Dell MD3600I, MD3620I owner manual Data Path Protection, 103

I/O Data Path Protection

You can have multiple host-to- array connections for a host. Ensure that you select all the connections to the array when configuring host access to the storage array.

NOTE: See the Deployment Guide for more information on cabling configurations.

NOTE: For more information on configuring hosts see "Configuration: About Your Host" on page 95.

If a component such as a RAID controller module or a cable fails, or an error occurs on the data path to the preferred RAID controller module, virtual disk ownership is moved to the alternate non preferred RAID controller module for processing. This failure or error is called failover.

Drivers for multi-path frameworks such as Microsoft Multi-Path IO (MPIO) and Linux Device Mapper (DM) are installed on host systems that access the storage array and provide I/O path failover.

For more information on Linux DM please see "Configuration: Device Mapper Multipath for Linux" on page 185. For more information on MPIO please see microsoft.com.

NOTE: You should have the multi-path driver installed on the hosts at all times, even in a configuration where there is only one path to the storage system, such as a single port cluster configuration.

During a failover, the virtual disk transfer is logged as a critical event, and an alert notification is sent automatically if you have configured alert destinations for the storage array.

Configuration: About Your Host

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