Dell PowerVault MD3200i Series User manual

DELL POWERVAULT
MD3200I /MD3600I
DEPLOYMENT GUIDE FOR VMWARE
ESX4.1 SERVER SOFTWARE
A Dell Technical White Paper
Version 1.7
PowerVault MD3200i and
MD3600i Storage Arrays
www.dell.com/MD3200i
www.dell.com/MD3600i
www.dell.com/pvresources

Dell PowerVault MD3200i/MD3600i Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4.1 Server Software
June 4, 2012 Page 2
DISCLAIMER:
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.
For more information, contact Dell.
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
http://www.dell.com

Dell PowerVault MD3200i/MD3600i Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4.1 Server Software
June 4, 2012 Page 3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................................ 3
TERMINOLOGY/GLOSSARY....................................................................................................................... 4
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................... 5
New Features in vSphere4 Software iSCSI Initiator ..................................................................................... 5
SUPPORTED HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE................................................................................................ 6
Hardware Requirements....................................................................................................................... 6
Supported Operating Systems for MD3200i array............................................................................... 6
ARCHITECTURAL SETUP........................................................................................................................... 7
Considerations When Using iSCSI Software or Hardware Initiators for ESX4.1 on the MD3200i
Storage Array........................................................................................................................................ 8
Establishing Sessions to a SAN............................................................................................................ 9
CONFIGURE ISCSI STORAGE ON ESX4.1 SERVER -INSTALLATION STEPS............................................11
Connect to the ESX server/vCenter using VI Client and follow the steps below...............................12
Step1: Configure vSwitch & Enable Jumbo Frames..........................................................................12
Step2: Add iSCSI VMkernel Ports ......................................................................................................12
Step3: Assign Network Adapters .........................................................................................................15
Step4: Associate VMkernel Ports to Physical Adapters......................................................................17
Step5: add an MD3600i into the ESX rule set ....................................................................................21
Step6: Enable VMware iSCSI Software Initiator...............................................................................21
Step7: Binding VMkernel Ports to iSCSI Software Initiator .............................................................24
Step8: Connect to PowerVault MD3200i Storage...............................................................................26
Step9: PowerVault MD3200i Storage Setup and Configuration........................................................29
Step10: Perform rescan so VMware sees the virtual disk...................................................................43
Step11: Create VMFS Datastores........................................................................................................46
Step12: Configuring VMware Path Selection Policy..........................................................................54
CONTACT INFORMATION .........................................................................................................................55
APPENDIX A..............................................................................................................................................56
3

Dell PowerVault MD3200i/MD3600i Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4.1 Server Software
June 4, 2012 Page 4
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

Dell PowerVault MD3200i/MD3600i Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4.1 Server Software
June 4, 2012 Page 5
INTRODUCTION
These steps necessary to connect to an iSCSI SAN are documented in VMware’s iSCSI SAN
Configuration Guide which can be found on VMware’s website. This whitepaper goes into depth
with configuration examples for connecting to a Dell™ PowerVault™ iSCSI SAN utilizing the
software iSCSI initiator inside the VMware® ESX4.1 Server™. Additionally, Appendix A gives
details regarding configuring hardware initiators from within VMware® ESX4.1 Server™.
The Dell™ PowerVault™ MD3200i & MD3600i iSCSI SAN 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 32 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 also connect up to 32
fully redundant hosts
Provisioning of MD3200i storage in a VMware® ESX4.1 environment is a multi-step process
starting with establishing the iSCSI session, defining the server topology for host access, and
finally allocating storage to the individual virtual machines (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.
NEW FEATURES IN VSPHERE4SOFTWARE 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 vSphere vCLI.
MPIO – With ESX4.1 and vSphere4, customers can benefit from Multi-Path I/O(MPIO)
from the ESX4.1 server and the SAN. This allows for multiple connections to be used to
allow for greater bandwidth. This is especially important for the PowerVault SAN as each
PowerVault member has multiple connections and now ESX4.1 can take full advantage
of these connections.

Dell PowerVault MD3200i/MD3600i Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4.1 Server Software
June 4, 2012 Page 6
Third Party MPIO Support – With ESX4.1 and vSphere4, VMware has provided an
architecture that enables PowerVault platforms 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/r41/vsp_41_esx_server_config.pdf
SUPPORTED OPERATING SYSTEMS FOR MD3200I ARRAY
ESX4.1 and ESXi5.0 are two of the supported VMware OSs for MD3200i. Please see the
MD Support Matrix at support.dell.com for a complete listing of supported VMware
OSs.

Dell PowerVault MD3200i/MD3600i Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4.1 Server Software
June 4, 2012 Page 7
ARCHITECTURAL SETUP
As a best practice, Dell recommends using a separate Gigabit Ethernet network switch to handle
iSCSI storage traffic, see PowerVault MD32x0i IP SAN Best Practices. An IP SAN consists of one
or more hosts, connected to one or more storage arrays through an IP network, utilizing at least
one switch in the network infrastructure. Each switch in the configuration has a path to the
MD3200i via duplex quad-port controllers.
There are many ways to implement an IP SAN based on need, available resources and intended
application. Some general rules can be used when designing your IP SAN. For example, in order
to maximize the throughput of your storage arrays, all host ports should be utilized. Nothing
requires you to use all four ports for a given server. Figure 1 below shows the high level
connection details with all four controller paths utilized. However, there are no technical
architectural or functional features in the MD32x0i/36x0i that requires you to use all four ports
for a given server.
At the hypervisor level, there is no ESX-driven requirement, for either performance-related or
pathing-related implementation that requires multiple IP-address subnets. More specifically, all
iSCSI ports can reside on the same subnet. The ESX native multipathing (NMP) driver is able to
use all paths on the same subnet, so if you choose a RR pathing policy, these ports will all be
used for Round Robin. Depending upon the workload needs, as shown in Figure 1 below, you
certainly could only use two of the ports if that meets your IO <throughtput> requirements.
Later in this whitepaper we include an in-depth explanation regarding why one might want to
use multiple subnets.

Dell PowerVault MD3200i/MD3600i Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4.1 Server Software
June 4, 2012 Page 8
FIGURE 1: HIGH-LEVEL CONNECTION DETAILS FOR BOTH MD3200I AND MD3600I
CONSIDERATIONS WHEN USING ISCSI SOFTWARE OR HARDWARE INITIATORS FOR ESX4.1
ON THE MD3200I STORAGE ARRAY
Taking advantage of new ESX4.1 features requires some new steps to be taken by ESX
administrators. Configuration is done via either the vSphere GUI or using vCLI. The
remainder of this whitepaper focuses on installation and configuration of an iSCSI
software initiator connection to a PowerVault Series 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 screenshots displayed in this whitepaper are
for reference only and may vary from site specific implementations.

Dell PowerVault MD3200i/MD3600i Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4.1 Server Software
June 4, 2012 Page 9
ESTABLISHING SESSIONS TO A SAN
Before continuing the examples, we first must discuss how VMware ESX4.1 establishes
its connection to the SAN utilizing the vSphere4 iSCSI Software Adapter.
With previous versions of ESX, sessions were 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 the sections below.
VMware uses VMkernel ports as the session initiators. Each VMkernel is bound to a
separate physical adapter. Depending on the environment this can create a single
session to an array or up to eight sessions (ESX4.1 maximum number of connections per
volume). For a typical deployment, it is recommended to use a one-to-one (1:1) ratio of
VMkernels to physical network cards. As shown in Figure 2 below, this means if there
are four physical NICs, you would establish one VMkernel per physical NIC and associate
a separate NIC with each VMkernel port.
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 an array but still utilizes the same physical NICs as the means to get to the
storage. However, VMWare reports issues with oversubscribing VMkernel ports.
Consequently we recommend maintaining a 1:1 port binding.
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.
Note: Port binding requires that all target ports of the storage array must reside on
the same broadcast domain as the VMkernel ports because routing is not supported with port
binding. See VMware KB #2017084 here.

Dell PowerVault MD3200i/MD3600i Configuration Guide for VMware ESX4.1 Server Software
June 4, 2012 Page 10
Figure 2: Port Binding
The following assumptions are made for these examples:
1. Running ESX4.1
2. Running latest Dell PowerVault MD3200i firmware
3. More than one Network Interface Card (NIC) set aside for iSCSI traffic.