Working With Management Groups; Functions Of Management Groups; Planning Management Groups - HP StoreVirtual 4000 User Manual

8 Working with management groups

A management group is a collection of one or more storage systems. It is the container within
which you cluster storage systems and create volumes for storage. Creating a management group
is the first step in creating HP LeftHand Storage.

Functions of management groups

Provide the highest administrative domain for the SAN. Typically, storage administrators will
configure at least one management group within their data center.
Organize storage systems into different groups for categories of applications and data. For
example, you might create a management group for Oracle applications and a separate
management group for Exchange.
Ensure added administrative security. For example, you could give the system administrator
in charge of Exchange access to the Exchange management group but not the Oracle
management group.
Prevent some storage resources from being used unintentionally. If a storage system is not in
a management group, the management group cannot use that storage system as a storage
resource. For example, all of the storage systems in a management group can be pooled into
clusters for use by volumes in that group. To prevent a new storage system from being included
in this pool of storage, put it in a separate management group.
Contain clustering managers. Within a management group, one or more of the storage systems
acts as the managers that control data transfer and replication.
Monitoring of daily device logs and real-time events by Insight Remote Support is performed at the
management group level.

Planning management groups

Before you create a management group, you must plan for each component, as described in
Table 33 (page
Table 33 Management group components
Component
Storage systems
Administrative users
Date and time configuration
103).
Description
Before you create a management group, record the IP
addresses of the storage systems for the cluster. Also,
ensure that the storage systems are configured properly
for your network environment. See
(page 45).
CAUTION: If you are using a VSA, be sure to clone the
VSA when it is the Available Systems pool. You cannot
clone a VSA once it is in a management group.
NOTE: For Fibre Channel connectivity, ensure that you
add at least two Fibre Channel-enabled storage systems
in the management group. This meets the minimum
requirements to ensure redundant Fibre Channel connection
paths. Fibre Channel also requires a 10 GbE network
connection.
When you create a management group, you must add the
first administrative user. This user has full administrative
permissions. Add other users after the management group
is created. See "Adding an administrative user" (page
You can use an NTP server or manually set the date, time,
and time zone for the management group. Determine which
Functions of management groups 103
"Network best practices"
76).