HP 3PAR VMware ESX Implementation Guide
Table Of Contents
- HP 3PAR VMware ESX Implementation Guide
- Contents
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Configuring the HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage for Fibre Channel
- 3 Configuring the HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage for iSCSI
- 4 Configuring the HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage for FCoE
- 5 Configuring the Host for a Fibre Channel Connection
- Installing the HBA and Drivers
- Installing Virtual Machine Guest Operating System
- Multipath Failover Considerations and I/O Load Balancing
- Performance Considerations for Multiple Host Configurations
- ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x Additional Feature Considerations
- Storage I/O Control
- vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI)
- HP 3PAR VAAI Plugin 1.1.1 for ESX 4.1
- HP 3PAR VAAI Plugin 2.2.0 for ESXi 5.x
- UNMAP (Space Reclaim) Storage Hardware Support for ESXi 5.x
- Out-of-Space Condition for ESX 4.1 and ESXi 5.x
- Additional New Primitives Support on ESXi 5.x
- VAAI and New Feature Support Table
- VAAI Plugin Verification
- 6 Configuring the Host as an FCoE Initiator Connecting to a FC target or an FCoE Target
- 7 Configuring the Host for an iSCSI Connection
- Setting Up the Switch, iSCSI Initiator, and iSCSI target ports
- Installing iSCSI on VMware ESX
- Installing Virtual Machine Guest Operating System
- Creating a VMkernel Port
- Configuring a Service Console Connection for the iSCSI Storage
- Configuring the VMware SW iSCSI Initiator
- iSCSI Failover Considerations and Multipath Load Balancing
- Performance Considerations for Multiple Host Configurations
- ESX/ESXi Additional Feature Considerations
- 8 Allocating Storage for Access by the ESX Host
- 9 Booting the VMware ESX Host from the HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage
- 10 Support and Other Resources
- 11 Documentation feedback
- A Appendix
To set the parameters globally, install the patch and follow the instructions in “VMware ESX Release
3.5 Update 4 through ESX 4.x, ESXi 5.0 and 5.0 updates, and ESXi 5.5” (page 50).
You can also use the esxcli command to set these values on a per-device basis. If both options
(the esxcli and the advanced parameters) are used, the per-device values take precedence.
To set QFullSampleSize and QFullThreshold on a per-device level, issue the following
esxcli command:
# esxcli storage core device set --device device_name -q Q -s S
The settings do not require a reboot to take effect and are persistent across reboots.
You can retrieve the values for a device by using the corresponding list command:
# esxcli storage core device list
The command supports an optional --device parameter:
#
esxcli storage core device list --device device_name
ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x Additional Feature Considerations
ESX/ESXi 4.1 and ESXi 5.x introduce new features related to storage I/O control and integration
with storage arrays. HP recommends the usage of features SIOC and vStorage APIs for Array
Integration (VAAI) with ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x - HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage configurations.
NOTE: This section about VAAI and new additional features applies to all connectivity types:
FC, FCoE and iSCSI.
Storage I/O Control
The SIOC feature allows for a new level of monitoring and control of I/O from individual virtual
machines to an HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage array at the datastore level and across ESX/ESXi hosts
in a VMware cluster.
Further information regarding the SIOC feature and considerations for its deployment may be
found in the VMware technical white paper, Storage I/O Control Technical Overview and
Considerations for Deployment:
VMware
vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI)
In partnership with VMware, HP has developed an ESX/ESXi 4.1 plugin that enables a new set
of SCSI commands to be used by ESX/ESXi 4.1 in conjunction with HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage.
VMware refers to this newly incorporated set of SCSI commands as the "primitives".
ESX extensions that make use of these primitives are collectively referred to as vStorage APIs for
Array Integration (VAAI). The VMware primitives enable an ESX/ESXi host to convey virtual machine
operations to storage hardware at a meta level instead of at the traditional data level. This reduces
operational latency and traffic on the FC fabric/iSCSI network. Some of these primitives enable
the storage hardware to participate in block allocation and de-allocation functions for virtual
machines. These primitives are also known as hardware offloads.
ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x Additional Feature Considerations 51