Registering Spectrum Control Base as a storage provider on vCenter server
To use the IBM® Storage
Provider for VMware VASA solution component, you need to register IBM Spectrum Control Base Edition
as a storage provider on VMware vCenter server.
Before you begin
When the IBM Storage Provider for VMware VASA and the IBM Spectrum Control storage provider, formerly known as IBM
Tivoli® Storage Productivity Center (TPC), are registered on
the same VMware vCenter server, while the same storage system is configured for both, vCenter uses
IBM Spectrum Control provider as the only source of information for that system's storage
views on vSphere Web Client.
In such a case, determine whether the IBM Spectrum Control
capabilities are sufficient for replacing the IBM Storage
Provider for VMware VASA. If the IBM Storage Provider for
VMware VASA is still needed, IBM TPC 5.2 (or later) provides a
method of excluding storage systems from a specific storage provider, allowing you to remove the
system association with the IBM TPC provider.
The date and time that are defined on both the vCenter server and on Spectrum Control
Base must be identical. To accurately synchronize the date and time between the two servers, you can
connect both to a Network Time Protocol (NTP) server.
Note: VMware VASA 2.0 is required for implementing
virtual volume functionality.
About this task
The following procedure describes how to register Spectrum Control Base on a single vCenter
server by using vSphere Web Client.
Procedure
To register Spectrum Control Base on VMware vCenter server, complete the following
steps.
In vSphere Web Client, click vCenter > vCenter Servers, and click the vCenter server, on which you want to register the IBM storage
provider.
On the Manage tab, click Storage Providers.
Click the plus sign to add a new storage provider.Figure 1. vSphere Web Client – Storage Providers list
The New Storage Provider dialog box is displayed.
Enter the name, URL, and pre-configured username and password (VASA Secret) for accessing
Spectrum Control Base (the VASA Secret is predefined as explained in Setting the VASA credentials). The URL should be entered in the ip:port format, specifying the relevant IP
address and port number of Spectrum Control Base:
https://[Spectrum Control Base IP address]:8440/services/vasa1 for VASA
1.0
https://[Spectrum Control Base IP address]:8440/services/vasa for VASA
2.0
Note:
The hostname/IP address in the URL must match the common name, which is used, when generating an
SSL certificate for the Spectrum Control Base server. See Managing server certificates.
In this example, "Spectrum Control Base IP address" stands for the IP
address or domain namespace of Spectrum Control Base .
Figure 2. New Storage Provider dialog box for VASA 2.0
Click OK. A security alert dialog
box is displayed.Figure 3. vCenter certificate thumbprint dialog box
Click Yes to accept the certificate. Spectrum Control Base is added to
vCenter Server.
Note: The certificate provides improved security by adding server authentication.
If, during the registration process, you have an active Spectrum Control Base instance,
restart your web browser or refresh the Spectrum Control Base GUI window to ensure the successful
acquisition of the new server certificate. Figure 4. Storage Providers list displaying Spectrum Control Base
You can ensure continuous storage management by combining multiple Spectrum Control Base
instances, registered as storage providers, into high-availability groups. This process is described
in Defining a high-availability group.
Note: Storage spaces and services defined on an active storage provider do not appear on the standby
Spectrum Control Base. The spaces and services become visible on the Spaces/Services pane of the
Spectrum Control Base GUI, when it becomes active after system failover.
What to do next
After Spectrum Control Base is registered as a storage provider on vCenter server, you can
start managing VMware storage resources on IBM storage systems via vSphere Web Client. Complete the
following tasks, referring to the relevant VMware documentation for details.
Create a new VM storage policy to set requirements for the storage resources.
Note: During a VM storage policy creation, a VVol-enabled storage service is exposed as a capability
value of the IBM Storage Service entry. This information is displayed in the storage
container:storage service format.
Add a new datastore.
Note: A VVol container is created for a single storage system on a storage space. For example,
storage space A and storage system A are visible as container 1; storage space A and storage system
B are visible as container 2.
