I am a technology enthusiast with 15 years of experience in SAN and NAS Storage.
The symaccess command is a powerful utility used in Dell EMC Symmetrix storage arrays to manage storage access control. It is primarily utilized for masking view operations, allowing administrators to define and control which hosts can access specific storage resources.
With symaccess, users can create and manage initiator groups, port groups, and storage groups, which collectively form masking views. These views ensure that only authorized hosts can communicate with designated storage devices. Additionally, the command facilitates security settings, backup and restore operations, and various administrative tasks related to Fibre Channel (FC) and iSCSI connectivity.
By leveraging symaccess, storage administrators can efficiently manage and enforce storage access policies, enhancing both security and operational efficiency in a Symmetrix storage environment.
Symaccess Summary
Heading
Summary
Actions
The symaccess command enables the management of initiator, port, and storage groups. It allows creating and deleting masking views, modifying groups, setting attributes, associating aliases, backing up and restoring data, and verifying database consistency.
Arguments
Various arguments define the operation being performed. Examples include add for adding elements, delete for removal, rename for name changes, restore for restoring configurations, and list for retrieving group information.
Keywords
Keywords refine the scope of operations, such as assignments for listing initiators, hba_flags for modifying HBA settings, sg for storage group lists, and view to specify actions on masking views.
Supported HBA Port Flags
A set of flags that configure port behaviors for HBAs, including options like Disable_Q_Reset_on_UA, OpenVMS support, Avoid_Reset_Broadcast, and SPC2_Protocol_Version.
Supported Initiator Group Port Flags
Similar to HBA port flags but applied to initiator groups, these include Volume_Set_Addressing, Common_Serial_Number, and SCSI_3 support.
Symaccess Action
The symaccess command provides the ability to perform the following actions:
Create initiator, port, and storage groups.
Create masking views, each one containing a single initiator, port, and storage group.
Delete a masking view.
Delete initiator, port, and storage groups when they are not part of a masking view.
Rename masking views or initiator, port, or storage groups.
Associate an ASCII name with the initiator as a convenience. To NULL the alias, use a slash (/) as input.
Add or remove devices for a specifed storage group.
Add or remove ports or endpoints for a specified port group.
Add or remove initiators for a specified initiator group.
Copy masking views or initiator, port, or storage groups from one Symmetrix array to another.
Replace the host HBA without losing established permissions.
Set HBA port flags on a per initiator basis. This feature allows the user to change some attributes for a different host type on the FA or SE for the specified initiator.
Set the consistent LUN flag for an initiator group to force that any device masked to this group has the same LUN for all ports.
Display the login history table.
Associate the Fibre Channel ID (FCID) of a switch in a fabric to the path from a host HBA to a Symmetrix array. This further restricts the path by which a host can connect to a Symmetrix array.
Set, enable, disable, or delete CHAP credentials from the database for either the director/port or a specified iSCSI initiator.
Back up the Auto-provisioning Group data to a user-named file on the host.
Restore the Auto-provisioning Group data from a backup file stored on the host.
List the host HBA information.
List the group information.
List the view information.
Verifies that the AutoProvisioning Database is consistent.
Symaccess Arguements
Command
Description
add
Adds elements to the specified group.
backup
Creates a file containing all of the group and view information currently on the array.
copy
Copies views or groups from one Symmetrix array to another.
create
Creates a view or group of the specified type.
delete
Deletes the masking view or security information that was previously set for either a director/port or an iSCSI initiator.
disable
Disables security information that was previously set for a director/port or an iSCSI initiator.
discover
Discovers the WWN or iSCSI names of the HBAs on the host which has paths to the Symmetrix and writes the ASCII alias names to the login history table (if empty).
enable
Enables security information that was previously set for a director/port or an iSCSI initiator.
list
Lists the group, view, or security information.
remove
Removes elements from the specified group.
rename
Renames the ASCII name of a group or view, or renames the alias for the specified initiator within a group and the login history table.
replace
Replaces the WWN or iSCSI name within an initiator group with the specified new WWN or iSCSI name.
restore
Restores all of the group, view, and security information from the specified backup file.
set
Sets initiator attributes or CHAP credentials.
show
Shows detailed information about the groups or views.
verify
Checks the Auto-provisioning database to verify that it is consistent.
Symaccess keywords
Keyword
Description
assignments
Lists the currently assigned initiators for the specified devices.
bw_limit
Sets the bandwidth limits in MB per second for an initiator group.
chap
Specifies the iSCSI CHAP credential.
consistent_lun
Sets the consistent LUN for the specified initiator group.
devinfo
Lists the device information by initiator group.
devs
Specifies devices to be added or removed.
hba
Specifies the WWN or iSCSI name of the HBA on the host.
hba_flags
Sets the HBA port settings for an initiator within a group for any settings that should differ from the current settings on the port.
ig_flags
Sets the port settings for an initiator group for any settings that should differ from the current settings on the port.
lockdown
Sets the FCID value for an initiator within a group.
logins
Specifies the entries in the login history table.
no_assignment
Lists devices that are mapped, but not yet assigned within a masking view.
sg
Indicates a list of storage group names.
src
Limits the action to the source devices in a device file.
tgt
Limits the action to the target devices in a device file.
view
Indicates that the action will be performed on a view.
Supported HBA Port Flags
Flag Name
Code
Common_Serial_Number
C
Disable_Q_Reset_on_UA
D
Environ_Set
E
Avoid_Reset_Broadcast
ARB
AS400
AS4
OpenVMS
OVMS
SCSI_3
SC3
SPC2_Protocol_Version
SPC2
SCSI_Support1
OS2007
Supported Initiator Group Port Flags
Flag Name
Code
Volume_Set_Addressing
V
Common_Serial_Number
C
Disable_Q_Reset_on_UA
D
Environ_Set
E
Avoid_Reset_Broadcast
ARB
AS400
AS4
OpenVMS
OVMS
SCSI_3
SC3
SPC2_Protocol_Version
SPC2
SCSI_Support1
OS2007
Symaccess Example: Masking View, Initiator Group, Port Group, Storage Group
Action
Command
Create an initiator group named igroup_alpha, adding WWN 210000e08b04abcd
I am a technology enthusiast with 15 years of experience in SAN and NAS Storage. I work with one of the fortune 500 companies as SAN Storage Architect.
