Adding Storage Devices

Constraints

If BCManager storage devices have been added to the Air Gap isolation area of the secondary end, BCManager storage devices cannot be added to the primary end.

Precautions

PrecautionsBefore adding a storage device, check whether the link of the remote device is normal. If the link is abnormal, the following problems may occur after the storage device is added:

• The status of the local remote replication is Abnormally Disconnected, and the status of the remote device is Air Gap Disconnected.
• The status of the local device is inconsistent with that of the remote device. One device is faulty, and the other device is disconnected.
• The status is restored only when the remote device is restored and the pair is synchronized again.

For example, storage device A exists in the air gap isolation area, and its remote storage device is B. Before adding storage device A on BCManager, if the replication link between storage device A and storage device A is abnormal, the following problems will occur after the storage device is added:

• The remote replication status of storage device A is Abnormally Interrupted, and the remote device status is Air Gap Disconnected.
• The remote device status of storage device A is Air Gap disconnected, and the remote device status of storage device B is faulty.

Prerequisites

The scenarios of adding storage devices are described in the following.

• The storage device to be discovered is running properly, and the ProtectManager application has been deployed on the storage device.
• The firewall has been disabled or firewall exceptions have been enabled based on the communication matrix.
• A site has been created.
• The storage devices to be added have not been added to any local site.
• Ensure that the status of the remote device to which the FC link and IP link of the storage device to be added are normal. This ensures that the alarm suppression command is successfully sent to the discovered storage and its peer storage (no alarm is sent because the replication port is disabled).
  

  • You can connect storage devices to eReplication using MD5 encryption. Note that passwords encrypted based on MD5 may be cracked.
  • You can connect storage devices to eReplication using SHA-256 encryption and fixed salt.

Context

One storage device can be added only to one site on eReplication.

Procedure

1. On the menu bar, select Resources.
2. In the navigation tree, select the site where the storage device is to be added.
3. Click Add Storage Device.
   • Method 1: In the Resource Statistics area, click Add Storage Device.

     

   • Method 2: In the navigation tree, select Storage. Then click Add Storage Device.

     

4. Optional: Select Apply the port, username, and password of the first row to the newly added row.. The system will copy the port number, username, and password of the storage device in the first row to the new row to avoid repeated inputs.
5. Set parameters for the storage devices to be added as described in Table 1.
   

   • If only one storage device needs to be added, enter the IP address, port number, username, and password of the storage device.
   • If multiple storage devices need to be added, you need to click Add Row to enter the IP addresses, port numbers, usernames, and passwords of multiple storage devices.

   Table 1 Parameters for adding storage devices

   Parameter	Description	Value
   IP Address	Management IPv4 or IPv6 address of the storage device.	[Example] 192.168.10.11
   Port	Communication port of the storage device. Default port: default management port configured for the storage device before delivery. The system uses this port to communicate with the storage device. Customized port: management port customized for the storage device. The system uses this port to communicate with the storage device.	If Default port is selected, the value is automatically configured by the system. If Customized port is selected, the port number is an integer from 1 to 65,535.
   Username	User name for logging in to the storage device.	It can be obtained from the storage device administrator. NOTE: After the password of a storage device is changed, eReplication continuously accesses the storage device. As a result, the storage account is locked. You are advised to create a user only for accessing eReplication on the storage device. The user must have administrator rights and the password never expires. Dorado 6.x is used as an example. For details, see Managing the Password Always Valid Policy.
   ProtectManager	Configure ProtectManager.	Click to configure the ProtectManager port, user name, and password.
   Password	Password of the storage device.	It can be obtained from the storage device administrator.

   

   • If an added storage device does not need to be discovered, click Delete to delete it. The default information row cannot be deleted.

   • After a storage device is discovered, a security port group is automatically created based on the remote device where the FC link and IP link of the discovered storage device are located, a network time window under the security port group is created, and the default time of the time window is set from 00:00 to 00:00.
   • After the Air Gap backup storage is discovered, the replication port is disabled by default.
   • If the ProtectManager information is incorrectly configured, the discovery result of the storage device is not affected.
   • When adding a storage device, you need to configure the ProtectManager and ensure that the ProtectManager information is correct. The ProtectManager resource scanning task will be triggered. After the scanning is complete, you can use the anti-ransomism function provided by the ProtectManager.
   • If ProtectManager is not configured when the storage device is added, you can configure ProtectManager and refresh the storage device after the storage device is added successfully. After the update is successful, you can use the anti-ransomism function provided by ProtectManager.

6. Click OK.

Related Operations

After storage devices are added, you can refresh, modify, and delete information about storage devices. For details about related operations, see Table 2.

After the storage device is added successfully, a security port group is automatically generated, a network time window is generated based on the remote device, ports associated with FC links and IP links are disabled, and the default time window of ports is set to 00:00 to 00:00.