Best Practices Guide: Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters on Microsoft
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Best Practices Guide Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters on Microsoft Windows 2012 and VMware ESXi 5.x 2500 Series and 2600 Series SN0454502-00 A Best Practices Guide Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters on Microsoft Windows 2012 and VMware ESXi 5.x Information furnished in this manual is believed to be accurate and reliable. However, QLogic Corporation assumes no responsibility for its use, nor for any infringements of patents or other rights of third parties which may result from its use. QLogic Corporation reserves the right to change product specifications at any time without notice. Applications described in this document for any of these products are for illustrative purposes only. QLogic Corporation makes no representation nor warranty that such applications are suitable for the specified use without further testing or modification. QLogic Corporation assumes no responsibility for any errors that may appear in this document. Document Revision History Revision A, October 14, 2013 Changes Sections Affected Initial release of new guide ii SN0454502-00 A Table of Contents Preface Intended Audience . ix What Is in This Guide . ix Related Materials . x Documentation Conventions . x License Agreements. xi Technical Support. xii Downloading Updates . xii Training . xiii Contact Information . xiii Knowledge Database . xiii 1 Introduction What Are Host Bus Adapter Best Practices? . 1-1 Supported Host Bus Adapters . 1-2 2 SAN Planning and Deployment Choosing the Right Host Bus Adapter . 2-1 PCIe Connectivity . 2-2 Features . 2-2 High Availability . 2-4 Choosing Host Bus Adapters for High Availability. 2-4 Connecting the SAN for High Availability . 2-4 Performance Considerations . 2-6 Mitigating Congestion Between VMs and Host Bus Adapter Ports . 2-6 Mitigating Congestion Between Host Server Ports and Target Ports . 2-7 Avoiding Obsolete Drivers or Firmware. 2-7 Mitigating Host Interrupt-Induced Congestion . 2-7 Microsoft Windows 2012 Multipath I/O. 2-8 Failover Only DSM . 2-8 Round Robin DSM. 2-9 Round Robin with Subset DSM. 2-9 Least Queue Depth DSM . 2-10 Weighted Paths DSM . 2-10 SN0454502-00 A iii Best Practices Guide Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters on Microsoft Windows 2012 and VMware ESXi 5.x VMware ESXi 5.x Fibre Channel Multipathing . 2-11 Fixed Path Selection Policy. 2-11 Most Recently Used Path Selection Policy . 2-11 Round Robin Path Selection Policy. 2-12 Considerations for Tape Access Through a Host Bus Adapter . 2-12 Checking the Interoperability of SAN Components . 2-13 3 Host Bus Adapter Installation Safely Handling the Host Bus Adapter . 3-1 Choosing a PCIe Slot. 3-2 Verifying the Host Bus Adapter Installation . 3-3 Verifying Adapter Connectivity in a Preboot Environment. 3-3 Installing QLogic Firmware, Device Driver, and Management Tools . 3-3 Installation in a Microsoft Windows 2012 Environment . 3-3 Installation in a VMware ESXi 5.x Environment . 3-4 Verifying That the Host Can See the Host Bus Adapter from the Host OS . 3-4 Verifying That the Host Can See the LUNs . 3-5 Installing the Host Bus Adapter Drivers . 3-5 Understanding the LED Scheme for QLogic Host Bus Adapters . 3-6 4 Host Bus Adapter Performance Tuning Host Bus Adapter Performance . 4-1 Understanding Application Workloads. 4-1 OLTP—Transaction-Based Processes (IOPS) . 4-2 OLAP—Throughput-Based Processes (MBps) . 4-2 Addressing OLTP and OLAP Workloads. 4-2 Host Bus Adapter Parameters That Impact Performance . 4-3 ZIO Operation . 4-4 Improving Host Bus Adapter Performance in Windows 2012 . 4-5 Improving Host Bus Adapter Performance in VMware ESXi 5.x . 4-7 Understanding SIOC and Datastores . 4-7 Determining Host Bus Adapter Datastore Congestion . 4-9 Tuning the Underlying Physical Interface . 4-10 Understanding Host Bus Adapter Queue Depth. 4-10 Tuning Host Bus Adapter Queue Depth for Your Environment. 4-11 Changing the ZIO Mode and Timer in ESXi 5.x . 4-15 Monitoring Performance . 4-16 Gathering Host Server Data . 4-17 Gathering Fabric Network Data . 4-18 Gathering Disk Array Performance Data . 4-18 iv SN0454502-00 A Best Practices Guide Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters on Microsoft Windows 2012 and VMware ESXi 5.x SAN Performance Recommendations . 4-19 Fencing High-Performance Applications . 4-19 Minimizing ISL . 4-19 Upgrading to 8Gb or 16Gb . 4-20 Setting Data Rate to Auto-Negotiate . 4-20 Considering Fan-In Ratios. 4-20 Avoiding RSCNs . 4-20 Balancing I/O Loads . 4-20 5 Management and Monitoring Monitoring Host Bus Adapters with QConvergeConsole (GUI) . 5-1 Viewing Server Information . 5-3 Server: Information . 5-3 Server: Security . 5-3 Server: Topology. 5-4 Server: Statistics. 5-5 Server: Utilities . 5-6 Viewing Adapter Information . 5-6 Viewing Port Information . 5-6 Port: Port Info . 5-6 Port: Target . 5-6 Port: Diagnostics . 5-6 Port: QoS . 5-8 Port: Virtual. 5-8 Port: Parameters . 5-8 Port: Monitoring . 5-9 Port: Utilities . 5-9 Port: VFC . 5-9 Port: Utilization . 5-9 Monitoring Host Bus Adapters with QConvergeConsole CLI . 5-9 Monitoring Host Bus Adapters with QConvergeConsole Plug-in for VMware vCenter Server. 5-10 Viewing Server Information . 5-11 Viewing Adapter Information . 5-11 Viewing Port Information . 5-12 Port: Boot . 5-13 Port: Parameters . ..