The MSA 1040/1050 and MSA 2040/2050 arrays are entry-level SANs that enable high-performance storage at a great price.
The MSA arrays are equipped with a dual controller available in iSCSI, FC and SAS. On the MSA 2040/2050 series, it is possible to mix controllers to have two storage access technologies.
MSA 2040/2050 default information
By default, the IP addresses are:
- Controller A: 10.0.0.2/24
- Controller B: 10.0.0.3/24
Login :
- Login : manage
- Password : !manage
Access to the administration is done in https.
1. Launch a browser and go to one of the two controllers and enter the credentials of the manage account.
2. Home screen :
System configuration
In this part we will see how to configure the basic information of an MSA 2040/2050 disk array using the wizard and manually.
With the Wizard
1. From the Home screen, click Action 1 Configuration Wizard 2 .
2. The first page shows the elements that will be configured. Click on Next 1 .
3. Configure the date / time and an NTP server if you have one and click Next 1 .
4. Change the default account passwords (optional) and click Next 1 .
5. Network setting of both controllers, click Next 1 .
6. Select the different modes of administration and click on Next 1 .
7. Enter the credentials for the array and click Next 1 .
8. Configure the notifications and click Next 1 .
9. Check the 1 settings that will be changed and click Finish 2 .
10. Click Yes 1 to confirm your action.
Manual
Network configuration
1. Go to System 1 , click on Action 2 and then Configure Network 3 .
2. Set the controller addresses and click OK 1 .
If you have changed the IP address, you must change the URL in your browser.
Administration mode
1. At the bay name at the top of the administration, click on chevron 1 and then Set Up System Services 2 .
2. Select the modes to activate and click OK 1 .
3. Confirm the change by clicking Yes 1 .
System informations
1. At the bay name at the top of the administration, click on chevron 1 and then Set System Information 2 .
2. Edit your information and click OK 1 .
Date and Time
1. In the upper part of the hour click on chevron 1 and then Set Date and Time 2 .
2. Edit the form and click OK 1 .
User Management
1. In the upper part, click on the chevron 1 at the current user level and then on Manage Users 2 .
2. Select the user you wish to edit, edit the settings and click Apply 1 and OK 2 to close the window.
Notification Management
1. In the base part of the administration, click on chevron 1 and Set Up Notification 2 .
2. Edit modes and notifications.
Storage configuration
Pool and disk group
In this part of the tutorial on MSA arrays, we will see how to configure storage.
A pool consists of one or more groups of disks. MSA arrays support two storage pools A and B.
A disk group is a physical disk set that has a type of: Virtual or Read Cache.
- The virtual type groups physical disks in a RAID 1/5/6/10 array and must consist of disks of the same capacity and speed (SSD / 7.2 / 10/15).
- The Read Cache type consists of one or more SSDs. This group has the role of increasing the speed of reading data.
Before you can create a drive cache type disk group, you must define a storage group.
The access to the creation of a storage pool and to the disk group is done by the menu on the left Pools 1 , click on the button Action 2 then Add disk Group 3 .
Disk group: storage
1. Select the type Virtual, choose the desired level of raid then check the disks to put in the group. Select pool A 1 and click on Add 2 .
A disk was not included in the group because it will be defined as a spare.
A disk group consists of disk of the same speed and capacity.
2. The disk group is visible in the pools page. We see that the pool A 1 was created, that this one contains the group of disk dgA01 2 and that it is composed of the disks 1.3 to 1.14 3 .
Disk group: cache
1. Access the Add Group Group form.
2. Select the type Read Cache 1 , check the SSD 2 to put in it. Check pool 3 and press Add 4 .
A read cache disk group consists of one or more solid state drives.
3. On the pools page you should see disk group 1 and its physical disk composition.
Define a spare disk
1. Go to System 1 and click on Action 2 and Change Global Spare 3 .
2. Check the disk (s) 1 to spare and click on Change 2 .
3. From the System page, by hovering over the disc, it is possible to see the use 1 provided for it.
Summary of the configuration
You can access a summary of the configuration of disks and storage pools in two places:
1. From the System 1 > Table 2 part, we can see the state of each disk 3 with its allocation pool and its function.
2. From the home page, you can see the two storage pools with the size of the affected disk groups.
Volumes
A volume is a virtual disk created on a storage pool that is presented to a server as storage.
Add a volume
1. Go to the Volumes 1 section and click on Action 2 and Create Virtual Volumes 3 .
2. Enter the volume capabilities and click OK 1 .
You can create multiple volumes at once by clicking Add Row.
3. Volume 1 is now visible in the list.
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