A systems administrator wants to add an XtremlO cluster to their VPLEX environment. Which activity must the administrator perform first?

The foundational step in integrating a new storage array like XtremIO into a VPLEX environment is establishing a communication path. This is accomplished through Fibre Channel zoning on the SAN fabric. Zoning explicitly permits the VPLEX front-end ports (initiators) to communicate with the XtremIO Storage Controller ports (targets). Without this fabric-level connectivity, VPLEX cannot discover the XtremIO array, and therefore, no subsequent logical configuration tasks—such as creating initiator groups, provisioning volumes, or mapping them—can be performed. Zoning is the essential prerequisite for all other integration activities.

A. Provisioning storage to the host is a final step, performed after VPLEX has claimed and virtualized the underlying XtremIO storage volumes.
B. Creating and mapping volumes on the XtremIO array for VPLEX can only occur after VPLEX initiators are visible to the array, which requires prior zoning.
C. Creating initiator groups on XtremIO is a logical configuration step that requires the VPLEX initiator WWNs to be known; this is typically done after or concurrently with zoning, but zoning is the prerequisite for communication.

1. Dell EMC VPLEX with XtremIO: Best Practices (Technical White Paper, August 2017). Section 3, "Configuration," on page 14, outlines the workflow. The "SAN configuration" subsection, which includes zoning, is presented as a prerequisite before "XtremIO configuration" (creating volumes and mapping) and "VPLEX configuration" (claiming storage).

2. Dell EMC VPLEX SAN Connectivity Implementation Planning and Best Practices (Technical Notes, June 2017). The document's core purpose emphasizes that proper SAN design and zoning are the first and most critical steps for connecting any back-end array to VPLEX. Section "Zoning VPLEX ports" details this requirement.

3. Dell EMC XtremIO Storage Array Host Configuration Guide (Version 4.0 and later). In the chapter for any supported host operating system (e.g., "VMware vSphere ESXi"), the "Fibre Channel Configuration" section consistently lists zoning as a mandatory step before the host (in this case, VPLEX) can discover storage. This principle applies universally to connecting any initiator to XtremIO.