Rules for Naming SAN Components

In this topic:

Naming conventions

Renaming SAN components

Naming Conventions

SAN component names should be of the approved naming convention. SAN components (with the exception of DataCore Servers) can be renamed at any time.

  • DataCore Servers and hosts:
    • Names must follow Windows operating system naming conventions.
    • DataCore Server and host names are limited to 15 ASCII characters. Fully qualified domain name (FQDN) is limited to 64 characters.
    • Names must start with a letter and end with a letter or digit. Middle characters may be letters, digits, or hyphens. Do not use underscores.
    • Names for DataCore Servers and hosts must be unique in the server group.
  • Virtual disks and virtual disk groups:
    • Virtual disk names (including rollbacks and snapshots) must be unique in the server group.
    • Virtual disk names (including rollbacks and snapshots) are limited to 63 ASCII characters. The limit includes timestamps (which could be as long as 23 characters) that may be appended to rollbacks and snapshots.
  • Disk pool names are limited to 31 ASCII characters and must be unique in the server group.
  • Physical disks and DataCore disks:
    • The maximum length is 44 ASCII characters.
    • When discovered, the default name of a physical disk is the concatenation of the vendor and product name, which is not unique among multiple disks from the same product. A unique alias is not automatically generated.
    • If a physical disk or DataCore disk is renamed, the name must be unique in the server group.
    • See DataCore disks for more information.
  • Port names are limited to 64 characters and must be unique to the DataCore Server.
  • Names for host groups, user names and tasks are limited to 64 ASCII characters.
  • Report names are limited to 30 ASCII characters.
  • Names are not case sensitive.
  • Descriptions for SAN components are limited to 1024 ASCII characters.

Renaming SAN Components

All SAN components can be renamed in the console, with the exception of vCenters, ESXi Hosts, virtual machines and hypervisor host ports that have been added in VMware vCenter Integration. A server initiator port cannot be renamed if CHAP authentication has been set.

The computer name, domain, or work group of a DataCore Server can be changed in the operating system properties. If changed, the DataCore Server name will automatically be updated in DataCore SANsymphony, along with any iSCSI port IQNs on the server that include the name.

  • When renaming or changing the work group or domain of multiple servers in the same server group, modify one server at a time in the following manner. Modify the first server and restart it, then ensure that the server is available in the DataCore Management Console with the changes and mirrors recover. Then modify the next server.
  • After modifying these properties, a reboot is required and the Hosts file should be updated with the changes.

  • After adding a server to, or removing a server from a domain, if the iSCSI Initiator IQN was still the default value as generated by Windows, reconnecting the iSCSI mirrors or loopback connections may be required as the IQN may have been changed. Before starting the node, remove all entries for the old connection from the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator Properties under Targets, Discovery, and Favourite Targets tabs and then re-add them.

To rename:

  • From the DataCore Servers panel or Hosts panel, right-click on the object and select Rename. Enter the new name.
  • From the details page for the object, click Edit at the top of the page. Enter the new name and click Done.

    Open the details page by clicking on the SAN resource in the panel.

  • To rename a pool mirror, access the Rename command from DataCore Server Details page>Physical Disks tab.
  • Physical disk aliases can be removed and the original name restored by simply deleting the alias.