EMC Symmetrix BIN file, largely an unknown topic in the storage industry and practically there is no available information related to it. This post is just an attempt to shed some light as to what a BIN file is, how it works, what’s in it and why is it essential with the Enginuity code.
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Some EMC folks have capitalized on the BIN file as to the personality it brings to the Symmetrix, while the EMC competition always uses it against them as it introduces complexities in the storage environment with management and change control.

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Personally I feel a Symmetrix wouldn’t be a Symmetrix if the BIN file weren’t there. The personality, characteristics, robustness, compatibility, flexibility, integration with OS’s, etc wouldn’t be there if the BIN file didn’t exist.

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With the total number of OS’s, device types, channel interfaces and flags it supports today, sort of making it one of the most compatible storage arrays in the market. The configuration and compatibility on the Symmetrix can be verified using the E-Lab navigator available on Powerlink.

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So here are some facts about the BIN file

• Only used with Symmetrix systems (Enginuity Code)
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• BIN file stands for BINARY file.
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• BIN file holds all information about the Symmetrix configuration
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• One BIN file per system serial number is required.
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• BIN file was used with Symmetrix Gen 1 in 1990 and is still used in 2010 with Symmetrix V-Max systems.
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• BIN file holds information on SRDF configurations, total memory, memory in slots, serial number of the unit, number of directors, type of directors, director flags, engines, engine ports, front end ports, back end ports, drives on the loop, drives on the SCSI bus, number of drives per loop, drive types in the slots, drive speeds, volume addresses, volume types, meta’s, device flags and many more settings.
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• The setup for host connection if the OS is Open Systems or Mainframe environments using FICON, ESCON, GbE, FC, RF, etc is all defined in the BIN file. Also director emulations, drive formats if OSD or CKD, format types, drive speeds, etc is all defined in the BIN file.
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• BIN file is required to make a system active. It is created based on customer specifications and installed by EMC during the initial setup.
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• Any ongoing changes in the environment related to hardware upgrades, defining devices, changing flags, etc is all accomplished using BIN file changes.
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• BIN file changes can be accomplished 3 ways.
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• BIN file change for hardware upgrades is typically performed by EMC only.
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• BIN file change for other changes that are device, director, flags, meta’s, SRDF configurations etc is either performed through the SYMAPI infrastructure using SymCLI or ECC (Now Ionix) or SMC (Symmetrix Management Console) by the customer. (Edited based on the comments: Only some changes now require traditional BIN file change, typically others are performed using sys calls in enginuity environment)
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• Solutions enabler is required on the Symcli, ECC, SMC management stations to enable SYMAPI infrastructure to operate.
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• VCMDB needs to be setup on the Symmetrix for SymCLI, ECC, SMC related changes to work.
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• Gatekeeper devices need to be setup on the Symmetrix front end ports for SymCLI, ECC, SMC changes to work
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• For Symmetrix Optimizer to work in your environment, you need DRV devices setup on your Symmetrix.(EDITED based on comments: Only required until DMX platform. Going forward with DMX3/4 & V-Max platforms it uses sys calls to perform these Optimizer changes).

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Back in the day

All and any BIN file changes on the Symmetrix 3.0, Symmetrix 4.0 used to be performed by EMC from the Service Processor. Over the years with introduction of SYMAPI and other layered software products, now seldom is EMC involved in the upgrade process.

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Hardware upgrades

BIN File changes typically have to be initiated and performed by EMC, again these are the hardware upgrades. If the customer is looking at adding 32GB’s of Cache to the existing DMX-4 system or adding new Front End connectivity or upgrading 1200 drive system to 1920 drives, all these require BIN file changes initiated and performed by EMC. To my understanding the turn around time is just a few days with these changes, as it requires change control and other processes within EMC.

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Customer initiated changes

Configuration changes around front end ports, creating volumes, creating meta’s, volume flags, host connectivity, configuration flags, SRDF volume configurations, SRDF replication configurations, etc can all be accomplished through the customer end using the SYMAPI infrastructure (with SymCLI or ECC or SMC).

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Enginuity upgrade

Upgrading the microcode (Enginuity) on a DMX or a V-Max is not a BIN file change, but rather is a code upgrade. Back in the days, many upgrades were performed offline, but in this day and age, all changes are online and accomplished with minimum pains.

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Today

So EMC has moved quite ahead with the Symmetrix architecture over the past 20 years, but the underlying BIN file change requirements haven’t changed over these 8 generations of Symmetrix.

Any and all BIN file changes are recommended to be done during quite times (less IOPS), at schedule change control times. Again these would include the ones that EMC is performing from a hardware perspective or the customer is performing for device/flag changes.

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The process

During the process of a BIN file change, the configuration file typically ending with the name *.BIN is loaded to all the frontend directors, backend directors, including the global cache. After the upload, the system is refreshed with this new file in the global cache and the process makes the new configuration changes active. This process of refresh is called IML (Initial Memory Load) and the BIN file is typically called IMPL (Initial Memory Program Load) file.

A customer initiated BIN file works in a similar way, where the SYMAPI infrastructure that resides on the service processor allows the customer to interface with the Symmetrix to perform these changes. During this process, the scripts verify that the customer configurations are valid and then perform the changes and make the new configuration active.

To query the Symmetrix system for configuration details, reference the SymCLI guide. Some standard commands to query your system would include symcfg, symcli, symdev, symdisk, symdrv, symevent, symhost, symgate, syminq, symstat commands and will help you navigate and find all the necessary details related to your Symmetrix. Also similar information in a GUI can be obtained using ECC and SMC. Both will allow the customer to initiate SYMAPI changes.

Unless something has changed with the V-Max, typically to get an excel based representation of your BIN file, ask your EMC CE.

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Issues

You cannot run two BIN files in a single system, though at times the system can end up in a state where you can have multiple BIN files on various directors. This phenomenon typically doesn’t happen to often, but an automated script when not finished properly can put the system in this state. At this point the Symmetrix will initiate a call home immediately and the PSE labs should typically be able to resolve these issues.

Additional software like Symmetrix Optimizer also uses the underlying BIN file infrastructure to make changes to the storage array to move hot and cold devices based on the required defined criteria. There have been quite a few known cases of Symmetrix Optimizer causing the above phenomenon of multiple BIN files. , Though many critics will disagree with that statement. (EDITED based on comments: Only required until DMX platform. Going forward with DMX3/4 & V-Max platforms it uses sys calls to perform these Optimizer changes).

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NOTE: One piece of advice, never run SYMCLI or ECC scripts for BIN file changes through a VPN connected desktop or laptop. Always run all necessary SymCLI / SMC / ECC scripts for changes from a server in your local environment. Very highly recommend, never attempt to administer your Symmetrix system with an iPhone or a Blackberry.

Hope in your quest to get more information on BIN files, this serves as the starting point..

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Cheers
@storagenerve

Very little is known about the Symmetrix File System largely known as SFS. Symmetrix File System is an EMC IP and practically only used within the Symmetrix environment for housekeeping, security, access control, stats collection, performance data, algorithm selection, etc.

If there are any facts about SFS that are known to you, please feel free to leave a comment. This post talks about the effects of SFS and not really the underlying file system architecture.

Some facts about the Symmetrix File System are highlighted below.

• Symmetrix File System (SFS) resides on volumes that have specially been created for this purpose on the Symmetrix
• SFS volumes are created during the initial Enginuity Operating Environment load (Initial install)
• 4 Volumes (2 Mirrored Pairs) are created during this process
• SFS volumes were introduced with Symmetrix Series 8000, Enginuity 5567 and 5568

Characteristics

• 4 SFS volumes are spread across multiple Disk Directors (Backend Ports) for redundancy
• SFS volumes are considered as reserved space and not available to use by the host
• Symmetrix 8000 Series: 4 SFS volumes, 3GB each (cylinder size 6140). Reserved space is 3GB x 4 vols = 12 GB total
• Symmetrix DMX/DMX-2: 4 SFS volumes, 3GB each (cylinder size 6140). Reserved space is 3GB x 4 vols = 12 GB total
• Symmetrix DMX-3/DMX-4: 4 SFS volumes, 6GB each (cylinder size 6140). Reserved space is 6GB x 4 vols = 24 GB total, (It’s different how the GB is calculated based on cylinder size on a DMX/DMX-2 vs a DMX-3/DMX-4)
• Symmetrix V-Max: 4 SFS volumes, 16GB each, Reserved space is 16GB x 4 vols = 64GB total
• SFS volumes cannot reside on EFD (Enterprise Flash Drives)
• SFS volumes cannot be moved using FAST v1 and/or FAST v2
• SFS volumes cannot be moved using Symmetrix Optimizer
• SFS volumes cannot reside on Vault Drives or Save Volumes
• SFS volumes are specific to a Symmetrix (Serial Number) and do not need migration
• SFS volumes are managed through Disk Directors (Backend Ports) only
• SFS volumes cannot be mapped to Fiber Directors (now FE – Frontend Ports)

Effects

• SFS volumes are write enabled but can only be interfaced and managed through the Disk directors (Backend Ports).
• SFS volumes can go write disabled, which could cause issues around VCMDB. VCMDB issues can cause host path (HBA) and disk access issues.
• SFS volume corruption can cause hosts to lose access to disk volumes.
• If SFS volumes get un-mounted on a Fiber Director (Frontend Port), can result into DU (Data Unavailable) situations.

Fixes

• Since the SFS volumes are only interfaced through the Disk Directors (Backend Ports), the PSE lab will need to be involved in fixing any issues.
• SFS volumes can be VTOC’ed (formatted) and some key information below will need to be restored upon completion. Again this function can only be performed by PSE lab.
• SFS volumes can be formatted while the Symmetrix is running, but in a SCSI-3 PGR reservation environment it will cause a cluster outage and/or a split brain.
• No Symmetrix software (Timefinder, SYMCLI, ECC, etc) will be able to interface the system while the SFS volumes are being formatted.
• The security auditing / access control feature is disabled during the format of SFS volumes, causing any Symmetrix internal or external software to stop functioning.
• Access Control Database and SRDF host components / group settings will need to be restored after the SFS format

Access / Use case

• Any BIN file changes to map SFS volumes to host will fail.
• SFS volumes cannot be managed through SYMCLI or the Service Processor without PSE help.
• SYMAPI (infrastructure) works along with SYMMWIN and SFS volumes to obtain locks, etc during any SYMCLI / SYMMWIN / ECC activity (eg. Bin Changes).
• Since FAST v1 and FAST v2 reside as a policy engine outside the Symmetrix, it uses the underlying SFS volumes for changes (locks, etc).
• Performance data relating to FAST would be collected within the SFS volumes, which FAST policy engine uses to gauge performance.
• Performance data relating to Symmetrix Optimizer would be collected within the SFS volumes, which Optimizer uses to gauge performance.
• Other performance data collected for the DMSP (Dynamic Mirror Service Policy).
• All Audit logs, security logs, access control database, ACL’s etc is all stored within the SFS volumes.
• All SYMCLI, SYMAPI, Solutions enabler, host, interface, devices, access control related data is gathered on the SFS volumes.
• With the DMX-4 and the V-Max, all service process access, service processor initiated actions, denied attempts; RSA logs, etc are all stored on SFS volumes.

Unknowns

• SFS structure is unknown
• SFS architecture is unknown
• SFS garbage collection  and discard policy is unknown
• SFS records stored, indexing, etc is unknown
• SFS inode structures, function calls, security settings, etc is unknown

As more information gets available, I will try to update this post. Hope this is useful with your research on SFS volumes…

Cheers

@storagenerve

So this was one of those posts that I always wanted to write related to Symmetrix V-Max and SRDF enhancements that were incorporated with the 5874 microcode.

Yesterday morning had a chat with a friend and ended up talking about SRDF and then later in the day had another interesting conference call on SRDF with a potential customer. So I really thought, today was the day I should go ahead and finish this post.

Back in April 2009 when the V-Max systems were initially launched, Storagezilla had a post on V-Max and SRDF features, he covers quite a bit of ground related to the Groups and the SRDF/EDP (Extended Distance Protection).

Here are the highlights of SRDF for V-Max Systems

SRDF Groups:

1. 250 SRDF Groups with Symmetrix V-Max (5874) Systems. In the prior generation Symmetrix DMX-4 (5773), it had support for 128 groups. Logically even with 2PB of storage, very seldom do customers hit that mark of 250 groups.
2. 64 SRDF groups per FC / GigE channel. In the previous generation Symmetrix DMX-4 (5773), there was support for 32 groups per channel.

SRDF Consistency support with 2 mirrors:

1. Each leg is placed in a separate consistency group so it can be changed separately without affecting the other.

Active SRDF Sessions and addition/removal of devices:

1. Now customers can add or remove devices from a group without invaliding the entire group, upon the device becoming fully synced it should be added to the consistency group (with previous generation Symmetrix DMX-4, one device add or remove would cause the entire group to invalidate requiring the customers to run full establish again).

SRDF Invalid Tracks:

1. The “long tail” – last few tracks search has been vastly improved. The search procedure and methods for the “long tail’ has been completely redesigned. It is a known fact with SRDF, that the last invalid tracks take a lot of time to sync as its going through the cache search.
2. The SRDF establish operations speed is at least improved by 10X; see the numbers below in the performance data.

Timefinder/Clone & SRDF restores:

1. Customers can now restore Clones to R2 and R2’s to R1’s simultaneously, initially with the DMX-4’s this was a 3-step process.

SRDF /EDP (Extended Distance Protection):

1. 3-way SRDF for long distance with secondary site as a pass through site using Cascaded SRDF.
2. For Primary to Secondary sites customers can use SRDF/S, for Secondary to Tertiary sites customer can use SRDF/A
3. Diskless R21 pass-through device, where the data does not get stored on the drives or consume disk. R21 is really in cache so the host is not able to access it. Needs more cache based on the amount of data transferred.
4. R1 — S –> R21 — A –> R2 (Production site > Pass-thru Site > Out-of-region Site)
5. Primary (R1) sites can have DMX-3 or DMX-4 or V-Max systems, Tertiary (R2) sites can have DMX-3 or DMX-4 or V-Max systems, while the Secondary (R21) sites needs to have a V-Max system.

R22 – Dual Secondary Devices:

1. R22 devices can act as target devices for 2 x R1 devices
2. One Source device can perform Read write on R22 devices
3. RTO improved with primary site going down

Other Enhancements:

1. Dynamic Cache Partitioning enhancements
2. QoS for SRDF/S
3. Concurrent writes
4. Linear Scaling of I/O
5. Response times equivalent across groups
6. Virtual Provisioning supported with SRDF
7. SRDF supports linking Virtual Provisioned device to another Virtual Provisioned device.
8. Much more faster dynamic SRDF operations
9. Much more faster failover and failback operations
10. Much more faster SRDF sync’s

Some very limited V-Max Performance Stats related to SRDF:

1. 36% improved FC performance
2. FC I/O per channel up to 5000 IOPS
3. GigE I/O per channel up to 4000 IOPS
4. 260 MB/sec RA channel I/O rate, with DMX-4 it was 190 MB/seconds
5. 90 MB/sec GigE channel I/O rate, with DMX-4 it was almost the same
6. 36% improvement on SRDF Copy over FC
7. New SRDF pairs can be created in 7 secs compared to 55 secs with previous generations
8. Incremental establishes after splits happen in 3 seconds compared to 6 secs with previous generations
9. Full SRDF establishes happen in 4 seconds compared to 55 seconds with previous generations
10. Failback SRDF happen in 19 seconds compared to 47 seconds with previous generations

To read more about V-Max systems follow

http://storagenerve.com/tag/v-max

To read more about SRDF systems follow

http://storagenerve.com/tag/srdf

So next year will mark a history of Symmetrix Products within EMC, still classified as one of the most robust systems out there after 20 years of its inception. In this blog post, we will talk about some facts on Symmetrix products as it relates to its features, characteristics, Enginuity microcode versions, model numbers, year released, etc.

Also in this blog post you will see links to most of my previous posts about Symmetrix products.

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So the journey of Symmetrix systems started with Moshe Yanai (along with his team) joining EMC in late 80’s. A floating story says, the idea of a cache based disk array was initially pitched to both IBM and HP and was shot down.  EMC was predominately a mainframe memory selling company back in the late 1980’s. The Symmetrix products completely changed the direction of EMC in a decade.

Joe Tucci comes in at the end of 90’s from Unisys with a big vision. Wanted to radically change EMC. Through new acquisitions, new technologies, vision and foremost the integration of all the technologies created today’s EMC.

Symmetrix has always been the jewel of EMC. Back in the Moshe days, the engineers were treated so royally (Have heard stories about helicopter rides and lavish parties with a satellite bus waiting outside for a support call). Then comes the Data General acquisition in late 90’s that completely changed the game.

Some people within EMC were against the DG acquisition and didn’t see much value in it. While the Clariion DG backplane is what changed the Symmetrix to a Symmetrix DMX – Fiber Based Drives. Over this past decade, EMC radically changes its position and focuses on acquisitions, support, products, quality, efficiency, usability and foremost changing itself from a hardware company to an Information Solutions company focusing on software as its integral growth factor.  New acquisitions like Legato, Documentum, RSA, kept on changing the culture and the growth focus within EMC.

Then came VMware and it changed the rules of the game, EMC’s strategic move to invest into VMware paid off big time.  Then happens the 3-way partnership between VMware – EMC – Cisco, to integrate next generation products, V-Max (Symmetrix), V-Sphere and UCS are born.

Here we are in 2009, almost at the end of 20 years since the inception of the Symmetrix, the name, the product, the Enginuity code, the robust characteristics, the investment from EMC all stays committed with changing market demands.

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Jumping back into the Symmetrix, here are a few articles you might find interesting, overall talking about various models, serial numbers of the machines and importantly a post on Enginuity Operating Environment.

To read about EMC Symmetrix Enginuity Operating Environment

To read about EMC Symmetrix Serial Number naming convention,

To read about EMC Symmetrix Models in a previous blog post

To read about various EMC models based on different Platforms

To read about all EMC Clariion models since the Data General Acquisition

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Symmetrix Family 1.0

ICDA – Integrated Cache Disk Array

Released 1990 and sold through 1993

A 24GB total disk space introduced

Wow, I was in elementary school or may be middle school when this first generation Symmetrix was released….

Symmetrix 4200

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Symmetrix Family 2.0

ICDA – Integrated Cache Disk Array

Released 1991 and sold through 1994

A 36GB total disk space

Mirroring introduced

Symmetrix 4400

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Symmetrix Family 2.5

ICDA – Integrated Cache Disk Array

Released 1992 and sold through 1995

RSF capabilities added

(I actually met a guy about 2 years ago, he was one of the engineers that had worked on developing the first RSF capabilities at EMC and was very instrumental in developing the Hopkinton PSE lab)

Symmetrix 4800:

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Symmetrix Family 3.0 also called Symmetrix 3000 and 5000 Series

Released 1994 and sold through 1997

ICDA: Integrated Cache Disk Array

Includes Mainframe Support (Bus & Tag)

Global Cache introduced

1GB total Cache

NDU – Microcode

SRDF introduced

Supports Mainframe and open systems both

Enginuity microcode 50xx, 51xx

Symmetrix 3100: Open systems support, half height cabinet, 5.25 inch drives

Symmetrix 5100: Mainframe support, half height cabinet, 5.25 inch drives

Symmetrix 3200: Open Systems support, single cabinet, 5.25 inch drives

Symmetrix 5200: Mainframe support, single cabinet, 5.25 inch drives

Symmetrix 3500: Open Systems support, triple cabinet, 5.25 inch drives

Symmetrix 5500: Mainframe support, triple cabinet, 5.25 inch drives

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Symmetrix Family 4.0 also called Symmetrix 3000 and 5000 Series

Released 1997 and sold through 2000

RAID XP introduced

3.5 Inch drive size introduced

On triple cabinet systems 5.25 inch drives used

Supports Mainframe and Open Systems both

Timefinder, Powerpath, Ultra SCSI support

Enginuity microcode 5265.xx.xx, 5266.xx.xx

Symmetrix 3330: Open Systems Support, half height cabinet, 32 drives, 3.5 inch drives

Symmetrix 5330: Mainframe Support, half height cabinet, 32 drives, 3.5 inch drives

Symmetrix 3430: Open Systems Support, single frame, 96 drives, 3.5 inch drives

Symmetrix 5430: Mainframe Support, single frame, 96 drives, 3.5 inch drives

Symmetrix 3700: Open Systems Support, triple cabinet, 128 drives, 5.25 inch drives

Symmetrix 5700: Mainframe Support, triple cabinet, 128 drives, 5.25 inch drives

To read about EMC Symmetrix Hardware Components

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Symmetrix Family 4.8 also called Symmetrix 3000 and 5000 Series

Released 1998 and sold through 2001

Symmetrix Optimizer Introduced

Best hardware so far: least outages, least problems and least failures (not sure if EMC will agree to it, most customers do)

3.5 inch drives used with all models

Enginuity microcode 5265.xx.xx, 5266.xx.xx, 5267.xx.xx

Symmetrix 3630: Open Systems support, half height cabinet, 32 drives

Symmetrix 5630: Mainframe support, half height cabinet, 32 drives

Symmetrix 3830: Open Systems support, single cabinet, 96 drives

Symmetrix 5830: Mainframe support, single cabinet, 96 drives

Symmetrix 3930: Open Systems support, triple cabinet, 256 drives

Symmetrix 5930: Mainframe support, triple cabinet, 256 drives

Models sold as 3630-18, 3630-36, 3630-50, 5630-18, 5630-36, 5630-50,3830-36, 3830-50, 3830-73, 5830-36, 5830-50, 5830-73, 3930-36, 3930-50, 3930-73, 5930-36, 5930-50, 5930-73 (the last two digits indicate the drives installed in the frame)

To read about EMC Symmetrix Hardware Components

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Symmetrix Family 5.0 also called Symmetrix 8000 Series

[ 3000 (open sytems) + 5000 (mainframe) = 8000 (support for both) ]

Supports Open Systems and Mainframe without BUS and TAG through ESCON

Released 2000 and sold through 2003

181GB Disk introduced

Enginuity microcode 5567.xx.xx, 5568.xx.xx

Symmetrix 8130: Slim cabinet, 48 drives

Symmetrix 8430: Single cabinet, 96 drives

Symmetrix 8730: Triple cabinet, 384 drives

Some models sold as 8430-36, 8430-73, 8430-181 or 8730-36, 8730-73, 8730-181 (the last two digits indicate the drives installed in the frame)

To read about EMC Symmetrix Hardware Components

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Symmetrix Family 5.5 LVD also called Symmetrix 8000 Series

Released 2001 and sold through 2004

LVD: Low Voltage Disk Introduced

146GB LVD drive introduced

Ultra SCSI drives cannot be used with the LVD frame

Mainframe optimized machines introduced

4 Slice directors introduced with ESCON and FICON

FICON introduced

Enginuity microcode 5567.xx.xx, 5568.xx.xx

Symmetrix 8230: Slim cabinet, 48 drives, (rebranded 8130, non lvd frame)

Symmetrix 8530: Single cabinet, 96 drives, (rebranded 8430, non lvd frame)

Symmetrix 8830: Triple cabinet, 384 drives, (rebranded 8730, non lvd frame)

Symmetrix 8230 LVD: LVD frame, slim cabinet, 48 LVD drives

Symmetrix 8530 LVD: LVD frame, single cabinet, 96 LVD drives

Symmetrix 8830 LVD: LVD frame, triple cabinet, 384 LVD drives

Symmetrix z-8530: LVD frame, Single cabinet, 96 drives, optimized for mainframes

Symmetrix z-8830: LVD frame, Triple cabinet, 384 drives, optimized for mainframe

Some models sold as 8530-36, 8530-73, 8530-146, 8530-181 or 8830-36, 8830-73, 8830-146, 8830-181 (the last two digits indicate the drives installed in the frame)

To read about EMC Symmetrix Hardware Components

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Symmetrix DMX or also called Symmetrix Family 6.0

Released Feb 2003 and sold through 2006

Direct Matrix Architecture (Data General Backplane) introduced

DMX800 was the first DMX system introduced

4 Slice directors introduced

RAID 5 introduced after being introduced on DMX-3

First generation with common DA / FA hardware

Introduction of modular power

Enginuity Microcode 5669.xx.xx, 5670.xx.xx, 5671.xx.xx

Symmetrix DMX800: Single cabinet, DAE based concept for drives, 96 drives (I swear, a customer told me, they have ghost like issues with their DMX800)

Symmetrix DMX1000: Single cabinet, 18 drives per loop, 144 drives total

Symmetrix DMX1000-P: Single cabinet, 9 drives per loop, 144 drives total, P= Performance System

Symmetrix DMX2000: Dual cabinet, modular power, 18 drives per loop, 288 drives

Symmetrix DMX2000-P: Dual cabinet, modular power, 9 drives per loop, 288 drives, P=Performance System

Symmetrix DMX3000-3: Triple cabinet, modular power, 18 drives per loop, 3 phase power, 576 drives

To read about EMC Symmetrix DMX Hardware components

To read about EMC Symmetrix DMX models and major differences

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Symmetrix DMX2 or also called Symmetrix Family 6.5

Released Feb 2004 and sold through 2007

Double the processing using DMX2

DMX and DMX2 frames are same, only directors from DMX must be changed to upgrade to DMX2, reboot of entire systems required with this upgrade

RAID 5 introduced after being introduced on DMX-3

64GB memory introduced

4 Slice Directors

Enginuity Microcode 5669.xx.xx, 5670.xx.xx, 5671.xx.xx

Symmetrix DMX801: 2^nd generation DMX, Single cabinet, DAE based concept for drives, 96 drives, FC SPE 2 (I swear, a customer told me, they have ghost like issues with their DMX800)

Symmetrix DMX1000-M2: 2^nd generation DMX, Single cabinet, 18 drives per loop, 144 drives

Symmetrix DMX1000-P2: 2^nd generation DMX, Single cabinet, 9 drives per loop, 144 drives, P=Performance System

Symmetrix DMX2000-M2: 2^nd generation DMX, Dual cabinet, 18 drives per loop, 288 drives

Symmetrix DMX2000-P2: 2^nd generation DMX, Dual cabinet, 9 drives per loop, 288 drives, P=Performance System

Symmetrix DMX2000-M2-3: 2^nd generation DMX, Dual cabinet, 18 drives per loop, 288 drives, 3 Phase power

Symmetrix DMX2000-P2-3: 2^nd generation DMX, Dual cabinet, 9 drives per loop, 288 drives, P=Performance System, 3 Phase power

Symmetrix DMX3000-M2-3: 2^nd generation DMX, Triple cabinet, 18 drives per loop, 576 drives, 3 Phase power

To read about EMC DMX Symmetrix Hardware components

To read about EMC Symmetrix DMX models and major differences

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Symmetrix DMX-3 or also called Symmetrix 7.0

Released July 2005 and still being sold

8 Slice directors

1920 disk (RPQ ‘ed to 2400 drives)

DAE based concept introduced

Symmetrix Priority Controls

RAID 5 introduced and then implemented on older DMX, DMX-2

Virtual LUN technology

SRDF enhancements

Concept of vaulting introduced

Enginuity microcode 5771.xx.xx, 5772.xx.xx

Symmetrix DMX-3 950: System Cabinet, Storage Bay x 2, 360 drives max, Modular Power, 3 Phase power

Symmetrix DMX-3: System Cabinet, Storage Bay x 8 (Expandable), 1920 drives max, RPQ’ed to 2400 drives, 3 Phase power

To read about differences between EMC Symmetrix DMX3 and DMX4 platforms

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Symmetrix DMX-4 or also called Symmetrix 7.0

Released July 2007 and still being sold

Virtual provisioning

Flash Drives

FC / SATA drives

RAID 6 introduced

SRDF enhancements

Total Cache: 512 GB

Total Storage: 1 PB

Largest drive supported 1TB SATA drive

Flash drives 73GB, 146GB later now support for 200GB and 400GB released

1920 drives max (RPQ’ed to 2400 drives)

Enginuity microcode 5772.xx.xx, 5773.xx.xx

Symmetrix DMX-4 950: System Cabinet, Storage Bay x 2, 360 drives max, Modular Power, 3 Phase power

Symmetrix DMX-4: System Cabinet, Storage Bay x 8 (Expandable), 1920 drives max, RPQ’ed to 2400 drives, Modular power, 3 Phase Power

Some models sold as DMX-4 1500, DMX-4 2500, DMX-4 3500 and DMX-4 4500

To read about a blog post on EMC Symmetrix: DMX4 Components

To read about differences between EMC Symmetrix DMX3 and DMX4 platforms

To read about different drives types supported on EMC Symmetrix DMX4 Platform

To read about differences between EMC Symmetrix DMX4 and V-Max Systems

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Symmetrix V-Max

(Released April 2009)

Enginuity Microcode 5874.xxx.xxx

Total number of drives supported: 2400

Total Cache: 1 TB mirrored (512GB usable)

Total Storage: 2 PB

All features on the V-Max have been discussed earlier on the blog post linked below

Symmetrix V-Max SE: Single System Bay, SE=Single Engine, Storage Bay x 2, 360 drives max, cannot be expanded to a full blown 8 engine system if purchased as a SE, 3 Phase power, Modular Power

Symmetrix V-Max: System Cabinet, Storage Bay x 10, 2400 drives max, modular power, 3 phase power

To read about differences between EMC Symmetrix DMX4 and V-Max Systems

To read about different drives types supported on EMC Symmetrix V-Max Platforms

To read all about the EMC Symmetrix V-Max Platform

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I could have easily added total memory capacity per frame, total number of dedicated DA/DAF slots, total slots, total universal slots, total memory slots, but then I didn’t know information on some of the old systems and didn’t want to be incorrect on them.

Hope you have enjoyed reading this post, with a bit of history related to the Symmetrix platform. I am pretty positive, as of today you will not find this consolidated information on any blog or the manufacturers website.

I really wish, EMC decided to open blogging to some Symmetrix, Clariion, Celerra, Centera specialist that support these systems on a day to day basis, the information that could come out from those guys could be phenomenal. Barry Burke writes a lot of stuff, but again a lot of FUD from him against IBM and HDS, its great reading him, but only a controlled amount of technical information comes from him.

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