Managing HP 3PAR Disk Arrays

Course overview

This 3 day course overviews 3PAR hardware and architecture along with giving administrators insight in to the constructs within the 3PAR array family. Students will explore Virtual Volumes and Thin Provisioning along with performing other administrative tasks via both GUI and CLI methods. The class discusses local and remote data copies along with reporting, scheduling and space management. Hands-on lab exercises will help illustrate the concepts learned during the course.

 

Course objectives

  • Understand the Layout/Structure of 3PAR
  • Understand chunklets, raidlets, LDs and CPGs
  • Understand HP 3Par thin provisioning and zero detect
  • Understand cloud feautes like DO, AO and tiering
  • List the new features of InForm Release 2.3.1
  • Understand the system reporter tool

 

Course outline

Course Introduction

  • General Information

Hardware Architecture

  • 3PAR Hardware Overview and Value Proposition
  • InServ InSpire Architecture
  • InServ Nodes [CPU, PCI, Cache, ASIC]
  • InServ Nodal Connections and Clusters
  • InServ Connections Host-Node-Drive
  • InServ Numbering Schemes for nodes, cages, PCI slots for T & F series
  • InServ Power, Supplies, Battery
  • InServ Service Processor and Support Architecture

Virtual Volume Overview

  • Understand InFormOs Software Architecture
  • Understand InFormOS RAID concepts
  • Understand concepts of InServ Chunklets
  • Understand InFormOS Logical Disks (LDs)
  • Understand InFormOS Virtual Volumes

Managing Storage

  • Install InForm Management Console
  • Explain the benefits of Thin Provisioning
  • Understand the concepts of Thin Provisioning
  • Set-up a Common Provisioning Group (CPG)
  • Create a Thin Provisioned Virtual Volume (TPVV)
  • Manage Alerts for CPG
  • Understand Best Practices of CPG

Managing Storage with CLI

  • Install CLI Administration tools
  • Provision Storage using CLI commands
  • Use online "help"
  • Use 3PAR Technical Publications for examples on command usage

Space Management/Thin Technologies

  • Space management features
  • Virtual Volumes using the CLI to manage space
  • Dynamic Optimization
  • Benefits of Dynamic Optimization (DO)
  • Change Volume RAID level
  • Change Volume Availability level
  • Change Volume Service level
  • Reclaim Unused LD Space

Autonomic Groups

  • Efficiencies of Autonomic Groups
  • Use Autonomic Groups to simplify provisioning storage
  • List the commands which support Autonomic Groups
  • 3PAR Technical Publications for examples on command usage

Virtual Copy

  • Explain the benefits of Virtual Copy (VC)
  • Create a Virtual Copy Volume
  • Understand the “rules” around VC Relationships
  • Use the InForm GUI to manage Virtual Copies

Virtual Domains

  • Concepts of Virtual Domains
  • User’s Privileges for Domains
  • Create a Domain
  • Create a Domain Object
  • Manage Domain Objects
  • Remove a Domain

Learn to use Virtual Domains in a Lab Exercise

Remote Copy

  • Features and benefits of Remote Copy
  • Types of RC implementations
  • Asynchronous, Synchronous and SLD configuration
  • Key advantages of RC over competitive products
  • Pre-sales and support

Adaptive Optimization

  • Benefits of Adaptive Optimization (AO)
  • SSDs, Fibre Channel (FC) and NearLine (NL) drives
  • System Reporter 2.8

System Reporter

  • Components of System Reporter
  • Articulate to the customer the importance of purchasing System Reporter
  • Produce reports
  • Use “Quick Reports”

Performance

  • Difference between a local read versus a remote read from a host connected to a 3PAR InServ
  • The 2 different types of “writes” to a 3PAR InServ
  • Performance differences of the above reads and writes from a host
  • Individual Component Performance
  • RAID impact to overall performance
  • How 3PAR caching works
  • Setup FC Host Port Considerations for proper balancing
  • Published performance data