Configuring iSCSI Connectivity with VMware vSphere 6 and Dell PS Series Storage How to configure and connect a Dell PS Series SAN to a VMware vSphere 6 environment using the software iSCSI initiator Dell Storage Engineering January 2016 A Dell Deployment and Configuration Guide
Revisions Date Description November 2011 Initial release January 2016 Updates to reflect vSphere 6.0 Web Client Acknowledgements Author: David Glynn THIS WHITE PAPER IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, AND MAY CONTAIN TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS AND TECHNICAL INACCURACIES. THE CONTENT IS PROVIDED AS IS, WITHOUT EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. © 2011-2016 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Dell, the DELL logo, and the DELL badge are trademarks of Dell Inc.
Table of contents 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................................ 5 2 Features of the vSphere software iSCSI initiator .................................................................................................................. 6 3 Configuring the vSphere iSCSI software initiator with PS Series storage .....................................................
Executive summary VMware® vSphere® 6 is the flagship VMware product for advanced server virtualization and management. Many advanced features provided by VMware, including the ability to move running virtual machines (VMs) between active servers, high availability (HA) clustering, and advanced load balancing, all require some manner of shared storage accessed by each of the servers.
1 Introduction VMware vSphere 6 offers intelligent and advanced enhancements to the iSCSI software initiator in conjunction with iSCSI SAN connectivity. Many of these new features require advanced configuration in order to work properly. This paper addresses some of these new features in vSphere and shows administrators how to connect a vSphere 6 environment to a Dell PS Series iSCSI SAN.
2 Features of the vSphere software iSCSI initiator VMware vSphere has support for various advances with iSCSI SAN connectivity. This paper covers the features in the iSCSI software initiator as well as how to configure it to connect to the SAN. Jumbo Frames: With ESXi, Jumbo Frames can be enabled on the iSCSI software initiator. Jumbo Frames support allows for larger packets of data to be transferred between the ESXi hosts and the SAN for increased efficiency and performance.
3 Configuring the vSphere iSCSI software initiator with PS Series storage Taking advantage of the vSphere iSCSI software initiator features requires advanced configuration by vSphere administrators. vSphere 6 requires the use of the new vSphere Web Client to access the latest features and will be used in this paper. Configuring both a vSphere Standard Switch (vSS) and vSphere Distributed Switch (vDS) will be covered. The correct vSwitch type will be depend on your environment.
4 Establishing sessions to the SAN Before continuing, we first must discuss how VMware ESXi establishes its connection to the SAN utilizing the vSphere iSCSI software adapter. VMware uses VMkernel ports as the session initiators, so we must configure each port that we want to use as a path to the storage. This configuration will be a one-to-one (1:1) VMkernel-port-to-NIC relationship. Each session to the SAN will come from one VMkernel port which will go out a single physical NIC.
5 Installation overview Each environment will be different, but the following sections provide example installation steps for configuring a new ESXi host to connect to a PS Series SAN. Throughout these examples, the names and IP addresses assigned will need to be changed to be relevant in your environment. These examples assume a switch with Jumbo Frames support on the physical hardware. This paper focuses on one-to-one VMkernel mapping with two physical NICs and two VMkernel ports.
6 Part 1: Configure vSwitches This paper discusses two ways to configure the virtual switches in ESXi: vSphere Standard Switches (vSS) or vSphere Distributed Switches (vDS). Either method is viable for the environment and will depend on the administrator’s familiarity with the method along with the VMware license structure in the environment. Administrators should choose one method and apply it to their entire ESXi cluster for ease of configuration and management.
3. Select the New Standard Switch radio box and click Next. 4. Click the Add adapters icon, the green plus symbol, and select the physical network adapters to add to the vSwitch, making sure to assign the adapters to the Active Adapters. Repeat this step to add additional physical network adapters to the vSwitch. 5. Once all network adapters have been added to the vSwitch, click Next. 6. For the Network Label, enter VMkernel iSCSI-1, and click Next.
7. Enter in the IP Address and Subnet Mask for the VMkernel iSCSI-1 port. This must be on the same network subnet as the PS Series Group IP Address. Click Next. 8. Verify the settings and click Finish to complete the vSwitch creation. 6.1.2 Step 2: Add additional iSCSI VMkernel ports This step assigns additional iSCSI VMkernel ports to the new vSwitch. It also assigns the IP addresses to the iSCSI VMkernel ports.
6.1.3 Step 3: Associate VMkernel ports to physical adapters This step creates the individual 1:1 mapping of each VMkernel port to a network adapter. This is required so that MPIO protocols like VMware Round Robin or Dell PS Series MEM can correctly route I/O through the VMkernel port and out from a particular physical network adapter, and therefore correctly loadbalance across the available paths. From the previous step, there are two or more iSCSI VMkernel ports and two or more network adapters.
6. Repeat these steps for each iSCSI VMkernel, mapping a different network adapter to each VMkernel port. In the examples shown, VMkernel iSCSI-1 is mapped one-to-one with vmnic2, and VMkernel iSCSI-2 is mapped one-to-one with vmnic3. 6.1.4 Step 4: Configure Jumbo Frames In order for Jumbo Frames to work, it must be enabled end-to-end, on both the physical and virtual network infrastructure, or the frame size will fall back to standard frames. PS Series arrays have Jumbo Frames enabled by default.
For each of the VMkernel ports, Jumbo Frames must also be enabled. 1. Select VMkernel adapters, select one of the VMkernel ports from the vSwitch configured for iSCSI (vSwitch1 in this this example), then click the Edit Setting icon above it. 2. Under NIC settings, change the MTU from the default of 1500 to 9000 and click OK. 3. Repeat this for each of the VMkernel ports assigned to iSCSI.
6.2 vSphere Distributed Switch configuration Note: If you are using vSS, skip this section and go to Part 2: Configure VMware iSCSI software initiator. Some environments utilize vSphere Distributed Switches (vDS) for network connections and management. One of the benefits to a vDS is the ability to create and configure a single network profile and then attach multiple hosts to this configuration. Note: vSphere Distributed Switches require Enterprise Plus licensing. 6.2.
4. On the Select version page, select the newest version possible. If the environment is a mix of ESXi versions, select the oldest version in the environment that will be connected to this distributed switch. Click Next to continue. 5. On the Edit settings page there are several values to change: a. Set Number of uplinks to the maximum number of physical network adapters to be used for iSCSI (this example uses two). b. Set Network I/O Control to disabled.
6.2.2 Step 2: Add additional port groups The next step creates and configures the additional port groups used to assign the VMkernel ports to. You will need to have one port group for every physical NIC you are using for iSCSI. 1. Returning to the icon toolbar, click the Create a new distributed port group icon (it is the second icon). 2. On the Select name and location page, change the Name to DPortGroup_iSCSI_2, and click Next to continue. 3.
5. Select Uplink 2 and click the down-arrow button to move it to the Unused uplinks. If there are additional uplinks, they must also be moved. Click OK to apply the change. 6. Repeat these steps on the each of the distributed port groups created for iSCSI until each port group and uplink has a one-to-one mapping. 6.2.4 Step 4: Add the VMkernel adapters to the vDS This step adds the vDS to a host and creates VMkernel ports which will be linked 1-to-1 to a particular distributed port group.
2. On the Select task page, select the Add hosts radio button and click Next to continue. 3. On the Select hosts page, click the New hosts button. From the new dialog box, select at least one ESXi host in the data center, and then click OK. Click Next to continue.
4. On the Select network adapter tasks page, check the checkboxes for Manage physical adapters and Manage VMkernel adapters, then click Next to continue. 5. 21 On the Manage physical network adapters page, select one of the network adapters (referred to as vmnic) that are to be used for iSCSI and click the Assign uplink button. On the popup dialog box, select the uplinks and click OK. In this example vmnic2 has been assigned to Uplink 1, and vmnic3 will be assigned to Uplink 2.
6. Click Next to continue. 7. On the Manage VMkernel network adapters page, click the New adapter button. On the new Add network dialog box, click the Browse button to select an existing network. 8. On the Select Network dialog box, select one of the port groups created for iSCSI to which the new VMkernel will be attached to. 9. Click OK to return to the Add Networking dialog box. 10. On the Port properties page, choose IPv4 or IPv6 from the IP settings dropdown menu, and click Next to continue.
13. Once all the VMkernel ports have been created and assigned to a port group, click Next to continue. 14. On the Analyze impact page, review the status and resolve any issues that may be outstanding. Click Next to continue. 15. On the Ready to complete page, review the chosen setting and click Finish. 6.2.
4. Click OK to apply. To enable Jumbo Frames on the VMkernel ports: 1. Select the Hosts and clusters inventory view, and select the individual host with the VMkernel ports you wish to enable Jumbo Frames on. 2. Select the Manage tab, then the Networking button, and click VMkernel adapters. 3. Select one of the VMkernel ports assigned to iSCSI, and then click the Edit setting icon (the third icon on the toolbar). 4. From the Edit setting wizard, select NIC settings. 5.
7 Part 2: Configure VMware iSCSI software initiator Now that the virtual switch (vSS or vDS) is configured and the VMkernel ports are bound to physical NICs in a 1:1 fashion, the next thing to configure is the iSCSI initiator. This section details the enablement and configuration of the VMware iSCSI software initiator. These steps are done on each ESXi host that needs connectivity to the SAN. 7.1.
2. From the list of VMkernel network adapters, select the ones created for iSCSI (in this example, vmk1 and vmk2) and click OK. Note: After the addition of the VMkernel ports to the iSCSI initiator, the vSphere Web Client may recommend a rescan of the storage adapter. As additional changes are yet to be made, this can be ignored at this time. 3.
8 Part 3: Connect to Dell PS Series SAN Now that the configuration for the vSphere iSCSI software initiator has been completed, the next stage is to connect to the Dell PS Series SAN and to the volumes it contains. This example attaches the iSCSI software initiator to the SAN and to a single volume. For more information on complete administration of the Dell PS Series SAN, see the Dell EqualLogic Group Manager Administrator’s Guide available on eqlsupport.com (login required). 8.1.
8.1.2 Step 2: Create and configure a volume The next step creates a new volume and assigns it to the ESXi host. There are multiple ways to do this, so refer to the Group Manager Administrator’s Guide for more information. This can also be done from directly within the vSphere Web Client using the Dell Virtual Storage Manager plugin and completed in only a few clicks. For details, see the document, Dell Virtual Storage Manager: Installation Considerations and Datastores Manager.
2. The first step in the Create Volume wizard is provide a volume name and select which pool to place the volume. In this example, a name of vSphereDemo has been used, and the volume has been placed in the default pool. Click Next. 3. Set the volume size (500GB in this example), options for enabling thin provisioning, and snapshot reserve space. Click Next to continue.
4. This example creates a basic access point using IP access controls, and assigns the IPs used in the previously created standard iSCSI vSwitch. Select the Define one or more basic access points radio button, and then under Define one of more basic access points pane, click Add. In the New Basic Access Point dialog window, in the IP address field, enter the IP address assigned to the first VMkernel port in the previously created iSCSI vSwitch and click OK.
6. Click the Skip to end button to skip the optional Tags and Sector size page, and review the content on the Summary page. 7. Review the volume creation information on the Summary page and click Finish. The volume will now be created on the PS Series array. 8.1.3 Step 3: Connect to a volume on PS Series SAN The next step connects to the volume on the SAN and verifies the connection status.
9. On the Ready to complete page, review the setting and select Finish. The datastore is now available for use by this ESXi host. To enable other ESXi hosts to access this datastore, it will be necessary to update the volume access controls to include those other hosts, and then perform a rescan of the iSCSI storage adapter on that host. 8.1.
9 Summary This paper has demonstrated proper configuration of the VMware iSCSI software initiator and how to connect it to the Dell PS Series SAN. With all of the advanced vSphere features that rely on shared storage, it is important to follow these steps to enable them in the vSphere environment. Always consult the VMware iSCSI SAN Configuration Guide for the latest documentation on configuring vSphere environments.
A Additional resources A.1 Technical support and customer service Offering online and telephone-based support and service options, Dell support service can answer your questions about PS Series arrays, groups, volumes, array software, and host software. Availability varies by country and product, and some services might not be available in your area. Visit Dell.com/support or call 800-945-3355 (United States and Canada). For international support of Dell PS Series products, visit http://www.dell.
