DELL T Power Store User Guide

DELL T Power Store

Specifications

• Product Name : Dell PowerStore
• Version : PowerStoreOS 3.5.0.2 (Build: 2190165)
• Release Date : March 2024
• Deployment Model : PowerStore T
• Supported Model Numbers : 500, 1000, 1200, 3000, 3200, 5000, 5200, 7000, 9000, 9200
• Supported Configurations : Storage-centric deployments for block and file services
• Features: Scale-out architecture, hardware-accelerated data reduction, enterprise unified storage platform

Product Description
The Dell PowerStore storage system utilizes a container-based architecture, advanced storage technologies, and intelligent automation to simplify operations and maximize data potential. It offers scale-out clusters for improved resource utilization and performance.

Features

• Scale-out architecture
• Hardware-accelerated advanced data reduction
• Enterprise unified storage platform for block, file, and vVol data
• Intelligent scale-up and scale-out capability

Product Usage Instructions

Supported Deployment Models and Configurations
The PowerStore T model supports the following deployment models:

• Model: PowerStore T
• Model Numbers: 500, 1000, 1200, 3000, 3200, 5000, 5200, 7000, 9000, 9200
• Configurations: Storage-centric deployments with support for block (SAN) and file (NAS) services

Note: Hypervisor deployments are not supported on this model

Resolved Issues
In the PowerStoreOS 3.5.0.2 release, the following high-severity issues have been resolved:

• Issue ID MDT-450481: Data Protection – TCP replication stalls  under unstable network connections
• Issue ID MDT-573040: Hardware Install or Upgrade – Node may reboot due to failed NVMe drive
• Issue ID MDT-552623: Notifications and Alerts – Health check or upgrade package upload failure
• Issue ID MDT-571894: Storage – Block – Email notifications failure after NDU to PowerStore 3.5.0.1
• Issue ID MDT-581901: Support Connectivity – Checksum mismatch causing storage resource alert
• Issue ID MDT-575019: Node reboot due to eVE service failure during startup

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

• Q: What are the deployment models supported by Dell PowerStore?
  A: Dell PowerStore supports the PowerStore T model for storage-centric deployments.

• Q: Can I use a Dell PowerStore T model for hypervisor deployments?
  A: No, hypervisor deployments are not supported on the PowerStore T model.

• Q: What types of services are supported in PowerStore T deployments?
  A: Both block (SAN) and file (NAS) services are supported in PowerStore T deployments.

Dell PowerStoreOS 3.5.0.2 Release Notes
This document describes the new features, changed features, and resolved issues in this release of PowerStoreOS. Current Release Version: 3.5.0.2 (Build: 2190165)
Release Type: Patch (P)
Topics:

Revision history

Table 1 Document revision history

2190165. A01| March 2024| Added a limitation about the number of supported File Systems

Product description

• The ground-breaking Dell PowerStore storage system achieves new levels of operational simplicity and agility, using a container-based architecture, advanced storage technologies, and intelligent automation to unlock the power of your data.
• Based on a scale-out architecture and hardware-accelerated advanced data reduction, PowerStore clusters are designed to deliver enhanced resource utilization and performance that keeps pace with  application and system growth.
• PowerStore T model clusters provide organizations with all the benefits of an enterprise unified storage platform for block, file and vVol data, while enabling flexible growth with the intelligent scale-up and scale-out capability of appliance clusters.

Features include

• All NVMe Platform:
• Active/active architecture
• Container-based PowerStoreOS
• Block, File, and vVols
• NVMe Flash and Storage Class Memory (SCM) media support
• Front-End Connectivity:
  • FC: 32 Gb NVMe/FC, 32/16/8 Gb FC
  • Ethernet: 25/10 GbE, NVMe/TCP: 25/10 GbE iSCSI and File
  • Compact 2U starting form factor
• Enterprise Data Services and Data Reduction:
  • Inline deduplication and compression
  • Native async replication
  • Snapshots and space efficient thin clones
  • Advanced drive failure protection and sparing technology
• Simple and intelligent Management and Serviceability:
  • Embedded management
  • Built in AI for simple, autonomous storage administration and proactive health analytics
  • CloudIQ
  • VM Visibility
  • New Anytime Upgrade Program
  • Integration with automation framework
• Flexible and Granular Scalability:
  • Scale up in single drive increments, up to 4.7 PBe per appliance
  • Scale out to four appliances, up to 18.8 PBe per cluster
  • Scale down
• VMware: VMware vVols 2.0/VASA 3.0 support

Table 2 Supported PowerStore deployment models and configurations

• 500, 1000, 1200, 3000, 3200,
• 5000, 5200, 7000, 9000, and 9200

|

• Storage-centric deployments.
• Both block (storage area networks (SAN)) and file (network-attached storage (NAS)) services are supported with PowerStore T deployments.
• NOTE: Hypervisor deployments are not supported on this model.

Resolved issues

The following high severity issues are resolved in this release:
Table  3 Resolved issues in PowerStoreOS 3.5.0.2

connection, TCP replication may encounter excessive socket errors and closures that lead to constant attempts to reconnect. The host I/O workload stalls while TCP replication attempts to reconnect and may eventually time out while attempting to recover the I/O.
MDT-573040| Hardware| A failed NVMe drive may cause a node to run out of memory, and the node may reboot if the drive is not replaced.
MDT-552623| Install or Upgrade| Uploading a health check or upgrade package in PowerStore Manager may fail with the error message: Upload failed: Maximum number of packages. Please delete a package and then upload the package again. (0xE04030010049). However, there are no packages in PowerStore Manager to delete.
MDT-571894| Notifications and Alerts| A PowerStore cluster may fail to send email notifications after performing an NDU to PowerStore 3.5.0.1.
MDT-581901| Storage – Block|

• A checksum mismatch in system metadata may cause the following alert to be raised for a storage resource:
• A storage resource requires recovery

MDT-575019| Support Connectivity| A node may unexpectedly reboot multiple times if the eVE service failed while starting up because the node was manually rebooted or the DNS settings were changed multiple times in succession.

Known issues

• For a list of the minor issues, see Dell Knowledge Base Article 000155626: PowerStore: PowerStore Release Notes – Minor Issues.
• The following high severity issues remain unresolved in this release:

Table 4 Known issues in PowerStoreOS 3.5.0.2

Issue ID| Functional area| Description| Workaround/Solution
---|---|---|---
MDT-431035| Connectivity – Hosts| When users configure a metro host as a uniform host, they must configure the host on both metro clusters. If one host is left partially configured or is already configured on one metro cluster, ESXi may report inconsistent path states.| Complete the configuration of the host on both metro clusters. For more information, see Dell Knowledge Base Article 000202793: PowerStore: Metro volumes are inconsistently presented to ESXi when uniform hosts are partially configured.
Issue ID| Functional area| Description| Workaround/Solution
---|---|---|---
MDT-367147| Connectivity – Hosts| When Windows clustered hosts are attached to a multi-appliance PowerStore cluster and LUNs are migrated from one appliance to another, the LUNs do not migrate back to the original appliance unless the hosts are rebooted prior to the migration back.| Avoid migrating LUNs back and forth between appliances.
MDT-273055| Connectivity – Hosts| A user can view internal host and volume mappings using PowerStore Manager, but mapping or unmapping operations cannot be performed from PowerStore Manager.| Mapping and unmapping operations can be performed using the PowerStore REST API interface.
MDT-272385| Connectivity – Networks| Large amounts of external IPv6 traffic exposed to Ethernet ports can cause iSCSI performance degradation.| To avoid the problem, use separate VLANs for Storage networks and networks that contain a lot of non- storage related IPv6 traffic. Also, route management VLANs and other VLANs with large amounts of IPv6 traffic to dedicated storage ports.
MDT-221030| Connectivity – Networks| When a PowerStore cluster is configured to only use SNMP to communicate with Dell OS10 switches, false positive Ongoing Network Validation (ONV) alerts may be raised. This issue occurs because of a limitation in the Dell OS10 switch SNMP MIB that may cause ONV to fail to get the inter-chassis link (ICL) configuration and status.| Configure the PowerStore cluster to use SSH to communicate with Dell OS10 switches or ignore the following alert when using SNMP:
Event Code 0x01803602 Status of Ethernet switch inter- chassis link configuration. (not_configured)
For more information, see Dell Knowledge Base Article 000188041: PowerStore: False positive alerts with SNMP connection to Dell OS10 switches.
MDT-211358| Connectivity – Networks| PowerStore Discovery IP by Zeroconf technology stopped advertising.| Perform one of the following actions to work around this issue:

• Wait a few minutes for the state of the system to change and try again.
• Reset a drive, mezzanine card, or I/O module if available and wait for few minutes and try again, and then reboot the primary node.

MDT-525692| Data Protection| An issue in the Refresh Using Related Volume dialog box may cause the Refresh button to become active when the Create a backup snapshot on the volume being refreshed check box is cleared, even if a volume is not selected from the Select volume to refresh from drop-down menu. Clicking Refresh fails when a volume is not selected from the Select volume to refresh from drop- down menu.| If clicking Refresh fails, ensure that a volume is selected from the Select volume to refresh from drop-down menu, and click Refresh again.
Issue ID| Functional area| Description| Workaround/Solution
---|---|---|---
MDT-520673| Data Protection| The status of Instant Access sessions may change to Failed after a node reboot occurs.| A PowerStore cluster does not support Nhigh availability (HA) between nodes for Instant Access sessions. For more information, see Dell Knowledge Base Article 000208509: PowerStore: Instant Access session will show failed state after node reboot.
MDT-518764| Data Protection| When a remote system connection to a PowerProtect DD system uses replication tagged ports, a node panic may occur if the replication tagged ports are moved to different physical ports that do not have network connectivity to the PowerStore cluster. This situation can cause the status of remote system Data Connection to change to Status not available.

The Verify and Update command may take longer to run when the remote system Data Connection is in this state.

| Before moving the replication tagged port to a new port, ensure that the new port has network connectivity to the PowerStore cluster.

If the status of the remote system Data Connection changes to Status not available, perform the following steps:

1. Select the check box of the remote system and click Modify.
2. Change the Data Transfer Address to the management IP address of the PowerProtect DD system and click Modify.
3. Select the check box of the remote system and click Modify.
4. Change the Data Transfer Address of the remote system back to the original IP address and click Modify.
5. Select the check box of the remote system, select More Actions > Verify and Update, and click Verify and Update.

MDT-517565| Data Protection| Attempting to back up more than 125 volumes simultaneously to a PowerProtect DD system may result in failed backup sessions because of Control Path (CP) limitations.| When backing up more than 125 volumes to a PowerProtect DD system, stagger the backups to prevent more than 125 volumes from being backed up simultaneously.
MDT-511829| Data Protection| Instant Access is not supported on ESXi hosts with VMFS datastores. Attempting to mount an Instant Access session resource as a VMFS datastore on an ESXi host may result in an I/O error.| Perform a retrieve operation on the remote snapshot, then create and mount a thin clone of the snapshot on the ESXi host. For more information, see Dell Knowledge Base Article 000213256: PowerStore: Mount of an Instant Access session resource fails with I/O Error.
MDT-438935| Data Protection| When multiple remote systems are connected to a PowerStore cluster, reconfiguring the NAS Mobility Network (NMN) after performing a Management Network Reconfiguration (MNR) might fail with the following Data Path (DP) network error if one of the remote systems is not responding: Modify cluster IP of dp Network: {dpNetworkID} failed| Resolve the issue with the remote system that is not responding or continue to use the other remote systems that are responding.
Issue ID| Functional area| Description| Workaround/Solution
---|---|---|---
MDT-416804| Data Protection| An end metro volume operation may take longer to complete when it is issued on the remote end during self-heal sync of a metro session. The session eventually does complete successfully.| Pause the sessions and then perform the end metro volume operation.
MDT-414572| Data Protection| The status of replication sessions may be incorrect on the destination PowerStore cluster if the source PowerStore cluster is down.| See the Remote System related information and alerts on the destination PowerStore cluster for up-to-date details and suggested recovery steps.
MDT-312619| Data Protection| When replication IP addresses change, they are not automatically detected. As a result, the status of a replication session changes to System Paused.| Run the Remote System Verify operation to update the connectivity matrix. The next synchronization cycle will update the replication IP addresses.
MDT-309462| Data Protection| If the user pauses a replication session on the destination cluster during an NDU of the source cluster, a post-NDU state may occur where the source replication session is in System Paused state and the destination replication session is in Paused state.| Pause the replication session on the source cluster, where the session is in System Paused state, and then resume the replication session.
MDT-299182| Data Protection| In a large configuration, pausing or deleting a replication session may take longer when the session is queued for synchronization.| None
MDT-293141| Data Protection| If a volume is restored from a PowerProtect DD system to a PowerStore cluster where the volume was deleted or never existed, the Logical Used and Provisioned capacities that are shown in PowerStore Manager may display the same values.| The correct logical volume usage is displayed when the volume is mapped to a host. For more information, see Dell Knowledge Base Article 000208504: PowerStore: After retrieving PowerStore backups from Data Domain, the Logical Used and Provisioned capacities show the same values.
MDT-242915| Data Protection|

• When a replication destination cluster loses connectivity to the source cluster, the system issues specific alerts, but the state of the replication session may still display Operating Normally.
• Administrators should check the alerts that are issued by the remote system and resolve the connectivity issues to recover replication sessions.

| None
MDT-133408| Data Protection| When a volume group is created with member volumes and is protected by a protection policy that includes a replication rule, the volume group members may be delayed in being replicated to the remote system until the next recovery point objective (RPO) cycle. The default replication rule RPO value in PowerStore Manager is one hour, but it can range from five minutes to 24 hours.| If the remote system connection is healthy, the member volumes should automatically be replicated to the destination during the next RPO cycle. To update the member volumes on the destination cluster before the next RPO cycle, go to Protection > Replication, select the volume group session, and perform a Synchronize operation.
Issue ID| Functional area| Description| Workaround/Solution
---|---|---|---
MDT-333618| Discovery| In certain network environment configurations, the system is unable to discover unconfigured appliances through the network when using static IP addresses for appliance discovery.| The initial discovery of PowerStore appliances works with either the native Zeroconf-capable browser such as Bonjour or through the PowerStore Discovery Tool.
MDT-439758| Hardware| A healthy DIMM module in an NVMe expansion enclosure may be marked as missing/failed.| For more information and steps to avoid this issue, see Dell Knowledge Base Article 000204824: PowerStore: A healthy DIMM module in an NVMe expansion enclosure may be marked as missing/failed.
MDT-362070| Hardware| If one node comes up 120 seconds before the other node after a dual node reboot, the first node may reboot again to start auto- recovery.| None
MDT-286236| Hardware| In rare cases, a node that has been powered off does not remain powered off.| Power off the node again.
MDT-117061| Hardware| When creating a cluster, the hardware status is incorrectly indicated as not configured for clustering.| Wait a few minutes and try creating the cluster again.
MDT-544950| Import| During a non-disruptive import, the import volume wizard in PowerStore Manager may stop responding when a host with the host plug-in configured is added in the Map Hosts step. The status of the Add Host dialog changes to Adding Host when Confirm and Add is clicked, but the process never completes.| Refresh the browser and restart the import volume wizard. The host that you were trying to add when the wizard stopped responding may appear in the Map Hosts step of the wizard.
MDT-356233| Import| The Inband Migration Tool (IMT) Copy Progress Percentage and Estimated Completion Time display an incorrect progress of 0% on the File Imports tab of the Import External Storage page in PowerStore Manager.| Use the PowerStore REST API command /file_import_session/{id} to view the current_operation_progress_percentag e and estimated_completion_timestamp for a file import session. If needed, contact your service provider for assistance.
MDT-295614| Import| Performing a non-disruptive import using a Windows host plug-in may fail on a PowerStore cluster with multiple storage networks. If multiple storage networks are configured, all the iSCSI portals are returned on discovery, but iSCSI portal filtering is not supported by PowerStore.| Use one of the following workarounds:

• If possible, remove all the storage networks except for the storage network on which the Windows host resides.
• Perform an agentless import.

MDT-252560| Import|

• Importing a volume may fail with the following error:
• Import failed because the mirror service could not be enabled on the Destination volume

|

• Run the verify operation on the remote system to recover data connections.
• When the verify operation on the remote system completes successfully, retry the import operation.

MDT-534404| Install or Upgrade| The Pre-Upgrade Health Check may fail if the configuration capture request takes more than four minutes to complete.| Wait 10 minutes and rerun the Pre- Upgrade Health Check.
Issue ID| Functional area| Description| Workaround/Solution
---|---|---|---
MDT-461643| Install or Upgrade| Performing a Pre-Upgrade Health Check on a PowerStore cluster with NVMe expansion enclosures may fail with the following error: pre fw upgrade state is FW_ UPGRADED_NEEDED_NOT_AVAILABLE| Check the status of the Access Modules (AM) on the expansion enclosures. If there are no alerts, retry the Pre-Upgrade Health Check. If the problem persists, contact your service provider for assistance.
MDT-401600| Install or Upgrade| If the Health Check package was uploaded on the PowerStore cluster before a new appliance was added to the cluster, the Health Check package is unable to run for the newly added appliance.| Install the same Health Check package again.
MDT-337169| Install or Upgrade| NAS services might fail to start during the initial installation and configuration of PowerStore appliances or during a PowerStore software upgrade.|

• If NAS services fail to start during the initial installation and configuration of PowerStore appliances, try to install NAS again as described in step 4 of Dell Knowledge Base Article 000130232: PowerStore: PowerStore Manager displays ‘NAS Installation has failed’ when trying to configure PowerStore appliance(s).
• If NAS services fail to start during a PowerStore software upgrade, contact your service provider for assistance.

MDT-265301| Install or Upgrade| When performing an NDU on a PowerStore T model appliance running in Unified mode, the inter-node iSCSI connection might fail when one node is rebooted, which can cause the NAS to panic.| Allow NAS HA services to take care of uninterrupted NAS operations during an NDU. If data unavailability occurs after the NDU is complete, contact your service provider for assistance.
MDT-156905| Install or Upgrade| After performing an NDU, the NAS servers may not fail back automatically to the original node.| Manually fail back the NAS servers using PowerStore Manager.
MDT-135505| Install or Upgrade| Drive firmware updates may not get applied to a single drive or multiple drives within the appliance. This problem may occur because of a timing issue between the nodes of the appliance.| Download and install the drive firmware updates again to ensure it gets updated on the drives that were missed in the previous attempt.
MDT-508449| Internal Migration| The Migration Tool (IMT) import session progress might stop updating if a high availability (HA) event occurs on a multi- appliance PowerStore cluster.| Monitor the progress of the import in PowerStore Manager using the Import External Storage page or import logs.
MDT-484929| Internal Migration| When VMware vSphere 8.0 hosts are connected to a PowerStore cluster, attempting to migrate powered-off vVol- based VMs that use NVMe storage may fail.|

1. Power off the affected VMs.
2. Unregister the VMs from vCenter Server.
3. Migrate the VMs.
4. Re-register the VMs with the vCenter Server.
5. Power on the VMs.

00105337, vVol migration may fail if a vVol is migrated to an appliance on which it was previously located.

| For more information and steps to avoid

this issue, see Dell Knowledge Base Article 0000204524: PowerStore: When using PowerStoreOS 3.x, vVol Migration may fail if a vVol is migrated to an appliance on which it was previously located.

MDT-359565| Internal Migration| PowerStore Manager does not prevent a user from clicking the Delete button during a migration cutover. However, deletion during cutover is not supported and the migration session is not deleted. The delete operation results in a backend error.| None
MDT-285903| Internal Migration| If a migration fails due to a High Availability (HA) event, a system snapshot may remain on the migration source object.| Contact your service provider to clean up the remaining snapshot.
MDT-239624| Internal Migration| When a VM is being deployed from a VM template, vSphere uses the clone operation to provision vVols of the newly created VM. PowerStore internally translates it into space-efficient clones, which is the same process that is used for vVol snapshots. When a Data Path (DP) family size limit exists, a base vVol cannot have more than a 1000 derivatives, such as snapshots and space-efficient clones. This fact results in the following limitations:

·         Cloning from a VM template fails if a base vVol of the VM template already has 1000 derivatives.

·         When the maximum number of family members limit is reached, vVol migration cannot occur because it must create an internal vVol snapshot, which fails.

·         All vVols are placed to the same appliance in a multi-appliance cluster, so the load is not balanced between appliances.

| Use several VM templates created from the same OVF template so that each VM template is used for a reasonable number of VM clones to avoid reaching the DP family limit. This action allows vVols to be distributed between appliances in a multi-appliance cluster for load balancing.
MDT-140927| Internal Migration| After a volume is migrated, a decrease in capacity and performance metrics reporting may occur for that volume at the end of the migration operation.| None
MDT-533093| Monitoring| During an NDU, a large increase in bandwidth and IOPS may be displayed on the cluster performance chart while performance metrics are recalculated.| None. The bandwidth and IOPS values in the cluster performance chart return to normal after the NDU is completed.
Issue ID| Functional area| Description| Workaround/Solution
---|---|---|---
MDT-249810| Monitoring| If the total system capacity is below 10 TB, free page tables are not replenished as this action would consume space that might not be required and waste free pages. The lack of free pages in the table causes a performance impact for writes. For better performance, more capacity should be added.| Ensure that the system capacity is higher than 10 TB.
MDT-55667| Monitoring| Storage container capacity metrics are not available until I/O operations begin.| Look at the capacity metrics again after I/O operations on the storage container have been performed.
MDT-454979| Notifications and Alerts| If a PowerStore cluster has a very large number of initiators, hardware-related alerts may be processed more slowly than normal. This issue does not affect PowerStore Manager operation.| None. A 10 to 30 minute delay may occur when hardware-related alerts are raised and cleared.
MDT-437349| Notifications and Alerts| An alert regarding node failover during an NDU may fail to clear automatically.| Contact your service provider for assistance with manually clearing the alert.
MDT-531726| PowerStore Manager| The automatic refresh functionality in PowerStore Manager may cause duplicate volume pairs to be displayed on the Replication > Session Status > Volume Pair tab when the tab is viewed for several minutes.| Refresh the Volume Pair tab by clicking the Refresh the table icon, or go to the Session Details tab and go back to the Volume Pair tab.
MDT-522233| PowerStore Manager| When a protection policy is selected in the Create Thin Clone dialog box, the protection policy cannot set back to None because the option is disabled.| To set the protection policy back to None in the Create Thin Clone dialog box, close the dialog box and reopen it by selecting Repurpose > Create Thin Clone.
MDT-496618| PowerStore Manager| The Volume Mappings counter, which is displayed on the Mapped Volumes tab of the Host Information page, may fail to update after a mapping or unmapping operation is performed. However, the mapping or unmapping operation is performed correctly, and the information that is displayed in the table on the Mapped Volumes tab is correct.| Go back to the Host Information page, and then click the host again to display the updated Volume Mappings counter on the Mapped Volumes tab.
MDT-455951| PowerStore Manager| During an NDU to PowerStoreOS 3.2, PowerStore Manager becomes unavailable for approximately 30 minutes if the browser is refreshed or restarted while the first node is rebooting. This issue does not affect the NDU process, but PowerStore Manager remains unavailable until the node reboot is complete.| Do not refresh or restart the browser during an NDU. If this issue is encountered, wait approximately 30 minutes for the node reboot to complete.
Issue ID| Functional area| Description| Workaround/Solution
---|---|---|---
MDT-362809| PowerStore Manager| When a certificate file is opened in some text editors, a newline character (\n) is appended to the end of the certificate. A certificate becomes invalid when a newline character (\n) is appended to the end of the certificate.|

• Open a certificate file using a text editor such as Windows Notepad, which does not append a newline character (\n) to the file.
• NOTE: If you open the certificate file using an editor such as Notepad++, you must manually remove the newline character (\n) from the certificate file.

MDT-261523| PowerStore Manager| If Mozilla Firefox is used to upgrade a PowerStore cluster to PowerStoreOS 2.0 or later, a browser cache issue causes the names of some buttons and labels to be displayed as object names instead of the correct button or label names.| Use a different browser such as Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, or clear the browser cache in Firefox. For instructions, see How to clear the Firefox cache on the Mozilla support site.
MDT-118394| PowerStore Manager| Uploading a software upgrade package that is larger than 4 GB may fail when using an older version of Microsoft Edge.| Use a different supported browser to upload the software upgrade package.
MDT-514491| Security| A security compliance modification alert may be raised and fail to clear when Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) compliance is enabled on a PowerStore cluster.| Contact your service provider for assistance with manually clearing the alert. For more information, see Dell Knowledge Base Article 000197418: PowerStore Alerts: Security compliance modification “Started” or “Failed” on the appliance.
MDT-528613| Storage – Block| A node may reboot unexpectedly if two drives fail while the space utilization is very high.| None. The node is expected to recover successfully after it reboots.
MDT-284475| Storage – Block| After mapping a LUN or creating a VM, the LUN or VM appears correctly, but it is inaccessible to hosts.| Unmap the non-working LUN and map it again. For VMs, delete the non- working VM and recreate it.
MDT-242368| Storage – Block| Unable to delete a volume group after deleting a replication session, due to replication session system snapshots that have not been deleted.| Contact your service provider for the procedure to delete the snapshots.
MDT-524910| Storage – File| Performing a bulk delete of file system snapshots may fail.| Retry the bulk delete operation.
MDT-515997| Storage – File| If a PowerStore cluster is under a significant load, gaps may occur in the SDNAS historical metrics that are displayed in the PowerStore REST API and PowerStore Manager.| None
MDT-458871| Storage – File| A file system replication session may become out of sync because of a missed recovery point objective (RPO).| Pause and resume the replication session.
MDT-361933| Storage – File| File system asynchronous replication may use an existing destination NAS server in non-production mode as replication target if it shares the same name as the source NAS server.| Rename the destination NAS server before setting up remote protection for the new NAS server that has the same name. Also, ensure that a NAS server in non-production mode with the same name does not exist.
Issue ID| Functional area| Description| Workaround/Solution
---|---|---|---
MDT-314995| Storage – File| In a Unified appliance cluster, after the system exits from an out of space scenario, some of the NAS Servers may fail to return to Read-Write mode when the Control Path (CP) restarts.| Contact your service provider for assistance.
MDT-195652| Storage – File| Unable to remove the description from an NFS Export.| To change the description, overwrite the current description with a blank character space. Save the NFS Export with no description, and then go back and update the description.
MDT-147688| Storage – File| SMB clients cannot connect to a NAS server when the NAS server name is more than 15 characters. This issue occurs because the SMB server name takes the NAS server name by default.| Specify a NAS server name with 15 characters or less or specify an SMB server name with 15 characters or less. To modify the name, select all the characters in PowerStore Manager, and type the new name.
MDT-139095| Storage – File|

• The following error message was returned while trying to create or delete a snapshot:
• Addition [or deletion] of NFS Export failed due to [The path [path_name] was not found on the system and cannot be exported.]

| Wait for several minutes and try the action again.
MDT-137232| Storage – File| In rare cases, NAS services could be disrupted if the appliance is close to reaching the maximum used data capacity.| Take one of the following actions on the appliance where the NAS service is installed:

• Add capacity to the appliance by adding drives or expansion enclosures.
• Increase free capacity on the system by deleting unused snapshots or volumes.
• Migrate data off the system.

MDT-116676| Storage – File| The major alert NAS node is down may be seen after changing the Cluster MTU value. Changing the MTU value may cause degradation or disruption in NAS file services.| Wait for the alert to clear before performing any further NAS file operations.
MDT-531207| Support| When the system diagnostics (svc_diag) service script is run with the parameters list — expansion_hardware — sub_options, a misleading NVMe expansion enclosure status may be returned if an internal exception is encountered on the affected node.| Retry the svc_diag service script.
MDT-430190| Support| If a High Availability (HA) event occurs during an add appliance operation and the add operation fails, a subsequent add operation for that appliance may also fail.| Contact your service provider for assistance.
Issue ID| Functional area| Description| Workaround/Solution
---|---|---|---
MDT-345741| Support| The upload support materials bundle (svc_dc upload) service script may fail with the following error: No path was found for the data collection| Wait five minutes, and retry the svc_dc upload service script.
MDT-289213| Support Connectivity| If a node failover or node reboot occurs while support data is being uploaded, it may be unclear if the support data was successfully uploaded.| Upload the support data again after the failover or reboot is complete.
MDT-256673| Support Connectivity| Cannot enable the Secure Remote Services (SRS) gateway on an appliance. Version 3.48 of the SRS gateway has an issue with connectivity from some PowerStore systems.| Use a different version of the Secure Remote Services gateway.
MDT-148608| Support Connectivity| Attempting to send a collection of support materials fails when there is insufficient free space on the system.| Delete old data collections to increase the available space on the system so Support Connectivity can make a copy of the support materials to upload.

Limitations

The following limitations exist in this release:

Table 5 Limitations in PowerStoreOS 3.5.0.2

backend connection.
Import| When importing external storage to a PowerStore cluster, a maximum of 16 import sessions is supported in the Ready-For-Cutover state. When several dozen import operations are run back-to-back, intermittent failures of alternate import sessions may occur. If this issue occurs, do the following:

• Remove the remote system and then add it again.
• Run fewer set of imports (16 or less) at a time. It is recommended to start all these import sessions with automatic cutover turned off.
• Once all imports have reached the Ready-For-Cutover state, do a manual cutover.

After one set of imports is completed, run the next set of imports after a delay of ten minutes. This delay allows enough time for the system to cleanup any connections to the source system.

Install or Upgrade| Performing an NDU to PowerStoreOS 3.5 is not supported on PowerStore clusters with NVMe expansion enclosures that contain 10 or more NVMe SSDs.
Install or Upgrade| Performing an NDU is supported with Solaris native MPxIO starting at Oracle Solaris 11.4 SRU 35. Contact your service provider for upgrade support on earlier Solaris versions or Solaris updates.
Internal migration| Before performing an internal migration, see Dell Knowledge Base Article 000105896: PowerStore: Supported Host OS for Non- Disruptive migration of Storage resources for a list of supported configurations and limitations.
Monitoring| Starting a new volume mapping job, while another volume mapping job is still in progress, may cause mapping failure due to duplicate Logical Unit Numbers.
PowerStore Manager and PowerStore REST API| Use the PowerStore cluster management IP address to access the PowerStore Manager and the PowerStore REST API. The appliance management IPs are intended primarily for service use.
PowerStoreOS Support| PowerStoreOS versions 3.5 and later are not supported on PowerStore X model appliances.
Storage – File| Customers that use an SFTP client to access file data on a PowerStore T model cluster may experience access issues after upgrading to PowerStoreOS 3.0 or later because support for the following insecure key exchange (KEX) algorithms have been removed:

• diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha1
• diffie-hellman-group14-sha1

The access issue occurs if the customer is using an outdated SFTP client that only supports the KEX algorithms that were removed from the PowerStoreOS. To resolve this issue, the customer must upgrade to a newer version of the SFTP client.

Storage – File| The maximum supported number of Access Control Entries (ACE) that can be added to an Access Control List (ACL) for an SMB share is 650.
Storage – File| If an Access Control List (ACL) is set on an SMB share using a security identifier (SID) that can be resolved to a user, the SID is converted to the format domain\username.
Storage – File| Cloning write-once-read-many (WORM) files on a File-Level Retention (FLR) enabled file system is not supported.
Functional area| Limitation
---|---
Storage – File| PowerStoreOS 3.5 supports up to 125 File Systems per NAS Server. If you are

upgrading from an earlier version of PowerStoreOS to PowerStoreOS 3.5 or 3.6, and you have more than 125 File Systems on a NAS Server, PowerStore supports up to the number of File Systems that you have created. However, if you delete a File System from the NAS Server, you cannot create another File System on the NAS Server until there are less and 125 File Systems.

Support Connectivity| Support Connectivity cannot be enabled on PowerStore models that are configured with IPv6 for the management network. Support Connectivity is not supported over IPv6.
Virtualization| Version 2.0.0.33 of the PowerStore Storage Replication Adapter (SRA) for VMware Site Recovery Manager is not supported with PowerStoreOS 3.5. For more information, see Dell Knowledge Base Article 000213328: PowerStore: SRM discover devices failed when SRA version 2.0.0.33 is used with PowerStoreOS version 3.5 or later.

Environment and system requirements

• Host configuration requirements
  For host connectivity to PowerStore appliances, see the E-Lab Navigator Host Connectivity Guides.

• Simple Support Matrix
  For compatibility and interoperability information, see the PowerStore Simple Support Matrix, which can be downloaded from dell.com/powerstoredocs.

Installation and upgrade considerations

• Installation considerations
• Before installing a PowerStore cluster, review the PowerStore Deployment Checklist, which can be downloaded from dell.com/powerstoredocs. When you have completed all the planning steps in the deployment checklist, you are ready to install your system.
• Upgrade considerations
• NOTE: PowerStoreOS versions 3.5 and later are not supported on PowerStore X model appliances.
• Before upgrading the PowerStore cluster, review the PowerStore Software Upgrade Guide, which can be downloaded from dell.com/powerstoredocs. For a full list of supported PowerStore upgrade paths, see Dell Knowledge Base Article 000175213: PowerStore: PowerStoreOS Matrix.
• For systems with Support Connectivity enabled, upgrade packages can be automatically downloaded to the system when they become available on Support. The PowerStore upgrade packages are also available for download from the Support site. However, the upgrade packages can only be accessed when you are logged into the Dell Support Site using an account that is associated with the
• PowerStore cluster.
• NOTE: When using the PowerStore CLI, it is recommended that you use the PowerStore CLI version that accompanies each major release of PowerStoreOS. For example, use PowerStore CLI version 3.0 with PowerStoreOS versions 3.0 and 3.2 and use PowerStore CLI version 3.5 with PowerStoreOS version 3.5.

Download the upgrade package for the PowerStore T model cluster
If automatic download is not enabled, download the PowerStore T upgrade package from the Support site.

1. Access the Support site by opening a browser and going to Dell Technologies Support site.

2. Sign into your support account that is associated with the PowerStore cluster.

3. Go to the product page for your PowerStore T model, and then go to Drivers & Downloads.

4. Identify the PowerStore upgrade package to download by carefully reading the package descriptions.
   The PowerStore T upgrade package is named PowerStore T OS Upgrade 3.5.0.2-2190165.

5. Click Download to download the PowerStore upgrade package. The name of the downloaded PowerStore T upgrade package is PowerStoreT-3.5.0.2-2190165-retail.tgz.bin.

6. See the steps in the PowerStore T model clusters section of the PowerStore Software Upgrade Guide to upgrade your PowerStore T model cluster.

Disable support notifications before performing a software upgrade
Manually disable support notifications to prevent call home alerts from being sent to Support when outages occur during a software upgrade.
NOTE: For upgrades from PowerStoreOS 3.0.x and 3.2.0.x, the cluster does not automatically disable notifications during the software upgrade. Notifications must be manually disabled on each appliance of the cluster.

1. In PowerStore Manager, click Settings and click Disable Support Notifications in the Support section.

2. Select an appliance on which to suspend notifications and click Modify.

3.  In the Modify Maintenance Mode slide-out panel, select the Enable Maintenance Mode check box, and specify the number of hours to suspend notifications in the Maintenance Window Duration  field.
   For a PowerStore T model cluster, specify 2 hours to suspend notifications during the upgrade window. Support notifications are automatically reenabled after the maintenance window ends.

4.  Click Apply. The time that the maintenance window ends is displayed in the table.

5. Repeat this process for any other appliances in the cluster.

Where to get help
The Dell Technologies Support site contains important information about products and services including drivers, installation packages, product documentation, knowledge base articles, and advisories.
A valid support contract and account might be required to access all the available information about a specific Dell Technologies product or service.

Notes, cautions, and warnings

• NOTE : A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your product.
• CAUTION : A CAUTION indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem.
• WARNING : A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death.

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