Path Management and SAN Boot With MPIO On AIX

Path Management and SAN Boot with
MPIO on AIX
John Hock jrhock@us.ibm.com

Dan Braden dbraden@us.ibm.com
Power Systems Advanced Technical Skills
Materials may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written permission of IBM. 5.3
IBM Power Systems Technical Symposium 2011
Agenda
 Correctly Configuring Your Disks
► Filesets for disks and multipath code
 Multi-path basics
 Multi Path I/O (MPIO)
► Useful MPIO Commands
► Path priorities
► Failed Path Recovery and path health
checking
► MPIO
path management
 SDD and SDDPCM
 Multi-path code choices for DS4000, DS5000
and DS3950
 XIV & Nseries
 SAN Boot
© 2011 IBM Corporation 2

https://tuf.hds.com/gsc/bin/view/Main/AIXODMUpdates
Disk configuration ftp://ftp.emc.com/pub/elab/aix/ODM_DEFINITIONS/
 The disk vendor…
 Dictates what multi-path code can be used
 Supplies the filesets for the disks and multipath code
 Supports the components that they supply
 A fileset is loaded to update the ODM to support the storage
 AIX then recognizes and appropriately configures the disk
 Without this, disks are configured using a generic ODM definition
 Performance and error handling may suffer as a result
 # lsdev –Pc disk displays supported storage
 The multi-path code will be a different fileset
 Unless using the MPIO that’s included with AIX
Beware of generic “Other” disk definition

No command queuing.
Poor Performance & Error Handling

How many paths for a LUN?
• Paths = (# of paths from server to switch) x

(# paths from storage to switch)
Server …Here there are potentially 6 paths per LUN
…But reduced via:
• LUN masking at the storage
Assign LUNs to specific FC adapters at the host,
and thru specific ports on the storage
• Zoning
FC Switch WWPN or SAN switch port zoning
• Dual SAN fabrics
divides potential paths by two
• 4 paths per LUN are sufficient for availability
and reduces CPU overhead for choosing the path
Storage • Path selection overhead is relatively low—usually negligible
• MPIO has no practical limits to number of paths
• Other products have path limits
• SDDPCM limited to 32 paths per LUN

How many paths for a LUN?, cont’d

Dual SAN Fabric Reduces Potential Paths
Server
FC Switch
Storage
4 X 4 = 16 2X2+2X2=8

Path selection benefits and costs
 Path selection algorithms choose a path to hopefully minimize latency added to

an IO to send it over the SAN to the storage
 Latency to send a 4 KB IO over a 8 Gbps SAN link is
4 KB / (8 Gb/s x 0.1 B/b x1048576 KB/GB) = 0.0048 ms
 Multiple links may be involved, and IOs are round trip
 As compared to fastest IO service times around 1 ms
 If the links aren’t busy, there likely won’t be much, if any, savings from
use of sophisticated path selection algorithims vs. round robin
Generally utilization
of links is low
 Costs of path selection algorithms
 CPU cycles to choose the best path
 Memory to keep track of in-flight IOs down each path, or
 Memory to keep track of IO service times down each path
 Latency added to the IO to choose the best path
Multi-path IO with VIO and VSCSI LUNs
VIO Client  Two layers of multi-path code: VIOC and VIOS

MPIO
 VSCSI disks always use AIX default MPIO and
all IO for a LUN normally goes to one VIOS
► algorithm = fail_over only
VIO Server VIO Server
Multi-path code Multi-path code
 VIOS uses the multi-path code specified for the disk
subsystem
 Set the path priorities for the VSCSI hdisks so half

Disk use one VIOS, and half use the other
Subsystem

Multi-path IO with VIO and NPIV
 VIOC has virtual FC adapters (vFC)

VIO Client ► Potentiallyone vFC adapter for every real FC adapter
Multi-path code in each VIOC
VFC VFC VFC VFC
► Maximum of 64 vFC adapters per real FC adapter
recommended
VIO Server VIO Server  VIOC uses multi-path code that the disk subsystem
supports
 IOs for a LUN can go thru both VIOSs

Disk  One layer of multi-path code
Subsystem

What is MPIO?
 MPIO is an architecture designed by AIX development (released in AIX V5.2)
 MPIO is also a commonly used acronym for Multi-Path IO
► In this presentation MPIO refers explicitly to the architecture, not the acronym
 Why was the MPIO architecture developed?

► With the advent of SANs, each disk subsystem vendor wrote their own multi-path code
► These multi-path code sets were usually incompatible
● Mixing disk subsystems was usually not supported on the same system, and if they
were, they usually required their own FC adapters
► Integration with AIX IO error handling and recovery
● Several levels of IO timeouts: basic IO timeout, FC path timeout, etc
 MPIO architecture details available to disk subsystem vendors
► Compliant code requires a Path Control Module (PCM) for each disk subsystem
► Default PCMs for SCSI and FC exist on AIX and often used by the vendors
► Capabilities exist for different path selection algorithms
► Disk vendors have been moving towards MPIO compliant code
MPIO Common Interface

Overview of MPIO Architecture
 LUNs show up as an hdisk

►Architected for 32 K paths
►No more than 16 paths are necessary
 PCM: Path Control Module
►Default PCMs exist for FC, SCSI
►Vendors may write optional PCMs
►May provide commands to manage paths
 Allows various algorithms to balance use
of paths
 Full support for multiple paths to rootvg
Tip: to keep paths <= 16, group
sets of 4 host ports and 4 storage ports
and balance LUNs across them
 Hdisks can be Available, Defined or non-existent

 Paths can also be Available, Defined, Missing or non-existent
 Path status can be enabled, disabled or failed if the path is Available
(use chpath command to change status)
 Add path: e.g. after installing new adapter and cable to the disk
run cfgmgr (or cfgmgr –l <adapter>)
 One must get the device layer correct, before working with the path status layer

MPIO support
Storage Subsystem Family MPIO code Multi-path algorithm
IBM ESS, DS6000, DS8000, IBM Subsystem Device
fail_over, round_robin, load
DS3950, DS4000, DS5000, Driver Path Control
balance, load balance port
SVC, V7000 Module (SDDPCM)
Default FC PCM
DS3/4/5000 in VIOS fail_over, round_robin
recommended
IBM XIV Storage System Default FC PCM fail_over, round_robin
IBM System Storage N Series Default FC PCM fail_over, round_robin
EMC Symmetrix Default FC PCM fail_over, round_robin

Hitachi Dynamic Link fail_over, round robin,
HP & HDS Manager (HDLM) extended round robin
(varies by model)
Default FC PCM fail_over, round_robin
SCSI Default SCSI PCM fail_over, round_robin

VIO VSCSI Default SCSI PCM fail_over

Non-MPIO multi-path code
Storage subsystem family Multi-path code

IBM DS4000 Redundant Disk Array Controller (RDAC)
EMC Power Path

HP AutoPath
HDS HDLM (older versions)

Vertias supported storage Dynamic MultiPathing (DMP)

Mixing multi-path code sets
 The disk subsystem vendor specifies what multi-path code is supported for their storage
►The disk subsystem vendor supports their storage, the server vendor generally doesn’t
 You can mix multi-path code compliant with MPIO and even share adapters
►There may be exceptions. Contact vendor for latest updates.
HP example: “Connection to a common server with different HBAs requires separate HBA
zones for XP, VA, and EVA”
 Generally one non-MPIO compliant code set can exist with other MPIO compliant code sets
►Except that SDD and RDAC can be mixed on the same LPAR
►The non-MPIO compliant code must be using its own adapters
 Devices of a given type use only one multi-path code set
►e.g., you can’t used SDDPCM for one DS8000 and SDD for another DS8000 on the same
AIX instance

Sharing Fibre Channel Adapter ports
 Disk using MPIO compliant code sets can share adapter ports
 It’s recommended that disk and tape use separate ports
Disk (typicaly small block random) and

tape (typically large block sequential) IO
are different, and stability issues have
been seen at high IO rates

MPIO Command Set

 lspath – list paths, path status and path attributes for a disk
 chpath – change path status or path attributes

► Enable or disable paths
 rmpath – delete or change path state

► Putting a path into the defined mode means it won’t be used (from available to
defined)
► One cannot define/delete the last path of a device
 mkpath – add another path to a device or makes a defined path available

► Generally cfgmgr is used to add new paths
 chdev – change a device’s attributes (not specific to MPIO)
 cfgmgr – add new paths to an hdisk or make defined paths available

(not specific to MPIO)

Useful MPIO Commands

 List status of the paths and the parent device (or adapter)
# lspath -Hl <hdisk#>
 List connection information for a path
# lspath -l hdisk2 -F"status parent connection path_status path_id“
Enabled fscsi0 203900a0b8478dda,f000000000000 Available 0
 The connection field contains the storage port WWPN
► In the case above, paths go to two storage ports and WWPNs:
203900a0b8478dda
201800a0b8478dda
 List a specific path's attributes
# lspath -AEl hdisk2 -p fscsi0 –w “203900a0b8478dda,f00000000000“
scsi_id 0x30400 SCSI ID False
node_name 0x200800a0b8478dda FC Node Name False
priority 1 Priority True

Path priorities
 A Priority Attribute for paths can be used to specify a preference for path
IOs. How it works depends whether the hdisk’s algorithm attribute is set to
fail_over or round_robin.
Value specified is inverse to priority, i.e. “1” is high priority
 algorithm=fail_over
►the path with the higher priority value handles all the IOs unless there's a path failure.
►the other path(s) will only be used when there is a path failure.
►Set the primary path to be used by setting it's priority value to 1, and the next path's
priority (in case of path failure) to 2, and so on.
►if the path priorities are the same and algorithm=fail_over, the primary path will be the
first listed for the hdisk in the CuPath ODM as shown by # odmget CuPath
 algorithm=round_robin
►If the priority attributes are the same, then IOs go down each path equally.
►In the case of two paths, if you set path A’s priority to 1 and path B’s to 255, then for
every IO going down path A, there will be 255 IOs sent down path B.
 To change the path priority of an MPIO device on a VIO client:

# chpath -l hdisk0 -p vscsi1 -a priority=2
►Set path priorities for VSCSI disks to balance use of VIOSs

Path priorities
# lsattr -El hdisk9
PCM PCM/friend/otherapdisk Path Control Module False
algorithm fail_over Algorithm True
hcheck_interval 60 Health Check Interval True
hcheck_mode nonactive Health Check Mode True
lun_id 0x5000000000000 Logical Unit Number ID False
node_name 0x20060080e517b6ba FC Node Name False
queue_depth 10 Queue DEPTH True
reserve_policy single_path Reserve Policy True
ww_name 0x20160080e517b6ba FC World Wide Name False
…
# lspath -l hdisk9 -F"parent connection status path_status"

fscsi1 20160080e517b6ba,5000000000000 Enabled Available
fscsi1 20170080e517b6ba,5000000000000 Enabled Available
# lspath -AEl hdisk9 -p fscsi1 -w"20160080e517b6ba,5000000000000"

scsi_id 0x10a00 SCSI ID False
node_name 0x20060080e517b6ba FC Node Name False
priority 1 Priority True
Note: whether or not path priorities apply depends on the PCM.

With SDDPCM, path priorities only apply when the algorithm used is fail over (fo).
Otherwise, they aren’t used.

Path priorities – why change them?

 With VIOCs, send the IOs for half the LUNs to one VIOS and half to the other
►Set priorities for half the LUNs to use VIOSa/vscsi0 and half to use
VIOSb/vscsi1
►Uses both VIOSs CPU and virtual adapters
►algorithm=fail_over is the only option at the VIOC for VSCSI disks
 With NSeries – have the IOs go the primary controller for the LUN
►Set via the dotpaths utility that comes with Nseries filesets

Path Health Checking and Recovery

 Validate a path is working
 Automate recovery of path
 For SDDPCM and MPIO compliant disks, two hdisk attributes apply:
# lsattr -El hdisk26
hcheck_interval 0 Health Check Interval True
hcheck_mode nonactive Health Check Mode True
 hcheck_interval
► Defines how often the health check is performed on the paths for a device. The attribute supports a range
from 0 to 3600 seconds. When a value of 0 is selected (the default), health checking is disabled
► Preferably set to at least 2X IO timeout value
 hcheck_mode
► Determines which paths should be checked when the health check capability is used:
● enabled: Sends the healthcheck command down paths with a state of enabled
● failed: Sends the healthcheck command down paths with a state of failed
● nonactive: (Default) Sends the healthcheck command down paths that have no active I/O, including
paths with a state of failed. If the algorithm selected is failover, then the healthcheck command is
also sent on each of the paths that have a state of enabled but have no active IO. If the algorithm
selected is round_robin, then the healthcheck command is only sent on paths with a state of failed,
because the round_robin algorithm keeps all enabled paths active with IO.
 Consider setting up error notification for path failures (later slide)

Path Recovery
 MPIO will recover failed paths if path health checking is enabled with hcheck_mode=nonactive or failed
and the device has been opened
 Trade-offs exist:
► Lots of path health checking can create a lot of SAN traffic
► Automatic recovery requires turning on path health checking for each LUN
► Lots of time between health checks means paths will take longer to recover after repair
► Health checking for a single LUN is often sufficient to monitor all the physical paths, but not to recover
them
 SDD and SDDPCM also recover failed paths automatically
 In addition, SDDPCM provides a health check daemon to provide an automated method of reclaiming failed
paths to a closed device.
 To manually enable a failed path after repair or re-enable a disabled path:

# chpath -l hdisk1 -p <parent> –w <connection> -s enable
 To disable all paths using a specific FC port on the host:

# chpath –l hdisk1 –p <parent> -s disable

Path Health Checking and Recovery – Notification!
 One should also set up error notification for path failure, so that someone knows
about it and can correct it before something else fails.
 This is accomplished by determining the error that shows up in the error log when a
path fails (via testing), and then
 Adding an entry to the errnotify ODM class for that error which calls a script (that you
write) that notifies someone that a path has failed.
Hint: You can use # odmget errnotify to see what the entries (or stanzas) look like,
then you create a stanza and use the odmadd command to add it to the errnotify
class.

Path management with MPIO

 Includes examining, adding, removing, enabling and disabling paths
► Adapter failure/replacement or addition
► VIOS upgrades (VIOS or multi-path code)
► Cable failure and replacement
► Storage controller/port failure and repair
 Adapter replacement
► Paths will not be in use if the adapter has failed, paths will be in the failed state
1. Remove paths with # rmpath –l <hdisk> -p <parent> -w <connection> [-d]
-d will remove the path, without it the path will changed to Defined
2. Remove the adapter with # rmdev –Rdl <fcs#>
3. Replace the adapter
4. cfgmgr
5. Check the paths with lspath
 It’s better to stop using a path before you know the path will disappear
► Avoid timeouts, application delays or performance impacts and potential error
recovery bugs

Active/Active vs. Active/Passive Disk Subsystem Controllers
 IOs for a LUN can be sent to any storage port with Active/Active controllers
 LUNs are balanced across controllers for Active/Passive disk subsystems
► So a controller is active for some LUNs, but passive for the others
 IOs for a LUN are only sent to the Active controller’s port for disk subsystems with Active/Passive
controllers
► ESS, DS6000, DS8000, and XIV have active/active controllers

► DS4000, DS5000, DS3950, Nseries, V7000 have active/passive controllers
● The NSeries passive controller can accept IOs but IO latency is affected
► The passive controller takes over in the event the active controller or all paths to it fail
 MPIO recognizes Active/Passive disk subsystems and sends IOs only to the primary controller
► Except under failure conditions, then the active/passive role switches for the affected LUNs
 Terminology regaring active/active and active/passive varies considerably

Example: Active/Passive Paths

SDD: An Overview
 SDD = Subsystem Device Driver – Pre-MPIO Architecture
 Used with IBM ESS, DS6000, DS8000 and the SAN Volume Controller, but
is not MPIO compliant
►A “host attachment” fileset (provides subsystem-specific support code &

populates the ODM) and SDD fileset are both installed
►Host attachment: ibm2105.rte
►SDD: devices.sdd.<sdd_version>.rte
 LUNs show up as vpaths, with an hdisk device for each path

►32 paths maximum per LUN, but less are recommended with more than 600 LUNs
 One installs SDDPCM or SDD, not both.

 No support for rootvg, dump or paging devices
► One can exclude disks from SDD control using the excludesddcfg command
► Mirror rootvg across two separate LUNs on different adapters for availability

SDD
 Load balancing algorithms
►fo: failover
►rr: round robin
►lb: load balancing (aka. df or the default) and chooses adapter with fewest in-flight IOs
►lbs: load balancing sequential – optimized for sequential IO
►rrs: round robin sequential – optimized for sequential IO
 The datapath command is used to examine vpaths, adapters, paths, vpath statistics,
path statistics, adapter statistics, dynamically change the load balancing algorithm,
and other administrative tasks such as adapter replacement, disabling paths, etc.
 mkvg4vp is used instead of mkvg, and extendvg4vp is used instead of extendvg
 SDD automatically recovers failed paths that have been repaired via the sddsrv
daemon

Does Load Balancing Improve Performance?

 Load balancing tried to reduce latency by picking a less active path
► …but adds latency to choose the best path
 These latencies are typically < 1% of typical IO service times
 Load balancing is more likely to be of benefit in SANs with heavy utilizations or
with intermittent errors that slow IOs on some path
 A round_robin algorithm is usually equivalent
Conclusion:
Load balancing is unlikely to improve performance--especially when
compared to other strategies like algorithm=round_robin or approaches
that balance IO with algorithm=fail_over

Balancing IOs with algorithm=fail_over

 A fail_over algorithm can be efficiently used to balance IOs!
► Any load_balancing algorithm must consume CPU and memory resources to determine
the best path to use.
► It'spossible to setup fail_over LUNs so that the loads are balanced across the available
FC adapters.
► Let's use an example with 2 FC adapters. Assume we correctly lay out our data so that
the IOs are balanced across the LUNs (this is usually a best practice). Then if we
assign half the LUNs to FC adapterA and half to FC adapterB, then the IOs are evenly
balanced across the adapters!
►A question to ask is, “If one adapter is handling more IO than another, will this have a
significant impact on IO latency?”
► Since the FC adapters are capable of handling more than 35,000 IOPS then we're
unlikely to bottleneck at the adapter and add significant latency to the IO.

SDDPCM: An Overview
 SDDPCM = Subsystem Device Driver Path Control Module
 SDDPCM is MPIO compliant and can be used with IBM ESS, DS6000, DS8000,
DS4000 (most models), DS5000, DS3950, V7000 and the SVC
► A “host attachment” fileset (populates the ODM) and SDDPCM fileset are both installed
► Host attachment: devices.fcp.disk.ibm.mpio.rte
► SDDPCM: devices.sddpcm.<version>.rte
 LUNs show up as hdisks, paths shown with pcmpath or lspath commands

► 16 paths per LUN supported
 Provides a PCM per the MPIO architecture
 One installs SDDPCM or SDD, not both.
SDDPCM is recommended and strategic

Comparing AIX Default MPIO PCMs & SDDPCM
Feature/Function MPIO PCMs SDDPCM
Provided as an integrated part of the base VIOS Provided by most IBM storage products for
How obtained POWERVM firmware and AIX operating system subsequent installation on the various server
product distribution OS’s that the device supports
Supports most disk devices that the AIX Supports specific IBM devices and is referenced
Suported Devices operating system and VIOS POWERVM by the particular device support statement. The
firmware support, including selected third-party supported devices differ between AIX and
devices POWERVM VIOS
Add-on software entity that has its own update

Update levels are provided and are updated and strategy and process for obtaining fixes. The
OS Integration migrated as a mainline part of all the normal AIX customer must manage coexistence levels
Considerations and VIOS service strategy and between both the mix of devices, operating
upgrade/migration paths system levels and VIOS levels. NOT a licensed
program product.
Fail over
Path Selection Fail over (default) Round Robin
Algorithms Round Robin (excluding VSCSI disks) Load Balancing (default)
Load Balancing Port
Algorithm Selection Disk access must be stopped in order to change Dynamic

algorithm
SAN boot, dump, Yes Yes. Restart required if SDDPCM installed after
paging support MPIOPCM and SDDPCM boot desired.
PowerHA & GPFS Yes Yes
Support
standard AIX performance monitoring tools Enhanced utilities (pcmpath commands) to

Utilities such as iostat and fcstat show mappings from adapters, paths, devices,
as well as performance and error statistics

SDDPCM
 Load balancing algorithms
► rr - round robin
► lb - load balancing based on in-flight IOs per adapter
► fo - failover policy
► lbp - load balancing port (for ESS, DS6000, DS8000, V7000 and SVC only) based
on in-flight IOs per adapter and per storage port
 The pcmpath command is used to examine hdisks, adapters, paths, hdisk statistics, path
statistics, adapter statistics, dynamically change the load balancing algorithm, and other
administrative tasks such as adapter replacement, disabling paths
 SDDPCM automatically recovers failed paths that have been repaired via the pcmserv
daemon
► MPIO health checking can also be used, and can be dynamically set via the pcmpath
command. This is recommended. Set the hc_interval to a non-zero value for an
appropriate number of LUNs to check the physical paths.

Path management with SDDPCM and the pcmpath command

# pcmpath query adapter List adapters and status
# pcmpath query device List hdisks and paths
# pcmpath query port List DS8000/DS6000/SVC… ports
# pcmpath query devstats List hdisk/path IO statistics
# pcmpath query adaptstats List adapter IO statistics
# pcmpath query portstats List DS8000/DS6000/SVC port statistics
# pcmpath query essmap List rank, LUN ID and more for each hdisk
# pcmpath set adapter … Disable/enable paths to adapter
# pcmpath set device path … Disable/enable paths to a hdisk
# pcmpath set device algorithm Dynamically change path algorithm
# pcmpath set device hc_interval Dynamically change health check interval
# pcmpath disable/enable ports … Disable/enable paths to a disk port
# pcmpath query wwpn Display all FC adapter WWPNs
And more
 SDD offers the similar datapath command

# pcmpath query device

…
DEV#: 2 DEVICE NAME: hdisk2 TYPE: 2145 ALGORITHM: Load Balance
SERIAL: 600507680190013250000000000000F4
==========================================================================
Path# Adapter/Path Name State Mode Select Errors
0 fscsi0/path0 OPEN NORMAL 40928736 0
1* fscsi0/path1 OPEN NORMAL 16 0
…
• * Indicates path to passive controller

• 2145 is a SVC which has active/passive nodes for a LUN
• DS4000, DS5000, V7000 and DS3950 also have active/passive controllers
• IOs will be balanced across paths to the active controller

# pcmpath query devstats
Total Dual Active and Active/Asymmetrc Devices : 67
DEV#: 2 DEVICE NAME: hdisk2

===============================
Total Read Total Write Active Read Active Write Maximum
I/O: 169415657 2849038 0 0 20
SECTOR: 2446703617 318507176 0 0 5888
Transfer Size: <= 512 <= 4k <= 16K <= 64K > 64K
183162 67388759 35609487 46379563 22703724
…
• Maximum value useful for tuning hdisk queue depths

• “20” is maximum inflight requests for the IOs shown
• Increase queue depth until queue is not filling up or
until IO services times suffer (bottleneck is pushed to the subsystem)
• writes > 3ms
• reads > 15-20ms
• See References for queue depth tuning whitepaper

SDD & SDDPCM: Getting Disks configured correctly

 Install the appropriate filesets
SDD or SDDPCM for the required disks (and host attachment fileset)
►
If you are using SDDPCM, install the MPIO fileset as well which comes with AIX
►
● devices.common.IBM.mpio.rte
► Host attachment scripts
● http://www.ibm.com/support/dlsearch.wss?rs=540&q=host+scripts&tc=ST52G7&dc=D410
 Reboot or start the sddsrv/pcmsrv daemon
 smitty disk -> List All Supported Disk
►Displays disk types for which software support has been installed
 Or # lsdev -Pc disk | grep MPIO
disk mpioosdisk fcp MPIO Other FC SCSI Disk Drive
disk 1750 fcp IBM MPIO FC 1750 …DS6000
disk 2105 fcp IBM MPIO FC 2105 …ESS
disk 2107 fcp IBM MPIO FC 2107 …DS8000
disk 2145 fcp MPIO FC 2145 …SVC
disk DS3950 fcp IBM MPIO DS3950 Array Disk

www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=540&uid=ssg1S7001350#AIXSDDPCM


Migration from SDD to SDDPCM

 Migration from SDD to SDDPCM is fairly straightforward and doesn't require
a lot of time. The procedure is documented in the manual:
1. Varyoff your SDD VGs
2. Stop the sddsrv daemon via stopsrc -s sddsrv
3. Remove the SDD devices (both vpaths and hdisks) via instructions below
4. Remove the dpo device
5. Uninstall SDD and the host attachment fileset for SDD
6. Install the host attachment fileset for SDDPCM and SDDPCM
7. Configure the new disks (if you rebooted it's done, else run cfgmgr and
startsrc –s pcmserv)
8. Varyon your VGs - you're back in business
 To remove the vpaths and hdisks, use:

► # rmdev -Rdl dpo
 No exportvg/importvg is needed because LVM keeps track of PVs via PVID
 Effective queue depths change (and changes to queue_depth will be lost):

► SDD effective queue depth = # paths for a LUN x queue_depth
► SDDPCM effective queue depth = queue_depth

Multi-path code choices for DS4000/DS5000/DS3950

 These disk subsystems might use RDAC, MPIO or SDDPCM
► Choices depend on model and AIX level
 MPIO is strategic
► SDDPCM uses MPIO and is recommended
► SDDPCM not supported on VIOS yet for these disk subsystems so use MPIO
 SAN cabling/zoning is more flexible with MPIO/SDDPCM than with RDAC
► RDAC requires fcsA be connected to controllerA and fcsB connected to controllerB with
no cross connections
 These disk subsystems have active/passive controllers
► All IO for a LUN goes to its primary controller
● Unless the paths to it fail, or the controller fails, then the other controller takes over
the LUN
► Storage administrator assigns half the LUNs to each controller
 The manage_disk_drivers command is used to choose the multi-path code
► Choices vary among models and AIX levels
 DS3950, DS5020, DS5100, DS5300 use MPIO or SDDPCM

Multi-path code choices for DS3950, DS4000 and DS5000

# manage_disk_drivers -l
Device Present Driver Driver Options
2810XIV AIX_AAPCM AIX_AAPCM,AIX_non_MPIO
DS4100 AIX_SDDAPPCM AIX_APPCM,AIX_fcparray
DS3950 AIX_SDDAPPCM AIX_APPCM
DS5020 AIX_SDDAPPCM AIX_APPCM
DS5100/DS5300 AIX_SDDAPPCM AIX_APPCM
DS3500 AIX_AAPCM AIX_APPCM
 To set the driver for use:

# manage_disk_drivers -d <device> -o <driver_option>
 AIX_AAPCM - MPIO with active/active controllers

 AIX_APPCM - MPIO with active/passive controllers
 AIX_SDDAPPCM - SDDPCM
 AIX_fcparray - RDAC
Other MPIO commands for DS3/4/5000

# mpio_get_config –Av
Frame id 0:
Storage Subsystem worldwide name:
608e50017be8800004bbc4c7e
Controller count: 2
Partition count: 1
Partition 0:
Storage Subsystem Name = 'DS-5020'
hdisk LUN # Ownership User Label
hdisk4 0 A (preferred) Array1_LUN1
hdisk5 1 B (preferred) Array2_LUN1
# sddpcm_get_config –Av
output is the same as above

XIV
 Host Attachment Kit for AIX

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ssg1S4000802
 # lsdev -Pc disk | grep xiv
disk 2810xiv fcp N/A
 XIV support has moved from fileset support, to support within AIX
► Installing the Host Attachment Kit is still recommended
● Provides diagnostic and other commands
 Disks configured as 2810xiv devices
 ODM entries for XIV included with
AIX 5.3 TL 10,
AIX 6.1 TL3,
VIOS 2.1.2.x and
AIX 7

Nseries/NetApp
 Nseries/NetApp has a preferred storage controller for each LUN
 Not exactly an active/passive disk subsystem, as the non-preferred
controller can accept IO requests
 I/O requests have to be passed to the preferred controller which
impacts latency
 Install the SAN Toolkit
Ontap.mpio_attach_kit.*
► Provides the dotpaths utility
and sanlun commands
► dotpaths sets hdisk path priorities
to favor the primary controller
…for every IO going down secondary path, there will be 255 IOs sent down primary path

Storage Area Network (SAN) Boot

Boot from an SVC
 Storage is zoned
directly to the client
 HBAs used for
boot and/or data
access
 SDDPCM runs in
client (to support
boot)
Boot Directly from SAN

 Storage is zoned Boot from SVC
directly to the client via VIO Server
 HBAs used for boot  Affected LUNs are
and/or data access zoned to VIOS(s) and
SAN Sourced Boot Disks assigned to clients via
 Multi-path code for  Affected LUNs are zoned
the storage runs in VIOS definitions
client
to VIOS(s) and assigned to  Multi-path code in the
clients via VIOS definitions client will be the MPIO
 Multi-path code in the client default PCM for disks
will be the MPIO default seen through the
PCM for disks seen VIOS.
through the VIOS.

Storage Area Network (SAN) Boot

 Requirements for SAN Booting
► System with FC boot capability
► Appropriate microcode (system, FC adapter, disk subsystem and FC switch)
► Disksubsystem supporting AIX FC boot
Some older systems don’t support FC boot, if in doubt, check the sales manual
 SAN disk configuration

► Create the SAN LUNs and assign them to the system's FC adapters’ WWPNs prior to
installing the system
► For non-MPIO configurations, assign one LUN to one WWPN to keep it simple
 AIX installation
► Boot from installation CD or NIM, this runs the install program
► When you do the installation you'll get a list of disks that will be on the SAN for the
system
► Choose the disks for installing rootvg
► Be aware of disk SCSI reservation policies
● Avoid policies that limit access to a single path or adapter

How to assure you install to the right SAN disk
 Only assign the rootvg LUN to the host prior to install, assign data LUNs later, or
 Create a LUN for rootvg with a size different than other LUNs, or
 Write down LUN ID and storage WWN, or
 Use disk with an existing PVID
These criteria can be used to select the LUN from the AIX install program (shown
in following screen shots) or via a bosinst_data file for NIM

Choose via Location Code
1 hdisk2 U8234.EMA.06EF634-V5-C22-T1-W50050768012017C2-L1000000000000
2 hdisk3 U8234.EMA.06EF634-V5-C22-T1-W500507680120165C-L2000000000000
3 hdisk5 U8234.EMA.06EF634-V5-C22-T1-W500507680120165C-L3000000000000
Storage WWN LUN ID

Choose via Size

Choose via PVID

Storage Area Network Booting: Pros & Cons
 The main benefits of SAN rootvg

► Performance < 2 ms write, 5-10 ms read due to cache. Higher IOPS
► Availability with built in RAID protection
► Ability to easily redeploy disk
► Ability to FlashCopy/MetroMirror the rootvg for backup/DR
► Fewer hardware resources
 SAN rootvg disadvantages
► SAN problems can cause loss of access to rootvg ~ not an issue as app data is on SAN
anyway
► Potential loss of system dump and diagnosis if loss of access to SAN is caused by a
kernel bug
► Difficult to change multi-path IO code
● Not an issue with dual VIOS—can take down one VIOS at a time and change multi-
path code
 SAN boot thru VIO with NPIV is like SAN boot

Changing multi-path IO code for rootvg – not so easy
How do you change/update rootvg multi-path code when it’s in use?

 Changing from SDD to SDDPCM (or vice versa) requires contacting
support if booting from SAN, or:
► Move rootvg to internal SAS disks, e.g., using extendvg, migratepv, reducevg,
bosboot and bootlist, or use alt_disk_install
► Change the multi-path code
► Move rootvg back to SAN
► Newer versions of AIX require a newer version of SDD or SDDPCM
 Follow procedures in the SDD and SDDPCM manual for upgrades of AIX
and/or the multi-path code
 Not an issue when using VIO with dual VIOSs
If one has many LPARs booting from SAN,

one SAS adapter with a SAS disk or two can be used
to migrate SDD to SDDPCM, one LPAR at a time

Documentation & References

 Infocenter “Multiple Path IO”
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/aix/v6r1/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.aix.baseadmn/doc
/baseadmndita/dm_mpio.htm
 SDD and SDDPCM Support matrix:

www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=540&uid=ssg1S7001350
 Downloads and documentation for SDD

www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=540&context=ST52G7&dc=D430&uid=ssg1S400006
5&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&lang=en
 Downloads and documentation for SDDPCM:

www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=540&context=ST52G7&dc=D430&uid=ssg1S400020
1&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&lang=en
 IBM System Storage Interoperation Center (SSIC)

http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/support/storage/ssic/interoperability.wss
 Guide to selecting a multipathing path control module for AIX or VIOS

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-multipathing/index.html
 AIX disk queue depth tuning techdoc:

http://www.ibm.com/support/techdocs/atsmastr.nsf/WebIndex/TD105745
Documentation & References

 Hitachi MPIO Support Site
https://tuf.hds.com/gsc/bin/view/Main/AIXODMUpdates
 EMC MPIO Support Site
ftp://ftp.emc.com/pub/elab/aix/ODM_DEFINITIONS/
 HP Support Site
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=u
s&objectID=c02619876&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN
 HP StorageWorks for IBM AIX
http://h18006.www1.hp.com/storage/aix.html

Session Evaluations
Session Number – SE39
Session Name – Working with San Boot…
Date - Thursday, April 28, 14:30, Lake Down B
Friday, April 29, 13:00, Lake Hart B

Path Management and SAN Boot With MPIO On AIX

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Path Management and SAN Boot with

John Hock jrhock@us.ibm.com

© 2011 IBM Corporation 2

Beware of generic “Other” disk definition

© 2011 IBM Corporation 3

How many paths for a LUN?

• Paths = (# of paths from server to switch) x

© 2011 IBM Corporation 4

How many paths for a LUN?, cont’d

© 2011 IBM Corporation 5

Path selection benefits and costs

 Path selection algorithms choose a path to hopefully minimize latency added to

Multi-path IO with VIO and VSCSI LUNs

VIO Client  Two layers of multi-path code: VIOC and VIOS

 Set the path priorities for the VSCSI hdisks so half

© 2011 IBM Corporation 7

Multi-path IO with VIO and NPIV

 VIOC has virtual FC adapters (vFC)

 IOs for a LUN can go thru both VIOSs

© 2011 IBM Corporation 8

 Why was the MPIO architecture developed?

MPIO Common Interface

© 2011 IBM Corporation 9

Overview of MPIO Architecture

 LUNs show up as an hdisk

 Hdisks can be Available, Defined or non-existent

© 2011 IBM Corporation 10

IBM System Storage N Series Default FC PCM fail_over, round_robin

EMC Symmetrix Default FC PCM fail_over, round_robin

SCSI Default SCSI PCM fail_over, round_robin

© 2011 IBM Corporation 11

Non-MPIO multi-path code

Storage subsystem family Multi-path code

EMC Power Path

HDS HDLM (older versions)

© 2011 IBM Corporation 12

Mixing multi-path code sets

© 2011 IBM Corporation 13

Sharing Fibre Channel Adapter ports

 It’s recommended that disk and tape use separate ports

Disk (typicaly small block random) and

© 2011 IBM Corporation 14

MPIO Command Set

 chpath – change path status or path attributes

 rmpath – delete or change path state

 mkpath – add another path to a device or makes a defined path available

 chdev – change a device’s attributes (not specific to MPIO)

 cfgmgr – add new paths to an hdisk or make defined paths available

© 2011 IBM Corporation 15

Useful MPIO Commands

© 2011 IBM Corporation 16

 To change the path priority of an MPIO device on a VIO client:

© 2011 IBM Corporation 17

# lspath -l hdisk9 -F"parent connection status path_status"

# lspath -AEl hdisk9 -p fscsi1 -w"20160080e517b6ba,5000000000000"

Note: whether or not path priorities apply depends on the PCM.

© 2011 IBM Corporation 18

Path priorities – why change them?

© 2011 IBM Corporation 19

Path Health Checking and Recovery

 Consider setting up error notification for path failures (later slide)

© 2011 IBM Corporation 20

 To manually enable a failed path after repair or re-enable a disabled path: