Deployment Guide Sc8000

Dell Compellent Storage Center™
SC8000 Controller
Deployment Guide
Storage Center SC8000 Controller Deployment Guide
Document Number: 680‐087‐001
Revision Date Description

A July 2013 Initial release
B August 2013 Changed SSN # set up to reflect previous method, added recommended Ethernet
speed, updated number of back‐end chains supported, removed references to
direct‐connect FC front‐end connection.
C December 2013 Changed number of supported chains.
D May 2014 Revise software startup procedure for SecureData and SEDs implemented in
version 6.5 software.
Notes, Cautions, and Warnings

Note: Indicates important information that helps you complete a procedure.
Caution: Indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid
the problem.
Warning: Indicates that failure to follow directions could result in property damage, personal
injury, or death.
Copyright Notice and Trademarks

© 2014 Dell Inc.
Trademarks used in this text: Dell™, the Dell logo, and Compellent™ are trademarks of Dell Inc.
Contacting Dell Technical Support Services

For technical support, go to support.dell.com/compellent/.
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Storage Center Hardware Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Storage Center Architecture Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Communication Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Front End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Back End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
System Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
SC8000 Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
SC8000 Front-Panel Features and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
SC8000 Back-Panel Features and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
SC280 SAS Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
SC280 Enclosure Front Panel Features and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
SC280 Drawer Front-Panel Features and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
SC280 Back-Panel Features and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
SC280 EMM Features and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
SC280 Power Supply Unit Features and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Fan Module Features and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
SC280 Enterprise Plus Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
SC280 Drive Numbering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
SC200/220 SAS Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
SC200/220 Front-Panel Features and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
SC200/220 Back-Panel Features and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
SC200/220 EMM Features and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
SC200/220 Enterprise Plus Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
SC200/220 Drive Numbering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
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EN-SASx6x12/24 Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
EN-SASx6x12/24 Front-Panel Features and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
EN-SASx6x12/24 Back-Panel Features and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
EN-SASx6x12/24 SBB Module Features and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
EN-SASx6x12/24 Standard SAS Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
EN-SASx6x12/24 Drive Numbering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2 Install the Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Prepare for Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Unpack and Inventory the Storage Center Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Prepare the Installation Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Gather Required Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Safety Precautions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Electrical Safety Precautions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
General Safety Precautions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Electrostatic Discharge Precautions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Install IO Cards the Controller(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Open the Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Install IO Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Close the Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Label the Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Mount the Hardware in a Rack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2U and 3U Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5U Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Install Drives in SC280 Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Installing Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Install Drives in EN-SASx6x12/24 Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Installing 3.5" Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Installing 2.5" Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Install Enterprise Plus Drives in SC200/220 Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3 Connect the Back End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

SAS Enclosure Cabling Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
SAS Redundancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
SC8000 SAS Port Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
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Connect IPC for Dual-Controller Storage Centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Connect the Controllers with Ethernet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Connect the Controllers with SAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Connect SC200/SC220 Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Single Controller, Single Enclosure, Low Profile SAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Single Controller, Single Enclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Single Controller, Four Enclosures, Single Chain, Low Profile SAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Single Controller, Four Enclosures, Single Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Single Controller, Four Enclosures, Two IO Cards, Two Chains, Low Profile SAS . . . . . . 65
Single Controller, Four Enclosures, Two IO Cards, Two Chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Dual Controllers, One Enclosure, Single Chain, Low Profile SAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Dual Controllers, One Enclosure, Single Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Dual Controllers, Two Enclosures, Single Chain, Low Profile SAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Dual Controllers, Two Enclosures, Single Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Dual Controllers, Four Enclosures, Two Chains, Low Profile SAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Dual Controllers, Four Enclosures, Two Chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Dual Controllers, Eight Enclosures, Two Chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Connect SC280 Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Single Controller, Single SC280 Enclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Single Controller, Two SC280 Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Dual Controller, Single SC280 Enclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Dual Controller, Two SC280 Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Dual Controllers, Two SC280 and Two SC200/SC220 Enclosures, Two Chains . . . . . . . . . 81
Connect EN-SASx6x12/24 Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Single Controller, Single Enclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Single Controller, Four Enclosures, Single Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Single Controller, Four Enclosures, Two IO Cards, Two Chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Dual Controllers, Two Enclosures, Single Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Dual Controllers, Four Enclosures, Single Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Label the Back-End Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
4 Connect the Front End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Types of Redundancy for Front-End Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Multipath IO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
MPIO Behavior for Dual-Controller Storage Centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
MPIO Configuration Instructions for Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
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Front-End Connectivity Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Virtual Port Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Legacy Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Failover Behavior for Legacy Mode and Virtual Port Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Fibre Channel Zoning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
WWN Zoning Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Port Zoning Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Connect the Front End for a Single-Controller Storage Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Connect Servers to a Single Controller with No Redundancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Connect Servers to a Single Controller with Redundancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Connect the Front End for a Dual-Controller Storage Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Connect Fibre Channel Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Connect iSCSI Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Label the Front-End Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
5 Set up the Storage Center Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Hardware Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Required Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Required Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Required Software Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Connect the Ethernet Management and iDRAC Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Connect Single-Controller Management Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Connect Dual-Controller Management Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Label the Management Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Turn on the Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Configure the Controller(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Reset Hardware and System Serial Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Set Controller IP Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Manage the iDRAC IP Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Verify Software Support for Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Start the Storage Center Startup Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Complete the Startup Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
License Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Load the License File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Create a Disk Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
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Add a Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Set the Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Set the System IP Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Configure a Key Management Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Configure SMTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Select Update Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Set Admin Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Configure IO Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Configure Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Generate SSL Certificate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Label SC200 and SC220 Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
6 Perform Post-Setup Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Verify Connectivity and Failover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Create Test Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Test Connectivity and Failover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Clean up Test Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Change Administrative Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Configure a Phone Home Proxy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Phone Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Check for Storage Center Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Next Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
A Adding or Removing an Enclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Adding SC280 Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Adding an SC280 Enclosure in a New Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Adding to an Existing SC280 Enclosure Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Adding SC200/220 Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Creating a New Chain of SC200/220 Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Adding to an Existing SAS Enclosure Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Adding a Second SAS Enclosure, Second Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Removing Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Release Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Remove an SC280 Enclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Remove an SC200/SC220 Enclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Dell Compellent vii

Contents
B Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Troubleshooting the Serial Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Troubleshooting Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Troubleshooting Licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Troubleshooting Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
viii Storage Center SC8000 Controller Deployment Guide

Preface
The preface introduces you to the Storage Center documentation. It provides the purpose and audience of
this document as well as a list of related publications.
Purpose
The Storage Center SC8000 Controller Deployment Guide provides cabling instructions for Storage Center
controllers, switches, and enclosures and provides instructions for configuring a new Dell Compellent
Storage Center using the System Manager Startup wizard.
Audience
Target audiences for this document are Dell installers and Dell business partners. The intended reader has
a working knowledge of storage concepts.
Related Publications
The following documents comprise the core Storage Center documentation set:
 Storage Center Release Notes
Contains information about features and open and resolved issues for a particular product version.
 Storage Center System Manager Administrator’s Guide
Describes the Storage Center System Manager software that manages an individual Storage Center.
 Storage Center Software Update Guide
Describes how to upgrade Storage Center software from an earlier version to the current version.
 Storage Center Maintenance CD Instructions
Describes how to install Storage Center software on Storage Center controllers. Installing Storage Center
software using the Storage Center Maintenance CD is intended for use only by sites that cannot update
Storage Center using the standard update options available through the Storage Center System
Manager.
 Storage Center Command Utility Reference Guide
Provides instructions for using the Storage Center Command Utility. The Command Utility provides a
command‐line interface (CLI) to enable management of Storage Center functionality on Windows,
Linux, Solaris, and AIX platforms.
 Storage Center Command Set for Windows PowerShell
Provides instructions for getting started with Windows PowerShell cmdlets and scripting objects that
interact with the Storage Center via the PowerShell interactive shell, scripts, and PowerShell hosting
applications. Help for individual cmdlets is available online.
Dell Compellent ix
 Dell TechCenter
Provides technical white papers, best practice guides, and frequently asked questions about Dell
Storage products. Go to: http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/storage/ and select Dell Compellent
in the Table of Contents.
x Storage Center SC8000 Controller Deployment Guide

1 Introduction
The Storage Center SC8000 Controller Deployment Guide describes how to install and
configure Dell Compellent Storage Center. The information provided in this Deployment
Guide is intended to be used by Dell installers and Dell business partners.
Contents
Storage Center Hardware Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Storage Center Architecture Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Communication Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
SC8000 Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
SC280 SAS Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
SC200/220 SAS Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
EN‐SASx6x12/24 Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Dell Compellent 1
Chapter 1 Introduction
Storage Center Hardware Components

A Dell Compellent Storage Center consists of one or two controllers, switches, and one or
more enclosures.
Controllers
A Storage Center controller provides the central processing capability for the Storage
Center Operating System (OS), application software (Storage Center System Manager), and
managing RAID storage. A Storage Center can be configured with a single controller
(single‐controller Storage Center) or a pair of controllers (dual‐controller Storage Center).
In a dual‐controller Storage Center configuration, the pair of controllers must be the same
controller model.
IO cards in the controller provide communication with drive enclosures and servers that
use the storage. Controllers provide two types of IO ports:
 Front‐end ports: Hosts, servers, or Network Attached Storage (NAS) appliances access
storage by connecting to controller Fibre Channel IO cards, FCoE IO cards, or iSCSI IO
cards through one or more Fibre Channel or Ethernet network switches. Ports for these
connections are located on the back of the controller, but are designated as front‐end
ports.
 Back‐end ports: Enclosures, which hold the physical drives that provide back‐end
storage, connect directly to the controller. Fibre Channel and SAS transports are
supported through ports designated as back‐end ports. Back‐end ports are in their own
private network between the controllers and the drive enclosures.
Switches
Dell Compellent offers Fibre Channel (FC) and iSCSI switches and IO cards as part of the
total Storage Center product package. Switches provide robust connectivity to servers,
allowing for the use of multiple controllers and redundant transport paths. Cabling
between the controller IO cards and switches (and servers) is referred to as front‐end
connectivity.
Enclosures
Enclosures house and control drives that provide storage. Enclosures are connected
directly to controller IO cards. These connections are referred to as back‐end connectivity.
 New Storage Center deployments use 6 GB Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) disk enclosures.
 Fibre Channel Switched Bunch of Disks (SBOD) and Serial Advanced Technology
Attachment (SATA) enclosures are supported for existing Storage Centers and for
controller migrations only (for example, upgrading an existing Storage Center by
migrating from a CT‐SC040 controller to an SC8000 controller).
2 Storage Center SC8000 Controller Deployment Guide

Storage Center Architecture Options
Storage Center Architecture Options

The Dell Compellent Storage Center can be deployed in a variety of configurations:
 Single Controller, Single Enclosure
 Single Controller, Multiple Enclosures
 Dual Controller, Single Enclosure
 Dual Controller, Multiple Enclosures
Figure 1. Storage Center Architectures

Additionally, Storage Center sites can be co‐located or remotely connected and continue to
share and replicate data between sites. Replication is used to duplicate volume data to
support a Disaster Recovery Plan or to provide rapid local access to a remote data volume.
Typically, data is replicated remotely to safeguard against local or even regional data
threats as part of an overall Disaster Recovery Plan.
Dell Compellent 3
Communication Links
A Storage Center controller uses multiple types of communication links for both data
transfer and administrative functions. Communication links are classified into three types:
front end, back end, and system administration.
1 3
2 4
6 7
Figure 2. SC8000 Controller Communication Links
Item Description Speed Type

1 Server with Fibre Channel Host Bus 8 Gb or 16 Gb Front End
Adapters (HBAs)
2 Fibre Channel Switches 8 Gb or 16 Gb Front End

3 Server with Fibre Channel over Ethernet 10 Gb Front End
(FCoE) HBAs or iSCSI HBAs
1 Gb or 10 Gb
4 Ethernet Switches 1 Gb or 10 Gb Front End
5 SC8000 Controller IO card‐dependent N/A
6 SAS Enclosure 6 Gb per channel Back End

Note: FC enclosures are supported for
SC8000 controller migrations only.
7 Ethernet 10 Mb, 100 Mb, or 1 Gb System

capability (see Note, Administration
page 5)
8 Serial 115,200 Kbps System

Administration

Communication Links
Front End
Front‐End connectivity provides connections from servers to controllers using either
Ethernet (iSCSI) or Fibre Channel switches. Front‐End connectivity also supports all
replication traffic.
 iSCSI connections provide reads and writes from a server to a controller through an
Ethernet switch.
 Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) uses the FCoE protocol for data on the front end for
lossless transmission of data.
 Fibre Channel (FC) connections on the front end are used to provide reads and writes
from a server to a controller.
Back End
Back‐end connectivity is strictly between the controllers and enclosures. The following
protocols are supported to communicate with the enclosures.
 SAS uses a point‐to‐point switched top topology on four lanes. Each lane can perform
concurrent IO transactions at 6 Gb/sec. (Transfer speeds for earlier versions are 3 Gb/
sec.)
 Fibre Channel connections were used on the back end for CT‐SC040 controllers. Fibre
Channel IO cards can be migrated from CT‐SC040 controllers to SC8000 controllers.
System Administration
The following connections are used for communicating with computers outside of Storage
Center:
 Serial: Used for initial configuration and other service‐related tasks.
 Ethernet: Used for administration and IPC between the controllers.
 ETH 0 port: Configuration, administration, and management of a Storage Center.
 ETH 1 port: Inter‐Process Communications (IPC) between controllers.
Note: The Ethernet ports on the back of the controller can operate at 10 Mb , 100
Mb or 1 Gb. These ports are not used for server or enclosure connectivity. For
optimal performance, connect to the port using 1 Gbps.
 iDRAC: Provides access to the Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) for
integrated peer controller management through a dedicated 1 Gb Ethernet port.
Dell Compellent 5
SC8000 Controller
The Storage Center SC8000 controller ships with two CPUs, a cache card, an Integrated Dell
Remote Access Controller 7 (iDRAC7), and a four‐port Intel network daughter card. Up to
six IO cards can be installed: three full‐height and three low‐profile. The Storage Center OS
is installed on an embedded Secure Digital (SD) card.
Figure 3. Dell Compellent SC8000 Controllers
Component Description
Processor 2.50 GHz Dual 6 core
Bus Speed 1333 MHz
System Cache 16 GB
(expandable to 64 GB)
Cache Card 512 MB
PCIe (Slot 7)
Expansion Slots Gen 3 PCIe:
Three full height,
Three low profile
Transport Speeds
Fibre Channel 8 Gb or 16 Gb
10 Gb
FCoE
3 Gb, 6 Gb
SAS 1 Gb, 10 Gb
iSCSI
Note: 3 Gb SAS is supported for migrations only; 3 Gb SAS
enclosures are supported using a 6 Gb IO Card.
Maximum Front‐End (FC) Ports 14
(Using two 4‐port IO cards plus three 2‐port IO cards)
Maximum Back‐End Ports 20
(Using five 4‐port IO cards)
Maximum Back‐End SAS 6
Chains Supported
Maximum 6 Gb SAS Drives 168 drives/chain, up to 1008 total drives
Maximum 3 Gb SAS Drives 48 drives/chain = 288

SC8000 Controller
Component Description
Form Factor 2U
Power Supplies 2
Fans 6
SC8000 Front-Panel Features and Indicators

The front panel of the controller contains power and reset switches, and an LCD panel that
shows system ID, status, and error information.
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9
Figure 4. Front Panel Features and Indicators
Item Name Icon Description

1 Power‐on indicator, The power‐on indicator is illuminated when the controller
power button power is powered on. The power button controls the power
supply output to the controller.
2 NMI button For the SC8000, this button is disabled in the BIOS.
3 System Used to locate a particular controller within a rack. When a
identification System ID button on the front or back panel is pressed, the front
button LCD panel and the back system status indicator flash until one
of the buttons is pressed again.
• Press to toggle the system ID on and off.
• If the controller stops responding during POST, press and
hold the system ID button for more than five seconds to enter
BIOS progress mode.
4 Video connector Allows you to connect a VGA monitor to the controller.
5 LCD menu buttons — Allows you to navigate the control panel LCD menu.
6 LCD panel — Displays system ID, status information, and system error
messages.
• The LCD lights blue during normal controller operation.
• The LCD lights amber when the controller needs attention,
and the LCD panel displays an error code followed by
descriptive text.
Note: If the controller is connected to a power source and an
error is detected, the LCD lights amber regardless of whether
the controller is turned on or off.
Dell Compellent 7

7 vFlash media card Not used for the SC8000.
slot
8 USB connectors (2) Allows you to connect USB devices to the controller. The ports
are USB 2.0‐compliant.
9 EST panel — A slide‐out panel containing an information tag that lists
system information including the Express Service Tag,
embedded NIC port 1 MAC address, and iDRAC7 Enterprise
card MAC address.
SC8000 LCD Panel Features

The LCD panel provides controller information, status messages, and error messages to
indicate when the controller is operating correctly or when it needs attention.
 The LCD backlight lights blue during normal operating conditions and lights amber to
indicate an error condition.
 The LCD backlight remains off if LCD messaging is turned off through the iDRAC, the
LCD panel, or other tools.
Figure 5. LCD Panel Features
Item Button Description

1 Left Moves the cursor back in one‐step increments.
2 Select Selects the menu item highlighted by the cursor.
3 Right Moves the cursor forward in one‐step increments.
During message scrolling:
• Press once to increase scrolling speed
• Press again to stop
• Press again to return to default scrolling speed
• Press again to repeat the cycle
Home Screen
The Home screen displays user‐configurable information about the controller. This screen
is displayed during normal operation when there are no status messages or errors.
To navigate to the Home screen from another menu, continue to select the up arrow
until the Home icon is displayed, and then select the Home icon.
From the Home screen, press the Select button to enter the main menu.

SC8000 Controller
Setup Menu
The Setup menu displays user‐configurable defaults for iDRAC, LCD error messages, and
the Home screen.
Note: When you select an option in the Setup menu, you must confirm the option
before proceeding to the next action.
Option Description
iDRAC Select DHCP or Static IP to configure the network mode. If Static IP is selected, the
available fields are IP, Subnet (Sub), and Gateway (Gtw). Select Setup DNS to
enable DNS and to view domain addresses. Two separate DNS entries are available.
Set error Select SEL to display LCD error messages in a form that matches the description in
the System Event Log. This is useful when trying to match an LCD message with a
System Event Log entry.
Select Simple to display LCD error messages in a simplified user‐friendly
description. See SC8000 Service Guide for a list of messages in this format.
Set home Select the default information display on the LCD Home screen. See View Menu to
see the options and option items that can be set as the default on the Home screen.
View Menu
The Setup menu displays iDRAC, asset, power, and temperature information.
Note: When you select an option in the View menu, you must confirm the option
before proceeding to the next action.
Option Description
iDRAC IP Displays the IPv4 or IPv6 addresses for the iDRAC7. Addresses include DNS
(Primary and Secondary), Gateway, IP, and Subnet (IPv6 does not have Subnet).
MAC Displays the MAC addresses for iDRAC, iSCSI, or Network devices.
Name Displays the name of the Host, Model, or User String for the controller.
Number Displays the Asset tag or the Service Tag for the controller.
Power Displays the power output of the controller in BTU/hr or Watts. The display format
can be configured in the Set home submenu of the Setup menu.
Temperature Displays the temperature of the controller in Celsius or Fahrenheit. The display
format can be configured in the Set home submenu of the Setup menu.
Dell Compellent 9
SC8000 Back-Panel Features and Indicators

The back panel of the controller contains IO card slots, a system identification button,
connectors, and power supplies.
IO card IO card IO card
IO card IO card cache card
IO card
1 3 0 2
IPC MGMT
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Figure 6. SC8000 Controller Back View

Slots 1–3 Low‐profile IO card — Ports are numbered beginning with port 1 on the left.
slots
Slots 4–6 Full‐height IO card — Ports are numbered beginning with port 1 on the right.

slots
Slot 7 Cache card slot — Hosts the cache card.
1 System Used to locate a particular controller within a rack. When a
identification System ID button on the front or back panel is pressed, the
button front LCD panel and the back system status indicator flash
until one of the buttons is pressed again.
• Press to toggle the system ID on and off.
• If the controller stops responding during POST, press
and hold the system ID button for more than five
seconds to enter BIOS progress mode.
2 System — Connects the optional system status indicator assembly
identification through the optional cable management arm.
connector
3 iDRAC — Connects to the Ethernet switch in the rack.
4 Serial port Allows you to connect to the controller using a serial
interface.
5 Video connector Allows you to connect a VGA monitor to the controller.
6 USB connectors Allows you to connect USB devices to the controller. The
ports are USB 2.0‐compliant.
7 Embedded Connects the controller to the Ethernet switch and to other
Ethernet connectors controllers in the rack. The ports function as follows:
• Port 1: ETH1 ‐ 10GbE capable, configured for 1GbE
(Connect to second controller for IPC).
• Port 0: ETH0 ‐ 1GbE (Connects to the Ethernet switch for
system login, email, alerts, SNMP traps, Phone Home
data, and access for software).
Note: Ports 2 and 3 are not used.
8 Power Supply 1 — Hot‐swappable, 750 W AC
100‐240 VAC, auto‐ranging, 50/60 Hz.
9 Power Supply 2 —

SC8000 Controller
NIC Indicator Codes

The embedded Ethernet connectors include status indicators.
Figure 7. NIC Indicator
Item Name Indicator Code

1 Link indicator • Off: The NIC is not connected to the network.
• Green: The NIC is connected to a valid network at its maximum port
speed (1 Gbps or 10 Gbps).
• Amber: The NIC is connected to a valid network at less than its
maximum port speed.
2 Activity • Flashing: Indicates transmit/receive activity.
indicator • Steady: Indicates valid network connection.
Power Indicator Codes

Each AC power supply has an illuminated translucent handle.
Figure 8. AC Power Supply Status Indicator

1 AC power • Not lit: Power is not connected.
supply status • Green: A valid power source is connected to the power supply and the
indicator/ power supply is operational.
handle
• Flashing amber: Indicates a problem with the power supply.
• Flashing green: When hot‐adding a power supply, this indicates that
the power supply is mismatched with the other power supply (in terms
of efficiency, feature set, system status, or supported voltage). Replace
the power supply that has the flashing indicator with a power supply
that matches the capacity of the other installed power supply.
Dell Compellent 11
Caution: The power supplies must be of the same input type and have the same
maximum output power. Mismatched power supplies result in an error condition.
Caution: AC power supplies support both 220 V and 110 V input voltages. When
two identical power supplies receive different input voltages, they can output
different wattages and trigger a mismatch.
Caution: When correcting a power supply mismatch, replace only the power
supply with the flashing indicator. Swapping the opposite power supply to make a
matched pair can result in an error condition and unexpected controller shutdown.
SC280 SAS Enclosures

SAS enclosures hold drives for data storage and connect to the controllers through
back‐end ports. The Storage Center SC280 is a 5U size 6 GB SAS enclosure. The SC280
enclosure supports up to 84 hard drives installed in two drawers of 42 drives each. The
SC280 enclosures also contain two power supply units, five cooling fan modules, and two
redundant enclosure management modules (EMMs).
The following requirements apply to SC280 enclosures:
 SC280 enclosures cannot be connected to the same chain as any other enclosures.
 Each chain supports a maximum of two SC280 enclosures.
 A SAS IO card can support mixed chains (for example, a chain of SC280 enclosures, and
a chain of SC200 enclosures), however the enclosures must all be 6 GB.
 Controllers must be running Storage Center OS 6.4.1 or later to detect SC280 enclosures.

SC280 Enclosure Front Panel Features and Indicators

The overall enclosure status is shown on a panel located on the left side of the enclosure.
Figure 9. SC280 Enclosure Front Panel Features and Indicators
Item Feature/Indicator Icon Description

1 Unit ID display A numerical display of the enclosure unit
identification number. This number is set by Storage
Center.
2 Input switch Not currently used (though it can be used to set the
Unit ID Display, the ID is automatically reset by the
Storage Center).
3 System power indicator • Amber: Enclosure is in standby (not operational).
• Green: Enclosure is on (operational).
4 Module fault Amber: Hardware fault (PCM fault, Fan fault, SSB
module fault. Check indicators on individual
modules).
5 Logical status indicator Amber: change of status or fault from something other
than the enclosure itself (this may be from an internal
or external RAID controller or HBA, but is usually
associated with a disk drive as indicated by its own
fault LED).
6 Drawer Fault 1 Amber: drive, cable, or sideplane fault has occurred in
drawer 1.
7 Drawer Fault 2 Amber: drive, cable, or sideplane fault has occurred in
drawer 2.
Dell Compellent 13
SC280 Drawer Front-Panel Features and Indicators

Each side of each drawer shows status using LED indicators.
Figure 10. SC280 Drawer Front Panel Features and Indicators
Item Feature/Indicator Icon Description

1 Sideplane OK/Power • Off: Sideplane card or cable fault.
• Green: Sideplane card and cable are functional.
2 Drawer Fault Amber: Sideplane card fault or drive failure causing
loss of availability or redundancy.
3 Logical fault indicator • Amber: Host indicated drive fault.
• Flashing Amber: Array(s) in impacted state.
4 Cable Fault Amber: Cable fault.
5 Activity Bar Graph Six variable‐intensity LEDs dynamically display drive
access in the enclosure drawer.

SC280 Back-Panel Features and Indicators

The enclosure back panel provides controls to power up and reset the enclosure, indicators
to show the enclosure status, and connections for back‐end cabling.
4
5
Figure 11. SC280 Back Panel Identification
Item Name
1 Optional cable retention positions (4).
2 IO enclosure management modules (2). See SC280 EMM Features and Indicators on
page 16.
3 Fan modules (5).
4 Power supply units (2). See SC280 Power Supply Unit Features and Indicators on page 17.
5 Power switches (2).
6 Optional cable retention positions (2).
Dell Compellent 15
SC280 EMM Features and Indicators

SC280 enclosures include two Enclosure Management Modules (EMM) in two interface
slots. Each EMM IO Module includes an EEPROM that holds data describing the function
and capability of the EMM module. Each EMM module can discover the type and
capabilities of its partner EMM module within the enclosure. Incompatible configurations
result in an enclosure system alarm.
Each port has four separately arbitrated physical lanes. A green LED indicates the status of
each lane. The IO Module and Fault indicators provide status as described below.
1 3 4
2 5 6 7
Figure 12. IO Module Indicators

1 Power indicator • Green (steady): Module OK.
• Green (flashing): Vital product data (VPD) fault.
• Off: Module fault.
2 IO Module fault Amber: IO module error.
indicator
3 Console — Factory use only.
4 Lane LEDs — • Solid Green: Connected, No activity.
• Flashing: Activity.
5 SAS port A (in) Connects to other enclosures.
6 SAS port B (out) Connects to other enclosures.
7 SAS Port C The C‐port always connects to the controller.

SC280 Power Supply Unit Features and Indicators

SC280 enclosures include two Power Supply Units (PSUs) in two interface slots.
1 2 3 4 5
Figure 13. SC280 PSU Features and Indicators

1 Release latch —
2 PSU fault indicator • Amber (steady) — PSU fault, PSU not supplying
power
• Amber (flashing) — PSU firmware is downloading
3 AC power indicator • Amber (steady) — AC power is not detected
• Amber (flashing) — PSU firmware is downloading
4 Power OK indicator • Green (steady) — This PSU is providing power
• Green (flashing) — AC power is present, but this
PSU is in standby mode (the other PSU is providing
power)
5 Power switch — Controls power for the enclosure.
Separate and unique conditions are indicated if all three LEDs are in the same state:
 If all three LEDs are off, then there is no AC power to either PSU.
 If all three LEDs are on, then the General Enclosure Management (GEM) software has
lost communication with the PSU.
Dell Compellent 17
Fan Module Features and Indicators

SC280 enclosures include five fan modules in five interface slots.
Figure 14. SC280 Fan Module Features and Indicators
Item Control/Feature Icon Description

1 Release latch
2 Module OK Green — Module OK
3 Battery fault Not currently used
4 Fan fault Amber — Loss of communication with the fan module,
or reported fan speed is out of tolerance

SC280 Enterprise Plus Drives

Enterprise Plus Drives can only be installed in SC280 enclosures. An indicator gives status
and activity information as described below.
Figure 15. SC280 Hard Drive Indicators

1 Hard drive activity indicator • Steady Amber — Drive fault
• Flashing Amber (on 1 sec / off 1 sec) — Drive or enclosure
indicator is set to On in System Manager. (With the drive
indicator, the containing drawer fault LED also flashes;
with the enclosure indicator, all drives’ and both drawers’
fault LEDs flash.)
Dell Compellent 19
SC280 Drive Numbering

SC280 drives are located in two drawers, each containing three rows of drives. The drives
are numbered 1–42 in drawer 1, from front to back and left to right, and 43–84 in drawer 2.
Figure 16. Hard Drive Numbering
SC200/220 SAS Enclosures

back‐end ports. The Storage Center SC200 and SC220 are 2U size SAS enclosures. The
SC200 enclosure supports up to 12 3.5‐inch hard drives installed in a four‐column, three‐
row configuration. The SC220 enclosure supports up to 24 2.5‐inch hard drives installed
vertically side‐by‐side. The SC200 and SC220 enclosures ship with two power supply/
cooling fan modules and two redundant enclosure management modules (EMMs).
The following requirements apply to SC200 and SC220 enclosures:
 SC200 and SC220 enclosures cannot be connected to the same chain as any other
enclosures.
 Controllers must be running Storage Center OS 6.2 or later to detect SC200 and SC220
enclosures.

SC200/220 Front-Panel Features and Indicators

The front panel shows the enclosure and power status.
Figure 17. SC200 Front Panel Features and Indicators
Figure 18. SC220 Front Panel Features and Indicators

1 Enclosure status Lights when the enclosure power is on.
indicator • Off: No power.
• On steady blue: Normal operation.
• Flashing blue: Indicates that Storage Center is identifying
the enclosure.
• On steady amber: Enclosure is turning on or was reset.
• Flashing amber: Enclosure is in the fault state.
2 Power status Lights when at least one power supply is supplying power to
indicator the enclosure.
• Off: Both power supplies are off.
• On steady green: At least one power supply is providing
power to the enclosure.
3 Hard drives — • SC200: Up to 12 3.5‐inch hard drives.
• SC220: Up to 24 2.5‐inch hard drives.
Dell Compellent 21
SC200/220 Back-Panel Features and Indicators

1
2
3
! !
Compellent SC2
Compellent SC2
4 5 6
Figure 19. SC200/SC220 Back Panel Features and Indicators

1 DC power indicator • Green: Normal operation. The power supply
module is supplying DC power to the enclosure.
• Off: Power switch is off, the power supply is not
connected to AC power, or there is a fault condition
2 Power supply/cooling • Amber: Power supply/cooling fan fault is detected
fan indicator • Off: Normal operation
3 AC power indicator • Green: Power supply module is connected to a
source of AC power, whether the power switch is on
• Off: Power supply module is disconnected from a
source of AC power
4 Power switches (2) — Controls power for the enclosure. There is one switch
for each power supply/cooling fan module.
5 Power supply/cooling — Contains a 700 W power supply and fans that provide
fan modules (2) cooling for the enclosure
6 Enclosure Management — EMMs provide the data path and enclosure
Modules (2) management functions for the enclosure

SC200/220 EMM Features and Indicators

SC200 and SC220 enclosures include two Enclosure Management Module (EMM) IO
modules in two interface slots.
Compellent SC2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Figure 20. SC200/SC220 EMM Features and Indicators

1 System status indicator Not used on SC200/220 enclosures
2 Debug port For engineering use only
3 SAS port A (in) Connects to the controller or to other enclosures. SAS ports
A and B can be used for either input or output, however for
cabling consistency, use port A as an input port.
4 Port A link status • Green: All the links to the port are connected
• Amber: One or more links are not connected
• Off: Enclosure is not connected
5 SAS port B (out) Connects to the controller or to other enclosures. SAS ports
A and B can be used for either input or output, however for
cabling consistency, use port B as an output port.
6 Port B link status • Green: All the links to the port are connected
• Amber: One or more links are not connected
• Off: Enclosure is not connected
7 EMM status indicator • Steady Green: Normal operation
• Amber: Enclosure did not boot or is not properly
configured
• Flashing Green: Automatic update in process
• Flashing Amber Twice: Enclosure is unable to
communicate with other enclosures
• Flashing Amber Four Times: Firmware update failed
• Flashing Amber Five Times: Firmware versions are
different between the two EMMs
Dell Compellent 23
SC200/220 Enterprise Plus Drives

Enterprise Plus Drives can only be installed in SC200/220 enclosures. Drives are installed
either vertically (SC220) or horizontally (SC200) in the enclosure. Indicators give status and
activity information as described below.
2
1

1 2

1 Hard drive activity indicator • Flashing green: Indicates drive activity
• Steady green: Indicates no drive activity
2 Hard drive status indicator • Steady green: Normal operation
• Flashing green (on 1sec/ off 1 sec): Drive or enclosure
indicator is set to On in System Manager. (With the
enclosure indicator, all drives’ fault LEDs flash.)
• Off: No power to the drive

SC200/220 Drive Numbering

In SC200 and SC220 enclosures, drives are numbered from left to right starting from 0.
Storage Center identifies drives as Disk-XX‐YY, where XX is the number of the enclosure
that physically contains the drive, and YY is the drive position inside the enclosure.
 SC200: Drives are numbered in rows starting from 0 at the top‐left drive.
Drive 0 Drive 1 Drive 2 Drive 3
Figure 23. SC200 Enclosure Drive Numbering

 SC220: Drives are numbered starting from 0 at the left‐most drive.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Figure 24. SC220 Enclosure Drive Numbering
Dell Compellent 25
EN-SASx6x12/24 Enclosures
back‐end ports. EN‐SASX6X12 enclosures can hold up to 12‐3.5ʺ drives, and EN‐SASX6X24
can hold up to 24‐2.5ʺ drives.
EN‐SASx6x12/24 enclosures cannot be connected to the same chain as SC200 or SC220
enclosures.
EN-SASx6x12/24 Front-Panel Features and Indicators

The enclosure front panel provides controls to power up and reset the enclosure and
indicators to show the enclosure status. Insert the enclosure into a rack so that the LED
display is on the left side.
1 2 3 4 EN-SASX6X12 Enclosure
EN-SASX6X24 Enclosure
Figure 25. SAS Enclosures Front View — Controls and Indicators

1 Mute button Mutes the alarm
2 System power indicator • Green: Power is on
• Amber: Unit is on standby
3 Module fault indicator Amber: Enclosure module failure (PCM fault, Fan fault,
SSB module fault. Check indicators on individual
modules)
4 Logical fault indicator • Amber: Drive failure
• Flashing Amber: Unexpected enclosure ID (Module
Fault also flashes amber)
5 LED display — Indicates the enclosure ID number — the software sets this
number during installation, and matches the Disk ID
displayed in the Storage Center System Manager

EN-SASx6x12/24 Back-Panel Features and Indicators

1 3
2 4
5 6 7
Figure 26. SAS Enclosure Rear View — Controls and Indicators

1 AC power indicator • Green: Normal operation
• Amber: No AC power
2 Fan indicator • Green: Normal operation
• Amber: Fan failure
3 PCM status indicator • Green: Normal operation
• Amber: Power supply failure
4 DC power indicator • Green: Normal operation
• Amber: No DC power
5 Power switch — Controls power for the enclosure
6 Power Cooling Module (PCM) — one of — Contains fans that provide cooling for
two the enclosure
7 Storage Bridge Bay (SBB) — one of two — See EN‐SASx6x12/24 SBB Module
Features and Indicators on page 28
Dell Compellent 27
EN-SASx6x12/24 SBB Module Features and Indicators

SAS enclosures include two Storage Bridge Bay (SBB) IO modules in two SBB‐compliant
interface slots. Each SBB IO Module includes an EEPROM that holds data describing the
function and capability of the SBB module. Each SBB module can discover the type and
capabilities of its partner SBB module within the enclosure. Incompatible configurations
result in an enclosure system alarm.
Each port has four separately arbitrated physical lanes. A green LED indicates the status of
each lane. The IO Module and Fault indicators provide status as described below.
1 3 4 5 6
2
Figure 27. IO Module Indicators

1 IO Module indicator On Steady: Normal operation
2 IO Module fault On: IO module error
indicator
3 SAS port A (in) Connects to other enclosures
4 Lane LEDs — • Solid Green: Connected, No activity
• Flashing: Activity
5 SAS port B (out) Connects to other enclosures
6 SAS Port C The C‐port always connects to the controller.

EN-SASx6x12/24 Standard SAS Drives

Standard SAS drives can only be installed in EN‐SASx6x12/24 enclosures. Drives are
installed either vertically or horizontally in the enclosure. Indicators give status and
activity information as described below.
3 4 1
2
Figure 28. EN-SASx6x12 Standard SAS Drive Indicators
1 2
Figure 29. EN-SASx6x24 Standard SAS Drive Indicators
Item Name Description

1 Amber LED • Off: No drive, or drive is operating
• On: Drive fault
• Flashing (on 1 sec/off 1 sec): Drive or enclosure
indicator is set to On in System Manager.
2 Green LED • Green: Connected, No activity
• Flashing: Activity
3 Anti‐tamper Indicator (when • Red: Locked
present) • Black: Unlocked
4 Lock (when present) Insert key or T10 Torx driver and turn to lock/unlock
Dell Compellent 29
EN-SASx6x12/24 Drive Numbering

In EN‐SASX6X12 and EN‐SASX6X24 enclosures, drives are numbered from left to right
starting from 1. Storage Center identifies drives as Disk-XX‐YY, where XX is the number of
the enclosure that physically contains the drive, and YY is the drive position inside the
enclosure.
 EN‐SASX6X12: Drives are numbered in rows starting from 1 at the top‐left drive.
Figure 30. EN-SASx6x12 Enclosure Drive Numbering

 EN‐SASX6X24: Drives are numbered starting from 1 at the left‐most drive.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Figure 31. EN-SASx6x24 Enclosure Drive Numbering

2 Install the Hardware
Verify that the ordered equipment arrived safely, install IO cards in the controller(s), disks
in the enclosures (as required) and mount the equipment in a rack.
Contents
Prepare for Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Safety Precautions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Install IO Cards the Controller(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Label the Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Mount the Hardware in a Rack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Install Drives in SC280 Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Install Drives in EN‐SASx6x12/24 Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Install Enterprise Plus Drives in SC200/220 Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Prepare for Installation

Before you begin, make sure that the correct equipment is available, the installation
environment is ready, and you have the necessary materials.
Unpack and Inventory the Storage Center Equipment

Make sure the equipment that was ordered arrived safely on site:
 Controllers
 Enclosures and drives
 IO cards
 Front‐end cables
 Back‐end cables
 Switches
Prepare the Installation Environment

Make sure that the environment is ready for installation.
 Rack Space: There must be sufficient space in the rack to accommodate the Storage
Center controller(s), enclosures, and switches.
 Power: Power must be available in the rack, and the power delivery system must meet
the power requirements for the Storage Center.
Dell Compellent 31
Chapter 2 Install the Hardware
 Connectivity: The rack must be wired for connectivity to the management network and
any networks that carry front‐end IO from the Storage Center to servers.
Gather Required Materials

Make sure that you have the following items before you begin the installation.
Required Item Description

Storage Center license file Makes settings available depending on what features were
purchased.
RS‐232 serial cable and PC or Used to run commands and view console messages during
laptop controller configuration.
Computer connected to the Used to connect to the Storage Center System Manager (through a
same network as the Storage web browser) to complete the Storage Center configuration.
Center
Hardware Serial Number Used to configure the controller(s).
(HSN) and System Serial
Number (SSN)
Storage Architect or Business (Optional) Provide site‐specific settings used during deployment:
Partner supplied pre‐ • List of hardware needed to support storage requirements
installation document(s)
• Optional connectivity diagrams to illustrate cabling between the
controllers, enclosures, switches, and servers
• Optional network information, such as IP addresses, subnet
masks, gateways
Storage Center Maintenance (Optional) Used to update the Storage Center OS when internet
CD access is not available.
Safety Precautions
To avoid injury and damage to the equipment, always follow these safety precautions.
If equipment described in the document is used in a manner not specified by Dell
Compellent, the protection provided by the equipment may be impaired. For your safety
and protection, observe the following rules:
Note: See the safety and regulatory information that shipped with each Storage
Center component. Warranty information may be included within this document or
as a separate document.
Electrical Safety Precautions

Always follow electrical safety precautions to avoid injury and damage to the equipment.
 Provide a suitable power source with electrical overload protection. All components in
the Storage Center must be grounded before applying power. Make sure that there is a
safe electrical earth connection to power supply cords. Check the grounding before
applying power.
 The plugs on the power supply cords are used as the main disconnect device. Make sure
that the socket outlets are located near the equipment and are easily accessible.
 Know the locations of the equipment power switches and the roomʹs emergency power‐
off switch, disconnection switch, or electrical outlet.

Safety Precautions
 Do not work alone when working with high‐voltage components.
 Do not use mats designed to decrease electrostatic discharge as protection from
electrical shock. Instead, use rubber mats that have been specifically designed as
electrical insulators.
 Do not remove covers from the Power Control Module (PCM). Disconnect the power
connection before removing a PCM from the enclosure.
 Do not remove a faulty PCM unless you have a replacement model of the correct type
ready for insertion. A faulty PCM must be replaced with a fully operational module
within 24 hours.
 Permanently unplug the enclosure before you move it or if you think it has become
damaged in any way. When powered by multiple AC sources, disconnect all supply
power for complete isolation.
Warning: Disconnect power from the controller when removing or installing
components that are not hot‐swappable. When disconnecting power, first power
down the controller using the Storage Center System Manager and then unplug the
power cords from all the power supply modules in the controller.
General Safety Precautions

To avoid injury and damage to the equipment, always follow general safety precautions.
 Keep the area around the chassis clean and free of clutter.
 Place the chassis cover and any system components that have been removed away from
the controller or on a table so that they are not in the way of foot traffic.
 While working on the controller, do not wear loose clothing such as neckties and
unbuttoned shirt sleeves, which can come into contact with electrical circuits or be
pulled into a cooling fan.
 Remove any jewelry or metal objects from your body because they are excellent metal
conductors that can create short circuits and harm you if they come into contact with
printed circuit boards or areas where power is present.
 Do not lift an enclosure by the handles of the Power Cooling Modules (PCMs). They are
not designed to hold the weight of the entire enclosure, and the enclosure cover may
become bent.
 Before moving an enclosure, remove the PCMs to minimize weight.
 In order to comply with applicable safety, emission, and thermal requirements, do not
remove bay covers from enclosures. Make sure that all bays are populated with plug‐in
modules.
 Do not remove bay covers or drives until ready to replace them.
Warning: To avoid injury, do not attempt to the lift a controller or enclosure by
yourself. Always get assistance when lifting the controller.
Caution: Do not operate the controller without the cover, except when replacing
cooling fans.
Warning: The memory modules may be hot for several minutes after the controller
has been powered down. Wait for the memory modules to cool before handling
them.
Dell Compellent 33
Caution: To ensure proper controller cooling, memory module blanks must be
installed in any memory socket that is not occupied.
Warning: To prevent eye damage, do not stare into the laser beam aperture of an
SFP+ transceiver.
Electrostatic Discharge Precautions

To avoid injury and damage to the equipment, always follow electrostatic discharge (ESD)
precautions t
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is generated by two objects with different electrical charges
coming into contact with each other. The resulting electrical discharge can damage
electronic components and printed circuit boards. Follow these guidelines to protect your
equipment from ESD:
 It is recommended that you always use a static mat and static strap while working on
components in the interior of the controller.
 Observe all conventional ESD precautions when handling plug‐in modules and
components.
 Use a suitable ESD wrist or ankle strap.
 Avoid contact with backplane components and module connectors.
 Keep all components and printed circuit boards (PCBs) in their antistatic bags until
ready for use.

Install IO Cards the Controller(s)

Before you mount the controller(s) in a rack, install the IO cards.
Open the Cover

Open the cover to gain access to the inside of the controller.
Caution: Do not operate the controller without the cover, except when replacing
cooling fans.
Caution: Do not slide the controller into a rack with the cover open. Riser 2
contains a chassis intrusion detection switch that can be easily damaged when
sliding a controller into the rack with the cover open.
1 Rotate the latch release lock counter clockwise to the unlocked position.
2 Lift the latch on top of the controller and slide the cover back.
3 Grasp the cover on both sides, and carefully lift the cover away from the controller.
2
3
Figure 32. Opening the Cover

1 Controller cover
2 Latch
3 Latch release lock
Dell Compellent 35
Remove the Cooling Shroud

Remove the cooling shroud to gain access to the memory sockets.
1 Hold onto the two touch points of the cooling shroud.
2 Lift the cooling shroud away from the controller.
2
1
Figure 33. Removing and Inserting the Cooling Shroud

1 Cooling shroud
2 Touch points
Insert the Cooling Shroud

Use this procedure to install the cooling shroud.
1 Align the tabs on the cooling shroud with the securing slots on the chassis.
2 Lower the cooling shroud into the chassis until it is firmly seated.
Note: For proper seating of the cooling shroud in the chassis, ensure that the
cables inside the controller are routed along the chassis wall and secured using
the cable securing bracket.

Install IO Cards
Install the IO cards in the controller(s) based on the IO card priority rules. For dual‐
controller systems, install IO cards in the same locations in both controllers.
Determine Where IO Cards Should Be Installed

The following table provides guidelines for installing IO cards to ensure proper cooling
and mechanical fit. Install IO cards using the card priority and slot priority order indicated.
Populate the slots as follows:
 Install low‐profile IO cards in slots 3 through 1. After filling these slots, low‐profile
cards may be installed in slots 4, 5, and 6 when used with the adaptive bracket.
 Install full‐height IO cards beginning in slot 6, followed by slot 5, then slot 4 if needed.
 Slot 7 is reserved for the Cache Card.
Note: Low‐profile IO cards are shipped with an adaptive full‐height bracket that
must be installed to use the IO card in a slot designed for a full‐height IO card. When
a low‐profile card is installed in a full‐height slot the ports are reversed, so port
number 1 is on the right.
Note: To use Multi‐VLAN Tagging (MVLAN) install a Chelsio 10 Gb iSCSI card.
MVLAN is managed in Enterprise Manager.
Speed Number Card Slot

Type Card Height (Gb) of Ports Priority Priority
iSCSI Chelsio S320E‐LP‐CR Low‐profile 10 2 11 3, 2, 1, 4, 5
(SFP+ transceiver
required for optical
support)
iSCSI Chelsio S320E‐CR* (SFP+ Full‐height 10 2 10 4, 5, 6

transceiver required for
optical support)
iSCSI QLogic QLE4062 Low‐profile 1 2 7 3, 2, 1, 4, 5
SAS LSI SAS9201‐16E Full‐height 6 4 2 6, 5, 4
SAS LSI SAS9206‐16E Low profile 6 4 2 3, 2, 1, 6, 5,

4
Fibre Channel Emulex LPe12004‐M8* Full‐height 8 4 9 4, 5, 6
Fibre Channel Emulex LPe12002‐M8* Low‐profile 8 2 5 3, 2, 1, 4, 5
Fibre Channel QLogic QLE2662 Low‐profile 16 2 3 3, 2, 1, 4, 5,

6
Fibre Channel QLogic QLE2562 Low‐profile 8 2 4 3, 2, 1, 4, 5,

6
Fibre Channel QLogic QLE2564 Full‐height 8 4 8 4, 5, 6
FCoE Qlogic QLE8152 (SFP+ Low‐profile 10 2 6 3, 2, 1, 4, 5

transceiver required for
optical support)
Cache card Dell Full‐height n/a n/a 1 7
Dell Compellent 37
* These IO cards cannot be ordered for SC8000 controllers. An SC8000 controller can contain these IO cards only if they were
transferred to the SC8000 controller during an upgrade from a CT‐SC030 or CT‐SC040 controller.
See Also
SC8000 Back‐Panel Features and Indicators on page 10
Install Low-Profile IO Cards in Slots 1–3

To install low‐profile IO cards, first remove riser 1.
1 Remove riser 1.
a Hold onto the touch points of the riser.
b Lift the riser from the riser connector on the system board.
4
6 5
Table 1. Removing Riser 1

1 Riser 1 cage 4 Riser guide, back (left)
2 Riser 1 5 Riser 1 connector
3 Riser guide, back (right) 6 Riser guide, front

2 Open the IO card latch by pressing the latch tab and rotating the latch down.
1 2 3
Figure 34. Installing an IO Card in Riser 1

1 Riser 1 cage 4 IO card latch
2 IO card connector 5 IO card latch tab
3 IO card
3 Install each low‐profile IO card.
a Locate the slot where the IO card is installed.
1 2 3
Figure 35. Identifying Connectors on Riser 1

1 IO card slot 1
2 IO card slot 2
3 IO card slot 3
b Unpack the replacement IO card and prepare it for installation. For instructions, see
the documentation accompanying the IO card.
c Holding the IO card by its edges, position the card so that the card‐edge connector
aligns with the IO card connector on the riser.
d Insert the card‐edge connector firmly into the IO card connector until the card is
fully seated.
Caution: Make sure that the IO card is fully seated in the IO card connector.
IO cards that are not in full contact with the connector cause unpredictable
failures in the Storage Center.
e Close the IO card latch.
Dell Compellent 39
4 Insert riser 1.
a Align the riser with the connector and the riser guides.
b Lower the riser into place until the riser is fully seated in the connector.
4
6 5
Table 2. Removing Riser 1

1 Riser 1 cage 4 Riser guide, back (left)
2 Riser 1 5 Riser 1 connector
3 Riser guide, back (right) 6 Riser guide, front

Install Full-Height IO Cards in Slots 4–6

Install full‐height IO cards installed in riser 2 and 3. Slots 4 and 5 are located in riser 2, and
slot 6 is located in riser 3.
1 Locate the slot where the IO card is installed.
1 2 3

1 Chassis intrusion switch
2 IO card slot 4
3 IO card slot 5
1
2

1 IO card slot 6
2 IO card slot 7
Dell Compellent 41
2 Lift the IO card latch out of the slot.
2
Figure 38. Replacing the IO Card in Riser 2 or 3

1 IO card 3 IO card connector
2 IO card latch 4 Riser
3 Unpack the replacement IO card and prepare it for installation. For instructions, see the
documentation accompanying the IO card.
4 Hold the IO card by its edges and position the card so that the card‐edge connector
aligns with the IO card connector on the riser.
5 Insert the card‐edge connector firmly into the IO card connector until the card is fully
seated. Use the supports provided on the cooling shroud.
Caution: Make sure that the IO card is fully seated in the IO card connector. IO
cards that are not in full contact with the connector cause unpredictable failures
in Storage Center.

Figure 39. Seating the IO Card

6 Replace the IO card latch.
7 Press the touch‐point to release the card retention tab (not shown) and rotate the tab
until it locks in place over the IO card.
Close the Cover

Perform this procedure to close the cover.
1 Lift the latch on the cover.
2 Place the cover onto the chassis and offset the cover slightly back so that it clears the
chassis hooks and lays flush on the chassis.
3 Push down the latch to move the cover into the closed position.
4 Rotate the latch release lock clockwise to secure the cover.
2
3
Figure 40. Closing the Cover

1 Controller cover
2 Latch
3 Latch release lock
Dell Compellent 43
Label the Controllers

Create two labels for each controller to facilitate identification in the rack. Apply labels to
the front and back of each controller.
Prerequisites
You must have a label maker, or four blank labels and a writing utensil.
Steps
1 Create two labels for each controller. Each label should contain the controller number
and System Serial Number (SSN).
Line Label Information Example

1 Controller number CONTR1 or CONTR2
2 System Serial Number 10011
2 Apply two labels to each controller.
a Apply one label to the front of the controller on the top‐left corner.
b Apply one label to the rear of the controller on the middle of the handle.
CONTR1
10011
Figure 41. SC8000 Controller Labels

Mount the Hardware in a Rack

Dell Compellent recommends mounting the hardware in a rack to ensure rack safety and
to allow for expansion.
2U and 3U Enclosures
Install 2U and 3U enclosures in the rack to allow for expansion and so that the rack does
not become top‐heavy. This can be accomplished in one of two configurations.
 Install the controllers on the bottom of the rack and the enclosures above the controllers.
 Install the controllers in the middle of the rack and the enclosures above and below the
controllers.
Steps
1 Mount the controller(s) in a rack. See the instructions included with the rail kit for
detailed steps.
2 Mount the enclosure(s) in the rack. See the instructions included with the rail kit for
detailed steps.
Figure 42. Recommended Mounting Order — 2U and 3U Enclosures

1 Controllers
2 Enclosures
Dell Compellent 45
5U Enclosures
The 5U enclosures can weigh up to 131 kg (288 lb) and should be installed in the lower
portion of the rack to ensure rack stability.
When installed in a rack, the SC280 enclosure extends 36 in. from the front rack posts to the
back of the chassis. Rack modifications may be required to avoid blocking PDUs or to allow
proper strain relief for SAS cables. Contact Dell Technical Support Services if site
preparation has not already been done.
Warning: A fully configured SC280 enclosure weighs up to 130.7 kg (287.5 lb). An
unpopulated enclosure weighs 62 kg (137 lb). To avoid injury, always lift with two
people, and use lifting straps when required.
If installed above the lower 20U of a rack, a customer‐provided mechanical lift must
be used.
Prerequisites
Make sure that the site has the following:
 208 V power from an independent source or a rack power distribution unit with a UPS.
(110 V power will not work.)
 A 5U space in the lower 20U of the rack. If the enclosure is to be installed above the 20U
mark (not recommended), a customer‐provided mechanical lift is required.
 Power Distribution Unit (PDU) outlets must be type IEC‐320‐C19, with a minimum
output Amperage of 20A per connection.
Steps
Mount the SC280 enclosure into the rack using mounting rails, and optionally secure with
brackets to prevent tipping.
1 Mount the controller(s) in a rack. See the instructions included with the rail kit for
detailed steps.
2 Mount the rails in the rack according to instructions included in the rail kit.
Warning: When unpacking the 5U enclosure, two people using lift straps are
required to avoid injury.
3 Mount the enclosure onto the rack rails, using two people to lift the enclosure into
position.
4 Install Hold Down Brackets (HDBs).
a Secure the fixing screws to the rear of the enclosure.
b Secure the HDBs to the rear of the rack.

Figure 43. Recommended Mounting Order — 5U Enclosures

1 Controllers
2 Enclosures
Dell Compellent 47
Install Drives in SC280 Enclosures

The SC280 enclosure supports up to 84 3.5‐inch hard drives installed in two drawers within
the enclosure. Hard drives connect to the backplane using Disk Drive in Carrier (DDIC)
hard drive carriers.
Caution: If the enclosure operates for too long (depending on altitude) with drive
drawers open, the enclosure can overheat, causing potential drive failure and data
loss. Such use may invalidate the warranty.
Installing Drives
Follow these requirements when installing drives in the enclosure.
 Any row with drives installed must be filled entirely (14 drives).
 The minimum number of drives in an enclosure is 14 (one row).
 The number of populated rows between drawers must not differ by more than one.
 Populate rows beginning at the front of the enclosure and moving to the rear.
For a new installation, follow these recommendations for populating 42‐drive enclosures.
 14 drives in top drawer, front row
 14 drives in bottom drawer, front row
 14 drives in top drawer, middle row
Steps
Caution: Removing a drive from the DDIC can damage the DDIC. Do not remove
drives from DDICs.
1 Lower the DDIC into the slot.
2 Push and hold down the DDIC and slide it toward the back of the enclosure until the
DDIC latches to the backplane.
3 After all drives are installed, close the drawer.
4 When the enclosure is turned on, make sure that the drive LEDs are not lit, indicating
normal conditions.
Caution: When the enclosure turns off, the disks continue to spin after losing
power. To avoid damage to the disk, wait for the disk to stop spinning
(approximately 10 seconds after shut down) before pulling the disk from the
enclosure.

Install Drives in SC280 Enclosures
Figure 44. Inserting an SC280 DDIC

1 DDIC 3 Drive fault LED
2 Release button
See Also
SC280 Enterprise Plus Drives on page 19
Dell Compellent 49
Install Drives in EN-SASx6x12/24 Enclosures

If you are installing EN‐SASx6x12 and/or EN‐SASx6x24 enclosures, install drives in the
enclosures.
When installing drives into a 12‐drive enclosure, make sure that all drives in a column are
of the same spindle rate as shown in the following example. Populate the outer columns
first.
Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4

Row 1 7.2K 15K 10K 15K
Row 2 7.2K 15K 10K 15K
Row 3 7.2K 15K 10K 15K
Installing 3.5" Drives

Install 3.5ʺ drive carriers horizontally into the 12‐drive enclosure. If necessary, remove
drive blanks from the enclosures to make room for the drives.
1 Release the drive carrier handle by depressing the latch in the handle.
Figure 45. Release Drive Carrier Handle

2 Insert the Drive Carrier Module into the enclosure.
Figure 46. Installing a Drive Carrier Module

3 Make sure that the drive carrier is oriented so that the drive faces up and the handle
opens from the left.
4 Gently slide the drive carrier all the way into the enclosure.

Install Drives in EN-SASx6x12/24 Enclosures
5 Rotate the handle until it fully engages and clicks into place.
6 Make sure that all drive carriers are fully engaged in the enclosure by firmly pushing
each one into the slot.
Figure 47. Engaging a Drive Carrier Module in an Enclosure

7 Activate the anti‐tamper locks by inserting the key into the cutout in the handle.
8 Rotate the key clockwise until the indicator is visible in the aperture beside the key.
9 Remove the key.
Figure 48. Activating the Anti-tamper Lock

10 When the enclosure is turned on and the drives spin up, make sure that the drive LEDs
are on (green), indicating normal conditions.
See Also
EN‐SASx6x12/24 Standard SAS Drives on page 29
Dell Compellent 51
Installing 2.5" Drives

Install 2.5ʺ drive carriers vertically into the 24‐drive enclosure.
1 Make sure that the carrier is oriented so that the drive is on the left side and the handle
opens from the top.
2 Release the carrier handle by pressing the latch in the handle downwards.
3 Insert the carrier into the enclosure in the vertical position.
Figure 49. 2.5" Drive Carrier Module in Open Position

4 Gently slide the carrier all the way into the enclosure until it is stopped by the lever on
the bottom of the carrier.
Figure 50. Inserting a 2.5" Drive Carrier Module (1)

5 Rotate the handle firmly until the handle fully engages. You will hear a click as the latch
engages and holds the handle closed.
See Also
EN‐SASx6x12/24 Standard SAS Drives on page 29
EN‐SASx6x12/24 Drive Numbering on page 30

Install Enterprise Plus Drives in SC200/220 Enclosures
Install Enterprise Plus Drives in SC200/220 Enclosures

SC200/220 enclosures are shipped with disks installed and/or empty drive blanks in
unused slots. The following instructions show the installation of the Dell Enterprise Plus
drive for reference only.
Note: Dell Enterprise Plus drives and Enterprise Solid State Drives (ESSDs) can
only be installed in SC200/220 enclosures.
Figure 51. Installing a Drive

1 Insert the hard drive carrier into the hard drive bay.
2 Slide the drive into the bay until the carrier contacts the backplane.
3 Close the hard drive carrier handle to lock the hard drive in place.
4 Continue to push firmly until you hear a click and the handle fully engages.
5 When the enclosure is turned on and the drives spin up, make sure that the drive LEDs
are on (green), indicating normal conditions.
See Also
SC200/220 Enterprise Plus Drives on page 24
SC200/220 Drive Numbering on page 25
Dell Compellent 53

3 Connect the Back End
Enclosures are connected to controllers using SAS, a point‐to‐point switched topology on
four lanes. Each lane can perform concurrent IO transactions at 6 Gb/sec. Dell Compellent
recommends connecting the SAS drive enclosures to the controller(s) using the most
redundant options that are available.
Contents
SAS Enclosure Cabling Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Connect IPC for Dual‐Controller Storage Centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Connect SC200/SC220 Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Connect SC280 Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Connect EN‐SASx6x12/24 Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Label the Back‐End Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
SAS Enclosure Cabling Guidelines

Multiple SAS enclosures are connected to a controller by cabling the enclosures in series. A
series of interconnected enclosures is referred to as a chain. Each chain can contain up to
168 6 Gbps SAS drives.
A SAS chain begins at an initiator port in a controller IO card and connects to the first
enclosure. Subsequent enclosures are connected in series. For single‐controller Storage
Centers, the chain ends at the last enclosure. For dual‐controller Storage Centers, the chain
ends in a target port in the opposite controller.
SAS Redundancy
Redundant SAS cabling ensures that in the event an IO Card or port fails, IO continues to
flow through the remaining functioning path(s). For dual‐controller Storage Centers,
redundant cabling also provides protection for controller failures. To achieve redundancy,
each SAS chain is made up of two paths that are referred to as the A side and B side.
Dell Compellent 55
Chapter 3 Connect the Back End
SC8000 SAS Port Types

There are two types of controller SAS ports: initiator only and initiator/target. SAS chains
begin with an initiator port. As shown in the following figure, ports 1–2 (circled in blue) on
SAS IO cards are initiator only, and ports 3–4 (circled in red) are initiator/target.
1
2
Figure 52. Controller SAS Port Types
1 Initiator Only (Ports 1–2)
2 Initiator/Target (Ports 3–4)
Connect IPC for Dual-Controller Storage Centers

If you are configuring a dual‐controller Storage Center, connect the controllers with a
Category (Cat) 6 Ethernet cable. If the Storage Center only uses a single SAS chain, you
must also interconnect the controllers with additional SAS connections to make sure that
sufficient IPC bandwidth is available.

Connect the Controllers with Ethernet

In a dual‐controller Storage Center, the ETH 1 ports of the controllers must be directly
connected to each other.
1 Connect the ETH 1 (port 1) on one controller to the same port on the second controller.
Use a Cat 6 cable for this connection.
Note: Storage Center currently runs the 10 Gb ports at 1 Gb speed. Use a Cat. 6
cable to ensure that a hardware change is unnecessary when 10 Gb rates are
implemented.
1 3 0 2
IPC MGMT
1 3 0 2
IPC MGMT
Figure 53. Ethernet IPC Connection

2 Label both ends of the Ethernet IPC cable.
a Locate the IPC labels that shipped with the controller(s).
Figure 54. IPC Cable Label

b Near the connector, align the label perpendicular to the cable and affix it starting
with the top edge of the label.
Dell Compellent 57
Figure 55. Align Cable Label

c Wrap the label around the cable until it fully encircles the cable. The bottom of each
pre‐made label is clear so that it does not obscure the text.
Figure 56. Wrap Cable Label

d Apply a matching label to the other end of the cable.

Connect the Controllers with SAS

If the Storage Center has only a single SAS chain, interconnect the controllers with
additional SAS connections to provide redundancy and to make sure that sufficient IPC
bandwidth is available. If two or more enclosure chains exist, IPC Direct Connect is
optional.
If the Storage Center requires SAS IPC, add cabling between the initiator and target ports
on the controllers.
1 Controller A: IO Card port 2 (initiator) → Controller B: IO Card port 4 (target).
2 Controller B: IO Card port 2 (initiator) → Controller A: IO Card port 4 (target).
3 Label both ends of each SAS IPC cable.
a Locate the IPC labels that shipped with the controller(s).
Figure 57. IPC Cable Label

Dell Compellent 59

Connect SC200/SC220 Enclosures

This section shows common cabling between the SC8000 controller and SC200/220 SAS
enclosures. Locate the scenario that most closely matches the Storage Center you are
configuring and follow the instructions, modifying them as necessary.
An SC200/SC220 cabling chain can contain up to 168 SAS drives, using either type of
enclosure. The maximum number of any one type of enclosure is:
 SC200: 14 enclosures
 SC220: 7 enclosures
Each SAS IO card supports up to two chains of enclosures. All enclosures attached to the
same SAS IO card must be running at the same speed (all 6 Gb or 3 Gb).
SC200/220 SAS enclosure chains are cabled as follows.
 Side A: Enclosures are connected from B port to A port, using the top EMMs.
 Side B: Enclosures are connected from A port to B port, using the bottom EMMs.

Path High-Level Steps

Chain 1: Side A 1 Connect the first controller port 1 to the first enclosure, top EMM, port A.
2 Connect the remaining enclosures in series from B port to A port using the top
EMMs.
3 If the Storage Center has dual‐controllers, connect the last enclosure, top EMM,
port B to the second controller, port 3.
Chain 1: Side B 1 Connect the first controller port 3 to the last enclosure, bottom EMM, port B.
2 Connect the remaining enclosures in series from A port to B port using the
bottom EMM.
3 If the Storage Center has dual‐controllers, connect the top enclosure, bottom
EMM, port A to the second controller, port 1.
Note: The cabling illustrations in this chapter refer to enclosures as Enclosure 1,
Enclosure 2, and so on. The numbers shown in the illustrations may not match the
Index number assigned by the System Manager. Storage Center assigns an Index
only after the system is powered up and at least one drive is assigned to a Disk
Folder.
Single Controller, Single Enclosure, Low Profile SAS

This illustration shows an SC8000 controller cabled to a 6 Gb SAS enclosure using a low
profile SAS IO card in a low profile card slot.
1 2 3 4
A B
A B
Figure 60. Single SC8000 Controller, Single SAS Enclosure, Low Profile SAS IO Card
Path Connections
Chain 1: A Side Controller: slot 3, port 1 → Enclosure: top EMM, port A.
Chain 1: B Side Controller: slot 3, port 3 → Enclosure: bottom EMM, port B.
Dell Compellent 61
Single Controller, Single Enclosure

This illustration shows an SC8000 controller cabled to a single SAS enclosure using a full‐
height IO card.
4 3 2 1
A B
A B
Figure 61. Single SC8000 Controller, Single SAS Enclosure
Path Connections
Chain 1: A Side Controller: slot 6, port 1 → Enclosure: top EMM, port A.
Chain 1: B Side Controller: slot 6, port 3 → Enclosure: bottom EMM, port B.

Single Controller, Four Enclosures, Single Chain, Low Profile SAS

This illustration shows a single SC8000 controller cabled to four SAS enclosures using the
low profile SAS IO card in a low profile slot.
Controller 4 3 2 1
Enclosure 1
A B
A B
Enclosure 2
A B
A B
Enclosure 3
A B
A B
Enclosure 4
A B
A B
Figure 62. Single SC8000 Controller, Single SAS Chain, Low-profile SAS Card
Path Connections
Chain 1: A Side 1 Controller: slot 3, port 1 → Enclosure 1: top EMM, port A.
2 Enclosure 1: top EMM, port B → Enclosure 2: top EMM, port A.
Chain 1: B Side 1 Enclosure 1: bottom EMM, port B → Enclosure 2: bottom EMM, port A.
2 Enclosure 2: bottom EMM, port B → Enclosure 3: bottom EMM, port A.
4 Enclosure 4: bottom EMM, port B → Controller: slot 3, port 3.
Dell Compellent 63
Single Controller, Four Enclosures, Single Chain

This illustration shows a single SC8000 controller cabled to four SAS enclosures.
Controller
4 3 2 1
Enclosure 1
A B
A B
Enclosure 2
A B
A B
Enclosure 3
A B
A B
Enclosure 4
A B
A B
Figure 63. Single SC8000 Controller, Single SAS Chain
Path Connections

Single Controller, Four Enclosures, Two IO Cards, Two Chains, Low

Profile SAS
This illustration shows a single SC8000 controller cabled to four SAS enclosures in two
chains using low profile SAS IO cards in low profile card slots. When cabling a second
chain of enclosures, use a second IO card to improve redundancy.
Controller
1 2 3 4
Enclosure 1
A B
A B
Enclosure 2
A B
A B
Enclosure 3
A B
A B
Enclosure 4
A B
A B
Figure 64. Single SC8000 Controller, Four SAS Enclosures, Two IO Cards, Two Chains, Low-profile
SAS
Path Connections
Chain 2: A Side 1 Controller: slot 2 port 3 → Enclosure 3: top EMM, port A.
2 Enclosure 4: bottom EMM, port B → Controller slot 3 port 1.
Dell Compellent 65
Single Controller, Four Enclosures, Two IO Cards, Two Chains

chains. When cabling a second chain of enclosures, use a second IO card to improve
redundancy.
Controller 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1
Enclosure 1
A B
A B
Enclosure 2
A B
A B
Enclosure 3
A B
A B
Enclosure 4
A B
A B
Figure 65. Single SC8000 Controller, Four SAS Enclosures, Two IO Cards, Two Chains
Path Connections
2 Enclosure 4: bottom EMM, port B → Controller slot 5, port 1.

Dual Controllers, One Enclosure, Single Chain, Low Profile SAS

This illustration shows two SC8000 controllers cabled to two 6 Gb enclosures using a low
profile SAS IO card in a low profile card slot and creating a single chain.
Note: In a single‐chain configuration, use SAS ports 2 (initiator) and 4 (target) to
create a redundant IPC connection. When you configure these ports using the IO
port wizard, set the port Purpose to Unknown.
1 2 3 4 Controller A
Controller B
Enclosure
A B
A B
Figure 66. Dual SC8000 Controllers, One Enclosure, One Chain, Low Profile SAS
Path Connections
IPC 1 Controller A: slot 3, port 2 → Controller B: slot 3, port 4.
2 Controller B: slot 3, port 2 → Controller A: slot 3, port 4.
Chain 1: A Side 1 Controller A: slot 3, port 1 → Enclosure: top EMM, port A.
2 Enclosure: top EMM, port B → Controller B: slot 3, port 3.
Chain 1: B Side 1 Controller B: slot 3, port 1 → Enclosure: bottom EMM, port A.
2 Enclosure: bottom EMM, port B → Controller A: slot 3, port 3.
Dell Compellent 67
Dual Controllers, One Enclosure, Single Chain

This illustration shows two SC8000 controllers cabled to one SAS enclosure in a single
chain.
Controller A 4 3 2 1
Controller B 4 3 2 1
Enclosure
A B
A B
Figure 67. Dual SC8000 Controllers, One Enclosure, One Chain
Path Connections
Chain 1: A Side 1 Controller A: slot 6, port 1 → Enclosure: top EMM, port A.
2 Enclosure: top EMM, port B → Controller B: slot 6, port 3.
Chain 1: B Side 1 Controller B: slot 6, port 1 → Enclosure: bottom EMM, port A.
2 Enclosure: bottom EMM, port B → Controller A: slot 6, port 3.

Dual Controllers, Two Enclosures, Single Chain, Low Profile SAS

This illustration shows two SC8000 controllers cabled to two 6 Gb enclosures using a low
profile SAS IO card in a low profile card slot and creating a single chain.
1 2 34 Controller A
Controller B
Enclosure 1
A B
A B
Enclosure 2
A B
A B
Figure 68. Dual SC8000 Controllers, Two Enclosures, One Chain, Low Profile SAS
Path Connections
Chain 1: A Side 1 Controller A: slot 3, port 1 → Enclosure 1: top EMM, port A.
3 Enclosure 2: top EMM, port B → Controller B: slot 3, port 3.
Chain 1: B Side 1 Controller B: slot 3, port 1 → Enclosure 1: bottom EMM, port A.
3 Enclosure 2: bottom EMM, port B → Controller A: slot 3, port 3.
Dell Compellent 69
Dual Controllers, Two Enclosures, Single Chain

This illustration shows two SC8000 controllers cabled to two SAS enclosures forming a
single chain. In a single‐chain configuration, use SAS ports 2 (initiator) and 4 (target) to
create a redundant IPC connection. When you configure these ports using the IO port
wizard, set the port Purpose to Unknown.
Controller B 4 3 2 1
Enclosure 1
A B
A B
Enclosure 2
A B
A B
Figure 69. Dual SC8000 Controllers, Two Enclosures, One Chain
Path Connections

Dual Controllers, Four Enclosures, Two Chains, Low Profile SAS

This illustration shows two SC8000 controllers cabled to two 6 Gb enclosures. In this case,
the SC8000 controllers contain low profile, high‐density SAS cards in low profile slots 2 and
3. Each enclosure is on a separate chain. When two chains are used, IPC is not required.
Controller A
Controller B
Enclosure 1
A B
A B
Enclosure 2
A B
A B
Enclosure 3
A B
A B
Enclosure 4
A B
A B
Figure 70. Dual SC8000 Controllers, Two Enclosures, Two Chains, Low-profile SAS Card
Dell Compellent 71
Path Connections
Chain 1: A Side 1 Controller A: slot 2 port 1 → Enclosure 1: top EMM, port A.
Chain 1: B Side 1 Controller B: slot 3 port 1 → Enclosure 1: bottom EMM, port A.




Dual Controllers, Four Enclosures, Two Chains

This illustration shows two SC8000 controllers cabled to two SAS enclosures. Each
enclosure is on a separate chain. When two chains are used, IPC is optional.
Controller A
4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1
Controller B 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1
Enclosure 1
A B
A B
Enclosure 2
A B
A B
Enclosure 3
A B
A B
Enclosure 4
A B
A B
Figure 71. Dual SC8000 Controllers, Four Enclosures, Two Chains
Path Connections


Dell Compellent 73
Path Connections
Dual Controllers, Eight Enclosures, Two Chains

This illustration shows two SC8000 controllers cabled to eight 6 Gb enclosures using two
chains. To add redundancy with multiple IO cards, add a second SAS IO card. Create the
A‐side of each chain on the IO card in slot 6 and create the B‐side of each chain on the IO
card in slot 5. If an IO card, cable, enclosure, or controller fails, at least one side of a loop
continues operating. IPC is optional in this configuration.
4 32 1
Controller B
4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1
Enclosure 1 Enclosure 5
A B A B
A B A B
A B A B
A B A B
A B A B
A B A B
A B A B
A B A B
Figure 72. Dual SC8000 Controllers, Eight Enclosures, Two Chains
Path Connections
IPC (Optional) Create IPC connections between both controllers on ports 2 and 4 of
each IO card.
2 Starting with Enclosure 1, daisy‐chain the A side of Chain 1 by cabling: top
EMM, port B → next enclosure down: top EMM, port A.
3 Finish with Enclosure 4: top EMM, port B → Controller B: slot 6, port 3.

Connect SC280 Enclosures
Path Connections
Chain 1: B Side 1 Controller A: slot 5, port 3 → Enclosure 4: bottom EMM, port B.
2 Starting with Enclosure 4, daisy‐chain the B side of Chain 1 by cabling: bottom
EMM, port A → next enclosure up: bottom EMM, port B.
3 Finish with Enclosure 1: bottom EMM, port A → Controller B: slot 5, port 1.
EMM, port B → next enclosure down: top EMM, port A.
3 Finish with Enclosure 8: top, port B → Controller B: slot 6, port 1.
EMM, port A → next enclosure up: bottom EMM, port B.
3 Finish with Enclosure 5: bottom, port A → Controller B: slot 5, port 3.

This section shows common cabling between the SC8000 controller and SC280 SAS
enclosures. Locate the scenario that most closely matches the Storage Center you are
A cabling chain for the SC280 can contain up to two enclosures of 84 SAS drives each (168
drives total). Each chain must contain the same type of enclosures, such as all SC280. Do
not mix enclosure types in a chain.
Each SAS IO card supports up to two chains of enclosures. All enclosures attached to the
same SAS IO card must be running at 6 Gb.
SC280 enclosure chains are cabled as follows.
 Side A: Enclosures are connected from B port to A port, using the left EMMs.
 Side B: Enclosures are connected from A port to B port, using the right EMMs.

Chain 1: Side A 1 Connect controller port 1 to the first enclosure, left EMM, port C.
2 Connect the remaining enclosures in series from B port to A port using the left
EMMs.
3 If the Storage Center has dual controllers, connect the last enclosure, left
EMM, port C to the second controller, port 3.
Chain 1: Side B 1 Connect controller port 3 to the last enclosure, right EMM, port C.
2 Connect the remaining enclosures in series from B port to A port using the right
EMM.
3 If the Storage Center has dual controllers, connect the top enclosure, right
EMM, port C to the second controller, port 1.
Index number assigned by the System Manager. Storage Center assigns an Index
only after the system is powered up and at least one drive is assigned to a Disk
Folder.
Dell Compellent 75
See Also
SAS Enclosure Cabling Guidelines on page 55
Single Controller, Single SC280 Enclosure

This illustration shows an SC8000 controller cabled to a single SC280 enclosure.
1234 4 3 2 1
A B C A B C
Figure 73. Single SC8000 Controller, Single SC280 Enclosure
Path Connections
Chain 1: A Side Controller: slot 3, port 1 → Enclosure: left EMM, port C.
Chain 1: B Side Controller: slot 3, port 3 → Enclosure: right EMM, port C.

Single Controller, Two SC280 Enclosures

This illustration shows a single SC8000 controller cabled to two SC280 enclosures.
Controller
4 3 2 1
1 234
Enclosure 1
A B C A B C
Enclosure 2
A B C A B C
Figure 74. Single SC8000 Controller, Two SC280 Enclosures, Single Chain
Path Connections
Chain 1: A Side 1 Controller: slot 3, port 1 → Enclosure 1: left EMM, port C.
2 Enclosure 1: left EMM, port B → Enclosure 2: left EMM, port A.
Chain 1: B Side 1 Controller: slot 3, port 3 → Enclosure 2: right EMM, port C.
2 Enclosure 2: right EMM, port B → Enclosure 1: right EMM, port A.
Dell Compellent 77
Dual Controller, Single SC280 Enclosure

This illustration shows two SC8000 controllers cabled to one SC280 enclosure in a single
chain.
Controller A
1 2 3 4 4 3 2 1
Controller B
1 23 4 4 3 2 1
Enclosure
A B C A B C
Figure 75. Dual SC8000 Controllers, One SC280 Enclosure, One Chain
Path Connections
Chain 1: A Side 1 Controller A: slot 3, port 1 → Enclosure: left EMM, port C.
2 Enclosure: left EMM, port B → Controller B: slot 3, port 3.
Chain 1: B Side 1 Controller B: slot 3, port 1 → Enclosure: right EMM, port C.
2 Enclosure: right EMM, port B → Controller A: slot 3, port 3.

Dual Controller, Two SC280 Enclosures

This illustration shows two SC8000 controllers cabled to two SC280 enclosures in a single
chain.
Controller A
1 23 4 4 3 2 1
Controller B
1 23 4 4 3 2 1
Enclosure 1
A B C A B C
Enclosure 2
A B C A B C
Figure 76. Dual SC8000 Controllers, Two SC280 Enclosures, One Chain
Dell Compellent 79
Path Connections
Chain 1: A Side 1 Controller A: slot 3, port 1 → Enclosure: 1 left EMM, port C.
2 Enclosure 1: left EMM, port B → Enclosure: 2 left EMM, port A.
3 Enclosure 2: left EMM, port C → Controller B: slot 3, port 3.
Chain 1: B Side 1 Controller B: slot 3, port 1 → Enclosure: 1 right EMM, port C.
2 Enclosure 1: right EMM, port A → Enclosure: 2 right EMM, port B.
3 Enclosure 2: right EMM, port C → Controller A: slot 3, port 3.

Dual Controllers, Two SC280 and Two SC200/SC220 Enclosures,

Two Chains
This illustration shows two SC8000 controllers cabled to two SC280 Enclosures and two
SC200/220 enclosures in two chains.
To add redundancy with multiple IO cards, add a second SAS IO card. Create the A‐sides
of each chain on the IO card in slot 2 and create the B‐sides of each chain on the IO card in
slot 3. If an IO card, cable, enclosure, or controller fails, at least one side of a chain continues
operating. IPC is optional in this configuration.
When connecting different types of enclosures, each type must reside on its own chain. For
example, do not mix SC280 Enclosures and SC200 Enclosures in the same chain. In
addition, all enclosures must be 6 Gb enclosures.
Note: The maximum storage space is 1 petabyte, regardless of the number or type
of enclosures.
Dell Compellent 81
Controller A
1234 4 3 2 1
1234
Controller B
4 3 2 1
Enclosure 1
Enclosure 2
Enclosure 3
Enclosure 4
Figure 77. Dual SC8000 Controllers, Mixed Enclosures, Two Chains

Path Connections
each SAS IO card.
SC280 Enclosures
Chain 1: A Side 1 Controller A: slot 2, port 1 → Enclosure 1: left EMM, port C.
2 Enclosure 1 left EMM, port B → Enclosure 2: left EMM, port A.
3 Finish with Enclosure 2: left EMM, port C → Controller B: slot 2, port 3.
Chain 1: B Side 1 Controller B: slot 3, port 1 → Enclosure 1: right EMM, port C.
2 Enclosure 1 right EMM, port A → Enclosure 2: right EMM, port B.
3 Finish with Enclosure 2: right EMM, port C → Controller A: slot 3, port 3.
SC200/220 Enclosures
2 Enclosure 3 top EMM, port B → Enclosure 4: top EMM, port A.
3 Finish with Enclosure 4: top EMM, port B → Controller B: slot 2, port 1.
2 Enclosure 4 bottom EMM, port A → Enclosure 3: bottom EMM, port B.
3 Finish with Enclosure 3: bottom EMM, port A → Controller B: slot 3, port 3.
Dell Compellent 83
Connect EN-SASx6x12/24 Enclosures

This section shows common cabling between the SC8000 controller and EN‐SASx6x12/24
SAS enclosures. Locate the scenario that most closely matches the Storage Center you are
A SAS cabling chain can contain up to 14 enclosures and up to 168 6 Gbps SAS drives. Each
chain must contain the same type of enclosures, such as all EN‐SAS x6x12/24. Do not mix
enclosure types in a chain.
EN‐SASx6x12/24 SAS enclosure chains are cabled as follows.
 Side A: Enclosures are connected from B port to A port, using the top SBBs.
 Side B: Enclosures are connected from A port to B port, using the bottom SBBs.

Chain 1: Side A 1 Connect controller port 1 to the first enclosure, top SBB, port C.
2 Connect the remaining enclosures in series from B port to A port using the top
SBBs.
3 If the Storage Center has dual‐controllers, connect the last enclosure, top SBB,
port C to the second controller, port 3.
Chain 1: Side B 1 Connect controller port 3 to the last enclosure, bottom SBB, port C.
2 Connect the remaining enclosures in series from B port to A port using the
bottom SBB.
3 If the Storage Center has dual‐controllers, connect the top enclosure, bottom
SBB, port C to the second controller, port 1.
Index number assigned by the System Manager. Storage Center which assigns an
Index only after the system is powered up and at least one drive is assigned to a Disk
Folder.
See Also
SAS Enclosure Cabling Guidelines on page 55

Single Controller, Single Enclosure

This illustration shows an SC8000 controller cabled to one SAS enclosure.
4 3 2 1
Figure 78. Single SC8000 Controller, Single SAS Enclosure
Path Connections
Chain 1: A Side Controller: slot 6, port 1 → Enclosure: top SBB, port C.
Chain 1: B Side Controller: slot 6, port 3 → Enclosure: bottom SBB, port C.
Dell Compellent 85
Single Controller, Four Enclosures, Single Chain

This illustration shows a single SC8000 controller cabled to four SAS enclosures.
Controller
4 3 2 1
Enclosure 1
Enclosure 2
Enclosure 3
Enclosure 4
Figure 79. Single SC8000 Controller, Single 6 Gb Chain
Path Connections
Chain 1: A Side 1 Controller: slot 6, port 1 → Enclosure 1: top SBB, port C.
2 Enclosure 1: top SBB, port B → Enclosure 2: top SBB, port A.
Chain 1: B Side 1 Enclosure 1: bottom SBB, port A → Enclosure 2: bottom SBB, port B.
2 Enclosure 2: bottom SBB, port A → Enclosure 3: bottom SBB, port B.
4 Enclosure 4: bottom SBB, port C → Controller: slot 6, port 3.

Single Controller, Four Enclosures, Two IO Cards, Two Chains

chains. When you add a second chain, you should also have a second IO card in the
controller.
Controller
4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1
Enclosure 1
Enclosure 2
Enclosure 3
Enclosure 4
Figure 80. Single SC8000 Controller, Four 6 Gb Enclosures, Two IO Cards, Two Chains
Path Connections
2 Enclosure 2: bottom SBB, port C → Controller: slot 5, port 3.
2 Enclosure 4: bottom SBB, port C → Controller slot 5, port 1.
Dell Compellent 87
Dual Controllers, Two Enclosures, Single Chain

This illustration shows two SC8000 controllers cabled to two SAS enclosures forming a
single chain. In a single‐chain configuration, use SAS ports 2 and 4 to create a redundant
IPC connection. When you configure these ports using the IO port wizard, set the port
Purpose to Unknown.
Controller B
Enclosure 1
Enclosure 2
Figure 81. Dual SC8000 Controllers, Two Enclosures, One Chain
Path Connections
Chain 1: A Side 1 Controller A: slot 6, port 1 → Enclosure 1: top SBB, port C.
3 Enclosure 2: top SBB, port C → Controller B: slot 6, port 3.
Chain 1: B Side 1 Controller B: slot 6, port 1 → Enclosure 1: bottom SBB, port C.
3 Enclosure 2: bottom SBB, port C → Controller A: slot 6, port 3.

Dual Controllers, Four Enclosures, Two Chains

This illustration shows two SC8000 controllers cabled to two SAS enclosures. Each
enclosure is on a separate chain. When two chains are used, IPC is optional.
Controller A 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1
Controller B
Enclosure 1
Enclosure 2
Enclosure 3
Enclosure 4
Figure 82. Dual SC8000 Controllers, Two Enclosures, Two Chains
Path Connections
Chain 1: B Side 1 Controller A: slot 5, port 3 → Enclosure 2: bottom SBB, port C.

2 Enclosure 2: bottom SBB, port B → Enclosure 1: bottom SBB, port A.
3 Enclosure 1: bottom SBB, port C → Controller B: slot 5, port 1.
Chain 2: A Side 1 Controller A: slot 6 port 3 → Enclosure 3: top SBB, port C.

Chain 2: B Side 1 Controller A: slot 5 port 1→ Enclosure 4: bottom SBB, port C.

2 Enclosure 4: bottom SBB, port B → Enclosure 3: bottom SBB, port A.
3 Enclosure 3: bottom SBB, port C → Controller B: slot 5, port 3.
Dell Compellent 89
Dual Controllers, Four Enclosures, Single Chain

This illustration shows two SC8000 controllers with one SAS IO Card cabled to four SAS
enclosures. In a single‐chain configuration, use SAS ports 2 and 4 to create a redundant IPC
connection. When you configure these ports using the IO port wizard, set the port Purpose
to Unknown.
Controller B
Enclosure 1
Enclosure 2
Enclosure 3
Enclosure 4
Figure 83. Dual SC8000 Controllers, Four Enclosures, One IO Card, One Chain
Path Connections
2 Enclosure 1, top SBB, port B → Enclosure 2, top SBB, port A.
3 Continue to daisy‐chain enclosures: top SBB, port B → next enclosure down:
top SBB, port A.
Chain 1: B Side 1 Controller B: slot 6, port 1 → Enclosure 1: bottom SBB, port C.

3 Continue to daisy‐chain enclosures: bottom SBB, port A → next enclosure
down: bottom SBB, port B.
4 Enclosure 4: bottom SBB, port C → Controller A: slot 6, port 3.

Dual Controllers, Eight Enclosures, Two Chains

This illustration shows two SC8000 controllers cabled to eight SAS enclosures in two
chains. To add redundancy with multiple IO cards, add a second SAS IO card. Create the
A‐sides of each chain on the IO card in slot 6 and create the B‐sides of each chain on the IO
card in slot 5. If an IO card, cable, enclosure, or controller fails, at least one side of a chain
continues operating. IPC is optional in this configuration.
Controller 4 3 2 1
Figure 84. Dual SC8000 Controllers, Eight Enclosures, Two Chains
Path Connections
each IO card.
SBB, port B → next enclosure down: top SBB, port A.
3 Finish with Enclosure 4: top SBB, port C ? Controller B: slot 6, port 3.
SBB, port B → next enclosure up: bottom SBB, port A.
3 Finish with Enclosure 1: bottom SBB, port C → Controller B: slot 5, port 1.
Dell Compellent 91
Path Connections
Chain 2: A Side 1 Controller A: slot 6, port 3→ Enclosure 5: top SBB, port C.
SBB, port B → next enclosure down: top SBB, port A.
3 Finish with Enclosure 8: top SBB, port C ? Controller B: slot 6, port 1.
SBB, port B → next enclosure up: bottom SBB, port A.
3 Finish with Enclosure 5: bottom SBB, port C → Controller B: slot 5, port 3.

Label the Back-End Cables
Label the Back-End Cables

Label the back‐end cables that connect controllers to enclosures to indicate the chain
number and side (A or B). Pre‐made labels are provided for SC200/220 enclosures. Labels
are not provided for EN‐SASx6x12/24 enclosures, so labels must be created manually for
cables that connect to those enclosures.
Note: Cables that connect one enclosure to another do not need to be labeled.
Prerequisites
If the Storage Center has EN‐SASx6x12/24 enclosures, you must have a label maker, or four
blank labels and a writing utensil.
Steps
1 Locate or create labels for the back‐end cables.
 EN‐SASx6x12/24 enclosures: Create labels that label the purpose (Backend), chain
number, and side (A or B).
Example: Backend 1A
 SC200/220 enclosures: Locate the back‐end cable labels that shipped with the
enclosures. The pre‐made labels include the purpose (Backend), chain number, and
side (A or B).
Figure 85. SC200/220 Back-End Cable Label
Dell Compellent 93
2 Apply cable labels to both ends of each SAS cable that connects a controller to an
enclosure.
a Near the connector, align the label perpendicular to the cable and affix it starting

b Wrap the label around the cable until it fully encircles the cable. The bottom of each

c Apply a matching label to the other end of the cable.

4 Connect the Front End
Front‐end cabling refers to connections between the controller and the server. Front‐end
connections can be made using iSCSI, Fibre Channel, or Fibre Channel over Ethernet
(FCoE). Dell Compellent recommends connecting servers to the controller(s) using the
most redundant options available.
Contents
Types of Redundancy for Front‐End Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Multipath IO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Front‐End Connectivity Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Fibre Channel Zoning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Connect the Front End for a Single‐Controller Storage Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Connect the Front End for a Dual‐Controller Storage Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Label the Front‐End Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Types of Redundancy for Front-End Connections

Front‐end redundancy is achieved by eliminating single points of failure that could cause
a server to lose connectivity to the Storage Center.
Depending on how the Storage Center is configured, the following types of redundancy
are available.
 Path redundancy: When multiple paths are available from a server to a Storage Center,
a server configured for multipath IO (MPIO) can use multiple paths for IO. If a path
fails, the server continues to use the remaining active path(s).
 Controller redundancy: If one controller fails in a dual‐controller Storage Center, the
front‐end ports fail over to the functioning controller. Both front‐end connectivity
modes (legacy mode and virtual port mode) provide controller redundancy.
 Port redundancy: In virtual port mode, if a port goes down because it is disconnected
or there is a hardware failure, the port can fail over to another functioning port in the
same fault domain. Port redundancy is available for single‐controller and dual‐
controller Storage Centers operating in virtual port mode.
See Also
Multipath IO on page 96
Legacy Mode on page 99
Virtual Port Mode on page 97
Dell Compellent 95
Chapter 4 Connect the Front End
Multipath IO
Multipath IO (MPIO) allows a server to use multiple paths for IO if they are available.
MPIO software offers redundancy at the path level. MPIO loads as a driver on the server,
and typically operates in a round‐robin manner by sending packets first down one path
and then the other. If a path fails, MPIO software continues to send packets down the
functioning path. MPIO is operating‐system specific.
MPIO Behavior for Dual-Controller Storage Centers

When MPIO is configured, a server can send IO to both controllers. However, a single
volume is owned by one controller at a time. Even if there are active paths from a server to
both controllers, IO for a single volume is always processed by one controller.
This limitation only applies to individual volumes. If a server has two or more volumes
owned by different controllers, the server can send IO to both controllers.
MPIO Configuration Instructions for Servers

To use MPIO, configure MPIO on the server prior to connecting the Storage Center front
end. Depending on the operating system, this may require installing MPIO software or
may only require setting server options.
To configure MPIO on a server, see the Dell Compellent document that corresponds to the
server operating system.
Operating System Document with MPIO Instructions

IBM AIX Dell Compellent AIX Best Practices
Linux • Dell Compellent Storage Center Linux Best Practices
• Dell Compellent Best Practices: Storage Center with SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server 11
VMware vSphere 5.x Dell Compellent Storage Center Best Practices with vSphere 5.x
Windows Server 2003 Storage Center Multipath IO (MPIO) Manager for Microsoft Servers User
Guide
Windows Server 2008, 2008 Dell Compellent Storage Center Microsoft Multipath IO (MPIO) Best
R2, and 2012 Practices Guide
Front-End Connectivity Modes

Storage Center uses either legacy mode or virtual port mode to transport data to servers
that use SAN storage. In legacy mode, front‐end IO ports are configured in pairs of primary
and reserved ports. In virtual port mode, all ports are active, and if one port fails the load
is distributed between the remaining ports within the same fault domain.
Note: In Legacy mode, reserve ports and primary ports reside on separate
controllers, providing controller‐level failover only. Legacy mode does not provide
port‐level failover.
The front‐end connectivity mode is configured independently for Fibre Channel and iSCSI.
Both transport types can be configured to use the same mode or different modes to meet
the needs of the network infrastructure. For example, a Storage Center can be configured
to use virtual port mode for FC and legacy mode for iSCSI.

Note: Dell Compellent strongly recommends using virtual port mode unless the
network environment does not meet the requirements for virtual port mode.
Virtual Port Mode

Virtual port mode provides port and controller redundancy by connecting multiple active
ports to each Fibre Channel or Ethernet switch.
In virtual port mode, each physical port has a WWN (World Wide Name), and is also
assigned an additional virtual WWN. Servers target only the virtual WWNs. During
normal conditions, all ports process IO. If a port or controller fails, a virtual WWN can be
moved to another physical WWN in the same fault domain. When the failure is resolved
and ports are rebalanced, the virtual port returns to the preferred physical port.
Virtual port mode provides the following advantages over legacy mode:
 Increased performance: Because all ports are active, additional front‐end bandwidth is
available without sacrificing redundancy.
 Improved redundancy: Ports can fail over individually instead of by controller.
 Simplified iSCSI configuration: Each fault domain has an iSCSI control port that
coordinates discovery of the iSCSI ports in the domain. When a server targets the iSCSI
port IP address, it automatically discovers all ports in the fault domain.
Fault Domains in Virtual Port Mode

Fault domains group front‐end ports that are connected to the same Fibre Channel fabric
or Ethernet network. Ports that belong to the same fault domain can fail over to each other
because they have the same connectivity.
The following requirements apply to fault domains in virtual port mode:
 A separate fault domain must be created for each front‐end Fibre Channel fabric or
Ethernet network.
 A fault domain must contain a single type of transport media (FC or iSCSI, but not
both).
 Dell Compellent recommends configuring at least two connections from each controller
to each Fibre Channel or Ethernet network (fault domain).
Requirements for Virtual Port Mode

The following requirements must be met to configure a Storage Center in virtual port
mode.
Requirement Description
License The Storage Center must be licensed for virtual port mode.
Switches Front‐end ports must be connected to Fibre Channel or Ethernet switches;
servers cannot be directly connected to controller front‐end ports.
Dell Compellent 97
Multipathing If multiple active paths are available to a server, the server must be
configured for MPIO to use more than one path simultaneously.
iSCSI networks • NAT must be disabled for iSCSI replication traffic.
• CHAP authentication must be disabled.
Fibre Channel fabrics • The FC topology must be switched fabric. Point‐to‐point and arbitrated
loop topologies are not supported.
• FC switches must be zoned to meet the virtual port mode zoning
requirements.
• FC switches must support N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV).
• Persistent FCID must be disabled on FC switches.
Note: AIX servers are not supported.
See Also
Fibre Channel Zoning on page 102
Example Virtual Port Mode Configuration

The following figure shows a dual‐controller Storage Center in virtual port mode
connected to a Fibre Channel server with a single fault domain. All ports belong to a single
fault domain because they are connected to the same FC switch.
Server
FC Switch
Active Ports
Controller A Controller B
Figure 88. Virtual Ports Example with FC
Note: To use both primary paths simultaneously, the server must be configured to
use MPIO.
The following table summarizes the failover behaviors for this configuration.
Scenario Failover Behavior

Normal operating conditions All ports are active and pass IO.
Controller A fails Virtual ports on controller A fail over by moving to physical ports
on controller B.
Controller B fails Virtual ports on controller B fail over by moving to physical ports on
controller A.
A single port fails The virtual port associated with the failed physical port moves to
another physical port in the fault domain.

Legacy Mode
Legacy mode provides controller redundancy for a dual‐controller Storage Center by
connecting multiple primary and reserved ports to each Fibre Channel or Ethernet switch.
In legacy mode, each primary port on a controller is paired with a corresponding reserved
port on the other controller. During normal conditions, the primary ports process IO and
the reserved ports are in standby mode. If a controller fails, the primary ports fail over to
the corresponding reserved ports on the other controller. This approach ensures that
servers connected to the switch do not lose connectivity if one of the controllers fails. For
optimal performance, the primary ports should be evenly distributed across both
controllers. When possible, front‐end connections should be made to separate controller IO
cards to improve redundancy.
Fault Domains in Legacy Mode

Each pair of primary and reserved ports is grouped into a fault domain in the Storage
Center software. The fault domain determines which ports are allowed to fail over to each
other.
The following requirements apply to fault domains in legacy mode on a dual‐controller
Storage Center:
 A fault domain must contain a one type of transport media (FC or iSCSI, but not both).
 A fault domain must contain one primary port and one reserved port.
 The reserved port must be located on a different controller than the primary port.
Note: For a single‐controller Storage Center, only one fault domain is required for
each transport type (FC or iSCSI) because there are no reserved ports.
Requirements for Legacy Mode

The following requirements must be met to configure a Storage Center in legacy mode.
Controller front‐end Each controller must have enough front‐end ports to connect two paths to
ports each Fibre Channel or Ethernet switch.
Multipathing If multiple active paths are available to a server, the server must be
configured for MPIO to use more than one path simultaneously.
Fibre Channel zoning FC switches must be zoned to meet the legacy mode zoning requirements.
See Also
Dell Compellent 99
Example Legacy Mode Configuration

The following figure shows a dual‐controller Storage Center in legacy mode connected to
a Fibre Channel server with two fault domains. Fault domain 1 (shown in orange) is
comprised of primary port P1 on controller A and reserved port R1 on controller B. Fault
domain 2 (shown in green) is comprised of primary port P2 on controller B and reserved
port R2 on controller A.
Server
FC Switch
Primary Port — P1 Reserved Port — R1
Reserved Port — R2 Primary Port — P2
Controller A Controller B
Figure 89. Legacy Mode Example with FC
Note: To use multiple paths simultaneously, the server must be configured to use
MPIO.
The following table summarizes the failover behaviors for this configuration.
Scenario Failover Behavior

Normal operating conditions • Primary ports P1 and P2 (both fault domains) pass IO.
• Reserved ports R1 and R2 remain in a standby mode until a
controller failure.
Controller A fails In fault domain 1, primary port P1 fails over to reserved port R1.
Controller B fails In fault domain 2, primary port P2 fails over to reserved port R2.
A single port fails The port does not fail over because there was no controller failure. If
a second path is available, MPIO software on the server provides
fault tolerance by sending IO to the functioning port in the other
fault domain.

Failover Behavior for Legacy Mode and Virtual Port Mode

Legacy mode and virtual port mode behave differently during failure conditions because
they use different mechanisms to provide fault tolerance.
Scenario Virtual Port Mode Legacy Mode

Normal operating conditions All ports are active and pass IO. • Primary ports pass IO.
• Reserved ports remain in a
standby mode until a
controller failure.
A controller fails in a dual‐ Virtual ports on the failed Primary ports on the failed

controller Storage Center controller move to physical ports controller fail over to reserved
on the functioning controller. ports on the functioning
controller.
A single port fails (single‐ or An individual port fails over to The port does not fail over

dual‐controller Storage another port in the fault domain. because there was no controller
Center) failure. If a second path is
available, MPIO software on the
server provides fault tolerance.
Note: In Legacy mode, reserve ports and primary ports reside on separate
controllers, providing controller‐level failover only. Legacy mode does not provide
port‐level failover.
Dell Compellent 101

Fibre Channel Zoning

When using Fibre Channel for front‐end connectivity, zones must be established to ensure
that storage is visible to the servers. Plan the front end connectivity using zoning concepts
discussed in this section before starting to cable the controller.
Zoning can be applied to either the ports on switches or to the World Wide Names (WWNs)
of the end devices. Zones should be created using a single initiator (using physical WWNs)
and multiple targets (using virtual WWNs).
In a dual‐controller configuration, the virtual WWNs from each controller must be
included in the zone with each host’s WWN.
Note: For virtual port mode, WWN zoning is recommended.
WWN Zoning Guidelines

When WWN zoning is configured, a device may reside on any port or change physical
ports and still be visible because the switch is seeking a WWN.
Connectivity Type Guidelines

Legacy mode • Include all Storage Center front‐end WWNs or ports in a single
zone.
• Create server zones that contain a single initiator and multiple
targets, and which include the server HBA WWN.
Virtual port mode • Include all Storage Center virtual WWNs in a single zone.
• Include all Storage Center physical WWNs in a single zone.
• Create server zones that contain a single initiator and multiple
targets (Storage Center virtual WWNs), and which include the
server HBA WWN.
Fibre Channel replication • Include all Storage Center physical WWNs from System A and B
in a single zone.
• Include all Storage Center physical WWNs of System A and the
virtual WWNs of System B on the particular Fabric.
• Include all Storage Center physical WWNs of System B and the
virtual WWNs of System A on the particular Fabric.
Note: Some ports may not be used or dedicated for replication,
however ports that are used must be in these zones.
Port Zoning Guidelines

When port zoning is configured, only specific switch ports are visible. If a storage device is
moved to a different port that is not part of the zone, it is no longer visible to the other ports
in the zone.
Connectivity Type Guidelines

Legacy mode or virtual port • Include all Storage Center front‐end ports.
mode • Create server zones which contain all Storage Center front‐end
ports and a single server port.
Fibre Channel replication Include all Storage Center front‐end ports from System A and
System B in a single zone.

Connect the Front End for a Single-Controller Storage Center
Connect the Front End for a Single-Controller Storage Center

Use Fibre Channel and iSCSI to connect servers to the Storage Center. For each transport
type, choose a front‐end connectivity mode (legacy mode or virtual port mode), and then
connect the servers in a way that meets the requirements of the chosen connectivity mode.
Apply cable labels to both ends of each cable.
Note: The cabling instructions and diagrams in this section are valid for a particular
IO card configuration. If the controllers you are installing contain different IO cards,
adjust the cabling accordingly.
Connect Servers to a Single Controller with No Redundancy

Connect servers without using redundancy if the controller does not have enough front‐
end ports to allow redundant paths to each FC fabric, directly connected FC server, and
Ethernet switch.
Prerequisites
The controller must have an available front‐end port for each FC fabric, Ethernet switch
(iSCSI network), and standalone FC server that you want to directly connect.
Note: iSCSI servers must be connected to Ethernet switches. An iSCSI server cannot
be directly connected to a front‐end iSCSI port on the controller.
Steps
1 Connect the FC fabrics.
a Connect a controller FC port to each FC fabric.
b Connect one or more FC servers to each FC fabric.
c Configure FC zoning to meet the zoning requirements.
 If you are planning to configure FC in legacy mode, configure zoning to meet the
legacy mode zoning requirements.
 If you are planning to configure FC in virtual port mode, configure zoning to
meet the virtual port mode zoning requirements.
2 Connect the iSCSI networks.
a Connect a controller iSCSI port to each iSCSI network.
b Connect one or more iSCSI servers to each iSCSI network.
3 During the software setup process, configure fault domains based on the connectivity
mode:
 Legacy mode: Create one fault domain for each transport type (FC and iSCSI).
 Virtual port mode: Create one fault domain for each fabric or directly connected FC
server.
Dell Compellent 103

FC Server SCSI Server
FC Switch Ethernet Switch
Controller
Figure 90. Single Controller Without Front-End Redundancy

See Also
Connect Servers to a Single Controller with Redundancy

Connect servers to a single controller using redundancy if you want to protect against port
failure on the controller, switch, or server. In legacy mode, fault tolerance is provided by
MPIO on the connected servers. In virtual port mode, fault tolerance can be provided by
MPIO or controller port failover within each fault domain.
Prerequisites
The controller must have two available front‐end ports for each FC fabric, Ethernet switch
(iSCSI network), and standalone FC server that you want to directly connect.
Note: iSCSI servers must be connected to Ethernet switches. An iSCSI server cannot
be directly connected to a front‐end iSCSI port on the controller.
Steps
1 Connect the FC fabrics.
a Connect two controller FC ports to each FC fabric.
b Connect one or more FC servers to each FC fabric, making two connections from
each server to the fabric.
c Configure FC zoning to meet the zoning requirements.
 If you are planning to configure FC in legacy mode, configure zoning to meet the
legacy mode zoning requirements.
 If you are planning to configure FC in virtual port mode, configure zoning to
meet the virtual port mode zoning requirements.
2 Connect the iSCSI networks.
a Connect two controller iSCSI ports to each iSCSI network.
b Connect one or more iSCSI servers to each iSCSI network, making two connections
from each server to the network.
3 During the software setup process, configure fault domains based on the connectivity
mode:
 Legacy mode: Create one fault domain for each transport type (FC and iSCSI).

Connect the Front End for a Dual-Controller Storage Center
 Virtual port mode: Create one fault domain for each fabric or directly connected FC
server.
FC Server SCSI Server
FC Switch Ethernet Switch
Controller
Figure 91. Single Controller With Front-End Redundancy

See Also

Use Fibre Channel and iSCSI to connect servers to the Storage Center. For each transport
type, choose a front‐end connectivity mode (legacy mode or virtual port mode), and then
connect the servers in a way that meets the requirements of the chosen connectivity mode.
Apply cable labels to both ends of each cable.
Note: The cabling instructions and diagrams in this section are valid for a particular
IO card configuration. If the controllers you are installing contain different IO cards,
adjust the cabling accordingly.
Connect Fibre Channel Servers

Choose the Fibre Channel connectivity option that best suits the front‐end redundancy
requirements and network infrastructure.
 Legacy Mode with Single‐Fabric Fibre Channel on page 105
 Legacy Mode with Dual‐Fabric Fibre Channel on page 107
 Virtual Port Mode with Single‐Fabric Fibre Channel on page 108
 Virtual Port Mode with Dual‐Fabric Fibre Channel on page 110
Legacy Mode with Single-Fabric Fibre Channel

Connect legacy mode Fibre Channel to a single fabric if only one FC switch is available and
you want to protect against controller failure.
In this configuration, two fault domains are spread across both controllers. Each fault
domain contains sets of primary and reserve paths (P1‐R1 and P2‐R2). The reserved paths
provide redundancy for single controller failure. This configuration is vulnerable to switch
failure.
Dell Compellent 105

Note: To prevent a port or cable failure from blocking access to volumes mapped to
a controller, connect two additional fault domains so that each controller has two
primary paths to the FC fabric.
Prerequisites
Each controller must have two available FC front‐end ports.
Steps
1 Connect each FC server to both FC fabrics.
2 Connect fault domain 1 (shown in orange) to fabric 1.
 Primary port P1: Controller A, slot 1, port 1 → Fabric 1
 Reserved port R1: Controller B, slot 1, port 1 → Fabric 1
3 Connect fault domain 2 (shown in blue) to fabric 1.
 Primary port P2: Controller B, slot 2, port 1 → Fabric 1
 Reserved port R2: Controller A, slot 2, port 1 → Fabric 1
4 Configure FC zoning to meet the legacy mode zoning requirements.
Server 1 Server 2
Fabric 1
R1 R2
P2 P1
1 2 Controller A
Controller B
1 2
Figure 92. Dual-controller with Single-Fabric FC in Legacy Mode

See Also

Legacy Mode with Dual-Fabric Fibre Channel

Use two fabrics with legacy mode to prevent a FC switch failure or controller failure from
causing an outage.
In this configuration, four fault domains are spread across both controllers. Each fault
domain contains sets of primary and reserve paths (P1‐R1, P2‐R2, P3‐R3, and P4‐R4). To
provide redundancy, the primary port and the corresponding reserve port in a fault
domain must connect to the same fabric. When MPIO is configured on the FC servers, the
primary paths provide redundancy for a single port or cable failure. The reserved paths
provide redundancy for single controller failure.
Prerequisites
Each controller must have two available FC front‐end ports for each FC fabric.
Steps
1 Connect each FC server to both FC fabrics.
4 Connect fault domain 3 (shown in green) to fabric 2.
5 Connect fault domain 4 (shown in purple) to fabric 2.
Dell Compellent 107

Server 1 Server 2
Fabric 1 Fabric 2
R1 R2 R4 P3 P4 R3
P2 P1
1 2 Controller A
Controller B
1 2
Figure 93. Dual-controller with Dual-Fabric FC in Legacy Mode

See Also
Virtual Port Mode with Single-Fabric Fibre Channel

Connect virtual port mode Fibre Channel to a single fabric if only one FC is available and
you want to protect against port or controller failure.
In this configuration, there is one fault domain because there is a single FC fabric. Each
controller is connected to the fabric by at least two FC connections to provide port
redundancy. If a single port fails, its virtual port fails over to another port. If a controller
fails, the virtual ports on the failed controller move to ports on the other controller. This
configuration is vulnerable to switch failure.
Prerequisites
 Each controller must have two available FC front‐end ports.
 The requirements for virtual port mode must be met.
Steps
1 Connect each server to the FC fabric.
 Controller A, slot 1, port 1 → Fabric 1
 Controller B, slot 1, port 1 → Fabric 1

Server 1 Server 2
Fabric 1
Controller A
1 2
1 2 Controller B
Figure 94. Dual-controller with Single-Fabric FC in Virtual Port Mode

See Also
Requirements for Virtual Port Mode on page 97
Dell Compellent 109

Virtual Port Mode with Dual-Fabric Fibre Channel

Use two fabrics with virtual port mode to prevent a FC switch failure or controller failure
from causing an outage.
In this configuration, there is one fault domain for each FC fabric. Each controller is
connected to both fabrics by two FC connections. If a single port fails, its virtual port fails
over to another port in the same fault domain. If a controller fails, the virtual ports on the
failed controller move to ports on the other controller in the same fault domain.
Prerequisites
 Each controller must have two available FC front‐end ports for each FC fabric.
Steps
1 Connect each server to both FC fabrics.
Server 1 Server 2
Fabric 1 Fabric 2
Controller A
1 2
1 2 Controller B
Figure 95. Dual-controller with Dual-Fabric FC in Virtual Port Mode

See Also
Requirements for Virtual Port Mode on page 97
Connect iSCSI Servers

Choose the iSCSI connectivity option that best suits the front‐end redundancy
requirements and network infrastructure.
 Legacy Mode with Single‐Network iSCSI on page 111
 Legacy Mode with Dual‐Network iSCSI on page 112
 Virtual Port Mode with Single‐Network iSCSI on page 114
 Virtual Port Mode with Dual‐Network iSCSI on page 115
Legacy Mode with Single-Network iSCSI

Connect legacy mode iSCSI to a single network if only one Ethernet switch is available and
you want to protect against controller failure.
In this configuration, two fault domains are spread across both controllers. Each fault
domain contains sets of primary and reserve paths (P1‐R1 and P2‐R2). The reserved paths
provide redundancy for single controller failure. This configuration is vulnerable to switch
failure.
Note: To prevent a port or cable failure from blocking access to volumes mapped to
a controller, connect two additional fault domains so that each controller has two
primary paths to the iSCSI network.
Prerequisites
Each controller must have two available iSCSI front‐end ports.
Steps
1 Connect each iSCSI server to both Ethernet switches.
2 Connect fault domain 1 (shown in orange) to switch 1.
 Primary port P1: Controller A, slot 3, port 1 → Switch 1
 Reserved port R1: Controller B, slot 3, port 1 → Switch 1
3 Connect fault domain 2 (shown in blue) to switch 1.
 Primary port P2: Controller B, slot 4, port 2 → Switch 1
 Reserved port R2: Controller A, slot 4, port 2 → Switch 1
Dell Compellent 111

Server
Ethernet Switch 1
iSCSI Network 1
P1 R1 P2 R2
Controller A
1 2 2 1 4 3 2 1
Controller B
1 2 2 1 4 3 2 1
Figure 96. Dual-controller with Single-Network iSCSI in Legacy Mode
Legacy Mode with Dual-Network iSCSI

Use two networks with legacy mode to prevent a switch failure or controller failure from
causing an outage.
In this configuration, four fault domains are spread across both controllers. Each fault
domain contains sets of primary and reserve paths (P1‐R1, P2‐R2, P3‐R3, and P4‐R4). To
provide redundancy, the primary port and the corresponding reserve port in a fault
domain must connect to the same network. When MPIO is configured on the iSCSI servers,
the primary paths provide redundancy for a single port or cable failure. The reserved paths
provide redundancy for single controller failure.
Prerequisites
Each controller must have two available iSCSI front‐end ports for each Ethernet switch.
Steps
2 Connect fault domain 1 (shown in orange) to switch 1.

3 Connect fault domain 2 (shown in blue) to switch 1.
4 Connect fault domain 3 (shown in green) to switch 2.
5 Connect fault domain 4 (shown in purple) to switch 2.
Server
Ethernet Switch 1 Ethernet Switch 2

iSCSI Network 1 iSCSI Network 2
P1 R1 P2 R2 R4 P3 R3 P4
Controller A 2 1 4 3 2 1
1 2
Controller B 2 1 4 3 2 1
1 2
Figure 97. Dual-controller with Dual-Network iSCSI in Legacy Mode
Dell Compellent 113

Virtual Port Mode with Single-Network iSCSI

Connect virtual port mode iSCSI to a single network if only one Ethernet switch is available
and you want to protect against port or controller failure.
In this configuration, there is one fault domain because there is a single network. Each
controller is connected to the fabric by at least two iSCSI connections to provide port
redundancy. If a single port fails, its virtual port fails over to another port. If a controller
fails, the virtual ports on the failed controller move to ports on the other controller. This
configuration is vulnerable to switch failure.
Prerequisites
 Each controller must have two available iSCSI front‐end ports.
Steps
1 Connect each server to the iSCSI network.
2 Connect fault domain 1 (shown in orange) to iSCSI network 1.
 Controller A, slot 3, port 1 → Switch 1
 Controller B, slot 3, port 1 → Switch 1
Server
Ethernet Switch 1
iSCSI Network 1
1 2
1 2
Figure 98. Dual-Controller with Single-Network iSCSI in Virtual Port Mode

Virtual Port Mode with Dual-Network iSCSI

Use two networks with virtual port mode to prevent an Ethernet switch failure or
controller failure from causing an outage.
In this configuration, there is one fault domain for each iSCSI network. Each controller is
connected to both Ethernet networks by two iSCSI connections. If a single port fails, its
virtual port fails over to another port in the same fault domain. If a controller fails, the
virtual ports on the failed controller move to ports on the other controller in the same fault
domain.
Prerequisites
 Each controller must have two available iSCSI front‐end ports for each iSCSI network.
Steps
2 Connect fault domain 1 (shown in orange) to iSCSI network 1.
3 Connect fault domain 2 (shown in purple) to iSCSI network 2.
Dell Compellent 115

Server
Ethernet Switch 1 Ethernet Switch 2

iSCSI Network 1 iSCSI Network 2
1 2
1 2
Figure 99. Dual-Controller with Dual-Network iSCSI in Virtual Port Mode
Label the Front-End Cables

Label the front‐end cables to indicate which controller they are connected to, as well as the
controller slot and port. Pre‐made labels are shipped with SC8000 controllers.
1 Locate the pre‐made front‐end cables that shipped with the controller(s).
Figure 100. Front-End Cable Label

Label the Front-End Cables
2 Apply cable labels to both ends of each iSCSI cable that connects a controller to a front‐
end switch.
a Prepare two labels by writing the controller number, slot, and port that the cable is
connected to.


Dell Compellent 117

3 Apply cable labels to both ends of each FC cable that connects a controller a front‐end
fabric or server.
a Prepare two labels by writing the controller number, slot, and port that the cable is
connected to.
b Near the connector, align the dotted line on the label with the edge of the cable and
affix it starting with the top edge of the label.



5 Set up the Storage Center Software
Connect the Storage Center management interfaces and configure the Storage Center
software.
Contents
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Connect the Ethernet Management and iDRAC Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Turn on the Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Configure the Controller(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Verify Software Support for Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Start the Storage Center Startup Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Complete the Startup Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Label SC200 and SC220 Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Prerequisites
Before the Storage Center software can be configured, the hardware must be connected,
and you must have the required materials and documents.
Hardware Configuration
All hardware must be installed and cabled before beginning the software setup process. If
server connectivity is through Fibre Channel (FC), the FC switches must be configured and
zoned before configureing the controller(s).
Dell Compellent 119

Chapter 5 Set up the Storage Center Software
Required Materials
Remote connections to the Storage Center are required during different stages of
configuration.
Make sure that you have the items listed in the following table.
Required Item Purpose

RS‐232 serial cable and PC or Used to run commands and view console messages during
laptop controller configuration.
Computer connected to the Used to connect to the Storage Center System Manager (through a
same network as the Storage web browser) to complete the Storage Center configuration.
Center
Storage Center license file Used to activate purchased features.
License files use the naming convention snxxx_35_date.lic, where:
• snxxx is the serial number of the Storage Center.
• 35 indicates that the system runs software higher than version 3.5.
• date shows the license generation date in YYMMDD format.
• .lic is the file extension.
Required Documents
A Storage Architect or Business Partner designed the components of Storage Center for the
specific site. Pre‐installation documentation contains detailed information from the design
that is used during the setup process.
Pre‐installation documents include:
 List of hardware needed to support storage requirements
 Hardware Serial Number (HSN) and System Serial Number (SSN) used to configure the
controller(s)
 Optional connectivity diagrams to illustrate cabling between the controllers,
enclosures, switches, and servers
 Optional network information, such as IP addresses, subnet masks, gateways
Refer to these documents for information about site‐specific settings used during controller
configuration.
Required Software Versions

Storage Center hardware has minimum software version requirements.
Hardware Minimum Software Version

SC8000 (controller) 6.1.2
SC200/220 (enclosures) 6.2.1
SC280 (enclosures) 6.4.1

Connect the Ethernet Management and iDRAC Interfaces

The iDRAC and Ethernet management ports must be connected to a management network.
 The ETH 0 port supports system login and access to the management software. It is also
used to send email, alerts, SNMP traps, and system data using Phone Home.
 The iDRAC connection provides access to the controller for system information and
diagnostics.
Connect Single-Controller Management Ports

Connect the controller Ethernet management and iDRAC ports to a management network.
1 Connect the 1 Gb ETH 0 (port 0) to an Ethernet switch.
2 Connect the iDRAC port to the Ethernet switch using a 1 Gb Ethernet cable.
Switch (Corporate/Public Network)
Controller
1 3 0 2
IPC MGMT
iDRAC
1 Gb ETH 0 Port
Figure 105. Single Controller Management Connections
Dell Compellent 121

Connect Dual-Controller Management Ports

Connect Ethernet management and iDRAC ports for both controllers to a management
network.
1 Connect the 1 Gb ETH 0 (port 0) on each controller to an Ethernet switch or VLAN.
2 Connect the iDRAC port to the same Ethernet switch using a 1 Gb Ethernet cable.
Switch (Corporate/Public Network)
1 Gb ETH 0 Port
Controller A
1 3 0 2
iDRAC IPC MGMT
Controller B
1 3 0 2
IPC MGMT
iDRAC 1 Gb ETH 0 Port
Figure 106. Dual-Controller Management Connections
Label the Management Cables

Label the Ethernet management cables and iDRAC cables with the pre‐made labels that
shipped with the controller(s).
1 Locate the Ethernet management and iDRAC labels that shipped with the controller(s).
Figure 107. Management Cable Label

2 Label both ends of each Ethernet cable with the appropriate management or iDRAC
label.
a Near the connector, align the label perpendicular to the cable and affix it starting

b Wrap the label around the cable until it fully encircles the cable. The bottom of each

c Apply a matching label to the other end of the cable.
Dell Compellent 123

Turn on the Hardware

Turn on the enclosures first, and after the disks spin up, turn on the controllers.
1 Connect the enclosures and controller(s) to a power source.
2 Turn on each enclosure attached to the Storage Center.
a Simultaneously press both power switches on the rear of the enclosure to turn on the
enclosure.
b Repeat with each enclosure attached to the Storage Center, waiting for the disks to
spin up between enclosures.
Note: Make sure that all disks are up and spinning at full speed before turning
on any controllers.
3 Turn on each controller by pressing and holding the power button on the front of the
controller. The fans turn on as an indication that the controller is starting to come up.
Configure the Controller(s)

Use a serial connection to the controller(s) to set the initial configuration.
Reset Hardware and System Serial Numbers

Configure the controller(s) with the HSN and SSN provided in the pre‐installation
documents.
Note: If configuring a dual‐controller Storage Center, perform this task for both
controllers. Use the lowest serial number for Controller 1.
1 Establish a serial connection to the controller.
a Use an RS‐232 serial cable to connect a PC or laptop to a Storage Center controller’s
RS‐232 serial port. (To connect from a USB port, use a USB to RS‐232 converter.)
b Turn on the PC.
c Open a terminal emulator or a command‐line interface. Configure the connection as
shown in the following table.
Setting Value
Emulation VT220
Column Mode 132
Line Wrapping Off
Connection Serial Port
Connection Type Direct
Baud Rate 115,200
Parity None
Data Bits 8
Stop Bits 1
Flow Control Hardware or default

Configure the Controller(s)
Note: To facilitate troubleshooting, enable logging for the session.
d Press the Enter key several times to initiate the connection. The terminal echoes back
to indicate that connectivity has been established. If the prompt (>) is not displayed,
see Troubleshooting the Serial Connection on page 205.
2 Set the HSN and SSN using the SSN(s) provided in the pre‐installation documents.
Caution: The following commands are for new installations only. Running the
cs purge all command on an existing Storage Center controller deletes the
existing configuration and can make data inaccessible.
 Controller 1: Set the HSN and SSN to the lower SSN.
shellaccess developer
platform init hsn set [lower SSN]
platform init ssn set [lower SSN]
cs purge all
-reset
 Controller 2: (Dual‐controller only) Set the HSN and SSN to the higher SSN.
shellaccess developer
platform init hsn set [higher SSN]
platform init ssn set [higher SSN]
cs purge all
-reset
The controller takes several minutes to reboot. The controller may reboot more than
once — this is normal.
3 When the reboot is complete, verify that the table that is displayed ends with:
2 1 Finish
4 Verify the new settings by running the controller show command.
Note: Although entered in decimal, the new HSN and SSN values are returned
in hexadecimal.
5 Record the factory default eth1 address. For dual‐controller Storage Centers, the eth1
address from Controller 2 is needed during the setup process.
Set Controller IP Addresses

Storage Center controllers use static IP addresses. Configure an IP address for the
management interface (eth0), specify one or more DNS servers, and set the domain name
to which the Storage Center belongs.
 eth0 supports system login and access for the software. It is used to send emails, alerts,
SNMP traps, and Phone Home data.
 eth1 is used for dedicated Inter‐Process Communication (IPC) between controllers in a
dual‐controller Storage Center. Because eth1 is directly connected to the other
controller, no default gateway is required.
Do not change the eth1 address unless both controllers were factory configured with the
same address or the customer requests the change. The eth1 address cannot reside in
the same subnet as eth0.
Dell Compellent 125

Note: If configuring a dual‐controller Storage Center, perform this task for both
controllers.
1 Run the following command to configure the management interface (etho).
controller ipconfig eth0 [IP address] [netmask] [gateway]
Example:
controller ipconfig eth0 172.31.1.101 255.255.0.0 172.31.0.1
2 Run the following command to specify one or more DNS servers.
controller dnsserver [DNS server 1 IP address] [DNS server 2 IP address]
Example:
controller dnsserver 172.31.0.50 172.31.0.60
3 Run the following command to specify the domain to which the Storage Center belongs.
controller domainname [domain name]
Example:
controller domainname corp.dom
4 Verify the changes to the network settings by running the following command:
controller show
Manage the iDRAC IP Address

The SC8000 controller includes the Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC7)
that is factory configured for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). The iDRAC
can be left with the original configuration or it can be assigned a static IP address.
Note: To use the iDRAC in a non‐DHCP environment, a static IP address must be
set.
 To see if the iDRAC is set to use a static IP address or DHCP, run the following
command:
platform bmc get source
 To see what IP address is assigned to the iDRAC, run the following command:
platform bmc show
 To set the iDRAC to a static IP address, run the following commands:
platform bmc set ip [IP address]
platform bmc set netmask [netmask]
platform bmc set gateway [gateway]
Example:
platform bmc set ip 10.0.0.12
platform bmc set netmask 255.255.255.0
platform bmc set gateway 10.0.0.1
Note: On a dual‐controller Storage Center, change the iDRAC IP address on
both SC8000 controllers.
 To set the iDRAC to use DHCP, run the following command:
platform bmc set source DHCP
Note that DHCP must be entered in all caps.

Verify Software Support for Enclosures
Verify Software Support for Enclosures

If the Storage Center has one or more SC200/220 or SC280 enclosures, use the command‐
line interface to verify that the controller is running the correct Storage Center OS version.
If necessary, upgrade the controllers to a version that supports the enclosures.
1 At the command line, run the command controller show.
2 In the output of the command, find the three Version columns.
Version Version Version
06 04 01
In the example above, the controller is running Storage Center OS 6.4.1.
3 If the controller is running a version older than the minimum version specified below,
upgrade Storage Center OS to the minimum version or later.
Enclosure Minimum Storage Center OS Version

SC200/220 6.2.1
SC280 6.4.1
a Use a web browser to connect to the management IP of the controller. The Storage
Center Startup Wizard appears.
b Accept the license agreement, then close the Startup Wizard.
c Update Storage Center OS to the latest version.
 If the Storage Center has internet connectivity, use the System Manager to
download and install the latest Storage Center OS. For instructions, see the
Storage Center Software Update Guide.
 If the Storage Center does not have internet connectivity, use the Storage Center
Maintenance CD to perform the upgrade. See the Storage Center Maintenance CD
Instructions document for details.
4 After updating the Storage Center OS, check for additional updates again. Enclosure
firmware updates may not install with the OS update, since Storage Center does not
recognize some new hardware until after the OS is installed.
Note: When using the network to upgrade Storage Center to OS 6.4.1 for an
SC280 enclosure, the enclosure firmware updates must be installed separately
after Storage Center OS 6.4.1 is installed.
Check the Update Details window for Enclosure updates marked Deferrable, and
install them now. The enclosure firmware updates may take 20‐30 minutes. Do not
interrupt the update after it has started.
5 If you are configuring a dual‐controller Storage Center, perform steps 1–4 on the second
controller. Firmware upgrades should have installed when the first controller was
updated.
6 After both controllers are upgraded to the latest version, log out of System Manager and
log back in to continue with the setup process (see Step 3 on page 128).
Dell Compellent 127

Start the Storage Center Startup Wizard

Use a web browser on a computer with network access to the Storage Center to access
Storage Center System Manager and launch the Startup Wizard.
Prerequisites
You must have a computer that has connectivity to the Storage Center management
interface. The computer must have the following software installed:
 One of the following supported web browsers (other browsers and versions may have
limited compatibility):
 Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer Versions 7, 8, and 9
 Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer 10 on the desktop (Internet Explorer 10
Modern version is not supported)
 Mozilla Firefox on Microsoft Windows
 The 32 bit (x86) Java Runtime Environment must be installed to run Storage Center
System Manager in any 32‐bit browser.
Steps
1 Use a supported web browser to connect to the eth0 IP address or host name of
controller 1.
2 Acknowledge any security messages.
Note: Messages that appear may differ depending on the browser used. (Click
Continue to this website in Internet Explorer or add a security exception in
Firefox.)
The Storage Center Login page appears.
3 Enter the default user name and password:
 User: Admin
 Password: mmm
Note: The user name and password are case‐sensitive.
4 Click Login.

Complete the Startup Wizard
5 If prompted, click Yes to acknowledge certificate messages.
The Startup Wizard appears and displays the Software End User License Agreement
(EULA).

Use the Startup Wizard to configure the Storage Center. The wizard contains the following
pages.
License Agreement
Use the License Agreement page to read and accept the Software End User License
Agreement (EULA).
1 Enter information for the required Approving Customer Name and Approving
Customer Title fields. The approving customer’s name and title and the approval date
are recorded and sent to Dell Technical Support Services using Phone Home.
Note: The End User License Agreement is also displayed the first time any new
user logs on to the Storage Center. When displayed for a new user, the EULA
does not require a customer name or title.
2 After reading the EULA, click Accept to continue with setup. The Load License page
appears.
Dell Compellent 129

Load the License File

Use the Load License page to upload the Storage Center license file. The license file makes
settings available depending on what features were purchased.
1 Browse to the location of the license file.
2 Verify that the serial number of the license file matches the serial number of the
controller by comparing the name of the license file to the title bar of the Startup Wizard.
License files use the naming convention snxxx_35_date.lic, where:
 snxxx is the serial number of the Storage Center.
 35 indicates that the system runs software higher than version 3.5.
 date shows the license generation date in YYMMDD format.
 .lic is the file extension.
3 Select the license file, then click Load License. The Startup Wizard displays a message
when the license is successfully loaded.
 If the license loads successfully, the message The license submission has completed
successfully appears.
 If the message Error: The license file is not valid message is displayed, see
Troubleshooting Licenses on page 206.
4 Click Continue.
 If standard drives are detected, the Create Disk Folder page appears.
 If Self‐Encrypting Drives (SEDs) that are Federal Information Processing Standard
(FIPS) 140‐2 certified are detected, Storage Center formats the drives as if Secure
Data will be used, and you are asked whether to create a Secure Data folder. See
About Secure Data on page 131.
 If the No disks could be found message is displayed, see Troubleshooting Enclosures
on page 205.

About Secure Data

Secure Data is a licensed feature that provides data‐at‐rest encryption with key
management. Using Secure Data to manage SEDs requires an external key management
server. If a key management server has not been configured or is unavailable, you can
manage FIPS SEDs into a Secure Data folder, however the disks remain in a pending state
until the key management server is available.
Each FIPS disk in Storage Center has an internal Media Encryption Key (MEK). The key
resides on the disk, providing encryption for data written to the disk and decryption for
data as it is read from the disk. Destroying the key makes any data on the disk immediately
and permanently unreadable, a process referred to as a crypto erase. When you add an SED
to, or release an SED from a Secure Data folder, the MEK is destroyed and a new key is
generated. This allows the disk to be reused, although all previous data is lost.
Note: Because disks that contain user data cannot be moved from a Secure Data
folder, Storage Center does not crypto erase disks that contain user data.
To protect data at rest, all SEDs in a Secure Data disk folder lock when power is removed
(Lock on Reset enabled). When power is removed from the drive, the drive cannot be
unlocked without access to the authority credential stored in the key management server.
Dell Compellent 131

Create a Disk Folder

Use the Create Disk Folder pages to assign disks to a folder in order to create a single pool
of storage for volumes.
1 Select disks for the disk folder. By default, the Startup Wizard selects all available
disks.
Note: A Secure Data folder can only contain self‐encrypting FIPS drives, which
are indicated by a yellow lock icon.
a Scroll through the list looking at the Enclosure column and the Position or Name
column to verify that all the expected enclosures and disks are listed.
If enclosures or disks are missing, the issues might be fixed by following
Troubleshooting Enclosures on page 205.
b (Optional) From the list of disks, select disks to include in the disk folder. By default,
all disks are selected.
 To exclude individual disks from the disk folder, clear the corresponding check
boxes.
 To include individual disks in the disk folder, click Unselect All and then select
the individual disks to include.
 To select all disks, click Select All.
Note: Dell Compellent recommends selecting all available disks to maximize

the benefits of Data Progression.
c Click Continue. The Startup Wizard displays a prompt to select disks to designate
as hot spares.

2 Review the hot spare disks automatically selected by the Startup Wizard.
A hot spare disk is held in reserve until a disk fails, at which point the hot spare replaces
the failed disk. The hot spare disk must be as large or larger than the largest disk of its
type in the disk folder. For redundancy, there must be at least one hot spare for each
enclosure.
In general, System Manager uses the following best practices in designating hot spares:
 For 2U enclosures, one spare disk for every disk class (10K, 7.5K, and so on).
 For 5U enclosures, one spare disk for every 21 disks, however no single row will
contain more than one spare disk.
a (Optional) Change the selection by selecting or clearing disks to be used as hot
spares.
b Click Continue, and if prompted, click OK to confirm. The Startup Wizard displays
a summary of the disk folder that will be created.
Dell Compellent 133

3 (Optional) Modify the default folder name and enter a description in the Notes field.
4 (Optional) Click Advanced to configure advanced disk folder options. The wizard
displays options for redundancy and datapage size.
Note: The default managed disk folder settings are appropriate for most sites. If
you are considering changing the default settings, contact Dell Technical
Support Services for advice.
a Select Prepare Disk Folder for redundant storage.

b Configure the Tier Redundancy for each tier.
The redundancy level for each tier defaults to either single redundant or dual
redundant depending upon the disks expected to be found in the tier. If a tier
contains at least six managed disks of which one is 900 GB or greater, then that tier
and all tiers below it are set to dual redundant storage by default. If a tier contains
at least six managed disks of 1.8 TB or greater, then that tier and all tiers below it are
set to dual redundant storage and cannot be changed.
Single redundant storage protects against the loss of any one drive.
 RAID 10 (each disk is mirrored)
 RAID 5‐5 (4 data segments/1 parity segment per stripe)
 RAID 5‐9 (8 data segments/1 parity segment per stripe)
Dual redundant storage protects against the loss of any two drives:
 RAID 10 Dual Mirror (data is written simultaneously to three separate disks)
 RAID 6‐6 (4 data segments/2 parity segments per stripe)
 RAID 6‐10 (8 data segments/2 parity segments per stripe)
c From the Datapage Size drop‐down menu, choose a datapage size.
 2 MB: (Default) Recommended for most application needs.
 512 KB: Appropriate for applications with high performance needs (such as
certain databases) or environments in which Replays are taken frequently under
heavy IO. Selecting this size reduces the amount of space the System Manager
can present to servers.
 4 MB: Appropriate for systems that use a large amount of disk space with
infrequent Replays (such as video streaming).
Caution: When considering using either the 512 KB or 4 MB datapage
settings, it is recommended that you contact Dell Technical Support Services
for advice on balancing resources and to understand the impact on
performance.
d To configure the disk folder to use RAID 0, select the Prepare for Non‐Redundant
Storage check box. Non‐redundant storage does not protect data in the event of a
disk failure. Select this option only for data that is backed up some other way.
e Click Continue. The disk folder summary appears.
5 Click Create Now, and if prompted, click OK to confirm. The Add Controller page
appears.
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Add a Controller
Use the Add Controller pages to configure the second controller and to enter the IPv6
address, if used, on the leader controller.
1 Proceed based on the number of controllers in the Storage Center.
 Single‐controller Storage Center: Click Continue Setup. The Time Settings page
appears.
 Dual‐controller Storage Center: Click Add Controller. The wizard prompts you to
enter IPv6 address information for the first (Leader) controller.

2 Proceed based on whether you use IPv6 for controller addressing.
a If IPv6 is used, enter IPv6 information for the first controller and click Continue.
b If IPv6 is not used, click Skip IPv6 Configuration.
Note: Information displayed in the following figure is for illustration only.
The values displayed are unique to each Storage Center.
3 Configure the following fields:
 Controller ID: If the HSN for Controller 2 is included in the license file, the add
controller process uses that value as the Controller ID and a different value cannot
be entered. If the HSN for Controller 2 is not in the license file, enter the HSN value.
The dimmed box in the preceding figure indicates that the HSN was in the license
file making the Controller ID box unavailable.
 Ether 0 Interface: Enter the IP Address, Net Mask, and Gateway for the Ether 0
interface on Controller 2.
 Ether 1 Interface: Enter the IP Address, Net Mask, and Gateway for the Ether 1
interface. Use the IP address from the controller show console command for
Controller 2. (Used for communication between controllers.)
 Primary DNS Server: Enter the IP address of the primary DNS server.
 Secondary DNS Server: (Optional) Enter the IP address of a secondary DNS server.
 Domain Name: (Optional) Enter the domain name for the controller.
4 Click Continue.
The Startup Wizard displays a message that data and configuration information on the
second controller is lost and asks for confirmation.
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5 Click Join Now. Wait for the process to complete and for the controller to reboot, which
can take a few minutes. When complete, the Time Settings page appears.
Set the Time

Use the Time Settings page is to set the system time for the Storage Center.
1 Set the time zone.
a From the Region drop‐down menu, select the geographical region in which the
Storage Center is located.
b From the Time Zone drop‐down menu, select the time zone in which the Storage
Center is located.

Note: For locations in the United States, either select US as the region and select
a time zone name, or select America as the region and select a city within the
same time zone.
2 Set the system time using one of the following methods.
 To configure time manually, select Configure Time Manually, then enter the date
and time.
 To configure time using a Network Time Protocol (NTP) server, select Use NTP
Time Server, then enter the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or IP address of
an NTP server.
Note: Accurate time synchronization is critical for replications. Dell Compellent
recommends using NTP to set the system time. For more information, see:
support.ntp.org/bin/view/Support/WebHome.
3 When the system time has been set, click Continue. The System Setup page appears.
Set the System IP Address

Use the System Setup page the system name and management IP address for the entire
Storage Center (one or more controllers and one or more enclosures).
1 In the System Name field, enter a name for the Storage Center. This is typically the
serial number of Controller 1.
2 (Dual‐controller only) In the Management IP Address field, enter the management IP
address specified in the pre‐installation documents. (On single‐controller systems, this
field is not displayed and the message at the top of the pane reads simply, Set the
System’s name.)
The management IP address is distinct from the controller 1 and controller 2 addresses.
It is the address that manages a dual‐controller Storage Center as a whole. If either
controller fails, the management IP address remains valid.
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3 Click Continue. The wizard prompts you to enable or disable the read and write cache.
4 Select or clear the check boxes to enable or disable read and write cache.
Note: Disable cache only if no volumes will ever use cache. If cache is left
enabled on this page, it can be disabled later for individual volumes. See the
Storage Center System Manager Administrator’s Guide for information on disabling
cache on a volume‐by‐volume basis.
5 Click Continue.
 If a Secure Data folder is used with FIPS SEDs, you are prompted to configure a key
management server.
 if standard drives are used, the Configure SMTP page appears.

Configure a Key Management Server

Using Secure Data to manage Self‐Encrypting Drives (SEDs) requires an external key
management server. Establish a connection to an existing key management server in this
step.
Note: The key management server must be available to manage new self‐
encrypting FIPS disks into a Secure Data folder that has already been in the Secure
state.
1 Enter the Host name or IP address of the key management server, the port number to
use, and a communication timeout value.
2 (Optional) Enter the name of the host or hosts to use if the primary host is unavailable.
3 If the key management server is configured to validate the client certificate, enter the
key management credentials in the Client Username and Client Password boxes.
4 Click Continue. The next page of the wizard provides information about the SSL
certificate files required to communicate with the key management server. The next
page of the wizard provides information about the SSL certificate files required to
communicate with the key management server. The certificate files are generated by
your system administrator; they are not supplied by Dell Compellent.
5 Click Upload Client Certs.
6 Navigate to and select the existing public key (*.pem) file.
7 Click Continue.
8 Repeat Step 5 through Step 7 for the second controller (if present).
9 Click Upload Certstore Cert.
10 Navigate to and select the existing public key (*.pem) file.
11 Click Continue. The last page of the wizard appears.
12 Click Finish Now. The Configure SMTP page appears.
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Configure SMTP
Use the Configure SMTP page to configure the SMTP mail server and the sender email
address. This configuration enables alert message emails to be sent to users who have
specified a recipient address in their contact properties.
Note: To configure SMTP later, click Skip SMTP Configuration. SMTP settings can
be configured later in the System Manager through the Storage Management
menu.
1 In the SMTP Mail Server field, enter the IP address or fully qualified domain name of
the SMTP email server. Click Test server to verify connectivity to the SMTP server.
2 In the Sender E‐mail Address field, enter the email address of the sender. This address
is required by most SMTP servers and is used as the MAIL FROM address of email
messages.

3 (Optional) Click Advanced to configure additional SMTP settings for sites that use an
advanced SMTP configuration. The page for advanced options appears.
a Verify that the Enable SMTP E‐mail check box is selected.
b In the SMTP Mail Server field, verify the IP address or fully qualified domain name
of the SMTP mail server that you entered in Step 1 on page 142. Modify this field if
necessary.
c In the Backup SMTP Mail Server field, enter the IP address or fully qualified
domain name of the backup SMTP mail server.
d Click Test server to test the connection(s).
e In the Sender E‐mail Address (MAIL FROM) field, verify the email address of the
sender that you entered in Step 2 on page 142. Modify this field if necessary.
f In the Common Subject Line field, enter a common subject line for all emails from
Storage Center.
g (Optional) Select Send Extended Hello (EHLO) to configure use of extended hello
for mail system compatibility.
Instead of beginning the session with the HELO command, the receiving host issues
the HELO command. If the sending host accepts this command, the receiving host
then sends it a list of SMTP extensions it understands, and the sending host then
knows which SMTP extensions it can use to communicate with the receiving host.
Implementing Extended SMTP (ESMTP) requires no modification of the SMTP
configuration for either the client or the mail server.
h (Optional) Select Use Authorized Login (AUTH LOGIN) and enter the Login ID
and Password if the email system requires the use of an authorized login.
4 Click Continue. The Update Setup page appears.
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Select Update Option

Use the Update Setup page to configure how Storage Center handles software updates.
1 Select an update option from the drop‐down menu:
 Do not automatically check for software updates: Select this option to disable
automatic checking for updates. If this option is selected, the following is still
available:
 Manually check for updates by selecting Storage Management→ System→
Update→ Check for Update as described in the Storage Center System Manager
Administrator’s Guide.
 Change update options by selecting Storage Management→ System→
Update→ Configure Automatic Updates as described in the Storage Center
System Manager Administrator’s Guide.
 Notify me of a software update but do not download automatically: Select this
option to automatically check for updates and receive notification when an update
is available. Updates are not downloaded until you explicitly download the update.
(This is the default setting.)
 Download software updates automatically and notify me: Select this option to
automatically download updates and receive notification when the download is
complete.
 Never check for software updates (Phone Home not available): Select this option
to prevent the system from ever checking for updates. This option is for secure sites
at which Phone Home is not available.
2 Click Continue. The User Setup page appears.

Set Admin Account

Use the User Setup page to the session timeout and email addresses for the Admin
account.
3 From the Session Timeout drop‐down list, select the session timeout.
4 In the Email, Email 2, and Email 3 fields, enter email addresses to which the Storage
Center sends system alerts.
5 (Optional) Click Send test e‐mail to make sure that the email addresses are accurate.
Note: Make sure that the administrator receives the test email(s). Storage Center
uses email to send system alerts.
6 Click Continue.
 If the Storage Center has iSCSI IO cards, the Configure IO Cards page appears.
 If there are no iSCSI IO cards, the Configure Ports page appears.
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Configure IO Cards
The Configure IO Cards page appears if the Storage Center detects iSCSI IO cards. Use this
page to configure network settings for iSCSI IO cards.
1 (Optional) Click Skip iSCSI IO Card Configuration to configure network settings for
the iSCSI IO cards later. The Configure Ports page appears.
Note: Dell Compellent recommends that you configure iSCSI IO cards during
setup.
2 For each iSCSI IO card that is used, complete the IP Address, a Subnet Mask, and
Gateway fields. Uninitialized iSCSI IO cards have an IP Address of 0.0.0.0 and will be
listed on a warnings page in the next step.
3 When you are finished, click Continue.
 If no messages are generated, iSCSI IO card configuration is saved and the
Configure Ports page appears.
 If there are issues, a message appears.
 Click No to go back and correct the IP Address, Subnet Mask, and/or Gateway
address for cards that generated errors and/or warnings.
 Click Yes to ignore the message and continue. The Configure Ports page appears.

Configure Ports
Use the Configure Ports page to configure the front‐end and back‐end ports.
Select the Front-End Connectivity Mode(s)

Select the front‐end connectivity mode for each transport type (FC and/or iSCSI). If virtual
port mode is licensed, the transport types can be configured to use different modes. If
virtual port mode is not licensed, all transport types must use legacy mode.
If … Then …
Virtual Ports is Not Licensed All transport types use Legacy Mode. In this case, the Startup
Wizard displays the Initial Port Configuration page. To
continue, go to Configure Ports When Virtual Port Mode Is Not
Licensed on page 147.
Virtual Ports is Licensed FC and iSCSI transport types can use legacy mode or virtual port
mode. In this case, the Startup Wizard displays an operational
mode choice page that allows for the choice between modes for
each supported transport type. To continue, go to Configure
Ports When Virtual Port Mode Is Licensed on page 149.
Note: To skip port initialization or if there is no FC switch set up, click Skip Port
Initialization.
Configure Ports When Virtual Port Mode Is Not Licensed

If Virtual Ports is not licensed, the wizard informs you that the local ports have not been
configured.
1 Click Continue to generate the initial port configuration.
While the initial port configuration is being generated, the Startup Wizard displays a
page showing progress. After the configuration has been generated, it is automatically
validated.
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 If the validation is successful, a confirmation page appears stating that the port
configuration has been generated.
 If the validation fails, a page displaying warnings appears.
2 Click Configure Local Ports. The wizard displays a tab for each type of IO card that is
installed in the Storage Center (FC, iSCSI, and SAS).
3 Configure the Purpose, Fault Domain, and User Alias for all transport types. See
Configure Local Ports on page 154.
4 When you are finished configuring the local ports, click Assign Now. The wizard
informs you that the port configuration has been generated.

5 Click Continue. The Generate SSL Cert page appears.
Configure Ports When Virtual Port Mode Is Licensed

If Virtual Ports is licensed, the wizard informs prompts you to choose the front‐end
connectivity mode(s) for the available transport types (FC and/or iSCSI).
1 Select the front‐end connectivity mode(s).
a Select the operational mode for FC and iSCSI transports.
b Click Continue to configure the selected operational mode(s). The wizard informs
you that the operational modes have been configured.
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c Click Continue to begin port initialization in the selected operational mode(s).
The wizard verifies the configuration, converts selected transports to the selected
mode, displays progress pages, and presents a confirmation page when operational
modes for transport types have been configured and initialized.

d Click Continue. The page that appears next depends on whether there are any iSCSI
transports in virtual port mode:
 iSCSI in virtual port mode: A request is displayed to provide the IP address
information required to create the default iSCSI Fault Domain. Go to Step 2 on
page 151.
 iSCSI in legacy port mode (or no iSCSI ports): While the initial port
configuration is being generated, the Startup Wizard displays a page showing
progress. After the configuration has been generated, it is automatically
validated. If the validation is successful, the confirmation page appears. If there
are issues, a page appears listing error messages. Go to Step 3 on page 152.
2 (iSCSI virtual port mode only) Configure the control port for the iSCSI fault domain.
a Enter the IP address, netmask, gateway, and port for the control port for the new
iSCSI fault domain. Check the pre‐installation documentation for this address.
b Click Continue.
The Startup Wizard generates the new iSCSI fault domain and the initial port
configuration. While the initial port configuration is being generated, the Startup
Wizard displays a page showing progress. After the configuration has been
generated, it is automatically validated.
 If there are issues, an error message page appears.
 If the validation is successful, a confirmation page appears.
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3 Click Configure Local Ports. The wizard displays a tab for each type of IO card that is
installed in the Storage Center (FC, iSCSI, and SAS).
4 Configure the Purpose, Fault Domain, and User Alias for all transport types. See
Configure Local Ports on page 154.
5 When you are finished configuring the local ports, click Assign Now. The wizard
informs you that the port configuration has been generated.

6 Click Continue. The Generate SSL Cert page appears.
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Configure Local Ports

Configure the Purpose, Fault Domain, and User Alias for all transport types. Valid port
purposes for transport types depend on whether virtual ports mode is licensed on Storage
Center.
 Configure FC Ports — Legacy Mode on page 154
 Configure FC Ports — Virtual Port Mode on page 156
 Configure iSCSI Ports — Legacy Mode on page 157
 Configure iSCSI Ports — Virtual Port Mode on page 158
 Configure SAS Ports on page 159
The following table shows the port purposes for each transport type.
Port Purpose Transport Type Description

Legacy Mode
Unknown FC, iSCSI, and SAS One of the following:
• Port purpose is not yet defined.
• The port is unused.
• (SAS and FC only) The port is used for direct‐
connect inter‐process communication (IPC).
Front‐End Primary FC and iSCSI Port is connected to servers and is used for the server

IO path.
Front‐End Reserved FC and iSCSI Port is connected to servers and used as a failover

path. Only used for dual‐controller Storage Centers.
Back End FC and SAS Port is connected to disk enclosures.
Direct Connect FC and iSCSI This port purpose is not used. Do not select it for any

ports.
Virtual Port Mode

Unknown FC, iSCSI, and SAS One of the following:
• Port purpose is not yet defined.
• The port is unused.
• (SAS and FC only) The port is used for direct‐
connect inter‐process communication (IPC).
Front End FC and iSCSI Port is connected to servers and is used for the server

IO path.
Back End FC Port is connected to disk enclosures.
Configure FC Ports — Legacy Mode

Use the FC tab to configure the Fibre Channel ports in legacy mode.
1 Click the FC tab.

2 Create the required fault domains. For a dual‐controller Storage Center, create a fault
domain for each pair of redundant FC ports. For a single‐controller Storage Center,
create a single fault domain for all FC ports.
a Click Edit Fault Domains. The wizard displays a list of the currently defined fault
domains.
b Click Create Fault Domain. A dialog box appears.
c In the Name field, type a name for the fault domain.
d From the Type drop‐down menu, select FC.
e (Optional) In the Notes field, type a description of the fault domain.
f Click Continue. The dialog box displays a summary.
g Click Create Now to create the fault domain.
h Repeat steps b–g as needed to create additional fault domains.
i When you are finished creating fault domains, click Return. The FC tab appears.
3 Configure each back‐end FC port.
a Set the Purpose field to Back End.
b Confirm that the Fault Domain field is set to <none>.
c (Optional) Type a descriptive name in the User Alias field.
4 Configure each front‐end FC port.
a Set the Purpose field to Front End Primary or Front End Reserved as appropriate.
b Set the Fault Domain field to the appropriate fault domain that you created.
5 Configure each port that is unused or used for IPC between controllers.
a Set the Purpose field to Unknown.
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Configure FC Ports — Virtual Port Mode

Use the FC tab to configure the Fibre Channel ports in virtual port mode.
1 Click the FC tab.
2 Create a fault domain for each FC fabric.
domains.
d From the Type drop‐down menu, select FC.
i When you are finished creating fault domains, click Return. The FC tab appears.
3 Configure each back‐end FC port.
4 Configure each front‐end FC port.
a Set the Purpose field to Front End.
5 (Optional) Change the preferred physical port for one or more virtual ports.
a Click Edit Virtual Ports. The wizard displays a list of virtual ports.
b For each virtual port that you want to modify, select the preferred physical port In
the Preferred Physical Port.

c When you are finished, click Apply Changes. The iSCSI tab appears.
Configure iSCSI Ports — Legacy Mode

Use the iSCSI tab to configure the iSCSI ports in legacy mode.
1 Click the iSCSI tab.
2 Create the required fault domains. For a dual‐controller Storage Center, create a fault
domain for each pair of redundant iSCSI ports. For a single‐controller Storage Center,
create a single fault domain for all iSCSI ports.
domains.
d From the Type drop‐down menu, select iSCSI.
i When you are finished creating fault domains, click Return. The iSCSI tab appears.
3 Configure each front‐end iSCSI port.
a Set the Purpose field to Front End Primary or Front End Reserved as appropriate.
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4 Confirm that unused ports are not configured.
Configure iSCSI Ports — Virtual Port Mode

Use the iSCSI tab to configure the iSCSI ports in virtual port mode.
1 Click the iSCSI tab.
2 Create a fault domain for each iSCSI network.
domains.
d From the Type drop‐down menu, select iSCSI.
i When you are finished creating fault domains, click Return. The iSCSI tab appears.
3 Configure each front‐end iSCSI port.
a Set the Purpose field to Front End.

4 (Optional) Change the preferred physical port for one or more virtual ports.
a Click Edit Virtual Ports. The wizard displays a list of virtual ports.
b For each virtual port that you want to modify, select the preferred physical port In
the Preferred Physical Port.
c When you are finished, click Apply Changes. The iSCSI tab appears.
5 Confirm that unused ports are not configured.
Configure SAS Ports

Configure the back‐end SAS ports.
1 Click the SAS tab.
2 Configure each back‐end SAS port.
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Generate SSL Certificate

Use the Generate SSL Cert page to generate a new Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate or
import an existing certificate for the Storage Center. The SSL certificate must match the
Storage Centerʹs IP Address or DNS host name.
The initial certificate shipped with the Storage Center may not match the IP address or
DNS host name assigned to the Storage Center. If so, when connecting to Storage Center, a
message is displayed identifying a mismatch between the certificate and the IP address or
DNS host name of the Storage Center. Import or generate a certificate to correct the
mismatch.
Caution: Do not click Skip to bypass this page. Clicking Skip can result in
connection disruptions to Storage Center System Manager.
Import a Certificate
If an SSL certificate has already been generated, import the certificate.
Prerequisites
The public key file must be in x.509 format.

Steps
1 Click Import. A file browser appears.
2 Browse to the location of the public key (*.pem) file and select it.
3 Click Next.
4 Browse to the location of the private key file (*.pem).
5 Click Next. A Summary page appears that identifies the key files selected.
6 Click Save to import the certificates.
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Create a New Certificate

If you do not already have a certificate that contains the Storage Center host name or IP
address, generate one now.
1 Click Generate. The wizard prompts you to enter the IP addresses and hostnames for
the Storage Center.
2 In the text field, enter all DNS host name(s), IPv4 address(es), and IPv6 address(es) for
this Storage Center, separated by commas. The wizard prepopulates the field with
information it knows, but it is likely that more site‐specific host names and addresses
need to be entered.
Caution: The host name(s) and address(es) must match this Storage Center or
you will not be able to reconnect to it.
3 Click Generate Now. A new certificate is generated and the session ends. To continue,
refresh the browser and log on to the Storage Center again.

Label SC200 and SC220 Enclosures
Label SC200 and SC220 Enclosures

SC200 and SC220 enclosures do not have displays to indicate the enclosure ID assigned by
Storage Center software. To facilitate easy identification in the rack, use Storage Center
System Manager to match each enclosure ID to a Service Tag. Locate the Service Tag on the
back of each enclosure and then label it with the correct enclosure ID.
Note: If the enclosure is deleted from System Manager, and then added back in, it
is assigned a new index number, requiring a label change.
1 Use the Storage Center System Manager to map each enclosure ID to a Service Tag.
a From the System Tree, expand the Enclosures node.
b Select an enclosure.
c On the General tab, locate and record the Index and Service Tag.
2 Create a label for each SC200/SC220 enclosure with the enclosure ID number.
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3 Apply an ID label to the left‐front of each enclosure.
ID 01
Figure 110. SC200 and SC220 Enclosure Labels

6 Perform Post-Setup Tasks
Perform connectivity and failover tests to make sure that the deployment was successful,
then change administrative passwords, Phone Home, and check for updates.
Contents
Verify Connectivity and Failover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Configure a Phone Home Proxy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Phone Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Check for Storage Center Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Next Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Verify Connectivity and Failover

This section describes the general steps needed to verify that Storage Center is set up
properly and fails over correctly. The process includes connecting a server and copying
data to verify connectivity, and shutting down a controller to verify failover and MPIO
functionality. For details about each step, refer to the Storage Center System Manager
Administrator’s Guide.
Create Test Volumes

Connect a server to the Storage Center, create one or more test volumes, and map them to
the server to prepare for connectivity and failover testing.
1 Connect a server to the Storage Center using Fibre Channel or iSCSI.
2 (iSCSI only) Configure the iSCSI initiator on the server to target the Storage Center.
3 Use a web browser to load the Storage Center System Manager.
 Single‐controller Storage Center: Enter the controller management IP address
 Dual‐controller Storage Center: Enter the shared system management IP address.
4 Log in to System Manager.
5 Define the server in System Manager.
a In the System Tree, select Servers.
b Click Create Server. The Create Server wizard appears.
c Select the server HBA(s) in the table, then click Continue.
d In the Name field, type a name for the server.
e From the Operating System drop‐down menu, select the operating system that the
server is running.
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Chapter 6 Perform Post-Setup Tasks
f Click Continue. The wizard displays a summary.
g Click Create Now. The wizard displays a list of optional actions.
h Click Close. The wizard closes.
6 Create a 25 GB test volume called TestVol1.
a In the System Tree, select Volumes.
a In the Create Server wizard, click Create Volume. the Create Volume wizard
appears.
b Set the volume size to 25 GB, then click Continue.
c Click Continue to apply the default Replay Profile.
d Type TestVol1 in the Name field, then click Continue. The wizard displays a
summary.
e Click Create Now. The wizard displays a list of optional actions.
f Click Close.
7 (Dual‐controller only) Repeat Step 6 to create a second test volume named TestVol2.
8 Map TestVol1 to the first controller.
a In the System Tree, expand the Volumes node.
b Select TestVol1.
c Click Map Volume to Server. The Map Volume to Server wizard appears.
d Select the server, then click Continue. The wizard displays a summary.
e Click Advanced. The wizard displays advanced mapping options.
f In the Restrict Mapping Paths area, select the Map to controller check box, then
select the controller from the drop‐down menu.
g Click Continue. The wizard displays a summary.
h Click Create Now. The mapping is created and the wizard closes.
9 (Dual‐controller only) Repeat Step 8 to map TestVol2 to the second controller.
10 On the server, partition and format the test volume(s).
Test Connectivity and Failover

Copy data to the test volume and simulate failures to test connectivity and failover.
Test Basic Connectivity

Verify connectivity by copying some data to the test volume(s).
Test Controller Failover

If the Storage Center has dual controllers, perform a test to make sure that IO is not
interrupted by a controller failover.
1 Create a Test folder on the server and copy at least 2GB of data into it.
2 Manually shut down the first controller while copying data to TestVol1 to verify that IO
is not interrupted by the failover event.
a Copy the Test folder to the TestVol1 volume.
b During the copy process, shut down the first controller (the controller through
which the volume is mapped).
c Verify that the copy process continues after the controller is shut down.

Verify Connectivity and Failover
d After the copy finishes, turn on the controller.
e Wait 3 minutes and verify that the controller has finished starting.
f Rebalance the ports.
3 Manually shut down the second controller while copying data to TestVol2 to verify that
IO is not interrupted by the failover event.
b During the copy process, shut down the second controller (the controller through
which the volume is mapped).
c Verify that the copy process continues after the controller is shut down.
d After the copy finishes, turn on the controller.
e Wait 3 minutes and verify that the controller has finished starting.
f Rebalance the ports.
Test MPIO
If the network environment and servers are configured for MPIO, perform tests to make
sure that failed paths do not interrupt IO.
1 Create a Test folder on the server and copy at least 2GB of data into it.
2 Make sure that the FC or iSCSI server is configured to use load balancing MPIO (round‐
robin).
3 Manually disconnect a path while copying data to TestVol1 to verify that MPIO is
functioning correctly.
b During the copy process, disconnect one of the paths and verify that the copy
process continues.
c Reconnect the port.
4 Repeat Step 3 as necessary to test additional paths.
5 (Dual‐controller Storage Center) Restart the controller that contains the active path
while IO is being transferred.
6 If the Storage Center is not in a production environment, restart the switch that contains
the active path while IO is being transferred.
Clean up Test Volumes

After testing is complete, delete the volumes used for testing.
Dell Compellent 167

Change Administrative Passwords

Storage Center and the iDRAC ship with default administrative credentials. As a security
measure, change them before putting the Storage Center into production.
Change Storage Center Administrative Password

Change the administrative password to something other than the default.
1 From the Storage Management menu, select User→ Change User Password.
2 Select Admin and click Continue.
3 Enter a new password in the Enter Password and Reenter Password fields.
4 Click OK.
Change iDRAC Administrative Password

Change the iDRAC administrative password to something other than the default.
1 Use a web browser to navigate to the IP address of the iDRAC in controller 1. The
iDRAC login page appears.
2 Enter the iDRAC user name (root) and password (calvin) and click Submit. The iDRAC
web interface appears.
3 In the left pane of the iDRAC web interface, click User Authentication.
4 Click the Local Users tab if necessary. Locate the Administrator user row and click the
number (probably 2) in the first cell of the row.

Change Administrative Passwords
5 Click Next.
6 (Optional) Enter a new user name in the User Name field.
7 Enter a new password in the New Password and Confirm New Password fields.
8 Click Apply.
Dell Compellent 169

Configure a Phone Home Proxy

If requires hosts to use a proxy server to reach the internet, configure Phone Home to use
the proxy server before sending data with Phone Home or checking for Storage Center
updates.
1 From the Storage Management menu, select System→ Phone Home→ Configure
Phone Home Proxy. The Configure Phone Home Proxy wizard starts.
2 Select Use Phone Home Proxy Server and enter the following:
 Proxy Server Address: Enter the IP address of the proxy server.
 Port: Enter the TCP port number of the proxy server.
 Proxy User Name: Enter the user name for the proxy server.
 Proxy Password/Confirm Password: Password for the proxy server.
3 Click OK.
Phone Home
Complete setup by sending Storage Center configuration information to Dell Technical
Support Services with Phone Home.
Phone Home sends a copy of a Storage Center configuration to Dell Technical Support
Services to enable them to support a Storage Center. The initial configuration is sent to Dell
Technical Support Services when Storage Center is installed.
Prerequisites
 TCP ports 22 and 443 must be allowed outbound to the internet.
 If the network requires hosts to use a proxy server to reach the internet, the Storage
Center must be configured to use a Phone Home proxy.

Phone Home
Steps
1 From the Storage Management menu, select System→ Phone Home→ Phone Home.
The Phone Home wizard starts, listing any previous Phone Home events.
2 Click Phone Home Now. The Phone Home In Progress dialog box is displayed.
3 Click OK.
4 When the State column lists all items with Success, click Close.
Dell Compellent 171

Check for Storage Center Updates

After completing the Storage Center setup, if the Storage Center System Manager did not
display a message of available updates, manually check for available Storage Center
updates.
1 From the Storage Management menu, select System→ Update→ Update Status.
2 Click Check Now. As Storage Center checks for updates, status appears on the Update
Status page.
3 If an update is available, install the update following the instructions in the Storage
Center System Upgrade Guide.
Next Steps
After installation is complete, you might want to perform some basic tasks to configure
Storage Center for your environment. These tasks are configuration‐dependent so some
might not apply to your site.
See the Storage Center Administrator’s Guide for detailed configuration instructions,
including how to:
 Manage Unmanaged Disks
 Add Storage Center users; including configuring Lightweight Directory Access
Protocol (LDAP)
 Configure password rules for local users
 Create servers
 Configure User Volume Defaults
 Add Storage Center volumes
 Add a login message

A Adding or Removing an Enclosure
This chapter describes how to add or remove Dell Compellent enclosures from a Storage
Center.
Contents
Adding SC280 Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Adding SC200/220 Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Removing Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Dell Compellent 173

Appendix A Adding or Removing an Enclosure
Adding SC280 Enclosures

Use caution when adding an enclosure to a live Storage Center system to preserve the
integrity of the existing data. This section describes two methods of adding enclosures:
 Add an enclosure in a new chain: by adding enclosures to available ports on the
controller’s IO cards. The current configuration is undisturbed. Creating a new chain is
the safest way to increase storage capacity. When you have multiple chains, you should
have at least two IO cards in each controller.
 Add an enclosure to an existing chain by removing one side of the chain causing traffic
to route to the remaining side. Connect the new enclosure into the disconnected side of
the chain.
Adding an SC280 Enclosure in a New Chain

This method is safe and non‐intrusive to the existing disks and chains. A second chain
creates controller redundancy and so IPC cross‐over cables are not required.
Check Lead Controller

Identify the lead controller by checking controller summary information in System
Manager. These cabling instructions assume that Controller A is the lead controller.
1 In the Storage Center System Manager, select the Controllers node.
2 In the controller summary pane note which controller is identified as the leader.
Connect the Enclosure

1 Turn on each enclosure being added. When the enclosures spin up, make sure that
each front panel enclosure and power status LEDs show normal operation.
2 Connect the A side (Figure 111 on page 176):
a Connect Controller A: slot 3, port 2→ Enclosure 2: left, port C.
b Connect Controller B: slot 3, port 4→ Enclosure 2: left, port B.
3 Connect the B side (Figure 112 on page 177):
a Connect Controller A: slot 3, port 4→ Enclosure 2: right, port B.
b Connect Controller B: slot 3, port 2→ Enclosure 2: right, port C.
4 In the Storage Center System Manager, select Storage Management→ System→
Setup→ Configure Local Ports.
5 Make sure that:
 Slot and slot ports are Up and the Purpose is set to back‐end.
 Target Count equals the number of added drives, demonstrating that the controller
recognizes the new enclosures.
6 In the Storage Manager System Tree, confirm the number of enclosures.
If there are no managed disks in this system, the System Manager does not assign an
Index number. If the system contains a managed disk in any enclosure, the System
Manager assigns an index number to the new enclosures.
Note: Enclosures must be running the current version of firmware before
managing the drives in Storage Center System Manager.

7 Check for available updates:
a From the Storage Management menu, select System→ Update→ Update Status.
b Click Check Now. As Storage Center checks for updates, status appears in the
Update Status wizard.
c If an update is available, download and install the update as described in Storage
Center Software Update Guide.
8 The Storage Center System Manager informs you that you have new, unassigned disks.
From the Storage Management menu, select Disk→ Manage Unassigned Disks to
move them to the managed disk folder and add the space to the disk pool.
9 Redistribute data across all drives, by selecting Storage Management→
Disk→ Rebalance RAID.
Dell Compellent 175

Controller A
1 2 3 4
Controller B
1 2 3 4
Enclosure 1
A B C A B C
Enclosure 2
A B C A B C
Figure 111. Connecting a New SC280 SAS Chain (A Side)

Controller A
1 2 3 4
Controller B
1 2 3 4
Enclosure 1
A B C A B C
Enclosure 2
A B C A B C
Figure 112. Connecting a New SC280 SAS Chain (B Side)
Dell Compellent 177

Adding to an Existing SC280 Enclosure Chain

The following example shows how to insert an enclosure into an existing enclosure chain
by connecting the enclosure to one side of the enclosure chain at a time.
Caution: Before adding an enclosure to an existing chain, make sure that your data
is backed up. For maximum protection, add enclosures during a service outage.
Check the Lead Controller

Check Current Disk Count

Check the current number of drives accessible by the Storage Center to use as a comparison
after a new enclosure is added.
2 Maximize the Configure Local Port wizard so that you can see the Target Count
column, and note the number of drives currently viewed by the controllers. This
number increases when new enclosures are added.
Add an Enclosure to an Existing Chain Currently in Service

When adding enclosures to an existing configuration, add enclosures to the end of the
chain. Disconnect the chain one side at a time to maintain drive availability while adding
an enclosure.
Connecting the Enclosure to the A Side

1 Disconnect the A‐side cables from the controllers as shown in Figure 113 on page 180.
 Controller A: slot 3, port 1
 Controller B: slot 3, port 3
IO continues through the B‐side cables.
2 Turn on the enclosure being added. When the disks spin up, make sure that the front
panel enclosure and power status LEDs show normal operation.
3 Move the cable from Enclosure 1: left, port B→ Enclosure 2: left, port C.
4 Connect a new cable between Enclosure 1: left, port B→ Enclosure 2: left, port A as
shown in Figure 114 on page 181.
5 Connect the A‐side cables to the controllers as shown in Figure 114 on page 181.
 Enclosure 2: left, port C→ Controller B: slot 3, port 3.
 Enclosure 1: left, port C→ Controller A, slot 3 port 1.
7 Make sure that:
recognizes the new enclosure.

Connecting the Enclosure to the B Side

1 Disconnect the B‐side cables from the controllers as shown in Figure 115 on page 182
 Controller A: slot 3, port 3
 Controller B: slot 3, port 1
IO continues through the A‐side cables.
2 Move the cable from Enclosure 1: right, port B→ Enclosure 2: right, port C.
3 Connect a new cable between Enclosure 1: right, port A→ Enclosure 2: right, port B as
shown in Figure 116 on page 183.
4 Reconnect the B‐side cables to the controllers as shown in Figure 116 on page 183.
 Enclosure 1: right, port C→ Controller B: slot 3, port 1.
 Enclosure 2: right, port C→ Controller A: slot 3, port 3.
Manage the New Disks

After the enclosure is connected, make sure that it is running the most recent version of
software.
Note: Enclosures must be running the current version of firmware before managing
the drives in Storage Center System Manager.
1 Check for available updates:
a From the Storage Management menu, select System→ Update→ Update Status.
b Click Check Now. As Storage Center checks for updates, status appears in the
Update Status wizard.
c If an update is available, download and install the update as described in Storage
Center Software Update Guide.
move them to the managed disk folder and add the space to the disk pool. For more
information, see the Storage Center System Manager Administrator’s Guide.
3 View the list of enclosures in System Manager and verify that the new enclosures and
disks appear in the System Tree.
Setup→ Configure Local Ports. Make sure that:
5 To redistribute data across all drives, from the Storage Management menu, select
Dell Compellent 179

Controller A
1 2 3 4
Disconnect
Controllers,
A-side
Controller B
1 2 3 4
Move Cable
to Enclosure
Enclosure 1
2, port C
A B C A B C
Enclosure 2
A B C A B C
Figure 113. Disconnect Controllers (A side)

Controller A
1 2 3 4
Controller B
1 2 3 4
Enclosure 1
A B C A B C
Add cable
Enclosure 2
A B C A B C
Figure 114. Add Cable and Reconnect Controllers (A Side)
Dell Compellent 181

Controller A
1 2 3 4
Controller B
1 2 3 4
Disconnect
Controllers,
B-side
Move Cable to
Enclosure 2,
port C
Enclosure 1
A B C A B C
Enclosure 2
A B C A B C
Figure 115. Disconnect Controllers (B Side)

Controller A
1 2 3 4
Controller B
1 2 3 4
Enclosure 1
A B C A B C
Add cable
Enclosure 2
A B C A B C
Figure 116. Add Cable and Reconnect Controllers (B Side)
Dell Compellent 183

Adding SC200/220 Enclosures

Use caution when adding an enclosure to a live Storage Center system to preserve the
integrity of the existing data. This section describes two methods of adding enclosures:
 Create a new chain by adding enclosures to available ports on the controller’s IO cards.
The current configuration is undisturbed. Creating a new chain is the safest way to
increase storage capacity. When you have multiple chains, you should have at least two
IO cards in each controller.
 Add an enclosure to an existing chain by failing over to one side of the chain and then
connecting into the other side of the chain.
Creating a New Chain of SC200/220 Enclosures

This method is safe and non‐intrusive to the existing disks and chains. Figure 117 on
page 185 shows an example of adding a new chain using the following steps.
1 If there is more than one enclosure in the new chain, cable the enclosures together first.
Do not connect the chain to the controller yet. Connect the enclosures:
a New Enclosure (3): top, port B → Next Enclosure (4): top, port A.
b New Enclosure (3): bottom port B → Next Enclosure (4): bottom, port A.
2 Turn on each of the enclosures being added. When the enclosures spin up, make sure
that the front panel enclosure and power status LEDs show normal operation.
3 Connect the Controller: slot 6, port 2 → Enclosure 3: top, port A.
5 Make sure that:
 Slot and slot port (in this case, slot 6, port 2) are Up and the Purpose is set to back‐
end.
6 In the Storage Manager System Tree, confirm the number of enclosures.
7 Connect last Enclosure (4): bottom, port B → Controller: slot 6, port 4.
8 Verify that the last enclosure has been added as described in steps 4 through 6.
9 If there are no managed disks in this system, the System Manager does not assign an
Index number. If the system contains a managed disk in any enclosure, the System
Manager assigns an index number to the new enclosures.
from the Storage Management menu, select Disk→ Manage Unassigned Disks to

Controller
Enclosure 1
Enclosure 2
Enclosure 3
Two new enclosures added
Enclosure 4
Figure 117. Connecting a New SC200/220 SAS Chain
Dell Compellent 185

Adding to an Existing SAS Enclosure Chain

The following example shows how to insert an enclosure into an existing enclosure chain
by connecting the enclosure to one side of the enclosure chain at a time. During this
process, one side of the enclosure chain is disconnected, and the Storage Center fails over
to the side that remains connected.
Caution: Before adding an enclosure to an existing chain, make sure that your data
is backed up. For maximum protection, add enclosures during a service outage.
Check the Lead Controller

Check Current Disk Count

Check the current number of drives accessible by the Storage Center to use as a comparison
after a new enclosure is added.
1 From a workstation connected to the network, open the Storage Center System
Manager.
3 Maximize the Configure Local Port wizard so that you can see the Target Count
column, and note the number of drives currently viewed by the controllers. This
number increases when new enclosures are added. When adding enclosures to an
existing configuration, add enclosures to the end of the chain.
Add an Enclosure to an Existing Chain Currently in Service

Disconnect the chain one side at a time to maintain drive availability while adding an
enclosure.
1 Disconnect the A‐side cables from the controllers as shown in Figure 118 on page 187:
 Controller A, slot 6 port 1
 Controller B, slot 6 port 3
IO continues through the B‐side cables.
2 Turn on each of the enclosures being added. When the enclosures spin up, make sure
that the front panel enclosure and power status LEDs show normal operation.
3 Move the cable from Enclosure 2: top, port B→ Enclosure 4: top, port B.
4 Use new cables to connect the new enclosures to the A‐side cabling (Figure 118 on
page 187):
 Enclosure 2: top, port B→ Enclosure 3: top, port A.
 Enclosure 3: top, port B→ Enclosure 4, top, port A.
Enclosures 3 and 4 are now part of the A side chain and can be connected to Controllers
A and B.

Controller A
Disconnect A side
Controller B
Enclosure 1
Move Cable from

Enclosure 2
Enclosure 2
Add cable
Enclosure 3
Connect
Enclosures
(A side)
Add cable
New Enclosures
Enclosure 4
Figure 118. Connect SC200/220 Enclosures to A side

5 Reconnect the A‐side Controller cables:
a Enclosure 4: top, port B→ Controller B: slot 6, port 3.
b Enclosure 1: top, port A→ Controller A, slot 6, port 1.
Dell Compellent 187

Controller A
Controller B
Enclosure 1
Enclosure 2
Enclosure 3
Enclosure 4
Figure 119. Reconnect SC200/220 A-side Cables to Controllers

7 Make sure that:

8 Disconnect the B‐side cables from the controllers as shown in Figure 120:
 Controller A: slot 6 port 3.
 Controller B, slot 6 port 1.
IO continues through the A‐side cables.
9 Move the cable from Enclosure 2: bottom, port B→ Enclosure 4: bottom, port B.
10 Use new cables to connect the new enclosures to the existing enclosures (B side):
 Enclosure 2: bottom, port B→ Enclosure 3: bottom, port A.
 Enclosure 3: bottom port B→ to Enclosure 4: bottom port A.
Enclosures 3 and 4 are now part of the B‐side chain and can be connected to Controllers
A and B.
Controller A
Disconnect B side
Controller B
Enclosure 1
Enclosure 2
Move Cable from

Enclosure 2
Add cable
Enclosure 3
Connect
Enclosures
(B side)
Add cable
Enclosure 4
Figure 120. Connect SC200/220 Enclosures to B Side
Dell Compellent 189

11 Connect Enclosure 4: bottom, port B→ Controller A: slot 6, port 3.
12 Reconnect Enclosure 1: bottom, port A→ Controller B: slot 6, port 1.
Controller A
Controller B
Enclosure 1
Enclosure 2
Enclosure 3
Enclosure 4
Figure 121. Reconnect SC200/220 B-side Cables to Controllers

14 In the Storage Manager System Tree, view the list of enclosures. The System Manager
assigns an index number to all managed drives.

Adding a Second SAS Enclosure, Second Chain

In a dual‐controller, single SAS enclosure configuration, controller redundancy is created
using cross‐over cables (IPC) from controller ports 2 to controller ports 4. A second chain
performs the same redundancy as the IPC cross‐over cables.
Add an Enclosure
Add a new enclosure while maintaining redundancy.
1 Power on the enclosures being added. When the enclosures spin up, make sure that the
front panel enclosure and power status LEDs show normal operation.
2 Remove the two IPC cables from the Controllers, ports 2 and 4.
3 Connect: Controller A, port 2→ new Enclosure 3: top, port A.
4 Connect Enclosure 3: top, port B→ Controller B, port 4.
6 Make sure that:
Controller A
Controller B
Enclosure 1
Enclosure 2
Enclosure 3
Figure 122. Adding an SC200/220 SAS Enclosure, Step 1
Dell Compellent 191

7 Connect Controller A: port 4→ new Enclosure 3: bottom, port B.
8 Connect Enclosure 3: bottom, port A→ Controller B: port 2.
10 Make sure that:
Controller A
Controller B
Enclosure 1
Enclosure 2
Enclosure 2
Figure 123. Adding an SC200/220 SAS Enclosure, B side

Removing Enclosures
Removing Enclosures
The following procedure describes how to use Storage Center System Manager to move
data off the disks in the enclosure to be removed. For more detailed instructions, see the
Storage Center System Manager Administrator’s Guide.
Caution: Before you remove an enclosure, make sure that your data is backed up
and that all disks to be removed are empty of data.
Release Disks
Release disks to remove them from the pool in preparation of removing the enclosure.
1 In the Storage Center tree, expand the Disks node to view the disks in the enclosure.
2 Select all the disks in the enclosure you are removing.
3 From the shortcut menu, select Release Disk. The Release Disk wizard starts.
4 Note the warning and click Yes to continue. The disk is immediately released and a
dialog box opens asking if you wish to rebalance RAID devices now, later, or skip
balancing.
5 Click Yes. Wait for the rebalance operation to finish.
Enclosures with all drives in the unassigned disk folder are now safe to remove.
Remove an SC280 Enclosure

These instructions describe how to remove an enclosure from an SC280 enclosure chain. If
the configuration has two enclosure chains, you do not need to take a system outage;
however, the controller must be able to see all drives through one chain while the other side
is down.
Caution: To disconnect the A‐side cabling without a system outage, make sure that
you first disconnect the A‐side cable from the controller. Disconnecting any other
cable first disrupts IO to the enclosure, resulting in a system outage.
Disconnect the A-side Chain

Disconnect the enclosure to be removed from the A‐side chain.
1 Disconnect the A‐side cable from Controller B: slot 3, port 3. The B side continues to
carry IO while the A side is disconnected (see Figure 124 on page 194).
3 Make sure that:
4 Remove the cable between: Enclosure 1: left, port B → Enclosure 2: left, port A (see
Figure 124 on page 194).
5 Move the cable from Enclosure 2: left, port C → Enclosure 1: left, port A (see Figure 125
on page 195).
6 Reconnect the top cable to Controller B: slot 3, port 3 (see Figure 125 on page 195).
Dell Compellent 193

Controller A
1 2 3 4
Controller B
1 2 3 4
Disconnect A side
Enclosure 1
A B C A B C
Remove the A-side

cable between
enclosures
Enclosure 2
A B C A B C
Figure 124. Disconnecting the SC280 Enclosure from the A side

Removing Enclosures
Controller A
1 2 3 4
Controller B
1 2 3 4
Enclosure 1
Reconnect A side,
after moving the
A B C A B C
cable below
Move the A-side cable

to remaining enclosure
Enclosure 2
A B C A B C
Figure 125. Reconnecting the A-Side Cable
Dell Compellent 195

Caution: To disconnect the B‐side cabling without a system outage, make sure that
you first disconnect the B‐side cable from the controller. Disconnecting any other
Disconnect the B-side Chain

Disconnect the enclosure to be removed from the B‐side chain.
1 Disconnect the B‐side cable from Controller A: slot 3, port 3. The A side continues to
carry IO while the B side is disconnected (see Figure 126 on page 197).
3 Make sure that:
4 Remove the cable between Enclosure 1: right, port A → Enclosure 2: right, port B (see
5 Move the cable from Enclosure 2: right, port C → Enclosure 1: right, port B (see
6 Reconnect the B‐side cable to Controller A: slot 3, port 3 (see Figure 127 on page 198).
7 The enclosure is now disconnected and can be removed.

Removing Enclosures
Disconnect
B side
Controller A
1 2 3 4
Controller B
1 2 3 4
Enclosure 1
A B C A B C
Remove the B-side cable

between enclosures
Move to
Enclosure 2 Enclosure 1,
right, port B
A B C A B C
Figure 126. Disconnecting the SC280 Enclosure from the B-side Chain
Dell Compellent 197

Reconnect B side
Controller A
1 2 3 4
Controller B
1 2 3 4
Enclosure 1
A B C A B C
Figure 127. Reconnecting the B-Side Cable

Removing Enclosures
Remove an SC200/SC220 Enclosure

These instructions describe how to remove the top enclosure from a SC200/SC220
enclosure chain. If the configuration has two enclosure chains, you do not need to take a
system outage; however, the controller must be able to see all drives through one chain
while the other side is down.
Caution: To disconnect the A‐side cabling without a system outage, make sure that
you first disconnect the A‐side cable from the controller. Disconnecting any other
Disconnect the A-side Chain

Disconnect the enclosure to be removed from the A‐side chain.
1 Disconnect the A‐side cable from Controller A: slot 6, port 1. The B side continues to
carry IO while the A side is disconnected (see Figure 128 on page 200).
2 In the Configure Local Ports wizard, make sure that the B‐side ports on both controllers
are Up and the Target Count recognizes the drives through the B side.
3 Remove the cable between: Enclosure 1: top, port B → Enclosure 2: top, port A (see
4 Move the cable from Enclosure 1: top, port A → Enclosure 2: top, port A (see Figure 129
on page 201).
5 Reconnect the top cable to Controller A: slot 6, port 1 (see Figure 130 on page 203).
Dell Compellent 199

Controller A Disconnect A side
Controller B
Enclosure 1
Remove the A-side cable

between enclosures
Enclosure 2
Enclosure 3
Enclosure 4
Figure 128. Disconnecting the SC200/220 Enclosure from the A side

Removing Enclosures
Reconnect A side, after

Controller A moving the cable below
Controller B
Enclosure 1
Move the A-side cable

to next enclosure
Enclosure 2
Enclosure 3
Enclosure 4
Figure 129. Reconnecting the SC200/220 A side
Dell Compellent 201

Caution: To disconnect the B‐side cabling without a system outage, make sure that
you first disconnect the B‐side cable from the controller. Disconnecting any other
Disconnect the B-side Chain

Disconnect the enclosure to be removed from the B‐side chain.
1 Disconnect the B‐side cable from Controller B: slot 5, port 1. The A side continues to
carry IO while the B side is disconnected (see Figure 130 on page 203).
2 In the Configure Local Ports wizard, make sure that the A‐side ports on both controllers
are Up and the Target Count recognizes the drives through the A side.
3 Remove the cable between Enclosure 1: bottom, port B → Enclosure 2: bottom, port A
(see Figure 130 on page 203).
4 Reconnect the B‐side cable to Controller B: slot 5, port 1 (see Figure 131 on page 204).
5 The top enclosure is now disconnected and can be removed.

Removing Enclosures
Controller A
Disconnect
B side
Controller B
Enclosure 1
Remove the B-side

cable between
enclosures
Enclosure 2
Move to Enclosure
2, bottom, port A
Enclosure 3
Enclosure 4
Figure 130. Disconnecting the SC200/220 Enclosure from the B-side Chain
Dell Compellent 203

Reconnect B side Controller A
Controller B
Figure 131. Top SC200/220 Enclosure Disconnected

B Troubleshooting
This appendix contains troubleshooting steps for common problems.
Contents
Troubleshooting the Serial Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Troubleshooting Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Troubleshooting Licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Troubleshooting Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Troubleshooting the Serial Connection

Issue Possible Reason Solution
Unable to connect to a Communication problems. • Reseat or replace cables.
controller with a serial • Verify the telnet settings.
connection
Troubleshooting Enclosures
No Disks Found by Startup Need to update software and/or 1 Click Quit.
Wizard: firmware to use attached 2 Check for Storage Center Updates on page 172.
enclosure.
No disks could be found 3 Complete the Startup Wizard on page 129.
attached to this Dell
Compellent Storage Center.
Enclosure firmware update Cabling is not redundant. 1 Check the back‐end cabling and ensure that
fails redundant connections are used.
See SAS Redundancy on page 55 for more
information.
Expected Disks and/or Need to update software and/or 1 Check the back‐end cabling and enclosure’s

Enclosures are Missing firmware to use attached power state.
enclosure and/or drives. 2 Check for Storage Center Updates on page 172.
Dell Compellent 205

Appendix B Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting Licenses
Error: The license file is not Can happen with a dual‐ Make sure that all the steps in Chapter 5: Set up the
valid (could be old license controller Storage Center if Storage Center Software, on page 119 are followed
file). Contact Dell Technical there is an attempt to apply the in order and try again.
Support Services for a new license file before the controllers • Make sure to connect to the IP address of the
license file. are joined and the license file is controller with the lower serial number.
applied to the controller with
• Make sure the serial number in the name of the
the wrong serial number.
license file matches the controller.
Troubleshooting Updates
Cannot complete Startup Your network might employ a 1 Establish a serial connection to the Storage
Wizard and cannot check for proxy server, Configure Phone Center.
updates Home Proxy Server Using the 2 Run the following commands:
Command Line Interface (CLI).
mc values set UsePhHomeProxy true
mc values set PhHomeProxyString
[proxy server IP address]
mc values set PhHomeProxyUserName
[proxy server user name]
mc values set PhPomeProxyPassword
[proxy server password]
3 Check for Storage Center Updates on page 172.
4 Complete the Startup Wizard on page 129.

680-087-001 D

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Dell Compellent Storage Center™

Revision Date Description

Notes, Cautions, and Warnings

Copyright Notice and Trademarks

Contacting Dell Technical Support Services

Dell Compellent iii

2 Install the Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

3 Connect the Back End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

iv Storage Center SC8000 Controller Deployment Guide

Connect IPC for Dual-Controller Storage Centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

4 Connect the Front End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Front-End Connectivity Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

5 Set up the Storage Center Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

vi Storage Center SC8000 Controller Deployment Guide

Add a Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

6 Perform Post-Setup Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

A Adding or Removing an Enclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Dell Compellent vii

viii Storage Center SC8000 Controller Deployment Guide

x Storage Center SC8000 Controller Deployment Guide

Storage Center Hardware Components

2 Storage Center SC8000 Controller Deployment Guide

Storage Center Architecture Options

Figure 1. Storage Center Architectures

Figure 2. SC8000 Controller Communication Links

Item Description Speed Type

2 Fibre Channel Switches 8 Gb or 16 Gb Front End

4 Ethernet Switches 1 Gb or 10 Gb Front End

5 SC8000 Controller IO card‐dependent N/A

6 SAS Enclosure 6 Gb per channel Back End

7 Ethernet 10 Mb, 100 Mb, or 1 Gb System

8 Serial 115,200 Kbps System

4 Storage Center SC8000 Controller Deployment Guide

Figure 3. Dell Compellent SC8000 Controllers

6 Storage Center SC8000 Controller Deployment Guide

SC8000 Front-Panel Features and Indicators

Figure 4. Front Panel Features and Indicators

Item Name Icon Description

Item Name Icon Description

SC8000 LCD Panel Features

Figure 5. LCD Panel Features

Item Button Description

8 Storage Center SC8000 Controller Deployment Guide

SC8000 Back-Panel Features and Indicators

IO card IO card IO card

IO card IO card cache card

Figure 6. SC8000 Controller Back View

Item Name Icon Description

Slots 4–6 Full‐height IO card — Ports are numbered beginning with port 1 on the right.

Slot 7 Cache card slot — Hosts the cache card.

10 Storage Center SC8000 Controller Deployment Guide

NIC Indicator Codes

Figure 7. NIC Indicator

Item Name Indicator Code

Power Indicator Codes

Figure 8. AC Power Supply Status Indicator

Item Name Indicator Code

SC280 SAS Enclosures

12 Storage Center SC8000 Controller Deployment Guide

SC280 Enclosure Front Panel Features and Indicators

Figure 9. SC280 Enclosure Front Panel Features and Indicators

Item Feature/Indicator Icon Description

SC280 Drawer Front-Panel Features and Indicators

Figure 10. SC280 Drawer Front Panel Features and Indicators