MPIO (Multipath I/O)

User Guide

MPIO User Guide

Copyright
This publication, including all photographs, illustrations and software, is protected under international copyright laws, with all rights reserved. Neither this manual, nor any of the material contained herein, may be reproduced without the express written consent of the manufacturer. 2006 DataOn Storage Version FD0001, Sep 2006

Disclaimer
The information in this document is subject to change without notice. The manufacturer makes no representations or warranties with respect to the contents hereof and specifically disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. Furthermore, the manufacturer reserves the right to revise this publication and to make changes from time to time in the content hereof without obligation of the manufacturer to notify any person of such revision or changes.

Safety Measures
Computer components and electronic circuit boards can be damaged by discharges of static electricity. Working on computers that are still connected to a power supply can be extremely dangerous. Follow these guidelines to avoid damage to the DNS-3100 or injury to yourself.

Always disconnect power when carrying out work inside the unit. If possible, wear a grounded wrist strap when carrying out work inside the unit. Alternatively, discharge any static electricity by touching the bare metal chassis of the unit case, or the bare metal body of any other grounded appliance.

Hold electronic circuit boards by the edges only. Do not touch the components on the board unless it is necessary to do so. Do not flex or stress the circuit board. Leave all components inside the static-proof packaging until you are ready to install the component.

Equipment Location
This equipment should only be accessed by SERVICE PERSONNEL or by USERS who have been instructed about the reasons for the restrictions applied to the location. Access is through the use of a TOOL or lock and key, or other means of security, and is controlled by the authority responsible for the location.

About this Guide

This guide describes how to use MPIO GUI. This guide is intended for trained personnel only.

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Table of Contents
1 2 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 4 INSTALLATION OF MPIO DRIVER ..................................................................... 4 2.1 INSTALL MPIO IN YOUR SYSTEM .......................................................................4 2.2 CHECKING YOUR MPIO VERSION ..................................................................... 10 3 REMOVAL OF MPIO DRIVER ......................................................................... 11 3.1 REMOVE MPIO FROM YOUR SYSTEM ................................................................. 12 4 MPIO GUI ................................................................................................ 13 4.1 TOP-VIEW ................................................................................................... 14 4.1.1 4.1.2 4.2.1 4.2.2 4.3.1 4.3.2 4.3.3 System Information ...............................................................14 Parameter .............................................................................15 Disk information ....................................................................17 Disk information List-Box .......................................................18 Path/Disk information ............................................................19 Total Performance Data .........................................................20 Previous Performance Data ....................................................20

4.2 DISK-VIEW .................................................................................................. 16

4.3 PATH-VIEW ................................................................................................ 18

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1 Introduction
MPIO (Multipath I/O) solutions use redundant physical path components (such as adapters, cables, and switches) to create logical "paths" between the server and the storage device. Its advantage lies in the fact that if one or more of these components and paths have failed, a multipathing solution will use an alternate path for I/O so that applications can still access their data. In addition to the step-by-step instructions on the installation/removal of MPIO driver under Microsoft Windows Server 2000/2003 operating system, this manual also provides detailed descriptions on the MPIO GUI (graphical user interface).

2 Installation of MPIO Driver

This section will give step-by-step instructions on how to install MPIO driver to your system (with devices connected), how to add new devices to your system, and how to find out the version of MPIO application that you currently use in your system. We strongly recommend that you connect all devices prior installing the MPIO driver. If devices are connected after installation of MPIO driver is completed, refer to NOTE on page 7 for instructions on hardware installations.

2.1

Install MPIO in your system

Please follow the steps below to install MPIO application in your system: 1. Execute MPIO-xxxx-setup.exe, where xxxx indicates the version number of the MPIO driver. 2. Click <I Agree> to accept the license agreement.

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3. Select the components that you wish to install in addition to the MPIO driver. Click <Next> to continue.

4. Select the type of HBA used in the system.

5. Choose where you wish to install the MPIO driver. Click <Install> to continue.

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6. The following screen will pop up while you try to install the MPIO driver with an open Computer Management window. In order to proceed with the installation, click <OK> to close Computer Management window.

7. A Command Prompt window will appear which shows the process of installation. Do not close this screen during the installation process.

8. The following screen also gives an indication of the progress of installation.

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9. For Windows Server 2000 only: Click <Yes> to continue.

OR
For Windows Server 2003 only: Click <Yes> to install the driver.

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10. The following Command Prompt window will appear for few seconds when the installation is completed. Afterwards it will disappear automatically.

11. The following screen will also be shown when the installation is completed.

12. Click <Yes> to reboot the system.

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13. Click <Finish> to close the MPIO driver setup wizard.

14. The installation is successful if you can see the multipath devices in Computer Management -> Device manager -> SCSI and RAID controllers (Multi-Path Support 1.15 2003) or Computer Management -> Device manager -> System devices (Storage RAID Multi-Path Device Specific Module 1.15 xxxx-x 2003), where xxxx-x indicates the current version number of the MPIO driver.

NOTE: 9

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If devices are connected AFTER installing the MPIO driver, the following Hardware Installation Screen will appear when the system detects the new hardware. The number of times this screen appears depends on the number of devices you have connected. In this case it will appear 40 times for 20 disks. Click <Continue Anyway> to continue hardware installation.

2.2

Checking your MPIO version

You can find out the version of MPIO that you have just installed in your system via Computer Management -> Device manager -> System devices -> Storage RAID Multi-Path Device Specific Module 1.15 xxxx-x 2003, where xxxx-x indicates the version number of the MPIO driver.

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system.

Removal of MPIO Driver

This section will give step-by-step instructions on how to remove the MPIO driver from your

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MPIO User Guide 3.1

1.

Remove MPIO from your system

Select from Start -> Programs -> Storage RAID MPIO -> Uninstall to remove MPIO application from your system.

2.

Click <Uninstall> to proceed with removal of MPIO.

3.

The following screen will pop up while you try to uninstall the MPIO driver with an open Computer Management window. In order to proceed with removal of MPIO, click <OK> to close Computer Management window.

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4.

The following screen indicates the progress of removal.

5.

Click <Yes> to reboot your PC. Then the MPIO has been completely removed from the system.

MPIO GUI
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This GUI uses a tree structure (on the upper left side of the screen) to show all relevant information for the MPIO disks. It shows the status of the MPIO driver which changes with each parameter values that users input. There are three viewing levels in the tree. As users click on any viewing level, a corresponding window will be updated accordingly. On the lower area of GUI, there is a list-box showing all logged messages received so far. Users can clear the message logs by pressing the <Clear> button or save them by pressing the <Save> button.

4.1 Top-View
Click the MPIO icon in the tree structure of MPIO GUI. Refer to Figure 1 below for details.

Figure 1.

Top-View of MPIO GUI

4.1.1 System Information

The system information can be obtained from the top of the screen. Refer to the following for details of system information:

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Figure 2. Host: This gives the host name.

System information

Driver Version: This shows the version number for your current MPIO GUI application. Good/Bad Disk Count: Disk count by state of disks. Good/Bad Channel Count: Channel count by state of disks. We can also obtain the Host Bus Adapters (HBA) Information from the List-Box: State: This gives the status of HBA(s). Adapter Name: This is the name of HBA(s). Bus: This is the PCI bus number assigned by the system BIOS to an adapter. Dev: This is the PCI device number assigned by the system BIOS to an adapter. Function: This is the PCI function number assigned by the system BIOS to an adapter. PathId: This is the path identification number during requests handling.

4.1.2 Parameter
The following parameter information can be obtained from this section:

Figure 3.

Parameter information

I/O Retry Interval: Time interval in seconds to retry I/O request.

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Retry Count: The number of times to retry an I/O request after passing the retry interval. PDO Remove Period: Delay time in seconds to remove PDO after MPIO lost the PDO handling. Load Balance Policy: It distributes the I/O operations (the load) over multiple active paths. There are six Load-Balance modes available. We recommended that you set the load balance policy to Preferred Path since performance is maximized when this option is chosen. All other options may cause performance to deteriorate. 1. 2. 3. Active-Passive: The first path available for I/O operations is the Active path. All the other paths are the standby (Passive) paths. Static: Assign each path in rotation to balance I/O requests over all available paths. Preferred Path: Always search for the path which had been assigned as the Preferred Path. Otherwise if the Preferred Path is not available/not assigned, use the first path available as a substitute for the I/O operation. 4. 5. 6. Round-Robin: Balance the load of each path in rotation by a specific algorithm. Least I/O: Always search for the path which has the least I/O operations loaded at that time. Least Block: Always search for the path which has the least blocks of data loaded at that time. Periodic Verify Path: Verify all paths periodically in seconds. <Update> button: Click this button to update the values. <Undo> button: Click this button to undo changes. <Default> button: Click this button to restore the default values.

4.2 Disk-View
Click the MPIO DiskXX icon from the tree structure of MPIO GUI. Please refer to Figure 4 below for details of disk information.

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Figure 4.

Disk-View of MPIO GUI

4.2.1 Disk information

The following disk information can be obtained from this section:

Figure 5.

Disk information

Disk Name: The symbolic name of the upper level disk in this GUI (by default it is always MPIO). Good/Bad Path: Path count by state of disks. Vendor Name: This shows the vendor name of the disks array. Disk Serial No: It will display the actual disk serial number when JBOD is used in the disks array. Otherwise, this will just be a symbolic disk serial number that was built by MPIO when RAID is used in the disk array. Product Name: This shows the name of the disks array. Load Balance Policy: This displays the current Load Balance policy option. DSM Name: By default the DSM name is Generic Device-Specific Module.

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4.2.2 Disk information List-Box
Refer to the following for details of disk information:

Figure 6.

Disk information list-box

State: This gives the status of paths. Path #: This gives the order number of path. Path Id: The identification number of a specific path. Path\Target\Lun\Port: The SCSI address of the bus that the disk is connecting to. Preferred: It indicates whether this particular path for a controller has been assigned as preferred path or not. This preferred path for the current active controller will be selected for I/O when load balancing is disabled.

4.3 Path-View
Click the Path X icon under any disk from the tree structure of MPIO GUI. Please refer to Figure 9 below for details of path information.

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Figure 9.

Path-View of MPIO GUI

4.3.1 Path/Disk information

The path/disk information can be obtained from the top of the screen. Refer to the following for details of path/disk information:

Figure 10. Path information Disk Name: The symbolic name of the upper level disk in this GUI (by default it is always MPIO). Disk Serial No: It will display the actual disk serial number when JBOD is used in the disks array. Otherwise, this will just be a symbolic disk serial number that was built by MPIO when RAID is used in the disk array. Path Id: The identification number of a specific path. State: This gives the status of paths. Path No\Target ID\Lun ID\Port No: The SCSI address of the bus that the disk is connecting to.

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4.3.2 Total Performance Data
The total performance data can be obtained from this section. It gives the total count of Bytes/IO that had been read/written. Click <Clear> to clear up the total performance data.

Figure 11.

Total Performance Data

4.3.3 Previous Performance Data

The previous performance data can be obtained from this section. It gives count of Bytes/IO read/written in the past three seconds.

Figure 12. Previous Performance Data The MPIO GUI will be updated immediately when one of the disks has lost its connection. In Figure 13 below it shows a scenario when one of the two paths/cables was pulled out from HBA.

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Figure 13. Path disconnected Path-View

The number of Storage RAID SCSI Disk Devices in Computer Management -> Device manager -> Disk Drives is decreased in half when a path has been removed from the system.

Figure 14. Device Manager Window

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