Security, Databases, Discovery

Storage Area Manager and SMA Implementation

Security

Storage Area Manager and the SMA software have their own independent security infrastructures. Storage Area Manager uses two levels of user authentication: Administrators and Guests. The SMA has three levels: Administrators, Operators, and Users. To access both Storage Area Manager and SMA, you need to log on to each application separately.

Databases

Storage Area Manager and the SMA store data in separate databases. Data cannot be migrated between the SMA and Storage Area Manager databases.

Discovery

Both Storage Area Manager and the SMA software can be used to perform discoveries. The discovery operations and end results are independent of each other. Therefore, to utilize the features of either Storage Area Manager or the SMA, you need to perform separate discoveries.

Performing a comprehensive Storage Area Manager discovery in a large configuration has been found to negatively affect SMA system response time. See “Performance Considerations” for more information.

Performance Considerations

In larger configurations, a comprehensive Storage Area Manager discovery can consume almost all SMA system resources and take a long time to reach completion. A comprehensive Storage Area Manager discovery also slows down SMA operations, such as running a discovery in Storage Provisioner or accessing the element managers.

Degraded performance is not as apparent in smaller environments when running concurrent Storage Area Manager and SMA operations. You can perform a comprehensive Storage Area Manager discovery without consuming excessive SMA resources.

Compatibility Between Storage Area Manager and SMA Components

The applications in the Storage Area Manager suite—Storage Node Manager, Storage Builder, Storage Optimizer, Storage Accountant, and Storage Allocater—are compatible with all of the SMA core components, as well as with other applications that can reside on the SMA, according to the following table:

Table 2: SMA Application Compatibility with Storage Area Manager

		Storage Area Manager v3.0
		or
	Storage Area Manager v3.0	Storage Area Manager v3.1
Application	with SMA software v2.0	with SMA software v2.1

Command View EVA	v3.0a	v3.0a, v3.1

HSG Element Manager	v1.0d, v1.0e	v1.0f

Proactive Remote	v4.5	v5.0
Service

Enterprise Volume	v2.0d	N/A
Manager

10	Using Storage Area Manager on the Storage Management Appliance Application Notes