SN0154519-00 A

Deployment GuideVMware vSphere Support for QLogic

FabricCache Adapters

10000 Series

ii SN0154519-00 A

Deployment Guide—VMware vSphere Support for QLogic FabricCache Adapters

10000 Series

Information furnished in this manual is believed to be accurate and reliable. However, QLogic Corporation assumes no responsibility for its use, nor for any infringements of patents or other rights of third parties which may result from its use. QLogic Corporation 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 errors that may appear in this document.

Document Revision History

Revision A, November 14, 2013

Changes Sections Affected

Initial release of new guide.

iii SN0154519-00 A

Table of Contents

1 Introduction

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1Target Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1Related Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2

2 10000 Series Adapter Deployment with VMware vSphere

Template Datastore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2VM Datastores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2I/O Behavior with FabricCache. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3

3 Setup

System Architecture Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-1Hardware and Software Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-1SAN Disk Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-1

Server Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2Step 1: Install the Drivers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2Step 2: Zone the Servers and Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2Step 3: Enable Caching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2

1-1 SN0154519-00 A

1 Introduction

This document describes how to deploy QLogic® FabricCache™ 10000 Series Adapters with VMware® vSphere™.

Organizations today are turning to virtualization for application and data security, reduction of desktop support costs, more efficient upgrades to newer operating systems, and reduction of end-user hardware requirements and costs.

Deploying server applications and desktops as virtual machines (VMs) requires a more robust infrastructure. Careful selection and design of the virtualization environment hardware can mean the difference between a successful or stalled implementation. Beyond the servers, network, and storage is the need to have data cached closer to the server—and, therefore, to the end-users—to provide low latency and higher throughput.

The QLogic 10000 Series Adapters with patent-pending technology and supported by vSphere provide the low latency and high bandwidth to satisfy this need.

SummaryThis document covers deployment of the QLogic 10000 Series Adapter with VMware vSphere, including VM LUN mapping, use of datastores, I/O behavior, and proper setup of the system, drivers, server, and caching.

Target AudienceThis document is intended for virtualization administrators with knowledge and experience with virtualized environments and storage administrators with knowledge of SAN configuration.

ConclusionDeploying the QLogic FabricCache 10000 Series Adapter is very similar to deploying a standard Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapter. The only major difference is in the zoning, because the adapters must be zoned together and the ability to enable cache for I/O acceleration. After caching is enabled on the 10000 Series Adapter, the caching is handled transparently.

1–Introduction

Related Documentation

1-2 SN0154519-00 A

The 10000 Series Adapter does not require the installation of special drivers in the guest VMs. Because the cache is clustered, it is shared between the servers, even though the VMs can migrate between servers in the VMware ESXi cluster without having to rewarm the cache. The VM benefits from cache acceleration and continues to be accelerated when running on any node in the cluster.

Related DocumentationFor additional information, refer to the following related materials:

User’s Guide QLogic FabricCache Adapter, 10000 Series (part number SN0054680-00)

User’s Guide Host Command Line Interface (CLI) for QLogic FabricCache Adapter, 10000 Series (part number ISR654614-00)

User’s Guide QConvergeConsole, 2400, 2500, 2600, 3200, 8100, 8200, 8300, 10000 Series (part number SN0054669-00)

QConvergeConsole help system

User’s Guide QConvergeConsole Plug-ins for vSphere, 2400/2500/2600/3200/8100/8200/8300/10000 Series Adapters (part number SN0054677-00)

For information related to supported operating systems and known issues, refer to the following documents:

QLogic FabricCache 10000 Series Adapter Firmware Read Me and Release Notes

Host CLI for QLogic FabricCache 10000 Series Adapter Read Me and Release Notes

These documents are available on the QLogic Downloads and Documentation page, http://driverdownloads.qlogic.com.

2-1 SN0154519-00 A

2 10000 Series Adapter Deployment with VMware vSphere

In a VMware vSphere cluster, multiple servers share LUNs to allow the advanced high availability and cluster load-balancing features.

The 10000 Series Adapter provides “in-band” communication through the fabric to coordinate the cache activity between the 10000 Series Adapters. For these adapters to function effectively, each must have visibility to the other adapters in the FabricCache cluster. Visibility is accomplished by creating a fabric zone that includes all of the 10000 Series Adapters.

With multiple servers sharing the same LUNS, you can improve the application throughput by distributing the cache across all of the nodes. The example used in this guide depicts five configured LUNs: one LUN to store the VM templates for deployment, and the remaining four LUNs to store the VMs.

2–10000 Series Adapter Deployment with VMware vSphere

Template Datastore

2-2 SN0154519-00 A

Figure 2-1 illustrates the mapping for each of the four VM servers.

Figure 2-1. VMware Server Mapping

Template DatastoreThe “golden images” are the templates from which the VMs are deployed. During the VM deployment process, VMs read heavily from the golden images datastore. The LUN is pinned in the cache, permitting the VM deployment process to read from the cache without accessing the SAN disk. This functionality improves all-around performance.

VM DatastoresThe datastores that store the virtual desktop VMs contain the linked clones. Depending on the setup, the datastores can contain the disposable disks used to contain the delta changes that are created during VM use. The datastores can also contain the persistent user data disk that stores user documents and data that is created by individual users. The datastores are also cached.

2–10000 Series Adapter Deployment with VMware vSphere

I/O Behavior with FabricCache

2-3 SN0154519-00 A

I/O Behavior with FabricCacheFigure 2-2 represents the I/O behavior with QLogic’s FabricCache technology for one of the LUN data sets. The behavior is the same for all LUNs that have cache enabled. In this illustration, horizontal lines represent east-west traffic in the SAN and vertical lines represent north-south traffic to storage.

Figure 2-2. I/O Behavior

ESX-1 requests data from the SAN. If the data is on the VM-1 LUN, the local cache is accessed. A cache miss results in access to the SAN.

Access to data that is on VM-2 (or VM-3 or VM-4) is accomplished in-band through the SAN with the 10000 Series Adapter requesting the data from that 10000 Series Adapter. The fabric communicates to the 10000 Series Adapter that is the cache master (east-west traffic). A cache miss indicates that the 10000 Series Adapter with cache ownership for that LUN accesses the SAN for the data.

In this clustered, shared-cache environment, all data access is performed by the 10000 Series Adapter that has cache ownership for that LUN.

2–10000 Series Adapter Deployment with VMware vSphere

I/O Behavior with FabricCache

2-4 SN0154519-00 A

NOTE

Data access is in-band and not visible to the hypervisor or driver. If a server is down and the 10000 Series Adapter is not available, the other server immediately and directly accesses the LUN. Although no performance gain from the cache occurs, the application continues to perform without interruption. In Figure 2-2, if ESX-3 is down for maintenance, the other nodes directly access VM-3 until ESX-3 returns to the cluster and the 10000 Series Adapter is active on the SAN. The 10000 Series Adapter then begins managing the I/O for VM-3 and rewarming the cache.

3-1 SN0154519-00 A

3 Setup

QLogic deployment of the 10000 Series Adapter with VMware vSphere requires the proper setup of the system, server, and caching, as described in these sections.

System Architecture OverviewAt a high level, virtualization environments comprise multiple nodes that are connected to the SAN with the QLogic 10000 Series Adapters. The management network is gigabit Ethernet (GbE), the virtual desktop interconnect is either GbE or 10GbE, and a SAN provides the back-end storage.

Hardware and Software ConfigurationThe following hardware was used for the deployment described in this document:

Four servers: Intel® 64-bit, two physical CPUs with six cores each, 96GB memory, and a 10000 Series Adapter installed

One HP® 3PAR® StoreServ 7200 with twenty-six 300GB 15K drives

Two QLogic 5800 Fibre Channel Stackable Switches

One Dell® Force10 10GbE switch

The following software was used for the deployment described in this document:

VMware vSphere 5.1

VMware vCenter Server

QLogic FC-FCOE driver for vSphere 5.1

QLogic adapter management tool, either Host CLI (HCLI) or QConvergeConsole VMware vCenter Server Plug-in

SAN Disk LayoutThe deployed configuration contains four servers, where the quantity of LUNs created is equally balanced to allow a distributed workload. There are five LUNs: four LUNs for the VMs and one LUN for the VM templates. Each server in the environment shares all five LUNs, but there is only one LUN per server assigned

3–Setup

Server Preparation

3-2 SN0154519-00 A

to cache on each 10000 Series Adapter (except ESX-1, which has two LUNs assigned to the cache; see Figure 2-2 on page 2-3).

Server PreparationWhether using new or existing VMware ESXi servers, you must first install the 10000 Series Adapter into the server. The 10000 Series Adapter requires two PCIe ×8 Gen 2 slots. Then you must install ESXi and the drivers, or install the drivers on an existing installation, and finally enable LUN caching.

The following steps describe the server preparation in more detail.

Step 1: Install the DriversDownload the latest drivers from the VMware Web site. Install the drivers either automatically with the VMware Update Manager or manually with the VMware ESXCLI command set.

Step 2: Zone the Servers and StorageAfter VMware ESXi is installed or updated with the current drivers, zone the servers and storage on the Fibre Channel Switches, and then mask the LUNs to the servers in the cluster. These steps are the same as using a standard Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapter.

The 10000 Series Adapter has an additional requirement for zoning. All 10000 Series Adapters must be zoned to see each other, which allows the remote cache feature of the 10000 Series Adapter: transparent, clustered caching. In the example used in this document, of the four servers with dual fabric, two zones (one per fabric) must contain the four 10000 Series Adapters in each zone.

Step 3: Enable CachingAfter configuring the ESXi cluster and providing available storage, the last step is to enable the cache on the LUNs that must be accelerated. QLogic provides two utilities for enabling cache: the QLogic Host CLI and the QConvergeConsole VMware vCenter Server Plug-in. For details, refer to the documentation included with the utility that you choose.

Both methods require the following steps to enable the cache:

a. Create a 10000 Series Adapter cluster.

For the 10000 Series Adapters to see each other, you must zone them to see each other on the fabric. Because the 10000 Series Adapter is a “clusterable” cache and is transparent to the operating system, the adapters must be clustered. Clustering allows the adapters to communicate for remotely sharing the cache, meaning that the cache is captive to a single host. Each server has access to the LUNs on the SAN; however, each LUN can have only a single cache “master.” To properly load balance and

3–Setup

Server Preparation

3-3 SN0154519-00 A

effectively use the cache installed in each server, it is important that you evenly distribute the LUNs across the 10000 Series Adapters.

b. Enable the cache pool on each adapter.

Each 10000 Series Adapter is paired with either a 200GB or 400GB flash card. The flash card is directly connected to the 10000 Series Adapter with a PCIe® cable connection. After you flash and restart the firmware, the 10000 Series Adapter cluster’s cache pool is initialized to set the entire pool by default. When the cache pool is initialized, ensure that you enable the full amount based on the size of the flash card.

c. Enable the cache per LUN.

Because caching is set per LUN (see “I/O Behavior with FabricCache” on page 2-3), it is important that you know which LUNs must be cached, and that all LUNs need not be cached. Depending on the virtualization type (server or desktop), different LUNs must be cached:

In a desktop or VDI environment, the most important LUNs are the template LUNs and the linked clone LUNs, because these are the most heavily read LUNs in the environment.

In a server or application environment, the LUNs to be cached depend on the applications that must be cached for acceleration.

IMPORTANT: If a VMware datastore is striped across multiple LUNs, every LUN that comprises the datastore must be cached on the same 10000 Series Adapter.

NOTE

When enabling cache on a LUN, an option is available to set a cache limit. This cache limit is not a quality of service (QoS) type of limit. The cache limit is the maximum amount of cache that the LUN can use, and not a guaranteed cache amount.

Corporate Headquarters QLogic Corporation 26650 Aliso Viejo Parkway Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 949.389.6000 www.qlogic.com

International Offices UK | Ireland | Germany | France | India | Japan | China | Hong Kong | Singapore | Taiwan

© 2013 QLogic Corporation. Specifications are subject to change without notice. All rights reserved worldwide. QLogic, the QLogic logo, and FabricCache are trademarks or registered trademarks of QLogic Corporation. PCIe is a registered trademark of PCI-SIG Corporation. VMware and vSphere are trademarks or registered trademarks of VMware, 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 brochure. QLogic Corporation reserves the right, without notice, to make changes in product design or specifications.