NetBackup support for Hitachi Compute Blade logical partitioning feature (BladeSymphony Virtage)

Article:TECH199103

Created: 2012-10-29

Updated: 2012-11-02

Article URL http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH130529

Article Type
Technical Solution

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Problem

NetBackup support for Hitachi Compute Blade logical partitioning feature (BladeSymphony Virtage)

Solution

All NetBackup components supported on physical media servers are supported on a Hitachi logical partition (LPAR). Tape Drives can be connected to a PCI I/O device assigned to the LPAR in either dedicated or shared mode.

Hitachi LPAR:

Hitachi Compute Blade logical partitioning feature Hitachi LPAR (also known as "Virtage" in Japan) is Hitachi's virtualization solution installed in the Hitachi Compute Blade and BladeSymphony server family. Hitachi LPAR provides LPARs that run an independent operating system instance, and contain virtualized CPU, memory and I/O.

Hitachi LPAR PCI I/O device assignment:

With Hitachi LPAR, PCI I/O devices can be assigned to an LPAR in one of two ways, dedicated mode or shared mode. NetBackup supports both methods. When PCI I/O devices are assigned to an LPAR in dedicated mode, the PCI I/O device is assigned exclusively to that LPAR. When PCI I/O devices are are assigned to an LPAR in shared mode, the PCI I/O devices may be shared across multiple LPARs concurrently.

Instructions for assigning PCI devices:

1. Connect to the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) with a terminal emulator and login to the OS console.

2. Go to the PCI Device Information screen and note the slot number of the PCI device you wish to assign.

3. Connect devices in either dedicated or shared mode:

For dedicated mode: Go to the PCI Device Assignment screen and confirm that the "Schd:" value for the slot number of the PCI device you wish to assign is marked with 'D+'. If it is not marked "D+", please refer to the Hitachi Compute Blade User's Guide or BladeSymphony User's Guide for information on how to change the value.

For shared mode: Go to the Shared FC Assignment screen and confirm that the valid vfcID is shown at the row of the intended LPAR number and the column of the intended port number of the PCI device. Note that the valid range of vfcID varies by the type of FC card, i.e., from 1 to 15 on Hitachi 8Gbps FC cards, and from 1 to 7 on Hitachi 4Gbps FC cards, where those ranges correspond to the maximum number of LPARs that can share one FC port. Please refer to the Hitachi Compute Blade User's Guide or BladeSymphony User's Guide for information on how to change the value.

Example:

PCI Device Information screen:

In the following example, there are Fibre Channel HBAs in Slots 12 and 13. The HBA in slot 12 is assigned as shared, while the HBA in slot 13 is assigned to LPAR2 as dedicated (D+).

PCI Device Assignment screen: