HP LeftHand SAN Solutions Support Document Application Notes Best Practices for Enabling Microsoft Windows with SANiQ
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Contents 1 Chapter: Enabling LeftHand SAN volumes with the Microsoft™ iSCSI 2.0x Initiator 9 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Detailed Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
An Overview of Device Specific Modules & Microsoft™ MPIO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Lefthand Networks DSM for MPIO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 How the Lefthand Networks DSM for MPIO Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 4 Chapter: Expanding a Windows Volume on the SAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating the Maxrequestholdtime Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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1 Chapter: Enabling LeftHand SAN volumes with the Microsoft™ iSCSI 2.0x Initiator Overview The basic steps to connect a volume from the SAN to a server are below; kdetailed information follows in later sections: 1 Assign the SAN/iQ cluster a Virtual IP Address (VIP), accomplished under the Edit Cluster task options.
Detailed Instructions Prerequisites This section assumes the following has already been completed: 1 Storage Modules are setup in a Management Group and Cluster. 2 The Microsoft™ iSCSI Initiator has been successfully installed on the host server (see Section 3 for important information on MPIO support). Assign a Virtual IP Address to the Lefthand Cluster To assign a Virtual IP Address follow the steps below. The VIP provides a single client access point to the SAN for iSCSI session management.
• In SAN/iQ versions 7.0 or higher, if using the LeftHand DSM for MPIO, you must select the “Microsoft™ MPIO Multipathing Support for iSCSI” option during the install process. See Section 3 for more details.) Launch the Microsoft™ iSCSI initiator from the Control Panel or from the link on the Desktop.
Next create a New Authentication Group. Select the Tasks option from the menu bar, go to Authentication Group, and select New Authentication Group. Click on the iSCSI tab, click the “Allow access via iSCSI” check box. Best practice is to also select the “Load Balancing” check box. To confirm that your iSCSI initiator is Load Balancing compliant, select the information on compliant initiators link. Select the “CHAP not required” option and fill in the initiator node name (see section below for using CHAP).
In a MSCS environment, add volumes representing cluster resources to a single volume list. Create an Authentication Group for each MS cluster node, then populate each of those authentication groups with the same volume list. Enter Target Portal (VIP) Information Once the volume list and authentication groups have been successfully created, add the Virtual IP address of the SAN/iQ cluster to the Target Portal list in the iSCSI initiator.
5 Click OK 6 This establishes communication between the SAN and the target server. Mounting a Volume to a Server Select the Targets tab in the iSCSI initiator to view the targets. Note: You will only see the volumes for which you have created a volume list and authentication group. If you do not see your volumes listed, first click on the Refresh button, then check the volume list, authentication group and Virtual IP address configurations.
Note: Do not select the “Enable Multi-path” checkbox unless you are using the LeftHand Networks DSM for MPIO to enable multiple SAN network cards in the host server. See Section 3 for more details. To view the details about the newly established volume, and trace the volume from the SAN to the server, select the volume then click the Details button – this will bring up the Target Properties window. Next, click the Devices tab then the Advanced button.
Note: This is a critical step to prevent applications from trying to start prior to their volumes being present. Performing this step will delay the start of applications until their bound volumes are present. Setting the Service Dependency • See Section 7 below Binding Volumes with the ISCSI Initiator • See Section 7 below Optional Instructions Challenge Authentication Protocol Instead of using IQN security only (described above), one can also use the Challenge Authentication Protocol (CHAP).
3 Type in the Virtual IP Address of the cluster where the volume resides 4 Click on the Advanced button in the Add Target Portal window 5 In the Advanced Settings window, under the General tab, in the middle of the window click on the CHAP logon information check box 6 Cut and paste the User Name from the initiator into the CHAP Name box of the Authentication Group in the LeftHand GUI. This name can be changed, by default it is the same as the IQN name.
Mounting a Volume to a Server Select the Targets tab in the iSCSI initiator to view the targets. Note: You will only see the volumes for which you have created a volume list and authentication group. If you do not see your volumes listed, first click on the Refresh button, then check the volume list, authentication group and Virtual IP address configurations. Locate the first volume you wish to connect to the server machine, it will be in an Inactive state, and select Log On.
Setting Up the Initiator Secret The Initiator Secret is set at the MS iSCSI initiator and must be configured via the Lefthand Centralized Management Console and the MS initiator interface. From the MS Initiator interface, create the initiator secret. The secret must be between 12 and 16 characters long and must be different than the target secret. To configure the initiator secret open the iSCSI initiator interface and choose the Initiator Settings tab. Assign a secret to the initiator.
Additional References • 20 Microsoft™ iSCSI Software Initiator Version 2.06 (build 3497) – Microsoft™ iSCSI release. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/ details.
2 Chapter: Finding the iSCSI Initiator Version Overview This section provides instructions on how to quickly determine the version of Microsoft™ iSCSI initiator being used. Problem Description When calling LeftHand Networks support, or troubleshooting iSCSI issues, it is helpful to know what version of the Microsoft™ iSCSI initiator you are using.
2 In the command window, type iscsicli and press Enter. You will now be in the iSCSI Command Line Interface, as shown below. Note that the version shown at this time, 2.0 Build 1941 in this example, should not be considered the actual version number. 3 To display the iSCSI Initiator version, at the prompt type VersionInfo and press Enter. A list of iSCSI initiator file versions displays in the window.
Since the Microsoft™ iSCSI Initiator Installer updates only needed files with each version installed, you will need to locate the highest build number in the list of file versions, and then use the table below to determine the iSCSI version. A reliable file to inspect is the msiscsi.sys file. File Version Build Numbers MSiSCSI Version Numbers 5.2.3790.1653 2.00 5.2.3790.1748 2.01 5.2.3790.1895 2.02 5.2.3790.3099 2.03 5.2.3790.3273 2.04 5.2.3790.3392 2.05 5.2.3790.3497 2.
Using Windows Device Manager 24 1 Open the Device Manager by right-clicking My Computer and selecting Properties. The System Properties window opens. 2 In the System Properties window, select the Hardware tab and click Device Manager. The Device Manager Window opens.
3 In the Device Manager window, expand the SCSI and RAID Controllers section and double-click the Microsoft™ iSCSI Initiator icon. The Microsoft™ iSCSI Initiator Properties window opens. 4 In the Microsoft™ iSCSI Initiator Properties window, select the Driver tab, and click “Driver Details…” The Driver File Details window opens.
5 Select the msiscsi.sys file and note the build number, as shown below. In this example, using the table below to match the file version build number, we can see that iSCSI Initiator version 2.03 is installed. File Version Build Numbers MSiSCSI Version Numbers 5.2.3790.1653 5.2.3790.1748 5.2.3790.1895 5.2.3790.3099 5.2.3790.3273 5.2.3790.3392 5.2.3790.3497 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.
3 Chapter: LeftHand Networks and Microsoft™ MPIO Support Overview LeftHand Networks supports the Microsoft™ MPIO framework with a LeftHand developed Device Specific Module (DSM) that can be installed on Windows 2003 servers to achieve superior fault-tolerance and performance. The LeftHand DSM is available as part of the Windows Solution Pack, available through your reseller. With SAN/iQ 6.
initiator setup, a 30 second iSCSI failover timeout is used instead of the MaxRequestHoldTime value that LeftHand Networks recommends setting to 600s (see Section 8). This 30 second timeout value can have adverse affects on iSCSI volume and data availability. See section 8 for more details. With SAN/ IQ Versions earlier than 7.
Determining if Microsoft™ DSM is Installed The most straight-forward method for determining if the Microsoft™ DSM is installed is to open Device Manager—System Devices. The Microsoft™ DSM is installed if the “iSCSI Multi-Path Device Specific Module” device is present in the System Devices list. (See figure below).
Removing Microsoft™ DSM from the System If the Microsoft™ DSM is installed, when using SAN/iQ 6.6.x or earlier or on ANY version of SAN/iQ if not using the LeftHand DSM. LeftHand Networks recommends uninstalling it from the host server. This is as simple as re-running the Microsoft™ iSCSI Initiator setup program again and de-selecting the “Microsoft™ MPIO Multipathing Support for iSCSI” option (see figure below). Note that this will likely require a server reboot.
When to Enable MPIO Connections The LeftHand Networks DSM for MPIO installer lays down the necessary Microsoft™ MPIO software in order to connect to the SAN via MPIO. The only host server configuration the Administrator needs to be concerned with is if they would like to enable the LeftHand Networks DSM to utilize multiple network cards (non-bonded/teamed) in the host server connected to the SAN.
• For source IP, select the IP address of the first host server NIC you want to use to connect to the volume. • For Target Portal, select the VIP of the SAN/iQ cluster the volume is on. 6 Click OK to close the Advanced Settings dialog. 7 Click OK to log on to the volume. 8 Repeat this process again, this time in Step 5, selecting the IP address of the second host server NIC you want to use.
— Write I/Os are always serviced by a module that holds a copy of the data. Remaining copies (replicas) of the data in question are forwarded to the appropriate storage module based on the volume replication algorithm: 0-way, 2-way 3-way or 4-way (SAN/iQ 7.0 or later only) Replication. • Because an I/O path is built to every storage module in the cluster, a superior fault tolerant solution can be built compared to standard MPIO architectures that are typically dual-path only.
How the Lefthand Networks DSM for MPIO Works The SAN/iQ DSM for MPIO is a server-side plug-in software into the Microsoft™ iSCSI driver framework. The DSM understands the data-map of the volume(s) on the storage cluster according to the LeftHand Networks patented replication algorithm to read and write to exactly the correct storage node. The following graphic indicates how the DSM works with the Microsoft™ iSCSI driver to build MPIO connections to the SAN.
4 Chapter: Expanding a Windows Volume on the SAN Overview Often times storage administrators need to expand volumes on a Windows server. Whether company growth, new requirements or changes in infrastructure, administrators require a SAN solution flexible enough to accommodate their changing storage needs. This section details the necessary steps to grow a basic disk on Windows 2000 or Windows 2003. Dynamic disks are outside of the scope of this document and not recommended for use with the LeftHand SAN.
Note: If using Dell Array Manager or Veritas Volume Manager, use extpart instead of diskpart. See Other Disk Management Tools section below. Diskpart.exe is an interactive command line executable which allows administrators to select and manipulate disks and partitions. Diskpart.exe is included in Windows 2003 and is a free download for Windows 2000. Once Diskpart.
4 Select the volume to extend by typing “select volume #” (where # is the volume’s corresponding number) In some cases, the specific volume may not appear in this list. In that case, try “select volume x”, where x is some number not visible in the current list, then “detail volume” to view volume details which may help confirm which volume is selected. If it is the correct volume, go to step 5 below.
DISKPART> select volume # (where # is the volume’s corresponding number) DISKPART> extend filesystem Note: The extend filesystem command is not currently documented in the Diskpart.exe Help file. Other Disk Management Tools Some environments do not utilize the default Windows Logical Disk Manager tool in order to manage their storage. Some examples of alternative tools are Dell Array Manager and VERITAS Volume Manager. Both of these disk management tools use a utility called Extpart.
5 Chapter: Shrinking a Windows Volume on the SAN Overview Occasionally, volumes are created and used on the SAN that end up being too large. SAN/iQ has Volume Shrink capability; however, in order to do this safely under a Windows NTFS file system, one must take careful steps in order to shrink the volume without data loss.
Common Scenarios Project is cancelled; space is freed up Reason to Shrink In most organizations, projects come and go. If a project is cancelled, or significantly scaled back, the storage needs for the project may be much less. In these cases, it makes sense to shrink the volume. Application growth is Sometimes, the growth estimate for a volume slower than expected turns out to be too high.
Definitions Volume A SAN/iQ Volume on the SAN. It is connected via iSCSI to a Windows server. Aka: LUN File System The operating system formats the Volume with a file system. Windows file systems include FAT, FAT32 and NTFS. NTFS The default, native file system on Windows 2000, XP and 2003 systems. NTFS stands for New Technology File System. Thin Provisioning An advanced SAN/iQ Volume provisioning technique where more storage is presented to the server than is actually reserved on the SAN.
Steps to Shrink a Volume on the SAN Step Number 42 Summary Notes Step 1 Run CHKDSK against the NTFS file system Ensure that the file system is healthy prior to initiating the process. If the file system is not healthy, repair the errors before proceeding. Step 2 Verify Backups Verify that good backups for the data on the file system exist prior to proceeding.
Step Number Summary Notes Step 8 (optional) Re-establish the Drive Letter or Mount Point Sometimes, when the file system is shrunk, the drive letter or mount point will need to be re-established for the file system. This behavior is not consistent. Step 9 Run CHKDSK against the NTFS file system Ensure that the file system is healthy after to initiating the process. If the file system is not healthy, attempt to repair the issues.
Step 4: Use a 3rd-Party Tool to Shrink the NTFS File System. Note: This is done WITHOUT destroying the data on the file system. The shrink process can take significant time to complete, depending on how much data is in the file system.
Step 5: (Optional) Disconnect the iSCSI connection to the volume. Step 6: Shrink the Size of the Volume on the SAN. Set the new Size of the volume to be a small increment (50-100MB) greater than the new size of the file system. Typically, only the Size parameter for the volume will be modified. However, both the Size and Threshold values need to be modified if the Hard Threshold currently set on the Volume is greater than the new Size of the volume.
Step 7 (optional): Connect to the Volume via iSCSI. Once connected, this is a view of the new file system and volume size in Windows Disk Management. Note the small ‘Unallocated’ portion of the physical disk that remains after the shrink. Step 8 (optional): Re-establish the Drive Letter or Mount Point. Step 9: Run CHKDSK against the NTFS file system. Step 10 (optional): Delete the snapshot created in Step 3. References 46 • Paragon Partition Manager: http://www.partition-manager.
6 Chapter: Setting the Windows Disk Partition Offset for Optimal Performance Overview This section describes how to configure Windows disk partitions to be aligned optimally for LeftHand storage. Windows default partition set does not align the partition to the physical disk that the partition is on. Correctly aligning the partition helps reduce latency when writing to the partition by eliminating unnecessary disk writes and reads that occur when partitions are not aligned.
• Open a command prompt and enter >diskpar –s (disk number). • When prompted answer yes to both questions if you are sure. • When prompted for the starting offset enter 128.
When prompted enter the desired size of the partition in MB. • Assign a drive letter to the partition and format it using disk management. Aligning a partition with Diskpart for Windows 2003 SP1 and R2 • Diskpart.exe is already available on a Windows 2003 server, however only Windows 2003 SP1 and higher diskpart can align disks. • Open a command prompt and type diskpart.exe • Enter > list disk • Note the disk number that you want to create the partition on.
• Enter > assign letter (the letter you want the drive to have) — Or enter > assign mount (the path of a empty dir to mount the drive to) • Enter > exit (to exit diskpart) • Format the new drive using disk manager References 50 • How to Align Exchange I/O with Storage Track Boundaries http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/exchange/guides/ E2k3Perf_ScalGuide/0e24eb22-fbd5-4536-9cb4-2bd8e98806e7.mspx • A Description of the Diskpart Command-Line Utility http://support.microsoft.com/default.
7 Chapter: Ensure That Application Resources on iSCSI Volumes Come Online After a Server Reboot Overview This section describes how to configure Windows servers with iSCSI so that volumes come online before applications that rely on them. Windows starts its services in order based upon dependencies. For applications like File Shares, Exchange, SQL, and Microsoft™ Clusters to come online smoothly at boot up their services need to be made dependant upon the Microsoft™ iSCSI Service.
Setting the Service Dependency Note: Take precautions to observe what dependencies are already set, and be sure not to break those dependencies when setting iSCSI dependencies. Some examples of Service Dependencies that may need to be dependent on iSCSI are: Fileshares Service name: lanmanserver Symptoms of iSCSI dependency issues with Fileshares may include loss of access to volumes. Exchange Service name similar to: msexchangeis.
2 Type cmd in the Open field and click OK. 3 In the cmd window, type sc config depend= MSiSCSI and press ENTER. Example: sc config lanmanserver depend= MSiSCSI Alternately, perform this command from a network computer if you have administrative access to the server. To do this, type the following command, and press ENTER: Example: sc \\computer_name config LanManServer depend= MSiSCSI Note: You must use the real name of a service, not the display name.
a On the Edit menu, select New, and then select Multi-String Value. Note: When creating the key, if REG_MULTI_SZ is not an option, you may need to use regedit32 instead of regedit. b Type DependOnService to name the new registry value, and press ENTER. c Double-click the new DependOnService key. 5 In the Value Data field, add the line: MSiSCSI and click OK. 6 Close the registry editor. Microsoft™ Windows 2000 1 To start the registry editor in Windows, click Start and select Run from the menu.
6 In the Multi-String Editor window, type MSiSCSI in the data box, and click OK. 7 Close the registry editor. Verify Dependency Settings 1 Right-click on My Computer and select Manage. 2 In the Computer Management window, expand Services_and_Applications and select Services. 3 Double-click the applicable service. The applicable service could be “Server” for FileShares, “MSSQLSERVER” for SQL, “Microsoft™ Exchange Information Store” for Exchange etc.
correct IQN number is entered for the authentication group, and that the Virtual IP address of the SAN/iQ cluster is configured properly, and is entered in the Discovery tab of the initiator. For further information on this, please see the applicable article on Enabling LeftHand SAN Volumes, referenced at the end of this document. 4 Select the Automatically restore this connection when the system boots check box, then click OK.
Method 1: Using the iSCSI Initiator Management Applet 1 Open Control Panel and double-click the iSCSI Initiator. 2 Select either the Bound Volumes/Devices tab, or the Initiator Settings tab, depending on the version of Microsoft™ iSCSI Initiator being used. 3 Click Bind All or Bind Volumes, depending on the version of Microsoft™ iSCSI Initiator being used. 4 Confirm that the Volume/Mount Point/Device window has a drive letter entry for each volume.
2 3 Type cmd in the Open field and click OK. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER: iscsicli BindPersistentVolumes 4 Type exit to close the command window. Note: If additional volumes are added, repeat this binding procedure. Note: The only conclusive test to confirm the items in this section are configured properly is to reboot the application servers and confirm that all volumes and applications come online correctly.
8 Chapter: Microsoft™ iSCSI Initiator Session Timeout Setting Overview This section describes the LeftHand Networks recommended setting for the iSCSI initiator session failover timeout setting, which is governed by the MaxRequestHoldTime registry parameter. Important Note: With SAN/iQ 6.6.
Note: Starting with SAN/iQ version 7.0, the iSCSI timeouts on the SAN have been reduced such that changing the MaxRequestHoldTime is technically no longer necessary. However, in order to compensate for iSCSI issues outside of SAN control, such as network disturbances, etc., LeftHand still recommends changing the MaxRequestHoldTime value to 600 seconds. Note: Any time the iSCSI initiator is reinstalled or upgraded, the MaxRequestHoldTime value may revert to its default value of 60 seconds.
3 Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet Note: There may be additional control sets in the registry. Confirm that you have selected the CurrentControlSet. 4 With CurrentControlSet selected, click on the Edit menu and select Find. 5 Type in MaxRequestHoldTime and select Find. Note: If the MaxRequestHoldTime value is not found in CurrentControlSet, it must be created.
6 Double-click on the MaxRequestHoldTime registry value, highlighted above, to bring up the following window: 7 Change the Base from Hexadecimal to Decimal 8 Enter 600 for the Value data and click on OK. This sets the MaxRequestHoldTime to 600 seconds (i.e., 10 minutes). 9 Exit the registry editor. Important: The new iSCSI timeout value will not take effect until the next time the server is restarted.
5 Within CurrentControlSet, navigate to and expand: \Control\Class\{4D36E97B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} Note: “97B” are the differentiating characters in the appropriate registry key. 6 Under the key described in step 4, locate and expand the instance that has the plus (+) sign next to it. In the example below, this would be instance 0000. 7 Click the + sign next to the expandable instance, then select the Parameters key. This will reveal a list of available values in the right pane of the window.
11 You have now created the MaxRequestHoldTime value. Go back to Step 6 of the “Procedure” section above for instructions on entering the proper data in the new registry value. Note: Remember that the new iSCSI timeout value will not take effect until the next time the server is restarted.
9 Chapter: Measuring Performance in a Windows Environment Overview This section describes how to use Perfmon to measure performance on a Windows system connected to a volume on the SAN. Using Windows Performance Monitor to Measure SAN Performance The preferred method to measure application server performance connected to the SAN is to use Windows Performance Monitor (perfmon.exe) and sample the appropriate PhysicalDisk counters for the SAN volume(s) in question.
Windows Performance Counter Disk Bytes/sec SAN Measurement Notes Total data throughput Measured in Bytes/sec. Typical for the volume values are in Megabytes/sec. Disk Read Bytes/ Read data throughput Measured in Bytes/sec. Typical sec for the volume values are in Megabytes/sec. Disk Write Bytes/sec Write data throughput for the volume Measured in Bytes/sec. Typical values are in Megabytes/sec. Disk Reads/sec Read IOPS (I/Os / sec) for the volume Measured as the raw number.
6 Select Close. *Choosing the “view report” icon rather than the “view graph” icon will generally reveal more useable results. Saving a Performance Monitor Log for Analysis It is common for Administrators to monitor performance on a longer-run basis. If needed, setup a performance counter log by expanding Performance Logs and Alerts, right-click Counter Logs, and select New Log Settings.
Provide a meaningful name and select OK. In the resulting window, note the path to the resulting log file, and then select Add Counters. Add the counters similar to setting up Performance Monitor above, finishing with Add button, then select Close. Note: The output file can be saved as a binary log (blg) or a comma-separated file (csv). To change the output format, select the Log Files tab. The .blg format file can be viewed later in Performance Monitor. The .
Monitoring More Than One Server Simultaneously When collecting data from multiple servers, you can collect all data from a single perfmon instance by changing the server name in the “Select counters from computer:” box. The appropriate physical drives will show up for that server. Scheduling Performance Data Collection Data collection can be scheduled using the Performance Monitor tool. To enable scheduling, right-click on a log that has been created, and select “Properties”.
Note: Performance logs can be quite large; however, they do compress nicely using a tool such as WinZip. Using IOMeter as a SAN Benchmark Tool IOMeter is a performance benchmark application that can generate customizable I/O loads against disk devices to measure performance. IOMeter is an Open Source software package contributed by Intel to the Open Source Development Lab. The OSDL and individuals within the community now maintain the package.
Configuring the ISCSI Volume Using the SAN/iQ Management Console, create a volume with the size and thresholds all set to the same amount, e.g. 10GB. Set Replication Levels and other parameters to appropriate values. Apply a read-write Volume List to the volume and configure an Authentication Group for the application server, then use the iSCSI Control Panel to add the test volume. Optionally, launch Windows Performance Monitor and setup the counters according to the section above.
Configuring IOMeter Access Specification for each Test Select the Access Specifications Tab. Highlight the Default access specification profile under the Global Access Specifications column on the far right of the screen. Click on Edit. A new window will be invoked titled “Edit Access Specification”. Set the “Transfer Request Size”, “Percent Random/Sequential Distribution”, and the “Percent Read/Write Distribution” with the values in the chart at the end of this document.
Running the Test Click the Green Flag on the top button bar to start the test. Select the “Results Display” tab in the IOMeter window. Drag the slider under “Update Frequency (seconds)” over to 1 or 2 seconds. Interpreting Results Use the Windows Performance Monitor to validate the results that IOMeter reports. By default, IOMeter reports in Megabytes per second and the Windows Performance Monitor reports in Bytes per second.
Transfer Request Size 74 Percent Random/ Sequential Distribution Percent Read/Write Distribution Why this specification matters Typical results for 3 DL320s SAS in RAID 5 with 2 way replication MB/s IOPS 64K 50% Random 50% Write 50% Read This specification is similar to a heavily used file share 38 600 4K 100% Random 20% Write 80% Read This specification is similar to a Microsoft™ Exchange Database 23 6000 8K 100% Random 33% Write 67% Read This specification is similar to a Transaction
10 Chapter: Frequently Asked Questions The following FAQ covers majority of the questions related to customers using the new Microsoft™ iSCSI initiator within a LeftHand SAN. Microsoft™ ISCSI Initiator V2.0X Q: Three different Microsoft™ iSCSI Initiator versions are available: amd64fre, ia64fre, and x86fre. What version do I use for my operating system? A: The x86fre builds are for computers based on the x86 processor architecture running a 32bit version of the Windows operating system.
A: Yes. There are boot from SAN solutions available now that leverage the Microsoft™ iSCSI initiator management capabilities. Emboot, Microsoft™ and LeftHand Networks have recently partnered to provide a boot from SAN solution for iSCSI. Other vendors will be adding this support, as well. Also, SAN/iQ 7.0 is now supported in Boot from SAN environments with QLogic QLE4060 HBA solutions. Q: Can you upgrade a server running the v1.06 initiator to the v2.
Note: If using SAN/iQ versions prior to 6.6.x or any version of SAN/iQ when not using the LeftHand DSM for MPIO, do not install the Microsoft™ DSM during the iSCSI Initiator Setup, as it may adversely affect volume and data availability Q: Should customers use the Microsoft™ DSM included with the new iSCSI initiator? A: With SAN/iQ 6.6 and above, the only supported method for using Microsoft™ MPIO framework is in conjunction with the LeftHand Networks DSM for MPIO.
A: The LeftHand Networks DSM for MPIO fully understands the data layout across multiple storage modules and can send IO requests concurrently to each independent device. The LeftHand Networks DSM for MPIO provides for superior performance and fault-tolerance capabilities. With SAN/iQ 6.6, the only supported method for using Microsoft™ MPIO framework is in conjunction with the LeftHand Networks DSM for MPIO.
