Engineering White Paper

Introduction to the CX700

Abstract

This white paper introduces the full 2 Gb architecture and functionality of the CX700 storage system. It compares the features and capabilities of the CX700 with other EMC CLARiiON storage systems. The document lists the software capabilities and also introduces the new features of the CX700. Published 3/22/2004

3/22/2004

Copyright 2004 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. The information is subject to change without notice. THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION IS PROVIDED AS IS. EMC CORPORATION MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION, AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in this publication requires an applicable software license.

Part Number C1047

Introduction to the CX700

3/22/2004

Table of Contents
Executive Summary............................................................................................ 4 Intended Audience.............................................................................................. 4 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 4
Where the CX700 Fits into the EMC CLARiiON Storage Family................................................. 5

The CX700 Major Subassemblies ...................................................................... 6

The CX700 Storage Processor .................................................................................................... 6 The CX700 Drive Enclosures SPE and DAE2 ........................................................................ 8 The CX700 Drive Canister ........................................................................................................... 9 The Standby Power Supply ....................................................................................................... 10 Cabling the CX700 Storage System .......................................................................................... 10

Software on the CX700 ..................................................................................... 12

FLARE Operating Environment ................................................................................................. 12 Navisphere Management Suites................................................................................................ 12 MetaLUNs............................................................................................................................... 12 Access Logix (Included with Navisphere Management Suites) ............................................. 13 SnapView Snapshots (Optional Application) ............................................................................. 13 SnapView BCVs (Optional Application) ..................................................................................... 14 MirrorView (Optional Application) .............................................................................................. 14 SAN Copy (Optional Application)............................................................................................... 14 PowerPath.................................................................................................................................. 15 Non-Disruptive Upgrade ............................................................................................................ 15

Upgrading from a CX300/CX500 ...................................................................... 15 Summary ........................................................................................................... 15 Appendix A ........................................................................................................ 16

Introduction to the CX700

3/22/2004

Executive Summary
This document describes the full 2 Gb architecture and functionality of the CX700 storage system. It compares the features and capabilities of CX700 with other CLARiiON storage systems. The CX700 storage processors (SPs) and SP subcomponents are described. In addition, major system subassemblies and configurations are described and illustrated. The paper provides details on the software capabilities of the CX700 and also introduces the new features of the CX700.

Intended Audience
This white paper is intended for Systems Engineers, EMC partners, members of the EMC and partners sales and professional services communities, and any technical individuals who desire an in-depth understanding of the CLARiiON CX700 storage system.

Introduction
The CX700 is the flagship of the EMC seventh-generation, full Fibre Channel CLARiiON CX series storage systems. The CX700 is made up of the following modular components: The 2 Gb storage processor enclosure (SPE) - houses only the storage processors (SPs) A 2 Gb disk array enclosure (DAE2) - houses up to 15 drives and can be added to, to scale to a maximum of 240 drives

A standby power supply (SPS) for protection of the systems mirrored write cache The following are CX700 data storage system features: Supports both direct-attach and shared storage (SAN) environments Hot-swappable storage processors with 4 GB bytes of memory per SP FC-AL and FC-SW front-end support RAID level 0, 1, 1/0, 3, 5 and individual disk support, along with global hot sparing Nondisruptive upgrade (NDU) capability Five-drive minimum to 240-drive maximum system configuration Supports data-in-place upgrade from the CX300 or the CX500, as well as prior generation CX models

Supports Windows, Solaris, Netware, Linux, HP-UX, TRU64, and AIX operating systems The CX700 supports the following software: Base (FLARE) Code Navisphere Management Suites (include Access Logix technology and appropriate Navisphere Agents) CLARalert PowerPath (Full-Featured or Utility Kit) SnapView (Snapshots and BCVs) MirrorView SAN Copy

Introduction to the CX700

3/22/2004

Where the CX700 Fits into the EMC CLARiiON Storage Family
The CX700 storage system is an intelligent storage product in the CLARiiON CX product family. It provides high functionality, disaster tolerance, data integrity, high availability, and configurability. It is an excellent choice for a high-end midrange storage solution. The new CX700 hardware provides significantly higher performance than its predecessor, the CX600 system. All CX700 storage systems are shipped with 4 GB of cache and dual 3.0 GHz processors on each SP. This contrasts with the CX600, which was available with 2 GB or 4 GB of cache and 2.0 GHz processors on each SP. There are now four back-end ports on each SP, twice what the CX600 had. A fully loaded CX700 with 240 146 GB drives provides approximately 35 TB of raw storage, which is the same as its predecessor. The maximum capacity increases even more dramatically when ATA drives are implemented. See Table 1 for a comparison of many of the CX700 features with those of the CLARiiON CX600 storage system. Table 1. Side-by-Side Comparison of the CX700 with the CLARiiON CX600 Storage System Components/Connectivity
Processor architecture per SP Physical memory per SP Max drives per storage system Min drives per storage system Max IOPs Max bandwidth Max front-end FC ports per SP (2 Gb) Max back-end FC ports per SP (2 Gb) Max initiators per array Max H/A hosts per array Max drives per RAID group Max LUNs per RAID group Max LUNs per array Min configuration form factor

CX600
2 x 2 GHz 4 or 2 GB 240 4 (5 w/write cache) 150,000 1300/720 MB/s 4 2 256 128 16 128 1024 8U

CX700
2 x 3 GHz 4 GB 240 4 (5 w/write cache) 200,000 1520/1300 MB/s 4 4 512 256 16 128 2048 8U

Software Support
SnapView snapshots SnapView BCVs MirrorView SAN Copy Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Introduction to the CX700

3/22/2004

The CX700 Major Subassemblies

The minimal CX700 assembly consists of a 4U SPE, a 1U SPS, and a 3U DAE2, for a total of 8U. A fully configured CX700 consists of the SPE and SPS, plus sixteen 3U DAE2s, for a total of 53U. This would require the use of a second cabinet. Figure 1 shows an 8U assembly and rack mounted system. 3U DAE2 (up to 15 can be added)

...

53U maximum configuration

3U DAE2

3U DAE2

4U SPE

8U minimum configuration

1U SPS Figure 1. Minimum and Maximum CX700 Configurations The SPS, SPE, and DAE2 assemblies are rack-mounted for efficiency, and allow deployment flexibility. The CLARiiON 40U cabinetwith industry-standard 19-inch rackscan house different configurations of multiple CX700 systems, as well as 1U FC switches. The 40U cabinet comes standard with two power distribution units (PDUs). Power supplies on the left use the left PDU; power supplies on the right use the right PDU. Additionally, all CLARiiON storage systems can be installed in non-EMC industry-standard cabinets.

The CX700 Storage Processor

Dual 3.06 GHz Intel P4 Xeon processors power each CX700 SP. This processing power is the basis for performance, stability, and reliability in the CX700 storage system. Each SP has 4 GB of system memory, also referred to as cache. There are two 2 Gb Fibre Channel communications messaging interface (CMI) channels between the SPs. All FC protocol chips reside on a 64-bit, 100 MHz PCI-X bus. The LAN and other non-Fibre Channel I/O reside on a separate 64-bit, 33 MHz PCI bus.

Introduction to the CX700

3/22/2004

Figure 2. CX700 Storage Processor (Back View) Figure 2 shows the CX700 storage processor. LEDs provide indications of LAN connectivity, SP power, boot progress, and fault status, as well as power supply and blower status. Each CX700 SP has four small form factor- (SFF) or Lucent Connector- (LC) style, 2 Gb optical front-end ports. These are unique ports, and can be independently set to run at 1 Gb or 2 Gb speeds. Each SP has four HSSDC-style 2 Gb copper back-end ports which with the peer SP form four redundant FC back-end loops for disk connectivity and capacity expansion.

BE 1

BE 0

BE 3

BE 2

4 Back-End Ports (per SP)

4 Front-End Ports (per SP)

BE 2

BE 3

BE 0

BE 1

Figure 3. CX700 Storage Processor Front-End and Back-End Ports

Introduction to the CX700

3/22/2004

Fan Module Fault Indicators

Chassis Power & Fault Indicators

Fan Module #3

Fan Module #2

Fan Module #1

Figure 4. CX700 Storage Processor Enclosure (Front View) The SPs are enclosed within the SPE (discussed in the next section). The SPE, first DPE2, and SPS serve as the base unit of the storage system.

The CX700 Drive Enclosures SPE and DAE2

The SPE and DAE2 do not use the same enclosure; however, unlike other CX storage systems, the CX700 has a separate enclosure for the SPs, while the first DAE2 contains the drives where the configuration, cache vault, and boot images are stored. The DAE2 enclosure has room for up to 15 drives. Drive 0 is at the furthest left side of the enclosure, and drive 14 is at the furthest right side of the enclosure.

Enclosure Fault and Power LEDs

Airflow

Figure 5. Front View of the CX700 DAE2 Enclosure fault and power status LEDs, as well as disk activity and fault LEDs, are visible from the front of the enclosure. See Figure 5. Other fault indicators and unit ID switches are located at the rear of the enclosure. Introduction to the CX700 8

3/22/2004

Table 2. Components Housed within SPE and DAE2 Enclosures SPE

2 CX700 SPs 2 power supplies 3 blower assemblies

DAE2
2 LCCs 2 power supply/blower assemblies 15 FC or ATA drives disk drives

The CLARiiON with ATA implementation is at the DAE2 level. With the exception of the link controller cards (LCCs) and disk modules, all of the other DAE2 assemblies are identical to that of a standard Fibre Channel DAE2 assembly. The LCCs have been modified to convert Fibre Channel signal to serial ATA, and then from serial ATA back to Fibre Channel again. The modified cards are called Bridge Controller Cards (BCCs). For more information on ATA technology, refer to the Introduction to CLARiiON with ATA Disk Drives and Enclosures white paper.

The CX700 Drive Canister

Figure 6a shows a close-up view of the CX700 FC disk drive canister. The canister holds 1-inch, 12-voltonly disk drives. For additional reliability, the drives are designed with a positive latching mechanism included on the canister itself to ensure a more complete insertion when inserting drives into the CX700 chassis. Each drive canister has drive-ready and fault LEDs. Fibre Channel drives supported at the initial release of the CX700 storage system include the 146 GB 10K rpm, 73 GB 10K/15K rpm, and the 36 GB 10/15K rpm disk drives, all of which are full 2 Gb FC assemblies.

Figure 6a. 2 Gb Canister for Fibre Channel d Figure 6b. 2 Gb Canister for ATA drives The CX700 also supports 250GB 5,400 rpm ATA drives. Figure 6b shows the modified ATA disk carrier, allowing for conversion from FC to ATA, and also converting standard single-port access for ATA to dualported access for more highly available and reliable disk access.

Introduction to the CX700

3/22/2004

The Standby Power Supply

As shown in Figure 7, the CX700 SPE uses the same standby power supply (SPS) as the CX300 and CX500 storage systems. Like the CX500, the CX700 has dual SPSs for redundancy and fault tolerance. One SPS output connector powers up one of the power supplies in the SPE, while the other SPS output powers up the first DAE2, which contains the boot drives. (This is different from the CX300 and the CX500 systems, where only one of the SPS output connectors is used.)

Figure 7. View of CX700 Standby Power Supply (SPS) It is important to cable each SPS so it connects completely to either the A-side or the B-side. Looking at the system from the back: SPS on the right: Power-out and sense cables should connect to power supply A and SP A. SPS on the left: Power-out and sense cables should connect to power supply B and SP B. If an SPS is cabled with the SPS sense cable going to SP A and the power-out cable going to power supply B (or vice versa), error conditions will display when the SPSs are tested or are charging.

Cabling the CX700 Storage System

Figure 8 shows a rear view of the CX700 system in single and multi-rack configurations. Each SP has four back-end loops (BE#0-3). Each disk enclosure that connects to the same back-end loop must have a unique disk enclosure address (for instance, EA#0, EA#1, EA#2, and EA#3).

Introduction to the CX700

10

3/22/2004

EA1/Loop 3 Loop 3 LCC B EA1/Loop 2 Loop 2 EA1/Loop 1 Loop 1 EA1/Loop 0 Loop 0 EA0/Loop 3 Loop 3 EA0/Loop 2 Loop 2 EA0/Loop 1 Loop 1 EA0/Loop 0 Loop 0 SP B SP A Loop 0 Loop 1 Loop 3 Loop 2 Loop 0 Loop 1 Loop 2 LCC A Loop 3

SPS B

SPS A
EMC2709

Single-Cabinet Cabling (165 Drives Total)

LCC B Loop 0 DAE2 EA7/Loop 2 LCC A Loop 0

DAE2 EA6/Loop 0 2 DAE2 EA5/Loop 2 0 DAE2 EA4/Loop 0 2 DAE2 EA3/Loop 2 0 0

2 LCC B DAE2 EA7/Loop 3 LCC A

3 2

DAE2 EA6/Loop 1

DAE2 EA5/Loop 3 1 DAE2 EA4/Loop 1 DAE2 EA2/Loop 0 0 2 DAE2 EA1/Loop 2 0 DAE2 EA2/Loop 1 DAE2 EA0/Loop 0 0 0 3 DAE2 EA1/Loop 3 2 SP B 1 0 3 SPS A 1 1 5- or 10-Meter Cable Note: Numbers In circles are loop numbers 3 DAE2 EA0/Loop 1 SP A 3 1 3 DAE2 EA3/Loop 3 3

2 1-Meter Cable SPS B

EMC2710

Multicabinet Cabling (240 Drives Total)

Figure 8. CX700 Cabling Diagrams

Introduction to the CX700

11

3/22/2004

Software on the CX700

The CX700 is designed to focus on intelligent storage management functions that can be operated in both direct-attach and SAN environments. The CX700 is capable of incorporating a full range of intelligent storage functions, such as logical unit number (LUN) masking and storage replication applications.

FLARE Operating Environment

All CX700 drives have an area reserved for configuration information. Additionally, the first five disks in the DAE2 have reserved areas that are used for software images and write cache destage, called the vault area. To provide space to support these features, user space on the first five drives starts at 6.4 GB and starts on all the other drives at 34 MB, as shown in Figure 9. Reserved Space = 34 MB

Reserved Space = 6.4 GB

User Space

User Space

First Five Drives

All Other Drives

Figure 9. CX700 Disk Layout Showing the Private Space Usage (Picture Not to Scale) This layout is also common to the CX500 and CX300 storage systems, as well as to those systems preceding these models.

Navisphere Management Suites

Customers can manage their CX700 with Navisphere Management Suites. Navisphere allows support for multiple storage systems on the same subnet. Remote management is supported. Navisphere Management Suites also support NAS and/or legacy storage systems, including support for advanced storage applications like SnapView, MirrorView, and SAN Copy.

MetaLUNs
With Navisphere, the CX700 storage system can utilize the LUN expansion feature, in which the base LUN can be expanded in size to form an entity called the MetaLUN. The MetaLUN is a combination of more than one LUN joined together by using either the striping or concatenation method. Refer to the EMC CLARiiON MetaLUNs, Concepts, Operations, and Management white paper for more detail. If the operating system supports LUN expansion, with the MetaLUN feature a LUN of a larger size will now be visible to the host. Table 3 lists the supported MetaLUN features on the CX700.

Introduction to the CX700

12

3/22/2004

Table 3. MetaLUN features Supported on the CX700 Feature

Maximum number of MetaLUNs per storage system Maximum LUN size (Base or MetaLUN) Maximum number of combinations (striping/concatenation) per Base LUN

CX700 Support
1024 2 TB 16

Access Logix (Included with Navisphere Management Suites)

Access Logix includes enabling functions between the storage processors; host bus adapters (HBAs), FC fabric switches, and Navisphere for heterogeneous host connectivity (refer to the EMC Support Matrix for the latest list of supported platforms). Access Logix provides users an easy-to-manage facility of Storage Groups into which they can group their hosts and associated LUNs. The Core (FLARE) software for the CLARiiON storage system that performs all the functions includes both non-Access Logix and Access Logix code. Users must install the AccessLogixOption on the storage system to enable the Access Logix capability. Table 4. Access Logix Features Supported on the CX700 Feature
Max Storage Groups per storage system Max LUNs per Storage Group (Initiator)

CX700 Support
512 256

SnapView Snapshots (Optional Application)

SnapView allows users to create an instantaneous virtual copy of a LUN. The virtual copy of the LUN is then accessible from a different host. This enables off-loading of the backup processing from the production host. Third-party backup applications can be scripted using Navisphere CLI and can take full advantage of this functionality. SnapView allows the user to create a virtual copy of the LUN to run decision support applications while not affecting the data on the production database. In case of source corruption, contents of the Snapshot (point-in-time copy) can be rolled back. See Table 5 for the supported SnapView snapshot features on the CX700. Table 5. SnapView Snapshots Supported on the CX700 Feature
Snapshots per source LUN Snapshots per storage system Snapshot sessions per source LUN Snapshot sessions per storage system Reserved LUNs for snapshots per storage system

CX700 Support
8 300 8 100 100

SnapView version 2.0 supports persistence. Persistence is maintained by storing the point-in-time view of the source LUN on the Save LUN as updates are made to the source LUN by the host. The point-in-time view remains available after trespasses, NDU operations, and SP reboots.

Introduction to the CX700

13

3/22/2004

SnapView BCVs (Optional Application)

SnapView BCVs allow users to create a full copy of a LUN, equal in size to the source LUN. Once created, this full copy can then be fractured from the source LUN and be mounted on a different host for processing backup applications without affecting the production data. A source can have up to eight BCVs and will be contained within a clone group. A clone group consists of all the BCVs that are created for a particular source LUN. In case of source corruption, contents of the BCV can be reverse-synchronized to the source LUN, thus avoiding downtime of the production database. See Table 6 for supported BCV features on the CX700. Table 6. SnapView BCVs Supported on the CX700 Feature
BCVs per source LUN BCV images per storage system (includes sources, as well as primary and secondary MirrorView images, in total count) Number of BCVs in a clone group Number of clone groups (source LUNs) per storage system

CX700 Support
8 100 8 50

MirrorView (Optional Application)

MirrorView allows users to mirror a LUN to an equal-sized LUN resident on a separate storage system. Mirrored LUNs receive host writes simultaneously; MirrorView maintains synchronicity between the LUNs by withholding host acknowledgement of the write until the mirrors have first acknowledged receipt. A source LUN can have up to 2 mirrors (each mirror must be on a separate storage system). Additionally, a given storage system can participate in MirrorView connections with up to 4 other storage systems. Should connectivity be lost between the source LUN and one or all of its mirrors, the areas written to are logged to disk, so that subsequent synchronizations can be incremental (that is, only the data that changed while the mirror was unreachable is transferred once the mirror regains connectivity). Table 7. MirrorView Devices Supported on the CX700 Feature
MirrorView images per storage system (includes primary and secondary images, as well as clone/source images in total count) MirrorView secondaries per primary image

CX700 Support
100 2 (must be on separate storage system)

SAN Copy (Optional Application)

SAN Copy is a generalized copy facility that enables a CLARiiON storage system to copy data from within a single storage system or from one storage system to another. With SAN Copy, the CX700 can participate in the SAN Copy data transfer operation by serving as either a source or destination of the operation. Since the SAN Copy application is running on the CX700, the software can be used to copy LUNs within the CX700. SAN Copy requires that Access Logix software be installed on the storage system. SAN Copy version 2.0 allows users to maintain incremental tracking of copies, so that only data that has changed on the source is copied to the destination. For incremental copy functionality, the SnapView software package must be running on the storage system. Table 8. SAN Copy Devices Supported on the CX700 Feature
SAN Copy sessions per storage system SAN Copy destinations per storage system

CX700 Support
300 100

Introduction to the CX700

14

3/22/2004

PowerPath
EMC PowerPath is host-resident software that works with both CLARiiON and Symmetrix storage systems to deliver intelligent I/O path management. Using PowerPath, administrators can improve the servers ability to manage heavy storage loads through continuous and intelligent I/O balancing. PowerPath automatically configures multiple paths and dynamically tunes for performance as workload changes. PowerPath adds to the high-availability capabilities of the CLARiiON and Symmetrix storage systems by automatically detecting and recovering from server-to-storage path failures. In addition to full-featured PowerPath, the CX700 also supports Utility Kit PowerPath. Utility Kit PowerPath provides failover between SPs only. Customers who desire the ability to load balance and/or have multi-pathing capability will need the full-featured version of PowerPath.

Non-Disruptive Upgrade
The non-disruptive upgrade (NDU) feature of the CX700 is the implementation of a transparent upgrade mechanism within the CX series storage system product line. The NDU feature, when coupled with PowerPath failover software, allows upgrades of the storage system Core software or other software upgrades, without stopping host access to data. During the NDU process, one SP at a time is upgraded and rebooted during the upgrade. While one SP is upgrading and rebooting, PowerPath failover software redirects I/O through the alternate SP as needed. The NDU function is initiated through either the Navisphere Web-based browser or NaviCLI and upgrades the storage system through several basic steps using the Navisphere management software. The steps are: 1. 2. 3. Select the storage system to be upgraded through the NDU process. Select the software to be used as the upgrade package. Initiate the upgrade process.

Upgrading from a CX300/CX500

As the customers environment grows, a CX300 or CX500 can be upgraded to a CX700. Since hardware and cabling must be reconfigured during the upgrade, the storage system is taken offline. However, there is no data loss or data movement required. This upgrade path is one-way; that is a CX700 or CX500 cannot be downgraded. Older CX storage systems can also be upgraded to current models using a fully supported data-in-place upgrade procedure.

Summary
The CX700 is a full-featured; full 2 Gb data storage system. It represents the best CLARiiON has to offer with a very attractive price-to-performance ratio. The CX700 shares some common hardware components and storage software functions with the CX300 and CX500 including: management, LUN masking, and path failover. The storage system has 8 front-end FC ports and 8 back-end FC ports, 8 GB of cache memory per storage system, and Ethernet ports for managing the storage system. As with all CLARiiON storage systems, all components are fully redundant. Functional improvements in the CX700 include: New Intel P4 Xeon 3GHz processor 533 MHz front side bus 4 GB memory per SP (no option for 2 GB) DDR PC2100 (266 MHz) 4 Copper HSSDC back-end ports Four separate back-end loops 15

Introduction to the CX700

3/22/2004

Appendix A
The following table explains the effect on Write Cache availability for various component failures on the CX700. Component Failure and Write Caching
1st SPS (battery) 2nd SPS (battery) 1st vault drive User induced/NDU Fan
*

Write Enabled Write Disabled Write Enabled (Selectable) Write Disabled Write Enabled Write Disabled Write Disabled Write Disabled

Power supply Storage processor A/C power

Single fan failure note: There are two fans in each of three SPE fan modules, for a total of six fans. Write cache is disabled only after both fans in a single fan module fail, two fans out of the six total available fail, or a complete single fan module is pulled. If a single fan in the fan module fails, the other existing fan will speed up to maintain proper air flow through the SPE. Once the fan module is pulled for replacement, two minutes are allowed before the array shuts down for thermal reasons. These two minutes allows for fan module replacement. Introduction to the CX700 16