Archive
iSCSI initiator configuration in RedHat Enterprise Linux 5
The following post will discuss about iSCSI initiator configuration in RedHat Enterprise Linux 5, this method is also applicable to all RHEL5 derivatives. The iSCSI LUNs will be provided by an HP P4000 array.
First of all we need to get and install the iscsi-initiator-utils RPM package, you can use yum to get and install the package from any supported repository for CentOS or RHEL. You can also download the package from RedHat Network if you have a valid RHN account and your system doesn’t have internet connection.
[root@rhel5 ~]# rpm -ivh /tmp/iscsi-initiator-utils-6.2.0.871-0.16.el5.x86_64.rpm Preparing... ########################################### [100%] 1:iscsi-initiator-utils ########################################### [100%] [root@rhel5 ~]# [root@rhel5 ~]#rpm -qa | grep iscsi iscsi-initiator-utils-6.2.0.871-0.16.el5 [root@rhel5 ~]# rpm -qi iscsi-initiator-utils-6.2.0.871-0.16.el5 Name : iscsi-initiator-utils Relocations: (not relocatable) Version : 6.2.0.871 Vendor: Red Hat, Inc. Release : 0.16.el5 Build Date: Tue 09 Mar 2010 09:16:29 PM CET Install Date: Wed 16 Feb 2011 11:34:03 AM CET Build Host: x86-005.build.bos.redhat.com Group : System Environment/Daemons Source RPM: iscsi-initiator-utils-6.2.0.871-0.16.el5.src.rpm Size : 1960412 License: GPL Signature : DSA/SHA1, Wed 10 Mar 2010 04:26:37 PM CET, Key ID 5326810137017186 Packager : Red Hat, Inc. <http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla> URL : http://www.open-iscsi.org Summary : iSCSI daemon and utility programs Description : The iscsi package provides the server daemon for the iSCSI protocol, as well as the utility programs used to manage it. iSCSI is a protocol for distributed disk access using SCSI commands sent over Internet Protocol networks. [root@rhel5 ~]#
Next we are going to configure the initiator. The iSCSI initiator is composed by two services, iscsi and iscsid, enable them to start at system startup using chkconfig.
[root@rhel5 ~]# chkconfig iscsi on [root@rhel5 ~]# chkconfig iscsid on [root@rhel5 ~]# [root@rhel5 ~]# chkconfig --list | grep iscsi iscsi 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off iscsid 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off [root@rhel5 ~]# [root@rhel5 ~]#
Once iSCSI is configured start the service.
[root@rhel5 ~]# service iscsi start
iscsid is stopped
Starting iSCSI daemon: [ OK ]
[ OK ]
Setting up iSCSI targets: iscsiadm: No records found!
[ OK ]
[root@rhel5 ~]#
[root@rhel5 ~]# service iscsi status
iscsid (pid 14170) is running...
[root@rhel5 ~]#
From the P4000 CMC we need to add the server to the management group configuration like we would do with any other server.
The server iqn can be found in the file /etc/iscsi/initiatorname.iscsi.
[root@cl-node1 ~]# cat /etc/iscsi/initiatorname.iscsi InitiatorName=iqn.1994-05.com.redhat:2551bf29b48 [root@cl-node1 ~]#
Create any iSCSI volumes you need in the P4000 arrays and assign them to the RedHat system. Then to discover the presented LUNs, from the Linux server run the iscsiadm command.
[root@rhel5 ~]# iscsiadm -m discovery -t sendtargets -p 192.168.126.60 192.168.126.60:3260,1 iqn.2003-10.com.lefthandnetworks:mlab:62:lv-rhel01 [root@rhel5 ~]#
Restart the iSCSI initiator to make the new block device available to the operative system.
[root@rhel5 ~]# service iscsi restart
Stopping iSCSI daemon:
iscsid dead but pid file exists [ OK ]
Starting iSCSI daemon: [ OK ]
[ OK ]
Setting up iSCSI targets: Logging in to [iface: default, target: iqn.2003-10.com.lefthandnetworks:mlab:62:lv-rhel01, portal: 192.168.126.60,3260]
Login to [iface: default, target: iqn.2003-10.com.lefthandnetworks:mlab:62:lv-rhel01, portal: 192.168.126.60,3260]: successful
[ OK ]
[root@rhel5 ~]#
Then check that the new disk is available, I used lsscsi but fdisk -l will do.
[root@rhel5 ~]# lsscsi [0:0:0:0] disk VMware, VMware Virtual S 1.0 /dev/sda [2:0:0:0] disk LEFTHAND iSCSIDisk 9000 /dev/sdb [root@rhel5 ~]# [root@rhel5 ~]# fdisk -l /dev/sdb Disk /dev/sdb: 156.7 GB, 156766306304 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19059 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Disk /dev/sdb doesn't contain a valid partition table [root@rhel5 ~]#
At this point the iSCSI configuration is done, the new LUNs will be available through a system reboot as long as the iscsi service is enabled.
Juanma.
HP Virtual Connect Domain Setup – Part 3: Storage setup
Welcome to the third post of the Virtual Connect series!
The first two posts were about initial VC Domain creation and the Network setup. In this one I’ll explain the storage configuration of the Domain using the Fibre Channel Setup Wizard.
Please take into account that iSCSI is supported with Virtual Connect since the version 3.10 of Virtual Connect Manager and only with the Flex-10 and FlexFabric modules. However I’m going to leave iSCSI configuration for a future post, since I didn’t have many opportunities to try it with VC, and write only about Fibre Channel.
Before we start with the wizard and all the setup task is important to explain the Virtual Connect storage fundamentals.
The first concept to understand are the several key Fibre Channel port types. There a three basic FC ports:
- N_Port (Node Port) – An N_Port is a port within a node that provides Fibre Channel attachment like an HBA port. VC-FC module uplink ports are N_ports.
- F_Port (Fabric Port) – This a port on a FC switch connected to an N_port and addressable by it. These are commonly used in Edge or Core switches. The VC-FC module’s downlink ports are F_ports in order to allow the HBAs to login into them.
- E_Port (Expansion Port) – These are switch ports used for switch-to-switch connections known as Inter Switch Link or ISL.
Additionally there are two other ports, however these ports are not typically seen in Virtual Connect environments.
- NL_Port (Node Loop Port) – An N_port capable of Arbitrated Loop function.
- FL_Port (Fabric Loop Port) – An F_port capable of Arbitrated Loop function.
The next key concept to understand in N_Port ID Virtualization or NPIV. It’s a T11 FC standard than can be defined as a Fibre Channel facility that allows to assign multiple N_Port_IDs to a single N_Port, this is a physical N_port having multiple port WWNs. Of course the VC-FC module must be connected to a Fibre Channel switch that supports NPIV.
And how manages Virtual Connect all this port stuff? I believe that an image is worth a thousand words, so first I will show with the below diagrams illustrate how FC ports and SAN are managed with and without Virtual Connect.
As it can be seen the SAN switches, like the Cisco MDS 9124e, that can be used in any blade enclosure including the HP ones are part of the SAN Fabric, that means the enclosure itself is part of the Fabric. These switches are connected to the SAN Core via E_ports or ISL.
In this configuration the SAN boundary has been moved out of the enclosure. The VC-FC module includes an HBA Aggregator which is an NPIV device. It passes, transparently, the signals from multiple HBAs to a single switch port.
Here it is how the whole process would go:
- VC-FC module uplink port issue a Login Request, an FLOGI to the SAN and advertize itself as NPIV capable port.
- Upon receiving an ACCept from the Fabric it would begin to process server requests.
- Server HBAs would begin normal Fabric login process with the WWNs.
- VC-FC module would translate FLOGI requests into an FDISC requests since a single N_Port can only receive one FLOGI request.
- SAN switch would reply with an ACCept and provide HBAs with Fabric addresses.
- The ACCept frames would reach uninterrupted the HBAs.
- From then on all the traffic will be carried over the sane link for all HBA connections.
Now the the basic concepts are explained and, hopefully clear, it’s time to configure the storage.
We are going to use the Fibre Channel Setup Wizard to:
- Identify the World Wide Names (WWNs) to be used by the servers.
- Define the available SAN fabrics.
You can launch the wizard either from the Tools menu in the Virtual Connect page or right after finishing the Network Setup Wizard. From the welcome screen click Next and move into the World Wide Name (WWN) Settings page.
In this first page you can specify if you want to use the WWN settings that comes with the Fiber Channel HBA card or if the HP Virtual Connect supplied WWN settings.
Virtual Connect will assign both a port WWN and a node WWN to a Fibre Channel port, the node WWN will always be the same as the port WWN incremented by one.
There is key advantage when configuring Virtual Connect to assign the WWNs and is that, since it maintains a consistent storage identity, it allows blades to be replaced in case of failure without affecting the external SAN.
In the wizard select Virtual Connect assigned WWNs and click Next to move into the Assigned WWNs screen.
This screen is very similar to the MAC address range selection screen we saw in the previous post. Here you have to choose between an user defined WWNs range and an HP defined one. You must ensure that the selected range is unique within the environment.
Next we are going to define the Fabric, first you’ll be presented with a screen asking if you want to define the fabric.
After that we have to enter the Fabric name, assign the uplink ports and configure the speed.
After applying the configuration the wizard will move to the next screen where it will ask if you want to create more Fabric, for the example purposes I decided to create a another one named fabric_prod2.
When you are done with the second fabric finish the wizard and the storage setup will be done. You can review and modify the configuration from the Virtual Connect main interface.
The next post will be the last of the series and I will discuss about Virtual Connect Server Profiles. As always any feedback would be welcome :-)
Juanma.
EMC Symmetrix Timefinder survival guide
During a previous project I had the opportunity to work very closely with the EMC people and Symmetrix arrays, in fact I got a couple of very good friends from that project. At the time I created a bunch of text files for my self reference about EMC SRDF and Timefinder technologies.
Today I decided to review that files, give them some order, well sort of, and put them here as a survival guide/quick reference in the hope that will be of help to any of you. The first of this guides will be about EMC Symmetrix Timefinder.
I don’t have sample output for every command, been more than a year since the last time I work with Timefinder, to complement my own samples I got several outputs from the Timefinder manuals.
This is not a complete Timefinder usage guide, just my personal notes taken from my direct experience with product.
Timefinder Basics
EMC Timefinder is a replication solution that creates full volume copies. For the full-HP guys out there this is very similar to the XP or EVA Business Copy product.
There are two basic types of replication:
- TimefinderClone – Creates point-in-time copies.
- Timefinder/Snap – Creates pointer-based replicas, snapshots, only the changed data is written.
There are several optional components.
- Timefinder/Mirror.
- Timefinder/CG (Consistency Groups)
- Timefinder/EIM (Exchange Integration Modules)
- Timefinder/SIM (SQL Integration Modules)
Timefinder allows to retain multiple copies at different checkpoints for lowered RPO and RTO.
Symcli basics
Following is a list of the most basic symcli commands necessary to get your way around when you perform any Symmetrix task, including Timefinder.
- Get the list of the Symmetrix devices
root:/# symdev list
Symmetrix ID: 00029xxxxxxx
Device Name Directors Device
--------------------------- ------------- -------------------------------------
Cap
Sym Physical SA :P DA :IT Config Attribute Sts (MB)
--------------------------- ------------- -------------------------------------
0000 Not Visible ???:? 01A:C0 BCV Asst'd RW 8632
0001 Not Visible ???:? 16C:D0 BCV Asst'd RW 8632
0002 Not Visible ???:? 01B:D0 BCV Asst'd RW 8632
0003 Not Visible ???:? 16D:C0 BCV Asst'd RW 8632
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
0048 Not Visible ???:? ???:?? VDEV N/Grp'd RW 8632
0049 Not Visible ???:? ???:?? VDEV N/Grp'd RW 8632
004A Not Visible ???:? ???:?? VDEV N/Grp'd RW 8632
004B Not Visible ???:? ???:?? VDEV N/Grp'd NR 8632
004C Not Visible ???:? ???:?? VDEV N/Grp'd NR 8632
004D Not Visible ???:? ???:?? VDEV N/Grp'd NR 8632
004E Not Visible ???:? ???:?? VDEV N/Grp'd NR 8632
004F Not Visible ???:? ???:?? VDEV N/Grp'd NR 8632
0050 Not Visible ???:? ???:?? VDEV N/Grp'd NR 8632
0051 Not Visible ???:? ???:?? VDEV N/Grp'd NR 8632
0052 Not Visible ???:? 16B:D1 2-Way Mir N/A (SV) RW 8632
0053 Not Visible ???:? 01C:C0 2-Way Mir N/A (SV) RW 8632
0054 Not Visible ???:? 16B:C0 2-Way Mir N/A (SV) RW 8632
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
- List all available devices from a device group
root:/# symld -g dg_oradev_01 list
- List host physical devices
root:/# sympd list
- List the disk groups:
root:/# /usr/symcli/bin/symdg list
D E V I C E G R O U P S
Number of
Name Type Valid Symmetrix ID Devs GKs BCVs VDEVs
dg_oracle_prod1 REGULAR Yes 00029xxxxxxx 26 0 26 0
dg_oracle_prod2 REGULAR Yes 00029xxxxxxx 21 0 21 0
dg_rac_01 RDF1 Yes 00029xxxxxxx 23 0 23 0
dg_clvx_01 RDF1 Yes 00029xxxxxxx 5 0 5 0
dg_oradev_01 REGULAR Yes 00029xxxxxxx 3 0 0 0
dg_timetest_02 RDF1 Yes 00029xxxxxxx 16 0 16 0
grupo1 RDF1 Yes 00029xxxxxxx 22 0 0 0
root:/#
- Add devices to a disk group
- Add physical devices
root:/# symld -g dg_oradev_01 add pd /dev/dsk/c2t4d12
- Add Symmetrix devices
root:/# symld -g dg_oradev_01 add 006E
- Get diskgroup detailed info.
root:/# /usr/symcli/bin/symdg show dg_prod_01
Group Name: dg_prod_01
Group Type : RDF1 (RDFA)
Device Group in GNS : No
Valid : Yes
Symmetrix ID : 00029xxxxxxx
Group Creation Time : Mon Nov 29 18:49:29 2007
Vendor ID : EMC Corp
Application ID : ECC
Number of STD Devices in Group : 2
Number of Associated GK's : 0
Number of Locally-associated BCV's : 2
Number of Locally-associated VDEV's : 0
Number of Remotely-associated VDEV's(STD RDF): 0
Number of Remotely-associated BCV's (STD RDF): 0
Number of Remotely-associated BCV's (BCV RDF): 0
Number of Remotely-assoc'd RBCV's (RBCV RDF) : 0
Standard (STD) Devices (2):
{
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sym Cap
LdevName PdevName Dev Att. Sts (MB)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
DEV001 N/A 01C8 RW 8714
DEV002 N/A 01C9 RW 8714
}
BCV Devices Locally-associated (2):
{
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sym Cap
LdevName PdevName Dev Att. Sts (MB)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
BCV001 N/A 08A8 RW 8714
BCV002 N/A 08A9 RW 8714
}
Device Group RDF Information
{
RDF Type : R1
RDF (RA) Group Number : 2 (01)
Remote Symmetrix ID : 000287xxxxxx
R2 Device Is Larger Than The R1 Device : False
RDF Pair Configuration : Normal
RDF STAR Mode : False
RDF Mode : Synchronous
RDF Adaptive Copy : Disabled
RDF Adaptive Copy Write Pending State : N/A
RDF Adaptive Copy Skew (Tracks) : 32767
RDF Device Domino : Disabled
RDF Link Configuration : Fibre
RDF Link Domino : Disabled
Prevent Automatic RDF Link Recovery : Disabled
Prevent RAs Online Upon Power ON : Enabled
Device RDF Status : Ready (RW)
Device RA Status : Ready (RW)
Device Link Status : Ready (RW)
Device Suspend State : N/A
Device Consistency State : Disabled
RDF R2 Not Ready If Invalid : Disabled
Device RDF State : Ready (RW)
Remote Device RDF State : Write Disabled (WD)
RDF Pair State ( R1 <===> R2 ) : Synchronized
Number of R1 Invalid Tracks : 0
Number of R2 Invalid Tracks : 0
RDFA Information:
{
Session Number : 1
Cycle Number : 0
Number of Devices in the Session : 491
Session Status : Inactive
Session Consistency State : N/A
Minimum Cycle Time : 00:00:30
Average Cycle Time : 00:00:00
Duration of Last cycle : 00:00:00
Session Priority : 33
Tracks not Committed to the R2 Side: 0
Time that R2 is behind R1 : 00:00:00
R1 Side Percent Cache In Use : 0
R2 Side Percent Cache In Use : 0
}
}
root:/#
Timfinder commands
- Associate BCVs to a device group. There are two ways:
root:/# symbcv -sid xxxx -g dg_oradev_01 associate dev 0001
- Establish the mirrors
root:/# symmir -g dg_oradev_01 -full establish DEV001 BCV001
- Split operations.
root:/# symmir -g dg_oradev_01 split
There are several additional split modes and/or modifiers.
- Instant
root:/# symmir -g dg_oradev_01 split -instant
- Force
root:/# symmir -g dg_oradev_01 split -force
- Differential
root:/# symmir -g dg_oradev_01 split -differential
- Reverse
root/# symmir -g dg_oradev_01 reverse split
- Reverse differential
root:/# symmir -g dg_oradev_01 reverse split -differential
- Restore the BCV mirrors. The restore operation will copy the data from the BCV to the Standard device.
- Differential restore
root:/# symmir -g dg_oradev_01 restore
- Full restore
root:/# symmir -g dg_oradev_01 -full restore
- Reestablish operations. It is very important to tell the difference between Restore and Reestablish. Reestablish will do a differential update from the Standard device to the BCV device.
root:/# symmir -g dg_oradev_01 establish
- Get the list of BCV devices
root:/# symbcv list
Symmetrix ID: 00029xxxxxxx
BCV Device Standard Device Status
------------------------------------ --------------------------- ------------
Inv. Inv.
Physical Sym RDF Att. Tracks Physical Sym Tracks BCV <=> STD
------------------------------------ --------------------------- ------------
Not Visible 0030 (M) 0 N/A N/A 0 NeverEstab
Not Visible 0031 (m) - N/A N/A - NeverEstab
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
c4t1d0s2 0088 0 c4t0d0s2 0084 0 Split
c4t1d1s2 0089 0 c4t0d1s2 0085 0 Split
c4t1d2s2 008A 0 c4t0d2s2 0086 0 Split
c4t1d3s2 008B 0 c4t0d3s2 0087 0 Split
- Get the state of mirroring of the device pairs within a device group
root:/# /usr/symcli/bin/symmir -g dg_oracle_prod_01 query
Device Group (DG) Name: dg_oracle_prod_01
DG's Type : RDF1
DG's Symmetrix ID : 00029xxxxxxx
Standard Device BCV Device State
-------------------------- ------------------------------------- ------------
Inv. Inv.
Logical Sym Tracks Logical Sym Tracks STD <=> BCV
-------------------------- ------------------------------------- ------------
DEV001 0184 0 BCV001 039C * 0 Split
DEV002 0186 0 BCV002 039E * 0 Split
DEV003 0187 0 BCV003 039F * 0 Split
DEV004 0188 0 BCV004 03A0 * 0 Split
DEV005 0189 0 BCV005 03A1 * 0 Split
DEV006 018E 0 BCV006 03A6 * 0 Split
DEV007 018F 0 BCV007 03A7 * 0 Split
DEV008 0190 0 BCV008 03A8 * 0 Split
DEV009 0191 0 BCV009 03A9 * 0 Split
DEV010 01C7 0 BCV010 08A7 * 0 Split
DEV011 01CD 0 BCV011 08AA * 0 Split
Total ------- -------
Track(s) 0 0
MB(s) 0.0 0.0
Legend:
(*): The paired BCV device is associated with this group.
root:/#
- List all BCV sessions in a Symmetrix array
root:/# symmir list -sid xxxx
Symmetrix ID: 00000000xxxx
Standard Device BCV Device State
-------------------- ----------------------- --------------
Invalid Invalid GBE
Sym Tracks Sym Tracks STD <=> BCV
-------------------- ----------------------- --------------
002B 0 0E0B 0 ... Synchronized
002E 0 0E00 0 ..X Synchronized
002E 0 0E0A 0 ... Synchronized
0032 0 0E0F 0 ... Split
00FF 0 00FD 0 ... Split
0DF5 0 0DA5 0 ..X Synchronized
0DF5 0 0DA4 0 ..X Synchronized
0F70 0 001B 3592 X.. SyncInProg
0F71 0 001C 4496 X.. SyncInProg
0F93 0 0DF9 0 ..X Split
1015 0 1069 0 X.. Synchronized
Total -------- --------
Tracks 0 8088
MB(s) 0.0 505.5
And we are done. As I said this is not a full guide so please if there is anything that you don’t get please leave a comment and I will try to clarify. Also if any of you have additional tips or “recipes” for Timefinder please comment :-)
Juanma.
HP P4000: Setup a two-node cluster
This post will outline the necessary steps to create a standard (no-multisite) HP P4000 cluster with two nodes. Creating a two-node cluster is a very similar process as the one-node cluster described in my first post about P4000 systems.
The cluster is composed by:
- 2 HP P4000 Virtual Storage Appliances
- 1 HP P4000 Failover Manager
The Failover Manager, or FOM, is a specialized version of the SAN/iQ software. It runs as a virtual appliance in VMware, thought the most common situation is to run it in a ESX/ESXi servers running it under VMware player or Server is also supported.
The FOM integrates into a management group as a real manager and is intended only to provide quorum to the cluster, one of its main purposes is to provide quorum in Multi-site clusters. I decided to use it in this post to provide an example as real as possible.
To setup this cluster I used virtual machines inside VMware Workstation, but the same design can also be created with physical servers and P4000 storage systems.
From the Getting started screen launch the clusters wizard.
Select the two P4000 storage systems and enter the name of the Management Group
During the group creation will ask to create a cluster, choose the two nodes as members of the cluster, will add the FOM later, and assign a name to the cluster.
Next assign a virtual IP address to the cluster.
Enter the administrative level credentials for the cluster.
Finally the wizard will ask if you want to create volumes in the cluster, I didn’t take that option and finished the cluster creation process. You can also add the volumes later as I described in one of my previous posts.
Now the that cluster is formed we are going to add the Failover Manager.
It’s is important that the FOM requires the same configuration as any VSA as I depicted in my first post about the P4000 storage systems.
In the Central Management Console right-click into the FOM and select Add to existing management group.
Select the management group and click Add.
With this operation the cluster configuration is done. If everything went well in the end you should have something like this.
Juanma.
Managing the multipathing configuration with vSphere PowerCLI
Getting the multipathing policy using PowerCLI is a very simple an straight-forward process that can be done with a few commands.
I test this procedure in the past with ESX/ESXi 3.5 and 4.0.
Get the multipahing policy
[vSphere PowerCLI] C:\> $h = get-vmhost esx01.mlab.local
[vSphere PowerCLI] C:\> $hostview = get-view $h.id
[vSphere PowerCLI] C:\> $storage = get-view $hostView.ConfigManager.StorageSystem
[vSphere PowerCLI] C:\> $storage.StorageDeviceInfo.MultipathInfo.lun | select ID,Path,Policy
Id → → Path → → → → Policy
-- → → ---- → → → → ------
vmhba0:0:0 → {vmhba0:0:0} → → → VMware.Vim.HostMultipathInfoFixedLogicalUnitPolicy
vmhba1:1:0 → {vmhba1:1:0, vmhba1:0:0} → VMware.Vim.HostMultipathInfoFixedLogicalUnitPolicy
vmhba1:0:5 → {vmhba1:1:5, vmhba1:0:5} VMware.Vim.HostMultipathInfoFixedLogicalUnitPolicy
vmhba1:0:1 → {vmhba1:1:1, vmhba1:0:1} → VMware.Vim.HostMultipathInfoFixedLogicalUnitPolicy
vmhba1:0:12 → {vmhba1:1:12, vmhba1:0:12} → VMware.Vim.HostMultipathInfoFixedLogicalUnitPolicy
Change the policy from fixed to round-robin
We are going to change the policy for the LUN 12.
[vSphere PowerCLI] C:\> $lunId = "vmhba1:0:12" [vSphere PowerCLI] C:\> $storagepolicy = new-object VMware.Vim.HostMultipathInfoLogicalUnitPolicy [vSphere PowerCLI] C:\> $storagepolicy.policy = "rr" [vSphere PowerCLI] C:\> $storageSystem.SetMultipathLunPolicy($lunId, $policy)
Finally check the new configuration
If you look closely at the last line will see that the value has change from VMware.Vim.HostMultipathInfoFixedLogicalUnitPolicy to VMware.Vim.HostMultipathInfoLogicalUnitPolicy.
[vSphere PowerCLI] C:\> $h = get-vmhost "ESXIPAddress"
[vSphere PowerCLI] C:\> $hostview = get-view $h.id
[vSphere PowerCLI] C:\> $storage = get-view $hostView.ConfigManager.StorageSystem
[vSphere PowerCLI] C:\> $storage.StorageDeviceInfo.MultipathInfo.lun | select ID,Path,Policy
Id → → Path → → → → Policy
-- → → ---- → → → → ------
vmhba0:0:0 → {vmhba0:0:0} → → → VMware.Vim.HostMultipathInfoFixedLogicalUnitPolicy
vmhba1:1:0 → {vmhba1:1:0, vmhba1:0:0} → VMware.Vim.HostMultipathInfoFixedLogicalUnitPolicy
vmhba1:0:5 → {vmhba1:1:5, vmhba1:0:5} VMware.Vim.HostMultipathInfoFixedLogicalUnitPolicy
vmhba1:0:1 → {vmhba1:1:1, vmhba1:0:1} → VMware.Vim.HostMultipathInfoFixedLogicalUnitPolicy
vmhba1:0:12 → {vmhba1:1:12, vmhba1:0:12} → VMware.Vim.HostMultipathInfoLogicalUnitPolicy
Juanma.
Configure NFS shares in Openfiler for your vSphere homelab
Even if you have access to the enterprise-class storage appliances, like the HP P4000 VSA or the EMC Celerra VSA, an Openfiler storage appliance can be a great asset to your homelab. Specially if you, like myself, run an “all virtual” homelab within VMware Workstation, since Openfiler is by far less resource hunger than its enterprise counterparts.
Simon Seagrave (@Kiwi_Si) from TechHead.co.uk wrote an excellent article explaining how to add iSCSI LUNs from an Openfiler instance to your ESX/ESXi servers, if iSCSI is your “thing” you should check it.
In this article I’ll explain how-to configure a NFS share in Openfiler and then add it as a datastore to your vSphere servers. I’ll take for granted that you already have an Openfiler server up and running.
1 – Enable NFS service
As always point your browser to https://<openfiler_address>:446, login and from the main screen go to the Services tab and enable the NFSv3 service as shown below.
2 – Setup network access
From the System tab add the network of the ESX servers as authorized. I added the whole network segment but you can also create network access rules per host in order to setup a more secure and granular access policy.
3 – Create the volumes
The next step is to create the volumes we are going to use as the base for the NFS shares. If like me you’re a Unix/Linux Geek it is for sure that you understand perfectly the PV -> VG -> LV concepts if not I strongly recommend you to check the TechHead article mentioned above where Simon explained it very well or if you want to go a little deeper with volumes in Unix/Linux my article about volume and filesystem basics in Linux and HP-UX.
First we need to create the physical volumes; go to the Volumes tab, enter the Block Devices section and edit the disk to be used for the volumes.
Create a partition and set the type to Physical Volume.
Once the Physical Volume is created go to the Volume Groups section and create a new VG and use for it the new PV.
Finally click on Add Volume. In this section you will have to choose the new VG that will contain the new volume, the size, name descrption and more important the Filesystem/Volume Type. There are three type:
- iSCSI
- XFS
- Ext3
The first is obviously intended for iSCSI volume and the other two for NFS, the criteria to follow here is the scalibility since esxt3 supports up to 8TB and XFS up to 10TB.
Click Create and the new volume will be created.
4 – Create the NFS share
Go to the Shares tab, there you will find the new volume as an available share.
Just to clarify concepts, this volume IS NOT the real NFS share. We are going to create a folder into the volume and share that folder through NFS to our ESX/ESXi servers.
Click into the volume name and in the pop-up enter the name of the folder and click Create folder.
Select the folder and in the pop-up click the Make Share button.
Finally we are going to configure the newly created share; select the share to enter its configuration area.
Edit the share data to your suit and select the Access Control Mode. Two modes are available:
- Public guest access – There is no user based authentication.
- Controlled access – The authentication is defined in the Accounts section.
Since this is only for my homelab I choose Public access.
Next select the share type, for our purposes case I obviously choose NFS and set the permissions as Read-Write.
You can also edit the NFS options and configure to suit your personal preferences and/or specifications.
Just a final tip for the non-Unix people, if you want to check the NFS share open a SSH session with the openfiler server and as root issue the command showmount -e. The output should look like this.
The Openfiler configuration is done, now we are going to create a new datastore in our ESX servers.
5 – Add the datastore to the ESX servers
Now that the share is created and configured it is time to add it to our ESX servers.
As usually from the vSphere Client go to Configuration -> Storage -> Add storage.
In the pop-up window choose Network File System.
Enter in the Server, Folder and Datastore Name label.
Finally check the data and click finish. If everything goes well after a few seconds the new datastore should appear.
And with this we are finished. If you see any mistake or have anything to add please comment :-)
Juanma.
HP P4000: Generating the CLIQ key file
As I explained in my first post about the SAN/iQ command line, to remotely manage a P4000 storage array instead of providing the username/password credentials in every command you can specify an encrypted file which contains the user/password information.
To create this file, known as the key file, just use the createKey command and provide the username, password, array IP address or DNS name and the name of the file.
By default the key file is created in the user’s home directory, c:\Documents and Settings\<username> in Windows XP/2003 and C:\Users\<username> in Windows Vista/2008/7.
The file can also be stored in a secure location on the local network, in that case the full path to the key file must be provided.
Of course the main reason to create a key file, apart from ease the daily management, is to provide a valid authentication mechanism for any automation script that you can create using the cliq.
Juanma.
HP resources for VMware
The reason for this post is trying to be a single point of reference for HP related VMware resources.
I created the list for my personal use while ago but in the hope that it can be useful for someone else I decided to review and share it. I will try to keep the list up to date and also add it as a permanent page in the menu above.
General resources
- HP virtualization with VMware – This is the main page about VMware in the HP site. It has dozens of links to White Papers, webinars, podcasts and other HP sites about VMware.
- HP and VMware Virtualization Alliance – The HP-VMware Alliance page in the VMware site. It has several areas that outline the different HP-VMware joint solutions.
- VMware Enterprise Library at HP – Case studies, White Papers and Datasheets.
- HP Insight Control for VMware vCenter Server
VMware on ProLiant
- ProLiant server VMware support matrix – This page is the Rosetta Stone for every VMware installation on HP hardware. It has every HP Proliant Blade/Server cross-referenced in a table with every ESX/ESXi version from the 2.1 to the 4.1. The vSphere tab has also a column about VMware FT support.
- VMware demos in HP hardware – This site has a few interesting videos demoing VMware products in HP hardware.
- ESX4 images for the G7 ProLiant Blades.
- HP sizing tool for Vmware vSphere
- HP Management Agents for ESX 4.x
- HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 and VMware vSphere 4.0
- Cisco Nexus 1000V on HP BladeSystem
HP StorageWorks
- VMware Storage Solutions from HP – Includes the ESX/ESXi 3.x and 4.x support matrices for HP Storageworks systems.
- Running VMware vSphere 4 on HP LeftHand P4000 SAN Solutions – Excellent White Paper, a must for every VMware-Lefthand infrastructure.
- HP EVA and vSphere 4 best practices
- HP XP24000 and vSphere 4 best practices
- VMware vCenter Plug-in for HP StorageWorks Arrays – Great video by Calvin Zito (@HPStorareGuy)
- HP P4000 VAAI demo – Video of the demo showed at VMworld 2010 San Francisco.
- HP StorageWorks drivers – Including the virtualization adapters for VMware SRM for EVA, XP and P4000 systems
- HP P4000 VSA – Product page of my beloved VSA :-)
VDI
- HP Client Virtualization – HP main site about VDI, not exclusively about VMware but very intersting.
- HP Virtual Desktop Infrastructure with VMware View – HP VDI solution with VMware View main site.
- HP Reference Architecture for VMware View with HP StorageWorks P4800 BladeSystem SAN
vCloud Director
- HP Cloud Map with BladeSystem Matrix for VMware vCloud Director – A demo showing what can be done by combining the HP Matrix and the awesome vCloud Director.
HP Lefthand P4000 VSA verbose boot
If you are a user of the P4000 VSA you’ll be use to the quiet boot sequence of the SAN/iQ software. Just a couple of messages until you get the login prompt.
But how about if anyone want to watch the whole boot process to check error messages or something alike? There is an easy and simple solution, at the begining of the boot sequence press ESC in order to stop the bootloader and when the boot: prompt appears type vga and press Enter.
After that you will have a normal boot process like with any other Linux system.
Juanma.
HP Lefthand VSA minimum memory requirements
These week I’ve trying to stretch the virtualization resources of my homelab as much as possible. In my obsession to run as many VMs as possible I decided to lower the memory of some of them, including my storage appliances.
My VSAs are configured with various amounts of RAM ranging from 384MB to 1GB. I took the one I have in my laptop for demo purposes, powered it off, set the RAM to 256MB and fired it up again.
The VSA seemed to start without any problems and from the console everything looked fine.
I started the CMC and quickly noticed that something was wrong, the status of the storage server was “offline”.
I then looked into the alerts area and found one saying that there was not enough ram to start the configured features.
OK then, the VSA doesn’t work with 256MB of RAM; so which value is the minimum required in order to run the storage services?
After looking into several docs I found the answer in the P4000 Quick Start VSA user guide. The minimum amount of RAM required is 384MB for the laptop version and 1GB for the ESX version. Also in the VSA Install and Configure Guide, that comes with the VSA, the following values are provided for the ESX version and for the new Hyper-V version:
- <500GB to 4.5TB – 1GB of RAM
- 4.5TB to 9TB – 2GB of RAM
- 9TB to 10TB – 3GB of RAM
After that I configured again the VSA with 384MB and the problem was fixed and the alarm disappeared.
Juanma.
