Delphix Storage Migration

Getting Started

Delphix storage migration allows you to remove storage devices from your Delphix Engine, provided there is sufficient unused space, thus allowing you to repurpose the removed storage device to a different server. You can also use this feature to migrate your Delphix Engine to different storage by adding the new storage devices and then removing the old storage devices.

Possible Migration Methods

Understanding Delphix Storage Migration

Delphix storage migration is a multi-step process:

1. Identify a storage device for removal. The device you choose will depend on your use case.  

   1. To remove extra storage that is unused, you can select any device for removal. For best performance, select the device with the least allocated space; typically, this is the device that you added most recently. The allocated space is defined by the usedSize property of the storage device:

      areece-test1.dcenter 'Disk10:2'> ls Properties     type: ConfiguredStorageDevice     name: Disk10:2     bootDevice: false     configured: true     expandableSize: 0B     model: Virtual disk     reference:  STORAGE_DEVICE-6000c293733774b7bb0e4aea83513b36     serial: 6000c293733774b7bb0e4aea83513b36       size: 8GB       usedSize: 7.56MB       vendor: VMware

   2. To migrate the Delphix Engine to new storage, add storage devices backed by the new storage to the Delphix Engine. Then remove all the devices on the old storage.
2. Use the Delphix command-line interface (CLI) to initiate the removal of your selected device. 
3. Data will be migrated from the selected storage device to the other configured storage devices. This process will take longer the more data there is to move; for very large disks, it could potentially take hours. You can cancel this step if necessary. 
4. The status of the device changes from configured to unconfigured and an alert is generated to inform you that you can safely detach the storage device from the Delphix Engine. After this point, it is not possible to undo the removal, although it is possible to add the storage device back to the Delphix Engine.
5. Use the hypervisor to detach the storage device from the Delphix Engine. After this point, the Delphix Engine is no longer using the storage device, and you can safely re-use or destroy it.

Limitations of Delphix Storage Migration

After removal, the Delphix Engine uses memory to track the removed data. In the worst-case scenario, this could be as much as 2-3 GB of memory per TB of used storage. Note that this is used storage; the overhead of removing a 1TB device with only 500MB of data on it will be much lower than the overhead of removing a 10GB device with 5GB of data on it.

User Interface

Delphix storage migration is currently available exclusively via the CLI. There are 3 entry points:

• storage/remove  –  The status of the current or most recent removal, including the total memory used by all removals up to this point
• storage/device “$device”/removeVerify –  Returns the predicted effect of removing the selected device, or an error if the device cannot be removed
• storage/device “$device”/remove –  Begins the evacuation and removal of the selected device

Device Removal for Storage Migration

1. Identify which device you want to remove.

1. If you are using a VMware RDM disk, note the UUID of the device by looking at its name in the vSphere GUI. For more information, see this Getting the UUID of an RDM Disk from VMware, via the vSphere GUI.  

2. If you are using a VMware virtual disk, note the UUID of the device via the vSphere API. See the section of this VMware KB article on how to get the UUID of your virtual disk. 

3. In EC2, note the attachment point – for example,  /dev/sdf.

4. In KVM, note the UUID.

2. Login to the Delphix CLI as a sysadmin user and navigate to storage/device.

3. Type cd storage/device.

4. Select your device:
   

   areece-test1.dcenter storage device> ls Objects NAME      CONFIGURED  SIZE  EXPANDABLESIZE Disk10:2  true        8GB   0B Disk10:0  true        24GB  0B Disk10:1  true        8GB   0B Disk10:3  true        8GB   0B areece-test1.dcenter.dcenter storage device> select Disk10:2

5. (VMware only) Confirm that your disk selection is correct by validating that the serial matches your UUID:
   

   areece-test1.dcenter storage device 'Disk10:2'> ls Properties    type: ConfiguredStorageDevice    name: Disk10:2    bootDevice: false    configured: true    expandableSize: 0B    model: Virtual disk    reference: STORAGE_DEVICE-6000c2909ccd9d3e4b5d62d733c5112f    serial: 6000c2909ccd9d3e4b5d62d733c5112f    size: 8GB    usedSize: 8.02MB    vendor: VMware

6. Execute removeVerify to confirm that removal will succeed. Validate the amount of memory/storage used by the removal:
   

   areece-test1 storage device 'Disk10:2'> removeVerify areece-test1 storage device 'Disk10:2' removeVerify *> commit    type: StorageDeviceRemovalVerifyResult    newFreeBytes: 15.85GB    newMappingMemory: 3.14KB    oldFreeBytes: 23.79GB    oldMappingMemory: 0B

7. Execute remove to start the device evacuation:

   areece-test1 storage device 'Disk10:2'> remove areece-test1 storage device 'Disk10:2' remove *> commit Dispatched job JOB-1 STORAGE_DEVICE_START_REMOVAL job started for "Disk10:2". STORAGE_DEVICE_START_REMOVAL job for "Disk10:2" completed successfully.

   This does not signify that the device migration has been completed.
   A STORAGE_DEVICE_REMOVAL job will start, which handles the data migration from the disk.

8. Wait for device evacuation to complete. Alternatively, you can cancel the evacuation. 
   Do not detach the device from the Delphix Engine in your hypervisor until the data evacuation is completed.

   You can monitor the progress of the STORAGE_DEVICE_REMOVAL job in the Management GUI under System >Jobs.

9. Once the device evacuation has been completed, the job will finish and a fault will be generated. Detach the disk from your hypervisor and the fault will clear on its own. An example of the fault created is shown below.
   

Getting the UUID of an RDM Disk from VMware via the vSphere GUI.

In the ESX graphical user interface (GUI), select your VM. 

1. Click Edit settings.
2. If not already displayed, select the Hardware tab.
3. Select the device you want to remove.

4. Click Manage Paths.
    

The UUID of the device appears in the title bar, as seen below.

Getting the UUID of a VMDK from VMware, via ssh to the ESX server

1. ssh onto the ESX server as the root user.
2. Navigate to the directory containing the .vmdk files for the Delphix VM.

Use the 'vmkfstools -J getuuid <.vmdk filename>' command to obtain the UUID, for example:

/vmfs/volumes/25894daa-f7b2b044/delphix01-2356 # vmkfstools -J getuuid delphix01-2356_1.vmdk
UUID is 60 00 C2 91 01 bc 8e 72-31 a4 cd b0 b3 f6 e5 74

Getting the UUID of a VMDK from VMware, via VMware PowerCLI

PS C:\> Connect-VIServer -Server durban -Protocol https -Username root -Password root_password
 
Name                           Port  User
----                           ----  ----
durban                         443   root
 
 
PS C:\> Get-VM delphixVM | Get-HardDisk | select name,filename,@{name="UUID";expr={$_.extensiondata.backing.uuid}}
 
Name                                        Filename                                    UUID
----                                        --------                                    ----
Hard disk 1                                 [zfs_delphixVM] dlpx-5.1.9.0-432-61155cf... 6000C294-a115-0327-e417-02560d86e944
Hard disk 2                                 [zfs_delphixVM] dlpx-5.1.9.0-432-61155cf... 6000C299-38fe-5050-1eb2-1ee6db62b257
Hard disk 3                                 [zfs_delphixVM] dlpx-5.1.9.0-432-61155cf... 6000C294-662d-c674-8957-03e0514b7006
Hard disk 4                                 [zfs_delphixVM] dlpx-5.1.9.0-432-61155cf... 6000C29d-0719-1072-0f85-96da2efef4a3
 
PS C:\> Disconnect-VIServer
 
Confirm
Are you sure you want to perform this action?
Performing operation "Disconnect VIServer" on Target "User: root, Server: durban, Port: 443".
[Y] Yes  [A] Yes to All  [N] No  [L] No to All  [S] Suspend  [?] Help (default is "Y"): Y

Related Topics

• Capacity and Resource Management
• Adding and Expanding Storage Devices