Click Apply.

    If the Go to tasks window for status check box is selected, the Tasks window appears.

Deleting a host group

Use this procedure to delete a host group.

If host group 0 (zero) is deleted, all WWNs that belong to host group 0 are deleted and all LU paths that correspond to host group 0 are deleted. The host mode of host group 0 becomes Standard, and the host group name is initialized. To remove all the WWNs and LU paths from host group 0, you must initialize host group 0. For details, see Initializing host group 0.

Caution
  • If you plan to delete a host group that includes paths to LDEVs with the GAD reserve attribute, reduce the number of LDEVs in the host group to 100 or fewer before deleting the host group. Host group deletion might fail if the number of LDEVs in the host group is too large.
  • When a port has a path defined for an LDEV with the GAD reserve attribute and you need to configure the port (delete a host group, set a command device, or change the host mode, topology, AL-PA, or transfer speed), the operation might fail if you configure more than one port at a time. For ports that have a path defined for an LDEV with the GAD reserve attribute, perform these operations on one port at a time.

Before you begin

The Storage Administrator (Provisioning) role is required to perform this task.

Procedure

  1. Click Storage Systems, and then expand the Storage Systems tree.

  2. Click Ports/Host Groups/iSCSI Targets.

  3. Select the Host Groups tab, or select a port from the tree then select the Host Groups tab.

  4. Select a host group that you want to delete.

  5. Select Delete Host Groups.

  6. In the Delete Host Groups window, confirm the settings, in Task Name type a unique name or accept the default, and then click Apply.

    If Go to tasks window for status is checked, the Tasks window opens.
  7. Click OK to close the message.

Next steps