HP 3PAR Upgrade Pre-Planning Guide

Observe the following general guidelines according to online HP 3PAR OS updates:
WARNING! All hosts must comply with the current applicable HP 3PAR host OS implementation
guides for the target HP 3PAR OS level. Hosts that do not comply completely with the implementation
guides may lose connectivity during the HP 3PAR OS upgrade.
• Do not perform hardware and configuration changes on the HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage
during the update. For example, software operations (such as servicemag, createvv, or
use of the HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage tuner commands) and hardware operations (such as
adding or removing drives and cages) are prohibited during the online update process. All
logical disk growth operations for common provisioning groups continue uninterrupted as
under normal operation.
• Host and environment changes are not allowed during an online upgrade (for example,
rebooting, applying patches, or rezoning switches). The upgrade software checks for the
existence of hosts before and after each step, and if host connections do not reappear after
each step, the upgrade process reverts to the original level.
• Any automated processes that communicate with the HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage management
interface (scripting) must be stopped before performing an online upgrade.
• Online upgrades should be scheduled and performed during periods of low I/O activity.
System resources are placed offline to be upgraded, system utilization must be lower than
50% for each node and I/O port.
Host Configuration Guidelines
Observe the following host configuration guidelines when planning an online HP 3PAR OS upgrade:
• Multipathing cabling must adhere to HP 3PAR configuration rules: each defined host must
have at least two operational paths attached to two adjacent nodes. That is, an even-numbered
node followed by a consecutive odd-numbered node.
Example of Valid pairings:
◦ 0 & 1
◦ 2 & 3
◦ 4 & 5
◦ 6 & 7
Example of Invalid pairings:
◦ 2 & 1
◦ 0 & 3
• All attached hosts must have multipathing software configured and operational for every HP
3PAR storage server volume exported. Hosts must connect to two adjacent nodes, an
even-numbered node followed by a consecutive odd-numbered node on the HP 3PAR StoreServ
Storage system.
Example of Valid pairings:
◦ 0 & 1
◦ 2 & 3
◦ 4 & 5
◦ 6 & 7
Host Configuration Guidelines 7