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Forum Newbie
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Last Login: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 3:56 AM
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Hi there,
We are currently evaluating VSAs on ESX servers (Standard Edition). We installed the MS iSCSI Initiator (2.05) and were able to connect to the volumes on the VSAs.
Now we would like to see how to work with MPIO. Is there a how-to document that explains how to use this functionality? (It is part of the LeftHand Solution Pack, right?)
Thank you for your comments.
HSukirman
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Forum Newbie
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Last Login: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 9:51 PM
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| Good Morning, LeftHand has this document posted on our Resource Center. To access this directly... App Note - Best Practices for Enabling Microsoft Windows with SAN/iQ https://www.lefthandnetworks.com/member_area/dl_file.php?fid=1037&action=display I'll send you a Private EMAIL with a private public push of the document. I encourage you to register for the LeftHand Resource Center for access to LeftHand's Technical Information.
Christopher Viamonte
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Forum Newbie
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Last Login: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 9:52 PM
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Hi,
Are you connecting to your VSA's from a virtual guest or physical server? If they are virtual, keep in mind that installing 3rd party multipathing software on ESX is currently an unsupported configuration according to VMWare. (See http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_esx_san_cfg.pdf , page 51. ) There must be technical reasons why, and I believe it may be because ESX is already doing multipathing from a host level. In any case, their DSM for MPIO software is part of the Windows Solution Pack which is a separate license purchase.
bennun
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Maybe I should explain our lab setup before asking more questions:
I installed two VMware ESX servers (standard, not starter) and installed three VSAs. ESX01 holds VSA01 and ESX02 holds VSA02 & 03.
I configured a management group which holds two clusters. Cluster01 is for VSA01 & 02 and VSA03 is inside Cluster02.
The volumes inside Cluster01 are configured with 2-way replication and I use scheduled remote snapshots to Cluster02 (the primary side keeps 2 snapshots and the remote side keeps 31). Load balancing is enabled for the authentication groups of the mirrored volumes.
I installed a physical server with two NICs (GBit), W2k3 R2 and MS iSCSI Initiator 2.04.
So far so good ... I can connect from the physical server to the volumes inside Cluster01 and can restore from the remote snapshots inside Cluster02. Everything is easy setup and works just fine.
Now comes the part where I need some help: I would like to do some performance testing because we evaluate SAN/IQ for several servers with different performance needs. For that purpose we use IOMeter with several different access specifications.
What I am especially interested in is how MPIO and the LeftHand DSM affects my performance. I installed MPIO when installing the iSCSI initiator - where can I get a evaluation copy of the Solution Pack (which includes the LeftHand DMS, right?)?
Also: How do I have to configure my physical server to make use of both NICs to access the LeftHand SAN? It seems to me that at the moment only one physical NIC is used.
Thank you very much for your input!
Btw, I showed another Admin here how to setup the LeftHand SAN with all above mentioned options. He was amazed to see that it took us only 15 minutes to get a running system with all options that we are interested in!
HSukirman
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HI HSukirman
To aid you in your monitoring there is a free Beta trial from Veeam called -
Veeam Monitor for VMware Infrastructure 3 BETA Monitor. Analyze. Control.
Plus heaps of other free ESX GSX and workstation utilities and trials.
http://www.veeam.com/download_all.asp
The latest Sysinternals Process EXplorer is also very good.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/processexplorer.mspx
In regard to your VSA Question
"Also: How do I have to configure my physical server to make use of both NICs to access the LeftHand SAN? It seems to me that at the moment only one physical NIC is used."
If it is the Physical Server you might want to read the uguide.doc and search for NIC teaming/MPIO
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=12cb3c1a-15d6-4585-b385-befd1319f825&displaylang=en
If the throughput is low from the ESX please be aware that NIC teaming in ESX is not 2x1000 = one 2000 MB pipe it is 2x1000 = 2 1000MB pipes.
A W3K VM however connected to the same internal switch as the iSCSI VSA on the same ESX host (not a physical nic), runs as fast as the architecture/load allows.
Reality is defined by the physical universe and your mind - "Its the second one that varies" :-)
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| Good Morning, The question is in regards to installing the LeftHand MPIO DSM from the LeftHand Windows Solution Pack on the initiator (a physical server outside of the virtual SAN). http://www.lefthandnetworks.com/solutions/frameworks.php#mpio "I installed a physical server with two NICs (GBit), W2k3 R2 and MS iSCSI Initiator 2.04." The Microsoft iSCSI Initiator supports LeftHand' VIP Load Balancing. Without MPIO, a block request from the initiator goes to the physical (ok vertual) SAN/iQ target in the cluster that is holding the Virtual IP for the cluster (this is the iSCSI Target portal). Because data is virtualized across your virtual cluster of SAN/iQ, when the VIP (iSCSI Target portal) receives the request, it may not be the member in the cluster that owns the data. Therefore, in that case, the request is forwarded to the member which does own the data. The data must traverse an additional hop on its established return. With the LeftHand MPIO DSM, a session is established with each node in a cluster (during the login with the VIP iSCSI Target Portal). Communication is most efficient with the cluster of storage as the initiator communicates directly with each node. The LeftHand MPIO DSM knows which cluster node to make the request. The data is communicated directly on its return from each node in the cluster to the initiator. Multiple network interfaces in the client is not required to benefit in performance at the initiator with the LeftHand MPIO DSM. Unfortunately, the LeftHand Windows Solution Pack is not available for download. I would however recommend contacting LeftHand Sales. Resources may be available to help further your qualification. Sales
LeftHand Networks Sales
1.866.4.IPSANS (866.447.7267)
sales@lefthandnetworks.com
Christopher Viamonte
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Forum Newbie
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Last Login: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 3:56 AM
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I guess I should read more documentation :-) thank you very much terryv! I got mixed up with the MCS and the MPIO settings and when you pointed me to the iSCSI Initiator documentation I made sure that I used the correct settings.
So I have two NICs on my physical server and I have MPIO configured to use both to access my 2-way replicated volume on two VSAs. (I use round robin load balancing, use a VIP as a target and enabled Load Balancing in the authentication group) When I access the volume I can see (for example with Task Manager) that both NICs are used equally. Very nice!
Now coming back to my LeftHand DSM question: (Please let me know if I misunderstood something) I understand that in my setup with a 2-way replicated volume on two different VSAs WITHOUT the LH DSM I might for example only write on VSA1 and the VSA1 then has to make sure that my data is written also to the VSA2.
WITH LH DSM on the other hand my physical server could write onto both VSAs at the same time or read from both at the same time which would result in a performance gain.
Is this correct so far?
Now I have a running MPIO setup with two NICs on my physical server. Will the LH DSM make use of both NICs too? I mean is there still some kind of MPIO Round Robin Load Balancing?
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If you are using the LH DSM for MPIO, you can enable multiple NICs on the host server when you log a volume on via the MS initiator. Just follow these steps (this can be found in the LeftHand Best Practices for Windows doc as well).
1. Confirm that the Microsoft 'MPIO multi-pathing support' was checked during install of MS iscsi initiator. Note that this step is changed in 7.0 and is not reflected in older documentation.
2. Log off volume if already connected.
3. When you go to log the volume back on, check the 'enable multi-path box' (this is only done when enabling multiple host NICs.)
4. Click the 'advanced' box and select MS iscsi initiator for local adapter, select IP of 1st NIC you want to enable for source IP and select VIP of LH cluster for target portal.
5. Click OK and repeat this process for additional NICs to be enabled on the host side.
Good Luck,
Brad
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