Before converting the host port protocol in the DE6000, review the requirements.
The following figure shows the DE6000 with its SFP+ (optical) baseboard host ports (1) and the optional two IB HIC ports (2).
| A two-port HIC is also available. |
The following figure shows the DE6000 (without two SFP+ (optical) baseboard host ports) with four HIC ports (1).
| For the system without base ports, 2x HICs are required to make the system work normally. Systems without HICs installed are not allowed to be powered on. |
Requirements
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You must schedule a downtime maintenance window for this procedure.
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You must stop host I/O operations when you perform the conversion, and you will not be able to access data on the storage array until you have successfully completed the conversion.
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You must use out-of-band management. (You cannot use in-band management to complete this procedure.)
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You have obtained the necessary hardware for the conversion. Your Lenovo Sales Representative can help you determine what hardware you need and help you order the correct parts.
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If you are attempting to change the baseboard host ports of your storage array, and it currently uses dual-protocol (also referred to as unified) SFP transceivers that you purchased from Lenovo, you do not need to change your SFP transceivers.
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Make sure that the dual-protocol SFP transceivers support both FC (at 8 Gbps, or 16 Gbps) and iSCSI (at 10 Gbps), but they do not support 1 Gbps iSCSI. See Step 1: Determine whether you have dual-protocol SFPs to determine what type of SFP transceivers are installed. NOTE: This is not supported for controllers without two base-board ports on the rear.
Considerations for changing the host protocol
The considerations for changing the host protocol depend on the starting and ending protocols of the baseboard host ports and the HIC ports.
If you use a Mirroring feature or the Data Assurance (DA) feature, you must understand what happens to these features when you change the host port protocol.
| The following considerations apply only if you are converting a storage array that has already been in use. These considerations do not apply if you are converting a new storage array that does not yet have hosts and volumes defined. |
Converting from FC to iSCSI (not applicable to controllers without two base-board ports on the rear)
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Asynchronous Mirroring requires both the local storage array and the remote storage array to use the same protocol.
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If you are currently using Asynchronous Mirroring through the baseboard, you must deactivate Asynchronous Mirroring relationships using those ports before applying the feature pack.
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Refer to the online help for ThinkSystem System Manager to delete all mirror consistency groups and remove all mirrored pairs from the local and remote storage arrays. In addition, follow the instructions in the online help to deactivate Asynchronous Mirroring.
If your configuration contains SAN Boot hosts connected to the FC baseboard ports, check Lenovo Storage Interoperation Center (LSIC) to ensure that the configuration is supported on iSCSI. If it is not, you cannot convert the host protocol to iSCSI.
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The Synchronous Mirroring feature is not supported for iSCSI.
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If you are currently using Synchronous Mirroring relationships via the baseboard ports, you must deactivate those Synchronous Mirroring relationships.
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Refer to the online help for ThinkSystem System Manager to remove all synchronous mirrored pairs, which removes mirror relationships on the local storage array and on the remote storage array. In addition, follow the instructions in the online help to deactivate Synchronous Mirroring.
If you do not deactivate Synchronous Mirroring relationships before converting to iSCSI, your system will lose data access and data loss might occur.
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Converting from iSCSI to FC (not applicable to controllers without two base-board ports on the rear)
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Asynchronous Mirroring requires both the local storage array and the remote storage array to use the same protocol. If you are currently using Asynchronous Mirroring with the baseboard ports, you must deactivate Asynchronous Mirroring before changing the protocol.
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Refer to the online help for ThinkSystem System Manager to delete all mirror consistency groups and remove all mirrored pairs from the local and remote storage arrays. In addition, follow the instructions in the online help to deactivate Asynchronous Mirroring.