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E-Series Systems

Host creation overview

Contributors netapp-jolieg netapp-driley netapp-jsnyder
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To manage storage with the Storage Plugin for vCenter, you must discover or define each host in the network. A host is a server that sends I/O to a volume on a storage array.

Manual host creation

Creating a host is one of the steps required to let the storage array know which hosts are attached to it and to allow I/O access to the volumes. A host can be created manually.

  • Manual — During manual host creation, you associate host port identifiers by selecting them from a list or manually entering them. After you create a host, you can assign volumes to it or add it to a host cluster if you plan to share access to volumes.

How volumes are assigned

For a host to send I/O to a volume, you must assign the volume to it. You can select either a host or host cluster when you create a volume or you can assign a volume to a host or host cluster later. A host cluster is a group of hosts. You create a host cluster to make it easy to assign the same volumes to multiple hosts.

Assigning volumes to hosts is flexible, allowing you to meet your particular storage needs.

  • Stand-alone host, not part of a host cluster — You can assign a volume to an individual host. The volume can be accessed only by the one host.

  • Host cluster — You can assign a volume to a host cluster. The volume can be accessed by all the hosts in the host cluster.

  • Host within a host cluster — You can assign a volume to an individual host that is part of a host cluster. Even though the host is part of a host cluster, the volume can be accessed only by the individual host and not by any other hosts in the host cluster.

When volumes are created, logical unit numbers (LUNs) are assigned automatically. The LUN serves as the address between the host and the controller during I/O operations. You can change LUNs after the volume is created.