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FC0054606-00  A

Fibre Channel Adapter for VMware ESX

User’s Guide

Summary of Contents for QLogic Fibre Channel Switch

Page 1: ...FC0054606 00 A Fibre Channel Adapter for VMware ESX User s Guide ...

Page 2: ...oration 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 error...

Page 3: ... 3 Boot Code 1 3 OS Driver 1 3 Firmware 1 3 Management Tools and Utilities 1 4 QLogic FC Adapters Supported on VMware ESX ESXi 1 4 2 Installation Supported Features 2 1 Installing the Hardware 2 2 Installing the Driver 2 3 Installing SANsurfer Management Tools 2 3 Installing SANsurfer FC HBA Manager 2 3 Installing SANsurfer FC HBA CLI 2 6 3 Configuration Identifying QLogic FC Adapters on VMware ES...

Page 4: ...ng the Adapter 2 2 2 2 Downloading SANsurfer FC HBA Manager VMware 2 4 2 3 Downloading SANsurfer FC HBA Manager Linux 2 5 3 1 VI Client Configuration Page 3 2 3 2 Finding Adapters on VMware ESX 3 3 3 3 Verifying That the Driver is Loaded 3 5 3 4 SANsurfer FC HBA Manager Showing NPIV 3 10 3 5 Virtual Port Information Page in SANsurfer 3 11 3 6 Starting Fast UTIL from the BIOS Screen 3 12 List of Ta...

Page 5: ...iguration Intended Audience The Fibre Channel Adapter for VMware ESX User s Guide is intended for use by various consumers of QLogic FC adapters on VMware ESX ESXi users ranging from end users such as data center managers and system administrators to the test and development community The information detailed in this guide is equally applicable to all types of QLogic FC adapter users on VMware ESX...

Page 6: ... 3 Configuration covers how to identify QLogic adapters start Fast UTIL verify that the driver is loaded configure driver parameters deploy N_Port ID virtualization NPIV monitor NPIV from SANsurfer and configure the boot from SAN feature A Troubleshooting details troubleshooting methods including LEDs and logs At the end of this user s guide you will find a glossary of terms and an index to help y...

Page 7: ...cates optional parameters For example iscli optional parameters Command Variable Text in blue font indicates a hyperlink jump to a figure table chapter or section in this guide and links to Web sites are shown in underlined blue For example Table 4 1 lists the configurable driver parameters See Configuring Boot from SAN on page 4 10 For more information visit www qlogic com Screen captures that de...

Page 8: ...he Education and Resources tab at the top and then click the Education Training tab at the left The QLogic Global Training Portal offers online courses certification exams and scheduling of in person training Technical certification courses include installation maintenance and troubleshooting QLogic products Upon demonstrating knowledge using live equipment QLogic awards a certificate identifying ...

Page 9: ...d on VMware ESX ESXi on page 1 4 Hardware Components A typical QLogic FC adapter includes the following major components RISC processor Static random access memory SRAM Non volatile memory Flash Non volatile random access memory NVRAM On ISP25xx NVRAM is built into the Flash Transceivers LEDs Figure 1 1 shows the hardware components of a QLogic FC adapter and Table 1 1 provides additional details ...

Page 10: ...ode run by the RISC processor see 1 when the adapter is powered up On QLogic FC adapter 2400 series and later the Flash memory contains multiple boot images the FCode x86 BIOS and EFI to support multi boot capability on different platforms 4 LEDs indicate the real time status of the adapter FC link status and link activity LED pat terns are described in detail in Troubleshooting with LEDs on page ...

Page 11: ...run the QLogic FC adapter Firmware The firmware module performs most of the FC protocol related functions thus freeing the system CPU and memory resources from protocol processing This efficiency keeps the QLogic FC driver thin which saves runtime system resources such as CPU and memory The QLogic FC adapter firmware is bundled with the driver This unified approach ensures that the driver and firm...

Page 12: ...bles you to automate FC adapter management by means of scripting and interactive mode QLogic FC Adapters Supported on VMware ESX ESXi For a complete list of QLogic FC adapters supported on VMware ESX ESXi refer to the VMware IO Compatibility Guides located as follows VMware ESX 3 5 http www vmware com pdf vi35_io_guide pdf ESX Server 3 0 x http www vmware com pdf vi3_io_guide pdf For the latest li...

Page 13: ...gies FC AL FC AL2 point to point and switched fabric Protocols FCP 3 SCSI FC tape FCP 2 Link Rate 2Gb 4Gb and 8Gb FC adapters with auto rate negotiation SNIA Common adapter API v1 x v2 0 compliant QLogic CMPI providers for ESXi 3 5 U2 and later N_Port ID virtualization inbox driver supports 63 virtual adapters per port Remote SAN and adapter management using the SANsurfer FC HBA Manager tool see I...

Page 14: ...bus slot 3 Pull out the slot cover if any by removing the screw or releasing the lever 4 Grasp the adapter by the top edge and seat it firmly into the appropriate slot 5 Refasten the adapter s retaining bracket using the existing screw or lever 6 Close the computer cover 7 Plug the FC cable into the adapter 8 Plug in the power cable and turn on the computer 9 Verify the LEDs on the adapter to ensu...

Page 15: ...s only on the local machine on which the tool is installed A non interactive mode that can be used for scripting common and frequent operations Menu driven mode for ease of use Installing SANsurfer FC HBA Manager To run SANsurfer FC HBA Manager on a VMware ESX server requires a two step installation process whereby 1 You must install the SANsurfer back end commonly called the qlremote agent on the...

Page 16: ...lick the by Operating System button and then select Fibre Channel HBAs VMware and VMware ESX ESXi as shown in Figure 2 2 Figure 2 2 Downloading SANsurfer FC HBA Manager VMware 3 Click Go 4 Under Management Tools click SANsurfer FC HBA Manager x86 x64 5 On the End User Software License Agreement page click Agree NOTE The qlremote agent requires a service called portmap running on the ESX host To tu...

Page 17: ...Fibre Channel HBAs Linux or Windows OS and the specific OS version Figure 2 3 shows an example of selecting Linux Red Hat 64 bit Figure 2 3 Downloading SANsurfer FC HBA Manager Linux 3 Click Go 4 Under Management Tools click SANsurfer FC HBA Manager x86 x64 5 On the End User Software License Agreement page click Agree 6 Save the zipped file and then use it to install SANsurfer FC HBA Manager by fo...

Page 18: ... i386 rpm gz file to your local machine In the file name x xx xx indicates the current version of SANsurfer FC HBA CLI 2 To uncompress the file execute the following command gunzip scli x xx xx xx i386 rpm gz 3 To install the package enter the following command rpm iv scli x xx xx xx i386 rpm The new package is installed in the following directory opt QLogic_Corporation SANsurferCLI 4 To query for...

Page 19: ...from SAN on page 3 11 Identifying QLogic FC Adapters on VMware ESX On VMware ESX you can identify QLogic FC adapters in two ways Using VI Client Using Console OS Using VI Client You can use the VM Infrastructure Client VI Client to identify QLogic FC adapters on a VMware ESX system To identify QLogic FC adapters using VI Client 1 Start VM Infrastructure Client and select the host you want 2 Click ...

Page 20: ...ion Page Using Console OS You can use the console OS to identify QLogic FC adapters on a VMware ESX system To identify QLogic FC adapters using console OS 1 To list the subdirectories run the following command ls proc scsi If the qla2300 directory is present QLogic adapters are installed on the VMware ESX system ...

Page 21: ...la2300 An example output may be ls proc scsi qla2300 1 2 3 4 5 6 HbaApiNode 3 To view additional details run the following command cat proc scsi qla2300 adapter_number Where adapter_number is one of the adapter numbers shown in Step 2 This command lists the firmware revision driver revision and the boot code version as shown in Figure 3 2 Figure 3 2 Finding Adapters on VMware ESX ...

Page 22: ...n Settings provide options for Host Adapter Configuration Boot Device Configuration and an option to restore Default Configuration Scan Fibre Channel Devices option scans the FC loop and lists all the connected devices by loop ID This option also displays device information such as vendor ID product ID and revision Fibre Disk Utility scans the FC loop and provides options to verify disk media veri...

Page 23: ...ter driver is loaded 1 Log in to the service console as root user 2 Execute the following command esxcfg module l grep qla2300 Depending on the ESX Server version the listed module will be one of the following qla2300_707 on ESX 3 0 x qla2300_707_vmw on ESX 3 5 and later Figure 3 3 shows an example of the output For proper operation ensure that the QLogic driver shows as Enabled Loaded Figure 3 3 ...

Page 24: ... the configurable parameters listed in Table 3 1 on page 3 7 For example the following command sets the maximum device queue depth reported by the QLogic to a value of 32 esxcfg module s ql2xmaxqdepth 32 qla2300_707_vmw 3 To update the ESX bootstrap image execute following command esxcfg boot b 4 For the preceding changes to take effect reboot the server as follows reboot Table 3 1 lists all the Q...

Page 25: ...2xfdmienable Enables FDMI registrations 0 no FDMI default 1 perform FDMI ql2xfwloadbin Option to specify to load ISP24xx firmware from Flash or embedded in driver 1 load firmware from Flash 0 load firmware embed ded with driver default ql2xintrdelaytimer Waiting time for firmware before it generates an interrupt to the host to notify completion of request ql2xioctltimeout Ioctl timeout value in se...

Page 26: ..._down_timeout a Delay in seconds after a loop down event before the loop is flagged as down by the driver and the I O requests are aborted Default is 30 seconds qlogin_retry_count Option to modify the login retry count qlport_down_retry a Maximum number of command retries to a port that returns PORT DOWN status Default is 15 This parameter is multiplied by a factor of 2 to determine the number of ...

Page 27: ...tch itself For details refer to the FC switch documentation The VMware technical note Configuring and Troubleshooting N Port ID Virtualization describes NPIV deployment for VMware ESX in greater detail This document is available on the VMware Web site at the following URL http www vmware com pdf vi3_35_25_npiv_config pdf Monitoring NPIV Virtual Ports from SANsurfer QLogic s SANsurfer utility also ...

Page 28: ...BA Manager Showing NPIV When you select an individual virtual port on the Topology page SANsurfer FC HBA Manager displays additional detail about the selected virtual port on four tabbed pages The Information page see Figure 3 5 displays port attributes such as Port ID Firmware Version and Actual Data Rate ...

Page 29: ...server s operating system from a storage device attached to the SAN instead of from a locally attached storage device The OS is installed on one or more LUNs in the SAN array and the FC adapters are configured to boot from the specified LUN Boot from SAN providers several benefits including More affordable servers Ease of management Improved disaster tolerance Improved boot LUN availability ...

Page 30: ...boot the server into BIOS 2 At the QLogic BIOS banner screen Figure 3 6 press the CTRL Q keys Figure 3 6 Starting Fast UTIL from the BIOS Screen The Fast UTIL FC adapter configuration utility starts 3 In Fast UTIL choose the appropriate FC adapter port to be configured 4 On the Fast UTIL Options page select Configuration Settings and then press ENTER 5 On the Configuration Settings page select Hos...

Page 31: ...e you want to put into your Selectable Boot menu list d To select the requested device and load it into the Selectable Boot menu list press ENTER e Optional Repeat this step to specify up to three alternate boot devices Now the ESX system is ready to boot from SAN from the specified boot devices Enable Selectable Boot WWPN LUN Boot List Device Boot No x BIOS configures the first disk drive it find...

Page 32: ...Configuration Configuring Boot from SAN 3 14 FC0054606 00 A S Notes ...

Page 33: ... Seen Issues on page A 11 Troubleshooting with LEDs QLogic FC adapters have LEDs that can help you diagnose problems Typically administrators observe the LED patterns to perform first level troubleshooting that can indicate some obvious firmware or hardware issues Specific QLogic FC adapter families have unique LED patterns The following tables describe the LED patterns for the various FC adapter ...

Page 34: ...lashing Firmware error Flashing Beacon Table A 3 QLA24xx QLE24xx QEM2462 Adapter LED Scheme Yellow LED Green LED Amber LED Activity Power off Power on before firmware init Flashing Flashing Flashing Power on after firmware init Yellow green and amber LEDs flashing alternately Firmware error Flashing Online 1Gbps link I O activity Flashing Online 2Gbps link I O activity Flashing Online 4Gbps link I...

Page 35: ...not permitted Yellow Attention Activity Normal operation Operational problem at this slot Blinking Slot is being identified at the user s request Table A 5 QLE25xx Adapter LED Scheme Yellow LED 8Gbps Green LED 4Gbps Amber LED 2Gbps Activity Power off Power on before firmware init Flashing Flashing Flashing Power on after firmware init Yellow green and amber LEDs flashing alternately Firmware error...

Page 36: ...og proc scsi qla2300 adapter_number To disable extended error logging execute the following command echo scsi qladisable log proc scsi qla2300 adapter_number When the logging is enabled the driver version in the proc scsi qla2300 adapter number is appended with a debug flag as shown below cat proc scsi qla2300 5 QLogic PCI to Fibre Channel Host Adapter for QLE2462 Firmware version 4 04 05 Driver v...

Page 37: ...el 0 00 00 04 756 cpu1 1036 7 scsi 0 Allocated 4096 SRB s Nov 12 16 11 49 localhost vmkernel 0 00 00 04 756 cpu1 1036 7 PCI Setting latency timer of device 1f 00 0 to 64 Nov 12 16 11 49 localhost vmkernel 6 bnx2 vmnic0 NIC Copper Link is Up 100 Mbps full duplex Nov 12 16 11 49 localhost vmkernel 0 00 00 06 410 cpu1 1036 scsi 0 Waiting for LIP to complete Nov 12 16 11 49 localhost vmkernel 0 00 00 ...

Page 38: ...Driver received a point to point async event from the firmware scsi d Topology s Host Loop address 0x0 Indicates the firmware connection type s will be one of the following FL PORT N PORT F PORT NL PORT and host adapter loop ID scsi d QLogic XXXXXX PCI to Fibre Channel Host Adapter Firmware version 4 04 06 Driver version 7 08vm62 Driver is reporting information discovered during its initialization...

Page 39: ...read from proc scsi qla2X00 did not specify the correct adapter host number s indicates the function name scsi d Cannot get topology retrying Firmware return status indicating it is busy s SP ref_count not zero n Indicates a coding error s is the function name qla_cmd_timeout State indicates it is with ISP But not in active array Indicates a coding error s is the function cmd_timeout LOST command ...

Page 40: ... in the cache size d is the cache size scsi d Cable is unplugged Indicates the firmware state is in LOSS OF SYNC therefore the cable must be missing qla2x00 Performing ISP error recovery ha p Indicates the driver has started performing an adapter reset qla2x00_abort_isp d FAILED Indicates the driver failed performing an adapter reset s ld RISC paused dumping HCCR x and schedule an ISP abort big ha...

Page 41: ... register resources n Indicates the driver could not register with the kernel WARNING qla2x00 Failed to reserve interrupt d already in use n Indicates the driver could not register for the interrupt IRQ because another driver is using it WARNING qla2x00 ISP Request Transfer Error Driver received a Request Transfer Error async event from the firmware WARNING qla2100 ISP Response Transfer Error Driv...

Page 42: ...the system NVRAM or Flash is updated the chip is reset to use the updated information Otherwise the chip is reset only if an error occurs This number thus provides a close approximation of whether the chip has been operating properly Host adapter FC link state Provides the connection state of the specified adapter Possible values include the following READY Ready to perform I Os UPDATE The topolog...

Page 43: ...ng to flash the adapters 00180101 10772422 PCID device resource allocation failure 00180101 10772422 PCID device resource allocation failure There are too many devices taking up extended BIOS data area EBDA memory resources To free up enough resources to allow the adapters to work properly you can disable unused onboard services such as Wake on LAN PXE boot and so on Different target numbers can b...

Page 44: ...Troubleshooting Frequently Seen Issues A 12 FC0054606 00 A S Notes ...

Page 45: ...e computer system is booting from a storage device disk drive attached to the adapter The primary function of the boot code is communication with the external boot device before the operating system is up and running There are also secondary functions that can be performed by the boot code including managing the setup for the adapter and initializing and testing the adapter s ISP boot device The d...

Page 46: ...dapter driver It communications directly to the SCSI adapter The structure for Solaris SPARC drivers includes Nexus Drivers Nexus drivers provide bus mapping and translation services to subordinate nexus and leaf devices These include drivers for PCI to PCI bridges PCMCIA adapters and SCSI adapters Leaf Drivers Leaf drivers provide the traditional character and block driver interfaces for reading ...

Page 47: ...s a standard enabling the management of devices such as adapters through the fabric FL_Port Fabric loop port In an FC the fabric switch is capable of FC Arbitrated Loop opera tions and is connected to one or more NL_Ports by an FC Arbitrated Loop An FL_Port becomes a shared entry point for public NL_Port devices to an FC fabric FL_Ports are intermediate ports in virtual point to point links betwee...

Page 48: ...drives but rather virtual partitions volumes of a RAID set Using LUNs the FC host can address multiple peripheral devices that may share a common controller media Physical layer information carriers FC supports several different physical media copper multimode optical and single mode optical All FC protocols are supported on all media N_Port Node Port A port that connects by a point to point link ...

Page 49: ...peration with compro mised reliability When the kernel detects a problem it prints an oops message and kills any offending process path A path to a device is a combination of a adapter port instance and a target port as distinct from internal paths in the fabric network A fabric network appears to the operating system as an opaque network between the adapter initiator and the target Because a path...

Page 50: ...reby operating at higher speeds RSCN Registered state change notification RSCN is an FC fabric notification sent to all specified nodes when any major fabric changes occur This notification allows nodes to immediately gain knowledge about the fabric and react accordingly SAN Storage area network Multiple storage units disk drives and servers connected by networking topology SCSI Small computer sys...

Page 51: ... of Glossary 1 primary specifying 3 13 selecting 3 12 3 13 boot from SAN configuring 3 11 booting server s OS from SAN 3 11 C cache definition of Glossary 1 certification training viii class driver definition of Glossary 2 CMPI providers supported 2 1 collecting system logs A 11 components hardware 1 1 software 1 3 configuration 3 1 configuring boot from SAN 3 11 driver parameters 3 6 console OS i...

Page 52: ...finition of Glossary 3 FCoE definition of Glossary 3 FC P2P See point to point FDMI definition of Glossary 3 features supported 2 1 Fibre Channel definition of Glossary 3 firmware module 1 3 Flash component of adapter 1 2 definition of Glossary 3 frequently seen issues A 11 G G_Port Generic Port definition of Glossary 3 glossary of terms Glossary 1 guide typographic conventions vi H hardware compo...

Page 53: ...ement tools and utilities 1 4 materials related v media definition of Glossary 4 messages driver log A 5 miniport driver level definition of Glossary 2 monitoring NPIV virtual ports 3 9 monolithic driver definition of Glossary 2 monospace font meaning of vi N N_Port Node Port definition of Glossary 4 N_Port ID virtualization definition of Glossary 4 deploying 3 9 supported 2 1 N_Port IO Virtualiza...

Page 54: ... state change notification RSCN Glossary 6 firmware async event A 7 related materials v remote SAN and adapter management 2 1 RISC reduced instruction set computer definition of Glossary 6 processor 1 2 RSCN definition of Glossary 6 firmware async event A 7 S SAN booting from 3 11 definition of Glossary 6 SANsurfer management tools installing 2 3 NPIV monitoring 3 9 SANsurfer FC HBA CLI descriptio...

Page 55: ...nitions of Glossary 1 topologies supported 2 1 training from QLogic viii troubleshooting A 1 driver logs A 5 dynamic extended logging A 4 frequently seen issues A 11 LED indicators A 1 proc information for debugging A 10 system logs A 11 typographic conventions in guide vi V verifying that driver is loaded 3 5 virtual ports NPIV monitoring 3 9 VM VI Client identifying HBAs on 3 1 vmkernal driver l...

Page 56: ...lds Red Hat is a registered trademark of Red Hat Inc All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners Information supplied by QLogic Corporation is believed to be accurate and reliable QLogic Corporation assumes no responsibility for any errors in this manual QLogic Corporation reserves the right without notice to make changes in product design o...

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