UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users

hello, i have a dell Poweredge 2950 ( Server ) and an IBM storage device DS 3000 family ( Storage ) . I am supposed to link the IBM storage device to the Dell Poweredge via "Emulex 4Gb Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapter".

I have put the addapter card in my server and connected it to the storage. When i lspci on my server i get this output :

0c:00.0 Fibre Channel: Emulex Corporation Zephyr-X LightPulse Fibre Channel Host Adapter (rev 02)

So that makes me belive that Suse knows about the adapter card. Problem is i have not been able to make the dell server "see" the storage device via the adapter card ( which is connected using optic fibers ). Another problem is that documantation is kind of scarce and i haven't used anything like this before. Can anyone help me figure this out ? What do i need to do in order to make this work ?

Have you created a LUN on the storage array? Has it been masked (or unmasked) appropriately so your fibre HBA can see it? If so, if doing this dynamically, have you run:

rescan-scsi-bus.sh -w -l

as root on your linux host?

You can do lsscsi to see what devices can be seen afterwards.

I didn't create the LUN. How can i create it ?

First update your firmware to latest levels (if you haven't already).

IBM Entry Level Disk Storage: Overview - IBM System Storage


You'll need to install the SMclient software on a machine connected to the array. Often times this is a machine connected out-of-band directly to the ethernet mgmt port of the storage array... but I believe the software can send messages via the fibre HBA (in some cases) to communicate with the unit. You'll have to look at the compatibility matrix from IBM to determine if you have the right pieces for that... so I recommend that you do the out-of-band option.

Read all about it from the Redbook at:
IBM Redbooks | IBM System Storage DS3000: Introduction and Implementation Guide

I might have access to one of these devices at the office, but it's likely we've got it configured with some other kind of proprietary IBM sw... (let's just say IBM doesn't get a "user friendly" award in this case).

Anyway, assuming you can get a Windows or Linux host connected to the out-of-band ethernet port of the DS3000 and get the Storage Manger sw installed (SMclient), then from that interface you can configure LUNs, etc.

HTH,
Chris