Hardware manual

Group Administration Storage solutions for all enterprises
1–4
Automatic SAN operation
In contrast to traditional storage management environments involving error-prone, manual tasks, a PS Series group
does complex tasks correctly and without user intervention:
• Automatic RAID configuration and d
ata provisioning. Administrators do not have to manually create
RAID sets or map data onto disks or individual network interfaces. Whether you are expanding a group or
creating, expanding, or deleting volumes, the group manages storage allocation and load balancing across the
resources in the group. iSCSI access to volumes continues without interruption.
• Automatic spare disk
configuration and use. A PS Series array can include spare disks, which the array
automatically configures and uses in the event of a disk failure, offering “hands-off” storage management.
• Automatic event notification. A PS Series
group uses standard event logging mechanisms and can
automatically notify users of significant events through e-mail, remote syslog servers, or SNMP traps.
Dynamic load balancing
Dynamic load balancing lets the group quickly find and correct bottlenecks as the workload changes, with no user
intervention or application disruption.
A group provides three types of load balancing w
ithin the arrays in a storage pool:
• Capacity load balanc
ing. The group distributes volume data across disks and members, based on capacity.
• Performance load balancing. The group tries to store volume data on members with
a RAID configuration
that is optimal for volume performance, based on internal group performance metrics.
• Network conn
ection load balancing. The group distributes iSCSI I/O across network interfaces, minimizing
I/O contention and maximizing bandwidth.
Robust security for group administration
The web-based Group Manager GUI and its corresponding CLI enable you to manage a group. You can access the
GUI by using standard Web protocols. For increased security, you can use SSL encrypted Web access. You can
access the CLI by using telnet. For increased security, you can use SSH.
Password-protected administration accounts prevent unauthorized users from acce
ssing the group. The grpadmin
account is the default administration account. You can create additional accounts with a variety of privileges.
You can set up and authenticate administration accounts locally in the group or through a RADIUS (Remote
Aut
horization Dial-in User Service) server. Environments that want additional security can use a dedicated
management network, which enables you to separate management traffic from iSCSI traffic.
Robust security for data access
Access controls prevent unauthorized users from accessing volume data. The robust security mechanisms of the
iSCSI protocol mean that you do not have to understand complicated security technologies, such as Fibre Channel
Switch Zoning or LUN Masking.