Storage Design and Implementation in vSphere 6

This is the eBook of the printed book and may not include any media, website access codes, or print supplements that may come packaged with the bound book.

Now fully updated: The authoritative, comprehensive guide to vSphere 6 storage implementation and management

Effective VMware virtualization storage planning and management has become crucial-but it can be extremely complex. Now, VMware's leading storage expert thoroughly demystifies the "black box" of vSphere 6 storage and provides illustrated, step-by-step procedures for performing every key task associated with it. Mostafa Khalil presents techniques based on years of personal experience helping customers troubleshoot storage in their vSphere production environments. Drawing on more experience than anyone else in the field, he combines expert guidelines, insights for better architectural design, best practices for planning and management, common configuration details, and deep dives into both vSphere and third-party storage. Storage Design and Implementation in vSphere 6, Second Edition will give you the deep understanding you need to make better upfront storage decisions, quickly solve problems if they arise, and keep them from occurring in the first place.

Coverage includes:

• Planning and implementing Fibre Channel, FCoE, and iSCSI storage in vSphere virtualized environments
• Implementing vSphere Pluggable Storage Architecture native multipathing, SATP, PSP, plug-ins, rules, registration, and more
• Working with Active/Passive and Pseudo-Active/Active ALUA SCSI-3 storage arrays
• Maximizing availability with multipathing and failover
• Improving efficiency and value by unifying and centrally managing heterogeneous storage configurations
• Understanding Storage Virtualization Devices (SVDs) and designing storage to take advantage of them
• Implementing VMware Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) to maximize performance and resource utilization
• Working with virtual disks and raw device mappings (RDMs)
• Managing snapshots in VMFS and Virtual Volumes environments
• Implementing and administering NFS, VAAI, Storage vMotion, VisorFS, and VASA
• Integrating VSAN core and advanced features
• Using Virtual Volumes to streamline storage operations and gain finer VM-level control over external storage

Autorentext

Mostafa Khalil is a senior staff engineer at VMware. He is a senior member of the VMware Engineering team and has worked for VMware for more than 18 years. Prior to joining VMware, he worked at Lotus/IBM. A native of Egypt, Mostafa graduated from the Al-Azhar University's School of Medicine and practiced medicine in Cairo. He became intrigued by the mini computer system used in his medical practice and began to educate himself about computing and networking technologies. After moving to the United States, Mostafa continued to focus on computing and acquired several professional certifications, including VCDX (3, 4, 5, and 6), VCAP (4, 5, and 6)-DCD, VCAP4-DCA, VCP (2, 3, 4, 5, and 6), MCSE, Master CNE, HP ASE, IBM CSE, and Lotus CLP.

As storage became a central element in the virtualization environment, Mostafa became an expert in this field. He has delivered several seminars and troubleshooting workshops at various VMware public events in the United States and elsewhere around the world.

Inhalt

Introduction xxxiii Part I Storage Protocols and Block Devices 1 Storage Types 1 History of Storage 1 Birth of the Hard Disks 3 Along Comes SCSI 4 PATA and SATA-SCSI's Distant Cousins? 4 Measuring Storage Capacity 7 Permanent Storage Media Relevant to vSphere 6 8 Summary 9 2 Fibre Channel Storage Connectivity 11 SCSI Standards and Protocols 11 SCSI-2 and SCSI-3 Standards 11 Fibre Channel Protocol 12 Decoding an EMC Symmetrix WWPN 23 Locating a Target's WWNN and WWPN Seen by ESXi 6 Hosts 24 SAN Topology 27 Fabric Switches 31 FC Zoning 33 Designing Storage with No Single Points of Failure 37 Summary 43 3 FCoE Storage Connectivity 45 FCoE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet) 45 FCoE Initialization Protocol 47 FCoE Initiators 49 Hardware FCoE Adapters 49 Software FCoE Adapters 50 Overcoming Ethernet Limitations 51 Flow Control in FCoE 51 Protocols Required for FCoE 52 Priority-Based Flow Control 52 Enhanced Transmission Selection 52 Data Center Bridging Exchange 53 10GigE-A Large Pipeline 53 802.1p Tag 54 Hardware FCoE Adapters 55 Confi guring HW FCoE Adapters 56 Implementing SW FCoE in ESXi 6 61 Confi guring SW FCoE Network Connections 63 Enabling a Software FCoE Adapter 67 Removing or Disabling a Software FCoE Adapter 71 Using the UI to Remove a Software FCoE Adapter 71 Using the CLI to Remove a Software FCoE Adapter 72 Troubleshooting FCoE 72 ESXCLI 72 FCoE-Related Logs 75 How to Verify SW FCoE Connectivity 90 Proc Nodes Can Be Useful, Too 91 Parting Tips 93 Summary 94 4 iSCSI Storage Connectivity 95 iSCSI Protocol 95 Customizing Storage Network Confi guration 151 Troubleshooting iSCSI Connectivity 175 Summary 177 5 vSphere Pluggable Storage Architecture 179 Native Multipathing 179 Storage Array Type Plug-in (SATP) 180 Listing SATPs on an ESXi 6 Host 182 Path Selection Plug-in (PSP) 182 Listing PSPs on an ESXi 6 Host 184 Third-Party Plug-ins 184 Multipathing Plug-ins (MPPs) 185 Anatomy of PSA Components 186 I/O Flow Through PSA and NMP 187 Classifi cation of Arrays Based on How They Handle I/O 187 Paths and Path States 189 Preferred Path Setting 189 Flow of I/O Through NMP 191 Listing Multipath Details 191 Listing Paths to a LUN by Using the UI 192 Listing Paths to a LUN by Using the CLI 194 Identifying Path States and on Which Path the I/O Is Sent-FC 198 Example of Listing Paths to an iSCSI-Attached Device 198 Identifying Path States and on Which Path the I/O Is Sent-iSCSI 200 Example of Listing Paths to an FCoE-Attached Device 200 Identifying Path States and on Which Path the I/O Is Sent-FC 202 Claim Rules 203 MP Claim Rules 204 Plug-in Registration 207 SATP Claim Rules 208 Modifying PSA Plug-in Confi gurations Using the UI 213 Which PSA Confi gurations Can Be Modifi ed Using the UI? 213 Modifying PSA Plug-ins Using the CLI 215 Available CLI Tools and Their Options 215 Adding a PSA Claim Rule 217 Deleting a Claim Rule 231 Masking Paths to a Certain LUN 233 Unmasking a LUN 236 Changing PSP Assignment via the CLI 238 Summary 242 6 ALUA 243 ALUA Defi nition 244 ALUA Target Port Groups 244 Asymmetric Access State 245 ALUA Management Modes 247 ALUA Followover 248 Identifying Device ALUA Confi guration 252 Troubleshooting ALUA 259 Summary 263 7 Multipathing and Failover 265 What Is a Path? 265 Where Is the Active Path? 270 Identifying the Current Path Using the CLI 270 Identifying the I/O (Current) Path Using the UI 271 LUN Discovery and Path Enumeration 273 Sample LUN Discovery and Path Enumeration Log Entries 275 Factors Affecting Multipathing 279 Accessing Advanced Options 280 Failover Triggers 282 SCSI Sense Codes 282 Path Failover Triggers 284 Path States 288 Factors Affecting Paths States 289 Path Selection Plug-ins 298 VMW_PSP_FIXED 298 VMW_PSP_MRU 299 VMW_PSP_RR 299 When and How to Change the Default PSP 299 When Should You Change the Default PSP? 299 How to Change the Default PSP 300 PDL and APD 302 Unmounting a VMFS Volume 304 Detaching a Device Whose Datastore Was Unmounted 309 Path Ranking 313 Path Ranking for ALUA and Non-ALUA Storage 313 How Does Path Ranking Work for ALUA Arrays? 313 How Does Path Ranking Work for Non-ALUA Arrays? 315 Confi guring Ranked Paths 316 Summary 318 8 Third-Party Multipathing I/O Plug-ins 319 MPIO Implementations on vSphere 6 319 EMC PowerPath/VE 6 320 Downloading PowerPath/VE 320 PowerPath/VE Installation Overview 322 What Gets Installed? 323 Installing PowerPath/VE by Using the Local CLI 324 Verifying the PowerPath/VE Installation 326 Listing Devices Claimed by PowerPath/VE 330 Managing PowerPath/VE 331 Uninstalling PowerPath/VE 331 …