Dell EqualLogic Host Integration Tools for Microsoft Edition Version 5.4 Installation and User's Guide October 2020 Rev.
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Contents About This Guide...........................................................................................................................6 Revision History................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Audience............................................................................................................................................................................
Best Practices for SharePoint..................................................................................................................................24 Chapter 3: Remote Setup Wizard................................................................................................ 25 PS Series Group Requirements for Using RSW.........................................................................................................25 Windows System Requirements for Using RSW.............................
Configure the Dell EqualLogic Storage Management Provider..............................................................................48 Create a Classification for Dell EqualLogic Storage Resources.............................................................................49 Import the SMP Through the SCVMM GUI................................................................................................................49 Configure PS Series Groups........................................................
Preface Dell EqualLogic Host Integration Tools for Microsoft (HIT/Microsoft) enables you to manage and configure PS Series storage arrays from the servers that use them. From initializing new arrays to creating application-consistent snapshots, HIT/Microsoft exposes a wide variety of management capabilities to administrators. Revision History Revision Date Description R1 October 2020 Version 5.
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1 Introduction to Host Integration Tools Host Integration Tools for Microsoft (HIT/Microsoft) simplifies the configuration and administration of PS Series arrays on Windows computers. Topics: • • • • Host Integration Tools Components SMP Support SCVMM Support Supported Applications Host Integration Tools Components This section describes the Host Integration Tools application and service components.
Table 2. Host Integration Tools Service Components (continued) Component Description Dell EqualLogic Auto-Snapshot Manager/Microsoft Edition User’s Guide, or you can use the RSWCLI, described in Remote Setup Command Line Utility. HPC iSCSI Provider Allows the High Performance Computing (HPC) Service to provision volumes and deploy compute nodes on Dell EqualLogic SANs. This service is available only on systems running Windows HPC Server 2012 R2 or later. See www.microsoft.com/hpc for more information.
—UserName Administrator —Password “AcctPassword” Connect-EqlGroup 3. Verify that the connection to the group was established successfully by entering the following two commands and checking the output: Get-EqlGroupAccess Get-EqlGroup 4. If the connection to the group was established successfully, restart the EqlSMPHost service. 5. Import the storage provider module using the following command: Import-SCStorageProvider 6.
For more information, see the Dell EqualLogic Auto-Snapshot Manager/Microsoft Edition User’s Guide. Microsoft SQL Server ASM/ME supports online backup and quick restore of Microsoft SQL Server databases using the ASM/ME GUI.
2 Installation You can use two methods to install the Host Integration Tools for Microsoft on a host: manual installation and remote host installation. For first-time installations, you must perform a manual installation. After the first installation, you can easily install the Host Integration Tools on any number of hosts using the remote installation process from the ASM/ME GUI.
● Microsoft C++ Redistributable — The installers are included in Visual Studio 2012 Update 4. NOTE: The Update 4 version used by ASM is 11.0.61030.0. ○ x86 version on all 32-bit systems. ○ x64 version on 64-bit systems. These products display in Add/Remove Programs with the version listed if they are installed. You might need to reboot your system after installing the Redistributable.
NOTE: ● Deselect components that are not required to be installed from the Custom Setup page of the installation wizard. ● The capability to import EqualLogic storage to PowerStore is supported for PS Series version 10.0.3 with Microsoft® Windows Server® 2012 R2 and Microsoft® Windows Server® 2016.
2. Connect to the computer running Windows Server Core and open the Windows command-line terminal. 3. Type the following command and press Enter: run pathname Setup64.exe The Host Installation Tools graphical installer launches. 4. Follow the procedure described in Install Host Integration Tools for Microsoft on page 13. Only supported components are installed.
￭ Single Domain — For multiple machines that belong to a single domain, you must provide the appropriate user credentials (domain users with local admin rights) so that ASM/ME can successfully access the machines to perform the required installations. ￭ Single Workgroup — For multiple machines that belong to a single workgroup, each machine must have the same local admin account credentials.
After the host has been added to the HIT Group, it will appear in the tree panel of the ASM/ME console and you can start managing it from there. To stop managing a host, right-click the host in the tree panel and select Stop Managing. Install HIT on Remote Hosts Using PowerShell Scripts The PowerShell script is called HitRemoteInstall.ps1 and is located in the directory that was specified when the Host Integration Tools were installed on the local host. (The default installation directory is C:\Program Fil
The BackupDocumentLocation parameter allows you to specify the backup document directory. This directory is especially important for cluster installations, for which a network share must be specified. For information about backup document directories and cluster configurations, see the Dell EqualLogic Auto-Snapshot Manager/Microsoft Edition User’s Guide. When specifying host names, you can specify the host’s IP address, host name, fully qualified domain name, or IPv6 address.
Install HIT on a Failover Cluster If you install Host Integration Tools on a running cluster, you are prompted to configure the installation for cluster operation and it is not necessary to complete the tasks described in the previous sections. Before you begin, make sure the following prerequisites are met: ● You must use an account that is a Microsoft domain user account with local administrative access. Consider creating a named account such as ASMadmin to use for ASM/ME operations on the cluster.
Join a Computer into a Failover Cluster The prerequisites for joining a computer running Host Integration Tools into a failover cluster are as follows: ● Use an account that is a domain user account with local administrative access. Consider creating a named account such as ASMadmin to use for ASM/ME operations on the cluster. You can use this account to log on to required services.
● ADDLOCAL specifies which features are to be installed (if used). If the operating system does not meet the requirements to install the feature, the feature will not be installed even if it is specified. ● INSTALLDIR specifies the drive and path of the installation (if used). If not specified, the installation will go into the default location, which is C:\Program Files\EqualLogic.
Setup64.exe /s /v/qn /V"/q ADDLOCAL=ALL /L C:\path setup.log" ● Use /L*v for a verbose log. ● To verify if a silent installation succeeded, scroll to the end of the log file. Using HIT With a SharePoint Farm When using the Host Integration Tools on a SharePoint farm: ● Create or verify the domain accounts in the domain. At a minimum, create one account for SQL administration and optionally, a separate account for SharePoint administration for example, domain\sp_sqladmin, and domain\sp_admin.
Modify Index File Locations in an Existing SharePoint Farm If you already have a SharePoint farm deployment and can modify its topology, you can change the query and crawl component index locations using the Central Administration interface after installation. In an existing farm, by default all three types of search components are on the C:\ drive. You must move these onto PS Series volumes.
1. In Central Administration, click Administration Component → Edit Properties. 2. In the Edit Properties dialog box, change the Administration Component server to a different server. Click OK. NOTE: This step is temporary. 3. In Central Administration, click Administration Component → Edit Properties. 4. In the Edit Properties dialog box, change the Administration Component server to the previous (original) server, then click OK. 5. Click Apply Topology Changes.
3 Remote Setup Wizard Remote Setup Wizard (RSW) allows you to initialize a PS Series array, either by creating a new PS Series group with the array as the first member, or having the array join an existing group. The wizard includes links to the ASM/ME GUI that enable you to: ● Configure PS Series group access to the computer ● Configure MPIO settings To install RSW, see Installation. The Host Integration Tools also include the Remote Setup Command Line Interface (RSWCLI).
● Initialize an array. (This option also allows you to create a PS Series group with the array as its first member, or to have the array join an existing PS Series group.) ● Configure the computer to access a PS Series group (launches the Auto-Snapshot Manager GUI) ● Configure multipathing (MPIO) settings for the computer (launches the Auto-Snapshot Manager GUI) Launch RSW From ASM/ME 1. In the ASM/ME menu bar, click Launch. 2. Select Remote Setup Wizard.
Table 5. Array Configuration (continued) Prompt Description Netmask Combines with the IP address to identify the subnet on which the Ethernet 0 network interface resides. Default gateway Network address for the device used to connect subnets and forward network traffic beyond the local network. A default gateway is used to allow the Ethernet 0 network interface to communicate outside the local network (for example, to allow access to volumes from computers outside the local network).
Initialize an Array and Create a PS Series Group 1. Gather the information described in Information Required for Initializing a PS Series Array. 2. Click Start → All Programs → EqualLogic → Remote Setup Wizard. 3. Select Initialize a PS Series array, then click Next. RSW discovers and lists all uninitialized arrays that are accessible to the computer. If no arrays appear, click the Rediscover button. 4. Select a PS Series array from the list, then click Next.
3. Disconnect the serial cable, and launch the Remote Setup Wizard from the computer where it is installed.
4 Remote Setup Command Line Utility The Remote Setup Command Line Utility (also referred to as the Remote Setup CLI or RSWCLI) provides an alternative to using the Remote Setup Wizard. You can perform the same set of operations provided by the Remote Setup Wizard, except that the setup and configuration tasks are performed through commands executed at a Windows command prompt instead of the wizard. When you install the Remote Setup Wizard, the Remote Setup CLI is also installed.
Using RSWCLI Commands The RSWCLI executable is located under the default installation folder, or the folder that you specified for HIT during installation. The default folder is: C:\Program Files\EqualLogic\bin You execute a command by starting the Windows Server command prompt: 1. Click Start → Run. 2. Type cmd. 3. In the command window, you can change the directory to C:\Program Files\EqualLogic\bin or add the RSWCLI commands folder to your path by editing your Windows PATH environment variable.
Table 7. Initialize Array Command Options (continued) Parameter Argument Description You must specify either the ‑CreateGroup or the ‑JoinGroup parameter. With the ‑CreateGroup parameter, you must also enter the ‑GroupName and ‑GroupIP command parameters. SerialNumber= serial number Designates the serial number of the PS Series array to be initialized. Use either this option or the ServiceTag option, but not both.
List or Modify MPIO Settings Use the rswcli ‑MPIOParameters command to list or modify MPIO settings. All parameters are optional. If no parameters are entered for this command, the current values for all parameters are listed.
Table 9. List Subnets Command Options Parameter Description IncludeOnly Displays only the included subnets. Cannot be used with the ‑ExcludeOnly parameter. ExcludeOnly Displays only the excluded subnets. Cannot be used with the ‑IncludeOnly parameter. Detail Displays the rules used to generate the subnet list as well. Include a Subnet or Adapter for Use by MPIO By default, all subnets, adapters, and IP addresses accessible to the group start out in the included list.
Table 10. Include Subnet or Adapter Command Options (continued) Parameter Argument Description entries are of the same type (subnet, adapter, or IP address) and are not already in the included list, then the new subnet, adapter, or IP address is added to the include list. All other include list entries that are not of same type are removed; for example, -MAC with -Force saves only the existing adapter settings in the included list, but removes all other subnets and IP addresses from the include list.
Table 11. Exclude Subnet or Adapter Command Options (continued) Parameter Argument Description type (subnet, adapter, or IP address) and are not already in the excluded list, then the new subnet, adapter or IP address is added to the excluded list. All other excluded list entries that are not of same type are removed. For example, -MAC with -Force saves only the existing adapter settings in the excluded list, but removes all other subnets and IP addresses from the excluded list.
5 Using the Multipath I/O Component The Dell EqualLogic Multipath I/O (MPIO) DSM (Device Specific Module) enables you to configure redundant network paths from a Windows computer to PS Series volumes for high availability and high-performance SAN data traffic.
Figure 2. Multipath I/O Configuration The table below describes the callouts in the above figure. Number Callout Description 1 eqldsm.sys or dcdsm.sys - kernel mode driver (performs I/O path selection and error handling) 2 EHCMservice.exe user mode service (manages iSCSI sessions), and DC-HAService.
● Example C—You have two 10Gb host NICs, and are connecting to a volume on members with one 10Gb Ethernet port. The optional number of sessions is one per member, because that number will saturate the member Ethernet ports. 2. Apply any user-configured session limits. The default behavior is to limit to two sessions per volume slice or six sessions per volume, whichever is reached first. However, you can modify these limits, as described in Configure Multipath I/O Between a Computer and a Group. 3.
Table 12. Configuring Multipath I/O (continued) Prompt Description Load balancing policy By default, the MPIO DSM applies a policy of least queue depth. You can optionally select failover only or round robin. For a complete description of the options, see Set the MPIO Load Balancing Policy. Max sessions per volume slice For volumes that span multiple group members, you can specify the maximum sessions permitted for a volume per group member. Select a value in the range 1-4.
Log Off a Volume With Multipath I/O on Variants of Windows Operating Systems To log off a volume with multiple connections when using other Windows variants, you must select and log out of each connection session as follows: 1. Click the Targets tab, select the target, then click Details. The Target Properties dialog box opens. 2. Click the Sessions tab. 3. Select all sessions and click LogOff.
Figure 3. MPIO Properties Tab in the iSCSI Initiator The MPIO properties tab also provides the information shown in the following table. Table 13. MPIO Log Data Column Title Data Description Source IP TCP/IP address of the link source device. This address is the NIC or HBA installed in the computer that accesses an iSCSI volume. Target Name of the iSCSI volume that is the target of the link. When MPIO is configured, you will see multiple links.
● Ability to change the MPIO settings. Click the button to open the ASM/ME GUI directly to the MPIO Settings screen. For detailed information about what you can change, see Setting MPIO Properties in the Dell EqualLogic Auto-Snapshot Manager/Microsoft Edition User’s Guide. Set the MPIO Load-Balancing Policy When you have configured multiple data pathways, it is appropriate to configure MPIO DSM to balance data traffic loads across the pathways.
Figure 4.
6 Use the VDS Provider The Dell EqualLogic Virtual Disk Service (VDS) provider enables you to use VDS version 1.1 and Storage Manager for SANs to create and manage volumes in a PS Series group.
Simple Target and LUN Naming The VDS provider implements the simple target configuration. When you use Storage Manager for SANs to create a LUN, the VDS provider automatically creates an iSCSI target and associates that target with the LUN. When you delete a LUN, VDS deletes the associated iSCSI target. You cannot independently manage LUNs and targets. A target’s iSCSI name and friendly name is based on the LUN name for ease of use.
When Storage Manager for SANs creates a volume in a group, it automatically creates access controls for the volume. If CHAP is used, the user name is always the iSCSI initiator name. You can optionally specify a secret password. Storage Manager for SANs automatically creates an access control record in the group with matching access controls, in addition to a local CHAP account, if you use CHAP.
7 Use SCVMM With the Dell EqualLogic SMP This release of the Host Integration Tools supports the System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM, or VMM) 2016 and 2019. The scope of this chapter is limited to essential storage management tasks in VMM with the Dell EqualLogic Storage Management Provider (SMP) for PS Series storage. Using ASM/ME, you can create Smart Copies and collections of rapid-provisioned VMs created by SCVMM. You can also restore from them (however, selective restore is not supported).
AD user group on the group if the SCVMM service account is part of that AD user group. See the Dell EqualLogic AutoSnapshot Manager/Microsoft Edition User’s Guide for more information. SCVMM does not allow configuring a separate Run As account to manage SMP. Refer to the Microsoft SCVMM documentation regarding correct setup of the service login account. 2. In the SCVMM server GUI, configure PowerShell/SMP access (PS Authentication). 3.
Figure 6. Gather Information Screen 6. Select one or more pools on the configured groups that you intend to use for provisioning storage in SCVMM, then click Next. (See the following figure.) Figure 7. Select Storage Devices Screen 7. Confirm the configuration on the Summary screen, then click Finish (See the following figure.
Figure 8. Summary Screen When the Dell EqualLogic SMP is successfully added, the PS Series groups open in the Arrays view (click Fabric → Storage → Arrays in the bottom-left pane). Continue with Configure Group Access on Managed Hosts and Clusters. Configure PS Series Groups 1. In the SCVMM Console GUI, right-click a PS Series group in the Arrays view (click Fabric, then Storage → Arrays) and open the Properties dialog box. 2. In the Properties dialog box (see figure below), click the Storage Pools tab. a.
3. Confirm that the EqualLogic classification is displayed in the Classification view (click Fabric, then Storage, then Classification and Pools). 4. Continue with the following topic,Configure Group Access on Managed Hosts and Clusters. Configure Group Access on Managed Hosts and Clusters SCVMM does not automatically configure or maintain iSCSI discovery target portal settings on managed hosts based on the provider and PS Series group configuration on SMP.
Figure 11. Create New iSCSI Session Screen 3. Confirm that the PS Series group was added (see figure below), then click OK. Figure 12. Confirm Array Screen 4. Continue with the following topic, Configure Storage for VM Rapid Provisioning. Configure Storage for VM Rapid Provisioning SMP supports VM Rapid Provisioning through the use of thin clones of template volumes. Before performing rapid provisioning operations: 1. Expand the Storage node and select Arrays. 2.
Figure 13. Storage Array Settings Screen The other setting—Clone logical units—will result in creating regular (fully provisioned) clones of the template volume, and is not recommended for rapid provisioning using SMP in SCVMM because it will not scale. The Storage Array Settings apply to individual PS Series groups and are not a global configuration for SMP. 4. Click OK to close the Properties panel. Create a VM Template for the Library Share 1.
Your library host might be configured to be separate from your SCVMM management host, depending on your particular SCVMM deployment. If your library server is different from the SCVMM management host, the library server must be configured to access the template volumes used for provisioning. Configuring the SCVMM library server is outside the scope of this document. 6. Use the VHD on the volume to create a VM template.
4. Make sure the new template is opened under the VM Templates view in the Library workspace (click Library → Templates → VM Templates). Confirm that the VM template says Yes in the SAN Copy Capable Property field. This setting ensures that thin clones of the underlying template volume are used instead of copying data across the network during VM provisioning. (See the following figure.) Figure 17. VM Templates View Screen 5.
Figure 19. Select Host Screen 8. Verify that the new VM is available in the VMs and Services view under a particular host, cluster, or private cloud. For more information about VM deployment, see the Microsoft SCVMM documentation. 9. Continue with the following procedure, Migrate the Rapid-Provisioned VMs. Migrate the Rapid-Provisioned VMs 1. In the VMs and Services workspace view, right-click the VM and select Migrate Virtual Machine. 2.
In a cluster on which VM is already running, SCVMM will use Live Migration. SAN migration will be used across different clusters or standalone hosts, and will be enabled if the access to the PS Series group for the template volume is correctly configured on the target host. Unlike Live Migration, the VM is saved on the source host and restored on the target host.
Figure 22. Migrate Storage Wizard 3. Review the selected settings, then click Move to complete the operation. Troubleshoot SCVMM Issues SCVMM relies on storage providers such as SMP when performing storage provisioning tasks. When using SMP, loss of connectivity to the managed PS groups might adversely affect these operations. Note that connectivity has to be ensured on the SCVMM management host as well as on all managed hosts or clusters involved in provisioning tasks using SMP.
5. Make sure that storage resources on the library shares are accessible. a. Open an iSCSI session from Server Manager of VMM. b. Make sure the iSCSI targets for the template volumes are shown as connected; if not, reconnect them. c. Open Disk Management. Click Administrative Tools → Computer Management → Disk Management and make sure the disk corresponding to the active iSCSI target is currently online. Set the disk online if needed. d.
Table 14. Supported PowerShell Cmdlets for EqualLogic SMP (continued) Cmdlet Description Remove-MaskingSet Removes a masking set. Deletes all ACL entries from a volume. Remove-InitiatorIdFromMaskingSet Removes an initiator from a masking set. Removes an ACL entry with this initiator name. Remove-VirtualDiskFromMaskingSet Removes a virtual disk from a masking set. Removes the virtual disk from a masking set, which results in deleting the masking set.
8 Use the HPC iSCSI Provider Microsoft supports iSCSI storage in its High-Performance Compute Cluster software, HPC Server. iSCSI support allows HPC nodes to boot from iSCSI volumes, and allows the HPC server to provision those volumes. To enable this support, a vendorspecific HPC iSCSI Provider is required. This version of the Host Integration Tools includes this provider.
Table 15. HPC iSCSI Provider Settings (continued) Setting Default Value Description storage reaches the warning level, the PS Series group will issue an alert. When the assigned storage reaches the maximum value, no further storage can be assigned to the volume. For base volumes, the minimum volume reserve cannot be less than 10 percent. Difference Volume Provisioning 0%, 80%, 100% These parameters have the same effect as the base volume provisioning parameters, but apply to differencing volumes.
9 Tools and Utilities The Host Integration Toolkit includes utilities that can be run by administrators. NOTE: If the Host Integration Kit is installed with the capability to import EqualLogic volumes to a PowerStore array, see the Appendix ImportKit-CLI for Windows in the Importing External Storage to PowerStore Guide.
eqlxcp [-hocv] source-file [source-file-n] destination-file Wildcards can be used to specify the source files. If multiple source files are specified, the destination must be an existing directory. Options: ● ● ● ● -h -o -c -v Display this message Overwrite existing destination files Compare source and destination files after copy Verbose output 4. To copy file1.zip to a new file called file2.zip, enter the command: eqlxcp e:\file1.zip e:\file2.
Table 16. EqlLog CLI Options (continued) Option Description --no-hitlogs Do not collect miscellaneous HIT logs. --no-backupdocs Do not collect VSS backup documents. --no-msinfo Do not collect system information from MSInfo32. --no-setupapi Do not collect Setup API logs. --no-vss Do not collect VSS logs. --no-vds Do not collect VDS logs. --no-cluster Do not collect cluster logs. --no-install Do not collect HIT installer logs. --no-event Do not collect Windows event logs.
NOTE: It may be necessary to disable the SCSI unmap support in Windows 10 and Windows Server 2012 R2 or later if you are using replicated volumes (including SyncRep). It may also be required that you disable automatic file system defragmentation in Windows Server, and disable both the unmap and the defrag features. However, if you disable the unmap support, the Host Integration Tools rethinning tools will not work, in which case you must use the Disk Optimization tool built into Windows to rethin a volume.
Index Special Characters .
H I HBA finding information 41 support considerations 39 HIT application support for backup and restore operations Exchange Server 10 CD-ROM installation kit download 12 components Dell EqualLogic Auto-Snapshot Manager/Microsoft Edition (ASM/ME), See ASM/ME HPC iSCSI Provider 9 Multipath I/O DSM (MPIO DSM) 8 Remote Setup Wizard, See RSW Remote Setup Wizard Command Line Utility , See RSWCLI EqlLog command line options 65 utility 65 EqlLog utility overview 65 EqlRethin utility 66, 67 eqltrace.
MPIO (continued) snapshots 40 volume log off 41 MPIO DSM CHAP credentials 39 configuring LAN 39 device specific module 37 ehcm.
RSW (continued) PS Series array (continued) initialize 26 PS Series Array RSW initialization requirements 26 PS Series Array initialization requirements 26 PS Series group requirements 25 troubleshoot array initialization failure 28 uninitialized arrays search 26 uninitialized arraysuninitialized arrays discovery 26 Windows system requirements 25 RSWCLI bin folder 31 command syntax 30 commands help 30 discover an uninitialized array 31 entering commands 31 exclude a subnet that MPIO uses 35 include a subnet
VDS (continued) restrictions 45 Volumes in Group Manager 45 VDS Provider 8 VHD create a VM template 55 enable for SAN operations 60 Virtual Desk Service, See VDS VM enable template for SAN operations 60 rapid provisioning 53 VM template create for the Library Share 54 VMM 48 volume log off with MPIO 41 log on with MPIO 40 rethinning disable the SCSI unmap support 66 rethinning driver 21 volume rethinning 48 volumes maximum sessions per slice 40 provisioning 45 VSS import snapshots 46 modify access controls
