Windows Knowledge Base

[VMAX]VMAX Single Point of Failure - Engine

..., A Symmetrix system provides redundant hardware that allows the system to remain
operational in the event of a failed component and also during subsequent
component repair. Redundant hardware components include:

- A maximum of eight VMAX Engines
- Physical memory
- Multiple direct or switched host connections combined with EMC PowerPath
software for failover, load balancing and recovery
- Fully independent Fibre Channel loops, switch on loop topology, and dual
point-to-point connections to each drive
- Redundant virtual matrix components and connections
- Redundant power systems providing support for two power zones (A and B) that
connect to two dedicated AC power lines with battery backup to vault cache if
AC power fails.
...
I've went through all the EMC documentation regarding VMAX engine failure. It turns out engine is the single point of failure for EMC VMAX.
To during the intial planning and configuraiton, we have to consider how we could survive an engine failure, So:
- RAID group must be distributed a maximum number of engines
- 7+P or 14+2P require full 8 V-Max engines