Adapter; Planning And Considerations - IBM TotalStorage DS300 Best Practices Manual

9.1 Boot Microsoft Windows Server 2003 from DS400
with IBM SMB Host Bus Adapter
The setup of an IBM Eserver xSeries 236 with two IBM SMB Host Bus
Adapters connected with multiple paths to a DS400 will be explained in detail.
The IBM SMB Host Bus Adapter is used to boot the system from the DS400.
9.1.1, "Planning and considerations" on page 448
9.1.2, "SAN and network setup" on page 449
9.1.3, "TotalStorage DS400 setup" on page 451
9.1.4, "Host bus adapter setup and installation preparation" on page 455
9.1.5, "HBA driver disk creation" on page 468
9.1.6, "Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition installation" on
page 469
9.1.7, "Driver and service pack installation and finishing the setup" on
page 473
9.1.8, "Enable initiator access to all TotalStorage DS400 ports" on page 481
9.1.9, "Finish IBM SMB Host Bus Adapter BIOS setup" on page 486

9.1.1 Planning and considerations

The IBM SMB host bus adapter has a feature which allows you to boot from a
LUN 0 of any target the adapter finds during the POST. This allows you to boot
an IBM ^xSeries 236 without specifying a dedicated boot target and
LUN. The advantage is a simpler setup and the ability that the server will boot no
matter which controller owns the logical drive to boot from. This is archived by
using the IBM SMB Host Bus Adapter and the cabling of the TotalStorage DS400
as shown in "Fabric attachment with quad paths without interswitch link" on
page 444.
When a problem occurs which might prevent the server from booting, the
troubleshooting is much more complicated than using local boot. There is no
operating system to check what went wrong.
The setup consists of redundant paths to the storage. This results in seeing the
same disk multiple times. This is a kind of shared storage and this cannot be
handled by Microsoft Windows. A setup change for the period of operating
system installation is required. The steps are described in this example when
they are needed.
448
IBM TotalStorage DS300 and DS400 Best Practices Guide