Dell PowerStore Storage Plug-in (Issues and Future Release?)

[Chrispyyy]

Hi Veeam R&D Forum,
I'm currently evaluating the Dell PowerStore Storage Plug-in for Veeam B&R, my SAN is the Dell PowerStore 500T running PowerStore OS 3.X.

The Plug-in only officially supports PowerStore OS 2.x, but the core functionality still works. When attempting to restore from a snapshot, it's possible and I can restore fine - but it crashes the entire vCenter and ESXI hosts as it is unable unmount the datastore which causes the Software HBA to have issues as it continuously retries. I'm hoping this is expected behaviour (noting the 'incompatibility') and not something wrong with my setup.

Does anyone know when Dell/Veeam are planning to release an update to the Dell PowerStore Plug-in for the PowerStore OS 3.X platform?
The software has been out for six months and this is what sold us on the Dell/Veeam combo.

Thanks.

[Andreas Neufert]

@foggy

[ronnmartin61]

The v3 plugin has been developed and is currently awaiting QA. No firm release date at the moment pending any issues that may be surfaced during testing. Stay tuned...

[foggy]

Right, we've obtained the plug-in update that fixes incompatibility issues from Dell and will perform its verification soon, starting likely this month.

[sfrey@carrollcc.edu]

We have the same issue but on 2.x code of powerstore. This issue only started with esxi 7 boxes. esxi 6.7 boxes are fine and remove the lun. We did find that restoring to a esxi 7 box that single box will be fine the issue only occurs in a datacenter setup. We were thinking its a vmware issue since the 6.7 boxes work and they are running the same command to remove the lun. We are opening a ticket with them to verify.

[Chrispyyy]

That’s interesting @sfrey@carrollcc.edu, I’ve only ever used 7.0u3 with the PowerStore - so assumed it was an incompatibility issue with PowerStore OS 3.X.

Do you get the same issue with your vCenter interface crashing when trying to unmount the snapshot volume?

Maybe @foggy can confirm if they’ve received similar reports?

[Andreas Neufert]

I saw some reports with frozen vCenters in 7.0.3 independent of Veeam that are addressed with the 7.0u3c update. Please update your vcenter to the latest patch level.

[Chrispyyy]

Hi Andreas,
This is happening on a fully patched vCenter and ESXI host cluster unfortunately. The issue is similar, if not the same to this forum post: post473445.html#p473445 and is around host groups on the SAN and disk mount/dismount.

Does anyone carrying out the QA of the new plug-in know if this has been addressed in the latest storage plug-in update?

[foggy]

We will find out and report back. I'd ask you to open a support case with Veeam so we could gather some logs in case a deeper investigation is needed to identify the cause of the behavior you're seeing. Thanks!

[Chrispyyy]

Hi @foggy

Removing the hosts from the host group and individual mapping the volumes resolves the issue.

What seems to happen during the recovery completion procedure is that Veeam sends a dismount command to all ESXI hosts, despite the fact the snapshot is only mounted on one. This causes each of the hosts to become unresponsive as they keep attempting to unmount the non-existent datastore.

There is also the case of being unable to backup from storage snapshots, as Veeam can't communicate with the PowerStore correctly (although it can do Direct SAN access backup) - but I guess that's an issue with the old plug-in and PowerStore OS 3.X, which is hopefully addressed in the new version which I'm eagerly awaiting!

[sfrey@carrollcc.edu]

i can confirm the same. When using a host group it picks that for the restore and grants access to all boxes. When the restore is complete it only rescans the hba on one box not them all. The others it just runs a storage refresh. When that runs on a esx 7 boxes become unresponsive. 6.7 box work fine.
We corrected this by removing the host group and using direct assigned esx boxes in powerstore. With that the restores only attach to one box rather then them all.

[Chrispyyy]

Small world Shawn, I responded to your post on the Dell forum which hopefully nudged you in the right direction.
Fingers crossed these bugs are squashed in the new plug-in, we'll have to wait and see!

[p.lan]

Any word on the status of the new plugin, supporting OS 3.x? Have a few of these PowerStore arrays we just installed and are seeing the same odd behavior identified above, with the current plugin.

[foggy]

Hi Pierce, we're aiming to start its verification next week, still waiting for the lab access. Thank you.

[Chrispyyy]

Thanks for the update @foggy.

This month sounds like it will be a great month with both v12 and the PowerStore Plug-in update - fingers crossed it passes validation!

[Chrispyyy]

How’s the verification coming along for the PowerStore plug-in? Would go great with v12!

[foggy]

Nothing to share so far, still haven't got access to the PowerStore lab at Dell.

[Chrispyyy]

Ah shucks, fingers crossed you get access soon. If you ever need a beta tester, you know who to ask!

[Chrispyyy]

Dare I ask if you've been granted access to the lab yet @foggy, or do I need to speak nicely to my Dell rep?
Eagerly waiting!

[foggy]

To the lab - yes, to the storage - no. But we're pushing...

[Chrispyyy]

Any update on the progress of testing?
Thanks

[foggy]

Not yet, issues on the lab side, still waiting. Thanks for your persistence though.

[Chrispyyy]

What can I say? God loves a trier.
If you need someone to trial, let me at it! I need this for my environment and my Dell rep would be awfully grateful for the respite.

[p.lan]

@Chrispyyy I’m eagerly watching this thread for the same thing, thanks for your persistence. I look for replies on this in my weekly forum digest email lol

[Chrispyyy]

@p.lan I'm sure @foggy can't wait for the day it passes QA, no more waking up in cold sweats to notifications from yours truly.

[foggy]

Indeed! We're literally waiting in the wings but the lab still lacks some presets so we are not able to even start.

[Chrispyyy]

@foggy You know you want to give me an early beta release. Hopefully some movement this week! Going to light another fire under my Dell rep brb....

[oliverL]

Apparently it would be great if this plugin will release.
I will be deploying Veeam, with vsphere and a power store in a green field in 2 months where storage snapshots from a power store need to be supported. Hopefully it won't take long untill the release

[DigIT]

Also waiting on this. Causing some performance heartburn for us. Hope you get the resources you need soon.

[Chrispyyy]

It’s that time of the week @foggy!

Any progress to report? As you can see, quite the captive audience now - waiting for you to utter the words ‘released’.