Front cover

Quick-start Guide to Configuring

VMware Virtual Volumes for Systems
Powered by IBM Spectrum Virtualize

Adam Reid
Katja Gebuhr
Warren Hawkins
Jacob Winch
Jon Tate

Redpaper
Quick-start guide
This IBM® Redpaper™ publication provides a quick, yet comprehensive, guide to configuring
Virtual Volumes (VVols) for systems powered by IBM Spectrum™ Virtualize. You are guided
through the configuration of the storage system, IBM Spectrum Control™ Base Edition, and
the VMware vSphere Web Client. These three components are key to enabling the Virtual
Volumes management framework.

Figure 1 shows a high level overview of the three key components that enable the Virtual
Volumes management framework.

Figure 1 Overview of management framework

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2016. All rights reserved. ibm.com/redbooks 1

Prerequisites
Certain prerequisites must be met before you attempt to implement Virtual Volumes in your
environment.

Compatible storage systems

Virtual Volumes can be implemented with the following storage systems:
򐂰 IBM SAN Volume Controller
򐂰 IBM Storwize® Family
򐂰 IBM FlashSystem™ V9000

Code levels
Three core software components are needed for the implementation of Virtual Volumes. The
minimum code level required for each component is in the following list:
򐂰 VMware vSphere 6.0 (or later):
– VMware ESXi version 6.0
– VMware vCenter Server 6.0 or vCSA 6.0 (vSphere Web Client 6.0)
򐂰 IBM Spectrum Control Base version 2.2.1 (or later)
򐂰 Compatible storage system powered by IBM Spectrum Virtualize™ version 7.6.0 (or later)

NTP server settings

Ensure that a Network Time Protocol (NTP) server is configured across the following
components:
򐂰 Storage system
򐂰 IBM Spectrum Control Base
򐂰 vSphere environment

NTP is a requirement for Virtual Volumes. You will not be able to proceed with the
configuration until the NTP server settings are configured. This ensures that time settings are
consistent across the entire VVols environment.

Server configuration for IBM Spectrum Control Base

IBM Spectrum Control Base can be deployed on a physical or virtual server. We suggest
using a virtual machine in order to take advantage of features such as VMware High
Availability.

The server that hosts IBM Spectrum Control Base must satisfy the following requirements:
򐂰 64-bit dual-core CPU
򐂰 At least 4 GB of RAM
򐂰 At least 16 GB of free disk space
򐂰 Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.3-6.6 (x64) operating system

2 Quick-start Guide to Configuring Virtual Volumes for Systems Powered by IBM Spectrum Virtualize
Licensing requirements
IBM does not require an additional license in order to enable Virtual Volumes on a storage
system powered by IBM Spectrum Virtualize.

Note: Be aware that VVols functionality uses IBM FlashCopy®. Therefore the appropriate
FlashCopy license for your storage system must be applied before implementing VVols.

Example configuration
The following system configuration was used for the examples cited in this paper:
򐂰 VMware vSphere version 6.0u1
– VMware vCSA version 6.0u1
– VMware ESXi version 6.0u1
򐂰 IBM Spectrum Control Base version 2.2.1
– Deployed in an active/standby configuration on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 (virtual
machines).
򐂰 IBM Storwize V7000
– Powered by IBM Spectrum Virtualize, version 7.6.0.

Installation and configuration

For the purposes of these instructions, the assumption is that your storage system has at
least one parent pool configured and the system is running version 7.6.0 of IBM Spectrum
Virtualize or later.

Enabling VVols
Complete the following steps to enable VVols:
1. In the management GUI for your storage system, navigate to Settings → System and
select VVol from the list.
The VVOL toggle switch is displayed (Figure 2 on page 4), which you can use to enable or
disable VVols on your storage system.

Note: Although the figure shows the VVOL label, depending on the specific code level
on your storage system, the GUI might show as VVol or VVols.

2. Toggle VVol to the ON position to start the Virtual Volumes configuration.

Note: If you are unable to toggle VVol to the ON position, ensure you have at least one
parent pool configured and NTP configured on your storage system.

3
Figure 2 Storage system: Toggle on the VVOL management GUI

A wizard starts, which can help you with the steps to complete setting up of VVols on your
storage system. Figure 3 shows the Enable VVOL dialog. Here, we selected the parent
pool on which to locate our utility volume as well as creating our user for IBM Spectrum
Control Base.

Figure 3 Storage system: Enable VVOL dialog

3. Select an available parent pool on your storage system for your utility volume. As an
optional task, select an additional parent pool where you want your utility volume to be
mirrored, as illustrated in Figure 4 on page 5.

4 Quick-start Guide to Configuring Virtual Volumes for Systems Powered by IBM Spectrum Virtualize
Figure 4 Storage system: Selecting parent pools

Note: The utility volume contains a database that is critical to your VVols environment.
For redundancy, we suggest mirroring your utility volume to a second parent pool that is
in a separate failure domain. For example, use a parent pool that is made from MDisks
that are presented from different storage systems or a different I/O group.

4. Create a user for IBM Spectrum Control Base to communicate with the storage system
and then click Enable, as shown in Figure 5. This user account will automatically be
added to the security role VASAProvider.

Figure 5 Storage system: Creating the user

Tip: These credentials will be required during the configuration of IBM Spectrum
Control Base.

A confirmation window (Figure 6) indicates that VVol is enabled.

Figure 6 VVol is enabled confirmation message

5
 Important: The VASA Provider role is reserved for use strictly by the IBM Spectrum
Control Base server. Do not log in to the GUI or CLI as a user with VASAProvider privileges.
Do not perform any manual tasks as the VASAProvider user, unless specifically advised to
by IBM Support.

Enabling ESXi hosts for VVols

Existing ESXi hosts on your storage system must be enabled for VVols before you can use
Virtual Volumes in the vSphere Web Client. If you are adding new ESXi hosts to your storage
system, the same VVols enablement steps apply.
1. Enable VVols on your existing host (or hosts) by selecting the ESXi host object from the
Hosts view and then select Action → Properties → Edit. Here you can change the host
type to VVol as depicted in Figure 7. You must repeat these steps for each ESXi host you
want to enable for VVols.

Figure 7 Storage system: Enable host type VVol

Note: Existing hostmap configurations are unaffected by enabling your ESXi hosts for
VVols. However, you might need to enable host access to all I/O groups if they are not
already configured.

2. To add a new ESXi host to the system (optional), select the Hosts view and Add Host to
open the Add Host window (Figure 8 on page 7). Use the following steps to complete the
configuration:
a. Select the connectivity type for the host.
b. Enter a name for the host.
c. Input the port details. Click the plus sign (+) button (Show Details) to see more options.
d. In the Host type field, select VVol.
e. Click Add to complete the task.

6 Quick-start Guide to Configuring Virtual Volumes for Systems Powered by IBM Spectrum Virtualize
 Figure 8 Storage system - Add Host dialog

Setting up your storage system is completed. Now, you can configure the IBM Spectrum
Control Base instance, as described in the next section.

Configuring IBM Spectrum Control Base

IBM Spectrum Control Base plays a pivotal role in the communication between your vSphere
environment and the storage system. This section guides you through the installation and
configuration options for installing IBM Spectrum Control Base.

Note: The assumption is that you already have a virtual machine, provisioned with VMware
Tools installed, and configured with an NTP server. Additionally, you completed all the
steps in “Installation and configuration” on page 3 and are ready for the installation of IBM
Spectrum Control Base.

Downloading IBM Spectrum Control Base installation files

Download the latest IBM Spectrum Control Base installation files from Fix Central:
https://ibm.biz/ibm-scb

Extract the files to a temporary folder (for example, /scb_install) on your IBM Spectrum
Control Base virtual machine (SCB VM). Example 1 on page 8 shows the typical installation
files for IBM Spectrum Control Base after they are extracted.

Authenticity: Downloading the installation package from a trusted, SSL-protected

resource, such as Fix Central, ensures authenticity and integrity. If you have any doubt
about the authenticity of the package, see the IBM Spectrum Control Base Edition User
Guide (which you can download also from Fix Central). The user guide describes how to
use the Signing Key to validate the package.

7
 Example 1 IBM Spectrum Control Base installation files
ibm_spectrum_control-2.2.1-xxxx-x86_64.bin
nginx-1.6.2-1.el6.ngx.x86_64.rpm
postgresql92-9.2.10-1PGDG.rhel6.x86_64.rpm
postgresql92-contrib-9.2.10-1PGDG.rhel6.x86_64.rpm
postgresql92-libs-9.2.10-1PGDG.rhel6.x86_64.rpm
postgresql92-server-9.2.10-1PGDG.rhel6.x86_64.rpm

Installing IBM Spectrum Control Base

Tip: Now is a good time to ask your vSphere administrator to clone your SCB VM to a
template. You can later use the template to deploy further instances of IBM Spectrum
Control Base server as part of an HA Group.

Complete the following steps:

1. Change to the folder on your IBM Spectrum Control Base server where you extracted the
installation files. Start the installation of IBM Spectrum Control Base by using the
rpm -iv *.rpm command at the command prompt.
The output is shown in Example 2.

Example 2 Example output of command rpm -iv *.rpm

warning: nginx-1.6.2-1.el6.ngx.x86_64.rpm: Header V4 RSA/SHA1 Signature, key ID
7bd9bf62: NOKEY
warning: postgresql92-9.2.10-1PGDG.rhel6.x86_64.rpm: Header V4 DSA/SHA1
Signature, key ID 442df0f8: NOKEY
warning: uuid-1.6.1-10.el6.x86_64.rpm: Header V3 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID
fd431d51: NOKEY
Preparing packages for installation...
postgresql92-libs-9.2.10-1PGDG.rhel6
postgresql92-9.2.10-1PGDG.rhel6
uuid-1.6.1-10.el6
postgresql92-contrib-9.2.10-1PGDG.rhel6
postgresql92-server-9.2.10-1PGDG.rhel6
nginx-1.6.2-1.el6.ngx

2. Install the .bin file by typing the following command (your file version might be newer):
./ibm_spectrum_control-2.2.1-xxxx-x86_64.bin
3. When prompted, enter 1 to accept the agreement. After a minute or two, you see the
Installation completed successfully message.

8 Quick-start Guide to Configuring Virtual Volumes for Systems Powered by IBM Spectrum Virtualize
Changing the IBMSC administration account
As part of the installation process, a user account named IBMSC is created for administration
purposes. To avoid unauthorized access to the IBM Spectrum Control Base server be sure to
change the default password.

To modify the IBMSC user account, enter the passwd ibmsc command at the command
prompt, and then provide a new password.

This is the last task to run at the command line. All further steps are run from the IBM
Spectrum Control Base server web interface.

Note: Configuring a second IBM Spectrum Control Base instance is required for
redundancy and is suggested. For details, see “Configuring additional IBM Spectrum
Control Base servers for high availability” on page 24.

Accessing the IBM Spectrum Control Base web interface

Complete the following steps:
1. Open a web browser and connect to your IBM Spectrum Control Base server’s web
interface by using the following web address:
https://<SCB Server Name>:8443
You might need to trust the certificate before continuing to the login page.
The login page then opens, as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9 IBM Spectrum Control web interface login

2. Log in to the IBM Spectrum Control Base web interface with the following default
credentials:
– User name: admin
– Password: admin1!

9
An overview of the IBM Spectrum Control Base web interface
The first time you log in to the IBM Spectrum Control Base web interface, the Welcome
window opens. Click past this until you see the IBM Spectrum Control Base home view, as
shown in Figure 10. To help familiarize yourself with the components and views before
continuing with the configuration, read through this section.

Figure 10 IBM Spectrum Control Base: Home view

The IBM Spectrum Control Base web interface consists of four management panes. The
default home view shows the Spaces and Services pane on the left and the Storage Systems
pane on the right, as pictured in Figure 10. For clarity, the figure shows the locations of the
Settings, Home, and Add Storage buttons

Note: The remaining two panes for Applications and Monitoring are not required for
configuring Virtual Volumes and are outside the intended scope of this paper.

10 Quick-start Guide to Configuring Virtual Volumes for Systems Powered by IBM Spectrum Virtualize
Table 1 summarizes the functionality of the IBM Spectrum Control Base GUI elements.

Table 1 IBM Spectrum Control Base GUI elements

GUI element Description

The Settings button. Use this button to access the Settings menu.

The Home button. Click this button to display the Home page (Spaces, Services and
Storage Systems view).

The Add button. Click this button to add new objects like storage systems and
storage services.

The Edit button, which is displayed when you select or highlight an object. Click this
button to configure the object (system, pool, server, and more) or remove it.

The Remove button. Click this button to remove a storage element or delete a user
from the User list.

The Help button. Click this button to display the Welcome page, which is also
available after login.

The right and left navigation pointers. They indicate if additional panes are available
to the right or to the left of the current pane.

The Resource Attach button. It is available, when an unattached storage resource is

selected in a Storage Resources table. Click this button to attach the storage
resource to a previously selected storage service.

The Resource Detach button. It is available when an attached storage resource is

selected in a Storage Resources table. Click this button to detach the storage
resource from a previously selected storage service.

After changing the default administrator password as described in the next section, we
configure the following items, in order, by using the IBM Spectrum Control Base web
interface:
1. Storage Credentials
2. VASA Credentials
3. General Settings
4. Server Certificate
5. Adding a storage system
6. Adding a storage space
7. Adding a storage service
8. Defining and attaching storage resources

11
Changing the default administrator password
Before configuring the items shown in the previous list, change the default password for the
administrator account:
1. Click the Settings button and select Users in the drop-down menu.
2. In the Users section, click the admin user account to highlight it. Two icons become
available (Edit and Delete) as shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11 IBM Spectrum Control Base: Users selection box

3. Click the Edit icon to modify the admin user properties. In the window that opens
(Figure 12), you can change the password.

Figure 12 IBM Spectrum Control Base: Change password

4. Enter the existing password, which is admin1!, and then enter a new password for your
admin user. Click Apply and then click Close.

12 Quick-start Guide to Configuring Virtual Volumes for Systems Powered by IBM Spectrum Virtualize
Storage Credentials
Previously (Figure 5 on page 5), you created a user on your storage system for use by IBM
Spectrum Control Base. By setting these credentials in IBM Spectrum Control Base, you
allow communication to the storage system to perform various tasks, one of which will be
adding the storage system into IBM Spectrum Control Base.
1. Click the Settings button and select Storage Credentials from the Settings menu.
2. In the Storage Credentials section (Figure 13), enter the user name and password of the
IBM Spectrum Control Base user account created on the storage system, and then click
Apply.

Figure 13 IBM Spectrum Control Base: Storage Credentials

Note: The storage credentials must exist on all storage systems that you intend to connect
to your IBM Spectrum Control Base server.

VASA Credentials
The VASA credentials are defined in IBM Spectrum Control Base and used by the VMware
vSphere Web Client to connect to the IBM Spectrum Control Base server.
1. Click the Settings button and select VASA Credentials from the Settings menu.
2. In the VASA Credentials section (Figure 14), enter a user name and password, and then
click Apply.

Figure 14 IBM Spectrum Control Base: VASA Credentials

Tip: The VASA user credentials are required later when you add the SCB Storage Provider
in the vSphere Web Client.

13
General Settings
Do not be fooled by the seemingly innocuous title; this step is of particular importance to the
configuration of high availability (HA) for your VVols environment.
1. Click the Settings button and select General Settings from the Settings menu.
2. In the General Settings section (Figure 15), enter the fully qualified domain name
(FQDN) of your IBM Spectrum Control Base server, and enter the name for the HA
Group. For this example, we use the group name of vvol_db. Then click Apply.

Figure 15 IBM Spectrum Control Base: General Settings

Note: High availability of IBM Spectrum Control Base relies on the HA Group.

Server Certificate
During the installation of IBM Spectrum Control Base, an SSL certificate is generated with
generic information. To provide secure communication between your IBM Spectrum Control
Base server and the vSphere Web Client, generate a new certificate with the FQDN of your
IBM Spectrum Control Base server.

Figure 16 on page 15 shows the Server Certificate for our test IBM Spectrum Control Base
server.

14 Quick-start Guide to Configuring Virtual Volumes for Systems Powered by IBM Spectrum Virtualize
Figure 16 IBM Spectrum Control Base: Server Certificate

Complete these steps:

1. Click the Settings button and select Server Certificate from the Settings menu.
2. Enter the FQDN of your IBM Spectrum Control Base server.
3. Enter a common name for your IBM Spectrum Control Base server.
4. Enter the IP address of your IBM Spectrum Control Base server.
5. Choose a certificate validity period.
6. Click Generate.

An alert message prompts you to refresh your browser (Figure 17).

Figure 17 IBM Spectrum Control Base: Reload web page

15
Adding a storage system
Adding a storage system to IBM Spectrum Control Base relies on having correctly entered the
storage credentials. If you have not yet configured your storage credentials, see “Storage
Credentials” on page 13.
1. Click Add on the Storage Systems pane. See “An overview of the IBM Spectrum Control
Base web interface” on page 10 if you are unsure as to the location of the button to add
storage.
2. In the Add New Array section (Figure 18) that opens, enter the management IP or host
name of the storage system, and select the storage system type. This example uses an
IBM Storwize V7000 storage system with a host name of cheech-cl.

Figure 18 IBM Spectrum Control Base: Add New Array

3. Click Add. If the credentials are correct, the storage system is added to the Storage
Systems pane (Figure 19 on page 17).

Case-sensitive: If you receive the following message, check the user name and
password entered in “Storage Credentials” on page 13.
Unable to connect to the storage array due to a credentials error

Remember that both the user name and password are case-sensitive.

16 Quick-start Guide to Configuring Virtual Volumes for Systems Powered by IBM Spectrum Virtualize
 Figure 19 IBM Spectrum Control Base: Storage Systems pane with a storage system

Adding a storage space

Creating a storage space in IBM Spectrum Control Base allows you to present storage
resources to the vSphere Web Client. Create a storage space:
1. In the Spaces and Services pane, click Spaces → Add New Space (Figure 20).

Default Space: The drop-down for storage space selection shows the name of the
currently selected storage space and the default is Default Space.

Figure 20 IBM Spectrum Control Base: Adding a storage space

2. Enter a name and description for the new storage space and then click Apply. This
example uses the name SC01 (storage container), as shown in Figure 21 on page 18.

17
 Figure 21 IBM Spectrum Control Base: New Space

3. You can confirm you successfully added new storage space by clicking the Spaces
drop-down list and selecting your new storage space. See Figure 22.

Figure 22 IBM Spectrum Control Base: Spaces list

Adding a storage service

Now that you have created storage space, the next step is to define the service or services
the space will be offering up to the vSphere Web Client. Essentially, a storage service
advertises the capabilities of your storage resources, such as encryption, to the vSphere Web
Client via the storage space.
1. Click the Spaces drop-down list and select your new storage space (Figure 22).
2. Click the Add button on the Storage and Services pane (Figure 23).

Figure 23 IBM Spectrum Control Base: Add service button

3. Provide a name and description for your new service (Figure 24 on page 19). This
example uses SC01_Service as the name of the new storage service.
Be sure to select the VVol Service check box.

18 Quick-start Guide to Configuring Virtual Volumes for Systems Powered by IBM Spectrum Virtualize
Figure 24 IBM Spectrum Control Base: New storage service configuration

4. Click Apply. You now have a storage space with a storage service configured, similar to
that shown in Figure 25.

Figure 25 IBM Spectrum Control Base: Spaces and Services view

19
Defining and attaching storage resources
Now that you have a storage space (SC01) with a storage service (SC01_Service) defined,
you can add storage resources (child pools) to your storage space.

Click the Spaces drop-down list and select the storage space to which you want to add storage
resources. This example uses SC01. The VVols enabled storage service you previously
configured for the storage space is displayed in the pane directly below the spaces drop-down.

Use the following steps (shown in Figure 26) to add a storage resource to a storage service:
1. Click on the storage service to highlight it.
2. On the Storage Systems pane, hover the mouse pointer over the storage system to
display the Edit button.
3. Click Edit → Modify.
4. The Array Settings section opens. In the Add New Resource section, select a parent pool
and specify a size in GiB for the new storage resource (child pool). Click Add to complete
the Add New Resource task. The storage resource is created on the storage system (as a
child pool) and attached to the service.

Figure 26 IBM Spectrum Control Base: Adding a storage resource

Summary: This example created a 2500 GiB storage resource (child pool) on storage
space SC01 with the associated storage service SC01_Service. This resource is taken
from ParentPool01. This, in turn, creates a child pool on our storage system with an
automatically generated name. See Figure 27 on page 21

20 Quick-start Guide to Configuring Virtual Volumes for Systems Powered by IBM Spectrum Virtualize
 Figure 27 shows the storage resource added to storage space SC01 with the name
cp_SC01_Service_xxxx, which is auto-generated. The right sides shows the same storage
resource that is shown as the child pool created on the storage system.

Figure 27 IBM Spectrum Control Base: Storage resource and child pool on the storage system

Configuring VMware vSphere Web Client

The configuration of Virtual Volumes is now complete for our storage system and IBM
Spectrum Control Base. As such, the tasks required of the storage administrator are
complete.

Next, you configure the vSphere environment. Before you can use VVols, the following tasks
should be performed by the vSphere administrator. These include adding a storage provider
and adding a VVol datastore in VMware vSphere.

Adding a storage provider

Adding a storage provider to the vSphere Web Client provides the last, but pivotal step in
configuring your VVols environment. The storage provider is your IBM Spectrum Control Base
instance that you configured earlier in this paper. The following steps add the IBM Spectrum
Control Base instance as a storage provider in the vSphere Web Client.
1. In your vSphere Web Client home window click on vCenter Inventory Lists.
2. From the Inventory list on the left, click resources → vCenter Servers.
3. Select your vCenter Server from the pane on the left.
4. In the pane on the right, click the Manage tab and then click Storage Providers.
5. Click the green plus (+) icon.
The New Storage Provider window opens and looks similar to Figure 28 on page 22.

21
 Figure 28 vSphere Web Client: Add New Storage Provider

6. In the New Storage Provider window, enter the following information:

– A “friendly” name.
– The URL of your IBM Spectrum Control Base instance with the required port and path
details. Example 3 shows a sample.

Example 3 The URL and port number for adding the storage provider.
https://host.domain.com:8443/services/vasa

– The user name and password you created in “VASA Credentials” on page 13.
7. Click OK. When prompted, select Yes to accept the security alert. This process completes
in several minutes.

The IBM Spectrum Control Base instance now has established a secure SSL connection to
the vCenter Web Client as an active storage provider, as shown in Figure 29.

Figure 29 vSphere Web Client: Storage Providers

22 Quick-start Guide to Configuring Virtual Volumes for Systems Powered by IBM Spectrum Virtualize
Adding a VVol datastore in VMware vSphere Web Client
To use the Storage Space you defined previously in your IBM Spectrum Control Base
instance, you need to add a VVol datastore to the vSphere Web Client.
1. In your vSphere Web Client Home view, click vCenter Inventory Lists and select
Datastores.
2. Click the Create a New Datastore icon (Figure 30). The New Datastore wizard starts.

Figure 30 vSphere Web Client: Create a new datastore

3. In the New Datastore wizard, select the placement location for the datastore (the cluster or
hosts you want to share the VVols datastore with).
4. Select VVol as the datastore type.
5. Select a backing storage container. Any storage spaces defined in IBM Spectrum Control
Base should be available to select as a storage container. The storage space names, as
configured in the IBM Spectrum Control Base are displayed in the Backing Storage
Container field, as shown in Figure 31.

Figure 31 vSphere Web Client: New Datastore

6. Select the hosts that require access to the VVol datastore.

7. Review the configuration options and click Finish. Figure 32 on page 24 shows the
settings used in our example configuration.

23
 Figure 32 vSphere Web Client: New VVol datastore settings

Figure 33 shows the newly created VVol datastore.

Figure 33 vSphere Web Client: VVol datastore

Setup is complete
The vSphere administrator now has the basics that are required from the storage system in
order to start using Virtual Volumes.

Configuring additional IBM Spectrum Control Base servers for

high availability
Multiple IBM Spectrum Control Base instances can be configured to manage the same
storage system. Doing so ensures the high availability of the management of virtual machines
specific to your VVols environment. The steps involved in setting up an extra “standby”
instance are essentially the same as configuring your initial active instance. For
completeness, this section covers the required steps again.

Tip: If you created a template of your SCB VM, now is a good time to ask your vSphere
administrator to create a new VM from the template for use as your standby IBM Spectrum
Control Base server. Do this before starting the following steps.

24 Quick-start Guide to Configuring Virtual Volumes for Systems Powered by IBM Spectrum Virtualize
Downloading the IBM Spectrum Control Base installation files
Download the latest IBM Spectrum Control Base installation files from Fix Central:
https://ibm.biz/ibm-scb

Extract the files to a temporary folder (for example, /scb_install) on your IBM Spectrum
Control Base virtual machine (SCB VM), also referred to here as SCB and the SCB server.
Example 4 shows the typical installation files for IBM Spectrum Control Base after they are
extracted.

Example 4 IBM Spectrum Control Base: installation files

ibm_spectrum_control-2.2.1-xxxx-x86_64.bin
nginx-1.6.2-1.el6.ngx.x86_64.rpm
postgresql92-9.2.10-1PGDG.rhel6.x86_64.rpm
postgresql92-contrib-9.2.10-1PGDG.rhel6.x86_64.rpm
postgresql92-libs-9.2.10-1PGDG.rhel6.x86_64.rpm
postgresql92-server-9.2.10-1PGDG.rhel6.x86_64.rpm

Installing IBM Spectrum Control Base

Complete the following steps:
1. Change to the folder on your standby IBM Spectrum Control Base server where you
previously extracted the installation files. Start the installation of IBM Spectrum Control
Base by using the rpm -iv *.rpm command at the command prompt.
The output is shown in Example 5.

Example 5 Output of command rpm -iv *.rpm

warning: nginx-1.6.2-1.el6.ngx.x86_64.rpm: Header V4 RSA/SHA1 Signature, key ID
7bd9bf62: NOKEY
warning: postgresql92-9.2.10-1PGDG.rhel6.x86_64.rpm: Header V4 DSA/SHA1
Signature, key ID 442df0f8: NOKEY
warning: uuid-1.6.1-10.el6.x86_64.rpm: Header V3 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID
fd431d51: NOKEY
Preparing packages for installation...
postgresql92-libs-9.2.10-1PGDG.rhel6
postgresql92-9.2.10-1PGDG.rhel6
uuid-1.6.1-10.el6
postgresql92-contrib-9.2.10-1PGDG.rhel6
postgresql92-server-9.2.10-1PGDG.rhel6
nginx-1.6.2-1.el6.ngx

2. Install the .bin file by typing the following command (your file version might be newer):
./ibm_spectrum_control-2.2.1-xxxx-x86_64.bin
3. When prompted, enter 1 to accept the agreement. After a minute or two, you see the
Installation completed successfully message.

Now you can change the IBMSC administration account, as described in the next section.

25
Changing the IBMSC administration account
Modify the IBMSC user account by typing the passwd ibmsc command at the command
prompt and entering a new password.

Accessing the IBM Spectrum Control Base web interface

Complete the following steps:
1. Open a web browser and connect to your standby IBM Spectrum Control Base server’s
web interface by using the following web address:
https://<SCB Server Name>:8443
You might need to trust the certificate before continuing to the login page.
The login page then opens, as shown in Figure 34.

Figure 34 IBM Spectrum Control Base: web interface logon

2. Log in to the standby IBM Spectrum Control Base web interface with the following default
credentials:
– User name: admin
– Password: admin1!

Changing the default administrator password

Change the password as follows:
1. Click the Settings button and select Users in the drop-down menu.
2. In the Users section, click the admin user account to highlight it. Two icons become
available (Edit and Delete) as shown in Figure 35 on page 27.

26 Quick-start Guide to Configuring Virtual Volumes for Systems Powered by IBM Spectrum Virtualize
 Figure 35 IBM Spectrum Control Base: Users selection box

3. Click the Edit icon to modify the admin user properties. In the window that opens
(Figure 36), you can change the password.

Figure 36 IBM Spectrum Control Base: Change password

4. Enter the existing password, which is admin1!, and then enter a new password for your
admin user. Click Apply and then click Close.

Storage Credentials
Previously (Figure 5 on page 5), you created a user on your storage system for use by IBM
Spectrum Control Base. Recall those details to complete the Storage Credentials fields.
1. Click the Settings button and select Storage Credentials from the Settings menu.
2. In the Storage Credentials section (Figure 37 on page 28), enter the user name and
password of the IBM Spectrum Control Base user account created on the storage system,
and then click Apply.

27
 Figure 37 IBM Spectrum Control Base: Storage Credentials

VASA Credentials
The VASA credentials are defined in IBM Spectrum Control Base and used by the VMware
vSphere Web Client to connect to the IBM Spectrum Control Base server.
1. Click the Settings button and select VASA Credentials from the Settings menu.
2. In the VASA Credentials section (Figure 38), enter a user name and password, and then
click Apply.

Figure 38 IBM Spectrum Control Base: VASA Credentials

Tip: The VASA user credentials are required later when you add the standby IBM
Spectrum Control Base Storage Provider in the vSphere Web Client.

General Settings
This step is of particular importance to the configuration of high availability for your VVols
environment.

Note: The HA Group name provided to the standby IBM Spectrum Control Base instance
must be identical to the HA Group name that was set when registering the first, active IBM
Spectrum Control Base instance.

1. Click the Settings button and select General Settings from the Settings menu.
2. In the General Settings section (Figure 39 on page 29), enter the fully qualified domain
name (FQDN) of your standby IBM Spectrum Control Base server, and enter the name for
the HA Group. The HA Group name must match the HA Group set on the first, active IBM
Spectrum Control Base instance. Then click Apply.

28 Quick-start Guide to Configuring Virtual Volumes for Systems Powered by IBM Spectrum Virtualize
 Figure 39 IBM Spectrum Control Base: General Settings

Server Certificate
Figure 40 shows the Server Certificate for our standby IBM Spectrum Control Base server.

Figure 40 IBM Spectrum Control Base: Server Certificate

Complete the following steps:

1. Click the Settings button and select Server Certificate on the Settings menu.
2. Enter the FQDN of your standby IBM Spectrum Control Base server.
3. Enter a common name for your standby IBM Spectrum Control Base server.
4. Enter the IP address of your standby IBM Spectrum Control Base server.
5. Choose a certificate validity period.
6. Click Generate.

29
Adding a storage system
Complete the following steps:
1. Click Add on the Storage Systems pane. The Add New Array section opens (Figure 41).

Figure 41 IBM Spectrum Control Base: Add New Array

2. Enter the management IP or host name of the storage system. This will be the same
storage system added to the active IBM Spectrum Control Base instance.
3. Click Add. The storage system is added to the Storage Systems pane (Figure 42).

Figure 42 IBM Spectrum Control Base: Storage Systems

The steps for configuring the IBM Spectrum Control Base server are now complete.

30 Quick-start Guide to Configuring Virtual Volumes for Systems Powered by IBM Spectrum Virtualize
 Important: Do not configure the Storage Spaces or Storage Services on your standby IBM
Spectrum Control Base instance. This information will be populated from the database
stored on the storage system if a failover occurs.

Configuring VMware vSphere Web Client

Adding a standby storage provider to the vSphere Web Client provides the last, but pivotal
step in configuring our storage provider HA Group. The following steps add the standby IBM
Spectrum Control Base instance as a storage provider in the vSphere Web Client.
1. In your vSphere Web Client home window, click on vCenter Inventory Lists.
2. From the Inventory list on the left, click resources → vCenter Servers.
3. Select your vCenter Server from the pane on the left.
4. In the pane on the right, click the Manage tab and then click Storage Providers.
5. Click the green plus (+) icon.
The New Storage Provider window opens (Figure 43).

Figure 43 vSphere Web Client: Add standby storage provider

6. In the New Storage Provider window, enter the following information:

– A “friendly” name.
– The URL of your standby IBM Spectrum Control Base instance, as shown in
Example 6.

Example 6 The URL and port number for adding the standby storage provider.
https://host.domain.com:8443/services/vasa

– The user name and password you created in “VASA Credentials” on page 28.
7. Click OK. When prompted, select Yes to accept the security alert.

The IBM Spectrum Control Base instance now has established a secure SSL connection to
the vCenter Web Client as a standby storage provider. See Figure 44 on page 32.

31
 The vCenter continuously monitors the availability of the active storage provider. If an issue
arises with the active storage provider whereby the VASA services stop responding, a failover
to the standby storage provider is initiated.

Figure 44 vSphere Web Client: Storage Providers

Authors
This paper was produced by a team of specialists from around the world working at the
International Technical Support Organization, San Jose Center, US, and Hursley Park, UK.

Adam Reid has more than 15 years of Computer Engineering experience. Focused more
recently on IBM Spectrum Virtualize, he is deeply involved with VMware and the testing and
configuration of virtualized environments pivotal to the future of software-defined storage.
Adam has designed, tested, and validated systems to meet the demands of a wide range of
mid-range and enterprise environments.

Katja Gebuhr is a SAN Volume Controller and Storwize Field Experience Specialist at IBM
United Kingdom (UK), in Hursley, where she provides customer and beta customer support
worldwide for SAN Volume Controller and IBM Storwize V7000 systems. She began her IBM
career with IBM Germany in 2003 and completed an apprenticeship as an IT System
Business Professional in 2006. She worked for four years on the German Front-End SAN
Support team, providing customer support for the SAN Volume Controller and SAN products,
then on the SAN Volume Controller Development Testing team in Mainz (Germany), before
moving to the UK.

Warren Hawkins has a background of Infrastructure Support in predominantly Windows and

VMware environments, and has gained 13 years of experience working in second and third
line support in both public and private sector organizations. Since joining IBM in 2013, Warren
has played a crucial part in customer engagements and, using his field experience,
established himself as the Test Lead for the IBM Spectrum Virtualize product family focusing
on clustered host environments.

Jacob Winch is a Test Engineer in IBM Systems at the IBM Manchester Lab, UK. He works
as part of the global team responsible for developing, testing, and supporting the SAN
Volume Controller and Storwize Family Products. He has worked closely with VMware during
the development of Virtual Volumes support for IBM storage systems.

Jon Tate is a Project Manager for IBM System Storage® SAN Solutions at the International
Technical Support Organization (ITSO), San Jose Center. Before joining the ITSO in 1999, he
worked in the IBM Technical Support Center, providing Level 2/3 support for IBM mainframe
storage products. Jon has 30 years of experience in storage software and management,
services, and support, and he is an IBM Certified IT Specialist, an IBM SAN Certified
Specialist, and certified Project Management Professional (PMP). He is also the UK
Chairman of the Storage Networking Industry Association.

32 Quick-start Guide to Configuring Virtual Volumes for Systems Powered by IBM Spectrum Virtualize
 Thanks to the following people for their contributions to this project:

Carlos Fuente
Leigh Reed
Richard Bordoli
Djihed Afifi
SAN Volume Controller and Storwize Test and Development Teams

Yi Ming Zhang
IBM Spectrum Control Base Development Team

Ben Meadowcroft
Ken Werneburg
VMware Virtual Volumes Team

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34 Quick-start Guide to Configuring Virtual Volumes for Systems Powered by IBM Spectrum Virtualize
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