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Topic
DDOS 6.0 Storage Migration Procedures
Selections
Storage Migration: Overview and Planning

Generated: September 14, 2021 9:11 AM GMT

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Publication Date: September, 2021

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 Contents
Preliminary Activity Tasks .......................................................................................................3
Read, understand, and perform these tasks.................................................................................................3

Storage migration overview.....................................................................................................4

Migration planning considerations...........................................................................................4
DS60 shelf considerations ............................................................................................................................5
Evaluating migration readiness.....................................................................................................................6
Viewing migration status ...............................................................................................................................6

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Preliminary Activity Tasks
This section may contain tasks that you must complete before performing this procedure.

Read, understand, and perform these tasks

1. Table 1 lists tasks, cautions, warnings, notes, and/or knowledgebase (KB) solutions that you need to
be aware of before performing this activity. Read, understand, and when necessary perform any
tasks contained in this table and any tasks contained in any associated knowledgebase solution.

Table 1 List of cautions, warnings, notes, and/or KB solutions related to this activity

490646: Migration won't start: Failed to do migration preparation

493216: Usable capacity is smaller than the expected overall tier size

493144: Required manual prechecks before starting the service

2. This is a link to the top trending service topics. These topics may or not be related to this activity.
This is merely a proactive attempt to make you aware of any KB articles that may be associated with
this product.

Note: There may not be any top trending service topics for this product at any given time.

Data Domain Top Service Topics

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Storage migration overview
Storage migration supports the replacement of existing storage enclosures with new enclosures that may
offer higher performance, higher capacity, and a smaller footprint.
After new enclosures are installed, you can migrate the data from the older enclosures to the new
enclosures while the system continues to support other processes such as data access, expansion,
cleaning, and replication. The storage migration does require system resources, but you can control this
with throttle settings that give the migration a relatively higher or lower priority. You can also suspend a
migration to make more resources available to other processes, then resume the migration when
resource demand is lower.
During the migration, the system uses data on the source and destination enclosures. New data is written
to the new enclosures. Non-migrated data is updated on the source enclosures, and migrated data is
updated on the destination enclosures. If the migration is interrupted, the migration can resume migrating
blocks that have not been marked as migrated.
During the migration, each block of data is copied and verified, the source block is freed and marked as
migrated, and the system index is updated to use the new location. New data that was destined to land in
the source block will now be redirected to destination block. All new data block allocations that would
have been allocated from source are allocated from the destination.
The Migration copy process is done at the shelf level, not the logical data level, so all disk sectors on the
source shelf are accessed and copied over regardless of whether there is data on them. Therefore, the
Storage Migration Utility cannot be used to shrink a logical data footprint.

Note: Because the data set is divided between the source and destination enclosures during migration,
you cannot halt a migration and resume use of only the source enclosures. Once started, the migration
must complete. If a failure, such as a faulty disk drive, interrupts the migration, address the issue and
resume the migration.

Depending on the amount of data to migrate and the throttle settings selected, a storage migration can
take days or weeks. When all data is migrated, the finalize process, which must be manually initiated
using the storage migration finalize command, restarts the filesystem. During the restart, the
source enclosures are removed from the system configuration and the destination enclosures become
part of the filesystem. When the finalize process is complete, the source enclosures can be removed from
the system.

Migration planning considerations

Consider the following guidelines before starting a storage migration.
 Storage migration requires a single-use license and operates on system models supported by DD OS
version 5.7 or later.

Note: Storage Migration can be done one to one, one to many or many to one of enclosures or disk
packs with the following list of requirements and cautions. Proper planning for storage migration is
critical to efficiently move the data with performance considerations taken into account. If multiple
storage migration operations are required, each storage migration process will require a separate
license.

 The destination enclosures must:

 Be new, unassigned shelves.

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  Be supported on the DD system model.
 Have the correct shelf to shelf or controller to shelf SAS cabling as appropriate.
 Contain at least as much usable capacity as the enclosure(s) they are replacing.

Note: It is not possible to determine the utilization of the source shelf. The Data Domain system
performs all calculations based on the capacity of the shelf.

 Data migration is not supported for disks in the system controller.

CAUTION: Do not upgrade DD OS until the in-progress storage migration is complete.

 Storage migration cannot start when the file system is disabled or while a DD OS upgrade is in
progress, another migration is in progress, or a RAID reconstruction is in progress.

Note: If a storage migration is in progress, a new storage migration license is required to start a new
storage migration operation after the in-progress migration completes. The presence or absence of a
storage migration license is reported as part of the upgrade precheck.

 All specified source enclosures must be in the same tier (active or archive).
 There can be only one disk group in each source enclosure, and all disks in the disk group must be
installed in within the same enclosure.
 All disks in each destination enclosure must be of the same type (for example, all SATA or all SAS).
 After migration begins, the destination enclosures cannot be removed.
 Source enclosures cannot be removed until migration is complete and finalized.
 The storage migration duration depends on the system resources (which differ for different system
models), the availability of system resources, and the data quantity to migrate. Storage migration can
take days or weeks to complete.

DS60 shelf considerations

The DS60 dense shelf can hold 60 disks, allowing the customer to use the full amount of space in the
rack. The drives are accessed from the top of the shelf, by extending the shelf from the cabinet. Due to
the weight of the shelves (approximately 225 lbs when fully loaded) read this section before proceeding
with a storage migration to DS60 shelves.

Note: For storage migration, the DS60 shelf can be addressed as an entire unit when fully populated or
by each disk pack.

Be aware of the following considerations when working with the DS60 shelf:

CAUTION: Loading shelves at the top of the rack may cause the shelf to tip over.

CAUTION: Validate that the floor can support the total weight of the DS60 shelves.

CAUTION: Validate that the racks can provide enough power to the DS60 shelves.

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CAUTION: When adding more than five DS60s in the first rack, or more than six DS60s in the second
rack, stabilizer bars and a ladder are required to maintain the DS60 shelves.

Evaluating migration readiness

You can use the system to evaluate storage migration readiness without committing to start the migration.

1. [ ] Install the destination enclosures using the instructions in the product installation guides.
2. [ ] Select Administration > Licenses and verify that the storage migration license is installed.
3. [ ] If the storage migration license is not installed, click Add Licenses and add the license.
4. [ ] Select Hardware > Storage, then click Migrate Data.
5. [ ] In the Select a Task dialog, select Estimate, then click Next.
6. [ ] In the Select Existing Enclosures dialog, use the checkboxes to select each of the source
enclosures for the storage migration, then click Next.
7. [ ] In the Select New Enclosures dialog, use the checkboxes to select each of the destination
enclosures for the storage migration, then click Next.
The Add Licenses button allows you to add storage licenses for the new enclosures as needed,
without interrupting the current task.
8. [ ] In the Review Migration Plan dialog, review the estimated migration schedule, then click Next.
9. [ ] Review the precheck results in the Verify Migration Preconditions dialog, then click Close.
If any of the precheck tests fail, resolve the issue before you start the migration.

Viewing migration status

DD System Manager provides two ways to view storage migration status.

1. [ ] Select Hardware > Storage.

In the Storage area, review the Storage Migration Status line. If the status is Not Licensed, you must
add a license before using any storage migration features. If the storage migration license is installed,
the status can be one of the following: None, Starting, Migrating, Paused by User, Paused by System,
Copy Completed - Pending Finalization, Finalizing, Failed during Copy, or Failed during Finalize.
2. [ ] If a storage migration is in progress, click View Storage Migration to view the progress dialogs.

Note: The migration status shows the percentage of blocks transferred. In a system with many free
blocks, the free blocks are not migrated, but they are included in the progress indication. In this
situation, the progress indication will climb quickly and then slow when the data migration starts.

3. [ ] When a storage migration is in progress, you can also view the status by selecting Health >
Jobs.

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