Cisco MDS. The following table summarizes the Cisco interoperability modes and their compatibility with third-party switches. This mode supports only domain IDs 1 through The following table provides a comparison of Brocade and Cisco licenses. Migration Tools: Zone Migration Wizard. Operate and Optimize. After the migration process is complete, perform the following actions to verify that the migration was successful:. Migration Assessment. It is important to understand the current application environment and the new SAN requirements before attempting a migration.
There is more than one way to proceed with the migration process, depending on the current SAN architecture, fabric topology, size, and number of active devices attached. A SAN fabric migration can be done both offline or online, depending on the application or project requirements. An offline migration is the simpler of the two approaches, though careful planning is required.
However, in many environments where planned downtime is not possible, then the migration must be performed online. An online migration in a single or redundant fabric requires careful evaluation of the application availability and currently deployed topology, in order to plan for a methodical migration path. There are several factors to consider, regardless of the migration approach:.
Develop The Migration Plan. A good migration plan should include at least the following steps:. Performing the following steps ahead of time helps you to minimize the time required for migration. Prepare to Migrate. Rack, cable, and power on the destination fabric. Install Brocade Network Advisor. Use the SAN assessment and zone. Set up Ethernet and serial console for the Brocade switches.
WFA is a software solution that enables you to create storage workflows and automate storage management tasks such as provisioning, migrating, decommissioning, and cloning storage. Available PDFs. Recommended tools for data migration. NetApp Interoperability Matrix Tool. The management overhead involved in monitoring this process can be severe, especially if server physical or virtual count is high. A final challenge for host based replication software is that these applications are very operating system dependent.
They count on a very detailed understanding of the operating system in order to do their block copies. As a result, most developers tend to specialize on one particular operating system, so not only are there many jobs to manage, there are often multiple tools from multiple vendors one for each operating system.
Utilizing replication as a migration strategy is less than an ideal due to the multiple, complexities involved — it requires a large initial seeding of the data, there is no methodology for stress testing the new system, multiple software applications need to be deployed to support various operating systems and each replication process has to be individually managed. Finally there is SAN specific storage migration software; often provided by the incumbent storage manufacturer.
This is a step in the right direction in that the copies are typically done east and west across the SAN, instead of the north and south communication described above. Typically there is more bandwidth across east-west connections and the copies take place from storage system to storage system, so no host resources are consumed.
This also means that a single copy job can migrate data between the two systems. The big challenge for SAN specific replication software, however, is that it is usually single purpose and does not provide a long term migration foundation. In other words, each time a new storage system is purchased, a new migration software needs to be acquired as well.
This also of course, would require learning a new migration application. Additionally, SAN specific software has a limited set of storage hardware that it will typically migrate from. The single purpose nature of SAN specific migration software combined with the lack of testing of the new system and with its limited amount of source storage system support also makes it less than ideal for a long term, foundational migration strategy.
Storage virtualization, while often thought of as more of a foundational storage strategy change, may be the ideal migration solution. It provides the foundational migration strategy that the data center needs while at the same time opening the door, when the IT team is ready, to the other operational and cost saving benefits of the virtualization of storage assets. A storage virtualization solution typically installs as an appliance within the storage infrastructure, it then has the ability to copy data from the original storage system to a new storage system, in an east-west manner, without involving any server hosts in the process.
This can be done volume by volume or the entire array can be copied as needed. This leads to a rapid data copy and almost no application downtime. Another benefit is that after the initial copy is made, both storage systems can be written to in synchronous fashion for a period of time to stress test the new storage system under a production workload.
Then when the time is right, production can cut over fully to the new system. However, instead of deactivating the old system, it can be set to be the secondary array, where data being written to the new storage system is now mirrored to the old storage system in either synchronous or asynchronous fashion.
Providing a fail-back mechanism is an ideal way to repurpose old hardware while improving data resiliency. Finally and most importantly, storage virtualization is agnostic but not equal. It can migrate from any-to-any SAN based storage system; but beware, as some storage systems require a migration process to preserve existing data. A complete storage virtualization system can see and access existing data from any SAN-based storage system, negating the need to take the storage system offline when migrating between storage platforms, causing unexpected downtime or a loss of productivity.
This means that storage virtualization can be that foundational migration component that each data center needs. The obvious benefit of selecting storage virtualization as a migration strategy is that it also opens up the opportunity to leverage some of the other capabilities of storage virtualization when and if the IT manager decides to. For example, storage virtualization allows for all storage management and storage services to be provided from a single interface and single set of tools.
Ironically, when storage virtualization is fully embraced, it actually may eliminate the need for migration altogether. It allows storage systems to be added seamlessly, and volumes can be moved between those storage systems based on performance and capacity demands instead of product life cycles.
Twelve years ago George Crump founded Storage Switzerland with one simple goal; to educate IT professionals about all aspects of data center storage.
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