Earthlink

Symantec Connect - Storage and Clustering - Articles http://www.symantec.com/connect/item-feeds/article/701/feed/all/all en SFHA Product Page Links http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/sfha-product-page-links   <div>For your browser bookmarking pleasure...</div> <div> </div> <div>I'm often asked for links to product information, but since we have so many products, it's kind of tough to remember them all, so I thought I'd put up this post as an easy way to get at commonly-requested links for Symantec's Storage and Availability Management Group (SAMG) products and solutions. So, starting with our flagship products, here we go...</div> <div> </div> <div>First is our <a href="http://www.symantec.com/storage-foundation">Storage Foundation</a> product, consisting of Veritas File System (VxFS) and Veritas Volume Manager (VxVM) for Linux, Solaris, AIX and HP-UX. In addition to core Storage Foundation, there are special editions for <a href="http://www.symantec.com/storage-foundation-for-oracle-rac">Oracle RAC</a> as well as for <a href="http://www.symantec.com/storage-foundation-for-sybase-ase-ce">Sybase ASE Cluster Edition</a>. There's even a free version known as <a href="http://www.symantec.com/storage-foundation-basic">Storage Foundation Basic</a> which can be used on small systems.</div> <div> </div> <div>For the Windows platform, we offer <a href="http://www.symantec.com/storage-foundation-high-availability-for-windows">Storage Foundation for Windows HA</a>, which comes bundled with <a href="http://www.symantec.com/cluster-server">Veritas Cluster Server</a>, our flagship high availability solution. VCS is also available for the Linux, Solaris, AIX and HP-UX platforms.</div> <div> </div> <div>For applications requiring concurrent file system access from multiple nodes, we have <a href="http://www.symantec.com/cluster-file-system">Storage Foundation Cluster File System</a> for Linux, Solaris, AIX and HP-UX platforms.</div> <div> </div> <div>For disaster recovery, Storage Foundation users can use our <a href="http://www.symantec.com/replicator">Volume Replicator</a> solution to establish and maintain block-level replicas of their application data at a remote site.</div> <div> </div> <div>Long a core component of our Volume Manager product, <a href="http://www.symantec.com/dynamic-multi-pathing">Dynamic Multi Pathing</a> was made available starting in 2011 as a stand-alone product. There's even a <a href="http://www.symantec.com/dynamic-multi-pathing-for-vmware">special version of it available for VMware</a>.</div> <div> </div> <div>Speaking of VMware and virtualization, we also have <a href="http://www.symantec.com/application-ha">Application HA</a> to provide application-level high availability for VMware, KVM, LDOM (Oracle VM) and AIX Dynamic LPAR virtualization platforms.</div> <div> </div> <div>To provide single-pane-of-glass management for the entire Storage Foundation, Cluster Server and Application HA environment across all sites and platforms, we have <a href="http://www.symantec.com/veritas-operations-manager">Veritas Operations Manager (VOM)</a> and <a href="http://www.symantec.com/veritas-operations-manager-advanced">VOM Advanced</a>.</div> <div> </div> <div>For in-depth storage management and visibility, there's <a href="http://www.symantec.com/commandcentral-storage">Command Central Storage</a>, and for complete visibility into unstructured data ownership and usage patterns we offer <a href="http://www.symantec.com/data-insight">Data Insight</a>.</div> <div> </div> <div>Finally, there's <a href="http://sort.symantec.com">Symantec Operations Readiness Tool - SORT</a> - a free-of-charge, one-stop shop for information on compatibility, documentation, patches and the like, as well as complete assistance in managing your installed base of not just SAMG products, but NetBackup products, as well.</div> http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/sfha-product-page-links#comments Storage and Clustering ApplicationHA Cluster Server CommandCentral Dynamic Multi-Pathing SFHA Management (VOM, SORT) Storage and Clustering Documentation Storage Foundation Storage Foundation for Windows Volume Replicator Thu, 19 Apr 2012 22:56:23 +0000 Eric.Hennessey 2219411 at http://www.symantec.com/connect Strategies to Solve and Optimize Management of Multi-tiered Business Services http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/strategies-solve-and-optimize-management-multi-tiered-business-services Executive Summary Historically, datacenter administrators have been faced with challenges while managing multi-tier business services. The modern datacenter is often heterogeneous in terms of hardware, software, operating system and virtualization technologies. While new technologies such as virtualization offer cost savings and flexibility, they also introduce complexity in terms of management. Combined with the complexity of a heterogeneous environment, the challenge can be overwhelming. Using different management tools and different management procedures for each tier adds to this challenge. To address the above issues, Symantec has introduced a new feature called Virtual Business Services. Historically, Symantec has been providing customers with a single product set to standardize storage and availability management in the datacenter. This product set is known as Storage Foundation HA. It provides enterprise class high availability and storage management across multiple platforms, storage arrays and virtualization technologies. With Virtual Business Service and Storage Foundation HA combined together, Symantec provides an end-to-end solution for Storage and Availability management. This white paper covers a set of Virtual Business Services use cases, recommendations and example environments. 　 Scope of document The intended use of this document is to provide information about how Virtual Business Services can be implemented. The document describes a number of example problems and how VBS can be used to eliminate them. Note that this document should not be seen as implementation instructions. This is covered by regular product documentation, which is available on the Symantec Operation Readiness Tool web site (SORT). 　 Audience The target audience for this document is datacenter/system administrators, architects, consultants, or anyone who is interested in management and availability of multi-tier business services. Background Symantec Virtual Business Services (hereafter known as "VBS") combines the power of the well-known products VERITAS Storage Foundation, VERITAS Cluster Server, SYMANTEC ApplicationHA and VERITAS Operations Manager. Together, these products provide an end-to-end solution for High Availability and Management in a multi-tier environment. VBS help customers to efficiently manage applications, high availability and security across multiple tiers, different operating systems and different virtualization technologies.   Written by: Niclas Blaback, Principal Technical Product Manager <div class="item-list"><ul class="attachment-list"><li class="first last"><a href="http://www.symantec.com/connect/sites/default/files/Strategies-to-solve-and-optimize-mgmt-of-multi-tiered-business-services-1.2.pdf">Strategies-to-solve-and-optimize-mgmt-of-multi-tiered-business-services-1.2.pdf</a></li> </ul></div> http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/strategies-solve-and-optimize-management-multi-tiered-business-services#comments Storage and Clustering ApplicationHA Cluster Server SFHA Management (VOM, SORT) Storage Foundation Storage Foundation for Windows Best Practice Configuring Tip/How to Virtualization Fri, 23 Mar 2012 19:36:15 +0000 niclas_blaback 2183291 at http://www.symantec.com/connect Creating a Read-Only User account for SMIA operations in Network Advisor / DCFM for use with CommandCentral Storage http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/creating-read-only-user-account-smia-operations-network-advisor-dcfm-use-commandcentral-sto  1. Create a new Role  with  “SMI Operations” privileges    Example:        User ->Roles – Click on Add            > Add Role Window displays        Give a name and description to new Role - example Role “SMI Operations” to be designed as a Role for SMI-S Agent Operations.            > Available Privileges Table -> Select “SAN – SMIA Operations” and add it to “Read Only” section <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2175771/_original" />    2. After a new Read-Only SMIA Operation Role is created, make sure the new Role is listed in Roles Window and make sure AOR window says “All Fabrics”.   Example: <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2175761/_original" />      Notice that Different fabrics can be assigned to different users and roles.     As an example you can assign one fabric to one user, another fabric to another user etc.    Note: If an Administrator wishes to discover ALL fabrics managed by this Network Advisor, then “All Fabrics” needs to be assigned to this newly created Role.   Create a New User and assign New SMIA Operations Role to this User:     Click on Add in Users Window:          > Provide User Name, Password and Description       In this example credentials are: ccs\password and we will use them later in the configuration under CommandCentral Storage (CCS) device creation          > From “Available Roles / AOR” Window select:               > “All Fabrics” and add it to AOR section  in “Selected Roles / AOR” Window               > “SMI Operations” Role previously created and add it to Roles section in Selected Roles / AOR” Window   <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2175751/_original" />    4. Click OK then Close  5. Test new “ccs “ user by logging into Network Advisor GUI with ccs account. Note: All management functions should be grayed out (disabled) for ccs user. For example ccs user cannot do any Zoning operations etc. Here is an example when logged into the NA with ccs account now: Notice Discovery, Zoning and all other Management features are grayed out (disabled). <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2175731/_original" /> 6. The Storage Administrator will use these credentials to create a connection when configuring the CCS explorer to discover the device. <ul> <li>First login to the CCS Console <a href="https://%3cms_servername%3e:14191/">https://<MS_serverName>:14191</a></li> </ul> <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2175721/_original" />   7.      Navigate to the devices page where  the functionality of adding a device resides: Settings Summary  »   Configured Devices   <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2175711/_original" /> 8.      Configure a new device by selecting Go <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2175701/_original" /> 9.      In the popup box, choose the device type and vendor, then click Next: <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2175691/_original" /> 10.  Enter the required information correctly and click on Next: <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2175681/_original" /> 11.  With the verify button the credentials will be confirmed when Next is clicked: <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2175671/_original" /> Note: a successful status is required to complete the configuration and clicking Finish will return back to the application. Note: there is a time out value and too great of a delay will result in being logged out and require re-authentication and repetition of the above configuration steps. 12.  Once configuration is completed there will be a requirement to allow full discover to complete which can take some time but will show the device and explorer in Normal condition. <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2175661/_original" /> 13.  The application will then be populated with the  data and the tabs for access to the data show on the device overview page: <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2175651/_original" /> 14.  The storage administrator can now generate CCS reports, use the Brocade and fabric data in managing the storage environment. http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/creating-read-only-user-account-smia-operations-network-advisor-dcfm-use-commandcentral-sto#comments Storage and Clustering CommandCentral Agents Compatibility Configuring Tip/How to Troubleshooting Mon, 19 Mar 2012 17:56:03 +0000 RodP 2175351 at http://www.symantec.com/connect Can Veritas CommandCentral Storage (CCS) complete discovery with a read only account for Network Appliance filers? http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/can-veritas-commandcentral-storage-ccs-complete-discovery-read-only-account-network-applian   <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody> <tr> <td> Problem: Customer's Storage Administrator may not be willing to allow applications or service identities to have administrative access for discovery purposes. Caveat is that there will not be the ability to manage the array from the application leaving options such as LUN creation or destruction nonfunctional. </td> </tr> </tbody> </table>   <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody> <tr> <td> Error: No Arrays support LUN creation User 'Named' denied access - missing required capability: 'Capability_unassigned' where 'Capability_unassigned' = the capability like 'cli-vfiler' and 'Named'= userI </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td> Environment: NetApp Ontapi 8.0.1P5 7-Mode 8.0.1 7-Mode 8.0P5 7.3.3 7.3.2P3 7.3.1.1 CCS 5.2RU2 VERSION=5.2RU2 KIT=5.2.2203.0 FIXID=F520022590954 DATE=Wed Jan 25 13:22:23 2012 DESCRIPTION=CC Storage 5.2RU2 Hotfix for Control Host - NetApp Explorer HotFix#1 FIXID=F520022567036 DATE=Wed Jan 25 13:43:53 2012 DESCRIPTION=CC Storage 5.2RU2 Jumbo Hotfix for Control Hosts OBSOLETES=F520022533111   CCS 5.2RU3 VERSION=5.2RU3 KIT=5.2.2539.0 </td> </tr> </tbody> </table>   <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody> <tr> <td> Cause Full functionality is designed to work with full root access user. </td> </tr> </tbody> </table>   <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td> Solution To use this behavior there are no codes changes required on the CCS application side. Using Network Appliance (NetApp)  tools, a root capable user should configure a new ReadOnly user for use as the credentials with CCS device configuration. Note: explanations of the capabilities in the NetApp Ontapi version installed are available in the <a href="http://media.netapp.com/documents/tr-3358.pdf">Role-Based Access Control for Data manual</a>. As example: <table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="2"> Capability types. </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Capability Type </td> <td> Description </td> </tr> <tr> <td> api </td> <td> Grants the specified role the capability to execute Data ONTAP API calls. The api-* type includes all of the Data ONTAP API calls. These commands are only available with login-http-admin, so in general, any api-* command must also include this login. The format for this is api-<ontap-api-command>, which means allow a specific command/subcommand. Here, it is possible to list only subcommands, like api-system-get-info, or a command and its subcommands, like api-system-get-* , or even api-system-*. api-* Grants the specified role all api capabilities. api-api_call_family-* Grants the specified role the capability to call all API routine in the family api_call_family. api-api_call Grants the specified role the capability to call the API routine api_call. Note: You have more fine-grained control of the command set with the api capabilities because you can give subcommand capabilities as well. Users with api capability also require the login-http-admin capability to execute API calls. </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> Demonstrated technique will rely on the useradmin command as documented in the <a href="http://now.netapp.com/NOW/knowledge/docs/ontap/rel733/pdfs/ontap/sysadmin.pdf">Data ONTAP® <version> System Administration Guide</a> The configuration change will require the creation of a new user, group and roles. Roles are plural as the command will exceed the clipboard limitation of the command line and use of a second role as a workaround is required. Requirements: Root equivalent access to the NetApp telnet console as the steps will be performed from the commandline and not Operations Manager or the GUI. Knowledge of the NetApp filer servername, IP and ports opened from the CCS Management Server (MS) to the NetApp filer(s) through any firewalls: 80  HTTP over TCP/IP  for ONTAPI discovery and SICL-based monitoring 443  HTTPS and SSL over TCP/IP for ONTAPI discovery and SICL-based monitoring portmap 111 UDP for SICL-based monitoring Admin access to the CCS Console GUI  with the ability to add devices to the configuration. See the attached Technical articles for configuration and connection requirements between the CCS Control Host (CH) and the filer(s). Steps: Prior to configuring the device from the CCS MS there must be valid credentials. Note: if the configuration steps in the application are completed prior to the Filer user creation the Administrator of the filer will see errors in the NetApp syslog similar to: Tue Jan 31 16:19:22 PST [FilerName: useradmin.unauthorized.user:warning]: User 'ReadOnly' denied access - missing required capability: 'login-http-admin' Connect to the filer via ssh / telnet and login as a root equivalent user with appropriate capabilities to create a new user. 1) Create a new group for the ReadOnly user: netfiler01> useradmin group add RO_Group Sat Feb  3 17:05:00 PST[netfiler01: useradmin.added.deleted:info]: The group 'RO_Group' has been added. Group <RO_Group> added.   2) Create the user and assign it to the new group: netfiler01> useradmin user add ReadOnly-gRO_Group New password: Un1quePW Retype new password:Un1quePW User <ReadOnly> added.   Sat Feb  3 17:11:00PST [c2107-netfiler01: useradmin.added.deleted:info]: The user 'ReadOnly' has been added.   3) Create the roles required with the appropriate capabilities: Note: These must be contiguous on a single line. Note: If exceeding the line length, there will be a failure such as: - when truncated for an entry = Error: Invalid capability - when exceeded the line = not found.  Type '?' for a list of commands netfiler01> useradmin role add RO_role_1 -a api-aggr-get-root-name,api-aggr-list-info,api-cifs-share-list-iter-start,api-disk-list-info,api-fcp-adapter-initiators-list-info,api-fcp-adapter-list-info,api-fcp-get-cfmode,api-igroup-list-info,api-iscsi-adapter-initiators-list-info,api-iscsi-adapter-list-info,api-iscsi-node-get-name,api-license-list-info,api-lun-get-serial-number,api-lun-get-space-reservation-info,api-lun-list-info,api-lun-map-list-info,api-nfs-exportfs-list-rules,api-perf-object-get-instances,api-qtree-list,api-quota-report-iter-start,api-quota-status,api-snapmirror-get-status,api-snapmirror-list-schedule,api-snapmirror-list-sync-schedule,api-snapshot-get-reserve,api-snapshot-get-schedule,api-snapshot-list-info,api-snapshot-reserve-list-info,api-snapshot-volume-info,api-system-cli,api-system-get-info,api-system-get-ontapi-version,api-system-get-version,api-vfiler-list-info,api-volume-get-root-name,api-volume-list-info,login-http-admin,api-cifs-share-list-iter-next Sat Feb  3 17:19:00 PST [netfiler01: useradmin.added.deleted:info]: The role 'RO_role_1' has been added. Role <RO_role_1> added. to complete the rest of the capabilities and remain under the line limit create a second role netfiler01> useradmin role add RO_role_2 -a api-vfiler-get-status,api-quota-report-iter-next,cli-priv,cli-version,cli-sysconfig,cli-cf,cli-nis,cli-aggr,cli-vol,cli-vfiler,security-api-vfiler,cli-lun,cli-ifconfig,cli-storage                     Sat Feb  3 17:21:00 PST[netfiler01: useradmin.added.deleted:info]: The role 'RO_role_2' has been added. Role <RO_role_2> added. 4) add your roles to the group previously created: netfiler01> useradmin group modify ReadOnly -r RO_role_1,RO_role_2 Sat Feb  3 17:24:00 PST [netfiler01: useradmin.added.deleted:info]: The group 'RO_Group' has been modified. Group <RO_Group> modified. 5) Confirm you have the expected capabilities: netfiler01> useradmin user list ReadOnly Name: ReadOnly Info: Rid: 131080 Groups: RO_Group Full Name: Allowed Capabilities: api-aggr-get-root-name,api-aggr-list-info,api-cifs-share-list-iter-start,api-disk-list-info,api-fcp-adapter-initiators-list-info,api-fcp-adapter-list-info,api-fcp-get-cfmode,api-igroup-list-info,api-iscsi-adapter-initiators-list-info,api-iscsi-adapter-list-info,api-iscsi-node-get-name,api-license-list-info,api-lun-get-serial-number,api-lun-get-space-reservation-info,api-lun-list-info,api-lun-map-list-info,api-nfs-exportfs-list-rules,api-perf-object-get-instances,api-qtree-list,api-quota-report-iter-start,api-quota-status,api-snapmirror-get-status,api-snapmirror-list-schedule,api-snapmirror-list-sync-schedule,api-snapshot-get-reserve,api-snapshot-get-schedule,api-snapshot-list-info,api-snapshot-reserve-list-info,api-snapshot-volume-info,api-system-cli,api-system-get-info,api-system-get-ontapi-version,api-system-get-version,api-vfiler-list-info,api-volume-get-root-name,api-volume-list-info,login-http-admin,api-cifs-share-list-iter-next,api-vfiler-get-status,api-quota-report-iter-next,cli-priv,cli-version,cli-sysconfig,cli-cf,cli-nis,cli-aggr,cli-vol,cli-vfiler,security-api-vfiler,cli-lun,cli-ifconfig,cli-storage Password min/max age in days: 0/4294967295 Status: enabled The ReadOnly user should also now be able to login to the filer console to view status and test to ensure there can be no changes committed. <a href="http://netfiler01/na_admin">http://netfiler01/na_admin</a> The NetApp configuration is completed and the storage administrator can now login to the CCS admin GUI Console.   6) <a href="https://%3cms_servername%3e:14191/">https://<MS_serverName>:14191</a> <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2156201/_original" /> 7) Navigate to the devices page where  the functionality of adding a device resides:   Settings Summary  »   Configured Devices   <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2156181/_original" /> 8) Configure a new device by selecting Go <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2156191/_original" /> 9) In the popup box, choose the device type and vendor, then click Next: <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2156151/_original" /> 10) Enter the required information correctly and click on Next: <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2156171/_original" /> 11) With the verify button the credentials will be confirmed when Next is clicked: <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2156221/_original" /> Note: a successful status is required to complete the configuration and clicking Finish will return back to the application. Note: there is a time out value and too great of a delay will result in being logged out and require re-authentication and repetition of the above configuration steps. Once configuration is completed there will be a requirement to allow full discover to complete which can take some time but will show the device and explorer in Normal condition. <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2156211/article thumbnail" /> The application will then be populated with the  data and the tabs for access to the data show on the device overview page: <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2156161/article thumbnail" /> The storage administrator can now generate CCS reports, use the NetApp data in rolled up reports to Veritas CommandCentral Enterprise Reporter. </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/can-veritas-commandcentral-storage-ccs-complete-discovery-read-only-account-network-applian#comments Storage and Clustering CommandCentral Agents Defense & Intelligence Federal Government State & Local Government Configuring Solaris Integration Windows Tip/How to Tue, 06 Mar 2012 19:29:59 +0000 RodP 2156261 at http://www.symantec.com/connect What are your high availability options if you are running vCenter Server in a virtual machine? http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/what-are-your-high-availability-options-if-you-are-running-vcenter-server-virtual-machine Whilst presenting to various customers and at many conferences about Symantec ApplicationHA solution, I often hear questions about the availability of a virtualized vCenter Server. There are various options available if your system is sitting on physical hardware, Symantec has Veritas Cluster Server (VCS), which has a dedicated vCenter agent to protect the various components of vCenter Server as well as the accompanying Oracle or SQL databases. When vCenter Server is virtualized it is now possible to use ApplicationHA to protect vCenter which is especially ideal if using vMotion and if the vCenter Server is VMwareHA enabled. With VMwareHA and ApplicationHA working together, the level of protection for the virtual infrastructure along with the application will assist in keeping vCenter online with minimal downtime, more often the issue with downtime are typically due to application faults.  According to Gartner application failure can contribute up to 40% as a leading cause of unplanned downtime. Wouldn’t it be easier to have a solution that monitors all the key components of a virtualized vCenter Server along with SQL or Oracle backend configuration databases and resolve any issues that may occur within them? Symantec ApplicationHA has this ability.  Besides having a tailored agent for vCenter Server, ApplicationHA can also control a vast array of enterprise applications such as SQL, Oracle, Exchange and SAP to just name a few.  All of the application statuses can be viewed from within the Symantec ApplicationHA Dashboard directly from within the VMware vSphere Client. <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2147531/_original" style="width: 600px; height: 480px;" /> Fig 1. Dashboard Management view of applications configured with Symantec ApplicationHA To control vCenter Server, ApplicationHA primarily monitors the services that are installed with VMware vCenter Server. However, if configured on the same machine as vCenter Server, ApplicationHA also monitors the SQL Server or Oracle database. ApplicationHA automatically discovers and monitors the databases associated to vCenter Server. For instance, during the vCenter Server installation, you can choose to install the embedded version of SQL Server (SQL Server Express) to host vCenter Server’s information. If you install it, then ApplicationHA monitors it. You can configure application monitoring for vCenter Server on a virtual machine using the ApplicationHA Configuration Wizard. vCenter Server protection of the vCenter environment can be carried out in matter of minutes and management is integrated directly in vSphere Client or Veritas Operations Manager. <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2147551/_original" style="width: 600px; height: 480px;" /> Fig 2. Symantec ApplicationHA Configuration Wizard for vCenter Server. <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2147561/_original" style="width: 600px; height: 480px;" /> Fig 3. vSphere Client view of the configured vCenter Server application If protection of your vCenter Server is important to you and budget is limited, then take a look at Symantec ApplicationHA and test drive a 60 day evaluation. See for yourself just how flexible this solution is for availability of your applications running in virtual machines, for vCenter Server and other applications as well. Get more info and download a trial version at <a href="http://www.symantec.com/application-ha">http://www.symantec.com/application-ha</a> http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/what-are-your-high-availability-options-if-you-are-running-vcenter-server-virtual-machine#comments Storage and Clustering ApplicationHA Configuring Features Installing Tip/How to Virtualization Thu, 01 Mar 2012 18:24:59 +0000 Virtually_LG 2147581 at http://www.symantec.com/connect High Availability In Virtual Environments With Veritas Cluster Server and Symantec ApplicationHA http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/high-availability-virtual-environments-veritas-cluster-server-and-symantec-applicationha Symantec ApplicationHA is an easy-to-use availability solution specifically built for providing application availability in virtual environments. Veritas Cluster Server is the industry’s leading clustering solution for reducing business critical applications’ planned and unplanned downtime. Through a combination of Veritas Cluster Server and Symantec ApplicationHA, Symantec delivers the broadest out-of-box high availability and disaster recovery support for physical and virtual platforms, databases and mission-critical applications. <h3>High Availability in virtual environments</h3> Server consolidation, one of the most immediate cost-minimizing benefits of server virtualization, provides the ability to run a large number of applications in different virtual machines hosted in the same physical server. However, as the number of critical applications running in the server increases, the importance of ensuring the high availability of this server increases multifold. In addition to protecting against traditional infrastructure availability risks such as storage, networking and power, the virtualized environments impose the additional requirement of ensuring that the virtual machines are highly available as well. Within any enterprise, there are a number of applications that are critical to the success of the business. Regardless of whether the applications are running in physical or virtual environments, the Service Level Agreement (SLA) expectations for the uptime of these critical applications remain unchanged. With the applications running within the isolation offered by the virtual machines, it is critical that the application status is factored into the overall high availability and disaster recovery considerations. For a High Availability (HA) solution to be effective in virtual environments, it would need to provide HA not just to the virtual machines but also to the applications running inside the virtual machines. Further, the HA solution should provide this protection without compromising on the inherent benefits of server virtualization, such as easy deployment, rapid provisioning and VM migration. An additional need for the HA solution is to provide deep visibility into the application running inside the virtual machine. Written by: Ranga Rajagopalan, Principal Product Manager, Storage and Availability Management Download full white paper below.   <div class="item-list"><ul class="attachment-list"><li class="first last"><a href="http://www.symantec.com/connect/sites/default/files/High_Availability_In_Virtual_Environments.pdf">High_Availability_In_Virtual_Environments.pdf</a></li> </ul></div> http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/high-availability-virtual-environments-veritas-cluster-server-and-symantec-applicationha#comments Storage and Clustering ApplicationHA Cluster Server Application monitoring Clustering High availability Evaluating Training Virtualization Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:13:51 +0000 Ranga Rajagopalan 2129431 at http://www.symantec.com/connect Cached Oracle Disk Manager: Usage Guidelines and Best Practices http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/cached-oracle-disk-manager-usage-guidelines-and-best-practices Storage Foundation provides the ability to increase server utilization, simplify database infrastructure and reduce operational costs. This technical white paper provides an overview of the Storage Foundation Cached Oracle Disk Manager (CODM) usage guidelines and best practices in order to achieve these objectives. <h3>Resources:</h3> <a href="http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/oracle-database-consolidation-symantec-white-paper">Oracle Database Consolidation: Symantec White Paper</a> <a href="http://www.symantec.com/business/database-management">Database Management and High Availability</a> <div class="item-list"><ul class="attachment-list"><li class="first last"><a href="http://www.symantec.com/connect/sites/default/files/Cached Oracle Disk Manager - Use and Best Practices Whitepaper Final.pdf">Cached Oracle Disk Manager - Use and Best Practices Whitepaper Final.pdf</a></li> </ul></div> http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/cached-oracle-disk-manager-usage-guidelines-and-best-practices#comments Storage and Clustering Storage Foundation AIX Database Best Practice HP-UX Linux Configuring Oracle Features Solaris Tip/How to Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:15:38 +0000 sai_mukundan 2053071 at http://www.symantec.com/connect Oracle Database Consolidation: Symantec White Paper http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/oracle-database-consolidation-symantec-white-paper Storage Foundation provides the ability to consolidate Oracle databases to increase server utilization, simplify database infrastructure and reduce operational costs. This white paper provides an overview of the Cached Oracle Disk Manager (CODM) capability of Storage Foundation to achieve these business objectives. <h2>Introduction</h2> Moore's Law states that the number of transistors on a chip will double approximately every two years. The traditional technology refresh cycle of enterprises has the net effect of ever-faster processors entering the data center on a regular basis. However, the potential benefits of energy efficiency and reduced footprint yielded by the newer servers will be realized only at relatively high levels of server utilization. The impact of these benefits is an issue solely from an economic perspective. Energy costs increase as a percentage of datacenter spend and this increase is compounded by increasing energy costs. Consolidation onto a decreased number of servers is vital to increasing server utilization and realizing the predicted return on investment of the technology refresh process. More recently, in these tighter times, companies have been laboring to pare IT infrastructure costs. Even as they do so, they are expected to maintain or improve service quality. Oracle Databases are a major component of providing such high service levels for many enterprise applications and constitute a big portion of the operational IT budget in terms of personnel and hardware.  Therefore, the consolidation of databases and database servers is becoming a priority for many organizations. Database consolidation refers to running multiple databases on a single server. Because databases are characterized by large memory and I/O throughput requirements, it is imperative that the underlying infrastructure is capable of hosting multiple database instances that were previously hosted across many underutilized servers. In addition, most database systems are designed for peak or worst-case scenarios since it is difficult to provide elasticity in both compute and storage capacity to meet the varying demands of database workloads. Cached Oracle Disk Manager is applicable in such workload environments and helps consolidate Oracle databases while maintaining the ease of management and operation. Such smart improvements in the efficiency of database management without comprising service levels can yield fast economic returns to build credibility with business users and senior management. <h2>Audience</h2> This article is applicable to those interested in leveraging the benefits of greater CPU and memory horsepower available in today’s servers to simplify Oracle database infrastructure and to manage operational costs. <h2>Technology Overview</h2> Oracle Databases can be characterized as having the following characteristics: large memory footprint, high physical I/O, high throughput to satisfy a large number of concurrent users, deterministic workloads that generally do not fluctuate beyond certain boundaries, and High Availability (HA). Given these characteristics, database servers are therefore configured with large memory, optimized storage, high end processors, and an HA architecture. When looking at consolidation of such Oracle databases, three phases are involved: <ol> <li>The first phase is the data collection phase which requires an inventory assessment of all servers, databases and applications. It is useful to understand historical server utilization and database workload trends. This will map out systems which may be heavily loaded during daylight hours due to database Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) workloads and systems which run data warehouse workloads that may be more active during overnight batch processing times.</li> <li>The second phase of consolidation involves an analysis of the phase one data to determine consolidation ratios. Consolidation greatly depends on the available memory levels in a system to accommodate database memory requirements. It is also useful to consolidate databases that have peak infrastructure requirements at different times.</li> <li>The third phase involves the actual process of consolidating the Oracle databases.   </li> </ol> In order to effectively follow such a phased consolidation approach, it is important to understand Oracle database memory requirements that will clearly highlight the benefits of Cached Oracle Disk Manager. Each Oracle database instance has a System Global Area (SGA) dedicated to hold information related to Oracle processes. The SGA is used to store incoming data and internal control information that is needed by the database. There are three main areas associated with the SGA - Buffer cache, Shared pool, and Redo log buffer. The Buffer Cache is where Oracle stores data blocks. The shared pool is used to hold SQL executable code and the log buffer specifies the amount of memory that Oracle uses when buffering entries to the log files. Typically the aggregate Oracle SGA gets sized to consume most of the available memory in a system. However, the drawback is that these SGA sizes cannot be dynamically changed to accommodate the varying memory demands of the consolidated databases. With CODM, the memory available in a system can be used across all databases. Think of it as secondary SGA. Thus, it is possible to stack more instances per server because the memory can be dynamically allocated as the aggregate workload varies over time. The result is higher throughput, leading to increased server utilization and better mixed workload performance since CODM can be enabled for specific Oracle database files that will benefit from this technology. Figure 1 below details the benefit of Cached Oracle Disk Manager for Oracle database consolidation. Note that the size of the server in the picture is intended to depict the server horsepower.  <img alt="" src="/connect/imagebrowser/view/image/2052991/_original" />  Figure 1: Database consolidation (before and after scenarios) <h2>Result – Reduce TCO</h2> The cost reduction is achieved through an increase in the physical server utilization and a corresponding reduction in the number of physical servers required while still meeting existing service levels. The reduction in the number of physical servers can in turn lead to a reduction in aggregate infrastructure management and energy costs. Also, there are potential cost savings from an Oracle Database licensing perspective as well. Oracle Database can be licensed by physical CPU or user count. With database consolidation, fewer processors are needed to run the given database workload thereby reducing the Oracle licensing cost. However, reducing the number of database servers may not necessarily reduce the total Oracle license cost because newer licensing models from Oracle charge on a per-core basis with a premium for more powerful processors. In that case, consolidation aims to minimize the overall Oracle database license cost by combining all low user count databases onto a single physical server and then licensing this server by maximum user count. Another way that the TCO can be reduced is through optimal alignment of all the additional Oracle database license options that are needed across the various databases. An example of such a strategy will be to consolidate all database instances that need the Oracle partitioning option on one server, instead of having to license partitioning for multiple servers. Cached Oracle Disk Manger was introduced in Storage Foundation 5.1 release and supports Oracle 10gr2, 11gr1 and 11gr2 database versions. For more information about Symantec Storage Foundation and Availability products, please visit go.symantec.com/ha.   <h2>Resources</h2> <a href="http://www.symantec.com/business/database-management">Database Management and High Availability</a> <a href="http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/cached-oracle-disk-manager-usage-guidelines-and-best-practices">Cached Oracle Disk Manager: Usage Guidelines and Best Practices</a>   Written by: Sai Mukundan, Senior Product Manager, Symantec Storage and Availability Management Group Copyright © 2011 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved. Symantec and the Symantec Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/oracle-database-consolidation-symantec-white-paper#comments Storage and Clustering Storage Foundation Database Oracle Features Training Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:31:42 +0000 sai_mukundan 2053001 at http://www.symantec.com/connect Announcing the Agenda for SAMG Customer Forum 2012 http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/announcing-agenda-samg-customer-forum-2012 We are excited to announce the agenda for the Storage and Availability Management Group (SAMG) Customer Forum 2012. We have only limited seats available for this highly technical event run by the engineers for the engineers. If you have not done already please <a href="http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/727324/Symantec-Storage-and-Availability-Management-Customer-Forum">Register now</a> to express your interest. We will notify you in the next few days. You can download the detailed agenda from the link below. In brief, we have planned <ol> <li>10-12 technical sessions including HOWTO, Deep-dives, Performance Tuning and Architecture</li> <li>Parallel lab sessions for those who want to do hands-on exercises</li> <li>Several 1:1 sessions with engineers to discuss topics that are specific to your environment</li> </ol> Looking forward to seeing you! <div class="item-list"><ul class="attachment-list"><li class="first"><a href="http://www.symantec.com/connect/sites/default/files/Customer-Forum-Agenda-public_0.pdf">Customer-Forum-Agenda-public.pdf</a></li> <li class="last"><a href="http://www.symantec.com/connect/sites/default/files/Customer-Forum-Sessions-Overview.pdf">Customer-Forum-Sessions-Overview.pdf</a></li> </ul></div> http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/announcing-agenda-samg-customer-forum-2012#comments Storage and Clustering ApplicationHA Cluster Server Dynamic Multi-Pathing FileStore SFHA Management (VOM, SORT) Storage Foundation Storage Foundation for Windows Volume Replicator Agents AIX Application monitoring Clustering Disaster recovery Best Practice Failover Fault tolerance Symantec Event High availability SORT (Symantec Operations Readiness Tools) User Group Service group HP-UX Linux Oracle RAC Installing Solaris VMware Windows Performance Training Troubleshooting Upgrade Virtualization SAMG Strategic Customer Advisory Council Storage and Availability Management Group Customer Forum Group Thu, 08 Dec 2011 03:29:46 +0000 Rags Srinivasan 2039121 at http://www.symantec.com/connect SAMG Customer Forum 2012 Agenda http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/samg-customer-forum-2012-agenda We are excited to announce the agenda for the Storage and Availability Management Group (SAMG) Customer Forum 2012. We have only limited seats available for this highly technical event run by the engineers for the engineers. If you have not done already please <a href="http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/727324/Symantec-Storage-and-Availability-Management-Customer-Forum">Register now</a> to express your interest. We will notify you in the next few days. You can download the detailed agenda from the link below. In brief, we have planned <ol> <li>10-12 technical sessions including HOWTO, Deep-dives, Performance Tuning and Architecture</li> <li>Parallel lab sessions for those who want to do hands-on exercises</li> <li>Several 1:1 sessions with engineers to discuss topics that are specific to your environment</li> </ol> Looking forward to seeing you! <div class="item-list"><ul class="attachment-list"><li class="first last"><a href="http://www.symantec.com/connect/sites/default/files/Customer-Forum-Agenda-public.pdf">Customer-Forum-Agenda-public.pdf</a></li> </ul></div> http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/samg-customer-forum-2012-agenda#comments Storage and Clustering ApplicationHA Cluster Server Dynamic Multi-Pathing FileStore SFHA Management (VOM, SORT) Storage Foundation Storage Foundation for Windows Volume Replicator Agents Application monitoring Clustering Disaster recovery Fault tolerance Symantec Event High availability User Group Configuring Installing Performance Tip/How to Upgrade Virtualization SAMG Strategic Customer Advisory Council Storage and Availability Management Group Customer Forum Group Wed, 07 Dec 2011 22:30:13 +0000 Rags Srinivasan 2038791 at http://www.symantec.com/connect