HP 3PAR AIX and IBM Virtual I/O Server Implementation Guide

Restrictions on Volume Size and Number
Follow the guidelines for creating virtual volumes (VVs) and Virtual LUNs (VLUNs) in the HP 3PAR
Command Line Interface Administrator’s Manual while adhering to these cautions and guidelines:
• This configuration supports sparse LUNs (meaning that LUNs may be skipped). LUNs may
also be exported in non-ascending order (for example 0, 5, 7, 3).
• The HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage supports the exportation of VLUNs with LUNs in the range
from 0 to 65535.
NOTE: AIX 7.1 supports only 512 LUNs per host HBA port, 0–511.
• Exported VLUNs will not be registered on the host until cfgmgr is run on the host.
• The maximum LUN size that can be exported to an IBM Virtual I/O Server is 2 TB when the
installed HP 3PAR OS version is 3.1.x or 2.3.x.
• The maximum LUN size that can be exported to an AIX or IBM Virtual I/O Server host is 16
TB when the installed HP 3PAR OS version is 3.1.x or 2.3.x. A LUN size of 16 TB on an AIX
or IBM Virtual I/O Server host is dependent on the installed AIX technology level, since some
older versions of AIX will not support an hdisk greater than 2 TB.
CAUTION: If the configuration being used utilizes two IBM Virtual I/O Servers, the LUN numbers
when exported to each of the IBM Virtual I/O Servers must be identical. If this important note is
not adhered to data corruption will occur.
Scanning for New Devices on an AIX or IBM Virtual I/O Server Host
This section describes the steps to scan for new devices on an AIX or IBM Virtual I/O Server host.
• LUN discovery on the AIX or IBM Virtual I/O Server host is accomplished by issuing cfgmgr
on the AIX or through the IBM Virtual I/O Server CLI command line.
• Following the completion of the cfgmgr command, display the exported LUNs by issuing
lsdev -Cc disk on the AIX CLI or through the IBM Virtual I/O CLI command line.
AIX example:
# lsdev -Cc disk
hdisk0 Available 00-08-00 SAS Disk Drive
hdisk1 Available 07-00-01 3PAR InServ Virtual Volume
hdisk2 Available 07-00-01 3PAR InServ Virtual Volume
IBM Virtual I/O Server example:
$ lsdev -type disk
name status description
hdisk0 Available 3PAR InServ Virtual Volume
hdisk1 Available 3PAR InServ Virtual Volume
hdisk2 Available 3PAR InServ Virtual Volume
hdisk3 Available 3PAR InServ Virtual Volume
hdisk4 Available 3PAR InServ Virtual Volume
hdisk5 Available 3PAR InServ Virtual Volume
• To display the LUN number for each exported HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage LUN for AIX, issue
the following command on the AIX CLI:
# lsattr -El hdisk1 | grep -i LUN
30 Allocating Storage for Access by the AIX or IBM Virtual I/O Server Host