1. Tests were done with 2 HBA Vendors on ESX server:
a. Qlogic QLE2692 16Gb PCIe Fiber Channel Adapter
- HBA Driver 1.1.67.0-1OEM.550.0.0.1331820.x86_64 - ESX 5.5
- HBA Driver 2.1.24.0-1OEM.600.0.0.2768847 - ESX 6.0 Update 1
b. Emulex LPe12000 8Gb PCIe Fiber Channel Adapter:
- Native ESX driver for lpfc (10.2.309.8-2vmw.600.0.0.2494585) - ESX 6.0
2. ESX Server creation in VPSA GUI.
1. Insert Server name and select Fiber Channel ON switch button:
2. Select ESX Server HBA WWPNs:
3. Under “Paths” Tab in VPSA GUI it is possible to see number of connections between ESX server and VPSA (paths and status).
4. If all paths are Connected Server Connectivity stat
e is “Active”. If one or more paths are disconnected, Server status is “Degraded”. If all paths are disconnected, Server status is “Disconnected”
3. Multipathing configuration
VPSA supports Asymmetric Logical Unit Access (ALUA). ALUA allows hosts to determine the states of target ports and prioritize paths. The host uses some of the active paths as primary while others as secondary.
ALUA devices can operate in two modes: implicit and/or explicit. Zadara Virtual Controller (VC) supports Implicit ALUA only - VC manages the states of path connections and initiate Failover. With the implicit ALUA style, the ESX host multipathing software can monitor the path states but cannot change them, either automatically or manually. Implicit ALUA is not configurable on ESX server.
4. Attach VPSA Volume to ESX servers.
1. Attach Volume to ESX servers. For multipathing to work properly, each Volume must present the same LUN ID number to all ESXi hosts:
2. Confirm the warning message:
5. Rescan Storage Adapters on ESX server.
1. Select Fiber Channel Adapter And press on “Rescan All”
2. After Rescan is completed, a new “Zadara Fibre Channel Disk” will be available:
3. Select “Manage Paths” option. 4 Paths should be available. 2 Paths with “Active (I/O) Status and 2 Paths with “Stand by” status.
Select “Round Robin” Path selection option.
Finally, change Round Robin IOPS limit from default 1000 to 1 as per this article: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2069356 - §Adjusting the IOPS parameter
ESX Best Practices and Recommendations of ESX VMware server can be found in ESX Storage Guide.
For ESX 5.5 - https://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-55/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-55-storage-guide.pdf
For ESX 6.0 - https://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-60/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-60-storage-guide.pdf