IBM DS8000 manual Sizing guidelines, Changing from single path to multipath

Disk unit connections might be missing for a variety of reasons, but especially if one of the preceding rules has been violated. If a connection for a multipath disk unit in any disk pool is found to be missing during an IPL or vary on, a message is sent to the QSYSOPR message queue.

If a connection is missing, and you confirm that the connection has been removed, you can update Hardware Service Manager (HSM) to remove that resource. Hardware service manager is a tool for displaying and working with system hardware from both a logical and a packaging viewpoint, an aid for debugging Input/Output (I/O) processors and devices, and for fixing failing and missing hardware. You can access Hardware Service Manager in System Service Tools (SST) and Dedicated Service Tools (DST) by selecting the option to start a service tool.

Changing from single path to multipath

If you have a configuration where the logical units were only assigned to one I/O adapter, you can easily change to multipath. Simply assign the logical units in the DS8000 to another I/O adapter and the existing DDxxx drives will change to DMPxxx and new DMPxxx resources will be created for the new path.

Sizing guidelines

In Figure B-34 on page 397, we show the process you can use to size external storage on iSeries. Ideally, you should have OS/400 Performance Tools reports, which can be used to model an existing workload. If these are not available, you can use workload characteristics from a similar workload to understand the I/O rate per second and the average I/O size. For example, the same application may be running at another site and its characteristics can be adjusted to match the expected workload pattern on your system.

Using this base information, and the rules-of-thumb that follow, you can estimate an approximate configuration which can then be used as input into Disk Magic (DM). This will give an indication of the service and wait time per I/O. If these do not meet your requirements, then you can adjust the hardware configuration in Disk Magic accordingly.

Note: Disk Magic is for IBM and IBM Business Partner use only. Customers should contact their IBM or IBM Business Partner representative for assistance with Capacity Planning, which may be a chargeable service.

Once you have this base modelling completed, you should also consider the other influences on the storage subsystem (such as any requirement for Copy Services and other workloads from other systems), and re-assess the hardware configuration and adjust accordingly until your requirements are met.

396DS8000 Series: Concepts and Architecture