IBM DS8900F Architecture and Implementation Release 9.1

IBM DS8900F Architecture and Implementation Release 9.1

by Bertrand Dufrasne, Peter Kimmel, Sherri Brunson, Abilio Oliveira, Connie Riggins, Nitin Thorve, Ron Verbeek
Released April 2021
Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
ISBN: 9780738459264

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial

Book description

This IBM Redbooks publication describes the concepts, architecture, and implementation of the IBM DS8900F family. The book provides reference information to assist readers who need to plan for, install, and configure the DS8900F systems. This edition applies to DS8900F systems with IBM DS8000® Licensed Machine Code (LMC) 7.9.10 (bundle version 89.10.xx.x), referred to as Release 9.1.

The DS8900F family offers two classes:


  • IBM DS8910F: Flexibility Class all-flash: The Flexibility Class is designed to reduce complexity while addressing various workloads at the lowest DS8900F family entry cost.
  • IBM DS8950F: Agility Class all-flash: The Agility Class is designed to consolidate all your mission-critical workloads for IBM Z®, IBM LinuxONE, IBM Power Systems, and distributed environments under a single all-flash storage solution.

The DS8900F architecture relies on powerful IBM POWER9™ processor-based servers that manage the cache to streamline disk input/output (I/O), which maximizes performance and throughput. These capabilities are further enhanced by High-Performance Flash Enclosures (HPFE) Gen2.

Like its predecessors, the DS8900F supports advanced disaster recovery (DR) solutions, business continuity solutions, and thin provisioning.

The IBM DS8910F Rack-Mounted model 993 is described in a separate publication: IBM DS8910F Model 993 Rack-Mounted Storage System Release 9.1, REDP-5566.

Table of contents

  1. Front cover
  2. Notices
    1. Trademarks
  3. Preface
    1. Authors
    2. Now you can become a published author, too!
    3. Comments welcome
    4. Stay connected to IBM Redbooks
  4. Part 1 Concepts and architecture
  5. Chapter 1. Introduction to the IBM DS8900F storage system
    1. 1.1 Introduction to the DS8900F system
      1. 1.1.1 At-a-glance features of the DS8900F
    2. 1.2 DS8900F controller options and frames
    3. 1.3 DS8900F architecture and functions overview
      1. 1.3.1 Overall architecture and components
      2. 1.3.2 Storage capacity
      3. 1.3.3 Supported environments
      4. 1.3.4 Configuration flexibility
      5. 1.3.5 Copy Services functions
      6. 1.3.6 Service and setup
      7. 1.3.7 IBM Certified Secure Data Overwrite
    4. 1.4 Performance features
      1. 1.4.1 3.4 TB cache
      2. 1.4.2 32 GFC and 16 GFC host adapters
      3. 1.4.3 Sophisticated caching algorithms
      4. 1.4.4 Flash storage
      5. 1.4.5 Performance for IBM Z
      6. 1.4.6 Performance enhancements for Power Systems servers
  6. Chapter 2. IBM DS8900F hardware components and architecture
    1. 2.1 Flash drive terminology of the DS8900F
      1. 2.1.1 Storage system
      2. 2.1.2 Management Enclosure
      3. 2.1.3 Central processor complex
    2. 2.2 DS8900F configurations and models
      1. 2.2.1 DS8910F Flexibility Class Racked configuration
      2. 2.2.2 DS8910F Flexibility Class Rack-Mounted configuration
      3. 2.2.3 DS8950F Agility Class configuration
      4. 2.2.4 DS8900F base frames
      5. 2.2.5 DS8900F expansion frame
      6. 2.2.6 Scalable upgrades
      7. 2.2.7 Licensed functions
    3. 2.3 DS8900F architecture overview
      1. 2.3.1 IBM POWER9 CPCs
      2. 2.3.2 Processor memory
      3. 2.3.3 Flexible service processor
      4. 2.3.4 Ethernet connections
      5. 2.3.5 Peripheral Component Interconnect Express adapters
    4. 2.4 I/O enclosures and adapters
      1. 2.4.1 Cross-cluster communication
      2. 2.4.2 I/O enclosure adapters
    5. 2.5 Flash drive enclosures
    6. 2.6 Power and cooling
      1. 2.6.1 Rack power control cards
      2. 2.6.2 Intelligent power distribution units
      3. 2.6.3 Power domains
      4. 2.6.4 Rack management 24-port Ethernet switch pair
      5. 2.6.5 Backup Power Modules and NVDIMM
      6. 2.6.6 Power cord options
      7. 2.6.7 Enclosure power supply units
    7. 2.7 Management Console and network
      1. 2.7.1 Ethernet switches
  7. Chapter 3. IBM DS8900 reliability, availability, and serviceability
    1. 3.1 DS8900F processor complex features
      1. 3.1.1 POWER9 PowerVM Hypervisor
      2. 3.1.2 POWER9 processor
      3. 3.1.3 Cross-cluster communication
      4. 3.1.4 Environmental monitoring
      5. 3.1.5 Resource deconfiguration
    2. 3.2 CPC failover and failback
      1. 3.2.1 Dual cluster operation and data protection
      2. 3.2.2 Failover
      3. 3.2.3 Failback
      4. 3.2.4 NVS and power outages
    3. 3.3 Data flow in the DS8900F
      1. 3.3.1 I/O enclosures
      2. 3.3.2 Host connections
      3. 3.3.3 Metadata checks
    4. 3.4 RAS on the Hardware Management Console
      1. 3.4.1 Licensed Internal Code updates
      2. 3.4.2 Call Home and remote support
    5. 3.5 RAS on the storage system
      1. 3.5.1 RAID configurations
      2. 3.5.2 Drive path redundancy
      3. 3.5.3 Flash RAID controller redundancy
      4. 3.5.4 Predictive failure analysis
      5. 3.5.5 Disk scrubbing
      6. 3.5.6 RAID support
      7. 3.5.7 RAID 6 overview
      8. 3.5.8 RAID 10 overview
      9. 3.5.9 RAID 5 implementation in DS8900F
      10. 3.5.10 Smart Rebuild
      11. 3.5.11 Spare creation
    6. 3.6 RAS on the power subsystem
      1. 3.6.1 Power components
      2. 3.6.2 Line power loss
      3. 3.6.3 Line power fluctuation
      4. 3.6.4 Power control
    7. 3.7 Other features
      1. 3.7.1 Internal network
      2. 3.7.2 Earthquake resistance
      3. 3.7.3 IBM Certified Secure Data Overwrite
  8. Chapter 4. Virtualization concepts
    1. 4.1 Virtualization definition
    2. 4.2 Benefits of virtualization
    3. 4.3 Abstraction layers for drive virtualization
      1. 4.3.1 Array sites
      2. 4.3.2 Arrays
      3. 4.3.3 Ranks
    4. 4.4 Extent pools
      1. 4.4.1 Dynamic extent pool merge
      2. 4.4.2 Logical volumes
      3. 4.4.3 Allocation, deletion, and modification of LUNs and CKD volumes
      4. 4.4.4 Volume allocation and metadata
      5. 4.4.5 Logical subsystems
      6. 4.4.6 Volume access
      7. 4.4.7 Virtualization hierarchy summary
    5. 4.5 Terminology for IBM Storage products
  9. Chapter 5. IBM DS8900F performance characteristics
    1. 5.1 DS8900F hardware: Performance characteristics
      1. 5.1.1 Vertical growth and scalability
      2. 5.1.2 POWER9 processor-based systems
      3. 5.1.3 High-Performance Flash Enclosure (HPFE Gen2)
      4. 5.1.4 Device adapters
      5. 5.1.5 Fibre Channel host adapters: 16 Gbps and 32 Gbps
    2. 5.2 Software performance: Synergy items
      1. 5.2.1 Synergy with Power Systems
      2. 5.2.2 Synergy with IBM Z
    3. 5.3 Performance considerations for drives
      1. 5.3.1 Flash storage
      2. 5.3.2 RAID level
    4. 5.4 DS8900F superior caching algorithms
      1. 5.4.1 Sequential Adaptive Replacement Cache
      2. 5.4.2 Adaptive Multi-stream Prefetching
      3. 5.4.3 Intelligent Write Caching
      4. 5.4.4 List Prefetch Optimizer
    5. 5.5 Performance considerations for logical configurations
      1. 5.5.1 Workload characteristics
      2. 5.5.2 Data placement in the DS8900F
    6. 5.6 Easy Tier
    7. 5.7 Host performance and sizing considerations
      1. 5.7.1 Performance and sizing considerations for open systems
  10. Part 2 Planning and installation
  11. Chapter 6. IBM DS8900F physical planning and installation
    1. 6.1 Considerations before the installation: Planning for growth
      1. 6.1.1 Client responsibilities for the installation
      2. 6.1.2 Participants
      3. 6.1.3 Required information
    2. 6.2 Planning for the physical installation
      1. 6.2.1 Delivery and staging area
      2. 6.2.2 Floor type and loading
      3. 6.2.3 Overhead cabling features
      4. 6.2.4 Room space and service clearance
      5. 6.2.5 Power requirements and operating environment
      6. 6.2.6 Host interface and cables
      7. 6.2.7 Host adapter Fibre Channel specifics for open environments
      8. 6.2.8 FICON specifics on a z/OS environment
      9. 6.2.9 Best practices for host adapters
      10. 6.2.10 WWNN and WWPN determination
    3. 6.3 Network connectivity planning
      1. 6.3.1 Hardware Management Console and network access
      2. 6.3.2 IBM Spectrum Control and IBM Storage Insights
      3. 6.3.3 DS Command-Line Interface
      4. 6.3.4 Remote support connection
      5. 6.3.5 Storage area network connection
      6. 6.3.6 Key manager servers for encryption
      7. 6.3.7 Lightweight Directory Access Protocol server for single sign-on
    4. 6.4 Remote Mirror and Remote Copy connectivity
    5. 6.5 Disk capacity considerations
      1. 6.5.1 Disk sparing
      2. 6.5.2 Disk capacity
  12. Chapter 7. IBM DS8900F Management Console planning and setup
    1. 7.1 DS8900F Management Console overview
      1. 7.1.1 Management Enclosure
      2. 7.1.2 Management Console hardware
      3. 7.1.3 Private and Management Ethernet networks
    2. 7.2 Management Console software
      1. 7.2.1 DS Management GUI
      2. 7.2.2 Data Storage Command-Line Interface
      3. 7.2.3 RESTful application programming interface
      4. 7.2.4 Copy Services Manager interface
      5. 7.2.5 Updating the embedded Copy Services Manager
      6. 7.2.6 Web User Interface
    3. 7.3 Management Console activities
      1. 7.3.1 Management Console planning tasks
      2. 7.3.2 Planning for Licensed Internal Code upgrades
      3. 7.3.3 Time synchronization
      4. 7.3.4 Monitoring DS8900F with the Management Console
      5. 7.3.5 Event notification through syslog
      6. 7.3.6 Call Home and remote support
    4. 7.4 Management Console network settings
      1. 7.4.1 Private networks
    5. 7.5 Management Console user management
      1. 7.5.1 Password policies
      2. 7.5.2 Remote authentication
      3. 7.5.3 Management Console Web User Interface management
      4. 7.5.4 LDAP authentication
    6. 7.6 Secondary Management Console
      1. 7.6.1 Management Console redundancy benefits
  13. Chapter 8. IBM DS8900F features and licensed functions
    1. 8.1 DS8900F licensed functions
      1. 8.1.1 General introduction to licensing
      2. 8.1.2 Licensing cost structure
    2. 8.2 Activating licensed functions
      1. 8.2.1 Obtaining DS8000 machine information and activating license keys
      2. 8.2.2 Obtaining the activation codes
      3. 8.2.3 Applying activation codes by using the DS CLI
    3. 8.3 Licensed scope considerations
  14. Part 3 Storage configuration
  15. Chapter 9. Configuration flow
    1. 9.1 Configuration worksheets
    2. 9.2 User and role management
    3. 9.3 Encryption
    4. 9.4 Network security
    5. 9.5 Configuration flow
    6. 9.6 General storage configuration guidelines
  16. Chapter 10. IBM DS8900F Storage Management GUI
    1. 10.1 Introduction
    2. 10.2 DS GUI: Getting started
      1. 10.2.1 Accessing the DS GUI
      2. 10.2.2 System Setup wizard
      3. 10.2.3 Configuring Fibre Channel Port protocols and topologies
    3. 10.3 Managing and monitoring the storage system
      1. 10.3.1 Storage Management help functions
    4. 10.4 System configuration overview
      1. 10.4.1 Network Settings
      2. 10.4.2 Security settings
      3. 10.4.3 System Settings
      4. 10.4.4 Notifications settings
      5. 10.4.5 Support settings
    5. 10.5 Logical configuration overview
    6. 10.6 Logical configuration for open systems volumes
      1. 10.6.1 Configuration flow
      2. 10.6.2 Creating FB pools for open systems hosts
      3. 10.6.3 Creating FB volumes for open systems hosts
      4. 10.6.4 Creating FB host attachments
      5. 10.6.5 Assigning FB volumes
    7. 10.7 Logical configuration for Count Key Data volumes
      1. 10.7.1 Configuration flow
      2. 10.7.2 Creating CKD storage pools
      3. 10.7.3 Creating CKD logical subsystems
      4. 10.7.4 Creating CKD volumes
      5. 10.7.5 Creating CKD parallel access volumes
      6. 10.7.6 Setting the FC port protocols for IBM Z attachment
    8. 10.8 Expanding volumes
    9. 10.9 Deleting a pool
    10. 10.10 Deleting volumes
    11. 10.11 Reinitializing a thin-provisioned volume
    12. 10.12 Easy Tier support
    13. 10.13 Monitoring system health
      1. 10.13.1 Hardware components: Status and attributes
      2. 10.13.2 Viewing components health and state from the system views
      3. 10.13.3 Monitoring system events
      4. 10.13.4 Exporting system-wide information
      5. 10.13.5 Audit logs
    14. 10.14 Performance monitoring
      1. 10.14.1 Performance statistics
      2. 10.14.2 Working with customized performance graphs
    15. 10.15 Fibre Channel error rate statistics
    16. 10.16 Providing feedback
  17. Chapter 11. IBM DS8900F Storage Management Command Line Interface
    1. 11.1 DS CLI overview
      1. 11.1.1 Supported operating systems for the DS CLI
      2. 11.1.2 Installation hints and tips
      3. 11.1.3 Installing the DS CLI on a Windows 10 system
      4. 11.1.4 Installing the DS CLI on an z/OS system
      5. 11.1.5 DS CLI version
      6. 11.1.6 User accounts
      7. 11.1.7 User management by using the DS CLI
      8. 11.1.8 DS CLI profile
      9. 11.1.9 Configuring the DS CLI to use the second HMC
      10. 11.1.10 Command structure
      11. 11.1.11 Using the DS CLI application
      12. 11.1.12 Return codes
      13. 11.1.13 User assistance
    2. 11.2 I/O port configuration
    3. 11.3 DS8900F storage configuration for fixed-block volumes
      1. 11.3.1 Disk classes
      2. 11.3.2 Creating the arrays
      3. 11.3.3 Creating the ranks
      4. 11.3.4 Creating the extent pools
      5. 11.3.5 Creating the FB volumes
      6. 11.3.6 Creating the volume groups
      7. 11.3.7 Creating host connections and clusters
      8. 11.3.8 Mapping open system host disks to storage unit volumes
    4. 11.4 DS8900F storage configuration for the CKD volumes
      1. 11.4.1 Creating the arrays
      2. 11.4.2 Creating the ranks and extent pools
      3. 11.4.3 Logical control unit creation
      4. 11.4.4 Creating the CKD volumes
      5. 11.4.5 Resource groups
      6. 11.4.6 IBM Easy Tier
    5. 11.5 Metrics with DS CLI
      1. 11.5.1 Offload performance data and other parameters
    6. 11.6 Private network security commands
    7. 11.7 Copy Services commands
    8. 11.8 Legacy DS CLI commands and scripts
    9. 11.9 For more information
  18. Part 4 Maintenance and upgrades
  19. Chapter 12. Licensed Machine Code
    1. 12.1 How new Licensed Internal Code is released
    2. 12.2 Bundle installation
      1. 12.2.1 Remote Code Load
    3. 12.3 Code updates
    4. 12.4 Host adapter firmware updates
      1. 12.4.1 Light-on fastload firmware update
      2. 12.4.2 Remote Mirror and Remote Copy path considerations
      3. 12.4.3 Control-unit initiated reconfiguration
    5. 12.5 Loading the code bundle
    6. 12.6 Fast path concurrent code load
    7. 12.7 Postinstallation activities
    8. 12.8 Summary
  20. Chapter 13. Monitoring and support
    1. 13.1 SNMP implementation on the DS8900
      1. 13.1.1 Message Information Base file
      2. 13.1.2 Predefined SNMP trap requests
    2. 13.2 SNMP notifications
      1. 13.2.1 Serviceable event that uses specific trap 3
      2. 13.2.2 Copy Services event traps
      3. 13.2.3 Thin-provisioning SNMP
    3. 13.3 SNMP configuration
      1. 13.3.1 SNMP preparation
      2. 13.3.2 SNMP configuration with the HMC
      3. 13.3.3 SNMP configuration with the DS CLI
    4. 13.4 Introduction to remote support
    5. 13.5 IBM policies for remote support
    6. 13.6 Remote support advantages
    7. 13.7 Remote support and Call Home
      1. 13.7.1 Call Home and heartbeat: Outbound
      2. 13.7.2 Data offload: Outbound
      3. 13.7.3 Outbound connection types
    8. 13.8 Remote Support Access (inbound)
      1. 13.8.1 Assist On-site
      2. 13.8.2 DS8900F embedded AOS
      3. 13.8.3 IBM Remote Support Center for DS8900F
      4. 13.8.4 Support access management through the DS CLI and DS GUI
    9. 13.9 Audit logging
    10. 13.10 Using IBM Storage Insights
      1. 13.10.1 IBM Storage Insights
      2. 13.10.2 Getting started with IBM Storage Insights
  21. Related publications
    1. IBM Redbooks
    2. Other publications
    3. Online resources
    4. Help from IBM
  22. Back cover

Product information

  • Title: IBM DS8900F Architecture and Implementation Release 9.1
  • Author(s): Bertrand Dufrasne, Peter Kimmel, Sherri Brunson, Abilio Oliveira, Connie Riggins, Nitin Thorve, Ron Verbeek
  • Release date: April 2021
  • Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
  • ISBN: 9780738459264