Graceful shutdown of HP SAN and ESXI's

[Anonymous user]

We have a mixture of physical and Virtual Servers in running all HP.

With the majority being migrated to VM-Ware, I'd like to know what options are to shutdown all the VM's, the ESXI Hosts and SAN in the event of Power Failure.

In addition to this, phased power up options since the SAN takes a considerable amount of more time to boot compared to the ESXI hosts

We do not want be left in a position relying on PowerChute to gracefully shutdown the VM's (Windows, Linux, etc), if the Hosts and SAN are then just left to switch off past the run time

Thanks

[BillP]

Your options will depend on your configuration. If each ESXi host is stand alone or if the hosts are in a cluster. If the host are stand alone then PowerChute would be installed on VMware vMA (virtual management assistant) and that PowerChute Agent via RCLI (remote command line) will tell the host/s when they need to power down. The host will then command the VMs to power down using VMware tools. See knowledge base document FA159688. If the host are in a cluster then PowerChute will also command the VMs down and up as required. See knowledge base document FA159784. To power down the SAN you would write a script that PowerChute would run that tells the SAN to power down.

Example: PowerChute Network Shutdown has been installed on VMware vMA. It has been configured to communicate with 3 ESXi host that are not in a cluster. The PowerChute Agent has also been configured to run a shut down script that command the SAN down when the UPS has been on battery for 20 minutes. That script has been configured with a delay of 30 minutes so PowerChute once it start the SAN script will wait 30 minutes before commanding the host down. The host are then commanded down and they command the VMs down. When power is restored the host turn back on, assuming they BIOs as been configured properly. The vMA restarts when the host comes back on line and if required the VMs are restart. Since the SAN is off it cannot be command back on via script so it would be configured to power back up when power is restored. You can stagger power being restored to the hosts and SAN using either switched outlet PDU or switched outlet aware UPS. 

For the physical Windows and Linux system they would have PowerChute installed on them for the graceful shutdown. 

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

Thanks, looks like there's a solution whether standalone or cluster

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

Hi Bill,

It makes completely sense but I cannot find how to run a shut down script on a HP SAN. Even the HP SAN html console has no option for it. Yeah, really, it has no shut down option. Does anybody know how to write the shut down script and, even more important, what the script does to the SAN to achieve a graceful shut down?

All my research is made over a HP MSA 2040.

Thanks in advance!