DeWalt MD3220I User's Manual
Contents
1. Add Remove amp Host port identifiers to be associated with the host Host Port Identifier Alias User Label lt Back Cancel Help Host Group configuration starts from the screen titled Manually Define Hosts For ESX servers supporting VMotion HA and DRS Distributed Resource Scheduler a host group must be defined so the MD32xxi storage subsystem has a configured iSCSI path to each of the hosts e Select Yes This host will share access to the same virtual disks with other hosts Page 7 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software e If anew host group is desired select the radio button for that option and enter in a name for your host group using standard host naming conventions e g no spaces etc e Should you already have one or more host groups assigned select the radio button enabling selection from a drop down list of existing host groups This option is to be used when configuring the second third etc host in a group Once the host group is selected previously configured hosts for that host group will be displayed Note that these are shown as VMware hosts Selecting Next provides a Confirmation screen in which the new server being configured is shown and the other previously configured associated hosts are named For the first server configured in a new host group there will be no associated hosts listed under the Associated host group f2. sce sce sees cece ee eee eee eee eeeeeeees 13 Step2 Add iSCSI VMKernel POMS cccsccvecves cave evessvnennis seve ceneentectes cess enneeevs ewe cereaneee 13 Step3 Assign NetWork Adapters sisenes anioni cows oneb ates cond eave ates ecne ents eave saad e a 15 Step4 Associate VMkernel Ports to Physical Adapters sceeceseeee eee eeeeeeeeeeeeees 18 Step5 Enable VMware iSCSI Software Initiator s esssessesosesssessoosssesssososssssseoses 21 Step6 Binding VMkernel Ports to iSCSI Software Initiator cee ce eee eee sence ee eee eee 23 Step7 Connect to PowerVault MD32XXi Storage ssssssssssseesssssseeesssssseseesesssseeee 25 Step8 Connect to a Volume on PowerVault SAN ssssssessesossssssssosssssssesosessesseooss 29 Step9 Enabling VMware Native Multipathing MRU c cee eee eee eee ee ence econo eeeeneeee 30 Step10 Create VMFS Datastores and Connect More Volumes sessssesossesossesesosoesesossesoe 30 Contact INTOMART AEE OAE AENEA EA AEREA 30 ADPENGIX Anise EAEE AEE E E E E E E 31 Step A1 Configure vSwitch and Enable Jumbo Frames sssssssssssssesssssssesesesssseeee 31 Step AZ Add iSCSI VMkernel Prts osn ose insieawseeeaes SiE ENANSA SEEEN ASNA SENEE AEAEE Ee 31 Step A3 Assign Network Adapter ccccescesseeeececenceneencencenceneenseneeeseneenseeees 33 Step A4 Associate VMkernel Ports to Physical Adapters sceeceeeeeeeee eee eeeeeeees 34 Step A5 Enable VM
3. Page 21 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software This will enable the software iSCSI initiator To verify that it is enabled type the following command esxcfg swiscsi q This can also be accomplished by using the vCenter GUI From the vCenter GUI on the ESX host navigate to Configuration gt Storage Adapters Select the iSCSI Software Adapter and click Properties Under the General tab click the Configure button Place a check mark in Enabled and hit Ok This will enable the iSCSI initiator and assign a unique iqn to the ESX host Administrators familiar with enabling iSCSI in ESX 3 5 will notice that the firewall policies are automatically set when you enable it in vSphere4 5 iSCSI Initiator vmhba33 Properties General Dynamic Discovery Static Discovery iSCSI Properties Name ign 1998 01 com vmware esx4b 7cd586cc dlias Target discovery methods Send Targets Static Target m Software Initiator Properties Status Enabled CHAP Advanced Close Help Page 22 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software Step6 Binding VMkernel Ports to iSCSI Software Initiator This next step will bind the VMkernel ports which were configured in Step 4 earlier to the iSCSI Software Initiator If this step is skipped there will only ever be a single connection to the PowerVault SAN This step must be done via CLI The first thi
4. Apply Help 4 Check Disallow un named discovery sessions if desired Step8 Connect to a Volume on PowerVault SAN The next step is to connect to the volume on the SAN and verify the connection status Since the iSCSI access and configuration was configured in the last step the only thing to do now is to rescan the HBAs and make sure the volume appears correctly In the vSphere4 GUI click on Configuration gt Storage Adapters and select the iSCSI Software Adapter Click Rescan All and choose to Scan for New Storage Devices and select Ok When this is done if everything has been configured properly under Devices there will be a new PowerVault iSCSI Disk with the correct size similar to what s shown below Page 29 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software vmhba33 Properties Model SCSI Software Adapter iSCSI Name ign 1998 01 com vmavara esx4b 70d5860c iSCSI Alas Connected Targets 1 Devices 1 Paths 6 View Devices Paths Name Idertifier Runtime Name LUN Type Transport iSCSI Disk naa 6090a038 1 0F2b6 biase 3c49cc914 nae 60 vmbbass CO T1 LO O desk iSCSI Step9 Enabling VMware Native Multipathing MRU One of the new advanced features that is enabled by configuring the iSCSI Software Initiator the way we have is that now we can take advantage of MPIO by using MRU This combined with the fan out intelligent design of the PowerVault group allows for greater and better
5. p iSCSI2 N vmnic1 vSwitch2 esxcfg vswitch p iSCSI2 N vmnic3 vSwitch2 esxcfg vswitch p iSCSI3 N vmnic1 vSwitch2 esxcfg vswitch p iSCSI3 N vmnic2 vSwitch2 To verify that this was done correctly type the following command esxcfg vswitch l The output will look similar to this Page 19 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software Switch Name Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU Uplinks vSwitch2 64 7 64 9000 PortGroup Name VLAN ID Used Ports Uplinks iSCSI3 0 1 vmnic3 iSCSI2 0 1 vmnic2 iSCSI1 0 1 vmnic1 The important thing to note is that under the Uplinks section there is only one vmnic assigned to each iSCSI VMkernel port and that they are evenly distributed across them This can also be done through the vCenter GUI To configure this from the GUI first navigate to the Networking section on the ESX host you are configuring Configuration gt Networking From here click Properties on the vSwitch2 Select one of the VMkernel Ports in this example iSCSI1 and click Edit From here select the NIC Teaming tab Here you are going to select the check box for Override vSwitch failover order Just like in the CLI example we will assign vmnic1 to iSCSI1 This is done by selecting the adapters that are not going to be assigned to the VMkernel vmnic2 and vmnic3 in this case and clicking the Move Down button until it is listed under Unused Adapters The following figure shows the com
6. This can also be found by running the following CLI command to discover all SCSI devices including the iSCSI software adapter esxcfg scsidevs a The output will look something like the following vmhba33 iscsi_vmk link n a iscsi vmhba33 Software iSCSI In this example from both the GUI and CLI we can determine that the vmhba for the iSCSI Software Initiator is vmhba33 This will be used in the next part This will differ on various systems based on the devices installed The next piece of information to gather is the vmk of each of the VMkernel ports This can be done via the GUI or CLI To determine the vmk of each VMkernel port from the GUI navigate to Configuration gt Networking From the vSwitch that was created earlier under each VMkernel port the vmk will be listed NOTE It is important to recognize that they may not start with vmk0 VMotion ports and other VMkernels will utilize the same numbers based on the order they are created Page 37 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software Virtual Switch vSwitch2 Remove Properties Physical Adapters GB vmnic2 1000 Full A EB vmnic3 1000 Full 53 Mkemel J iscsIs vmk4 10 110 VMkemel Po J iscsi4 ymk3 10 19 5 Mkemel Por J iscsI3 vmk2 10 19 VMkemel Po A iscsi2 vmki 10 fort 5 177 175 5 174 J iSCSI1 ymkO 19 10 5 173 em P P In this ex
7. 1 can take full advantage of these connections Third Party MPIO Support With ESX4 1 and vSphere4 VMware has provided an architecture that enables storage vendors to provide new and advanced intelligent integration Supported Hardware and Software Hardware Requirements Refer to the following VMware website for a complete up to date list of the prerequisites for installing VMware ESX server http www vmware com pdf vsphere4 r40_u1 vsp 40 ul esx get start pdf Supported Operating Systems for MD32xxi array ESX4 1 is the only supported VMware OS for MD32xxi Architectural Setup As a best practice Dell recommends using a separate Gigabit Ethernet network switch to handle iSCSI storage traffic Each server is connected to two switches Each switch has a path to the MD32XxXi via two dual port controllers In this base HA configuration the servers switches and MD32XxXi ports share the same subnet The NIC ports serving iSCSI traffic on the ESX servers are teamed in order to re route traffic in the event of an adapter failure Considerations When Using iSCSI Software or Hardware Initiators for ESX4 1 on the MD32xxi Storage Array Taking advantage of all of these new features requires some new steps to be taken by ESX administrators Configuration is done via either GUI or CLI inside the ESX4 1 server The remainder of this whitepaper focuses on installation and configuration of an iSCSI software initiator connection to a PowerVault Se
8. 64 9000 PortGroup Name VLAN ID Used Ports Uplinks iSCSI3 0 1 iSCSI2 0 1 iSCSI1 0 1 This will show the VMkernel ports that are assigned to the vSwitch To verify the IP addresses enter the following command esxcfg vmknic l The output will look similar to the graphic below You can also verify the IP Addresses via the vCenter GUI In vCenter on the ESX Host navigate to Configuration gt Networking Virtual Switch vSwitch2 Remove Properties VMkemel Port Physical Adapters A iscsi3 Q No adapters ymk2 10 10 5 208 VMkernel Port A iscsi2 Q yvmk1 10 10 5 207 VMkermel Port iscsi Q ymkO 10 10 5 206 Step3 Assign Network Adapters The next step in the process is to assign the network adapters NICs that will be attached to the iSCSI network and used for iSCSI traffic These will be attached to the vSwitch2 that we created earlier This can be done two ways in the vCenter GUI or by CLI To list all of the adapters in the system run the following command Page 15 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software esxcfg nics l The output will look similar to this Name PCI Driver Link Speed Duplex MAC Address MTU vmnicO 03 00 00 bnx2 Up 1000Mbps Full 00 21 9b 8b 4b b0 1500 This will list all of the adapters in the system Assign the NICs that are physically connected to the SAN infrastructure and to the vSwitch The following command assumes that we are assigning vmnic
9. Software The important thing to note is that under the Uplinks section there is only one vmnic assigned to each iSCSI VMkernel port and that they are evenly distributed across them all This can also be done through the vCenter GUI To configure this from the GUI first navigate to the Networking section on the ESX host you are configuring Configuration gt Networking From here click Properties on the vSwitch2 Select one of the VMkernel Ports in this example iSCSI1 and click Edit From here select the NIC Teaming tab Here you are going to select the check box for Override vSwitch Failover Order Just like in the CLI example we will assign vmnic2 to iSCSI1 This is done by selecting the adapter that is not going to be assigned to the VMkernel vmnic3 in this case and clicking the Move Down button until it is listed under Unused Adapters Click Ok to complete the process Do this same thing for each of the iSCSI VMkernel ports so that each VMkernel port is mapped to only one adapter and they are balanced across them all In this example we assigned iSCSI1 iSCSI2 and iSCSI3 to vmnic2 and assigned iSCSI4 iSCSI5 and iSCSI6 to vmnic3 Step A5 Enable VMware iSCSI Software Initiator The next step if it has not been done already is to enable the iSCSI initiator to prepare the ESX host to connect to the PowerVault SAN This can be done either through a CLI command or through the vCenter GUI To enable the iSCSI initiator through the CLI ty
10. no known unassociated hast port identifiers X Refresh Add by creating a new host port identifier New host port identifier max 223 characters vahalla User Label 30 characters maximum Remove Host port identifiers to be associated with the host Host Port Identifier Alias User Label lt Back _ u gt Cancel Help 2 Under iSCSI Access you can choose to use an IP Address or Initiator Name 3 To find the iSCSI Initiator Name from the vCenter GUI go to Configuration gt Storage Adapters Click on the iSCSI Software Adapter The iqn can be copied and pasted into the Group Manager interface for the Initiator Name mhba33 Model SCSI Software Adapter iSCSI Name ign 1998 01 com vmware esx4b 7cd586cc iSCSI Alias Connected Targets 0 Devices 0 Paths 0 There is another check box option for Disallow un named discovery sessions Page 28 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software o STIBA_4 Manage iSCSI Settings xi Target Authentication Mutual Authentication Target Identification Target Discovery Note Send Targets and Static discovery methods are supported automatically Use iSNS server IPy4 settings f Obtain configuration automatically fram DHCP server Refresh DHGP Specify configuration ISS server IP address 0 0 i 0 i 0 IPy6 settings iSNS server IP address Adyanced Cancel
11. of the server names for host access The iSCSI connection is then established from the storage subsystem After which detection and configuration are established as a two way link with the associated ESX server s completing the iSCSI communication subsystem The final step allocates the detected storage to the individual virtual machines VMs where all or part of the configured storage can be assigned to individual VMs VMware vSphere4 offers many new and advanced enhancements over the iSCSI software initiator in conjunction with iSCSI SAN connectivity Many of these new features require advanced configuration in order to work properly Administrators who are familiar with ESX 3 5 iSCSI SAN configuration may find that their current configuration steps are not sufficient to enable all of the advanced features offered in vSphere4 This whitepaper addresses some of the new features in vSphere4 as well as showing two examples of how to connect a vSphere4 environment to a Dell PowerVault iSCSI SAN These steps are documented in VMware s iSCSI SAN Configuration Guide which can be found on VMware s website but this whitepaper goes into depth on configuration steps for connecting to a PowerVault SAN This whitepaper also covers steps for utilizing the software iSCSI initiator inside the ESX server Users connecting their vSphere4 environment using just iSCSI HBAs or users wishing to only assign a single iSCSI NIC with no Jumbo Fram
12. one to one 1 1 ratio of VMkernels to physical network cards This means if there are 3 physical NICs you would establish 1 VMkernel per physical NIC and associate a separate NIC with each VMkernel port In this example you would establish 3 sessions to a single volume on the SAN This scheme can be expanded depending on the number of NICs you have in the system As the environment grows you can establish multiple sessions to the SAN by oversubscribing VMkernel ports to actual physical NICs This establishes multiple sessions to a volume but still utilizes the same physical NICs as the means to get to the volume As more PowerVault members are added intelligent routing will come into the picture and allow for dynamic allocation of sessions as the SAN group grows Page 5 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software Virtual Switch vSwitch2 Remove Properties VMkemel Port Physical Adapters SA iscsi3 Q B vmnic3 1000 Full vmk2 10 10 5 208 GB vmnic2 1000 Full vMkemel Port GB vmnict 1000 Full A iscsl2 Q vmki 10 10 5 207 WMkemel Port A iSCSI vmkO 10 10 5 206 Remove Properties Physical Adapters B vmnic3 1000 Full Ce vmnic2 1000 Full PowerVault MD32xxi Storage Setup and Configuration CREATE VIRTUAL DISKS ON MD32xxI USING STEPS DESCRIBED IN http support dell com support edocs systems md3000i multlang gsg DAO BCC DY731A00MR pdf AFTER OPENING THE MODULAR DISK STOR
13. the ESX4 1 host will create multiple connections to the PowerVault SAN Every new volume will have more connections as well Once this is configured there only need to be changes made if more NICs are being added or if more or less paths are needed Note Host profiles do not keep information on Jumbo Frames or Port Bindings For the rest of this whitepaper the configuration steps and commands will be given for the 1 1 binding See Appendix A for an example of the 3 1 VMkernel port binding The following command will add a new iSCSI VMkernel Port named iSCSI1 on the vSwitch created in the previous step esxcfg vswitch A iSCSI1 vSwitch2 This next command will configure the IP Address Subnet Mask and enable Jumbo Frame support for the new VMkernel Port iSCSI1 esxcfg vmknic a i 10 10 5 173 n 255 255 255 0 m 9000 iSCSI1 For our example with a 1 1 relationship with 3 NICs we need to create 2 more VMkernel Ports named iSCSI2 and iSCSI3 esxcfg vswitch A iSCSI2 vSwitch2 esxcfg vmknic a i 10 10 5 174 n 255 255 255 0 m 9000 iSCSI2 esxcfg vswitch A iSCSI3 vSwitch2 esxcfg vmknic a i 10 10 5 175 n 255 255 255 0 m 9000 iSCSI3 Page 14 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software To verify the configuration enter the following command esxcfg vswitch l The output will look similar to this Switch Name Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU Uplinks vSwitch2 64 7
14. 1 vmnic2 and vmnic3 to the vSwitch esxcfg vswitch L vmnic1 vSwitch2 esxcfg vswitch L vmnic2 vSwitch2 esxcfg vswitch L vmnic3 vSwitch2 Once again to verify the configuration type the following command to list the vSwitch information esxcfg vswitch l Your output will look similar to the following Note the new vmnics that were assigned to the vSwitch under uplinks Switch Name Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU Uplinks vSwitch2 64 9 64 9000 PortGroup Name VLAN ID Used Ports Uplinks iSCSI3 0 1 vmnici vmnic2 vmnic3 iSCSI2 0 1 vmnici vmnic2 vmnic3 iSCSI1 0 1 vmnici vmnic2 vmnic3 Adding a NIC can also be configured and verified in the vCenter GUI Remember that the polling of vCenter is not instant so a refresh might need to occur to see the latest changes To configure this same process from the GUI first navigate to the Networking section on the ESX host you are configuring Configuration gt Networking From here click Properties on the vSwitch2 Page 16 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software vSwitch2 Properties Click the Network Adapters tab Then click Add This will open up the Add Adapter Wizard From here select the vmnics that you want to add to the vSwitch In our example it will be vmnic1 vmnic2 and vmnic3 Page 17 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software Add Adapter Wizard Adapter Selection New adapte
15. AGE MANAGER AND SELECTING THE MD32XXI STORAGE ARRAY TO BE CONFIGURED SELECT THE SETUP TAB NOTE IN THE EXAMPLES TO FOLLOW THE STORAGE ARRAY IS AN MD32XXI WITH VIRTUAL DISKS ALREADY CONFIGURED USING THE CONFIGURE STORAGE ARRAY SELECTION THE NEW SERVER BEING ADDED TO AN EXISTING HOST GROUP IS NAMED VALHALLA FROM THE SETUP TAB Page 6 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software 1 SELECT MANUALLY DEFINE HOSTS 2 ENTER THE HOST NAME FOR THE SERVER WHICH HAS THE ESX SERVER SOFTWARE IS INSTALLED 3 SELECT VMWARE AS THE HOST TYPE From the next screen specify the iSCSI Initiator by entering a name for the iSCSI initiator The label is auto populated from the server name The host communicates with the storage array through its host bus adapters HBAs or its iSCSI initiators where each physical port has a unique host port identifier In this step select or create an identifier give it an alias or user label then add it to the list to be associated with host vahalla How do I match a host port identifier to a host Choose a method For adding a host port identifier to a host Add by selecting a known unassociated host port identifier Known unassociated host port identifier There are no known unassociated host port identifiers Add by creating a new host port identifier New host port identifier max 223 characters vahalla User Label 30 characters maximum
16. D32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software http www vmware com support pubs vs_pages vsp_pubs_esxi41_e_vc41 html Dell VMware alliance home page http www dell com vmware Appendix A This appendix details an example of how to over commit the number of VMkernel ports to the physical NICs This is usually done in environments in which the NIC is capable of handling multiple sessions such as 10GbE This can also be done in larger environments combined with a PowerVault SAN to help achieve maximum bandwidth to the SAN In this appendix example we are using 2 physical NICs and assigning 3 VMkernel ports to each one for a total of 6 sessions to the SAN Step A1 Configure vSwitch and Enable Jumbo Frames Follow the Step 1 configuration steps in the main document as there are no changes for adding multiple VMkernel ports Step A2 Add iSCSI VMkernel Ports The following command will add a new iSCSI VMkernel Port named iSCSI1 on the vSwitch created in the previous step esxcfg vswitch A iSCSI1 vSwitch2 This next command will configure the IP Address Subnet Mask and enable Jumbo Frame support for the new VMkernel Port iSCSI1 esxcfg vmknic a i 10 10 5 173 n 255 255 255 0 m 9000 iSCSI1 Following the example from before we are just adding more VMkernel ports We need to create 5 more VMkernel Ports named iSCSI2 iSCSI3 iSCSI4 iSCSI5 and iSCSI6 Then configure the IP addresses subnet masks and enable Ju
17. DELL PowerVault MD32xxi Deployment Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software A Dell Technical White Paper Version 1 3 PowerVault MD3200i and MD3220i Storage Arrays Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software 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 2010 Dell Inc All rights reserved Reproduction of this material in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of Dell Inc is strictly forbidden For more information contact Dell Dell the DELL logo and the DELL badge and PowerVault are trademarks of Dell Inc VMware and the VMware logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of VMware Corporation or its affiliates in the US and other countries Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products Dell Inc disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own June 2010 Page ii Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software Table of Contents Table of Contents isinen ana AEE deavena date E dau AA NAAT wesc 1 TERMINOLOGY GLOSSARYS s225 acs sites ea E iene ddan cade keen Weau ddan EAE vee ddan EAEE ween dden NANE 2 IMCFOAUCCION as cise anana na vncbas unee Side SANE AAEE E
18. EEE ENEKE ee Shabir SAAE ATS 3 Implementing ESX4 1 on the MD32xxi Storage Array sce sees ese e eee ee eect eee ee eee eeeeneees 3 New Features in vSphere4 Software iSCSI Initiator cece ee eee eee eee ee eect te eeeeeeeee 3 Supported Hardware and SoftWare Tasesa en enea tee bewen tea sawnlessie beeing sh REEE S 4 Hardware Requirements sis ccd sacs caw ecke gawd sede sen denta eed docs shaw gee Uae dats A see neta deen 4 Supported Operating Systems for MD32XxXi Array s cece sees cece eee ee eset ee eee eeeeeeeneenees 4 Architectural SCtupiccecvenges suas nce esexels sane onkicneeveuneeste says euedsekeed vases deaistnceesauasakeenetacneeat 4 Considerations When Using iSCSI Software or Hardware Initiators for ESX4 1 on the MD32xxi Storage ANAE N AE eiore creas E N Geet bins oisieie Sees N ERO Seid G Sold ound Sa Rue RE SEE dg oe E etme 4 Establishing Sessions toa SAN sesaesicau scenes ni stoves e A a shalesin ee clenle agaist siete oasis ana clade stay 5 PowerVault MD32xxi Storage Setup and Configuration sce ece eee e ee eee eee eeeeeeeeeenees 6 iSCSI Software Initiator Configuration on ESX4 1 S rver c cece cece eee eeeeeeeeeneeeneeeneeenees 9 Clustering with ESX4 1 Creating DRS ClUSters c sceecesceccescencencencencensecceeceeeeenes 12 Configure iSCSI storage on ESX4 1 Server Example Installation Steps c cece eee eee 12 Step1 Configure vSwitch amp Enable Jumbo Frames
19. Properties Storage Adapters Rescan QLA236x vmhba1 Fibre Channel 21 00 00 e0 8b 1c b4 a5 PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller 5 vmhbad SCSI iSCSI Software Adapter Details Properties Model IP Address iSCSI Name Discovery Methods iSCSI Alias Targets 6 The iSCSI initiator Properties window appears 7 Under the General tab select Configure tab Select the Enabled checkbox and click OK Select Close Page 10 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software iSCSI Initiator ymhba40 Properties General Dynamic Discovery Static Discovery CHAP Authentication iSCSI Properties iSCSI name iSCSI alias Target discovery methods Soft ep General Properties pS Status iSCSI Properties iSCSI Name iSCSI Alias Close Help ZA 8 Select iSCSI Software Adapter under Storage Adapters You should now see your iSCSI Target name listed Device iSCSI Software Adapter LSI1068 vmhba1 SCSI PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller 5 vmhba SCSI 9 Select Properties under storage adapters Select Dynamic Discovery Select Add Provide the IP address of the MD32xxi iSCSI Target Port and click OK There may be a slight delay before the process completes Page 11 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software iSCSI Initiator ymhba40 Properties S iol xj General Dynamic Dis
20. SCSI Software Adapter and click Properties Click the Dynamic Discovery tab Click Add In the iSCSI Server box type in the IP Address of the PowerVault SAN and hit Ok Page 25 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software iSCSI Initiator vmhba33 Properties General Dynamic Discovery Static Discovery Send Targets Discover iSCSI targets dynamically from the Following IP addresses iSCSI Server Address Y Add Send Target Server iSCSI Server fio 10 5 160 Port 3260 Inheritance Ea Authentication may need to be configured before a session can be established with any discovered targets CHAP Advanced Remove Settings When this is done click Close or enter in another IP Address if there are multiple SANs in your environment You will be prompted for a Rescan of the HBAs but at this time as there are no volumes assigned it is unnecessary The next step will be to create a new volume and assign it to the ESX server This can be done multiple ways so refer to the PowerVault User s Guide for more information In this example we will create a 100GB Volume and assign it to this ESX host via the iqn name Create a new volume named 1 Page 26 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software pP Capacity Name Create irtual Disk On this screen you specify the capacity and unique name for an individual virtual disk You mu
21. ab Step A4 Associate VMkernel Ports to Physical Adapters The next step is used to create the individual path bindings for each VMkernel to a NIC This is required in order to take advantage of the new advanced features such as Round Robin MPIO or 3rd party MPIO plug ins that will be available from Dell From our previous step there are 6 VMkernel ports and 2 NICs This means that each NIC will have 3 VMkernel ports assigned to it Again each environment will differ and these numbers can change based on the number of NICs and the number of paths assigned If we ever add a third NIC then we would rebalance the number of VMkernel ports to two ports per NIC This process can be done either via CLI or through the vCenter GUI By default both vmnic2 and vmnic3 are assigned to each VMkernel port We need to remove one vmnic from each VMkernel port so that each VMkernel port has only one uplink Before running these commands the switch information looks like the following obtained using esxcfg vswitch l again Page 34 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software Switch Name Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU Uplinks vSwitch2 64 9 64 9000 vmnic3 vmnic2 PortGroup Name VLAN ID Used Ports Uplinks iSCSI6 0 1 vmnic2 vmnic3 iSCSI5 0 1 vmnic2 vmnic3 iSCSI4 0 1 vmnic2 vmnic3 iSCSI3 0 1 vmnic2 vmnic3 iSCSI2 0 1 vmnic2 vmnic3 iSCSI1 0 1 vmnic2 vmnic3 You can see that there are two vmnics in eac
22. ample we see that iSCSI1 is vmkO iSCSI2 is vmk1 iSCSI3 is vmk2 and iSCSI4 is vmk3 This is also information that we need to note We can also see this in the CLI by using the following command esxcfg vmknic l The output will look similar to this Interface Port Group DVPort IP Family IP Address Netmask Broadcast MAC Address MTU TSO MSS Enabled Type vmk0 iSCSI1 IPv4 10 10 5 173 255 255 255 0 10 10 5 255 00 50 56 7b d8 3e 9000 65535 true STATIC vmk1 iSCSI2 IPv4 10 10 5 174 255 255 255 0 10 10 5 255 00 50 56 7e ae 80 9000 65535 true STATIC vmk2 iSCSI3 IPv4 10 10 5 175 255 255 255 0 10 10 5 255 00 50 56 74 a4 e0 9000 65535 true STATIC vmk3 iSCSI4 IPv4 10 10 5 176 255 255 255 0 10 10 5 255 00 50 56 70 80 a7 9000 65535 true STATIC vmk4 iSCSI5 IPv4 10 10 5 177 255 255 255 0 10 10 5 255 00 50 56 77 f2 64 9000 65535 true STATIC vmk5 iSCSI6 IPv4 10 10 5 178 Page 38 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software 255 255 255 0 10 10 5 255 00 50 56 7d b5 f2 9000 65535 true STATIC We can determine the same information as was found from the GUI Now that we know the vmhba and the vmk we can map each VMkernel Port to the iSCSI Software Initiator This is done through the CLI by typing the following command esxcli swiscsi nic add n vmkO d vmhba33 This will bind the vmkO VMkernel port to the iSCSI Software Adapter vmhba33 We then proceed to bind all of the other vmk to the same vmhba
23. ate to Configuration gt Networking From the vSwitch that was created earlier under each VMkernel port the vmk will be listed NOTE It is important to recognize that they may not start with vmkO vMotion ports and other VMkernels will utilize the same numbers based on the order they are created Page 23 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software Virtual Switch vSwitch2 Remove Properties Physical Adapters Q EB vmnict 1000 Full A GM vmnic2 1000 Ful A ER vmnic3 1000 Ful 3 fA iscsl2 vmk1 10 10 In this example we see that iSCSI1 is vmkO iSCSI2 is vmk1 and iSCSI3 is vmk2 This is also information that we need to note We can also see this in the CLI by using the following command esxcfg vmknic l The output will look similar to this Interface Port Group DVPort IP Family IP Address Netmask Broadcast MAC Address MTU TSO MSS Enabled Type vmk0 iSCSI1 IPv4 10 10 5 173 255 255 255 0 10 10 5 255 00 50 56 7b d8 3e 9000 65535 true STATIC vmk1 iSCSI2 IPv4 10 10 5 174 255 255 255 0 10 10 5 255 00 50 56 7e ae 80 9000 65535 true STATIC vmk2 iSCSI3 IPv4 10 10 5 175 255 255 255 0 10 10 5 255 00 50 56 74 a4 e0 9000 65535 true STATIC We can determine this same information from the GUI Now that we know the vmhba and the vmk we can map each VMkernel Port to the iSCSI Software Initiator This is done through the CLI by typing the following command esxcli swiscsi ni
24. bandwidth utilization than in previous versions of ESX To configure MRU Multipathing on a volume select the volume from the vCenter GUI Configure gt Storage Right click and select Manage Paths This will display the path information with the default of fixed path To enable MRU select the drop down next to Path Selection and choose MRU VMware This will reconfigure the volume to utilize a load balancing policy going across all available paths NOTE This needs to be done for every existing and new volume that you want the MRU policy for To verify that all of the configuration settings were made correctly in the PowerVault Storage Manager select the Volume and then click the Connections tab Step10 Create VMFS Datastores and Connect More Volumes Now that the iSCSI Software vSwitch is set up and configured follow steps 8 9 for each additional new Volume that is created Each Volume can also be formatted VMFS and utilized as normal Each existing Volume can be modified to allow multiple ESX servers to attach to it by adding the Initiator Name in the Access Tab inside the Group Manager See the PowerVault User s Guide for more information on adding more access control connections to a volume e Contact Information HTTP SUPPORT DELL COM SUPPORT TOPICS GLOBAL ASPX SUPPORT PRODUCT SUPPORT PRODUCT SUPPORT CENTRAL C US amp CS 5 55 amp L EN amp S BizZReferences VMware vSphere 4 1 Documentation Page 30 Dell PowerVault M
25. c add n vmk0O d vmhba33 This will bind the vmkO VMkernel port to the iSCSI Software Adapter vmhba33 We then proceed to bind all of the other vmk to the same vmhba esxcli swiscsi nic add n vmk1 d vmhba33 esxcli swiscsi nic add n vmk2 d vmhba33 To verify that all of the vmk are bound properly to the vmhba run the following command Page 24 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software esxcli swiscsi nic list d vmhba33 This will list all of the information for VMkernel ports that are assigned to the iSCSI Software Adapter Step7 Connect to PowerVault MD32XXi Storage Now that the advanced configuration for the vSphere4 iSCSI Software Initiator has been completed the next stage is to connect to the Dell PowerVault SAN and to the volumes it contains More information for complete administration of the Dell PowerVault SAN can be found in the PowerVault User s Guide In this example we will attach the iSCSI Software Initiator to the SAN and toa single volume We will skip configuring CHAP but both one way and bi directional CHAP is supported by the PowerVault SAN The first thing to do is add the PowerVault IP Address to the dynamic discovery of the ESX Host iSCSI Software Initiator This is done to enable rescans to find new volumes that can be seen by ESX and used to create Datastores To configure this navigate in the vCenter GUI to Configuration gt Storage Adapters Click on the i
26. covery Static Discovery CHAP Authentication Send Targets Obtain information about target devices directly from the Following iSCSI servers using the SendTargets commmand iSCSI Server Status 172 17 13 204 3260 Edit Remove Close Help A 10 Click Close Clustering with ESX4 1 Creating DRS Clusters Refer to the following VMware website for a complete up to date list of the prerequisites for clustering with ESX4 1 server http www vmware com pdf vsphere4 r40 vsp_40 mscs pdf Configure iSCSI storage on ESX4 1 Server Example Installation Steps Connect to the ESX server vCenter using VI Client and follow the steps below Page 12 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software Go to the configuration tab and select Storage Adapters Select the iSCSI Software Adapter and click Rescan The newly created iSCSI target and LUN should be visible from the ESX server Step1 Configure vSwitch amp Enable Jumbo Frames This step will create a new vSwitch and enable Jumbo Frame support for this switch This step is used for both examples no matter the number of VMkernels or physical NICs Currently there is no option to enable Jumbo Frames on a vSwitch from VMware vCenter GUI so these commands must be run via CLI Be sure to check the environment to make sure that Jumbo Frames are supported at the networking layer before enabling it on the ESX host The following command will crea
27. e STIBA_4 Preview Define Host xi O VA E You have defined your host as follows IF you are going to be defining a lot of additional hosts you can save the current host definition to a script file and use it as a template You can then make appropriate changes to the script file For subsequent host definitions using the command line or script editor Should I save the host definition to a script Save As Script Host group HostGroup H Host vahalla Current host definition Host name vahallal Host type VMWARE iSCSI initiator label name vahallalO vahallal Associated host group HostGroup lt Back _Einish Cancel Help Select Finish confirming the new host definition This initiates the wizard configuration of the new host Page 8 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software On completion e Select Yes to proceed to the next host you wish to configure or e Select No to end the configuration wizard Helpful Hint Record the MD32xxi IP address for later configuration iSCSI Software Initiator Configuration on ESX4 1 Server This section lists the steps required to configure the software initiator on the VMware ESX4 1 Server Connect to the ESX4 1 server vCenter using VI Client and follow these steps 1 Select Configuration gt Security Profile on the ESX server 172 17 13 93 Mware ESX Server 3 5 0 63303 Evaluation 31 day s remaining EU Rel E Se
28. e support will not follow these steps and instead configure their environment as normal Users who wish to only enable Jumbo Frame support for their environment will want to take note of steps 1 and 2 but only create a single VMkernel port through the vCenter GUI after that Implementing ESX4 1 on the MD32xxi Storage Array New Features in vSphere4 Software iSCSI Initiator VMware vSphere4 ESX4 1 has new support for various new advanced capabilities that were not found in ESX 3 5 This whitepaper will cover the new features in the iSCSI software initiator as well as how to configure them to connect to the SAN iSCSI Software Initiator With ESX4 1 the iSCSI software initiator was re written from the ground up for better performance and functionality Jumbo Frames With ESX 4 1 and vSphere4 Jumbo Frames can be enabled on the iSCSI software initiator Jumbo Frame support allows for larger packets to be transferred between the ESX4 1 servers and the SAN for increased efficiency and performance Jumbo Frame Support can be enabled via the CLI Page 3 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software MPIO With ESX4 1 and vSphere4 customers can benefit from Multi Path I O from the ESX4 1 server and the SAN This allows for multiple connections to be concurrently used to allow for greater bandwidth This is especially important for the PowerVault SAN as each PowerVault member has multiple connections and now ESX4
29. essions to a SAN Before continuing the examples we first must discuss how VMware ESX4 1 establishes its connection to the SAN utilizing the new vSphere4 iSCSI Software Adapter VMware uses VMkernel ports as the session initiators and so we must configure each port that we want to use as a path to the storage This is independent of the number of network interfaces but in most configurations it will be a one to one relationship Once these sessions to the SAN are initiated the VMware NMP will take care of load balancing and spreading the I O across all available paths Each volume on the PowerVault array can be utilized by ESX4 1 as either a Datastore or a Raw Device Map RDM To do this the iSCSI software adapter utilizes the VMkernel ports that were created and establishes a session to the SAN and to the volume in order to communicate With previous versions of ESX this session was established using a single NIC path and any additional NICs were there for failover only With the improvements to vSphere4 and MPIO administrators can now take advantage of multiple paths to the SAN for greater bandwidth and performance This does require some additional configuration which is discussed in detail in this whitepaper Each VMkernel is bound to a physical adapter Depending on the environment this can create a single session to a volume or up to 8 sessions ESX4 1 maximum number of connections per volume Fora normal deployment it is acceptable to use a
30. esxcli swiscsi nic add n vmk1 d vmhba33 esxcli swiscsi nic add n vmk2 d vmhba33 esxcli swiscsi nic add n vmk3 d vmhba33 esxcli swiscsi nic add n vmk4 d vmhba33 esxcli swiscsi nic add n vmk5 d vmhba33 To verify that all of the vmk are bound properly to the vmhba run the following command esxcli swiscsi nic list d vmhba33 This will list all of the information for VMkernel ports that are assigned to the iSCSI Software Adapter Step A7 Connect to the Dell PowerVault Storage Now that the iSCSI initiator has been configured properly follow steps 7 through 10 above to assign the new volumes and make them available for use One thing you will note is the increased number of connections seen in the connection tab of the volume inside the PowerVault Storage administrator Page 39
31. h uplink for each VMkernel Port This is what we need to change so that only a single vmnic is in each uplink and that we manually load balance them across all available VMkernel Ports To configure this process via CLI first note the vmnic number of the NICs you want to remove and type the following command esxcfg vswitch p iSCSI1 N vmnic3 vSwitch2 What this will do is remove vmnic3 from VMkernel port iSCSI1 so that just vmnic2 is on iSCSI1 We then need to do the same thing for the other 4 VMkernel ports making sure to remove vmnics so that an equal number of VMkernel ports are on each vmnic 3 per vmnic esxcfg vswitch p iSCSI2 N vmnic3 vSwitch2 esxcfg vswitch p iSCSI3 N vmnic3 vSwitch2 esxcfg vswitch p iSCSI4 N vmnic2 vSwitch2 esxcfg vswitch p iSCSI5 N vmnic2 vSwitch2 esxcfg vswitch p iSCSI6 N vmnic2 vSwitch2 In an example where there are 3 or more vmnics you would remove each one from the vSwitch to make sure there is only a single vmnic per uplink To verify that this was done correctly type the following command esxcfg vswitch l The output will look similar to this Switch Name Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU Uplinks vSwitch2 64 9 64 9000 vmnic3 vmnic2 PortGroup Name VLAN ID Used Ports Uplinks iSCSI6 0 1 vmnic3 iSCSI5 0 1 vmnic3 iSCSI4 0 1 vmnic3 iSCSI3 0 1 vmnic2 iSCSI2 0 1 vmnic2 iSCSI1 0 1 vmnic2 Page 35 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server
32. i Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software Step A3 Assign Network Adapters Just like in the previous example the next step in the process is to assign the network adapters NICs that will be attached to the iSCSI network and used for iSCSI traffic These will be attached to the vSwitch2 that we created earlier This can be done two ways in the vCenter GUI or by CLI To list all of the adapters in the system run the following command esxcfg nics l This will list all of the adapters in the system Assign the NICs that are physically connected to the SAN infrastructure and to the vSwitch The following command assumes that we are assigning vmnic2 and vmnic3 to the vSwitch esxcfg vswitch L vmnic2 vSwitch2 esxcfg vswitch L vmnic3 vSwitch2 Once again to verify the configuration type the following command to list the vSwitch information esxcfg vswitch l Your output will look similar to the following Note the new vmnics that were assigned to the vSwitch under uplinks Switch Name Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU Uplinks vSwitch2 64 9 64 9000 vmmnic3 vmnic2 PortGroup Name VLAN ID Used Ports Uplinks iSCSI6 0 1 vmnic2 vmnic3 iSCSI5 0 1 vmnic2 vmnic3 iSCSI4 0 1 vmnic2 vmnic3 iSCSI3 0 1 vmnic2 vmnic3 iSCSI2 0 1 vmnic2 vmnic3 iSCSI1 0 1 vmnic2 vmnic3 This can also be configured and verified in the vCenter GUI Remember that the polling of vCenter is not instant so a refresh might need to occur to see the late
33. ia CLI or through the vCenter GUI Page 18 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software By default all the vmnics are assigned to each VMkernel port We need to remove all but one vmnic from each VMkernel port so that each VMkernel port has only one uplink Before running these commands the switch information looks like the following obtained using esxcfg vswitch l again Switch Name Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU Uplinks vSwitch2 64 7 64 9000 PortGroup Name VLAN ID Used Ports Uplinks iSCSI3 0 1 vmnici vmnic2 vmnic3 iSCSI2 0 1 vmnici vmnic2 vmnic3 iSCSI1 0 1 vmnici vmnic2 vmnic3 You can see that there are three vmnics in each uplink for each VMkernel Port This is what we need to change so that only a single vmnic is in each uplink and that we manually load balance them across all available VMkernel Ports To configure this process via CLI first note the vmnic number of a NIC you want to remove and type the following command esxcfg vswitch p iSCSI1 N vmnic3 vSwitch2 What this will do is remove vmnic3 from VMkernel port iSCSI1 so that now vmnicl and vmnic2 are left on iSCSI1 We then need to remove vmnic2 so that only vmnic1 is associated with the iSCSI1 To do this type the following command esxcfg vswitch p iSCSI1 N vmnic2 vSwitch2 Now that we have just one vmnic associated with one VMkernel port we need to remove the excess NICs on the other ports esxcfg vswitch
34. le ele Configuration ies esta sig Came See SSS Hardware Security Profile Processors Firewall Refresh Memory Incoming Connections Storage CIM Secure Server 5989 TCP Networking CIM SLP 427 UDP TCP CIM Server 5988 TCP Soraga Adapers SSH Server 22 TCP Network Adapters Outgoing Connections VCB 443 902 TCP Software VMware VirtualCenter Agent 902 UDP Licensed Features CIM SLP 427 UDP TCP i 7 VMware License Client 27000 27010 TCP Time Configuration Software iSCSI Client 3260 TCP DNS and Routing Virtual Machine Startup Shutdown irtual Machine Delegate Experimental Edit Virtual Machine Swapfile Location Read and write to virtual machine files using these credentials The host must be in maintenance mode to gt Security Profile change this setting User Name root System Resource Allocation Advanced Settings 2 Click on Properties The Firewall Properties box appears Page 9 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software Firewall Properties Required Services Secure Shell E SSH Server Running 55H Client NJA Simple Network Management Protocol O SNMP Server 161 162 NJA Ungrouped O Software iSCSI Client 3260 NJA YMware VirtualCenter Agent 902 NjA 443 902 N A 44 AA NIA Wptions 3 Check Software iSCSI Client option 4 Select Configuration gt Storage Adapters on the ESX4 1 server 5 Select iSCSI Software Adapter and click on
35. mbo Frames esxcfg vswitch A iSCSI2 vSwitch2 esxcfg vmknic a i 10 10 5 174 n 255 255 255 0 m 9000 iSCSI2 esxcfg vswitch A iSCSI3 vSwitch2 Page 31 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software esxcfg vmknic a i 10 10 5 175 n 255 255 255 0 m 9000 iSCSI3 esxcfg vswitch A iSCSI4 vSwitch2 esxcfg vmknic a i 10 10 5 176 n 255 255 255 0 m 9000 iSCSI4 esxcfg vswitch A iSCSI5 vSwitch2 esxcfg vmknic a i 10 10 5 177 n 255 255 255 0 m 9000 iSCSI5 esxcfg vswitch A iSCSI6 vSwitch2 esxcfg vmknic a i 10 10 5 178 n 255 255 255 0 m 9000 iSCSI6 To create less VMkernel Ports just skip iSCSI5 and iSCSI6 for example To verify the configuration enter the following command esxcfg vswitch l This will show the VMkernel ports that are assigned to the vSwitch To verify the IP addresses enter the following command esxcfg vmknic l You can also verify the IP Addresses via the vCenter GUI Navigate to Configuration gt Networking virtual Switch vSwitch2 Remove Properties Mkernel Port Physical Adapters J iscsi6 No adapters yvmk5 10 10 5 178 YMkemel Port A iScsSI5 vmkg 10 10 5 177 YMkemel Port A iSCSI4 vmk3 10 10 5 176 YMkermel Port A iScsSI3 vmk2 10 10 5 175 wMkemel Port A iScCSI2 vmki 10 10 5 174 wMkemel Port A iscsit vmkO 10 10 5 173 em P P Page 32 Dell PowerVault MD32xx
36. ng to do is to note the vmhba of the iSCSI Software Initiator This can be seen in the vCenter GUI on the ESX host under Configuration gt Storage Adapters Summary YirtualMachines Resource Allocation Performance Configuration Tasks amp Events Alarms Permissions Maps Storage Views E E E Storage Adapters Processors Memory Storage Networking Block SCSI Storage Adapters O vmhba32 Block SCSI Network Adapters LSI1068E Advanced Settings vmbbao Block SCSI This can also be found by running the following CLI command to discover all SCSI devices including the iSCSI software adapter esxcfg scsidevs a The output will look something like the following vmhbaO mptsas link n a sas 5001ec90e0ba7c00 1 0 0 LSI Logic Symbios Logic LSI1068E vmhba1 ata_piix link n a ide vmhba1 0 31 1 Intel Corporation 631xESB 632xESB IDE Controller vmhba32 ata_piix link n a ide vmhba32 0 31 1 Intel Corporation 631xESB 632xESB IDE Controller vmhba33 iscsi_vmk link n a iscsi vmhba33 Software iSCSI In this example from both the GUI and CLI we can determine that the vmhba for the iSCSI Software Initiator is vmhba33 This will be used in the next part This will differ on various systems based on the devices installed The next piece of information to gather is the vmk of each of the VMkernel ports This can be done via the GUI or CLI To determine the vmk of each VMkernel port from the vCenter GUI navig
37. pe the following command esxcfg swiscsi e This will enable the software iSCSI initiator To verify that it is enabled type the following command esxcfg swiscsi q This can also be accomplished by using the vCenter GUI From the GUI first navigate to Configuration gt Storage Adapters Select the iSCSI Software Adapter and click Properties Under the General tab click the Configure button Place a check mark in Enabled and hit Ok This will enable the iSCSI initiator and assign a unique iqn to the ESX host Step A6 Binding VMkernel Ports to iSCSI Software Initiator This next step will bind the VMkernel ports that were configured in Step 4 earlier to the iSCSI Software Initiator If this step is skipped there will only ever be a single connection to the PowerVault SAN This step must be done via CLI Page 36 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software The first thing to do is to note the vmhba of the iSCSI Software Initiator This can be seen in the vCenter GUI under Configuration gt Storage Adapters Summary Virtual Machines Resource Allocation Performance Configuration Tasks amp Events Alarms Permissions Maps Storage Views Hardware Storage Adapters Processors 2 O wms SY Storage N 631xESB 632xESB IDE Cg Networking Gabha Block SCSI gt Storage Adapters vmhba3z Block SCSI Network Adapters LSI1068E Advanced Settings vmbbao Block SCSI
38. pleted result Click Ok to complete the process Do this same thing for each of the iSCSI VMkernel ports so that each VMkernel port is mapped to only one adapter and they are all balanced In this example we assigned iSCSI1to vmnic1 iSCSI2 to vmnic2 and iSCSI3 to vmnic3 Page 20 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software iSCSI1 Properties General IP Settings Security Traffic Shaping NIC Teaming m Policy Exceptions Load Balancing Route based on the originating virtual port ID Network Failover Detection Notify Switches Failback Failover Order MV Override vSwitch Failover order Select active and standby adapters For this port group In a Failover situation standby adapters activate in the order specified below Name Speed Networks Active Adapters EB vmnict 1000 Full 10 10 5 1 10 10 5 254 ilsa Doir Standby Adapters Unused Adapters E vmnic3 1000 Full 10 10 5 1 10 10 5 254 ER vmnic2 1000 Full 10 10 5 1 10 10 5 254 Moye Up Adapter Details Name Location Driver Cancel Help Step5 Enable VMware iSCSI Software Initiator The next step if it has not been done already is to enable the iSCSI initiator to prepare the ESX host to connect to the PowerVault SAN This can be done either through a CLI command or through the vCenter GUI To enable the iSCSI initiator through the CLI type the following command esxcfg swiscsi e
39. ries SAN Each of these commands can be found inside the VMware ISCSI SAN CONFIGURATION Guide and where names and IP Addresses are used they will be different for each environment This serves as an example and demonstration of how to configure a new vSphere4 ESX4 1 server correctly and connect it to the PowerVault SAN The following assumptions are made for this example 1 Running ESX4 1 2 Running latest Dell PowerVault MD32xxi firmware Page 4 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software 3 More than one Network Interface Card NIC set aside for iSCSI traffic 4 No Distributed Virtual Switch DVS for iSCSI traffic Not every environment requires all of the steps detailed in this whitepaper Users wishing to only enable Jumbo Frame support for the iSCSI connection need to follow steps 1 and steps 2 with the following changes Step 1 Configure vSwitch and Enable Jumbo Frames No changes to the instructions Step 2 Add iSCSI VMkernel Ports Instead of assigning multiple VMkernel Ports administrators will only assign a single VMkernel Port Once these two steps are done the rest of the configuration can be accomplished in the vCenter GUI by attaching NICs assigning storage and then connecting to the storage The rest of this document assumes the environment will be using multiple NICs and attaching to a Dell PowerVault SAN utilizing Native Multipathing NMP from VMware Establishing S
40. rs may be taken from a pool of unused ones or transferred from an existing virtual switch Adapter NIC Order Select one or more adapters from the Following list IF you select an adapter that is Summar attached to another virtual switch it will be removed From that virtual switch and added to this one _ Name Speed Network Unclaimed Adapters EB vmnici 1000 Full 10 10 5 96 10 10 5 127 E vmnic2 1000 Full 10 10 5 96 10 10 5 127 EB vmnic3 1000 Full 10 10 5 96 10 10 5 127 SwitchO Adapters oO EA vmnico 1000 Full 128 0 0 1 255 255 255 2 lt Back L_next gt Cancel Click Next after you have selected the chosen adapters For now keep the defaults listed in the Failover Order screen and click Next Review the adapters listed and click Finish completing the process These adapters will now show up in the GUI under the Network Adapters tab Step4 Associate VMkernel Ports to Physical Adapters The next step is used to create the individual path bindings for each VMkernel to a NIC This is required in order to take advantage of the new advanced features such as Most Recently Used MRU MPIO or 3rd party MPIO plug ins available from Dell From our previous step there are 3 VMkernel ports and 3 NICs This means that each NIC will have 1 VMkernel ports assigned to it Again each environment will differ and these numbers can change based on the number of NICs and the number of paths assigned This process can be done either v
41. same subnet as the PowerVault IP Address Page 13 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software There are some suggested configurations depending on the number of NICs that will be used for iSCSI traffic Every environment will differ depending on the number of hosts the number of members and the number of volumes In a default configuration assign one VMkernel port for each physical NIC in the system So if there are 3 NICs assign 3 VMkernel Ports This is referred to in the VMware s iSCSI SAN Configuration Guide as 1 1 port binding In the two examples provided both a 1 1 relationship with 3 physical NICs and a 3 1 relationship with 2 physical NICs are shown VMware vCenter has a maximum of 8 connections to a single volume In this whitepaper we choose 3 connections in the 1 1 scenario and 6 connections in the 3 1 scenario This provides scalability and performance as the SAN environment grows without having to make changes on each ESX host If fewer connections are desired follow the above sample configurations to obtain the number of VMkernel Ports that match the environment and the number of paths you need Always keep the entire virtual datacenter in mind when deciding on path and volume count View the Release Notes of the PowerVault Firmware for the current connection limits for the Dell PowerVault All of these configurations are done for the vSwitch itself This means that once it is done
42. st changes To configure this same process from the GUI first navigate to the Networking section on the ESX host you are configuring Configuration gt Networking From here click Properties on the vSwitch2 Page 33 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software Y vSwitch 2 Properties Ports Network Adapters Configuration Summary ee vSwitch 56 Ports Number of Ports iSCSI6 VMotion and IP iSCSIS YMotion and IP Default Policies iSCSI4 YMotion and IP Security iSCSI3 VMotion and IP iSCSI2 VMotion and IP iSCSI1 YMotion and IP MAC Address Changes Accept Promiscuous Mode Reject Forged Transmits Accept Traffic Shaping Average Bandwidth Peak Bandwidth Burst Size Failover and Load Balancing Load Balancing Port ID Network Failure Detection Link Status only Notify Switches Yes Failback Yes Active Adapters None Standby Adapters None Unused Adapters None Click the Network Adapters tab Then click Add This will open up the Add Adapter Wizard From here select the vmnics that you want to add to the vSwitch In our example it will be vmnic2 and vmnic3 Click Next after you have selected the chosen adapters For now keep the defaults listed in the Failover Order screen and click Next Review the adapters listed and click Finish completing the process These adapters will now show up in the GUI under the Network Adapters t
43. st indicate exactly how much of the disk group s available capacity you want to allocate For an individual virtual disk NOTE Make sure to leave some Free capacity if you want to create more virtual disks on the same disk group Why can I not create virtual disks from the entire free capacity Virtual Disk parameters Disk group name DGO Disk group RAID level RAID 5 Free capacity 1 394 482 GB New virtual disk capacity Units D000 jes z Virtual Disk name 30 characters maximum 1 Advanced virtual disk parameters Use recommended settings Customize settings I O characteristics and RAID controller module ownership lt Back Finish Cancel Help 1 Set the volume size and keep the rest of the defaults and click Finish Page 27 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software fe STIBA_4 Specify Host Port Identifiers Define Host The host communicates with the storage array through its host bus adapters HBAs or its iSCSI initiators where each physical port has a unique host port identifier In this step select or create an identifier give it an alias or user label then add it to the list to be associated with host vahalla How do I match a host port identifier to a host Choose a method For adding a host port identifier to a hast Add by selecting a known unassociated host port identifier Known unassociated host port identifier There are
44. te a new vSwitch called vSwitch2 esxcfg vswitch a vSwitch2 Next enable Jumbo Frames on the vSwitch esxcfg vswitch m 9000 vSwitch2 To verify that the switch was configured properly run the following command esxcfg vswitch l Your output will look similar to this Switch Name Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU Uplinks vSwitch2 64 1 64 9000 You can note the new vSwitch2 with the MTU of 9000 to verify that the switch was created correctly You can also see it displayed in the GUI of vCenter Throughout these procedures some of the verification can be done via command line or seen in the vCenter GUI The polling rate of vCenter is not instant so changes will not show up immediately after it is typed Virtual Switch vSwitch2 Remove Properties Physical Adapters No associated port groups eft No adapters Step2 Add iSCSI VMkernel Ports This next step will assign VMkernel Ports to the new vSwitch2 It will also configure Jumbo Frame support as well as assign the IP Addresses Administrators familiar with iSCSI connectivity in ESX3 5 will find that it is no longer required to configure a Service Console port for the iSCSI connection Another thing to notice is that because the Service Console is not needed the iSCSI switch environment can be on a different subnet than the public environment or existing service console Each VMkernel Port will need its own IP Address and they must all be on the same subnet and be on the
45. ware iSCSI Software Initiator cece sce eee eee ee eee e ee eee eee eeeeneees 36 Page 1 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software Step A6 Binding VMkernel Ports to iSCSI Software Initiator cece cece cece ence ee eee Step A7 Connect to the Dell PowerVault Storage Terminology Glossary VD virtual disk VM virtual machine NIC network interface card MPIO Multi Path I O SAN Storage Area Network RDM Raw Device Map DVS Distributed Virtual Switch HA high availability DRS Distributed Resource Scheduler MRU Most Recently Used IQN iSCSI Qualified Name Page 2 Dell PowerVault MD32xxi Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4 1 Server Software Introduction The Dell PowerVault MD32xXxXi storage solution consists of either a standard or high availability configuration The standard simplex configuration has a single controller with four 1GbE ports It can be deployed to support up to 16 hosts non redundantly The high availability duplex configuration has dual controllers with four 1GbE ports per controller for a total of eight 1GbE ports The dual controller option can connect up to 32 fully redundant hosts This document provides instructions to setup the MD32XxXi iSCSI storage solution for use with VMware ESX4 1 Server software Provisioning of storage on servers in a VM environment is a multi step process starting with definition
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