Open-E DSS V6 MPIO with VMware ESX 4.0

NOTE:

You must be using DSS V6 up14 or newer.

top ↑1. Hardware configuration

Example configuration of Multipath I/O on Open-E Data Storage Software V6 with VMware ESX 4.0 and VM-Windows 2008

Hardware Requirements:

To run the Multipath I/O on DSS V6 with VMware ESX 4.0 and Windows 2008 server running as virtual machine, a minimum of two network cards in both systems are required. In this example the DSS V6 system and ESX4 use three NICs.

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- In order to verify proper NICs settings, go to menu: "STATUS" tab, "network" and Interfaces.

- Two NICs to be used for MPIO has IP address: 192.168.2.220 , 192.168.3.220.

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- Next, please go to menu: "CONFIGURATION tab, "volume manager" and Vol. groups.

- Select vg00 volume group and in Volume manager, create two Block-IO or File-IO iSCSI volumes.

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- In menu: "CONFIGURATION" tab, "iSCSI target manager", Targets, please uncheck the Target Default Name and enter target name: iqn.2009-01:dss233.esx

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- Then the second one: iqn.2009-01:dss233.win2008

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- In menu "CONFIGURATION" tab, "iSCSI target manager", Targets, select first alias: target0 and click on the button.

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- Then select the second alias: target1 and click on the button.

Now, configuring DSS V6 is finished.

[root@esx ~]# nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config
PermitRootLogin yes
<Ctrl-o>
<Ctrl-x>

Enabling Jumbo Frames

[root@esx ~]# esxcfg-vswitch -m 9000 vSwitch0

Fixing "iSCSI MPIO throughtput limited to 1G" Setting the Round Robin params:

esxcli nmp roundrobin setconfig --type "iops" --iops 1 --device <device UID>

Listing devices:

esxcli nmp device list

Example commands for fixing "iSCSI MPIO throughtput limited to 1G" issue:
Setting the Round Robin params for the first device:

esxcli nmp roundrobin setconfig --type "iops" --iops 1 --device `esxcli nmp device list | grep ^eui | head -n 1 `

Setting the Round Robin params for the second device:

esxcli nmp roundrobin setconfig --type "iops" --iops 1 --device `esxcli nmp device list | grep ^eui |head -n 2 | tail -n 1`

Entering the settings into ESX start script:

[root@esx ~]# nano /etc/rc.local
# Fixing iSCSI MPIO throughtput limited to 1G.
esxcli nmp device list | grep ^eui |
while read device ; do
esxcli nmp roundrobin setconfig --type "iops" --iops 1 --device ${device}
done
<Ctrl-o>
<Ctrl-x>

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- Now, in order to fix: "iSCSI Round Robin limited to 1G" problem, please use following CLI command first:

esxcli nmp device list

Entering the settings into ESX start Using ESX4 CLI script:

# Fixing iSCSI MPIO throughtput limited to 1G.
esxcli nmp device list | grep ^eui |
while read device ; do
esxcli nmp roundrobin setconfig --type "iops" --iops 1 --device ${device}
done
<Ctrl-o>
<Ctrl-x>

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In order to check the settings, please run the list command:

esxcli nmp device list

- Now, the iops parameter is changed to 1

Step 1

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Navigate in the ESX 4.0 host Configuration tab and select Networking. Click on "Add Networking..." , select Vmkernel and then on "Next >" button.

Step 2

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Please select one network adapter dedicated for the first Vmkernel. In this example: vmnic2

Step 3

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- Please enter the Network Label for the first Vmkernel: iSCSI_2 And click on the "Next >" button.

Step 4

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- Please enter the IP Address and Subnet Mask 192.168.3.7 255.255.255.0 And click on the "Next >" button.

Step 5

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Now, click on the "Finish" button. Next, in the Warning prompt about default gateway, click on "No"

Now repeat steps 1 to 5 for the second Vmkernel. This time use: vmnic3 for the network adapter, iSCSI_3 for the Network Label, 192.168.3.7 for IP Address and 255.255.255.0 for the Network Subnet.

Step 6

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Now, there are 2 vmkernel ports with dedicated network adapter.

"iSCSI_2" -- "vmnic2"
"iSCSI_3" -- "vmnic3"

Next, please select "Storage Adapters".

Step 7

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In "Storage Adapters" menu, please select "iSCSI Software Adapter" and click on "Properties" button.

Step 8

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In the iSCSI Initiator Properties, make sure the status is "Enabled". If not, then click on "Configure..." button and enable it. Next, click on the "Dynamic Discovery" tab.

Step 9

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In the "Dynamic Discovery" tab click the "Add..." button and enter the IP address of the iSCSI target for the first path. In this example: 192.168.2.220. Then click the "Add..." button and enter the IP address of the iSCSI Target for the second path: 192.168.3.220

Step 10

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Next, click on "Close" button.

Step 11

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Now, click on the "Yes" button in order to start adapter rescan.

Step 12

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There is an option to run one more adapter to rescan now click on the "Rescan" button.

Step 13

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Now, in the Storage Adapters menu, locate the first iSCSI LUN and right-mouse click on it. From pull-down menu select: "Manage Paths".

Step 14

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Next, in Path selection pull-down menu please select: "Round Robin".

Step 15

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Next, in the "Storage" menu, click on the "Add Storage" button and follow the next steps to add new LUN.

Step 16

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Once the virtual machine is installed and running the network chart will like this screenshot.

Step 17

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- Verify the performance with "Iometer" running on.

Now you have completed the configuration of Multipath I/O on DSS V6 with ESX4.