EMC AX150 Product Guide - Page 12

AX Series software The AX Series storage systems come with all software fully loaded. Software is bundled, so that upgrading in the future involves only applying the latest supplied bundle. PowerPath, a server-based path management application, is also included with the storage system for installation on all servers attached to the AX150. Also included is an AX server support CD that contains two utilities required for configuring the storage system: Š Navisphere Storage System Initialization Utility Š Navisphere Server Utility Base software: the FLARE operating environment Each storage system comes preconfigured with the system software required for its operation. The system software supports the many software features of the AX150 and maintains the configuration information (number of virtual disks, disk pool configurations, software installed, and so forth). A portion of the usable capacity of each drive in the system is allocated to maintain this configuration information. This private space includes a vault area to which cached data is destaged in the event of certain hardware component failures. It also holds software images, as well as boot partitions that are allocated on the first three (AX150SC) or four (AX150) drives of the storage system. Due to this space allocation, user space begins at approximately 13 GB on drives 0-3, and at about 131 MB on the remaining disks in the storage system. Navisphere Express management software The Navisphere Management Suite for the AX150 consists of Navisphere Express, which is used to manage the storage system, as well as two support utilities: Š Storage System Initialization Utility ― Provided to configure the management ports and security credentials of the storage system. Š Server Utility ― Available to register server HBAs to the storage system so that virtual disks can be assigned to registered servers. AX Server Support CD The storage system ships with a server-support CD containing two utilities that make storage system configuration and setup an easy task. These two utilities are discussed next. Navisphere Storage System Initialization Utility Initializing a storage system consists of assigning network parameters for each SP and assigning user credentials for the storage system so that it may be accessed and managed over the LAN. The Storage System Initialization Utility must be run once the storage system is powered on and cabled appropriately. This utility need only be run one time to initialize new storage systems and must run from a server located on the same subnet as the storage system. The utility may be installed on the server or run directly from the CD. The Windows version offers a wizard interface to easily step through the required initialization steps. A text-based utility is also available for all supported attaches. To begin use of this utility, ensure that the storage system is powered on and that an Ethernet cable is plugged into the management port on each SP of the unconfigured systems. When you run the initialization utility, it initiates a broadcast to the subnet and displays all AX storage systems that are discovered, as Figure 5 on page 13 shows. Introduction to the AX150 Storage System A Detailed Review 12