Multi-Attach Storage is now available in Skytap! Multi-Attach Storage expands on Skytap’s general storage solution by adding the capability to decouple storage from an individual IBM i or AIX LPAR and allows it to be shared to multiple LPARs within the same Skytap environment. Our goal is to add functionality that will enable solutions using things like PowerHA and Oracle RAC that demand performance and shared storage in your virtual infrastructure. An additional objective of ours was to stay true to Skytap tenets of simplicity and provide a toolset that was designed by systems engineers for systems engineers.
What’s included in Skytap Multi-Attach Storage:
- Ability to create multiple disks within a disk set: This release will provide end users the ability to configure a set of disks or sets of disks independent of a virtual machine within a Skytap environment.
- Shared storage: Customers will be able to attach Multi-Attach Storage disk sets to up to 2 LPARs within an environment.
- Manage Multi-Attach Disk Sets: Customers will be able to Create, Rename, Update, and Delete their disk sets including management of disk sets, disks, and attachments.
- Copy to Region and Template: Customers will be able to include Multi-Attach Storage disk sets in copy to template and copy to region operations.
Getting Started with Multi-Attach Storage in the Skytap UI
You will now see a new tab within your Skytap Environment titled “Multi-Attach Storage” that will give you an overview of the Multi-Attach disk sets within the environment:
This tab displays the following information about the Multi-Attach Storage disk sets in this environment:
- Disk set: The name you assigned to the disk set when you created it.
- ID: The unique ID of the disk set.
- Size: The combined size of all allocated storage within the disk set.
- Disks: The number of disks in the disk set.
- Attached VMs: The names of the VMs in the environment attached to the disk set.
The bottom line displays the total allocated storage for all disk sets in this environment and the total number of disk sets. For more information on how to use this new feature, please refer to our Multi-Attach Storage help documentation.
Getting Started with Multi-Attach Storage in the Skytap API
You will now also be able to interact with a new element in the Skytap API called multi_attach_storage_groups that will allow all of the same functionality as the UI including Create, Rename, Update, Delete disk sets. For more information on how to use this new feature in the Skytap API, please refer to our Skytap API for MAS help documentation.
Additional Multi-Attach Storage notes:
A disk set can be attached to two LPARs. You can create up to five disk sets per region.
Disk sets exist within an environment and can be attached only to VMs in that environment.
Initially, disk sets will be available in the following regions:
- CAN-Toronto
- CN-HongKong-M-1
- EMEA
- IE-Dublin-M-1
- NL-Amsterdam-M-1
- SG-Singapore-M-1
- UK-London-M-1
- US-Central
- US-Texas-M-1
- US-Virginia-M-1
- US-West
- IN-Pune-M-1
You can always contact your Skytap account team or Skytap Support if you would like us to review any increases to these limits and work with your account team to request any additional regional availability. Please email the Skytap Product Management team with feedback on our new Multi-Attach Storage feature or to request new features and functionality.
