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NickAC
Contributor
Contributor

Steps to remove SRM 5.0 datastores from Vcentre

Hi

We currently have some Datastores that are used with SRM 5.0 Esxi 5.0 and VNX array based replication.

We are re designing our SRM datastores and have migrated all VMs off of them onto others, i now need to remove them from Vcentre and depresent them from the hosts on the VNX which is not something i have done before.

If it were a normal Datastore i would just unmount and then detach from each host, I'm guessing this is going to be the same with SRM Datastores however are there any other steps i need to do.

My main unknown is regarding the mirrored LUNs that i will not be able to see in Vcentre to unmount / detach, how do i go about removing these, i have been caught out in the past with not unmounting a Datastore properly and very keen not to be in that position again Smiley Happy

Thanks

Nick

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6 Replies
rcporto
Leadership
Leadership

I recommend you check if the datastore are in any SRM Poctection Group and then remove the datastore from Protection Group before unmount from vSphere.

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Richardson Porto
Senior Infrastructure Specialist
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/richardsonporto
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NickAC
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks, i will ensure i do that.

Do you know how you go about removing the read only mirored LUNs from Vcentre?

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bayupw
Leadership
Leadership

Hi

After you have make sure that the LUNs/datastores is not being used by any SRM Protection Groups (at Protected Site or Recovery Site), you can follow the checklist & procedures to unmount LUN as described in below links:

VMware KB: Unmounting a LUN or detaching a datastore/storage device from multiple VMware ESXi 5.x ho...

Best Practice: How to correctly remove a LUN from an ESX host | VMware vSphere Blog - VMware Blogs

For SRM, normally you will have a LUN at protected site replicated to recovery site.

The LUN at protected site is read/write and presented to ESXi host (visible from vCenter), this is the LUN/Datastore that you will unmount.

The LUN at recovery site is read only and normally is not presented to ESXi host (it should be not visible from vCenter).

After you have completed unmounting the LUN, you can break the LUN replication (you can also break the replication before unmounting the LUN), delete the LUN from storage side (EMC VNX) both at protected site and recovery site.

If you accidentally have delete the LUN from storage but you haven't detach/delete from vCenter/ESXi host, to delete the datastore you can follow the procedure described in this KB: VMware KB: Unable to remove a datastore from the vCenter Server 4.x / 5.x inventory

Bayu Wibowo | VCIX6-DCV/NV
Author of VMware NSX Cookbook http://bit.ly/NSXCookbook
https://github.com/bayupw/PowerNSX-Scripts
https://nz.linkedin.com/in/bayupw | twitter @bayupw
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NickAC
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks All

Bayu....Just so i am clear, basically remove the recovery plan / dlete protection group within SRM, then at my Prod site just unmount the LUNs as you would normally by unmount then detach, at the recovery site because the LUNs are read only they are not actually connected to the hosts so i don't need to do anything except de-present the LUNs from the hosts on my EMC VNX array?

Thanks

Nick

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bayupw
Leadership
Leadership

Yes correct Nick

Bayu Wibowo | VCIX6-DCV/NV
Author of VMware NSX Cookbook http://bit.ly/NSXCookbook
https://github.com/bayupw/PowerNSX-Scripts
https://nz.linkedin.com/in/bayupw | twitter @bayupw
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cjscol
Expert
Expert

I would also recommend refreshing the Devices in the SRM Array Managers once you have removed the LUN replication on the storage device and removed the Datastores from the Protected Site and Unmapped the LUNs from the Protected Site ESXi Hosts.

In Site Recovery Manager select Array Managers, select your Array Manager(s) for either the Protected Site or the Recovery Site, navigate to the Devices tab and click on the Refresh button.  As far as I remember when you update one of the Array Managers it will automatically update the Remote Array Manager of any Enabled Pairings so you don't need to do both sites.

You can manually check that your LUNs have been removed from the Device list of both sites by scrolling down the list of Devices on the Devices tab of the relevant Array Managers.

Calvin Scoltock VCP 2.5, 3.5, 4, 5 & 6 VCAP5-DCD VCAP5-DCA http://pelicanohintsandtips.wordpress.com/blog LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cscoltock
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