HPE SAN Essentials I: Administration Fundamentals

Prerequisites

Students should be experienced professionals with a solid understanding of servers, storage, networks and virtualization.

Audience

New or entry-level technical professionals seeking a learning path that includes both conceptual knowledge of SAN technologies and experience in HPE B-series SAN environments

Course Outline

Module 1: Introduction

• SAN definition, benefits and goals
• High-speed backup and high availability
• Server and storage consolidation
• DAS, NAS, and SAN concepts and comparisons
• SAN considerations
• Tier storage
• SAN components
• Host, target and interconnect device characteristics
• SAN portfolio overview
• Power-on sequence

Module 2: Fibre Channel (FC) Basics

• Addressing 4
• FC terminology, WWNs, port types, and topologies

Module 3: Switch Installation and Configuration

• In the box
• Steps overview
• Environmental issues
• Configuration parameters
• Initial CLI and serial connection
• Default passwords
• IP settings
• CLI settings
• Time settings
• Licensing management
• Login banner
• Switch, chassis, fabric and port names
• Syslog
• Checkin switch and ports status
• Configuration file backup
• Rebooting

Module 4: SAN Hosts

• Host role within SAN
• Converged network adapters
• Host installation checklist and bus connections
• Boot from SAN
• Multi-path SAN and load balancing
• Multi-path I/O (MPIO) components within OS
• NPIV overview, benefits, scalability and management
• HPE Virtual Connect overview
• Finding WWNs

Module 5: Disk Targets

• SATA interface
• SAS interface
• SSD technologies
• Disk enclosures
• Storage presentation
• Storage Virtualization
• Connecting disks to controllers
• Storage Deduplication
• Provisioning types
• Data encryption
• VVOLs
• Portfolio overview

Module 6: Fibre Channel Basic Services

• SNS/name server
• SNS in Web Tools
• SNS related commands
• Zoning overview
• Zoning building blocks
• Basic zoning configuration
• Basic zoning configuration via CLI and GUI
• Fabric segmentation
• Zoning best practices

Module 7: SAN Management

• SAN management choices and considerations
• Technologies driving SAN management
• HPE SAN management today
• SNMP
• REST API
• OneView
• Web Tools
• SAN Network Advisor

Module 8: iSCSI

• IP storage overview
• iSCSI stack, packet construction and name convention
• iSCSI initiator options
• iSCSI discovery methods and security
• HPE Nimble array as an iSCSI product example

Module 9: SAN Extension

• Basics and overview
• Cables and SFPs
• Fabric virtualization overview

Module 10: FCoE/CEE

• FCoE and CEE standards
• FCoE I/O consolidation and terminology
• FCoE stack and encapsulation
• Lossless Ethernet
• Priority-based Flow Control (PFC)
• Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS)
• Congestion Notification (CN)
• Data Center Bridging Capabilities Exchange (DCBX)
• FCIP, iSCSI and FCoE basic comparison

Module 11: SAN Security

• Basic storage security model and access points
• Planning security in a SAN environment
• Core components for securing SAN data management
• Data and management security models
• RBAC
• Roles management
• Password rules and local/remote authentication

Module 12: Data Protection

• Reasons for data protection
• Data protection challenges
• Data classification
• Protection and recovery methods
• Backup types and their differences
• Backup topologies
• RMC
• RPO and RTO
• Tape libraries overview
• StoreOnce overview and introduction
• CloudBank Storage
• Local and remote replication
• Deduplication

Module 13: Performance

• Factors affecting SAN performance
• SAN performance planning and considerations
• Latencies and congestion
• Performance monitoring
• Performance guidelines within the SAN
• Recommendations for switch ISL connectivity
• Determining the required bandwidth
• Storage performance (drive and RAID selection)

Module 14: SAN Design

• Architecture choices and design considerations
• HPE standard SAN topologies and topology design rules
• Advantages, disadvantages and scalability of different topologies
• Data locality
• Topology data access usage
• SAN infrastructure performance factors
• Levels of high availability in SAN architecture
• SAN planning and documentation utilities

Lab outline

Lab 1: B-Series Switch Exploration and Basic operations (Web Tools and CLI)
Lab 2: Basic switch configuration
Lab 3: Working with QConverge for QLogic HBA.
Lab 4: 3PAR volume provisioning and presentation
Lab 5: Working with MPIO
Lab 6: Configuring zoning (Web Tools and CLI)
Lab 7: Working with Nimble iSCSI array (provisioning and NCM)
Lab 8: Working with B-Series switches user accounts and password rules
Lab 9: 3PAR Snapshot management