Installation site considerations
Observe the following site considerations before installing the storage system.
Site planning
Successful installation of the storage system requires careful planning. Proper planning will help provide for a more efficient installation and greater reliability, availability, and serviceability.
All planning activities should be scheduled and completed before the equipment is delivered.
The planning process includes:
- Planning hardware configuration, such as system component layout in the rack and drive allocation.
- Planning for specific network topologies, cabling configurations, network switches, and cabling of connected host computers.
- Ensuring all cables for specific controller and drive tray configuration are properly ordered.
- Selecting key personnel to handle the delivery and installation of the system.
- Verifying all electrical service wiring are installed at the predetermined location.
Complete the suggested tasks before receiving and installing the storage system.:
- Prepare a preliminary layout of the installation.
- Review the power and the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) requirements before ordering any additional support equipment.
- Work with a Hitachi Vantara representative and review the order of storage system and cables are correct.
- Make a final layout of the installation and review the layout with the Hitachi Vantara representative.
- Verify the installation of electrical service wiring at the predetermined location is proper before installing the storage system.
- Verify all additional equipment, such as switches and host computers, is installed and operational.
Hitachi Vantara responsibilities
Your Hitachi Vantara account team will assist you throughout the site planning process. The Hitachi Vantara account team is responsible for:
- Assisting you as needed to plan the installation for your specific site and operational configuration.
- Coordinating Hitachi Vantara resources to ensure smooth delivery, installation, and configuration of the units.
Customer responsibilities
When planning and preparing for the installation of a storage system, the user assumes the following responsibilities:
- Purchase site-planning services from Hitachi Global Services.
- Provide the space, people, and tools for unpacking, installing, and operating the storage system.
- Confirm that the path from where the storage system is delivered to the installation site is large enough to support the storage system. Take into account all ramps, walkways, and elevators and possible obstructions.
- Maintain the proper environmental conditions for the storage system. For optimal performance, storage systems require controlled environmental conditions that are often best facilitated through raised flooring and under-floor air conditioning. It is the responsibility of the customer to monitor this environment and ensure continued conformance with the recommended environmental specifications.
- Provide adequate power facilities for the storage system. Adequate power is necessary to ensure reliable functioning of electronic equipment and for the safety of the customer's installation. The customer is responsible for procuring, installing, and maintaining adequate power to the equipment.
- Supply the network connections and external cabling required by the storage system.
Delivery space requirements
Verify that the delivery area, the destination, and the path between them meet the standard delivery clearance and weight requirements of the storage system.
The delivery area must provide enough space and floor strength to support the packaged equipment cartons for the storage system. Doorways and hallways must provide enough clearance to move the equipment safely from the delivery area to the destination. Permanent obstructions such as pillars or narrow doorways can cause equipment damage. If necessary, plan for the removal of walls or doors.
Verify that all floors, stairs, and elevators you use when moving the storage system to its destination can support the weight and size of the equipment. Failure to do so could damage the equipment or your site.
Climatization
Storage systems that are shipped or stored at extreme temperatures require time to adjust to operating temperatures before startup.
If the storage system arrives in hot or cold weather, do not unpack it until it has been allowed to reach room temperature (one to two hours).
Immediately exposing the storage system to warm temperature can cause condensation to occur, which could damage the electronics.
If you notice any condensation, allow the storage system to stand unattended for one to two hours, and then unpack it.
Electrostatic discharge
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can harm the electronic components of your storage system.
ESD is created when the electrical field surrounding different objects varies and becomes balanced. The spark that is created when contact balances the fields can damage your storage system.
To minimize possible ESD-induced failures in your computer room:
- Verify that all equipment and flooring are grounded. Any charge that might build up would be discharged safely through that common ground.
- Maintain recommended humidity level and airflow rates. Relative humidity above 40% reduces the resistance of items that can generate a charge, making it more difficult to generate an ESD.
- Store spare electric parts in antistatic bags until you are ready to install them. These bags are designed to prevent a charge from building.
- When handling the storage system, wear protective devices like wrist straps, sole grounders, and conductive shoes. These items help to prevent electrostatic charge from building.
- Before working inside your storage system, ground yourself to the storage system enclosure by contact to verify that your personal static charge has been discharged.
Space requirements
Be sure your site has sufficient space to accommodate the storage system.
When preparing the space required for your storage system, be sure the site:
- Is large enough to hold the new storage system and other equipment.
- Provides minimum clearance around the storage system for service access and to verify proper weight distribution on the computer room floor.
- Includes correctly positioned floor cutouts for the storage system's power and data cables.
To verify there is sufficient space for the storage system, document your site's floor plan, including the locations of:
- Structural support columns and other immovable objects
- Walls
- All existing equipment, cabinets, racks, networking equipment, and other systems
- Where the new storage system will be installed
- Floor and electrical cutouts
- Interconnecting cables and power cords, including lengths
- Floor vents
The space requirements must take into consideration the total floor clearance required for the storage system. This includes:
- The space required by the equipment
- Service clearance - the floor space required to access the storage system.
- Additional space required to distribute the equipment weight on your computer room's raised floor. The amount of additional space required depends on your floor load rating.
- Additional space required to view the storage system LEDs on the front and rear panels.
Cable management
Rack installations should be planned for operational efficiency, ease of maintenance, and safety. Hitachi offers the Backend Configuration Utility (BECK), a graphical, cable-management application that can relieve the typical cable congestion created when populating a rack with storage systems and their accessories.
Floor load ratings
The floor space at the installation site must support the combined weight of the following components:
- Controller
- Drive trays
- Rack
- All associated equipment
To verify adequate load-bearing capacity, plan for the maximum configuration. The following table lists the weight for maximum configurations. The table also applies to third-party racks. The weights below do not include the rack itself, so add the weight of the rack to the values shown below. The maximum allowable weight in the Hitachi rack is 907 kg (2,000 lbs). For more information about racks, see the Hitachi Universal V2 Rack Reference Guide.
|
Component |
Drive trays |
Weight |
|
CBSS controller | 7 SFF drive trays |
565 kg (1245.6 lbs) |
| 7 LFF drive trays |
562 kg (1239.0 lbs) | |
| 7 FMD drive trays |
623 kg (1373.4 lbs) | |
| 4 dense intermix drive trays |
709 kg (1563.1 lbs) | |
|
Physical SVP | N/A |
4.5 kg (10 lbs) |
|
Component |
Drive trays |
Weight |
| CBSL | 7 SFF drive trays |
567 kg (1294.1 lbs) |
| 7 LFF drive trays |
564 kg (1243.4 lbs) | |
| 7 FMD drive trays |
625 kg (1377.9 lbs) | |
| 8 dense intermix drive trays |
1395 kg (3075.4 lbs) | |
| Physical SVP | N/A |
4.5 kg (10 lbs) |
|
Component |
Drive trays |
Weight |
| CBL | 48 SFF drive trays |
2829 kg (6236.9 lbs) |
| CBL | 48 LFF drive trays |
2810 kg (6195 lbs) |
| CBL | 48 FMD drive trays |
3251 kg 7167.2 lbs |
| CBL | 24 dense intermix drive trays |
3717 kg (8194.6 lbs) |
| Physical SVP | N/A |
4.5 kg (10 lbs) |
Non-Hitachi rack support for VSP Gx00 models VSP Fx00 models
The VSP Gx00 models VSP Fx00 models support non-Hitachi racks that meet Hitachi specifications.
- The VSP Gx00 models VSP Fx00 models support any 4-post, EIA-310-D compliant rack that has adequate airflow and weight capacity.
- PDUs must be mounted properly to avoid any issues while servicing the storage system. The PDU receptacles must face toward the back (not toward each other). The area behind the storage system and between the vertical 19-inch mounting posts must be free of PDUs and cable loops.
Hitachi Universal V2 Rack rail kits
Use rail kits to mount the Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform family storage system in a Hitachi Universal V2 Rack.
The following tables list the rail kit information for the specified storage systems.
|
Rail kit |
Hitachi Universal V2 Rack |
Third-party rack |
|
Controller |
UNI1 |
UNI1 |
|
DBS, DBL, and DBF drive trays |
CGR2 |
UNI1 |
|
DB60 dense intermix drive tray |
Use the rail kit supplied with the DB60 dense intermix drive tray. | |
|
SVP server |
Use the rail kit supplied with the SVP server. | |
|
Notes:
| ||
Hitachi Universal V2 Rack accessories
The following table provides rack accessory information for VSP G series VSP F series storage systems.
|
Storage system |
Front door |
Rear door |
Side panels |
| VSP Gx00 models VSP Fx00 models |
Optional, must be ordered separately (A3BF-DR). |
Included with rack |
Not included with rack, must be ordered separately. A quantity of two must be ordered per rack (A3BF-Z-PAN-1200). |
Third-party rack support for DB60 dense intermix drive trays
Due to the size and weight of the DB60 dense intermix drive trays used with VSP Gx00 models, pay close special attention when mounted in third-party racks.
When mounting DB60 dense intermix drive trays in third-party racks, observe the following guidelines and see the following figure.
- Use anti-tilt floor plates or ceiling-mounted fixing brackets to stabilize the rack.
- Use a rack that is at least 40.94 in. (1040 mm) deep to accommodate the DB60 dense intermix drive tray and cable-management arms.
- Dense tray rail kits require square mounting holed racks.
- Use a ladder to service the DB60 dense intermix drive tray if the drive tray is mounted above shelf height RU32.
Raised and non-raised floors
Your storage system can be installed on a raised or non-raised floor.
A raised floor consists of load-bearing floor panels laid in a horizontal grid above a building floor. The raised floor is supported by adjustable vertical pedestals to provide an underfloor space for distributing cables, power outlets, and other services.
Installing the storage system on a raised floor is preferred because it:
- Provides efficient cooling.
- Makes it easy to accommodate cabling layouts.
- Prevents tripping hazards because cables are routed below the raised floor.
If your site has a raised floor, consider the following factors:
- The raised floor must be built of noncombustible materials.
- Treat concrete subfloors to prevent them from releasing dust.
- Confirm there is positive air pressure below the raised floor to verify adequate airflow.
- The raised floor clearance must be adequate to accommodate cables. Remove all unused cables from the area below the raised floor to prevent these areas from becoming dust and dirt traps.
- Eliminate sharp edges on floor cutouts to avoid damage to cables.
- Apply sealant to raised-floor cable openings to prevent chilled air from escaping.
- For metallic raised floor structures, it is a safety hazard to expose metal or highly conductive material at ground potential to the walking surface.
Although raised floors are preferred, the storage system can be installed on non-raised floors. In these environments, overhead cabling can be used to provide power to the storage system. Installation planning, cable length, and rack location in relation to the cable openings on the rack are critical to installations that use overhead cabling.
Floor covering and cutouts
Do not use carpeting, including antistatic varieties, because they can shed dust over time that can cause problems with the storage system.
If your computer room has carpeting, place static discharge mats so that personnel must walk across them before touching any part of the storage system. Failing to comply with this precaution can damage the equipment through static discharge.
If your computer room uses floor cutouts to route power and data cables, position the cutouts toward the center of the rack. If this is not possible, position the cutouts off-center from the rack as long as the cutout is within the allowable range and allows smooth routing and entrance of cables. Check the relationship between the position of the cutout and the cable openings on the rack.
Meeting environmental conditions
For optimal performance, the storage system requires controlled environmental conditions.
Hitachi recommends that you maintain a controlled environment, with a high degree of cleanliness and close control of temperature and humidity. The storage system operating environment must be free from continuous vibration, dust, and other environmental contaminants.
Keep the location as free of airborne particulates as possible. To eliminate obvious sources of particulates, do not permit anyone to eat, drink, or smoke near the storage system. Do not place the storage system close to a copier or printer that can emit toner and paper dust.
If the site will be undergoing construction that involves sawing, welding, or drilling, protect the storage system from concrete, metal particles, and other debris during construction.
Maintaining the optimal temperature
The site must provide sufficient airflow capacity to remove the heat generated by the storage system.
Prior to installation, verify that the site has a cooling system that can support all thermal emissions.
The level of cooling required for the storage system is not the same as the air conditioning used in offices and homes. Air-conditioning systems in offices and homes provide comfort for the low heat and higher moisture generated by the human body. In contrast, electronic equipment generates high dry-heat output that is moisture-free.
Your storage system can tolerate temperature and humidity fluctuations if the specified ranges are followed. Exceeding the maximum temperature and humidity ranges for any period of time, however, can affect storage system performance adversely. To ensure that the ambient temperature near the intake at the front of the storage system does not exceed system specifications, verify that the location where the storage system will be installed has a cooling system that can support all thermal emissions.
Air enters the storage system at the front and exits through the rear. Be sure the front of the storage system is neither blocked nor exposed to heated air blown from nearby equipment.
If conditions at the site change (for example, new units are added or the system is moved), airflow checks should be made.
If the site has a raised floor, the room must have positive air pressure below the floor to verify adequate airflow. Remove all unused cables from the area below the raised floor to prevent these areas from becoming dust and dirt traps.
Earthquake considerations
Consider whether earthquake-restraining equipment is needed for your storage system installation.
In seismic-prone regions, use the appropriate flooring, racks, and fasteners to restrain the storage system during earthquakes, prevent human injury, and limit potential damage to system components.