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Retiring storage


You can use the Storage Retirement page in the System Management Console to retire primary storage devices, S Series storage pools, S Series storage components, S Series storage volumes (buckets), extended storage pools, extended storage components, and extended storage volumes that are associated with specific access points (mount points, buckets, and containers).

© 2015, 2019 Hitachi Vantara Corporation. All rights reserved.

Retiring primary storage devices


You can use either the Migration page or the Storage page in the System Management Console to migrate data off selected storage nodes in either an HCP RAIN or SAIN system or off selected storage arrays in an HCP SAIN system in preparation for retiring those devices.

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Note: The migration service is not available for HCP VM systems.

During a data migration, the migration service copies objects and, if applicable, the metadata query engine index from the selected devices to free storage on the remaining devices. Before you start a data migration, you need to ensure that those devices have enough unused capacity to hold the data to be migrated.

After copying an object, the migration service deletes the object from the source device. Once the migration is complete, you can submit a request to your authorized HCP service provider to finalize the migration and remove the retired devices from the system.

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Important: After the migration of data off a storage node in an HCP RAIN system is finalized, the system can never again include a node with the same fourth octet in its back-end IP address as that node had.
Retiring a node is not part of the normal procedure for replacing a node that has failed or for upgrading to newer hardware. In these cases, the new node can use the same back-end IP address as the one being replaced.

The migration service runs only when you explicitly start a data migration. When the migration is complete, the service stops automatically.

When you start a data migration, the selected nodes or storage arrays automatically become read-only (except for allowing the migration service to delete objects). After the migration is complete, they remain read-only.

When you start a migration of data off selected nodes in a RAIN system, HCP automatically removes any NFS volumes from those nodes and associates those volumes with other nodes in the system.

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Important: To prevent data loss in namespaces that are not being replicated and that have service plans that set the ingest tier DPL to 1, always migrate data off a device before submitting a request to your authorized HCP service provider to remove the device from the HCP system.

© 2015, 2019 Hitachi Vantara Corporation. All rights reserved.

Before starting a primary storage retirement


Typically, for a RAIN system, before starting a data migration, you submit a request to your authorized HCP service provider to add new nodes to the HCP system in order to maintain (or increase) the system storage capacity. However, if the nodes not selected for migration have sufficient free space to accommodate all the data to be migrated, adding new nodes before the data migration is not required.

For a SAIN system, before starting a data migration, your SAN storage administrator, working in conjunction with your authorized HCP service provider, needs to add logical volumes (LUNs) from new or existing storage arrays to any nodes on which all the existing LUNs on all the existing arrays are being retired. Migrated data, however, can be written to any node, and does not necessarily have to be written to the same node from which the data is being migrated.

The HCP system cannot be upgraded while a data migration is in progress. Before the system can be upgraded, you need to either allow the migration to finish or cancel the migration. If you cancel the migration, you can configure a new migration of data off the same devices after the system is upgraded.

For detailed instructions on preparing for a data migration, and for more information on how the migration service works, see Migration service.

© 2015, 2019 Hitachi Vantara Corporation. All rights reserved.

Using the Retire Primary Storage wizard to perform a data migration


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Important: This section describes how to use the Retire Primary Storage wizard to migrate data off one or more primary storage devices, but it does not provide a detailed description of the entire data migration process. For a full description of the data migration process and for an explanation of how the migration service works, see Migration service.

To retire one or more primary storage devices, you can use the Retire Primary Storage wizard on the Retirement panel to specify the devices you want to retire and then configure and run a data migration to move all the data off the storage devices you want to retire and onto one or more other primary storage devices.

When configuring a data migration on a RAIN system, you select nodes to be retired. When configuring a data migration on a SAIN system, you can either retire an entire storage array or individual nodes.

To use the Storage page to perform a data migration in preparation for retiring primary storage:

1.On the left side of the Storage page, click on Retirement.

2.On the Retirement panel, click on Retire Storage.

The Get Started wizard opens. You use this wizard to select the type of storage you want to retire. Once you select a type of storage, the System Management Console dynamically builds either the Retire Primary Storage wizard or the Retire Extended Storage wizard, depending on the type of storage you selected.

3.In the Get Started wizard, click on the arrow and select Primary Storage from the dropdown list.

4.Click on Go.

The Get Started wizard exits, and the Retire Primary Storage wizard opens.

5.On the Select page of the Retire Primary Storage wizard, in the Select Hardware for Retirement section, select the RAIN system storage nodes you want to retire. If you're retiring a SAIN system, either select Retire Entire Array and select the arrays you want to retire or select Retire Specific Hardware Nodes and select the nodes you want to retire.

To clear your selections and start over, click on Cancel.

6.Click on Next.

The Review page of the Retire Primary Storage wizard opens, displaying step two of the migration configuration process (Review configuration summary and confirm). The Configuration Summary section on this page in the wizard indicates whether the migration configuration is acceptable.

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Notes: 

When you click on Next, HCP checks that the system is in a valid state to perform the migration. This includes checking for degraded RAID groups. This check can take up to 90 seconds.

Certain hardware errors, such as a degraded RAID group on a source or target node, prevent you from configuring a data migration. In such cases, you need to fix the problem before you can continue.

If the configuration is not acceptable, you can click on view details in the Configuration Summary section to display the specific reasons why. You can also click on Configuration Report to download the configuration summary and details to a file. The default name for this file is Configuration-Report.txt.

The Configuration Details section on the Review page in the Retire Primary Storage wizard lists the RAIN system nodes or the SAIN system storage arrays that are selected for migration

7.Take one of these actions:

oTo change the list of selected nodes or storage arrays, click on Previous to return to the Select page in the wizard. Use this page to change your selections. Then click on Next to return to the Review page in the wizard.

oTo cancel the migration and exit the wizard, click on Cancel.

oIf the list of selected storage devices is correct, and you want to perform the data migration, continue on to step 8.

8.Optionally, add a description of the data migration and/or change the performance level for the migration service:

oTo add a description:

a.Click on Add description.

b.In the text box that opens, type a description of the migration. This text can be up to 1,024 characters long and can contain any valid UTF-8 characters, including white space.

oTo change the performance level, in the Performance Level field, select Low, Medium, or High. The higher the performance level, the greater the load on the HCP system.

9.Click on Finish.

The migration service begins the data migration process, and the wizard exits. The migration service reports its progress on the Retirement panel on the Storage page. You can refresh this page at any time to view the current status of the data migration.

If any nodes become unavailable while the migration service is running, the service stops migrating data. When those nodes become available, the service automatically starts migrating data again.

You can use the Retirement panel on the Storage page to manage the migration service throughout the entire data migration process. At any time during the migration, you can click on Retirement Settings to change the performance level of the retirement process.

You can also click on Primary running to display the controls that you can use to change the performance level of the migration, pause and resume the migration as needed, or cancel the migration.

You can use the applicable field in the Overview panel on the Migration page to modify the migration description at any time (for example, to record when and how long the migration was paused).

10.When the data migration is complete (that is, the migration status is Migrated):

oIf a migration report is available, review it. This report identifies tenants that own namespaces containing unacknowledged irreparable objects. For the default tenant and for HCP tenants that are configured to allow system-level users to manage them, the report also lists the unacknowledged irreparable objects in those namespaces.

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Note: If the migration service encounters one or more objects that it cannot migrate, it marks those objects as irreparable (if they weren’t already marked that way).

oIf the data migration statistics show that not all objects were migrated, contact your authorized service provider for help.

11.Submit a request to your authorized service provider to finalize the migration and remove the retired hardware.

© 2015, 2019 Hitachi Vantara Corporation. All rights reserved.

Retiring S Series and extended storage pools, components, and volumes


You can use the Storage Retirement page in the System Management Console to retire both S Series and extended storage pools, storage components, and storage volumes that are associated with storage component access points (buckets, containers, or NFS volumes). If you are retiring HCP S Series components and pools that are selected as the ingest tier of a service plan, their replacements are limited to other S Series components and pools.

When you retire an S Series or extended storage that’s associated with a specific storage pool, component, or volume, HCP migrates all the data off that storage and moves it to the replacement storage that you specify.

To use the Storage Retirement page to retire an S Series or extended storage pool, component, or volume:

1.On the Storage Retirement page, click on Retire Storage.

The Get Started wizard opens. You use this wizard to select the type of storage you want to retire. Once you select a type of storage, the System Management Console dynamically builds either the Retire S Series Storage, or the Retire Extended Storage wizard, depending on the type of storage you selected.

2.In the Get Started wizard, click on the arrow and select either S Series Storage or Extended Storage from the dropdown list.

3.Click on Go.

4.On the Select page of the Retire S Series Storage or Retire Extended Storage wizard, use the fields to specify the S Series or extended storage pool, component, or volume that you want to retire:

oIn the What do you want to retire? field, select the applicable option to indicate whether you want to retire a storage pool, component, or volume.

Depending on your selection, the wizard displays up to three different fields: Pool, Component, and Volume.

oUse the Pool, Component, or Volume field to select the specific storage pool, component, or volume you want to retire.

If multiple fields appear, you can use the Pool field to filter the lists of components and volumes, and you can use the Component field to filter the list of volumes.

5.Click on Finish to exit the wizard and start the retirement process.

The migration service checks to see whether the selected pool, component, or volume is eligible for retirement.

If the storage is not eligible for retirement, the migration service reports the problem on the Retirement tab. If this happens, you need to fix the problem and then restart the storage retirement process.

If the storage is eligible for retirement, the migration service starts the retirement process:

oIf the storage does not have any data on it, the migration service simply deletes the selected pool, component, or volume.

oIf a selected storage pool has data on it, the service migrates all object data off that pool and onto the replacement pool you selected. The service then deletes the storage pool you selected for retirement.

oIf a selected storage component has data on it, the service migrates all of the data off that component. The service moves this data onto one or more of the other components that are contained in the same storage pool as the component you’re retiring. The service then deletes the storage you selected for retirement.

oIf a selected storage volume has data on it, the service moves all of the data off that volume. The service moves that data onto one or more of the other volumes that are stored on the same storage component as the one you’re retiring. The service then deletes the volume you selected for retirement.

The migration service reports the progress of the S Series or extended storage retirement on the Storage Retirement page. You can refresh this page at any time to view the current status of the S Series or extended storage pool, component, or volume retirement.

If you’re retiring S Series or extended storage that has data on it, you can use the Storage Retirement page to manage the migration service throughout the entire data migration process. At any time during the migration, you can click on Retirement Settings to display the controls that you can use to change the performance level of the migration, pause and resume the migration as needed, or cancel the migration (and the retirement). You can also use the applicable field in the Retirement Settings section to modify the retirement description at any time (for example, to record when and how long the data migration was paused).

© 2015, 2019 Hitachi Vantara Corporation. All rights reserved.

 

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