HP MSA 1040/2040 VDS and VSS Hardware Providers Installation Guide (765305-001, March 2014)

HP MSA 1040/2040 VDS and VSS Hardware Providers Installation Guide 11
Modifying the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server
2012 Default SAN Policy for Newly Discovered Disks
When a disk is newly discovered on a Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2012 server, it may
show up as either online or offline, and may be read-write or read-only. This is influenced by the mapping
of the volume.
You can modify the SAN policy to change the access level using the DISKPART san policy command in
Windows Server 2008 and later.
On Windows Server 2008 Enterprise, Windows Server 2008 Datacenter and Windows Server 2012, the
default SAN policy is VDS_SP_OFFLINE_SHARED. On all other Windows Server 2008 editions, the
default SAN policy is VDS_SP_ONLINE.
The available policies you can select are:
VDS_SP_ONLINE
All newly discovered disks are brought online and made read-write.
VDS_SP_OFFLINE_SHARED
All newly discovered disks that do not reside on a shared bus are brought online and made read-write.
VDS_SP_OFFLINE
All newly discovered disks remain offline and read-only.
For more information, refer to Microsoft’s MSDN Library discussion of VDS SAN Policy Enumeration:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb525577(VS.85).aspx
It includes this description of how the SAN policy works.
“The SAN policy determines whether a newly discovered disk is brought online or remains offline, and
whether it is made read/write or remains read-only. When a disk is offline, the disk layout can be
read, but no volume devices are surfaced through Plug and Play (PnP). This means that no file system
can be mounted on the disk. When a disk is online, one or more volume devices are installed for the
disk.”
Newly discovered disks that are read-only due to the SAN policy are generally also offline. If you place
them online, the SAN policy impact is removed. If the newly discovered disks continue to be read-only, it is
due to some other reason, such as the mapping of the disk / LUN on the array.
Microsoft Windows Registry Change for VDS Support With Some iSCSI
HBAs
Accessing an MSA 1040 or MSA 1040/2040 iSCSI array using an HP CN1000E, HP NC551m, or HP
NC551i HBA as an iSCSI initiator may have issues with passing in-band CAPI commands using the HP
P2000/MSA2000 VDS provider. To avoid these issues:
1. Locate the registry value at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\be2iscsi\Parameters\
Device\DriverParameters
2. Double-click DriverParameters
3. Edit to include the following text:
large_io=512
4. Reboot the system for the registry option to take effect.
NOTE: The DriverParameters key may not exist. If it does not exist, create the key
DriverParameters as a STRING Value.